23. Chapter 23

“Me and Grime will hold him, just go!” Sasha shouted at Anne. She was tough enough to hold off this overgrown newt! She was about to attempt a swing at his ankle so that she could bring him to his knees, but he slashed in her direction instead. He was so distracted with trying to get over to Marcy that all Sasha had to do was duck and roll out of the way. Thankfully this also allowed her to dodge his fist while Grime distracted him further by whacking him with Barrel’s hammer.

But all it took was a strong backhand smack to get Grime out of the way and then a spin where the momentum of his tail’s movement sent Sasha flying! She hit a nearby wall as he completely ignored her from there.

“THE BOX!!” He yelled, rushing towards Marcy and her little portal that the Plantar family was already mostly inside of. The blonde’s head spun from how hard she hit the wall, so she didn’t hear much of what was going on. Heck, she didn’t even realize that Grime had come running to her aid until after she heard that familiar sickening squelch of flesh being rendered. Her head whipped up and she witnessed the horrifying sight of Marcy being impaled from behind by her own dad!

Sasha barely heard Andrias mumble something before the princess slid forewards, off of the sword, and dropped to the floor! When the box in her hands fell, there was a flash of light from the portal and suddenly the entire Plantar family was gone! As the brightness dimmed down, the girl saw pink, blue, and green light dance in her vision before she finally opened her eyes again. All that was left of the incident was Andrias, the music box, and a dying creature.

“No! She managed to open the portal. Well, no matter.” Andrias muttered before snapping his fingers. Two of his robots landed around the princess and he turned towards the box. It was giving off some black smoke, but he seemed unconcerned by it as he closed it like nothing was wrong. He continued speaking.

“I still have the box fully charged. So… what about you two?" He turned towards his formerly most trusted servants "Are you with me?"

“We’re with you!”

“Definitely with you!” Olivia and Yunan curtsied and saluted respectively. They both were shaking and carried a nervous tone in their voices that Sasha recognized as the tone of a liar. She couldn't really blame them, though. If she and Grime couldn't hold him back for more than a couple moments, then they'd have no hope of standing against him! Thankfully Andrias didn't seem to catch on.

“Good!” He casually said, then pointed at Marcy “Get her to a rejuvenation tank and make it snappy! She’s fading fast…” Sasha had no idea what he was talking about and it seemed that neither of the two newts did either. But as soon as they gingerly picked the dying creature up, a couple of the robots seemed to be directing the pair. Seeing as they actually appeared to have the intention to save Marcy, Grime tried to snap Sasha out of her shocked stupor.

“There’s nothing we can do for her. Now let’s move, before someone el-” He was cut off by a robot landing in front of him and pointing one of its small, burning light weapons at his face. Before anything else could happen, two more landed around the pair. Sasha put her hands up and leaned down towards Grime to whisper at him.

“So what’s the plan, Captain?”

“I’m gonna have to toss you out the window.” He whispered back. The girl straightened up, startled. The castle was too high up to survive a fall, so he couldn't seriously be planning that , could he?!

“The window?!” She asked. Grime responded not with words, but by leaning back and launching his tongue towards the monster girl. Instead of hitting her like most toads would, he wrapped it around her waist and lifted her up. He already proved he was able to do that once before, back at the tower he used to run, but that didn't stop her from being thrown off by it. When Sasha felt herself being tossed through the air and actually out of the window, she yelled!

“OH CRUD!!” As she started to fall, she heard Grime's signature manic laugh coming from behind her. She also heard the robots firing their beams of light, but seeing as she didn't hear any shouts of pain, she assumed they missed. The girl then focused on the fact that she was falling and tried to maneuver her gangly creature body to maybe find some sort of aerial purchase. When she could do that, her mind started to race with memories from when she fell off of the top of Toad Tower.

She remembered regretting every choice that she'd made regarding Anne up to that point. And this fall from Andrias' castle was barely any different. Her attempts at being the ultimate alpha had backfired spectacularly and gotten one of them potentially killed! Meanwhile the other was off in some other world where literally anything could happen. So for all the blonde knew, they could both be dead! All because of her…

“Ha ha! A flawless escape!” Grime shouted, bringing Sasha out of her thoughts. She snapped back to reality and looked over at him.

“And did you have a plan for after you threw us out a window !?” She asked. And with the way his face fell, it became obvious that he didn't. As she saw him looking around, she started to panic! The only reason why she survived the fall from Toad Tower was because he caught her. But that wouldn't be happening this time! He may have saved them from one nasty fate, but at the same time, he had condemned them to a different death…

That was until the both of them suddenly found something solid beneath them that sank enough with their weight that their fall slowed to a stop! A quick look revealed that they had been caught by Marcy’s bird!

“Well that’s lucky! Excellent work, George Sparrow.” Grime noted. The bird gave him an unimpressed look, but still carried them regardless. He also seemed a little nervous as he turned his eyes to the castle one last time, letting out a single sharp tweet. He waited just a little bit longer, but when no answer came he reluctantly turned and flew out of there. Sasha turned to look back at the castle as well. A knot formed in her stomach and she couldn't keep quiet about it, so she started talking to Grime.

“I genuinely hope that Marcy’s going to be alright. She clearly wasn’t on Andrias’ side. And if I’m being honest, I hope that Anne’s going to be okay, too.” The toad looked back at the monster girl with a confused glare.

“What? I understand Marcy, but Anne? You two had a serious fight, didn’t you?” Sasha looked away, remembering how Anne had aimed for her vitals during their fight. But then she also remembered how the two of them fought on the same side so effectively against Andrias. The latter part had made the blonde care about The Wartwood Creature at least a little bit.

“Yeah, but who knows where she is now? I hope she’s not stuck in a world of unending torture or something. I mean, we fought together at the end, there!” She explained. Grime nodded.

“Ah, I see your point.” The old toad began to wonder if his protege was maybe going soft. She'd seen death on the battlefield before and even inflicted it on the rare occasion! But apparently seeing Marcy being impaled was too much? Perhaps it was some sort of species connection coming into play! He didn't have much time to consider the possibility of that, though. When he looked down, he saw a bunch of toads from their army being captured by some of Andrias' robots.

“Well, in other news, our army has definitely been captured. Looks like we’ll have to take shelter somewhere and come up with a new strategy.”

“Okay, but where do we even go? One of the towers? Andrias will be expecting that. And there’s nowhere else that’ll accept my existence. Especially when you consider the fact that I only have one more potion left on me!”

“Hmm… no, I think there’s still one place left that’s familiar enough with your species to at least let us explain ourselves. Especially when we have Marcy’s bird!” From there, the two of them discussed what they were going to do and how they were going to do it. Sasha’s mind seemed prone to wandering all of a sudden, so they weren't really able to discuss much. That didn't matter, though. Grime could do all of the talking for her if he needed to.

At the very least, the toad made sure that the creature took her last potion. They didn't want to scare the people they'd be trying to take advantage of, after all. The people of Wartwood might've loved Anne, but they hated Sasha and the two of them needed to be extra careful as a result. Morning had already come by the time they arrived and thankfully Marcy's bird was the first thing the frogs below recognized.

The two were allowed to land just inside town, what with the people thinking that Marcy and the Plantars might be returning. The moment that they got off though, a bunch of them grabbed pitchforks in order to run them out. The two were about to plead for them to listen, but then a little old lady frog seemed to want answers more than violence.

“What in the frog is going on?” Her question opened the floodgates for more townsfolk to start questioning them.

“Why are you two here without any of the others you left with?”

“Is it just me or is the palace flying ?”

“Where are the Plantars? Including Anne!”

“Where’s Sprig?!” Questions came in from all directions. There was some cook that was missing both of his hands, the only axolotl in the town, a yellow lady frog with really long hair, and one that was clearly the same age as the boy she asked about. So many of these frogs were suddenly asking them about the people they knew and loved and the duo was about to lie to their faces! The two of them looked at each other for a moment and upon seeing Sasha’s distressed face, Grime took over.

“People of Wartwood, we have terrible news! The king has turned out to be a ruthless tyrant of unspeakable power! He now possesses the ability to travel to completely different worlds and he wishes to destroy said worlds, regardless of how many innocents he has to kill! As it turns out, Anne, Sasha, and Mar-mar are all originally from a different world (it’s a long story) and that world is his first goal for destruction! Therefore, the Plantars left in order to warn whatever intelligent life might exist over there and possibly set up some defensive countermeasures on their side. As you would all well know, Anne is a far better diplomat than Sasha.”

“Well why couldn’t Mar-mar go?” A blue frog with one eye swollen shut interrupted to ask. Knowing that there was no easy way to go about explaining it, Grime sucked in a breath and looked over towards Sasha. The girl looked away, clearly trying her best to hold herself together. She obviously didn’t want to talk about the princess, so he made eye contact with the frog that asked.

“Well…” he turned towards the rest of the gathered crowd “tell me, how many of you know what princess Marcy looks like?” The murmurs that broke out betrayed the fact that none of them had made the connection. Of course the only one that actually gave a confident answer was the only newt that lived in Wartwood.

“If memory serves, she’s a green newt with black hair, right?”

“Exactly! And can you tell me what Mar-mar’s amphibian form is?” Grime continued, hoping that someone would figure it out. The one who responded was a rather small frog who’s been standing next to the mayor the entire time. He spoke in a soft and somewhat hushed tone.

“Oh, that’s an easy one! A green newt with… black… hair…” With each hesitation, the crowd had finally caught on to what Grime was trying to tell them.

“Yes, Mar-mar was the princess all along, meaning she was raised by that tyrant! But thankfully, she opposed his decision and fought alongside the Plantars and the two of us against him. The bad news is that she suffered injuries so great that we’re not even sure if she’s alive right now! So that left Anne as the best choice to give that other world a fighting chance when Andrias eventually decides it’s time to commit genocide. In the meantime, the whole Plantar family wanted us to come and protect you fine frogs from any sort of retaliation that Andrias might send this way!”

Sasha was nervous about whether the people would actually buy their story or not. After all that she and Grime did to them way back when, she expected them to just chase the duo out anyways. She heard a bunch of mumbling coming from them before the same little old lady frog from before spoke up, followed by the amputee.

“Whew! What a relief!”

“Classic Plantars, always looking out for others, even at the expense of themselves!” Turning her head in their direction, Sasha saw the axolotl joining in the conversation.

“I’d be suspicious of them possibly lying if it weren’t for the fact that they have Mar-ma- I mean Marcy’s bird with them. But with her lending it to them, we know that they’ve gotta be telling the truth!” They bought it. They actually bought it! She wasn’t expecting them to accept their lies right away like that! Heck, for all intents and purposes, they might as well have stolen Marcy’s bird!

A knot formed in the pink toad’s stomach. She was all for taking down a ruler who’d been oppressing the toads for far too long, so she had no remorse during the invasion. But this? She was lying to a whole town of innocent frogs ! She remembered feeling bad for how the smaller amphibians were treated when she was a tadpole, but eventually having those feelings brushed off by her peers. She tried to bury them for most of her life, but when she was there and in front of an entire town of them, it just felt wrong!

For most of her life, she had been punching upwards and forcing her way to the top. But now that she was in front of a whole town of people who had always been below her on the social ladder… she began to feel ashamed of taking advantage of them. Still, they all seemed none the wiser as the mayor grabbed her wrist and lifted it into the air while making an announcement.

“Well that’s just wonderful! Rest easy tonight folks, because Anne sent the physically strongest member of her species to watch over us!” She saw a bunch of frogs nodding and even heard a round of approving words. It wasn’t long after that that Grime set about to making a fake patrol route for them so that he could talk to her in private. But that plan was cut short by several of the townsfolk wanting to know more about exactly what happened at the castle.

Omitting the part where the duo invaded the city, Grime cut to the chase and started at the moment that Marcy handed the box to Andrias. The frogs all listened intently, even giving Sasha some pitying looks when he got to explaining the origins of the girls. At the very least it allowed them to make another connection between The Wartwood Creature and The Monster of the Tower! But at that point, Sasha couldn’t see much of a connection at all between them beyond the obvious.

Grime noticed how she was fuming from all of the conflicting emotions and sent her away to patrol while he finished. He’d obviously mistaken her distress for anger regarding what Andrias did to her as an infant. No matter, though. She still left to take a walk so that she could clear her head. When she started getting more thoughts about how wrong this all felt, she broke into a jog… which eventually turned into a run and then a full on sprint! She was simply doing laps around the town, but a small part of her felt like she was running from her lies.

Before she knew it, it was already starting to get late and she realized that she’d gone the entire day without food. She didn’t exactly feel hungry, though. Instead, she just felt… empty . The young toad didn’t know if she’d be able to stomach food at this point, so she just kept quiet about it and pretended that she DID eat at one point. When she told Grime, he simply nodded and declared that the two of them would be camping out in the Plantars’ house because that was where they’d been staying before the trip to Newtopia.

The whole farm was quiet and empty, save for the two intruders. Remembering how lively the place was with the family, Sasha couldn't help but feel awful. Grime didn't seem to mind, though. He simply opened the door and walked inside!

“Okay, we’ll lay low here and then in a day or two, we’ll ditch this crumby town. Dibs on Hop Pop’s bed!” The girl heard her godfather, but she hadn't actually been listening. She lifted a foot in order to take a step, but found herself unable to keep going.

“You gonna come in or just stand there and be weird?” Grime asked her. He knew that she was dealing with a lot, but he at least still wanted her to come inside.

“I… I think I’ll sleep in the barn.” The younger toad responded before turning to leave. She heard Grime grumble like he'd just shrugged, but she didn't really care. On her way, she thought about how the others just gave Andrias the music box without an issue. The looks they were giving her when they did that were filled with a level of hatred that she'd only ever seen a couple of times!

As she started to wonder about exactly what went wrong, she reached the barn and was brought out of her thoughts by a small, high pitched sound. 

“Ah!... Oh, a tiny snail.” She didn't remember seeing it at any point when she was staying with the family, but there it was. She began to wonder how useful a snail of that size might be to them, but then she noticed something else in the barn.

“Aaaaand a bigger snail. Well, don’t mind me. I’m gonna go sleep in the corner with the rest of the trash." She walked inside the bigger one's pen and laid down on the hay "It’s all someone like me deserves.” She then covered her face and tried to force herself to go to sleep. It wasn't long before the snails approached her, though.

The smaller one kept crawling up her short body and nuzzling her. He clearly didn't understand who she was and was just trying to be a friendly animal. After a while, the young toad put her hand on his shell and let him stay there. And apparently that action convinced the bigger one that she was okay to lay beside. As horribly guilty as she felt, she wasn't about to chase away a couple of animals who obviously didn't know any better!

Next thing she knew, it was morning and the door to the barn was being slammed open! She startled awake, somewhat squeezing the small snail that was somehow in her arms.

“Who is it? Where am I? Of course my spots are natural!” She reflexively said, remembering how other toads would accuse her of painting on the one spot that was on her face. But no, it wasn't anyone who was concerned with her looks. Instead, it was her godfather, carrying something in his hands.

“Rise and shine, I made worm waffles.” He announced while holding out a plate. Normally the gooey and soft dish would be Sasha’s favourite way to start a day, but she really wasn't feeling it. Ever since she saw Marcy get impaled, the guilt had been eating her alive. Maybe something in her instincts were telling her that she failed as an alpha because of how her pack had gotten hurt? That wouldn't make too much sense, though. After all, she was in toad form when those feelings really set in and she was still like that when she woke up!

“I’m not hungry…” She lied, putting down the smaller snail and crossing her arms. If her feelings weren't caused by the leftover instincts from her true form, then maybe waiting out the medicine would actually help. She was willing to try it, at least. Still, Grime had something to say on the matter.

“Look, I get you feel guilty about tricking the only other members of your species that you’ve ever met and inadvertently helping the king get the music box, but you’ve got to get ahold of yourself.” He saw how her expression didn't change, so he knew that she wasn't going to eat the food unless he forced her to. But he wasn't about to do that, so he snatched it up and ate it himself. After swallowing most of the dish whole, he continued.

“We need to be in fighting shape if we’re going to take down Andrias and-” He was cut off by a noise that neither him nor Sasha recognized at first “What’s that sound?” The both of them immediately grabbed their weapons and burst out of the door with a yell! Nothing was going to sneak up on them! Not even… a little old lady frog?

“Oh I love an enthusiastic welcome!” She approached the two with a whole pie in her hands. The two toads stopped for a moment and just stared at her, surprised at the lack of a threat. She approached them while talking.

“I just wanted to thank you again for watching over the town.” She handed the pie to Grime, who took it graciously and even acted a bit excited!

“Oooh, boysenbug! Gonna go inside and heat this bad boy up!” Sasha watched as both her godfather and the old lady turned and left, leaving her there. As she started to do so, she noticed the frog looking at her pet spider and talking to him.

“I wasn’t sure about those two, Archie. But they turned out to be good eggs in the end.” Hearing this, the pink toad sighed and started her way back to the barn in order to sulk. However she was stopped by another frog calling out to her.

“Yoooooohoooo!”

“Oh no…” She muttered to herself while facepalming. She had still been holding both of her swords, but by this point, she had learned how to be careful about that sort of stuff. Ultimately, she let her hand fall and looked at the frog that approached her. His clothes were tattered, one of his eyes was swollen shut, and he was carrying an accordion of some sort. Was he the town bard or the town bum? It hardly mattered, seeing how he approached her without issue.

“Ha ha! Any friend of Anne’s is a friend of mine!” Ho boy, he was about to go on some sort of tirade. Sasha didn't want to hear it, so she tried to politely brush him off.

“That’s… touching. Look, I’ve gotta go.” It didn't deter him at all, though. Instead, he just kept on going.

“Yes, that goddaughter of mine has taught me many lessons. Showing me the importance of honesty, being true to yourself, and even the real meaning of family. Here’s a hint: biological relation means little to nothing when you’ve got people outside of that who actually care about you! Heck, I’ve been working on a song about it!” As he spoke, Sasha started to get more and more uncomfortable. All she was being reminded of was how much she had lied and manipulated everyone around her. As the frog started to sing, she put a finger up to his mouth in order to shut him up.

“Nope! Can’t right now, very busy protecting the town for Anne and stuff.” she was able to nudge the frog away so that he left her, him apparently buying her excuse. With a groan and another facepalm, she began muttering to herself.

“I swear, if one more country bumpkin- AH!" Suddenly a cloud of purple smoke erupted in front of the poor toad, startling her. She readied her swords in a defensive position, but when the smoke cleared, it simply revealed another frog. This time, a blue one in black clothes that had hair covering one of her eyes. She was also carrying a basket of bread in each arm with another balanced on her head! The frog seemed completely unfazed by Sasha’s reaction and simply made a quick offer.

“Free bread, anyone?”

“GAH!! Get away from me!” The toad responded, finally having had enough of these frogs! She ran off towards the barn and heard the frog say something in a casual tone. She didn't catch what was said, but she hardly cared at this point. The moment that she got back inside the barn, she sat down next to the bigger snail with a sigh. She wasn't able to stew in her thoughts for long, though because Grime burst in with a small messenger bat dangling off of his arm.

“Great news! I got a message from Beatrix. Thank frog she wasn’t at the tower when Andrias destroyed it!” The bat unfolded its wings to reveal a scroll, which Grime grabbed in order to relay its information to the younger toad. She was at least a little happy that Grime hadn't suddenly become an only child, but she still couldn't shake her feelings about the overall situation!

“She’s hiding underground with the toads that avoided capture. They’ve got weapons, soldiers, and fortification. We’ve GOT to join her!” As good as it was to hear that she wasn't the only one who escaped safely, Sasha still had reservations about joining up with them.

“Why?! So we can come up with another cruddy plan that fails and ends up only hurting everyone around us whether they deserve it or not?” Grime seemed a little taken aback by the girl's sudden outburst.

“Hmm… no need to be a downer…” He mused while making sure the messenger bat was fed for its trouble. Noticing that it has finished off its food, he gave it more while cooing at it.

“You want another strawberry, little guy? Yes, you do!” It was too adorable a creature for him not to baby talk it. Perhaps he really had gone soft, but he was in private with someone he trusted and some small part of him hoped that getting it to reach for the fruit would be enough to help Sasha get out of her funk a little bit. Unfortunately, she acted like it wasn't even there.

“Look. I don’t know, maybe we’re doing this all wrong-” A crashing sound came from outside, which had cut her off like Grime had been earlier. “Ugh! What is it this time?!” She exasperatedly slammed the door open, already addressing whoever it was. Not only did she not want to deal with any of the townsfolk at this point, but she had also started getting frustrated with the fact that Grime wasn’t really listening to her.

“Look, just take the muffins or cake or whatever else you- oh.” The young toad cut herself off when she saw another one of Andrias’ robots looking over the Plantar house. It was shining some sort of light over it, like it was trying to illuminate the area despite it being in broad daylight. Grime rushed out of the barn and stood next to her as she speculated on where it most likely came from.

“It must have tracked us here somehow!”

“Go for the legs!” Grime immediately ordered, handing her sword to her. While her pink sword was mostly meant for her true form, she was still able to use it effectively enough in her toad form. Not for long battles of course, but in short term emergencies like this? It was just as deadly regardless of what form she was in! She ran at it in a zigzag pattern in order to throw off its aim and just as she got up to it, she jumped onto the ground so that her momentum would carry her into a slide!

From there, she used the claws of her free hand to put a spin on said slide. With the armour on her back being smooth, this gave her the exact angle she needed in order to slice the robot’s legs clean off! It fell to the ground with a thud while Grime leaped up above it with his hammer at the ready!

“Signal reinforcements.” It said in an unnatural voice before the older toad smashed its head in! Neither of them knew how quickly these things could communicate, but they weren’t about to take their chances! For all they knew, they were all part of some sort of hivemind (except Frobo for some unknown reason) and the others already knew what this one did upon its death! Heck, if their coordination during the fight against Andrias was any indication, the others at least heard its call!

“Dang thing was calling for help! There’s probably a whole army of them on their way now. Let’s pack up, we’re getting out of here.” Grime ordered, expecting Sasha to listen to him. It was critical that the two of them look after themselves as much as possible here! Unfortunately, the girl had her own thoughts on the matter.

“What?! We can’t leave these frogs to face them on their own! What about that old lady who gave us a pie? I mean, I never wanted anyone innocent to get hurt and now we’ve basically doomed an entire town of innocents!” Her pleas fell of deaf ears, though.

“Lieutenant, these bumpkins will only slow us down! And if I’m being honest, that pie crust was soggy. I know it’s harsh, but Wartwood is done for. We need to rejoin our forces and make plans for the coming war.” He started walking away with Barrel’s hammer propped over his shoulder. Sasha hadn’t tried to disobey him this much since the first time they met back at the tower! And sure enough, her persistence won out.

“No. Enough with the plans… and the schemes. I’m done.”

“What?!” Grime startled before turning to look at the pink toad like she was crazy “But you love schemes! Lies, manipulation, backstabbing, it’s like your thing ! Since when have you cared?”

“Since I saw the consequences…” As adamant as she was, her tone suddenly reminded Grime that he was still dealing with a child. One who had just witnessed someone she was supposed to take care of getting impaled! Not to mention the other one disappearing off to who knows where and having little to no chance of ever returning! Sure, she was used to battle, but neither of them fully understood how her true form’s brain actually worked!

No matter how hard she tried to be the best alpha for the other two, they both rejected her… until they had a common enemy. Only for those few moments did they actually act like a proper pack! Obviously their species was flexible like that, but those times clearly made Sasha care about the other two. And now she was paying the price of her care because of how she'd had them torn away from her.

Normally, the older toad would grumble and say something mean, but the fear of losing someone he cared about had hit him only recently. Remembering back to only a few moments prior, he took out the note from Beatrix that he’d shoved into his pocket earlier. The amount of relief that he felt when he got the letter made him realize just how much he cared and now… now Sasha was dealing with something similar. Sure, they weren’t her sisters, but they might as well have been when one considered how all three of them ended up in Amphibia in the first place.

Even if they weren’t raised together, the three alien monster girls had enough in common that they’d bonded. Even if Grime had warned his own charge to avoid that. There was no argument whether their species was social or not because it was blatantly obvious they were, so he should have expected her to grow feelings for the other two. This meant that she was mourning at best and traumatized at worst, so he sighed and tried to put on a sympathetic look.

“Listen, Lieutenant. Whatever you’re dealing with, you need to confront it. Go into that house, face what burdens you, and when you’ve got your head back on straight, come join me… please!” He added the last bit because of how she was clearly devastated. There was no way he’d ever abandon her, especially seeing as he was the only guardian that she had left! But he was no therapist, so ‘confronting the problem head on’ was the only way he knew how to deal with things! He only hoped she would respond to it the way that he expected.

Sasha, for her part, did as instructed despite part of her not wanting to. Was that part a leftover from her true form? It was hard to tell. As she walked around the house, she remembered how the family would nervously sit around during the time she stayed there. Back before she had earned Anne's trust. She looked down at the basement door and remembered being locked down there.

She went down to see the makeshift beds for her and Grime still set up. It was almost like they'd never left! Heck, even the hedgehog pelt from earlier was still there, strung up to dry on its rack! She never had the time to really turn it into a proper cloak for Anne. When they went off to Newtopia, she was planning on sending someone to pick it up and finish it for her. From there, it was supposed to be a 'no hard feelings' gift! But… she let her own manipulative nature get the better of her.

Her and Grime were allowed into the frogs' home only to turn on them right after gaining their trust. She shook her head and left, going back upstairs. Eventually she found herself in the kitchen. She hesitantly reached out to one of the cupboards. Her and Grime had eaten their food without remorse, even after Hop Pop had hand made most of it, himself… sure he was a pretty terrible cook, but at least he tried!

She had to see how much food the small family actually had to spare! When she finally opened the cupboard, she was met with a whole bunch of glowing yellow bottles of liquid. Anne's ‘medicine’. Picking one up and looking at it, she remembered just how similar the two of them really were! They were both alphas, both raised in Frog Valley, and both turned into amphibians! Ignoring how that last part also applied to Marcy, the young toad sighed and closed the cupboard.

Making her way up yet another level, she opened one of the doors to see that it was clearly Anne’s room. She didn't want to go inside, but in remembering Grime’s words, she finally forced herself to take a few steps. Looking around, she saw that everything was frog size rather than being big enough for The Wartwood Creature’s true form. Sasha began to wonder why that might be. Was it because the family didn’t have enough money for it? Was it because Anne took her true form more rarely than Sasha thought?

She shook her head again. She wouldn’t be able to figure it out unless she could directly ask one of them and they… weren’t available. Would they ever even be available again? She was brought out of her thoughts by finding something odd lying on the somewhat messy floor. Some sort of journal? Reading someone else’s private stuff was actually pretty creepy under normal circumstances, but for all the toad knew, the owner of said journal was… gone. She figured that reading over the most recent page wouldn’t hurt, then.

‘I was honestly pretty surprised to see how hard Sasha’s trying to seem friendly now. She’s no doubt making up for lost time, given her life in the military. I remember making that offer on the top of Toad Tower because I didn’t want to lose the only other member of my species that I’d ever met. But after meeting Marcy, I kinda… tried to forget about Sasha.

‘Thinking about it, I was pretty lonely when I first met her. And then, after everything that happened, I was ashamed of myself for being what I am… and then I met Marcy. But Sasha… she didn’t meet anybody after that incident. In fact, she even lost some people! That’s gotta sting! But I think it taught her a bit of a lesson: don’t be so controlling and don’t try to force people into a situation they don’t want to be in!

‘At least our little adventure today seemed to show she's actually starting to recover, or at least wants to. I really hope that Marcy’s plans to rehabilitate her from her militarized upbringing will work and she can live a happier, healthier, more stable life! I'd love to actually let her be part of the family some day.' Sasha gripped the journal so hard that it almost ripped in her now five fingered hand. She didn't even realize that her potion had worn off until that point, but it hardly mattered.

She blew it. She blew any chance she'd ever have of even being in the same pack as Anne, regardless of who the alpha was! She knew her chances with Marcy were shot the moment she realized that she was the princess , but with Anne? The Wartwood Creature gave her a second chance and even then, The Monster of the Tower didn't realize just how thin of ice she was on!

It reminded her of how things were with… her parents. She was so focused on her own personal goals that she didn't stop to consider those around her. It made perfect sense why everyone eventually left… except for Grime! What made him stay by her side for so long? 

“But first, you need to make sure she’s loyal to you. Make her bow to you and only then can you be sure she will not use you.”

“Stamp this out. Make her yield like the alpha you are. Fail, and you’ll lose any chance of ever having one of your own at your disposal.” She remembered Grime’s words and flinched, a sense of dread settling in her stomach. Surely he wouldn’t- Well, not anymore at least, right? Still, the thought he might have been using her at some point hurt. Deeply.

Wasn’t it just convenient? A strong alpha of an intelligent, powerful species under your control that you could then use to control the others. A beast you could call to your side and steer and manipulate to do what you needed it to do. Wasn’t that just wonderfully useful to a group of people trying to take control of a kingdom? And because she followed them, she had most likely permanently lost one of the only ones of her kind, and gotten the other killed. It was horrible, a bitter freezing ball of lead sitting somewhere inside her chest where she couldn’t reach it. The thought that the people she decided to follow might have been using her for their own agendas and she paid the price for her actions in that.

…Was this what it had felt like to Anne and Marcy? The uncertainty? The betrayal? The loss? The feeling of being used? And the worst part was she still wished it wasn’t like that. She still cared about Grime, she wanted him to come back for her, and... and she still wanted to make him proud. Given how frustrated he was with her at this point though, the girl began to worry that he just might leave her eventually as well!

The thought made Sasha collapse onto the floor! She lost her family, she lost all the other members of her species in this entire world, and she might lose the only other person she has left! All because of how selfish she'd been! The blonde’s mind raced with ideas on how to fix this whole thing, but it only kept leading her back to the last line of Anne's journal. Rather, the last thought she had that was important enough to write down before everything happened.

Sasha had so many opportunities to be part of a fami- a pack, but because of her stupid, controlling, alpha nature, she lost all of them! She knew that the only way to fix any of this would be to stop acting like that! She didn’t know if she really could, but she’d at least have to try. Maybe then she’d actually be able to do something right for once and someone would stick by her.

She picked herself up off the floor and took a few deep breaths. How was she going to do this? How would she start doing the right thing? She didn’t know for sure until she looked out the window to see a couple of the townsfolk walking around near the house. They were all fully confident that she would defend and protect them… and maybe… she actually could?

The Monster of the Tower put the journal down and walked downstairs to the main floor. She opened the front door and approached the closest frog. They flinched a little when they first saw her, but then they calmed down significantly when they realized who she was. They weren’t really scared of her , just her features. So she decided to put that aside and instead she kneeled down to their level.

“Hey, could you do me a favour?”

“Of course! What do you need in order to help you defend the town?” She resisted the urge to flinch, herself. Instead, she just asked them to help her gather all of the other townsfolk at the main entryway of the town. Doing so took a surprisingly long amount of time, but after everyone gathered, the monster girl turned to face all of the frogs. Several of them seemed a lot more nervous with her in her true form, which was completely understandable, given everything she’d done up to that point.

How did Anne originally get these frogs to be less afraid of her? Besides the fact that she was already a part of the community, of course. Maybe the key was to make herself look a little smaller by hunching over a bit more? Once she did exactly that, she saw a couple of frogs calm down a bit, so she knew that she did at least SOMEthing right! All that she needed to do from there was finally confess.

“Listen up, everyone! I called you all here to tell you that… a robot army is on its way to destroy Wartwood!” She heard gasps throughout the crowd with a lot of murmurs. The ones she was able to pick out came from the one axolotl, the amputee cook, and the little old lady respectively.

“What? An army?”

“Well, how many are we talkin’ about?”

“What’s a robot?” Sasha didn't really have the time to answer those questions, so she simply continued.

“And that’s not all! Grime and I lied to you about the Plantars sending us to protect the town. They all got zapped off to another world and have no idea we’re even here! I’m no guardian, I’m a fraud.” The crowd seemed to be in a bit of a shock. As they were grasping with the idea that the whole Plantar family might be lost, Sasha decided to make a promise.

“Fraud or not though, I’m going to do the right thing for once in my life! With my last breath, I’m gonna defend this town!” She unsheathed her sword and held it above her head, thus turning her statement into a genuine oath! Sure, it looked weird and terrifying coming from a creature like her, but it still meant the same thing. Nobody had time to do or say anything about it, though. Something crashed into the ground behind Sasha, making the ground shake as it did so!

“WOAH NELLY!!” One of the frogs yelled in surprise. At this, a much younger frog hopped up from the middle of the group.

“Present!”

“Shut up, Nelly.” The old lady frog casually said in the child’s direction. As odd as that was, The Monster of the Tower was far more focused on the giant robot unfolding itself in front of her. It started off shaped like a ball, but then a pair of legs appeared, followed by a set of arms. It was shaped like a frog, but it apparently wanted to stay on all-fours. Maybe because its massive size made it difficult to actually stand up? Either way, Sasha gained a little bit of confidence upon realizing that it was completely alone! She approached while speaking.

“Only one? Honestly, it doesn’t seem all that bad.” She then ate her words almost immediately as several of its warts opened up and each one shot out a robot that was more toad sized. There had to be at least fifteen of them and they all lined up in front of her.

“Of course.” She deadpanned as they started to advance. Still, she had just made an oath that she wasn’t about to break! The girl ran ahead and slashed at the closest one, splitting it in half! She then jumped up and did a downward stab on the one that tried to grab her. Her attack was enough to take it down, so she performed another couple of slashes at the others! If each one only took a single well placed strike, then she might actually be able to do this! Or so she thought until one of them grabbed her with its weird, stretchy arms!

Next thing she knew, a second one was on her and pulling her down. They made sure to get her off balance in order to bring her to the ground! At least six of them were on her in almost an instant, holding her in place! No matter how strong her true form was, there was still the occasional limit. Suddenly the much larger robot leaned down and pointed a giant version of one of their weapons at her.

“Oh no.” It didn’t fire a beam of light, though. Instead, the projectile looked like a bulb of some sort with the same types of ‘wings’ on the back that the average arrow had! It left a smoke trail as it moved through the air towards her and all that she could do was squint her eyes shut while bracing for impact… but said impact never came! Instead, a familiar figure came jumping into action right in front of her and smacking the thing away with a swing of a warhammer!

“Sorry I’m late.”

“Grime!”

“I got to thinking. Beatrix may have weapons and soldiers, but you know what she doesn’t have?” He spoke while smacking away all of the robots that were holding Sasha down. She even leaned the right way to make it easier for him, letting him finish what he was doing before giving him the go ahead to continue.

“My goddaughter!” Those two words were spoken so kindly, a sense of gentleness and vulnerability in his voice. And yet, in the blink of an eye, it managed to lift that heavy feeling in her chest that she previously couldn’t bear alone.

“Aw, Grime! You big softie!” She immediately hugged him, leaning on him in the process. Her true form was so much taller than he was and while he wasn’t usually a fan of physical affection, she couldn’t seem to help herself. Maybe it was a part of her true form’s instincts? She could buy that, seeing as she was a mammal. The girl gently rubbed her fist into the top of the toad’s head with her free hand, finally throwing him off balance.

While he struggled against her affectionate hold, the massive robot opened its back almost like a beetle! From there, far more holes were revealed that no doubt had more of the smaller robots hiding inside.

“Increasing deployment.” The broken and distorted voice came from the robot before a proper army popped out and took the same position as the last group. Getting back into their battle stances, Grime had something to say about it all.

“Thirty against two, eh?”

“Hardly a fair fight!” Sasha sighed. She wasn’t necessarily complaining, just acknowledging it! They were about to rush ahead when BOTH of them were caught off guard by a familiar little old lady soaring over them and crushing one of the robots’ heads with her bare fists.

“Die, robot scum!” She yelled while her pet spider spat acid all over it, causing it to melt away. She praised the spider while Sasha was finally able to get some words out.

“What the-?” Before she was able to finish though, the bum with the accordion ran past them!

“Oi! Bugger off!” He yelled before he started swinging his instrument around in a circle. He wasn’t really doing any damage, but he was breaking up the groups for others to deal with on their own. Heck, even the mayor got in on the whole thing, crushing one of them underneath his fist! He may have been a fat layabout, but he was still a toad and he reminded everyone of that fact when he punched another robot so hard that it went flying! As Sasha’s eyes trailed after it, she saw the axolotl jump onto a different robot and rip out its eye!

Grime, for his part, was looking around the suddenly chaotic battlefield and watched a young blue frog throwing things. Everything that she hit seemed to transform into something harmless, indicating that she was a frogging curse user! It didn’t stop there, though! A pair of yellow frogs (seemingly mother and daughter) started performing some sort of professional fighting techniques. Grime remembered seeing those techniques could be taught to all amphibian species for the sake of self defense, so it shouldn’t have surprised him at all to see that.

“No way! The townspeople?”

“By Barrell’s belly, they’re deadlier than any soldier!” Sasha and Grime respectively mused! And suddenly, Sasha remembered Anne’s words from when they were trying to bond after their first meeting.

“Every member pulls a different type of weight. That’s what specialization is, right? Everyone in the tower pulls the same type of weight with little to no variation, but the townsfolk of Wartwood really branch out a lot more.” Back then, Sasha had brushed it off as her being naive. But after witnessing the display in front of her, she finally began to understand. Seeing a robot actually get hit in an apparently weak spot by the bum’s accordion, it seemed to be the final straw for the big one!

A loud creak echoed across the battlefield as the robot stood up on its actual legs and pointed its arms at the crowd! Knowing that the weapons were in just the right shape for another actual projectile instead of a beam of light, the two ‘protectors’ ran ahead.

“Grime!”

“Way ahead of you!” They were going to try leading its fire so that it  only hit the ground. When it spoke, the two knew they had its attention!

“Locking on.” The distorted voice could be heard, signaling that it was about to fire! Once it did, both of them turned and dodged away from each other, running after the initial dodge. The problem? The projectiles turned mid-air as well!

“Those blasted things are following us!”

“Then let’s lead them in the right direction!” Grime and Sasha respectively yelled at each other. Sasha ran around a tree, extending an arm to grab it so that she swung around it. She was grateful to be in her true form when she tried that maneuver! If she were in her toad form, then her claws would have dug into the wood and slowed her down! Instead, the grip in her fingers was strong enough to hold her while the smooth skin on her hand allowed her to basically slide around the tree without losing any momentum.

Meanwhile Grime used his tongue for his own turn around! He was able to lift himself up and over an archway that he approached by wrapping said tongue around it and then using the momentum to turn himself back the way he came. Soon both of them were running in the same direction and towards the robot! Knowing that Sasha couldn’t jump very high in her true form, he grabbed her hand and threw her upwards. From there she was able to lift herself up and over the robot. Grime followed suit with just a single jump of his own.

Just as the two of them landed, they heard an explosion behind themselves and turned to see the robot standing in an awkward position with scorch marks wrapping around its frame! Flashing each other a satisfied look, Grime hopped up onto its back, causing it to start falling onto its front. Sasha climbed up after him and the two stood proudly atop their kill! Before anything else could happen, the thing’s head detached and rolled away from the rest of the body. Sasha was about to go after it because she didn’t know whether the head could still somehow be alive, but the axolotl beat her to it by ripping out one of its eyes with a yell.

“I think you’re enjoying this too much.” The little old lady scolded him. Meanwhile The Monster of the Tower jumped down and walked past them, sheathing her sword. She then decided to have a talk with the townsfolk while being at their eye level. In other words, she sat down on the ground because of the frankly ridiculous size difference!

“Wow. I don’t… I don’t know what to say.” She tried to start. She didn’t get any farther than that though, because she felt the cold and slimy hand of the old lady on her shoulder.

“You said enough, Dearie.” From there, more frogs joined in and appeared to be sharing the same sentiment. First the curse user, then the younger yellow frog, and finally the bum.

“You may have been a terrible person, Sasha. But you were honest with us when you didn’t have to be.”

“And taking those robots on alone to protect us frogs?”

“It really is something Anne woulda done!” Hearing that last line really warmed Sasha’s heart. They were comparing her to Anne in a way that praised both of them at the same time! She wasn’t really familiar with that method of praise, but she wasn’t about to complain!

“Thanks, you guys.” She stood up with a smile “You can count on me. For real, this time!” She got a few cheers for this before the old lady asked the inevitable question.

“Sooo… what happens now?” The girl knew what she wanted to say, but she still wanted to get some approval from her godfather. Thankfully, he nodded. He witnessed first hand just how useful the townsfolk were in a fight, so she hardly needed to make a case for herself. Instead, she gave a confident answer to the question asked.

“We start fighting back! And I think I know just the way to start.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out something that she’d nearly forgotten about. A little glass bottle with a glowing yellow liquid inside. Grime straightened his back and put a hand on his hip.

“I thought you were out of those!” He nearly accused her of hiding it from him, but that wasn’t the case. All she had to do was explain and he’d see reason.

“Oh, this one’s not mine. Remember when Anne, Marcy, and I accidentally mixed up our potions and I turned into a frog for a few minutes? Specifically a pink frog with blonde hair?” Upon hearing that, he wore a confused look for a few moments. But when it finally clicked, his eyes widened and he stared straight at her.

“You don’t mean…”

“If we can trick Andrias into thinking that the Plantars are back already, then we might just be able to buy that family a little extra time before he sends something after them!” Judging by the confused murmurs from the townsfolk, it seemed they were unaware of how their potions really worked. But that was okay because they were going to learn first hand just how far she was willing to go!

She popped the cork off of the bottle and downed it, ready for whatever Andrias had in store!...