13. Chapter 13

Sasha ran through her makeshift obstacle course, dodging around trees and jumping from stump to mushroom to rock and back. She also leaped over a chasm with a centipede that was ready to try its luck on getting a quick snack. Of course it failed as the Monster of the Tower ran off to continue her workout. She came across the same sturdy branch that she’d tested plenty of times before and started doing pull-ups on it. She then flipped off of it to find herself in front of the four training dummies that she’d set up.

She made each one to specifically resemble the frog family that destroyed her life, including their own adopted monster! Upon seeing them and remembering what had happened on top of that tower, she sprang into action! She started by head bashing the one that looked like the young boy, then moved on to chop the one that resembled Hopediah in half with her bare hand. She’d been surprised she found out that that trick still worked in her true form! She proceeded to punt the dummy that resembled the tadpole and turn to the last one.

She made it specifically to resemble Anne so that she could try attacking a target that was closer to her own size. Every time she looked at it, she remembered what The Wartwood Creature said to her. The idea that Anne just assumed she knew what was up with her still irked her. She talked like she thought that no one had ever disciplined Sasha! If she had ANY idea of what Grime put her through, then she wouldn’t have said that.

She shook her head and roundhouse kicked the training dummy in its ‘chest’ so that she could pull a sword on it, ending her morning workout. She’d been getting better at using her true form now that she was permanently stuck in it! Being on the run made regular medicine deliveries impossible, so she’d just learned how to deal with it. She couldn’t go into public unless she wanted to pretend to be a newt, though. She shook her head, trying to get rid of those thoughts and turned towards the shack they’d been staying in.

“Hey Grime, how was my form on that last kick?... Grime?” He wasn’t there. Normally he’d be outside, giving her tips based on what he could see. They’d explored her physical limits before, so he was aware of what she would and wouldn’t be capable of when compared to a toad. Because of that, he typically oversaw her training once she got to the dummies and gave her pointers on how to improve based on what was translatable between their species. This time, though, he was nowhere to be seen! She knew exactly where he was, though, given his new depressive state.

She groaned and went behind the shack to find the toads who raised her there and sparring with each other. They stopped the moment they saw her.

“Sasha, sweetie! How’d your morning training go?” Braddock asked her daughter in the sweetest tone that she could muster. Ever since they’d gotten away from the military, Sasha had been understandably frustrated. She’d spent all of that time building up the perfect trap for The Wartwood Creature and it all literally came crumbling down! At the very least, she always stayed friendly with them regardless of how she felt about that, so they knew it was still her on the inside.

“Grime hasn’t come out of the shack all day. He didn’t even watch my combat training like he usually does.” Sasha said, clearly frustrated. By this point, Grime was practically a member of the family, so it was nice to see their daughter genuinely caring about him.

“Well, his entire livelihood that he’d spent his whole life building up collapsed right in front of him, so of course he’d be in a pretty rough state.” Percy added. Sasha sat down on the ground next to them, obviously contemplating something. Seeing as they were actually eye-level with her for once, they each placed a hand on one of her relatively narrow shoulders. Braddock was about to offer some more words of encouragement when Sasha’s gaze suddenly snapped up and she stood back up to tower over them!

“I’ve got it! I know how to get him out of his rut!” Sasha explained her plan to the toads that raised her. They seemed to like the idea, agreeing to at least try it out. Ideas like this were the main reason why Grime theorized that she was a natural alpha of her species, after all! Once the setup was complete, she went back to the door and opened it, calling for Grime along the way.

“Grime? Are you in he- OH MY FROG!!” He was there, all right. Just sitting on a bag of grains and lazily munching on some beetles. He was even drinking bog grog! He seemed to be staring off into space until Sasha approached him and crossed her arms, staring him down with her predatory gaze to show how upset she was.

“Hey, what’s up Sasha?” He said in the most casual tone possible while snapping his fingers in her direction. The simple fact that he wasn’t even intimidated by her would normally show some courage, but in his case, all it showed was how used to her he was. Still, as much as she respected him, she’d gotten frustrated enough that she felt like she needed to give him a piece of her mind.

“Oh, I’ll tell you what’s up! You’re sitting here, staring off into space all day while we’re supposed to be training!” She held up a wanted poster with his face on it that the toads who raised her had found “What are you gonna do when someone comes to collect the big, fat price on your big, fat head?” Just then, two toads burst through the windows behind her!

One came at her with a sword while the other came at her with an axe! She responded by parrying with her overly long arms and dodging with her overly long legs. She proceeded to keep on parrying while calling for Grime’s help. He reached for his sword with minimal effort, but after failing to reach it from his seat, he simply looked over at her and dismissed the idea.

“Nah, you got this.” Seeing that her plan had failed, her shoulders dropped and she tossed her sword on the ground.

“Ugh! Okay guys, that’s enough.” She stood perfectly still, confident that the toads wouldn’t hurt her. They stumbled over themselves and each other when they saw that she wasn’t moving at all because she was right. Percy ended up landing on top of Braddock. The two of them got up and removed their hoods as Grime did a double take and questioned what he was seeing.

“Percy? Braddock? Why were you-”

“Sasha thought a little action might help you get outta your rut.”

“So you staged this attack? I can’t believe this.” He laughed a little bit at their antics and sighed “Hey, you guys want to sit with me for a bit? Relax a little.” The two toads were about to take him up on his offer when their monster daughter grabbed both of them by the backs of their shirts and pulled them towards the door.

“Aw heck naw!” She shouted as she spun them around with little to no effort.

“You two… go into town and get some food or whatever. I need a word with Captain Grime. Alone!” She handed them a few coppers she’d been keeping a hold of in her pocket and sent them off. Knowing how she got when she was frustrated, the couple promptly left Grime to deal with her. He was the object of her aggression this time, after all. At the very least they knew they could trust her to not hurt him.

The time she spent around the tower in her true form had made everyone realize just how in control she was of herself. Even when someone made her upset, she still reacted the same way regardless of her form! Psychologically, there didn’t appear to be any differences between her forms, so it was pretty easy for everyone to eventually get used to her. The only difficulties came when they tried to utilize her form changes more often. Thankfully Gary had some ‘connections’, as he called them, (refusing to go into any more detail than that) that hooked them up with a satchel of magic-canceling berries. After that, she tended to spend most of her time in her true form and only used her toad form when she absolutely had to.

The pair admittedly missed her adorable toad form, but there wasn’t anything they could do about getting her more medicine. All they could do was trust her to be able to handle herself while they continued to dodge anyone who might try to apprehend them for aiding Grime! At the very least, Sasha’s true form was naturally intimidating enough to scare away most of the people that tried to do so. Knowing that, they confidently went together to the nearby town to do exactly as their daughter asked of them.

Meanwhile Sasha turned back to Grime, pulling as angry of a face as she could. One thing she used to like about him was the fact that he was probably the only person who was never intimidated by her existence. Now, though, it was inconvenient for her because it meant that he basically just dismissed her when she did that. Which meant that she had to try to convince him with words… again. Still, it was better than nothing, so she turned to him and started to scold him.

“Look at you! You’re a mess! What happened to the Grime I used to know?” He sighed and sat back down on the bag of grains as he responded while lying down mid-sentence.

“Augh, he’s gone. Ever since Newtopia branded me a traitor, I don’t see the point anymore.”

“So you lost control of the Valley and abandoned your post and now you’re a fugitive. That doesn’t mean we should give up! We can still put those frogs back in their place and reclaim what’s ours!” At this, Grime sat back up and looked at Sasha with a deadpan expression while giving a sarcastic laugh.

“Us and what army? All but two of our soldiers have abandoned us. And the only reason they haven’t is because they’re your parents and they support you in your bid to help me. We can’t POSSIBLY retake the Valley!”

“Oh so that’s it, then? You’re just gonna sit here and do nothing?” Sasha crossed her arms.

“‘Do nothing’? Helloooo, I’ve been growing a beard.” Grime gestured to his chin while Sasha responded in a hushed tone while rolling her eyes.

“Yeah, don’t remind me.”

“Look Sasha, don’t worry about it. I may be a little out of shape,” Grime took out another beetle of bog grog and downed the whole thing in one go before continuing “but I’m sure I can still lick whoever Newtopia sends after me.” He crushed the beetle in his fist and tossed it into the air only to catch it with his tongue and swallow it whole. He then let out a loud burp that actually made Sasha recoil a little bit.

“You better be right about that. If you get caught, then chances are I’ll get caught alongside you. And if I don’t get locked up in some sort of jail cell, then I just might end up getting carted off to some zoo!” She mumbled as she turned away.

“Trust me, Sasha. With both you and me together, there’s no possible way that anyone will get us. We’re both terrifying to look at for completely different reasons.”

“ I am. At this point, you’ve become a washed up slob. You need to get off your butt and do some training!” Grime only grumbled back at her, so she continued “Look, just come outside at least. I’d like you to see my training progress.” She leveled with him. He groaned, but got up anyways and followed her outside only to lay down on a pile of leaves that was next to the door.

They went through a few rounds where Sasha continued to strike the dummies just like before. For the most part, Grime just told her that she was doing good without really giving her any advice. After the fourth go, Sasha started to get frustrated with him again and decided to use his own old tactics on him because nothing else seemed to work.

“Okay, so first of all, this ‘beard’ and ‘burping’ situation? UNACCEPTABLE!! Secondly-” She was cut off by the sound of whistling and wondered if the toads who raised her were back already. She turned to look only to see a pink newt approaching from the distance. From what she could tell, this newt was wearing a brilliant set of armour with a cape and everything. Judging by the badges on her chest, she was clearly an army general from Newtopia!

“I’ve found you at last.” She said as she looked directly at Grime. Once her gaze flicked over to Sasha, though, she did a double take. The Monster of the Tower expected her to be freaked out and possibly retreat because of her. If nothing else, then to simply reevaluate how to take on a creature like Sasha. Instead, she simply muttered to herself.

“Another one?... Heh, no matter.” Ah. So she’d met Anne already as well! If that were the case, then the chance of seeming genuinely intimidating might not work so well. At the very least, that meant she could speak up and try to pry for some sort of weakness.

“Who the heck are you?” Sasha asked. The newt smiled and began to introduce herself while posing dramatically.

“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! And I’m here to- wait. You’re Grime? The fiercest fighter of the coliseum?” Given how long winded of an introduction that was, it seemed this newt was pretty full of herself. Grime answered her question casually while drinking another beetle of bog grog.

“Yep, that’s me. You here for my autograph?”

“Nope, I’m here for your head !” General Yunan corrected Grime’s sarcasm. She made her threat as she closed her fists and two long claws extended from the backs of each of her wrists. Obviously the parts that covered the backs of her hands were dulled, but the rest were clearly razor sharp! And the tips even had a fishhook design in order to cause maximum pain.

“Well… that took a dark turn.” Grime dropped the casualness in favor of mild shock from how quickly that had escalated. Sasha, on the other hand, took the opportunity to taunt the newt.

“HA! Some general you are. Where’s your army?”

“I had an army once.” Yunan said before quickly whipping her blades at the training dummies that Sasha had set back up earlier. What made it all the more intimidating, though, was the fact that at least three trees on either side of her also fell to the ground. Sasha hadn’t seen her cut them, but there was no other explanation for that. General Yunan then said, in the most menacing voice that she could muster,

“They slowed me down!” Sasha stared at her, wide eyed. Ever since discovering the existence of her true form, nothing had scared or intimidated her in the slightest! Nothing until this point, at least.

“Oooookay, we’re leaving now.” Sasha said as fast as she possibly could while grabbing Grime by the shoulder of his shirt and running off with him! They went to the woods that Sasha had been training in for the past few weeks because the girl knew that their best chance of losing the newt would be to lose her in a place that she was unfamiliar with.

“Just my luck! They send some psychotic glory-hound after us! We’ll never escape her.” Grime complained. Sasha followed up with

“Like heck we won’t! Follow me!” Sasha grabbed a nearby vine and used it to swing over a small ravine. She followed it up by bouncing across some mushrooms and up a steep cliff. When she looked back, she saw Grime still trying to reach the vine and failing to do so. Despite being a toad , his jumps had gotten about as pathetic as her own in her true form!

Sasha groaned and went back to help him get across. It was a bit of a challenge, seeing as he was actually still heavier than her, but they eventually managed to get him past the area! When they got up, Sasha continued running while Grime did his best to follow after her and keep up. While the girl didn’t know if it was him being out of shape or just her species’ apparent super endurance, she still had to slow down so as not to lose him.

“Couldn’t we have taken an easier route?”

“Maybe if you had trained with me once in a while, you’d be prepared for a situation like this!” She slapped a branch out of the way while continuing to run. When Grime got to it, though, it smacked him right in the face! He then proceeded to use his claws to snap it right off of the tree in rage.

“ENOUGH!! At least be honest about why you throw yourself into your training!” He demanded of the girl. He’d been gentle with her up to this point, simply letting her call him out like she’d been. But at this point, his patience had run thin and he needed to call her out in turn!

“What are you talking about?”

“Hellllooo, it’s a distraction. You’re using it to keep your mind off the real reason you’re upset.”

“Look, I know why I’m upset. I’m upset because I lost the duel at Toad Tower. AKA, the biggest fight of my life!”

“Oh-ho please! You’re not upset because you lost the fight, you’re upset because you lost Anne! You’re upset that you couldn’t claim your role as the alpha between the two of you and call her to your side! And that you probably never will.” He’d been hoping to ease her into those problems and at least try to help her through them, but at this point, he was too winded to care and he knew she needed to hear that! She stopped for a moment and while he couldn’t see her face, her voice told him everything he needed to know.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” The girl yelled at him, her voice breaking in the process. Grime knew he’d hit the nail on the head, so to speak and her tone reminded him that she was still only thirteen years old! He realized that maybe he’d been just a little too harsh on her, so he turned to console her when he saw it!

“SASHA!! LOOK OUT!!” He reached out and grabbed her spindly arm in his wide hand in order to prevent her from running straight off of a cliff! Looking down, the two of them noticed that the waterfall next to them had created a myriad of sharp rocks. No matter how durable her monster form might be, there was no possible way for her to survive THAT fall if she hit her head at the bottom!

“Ooo, that’s a long way down.” Grime said as Sasha turned around to face the direction they’d come from.

“Looks like our only option is to make a stand.”

“No, our only option is for you to get out of here.”

“What?” She whipped her head towards him in confusion. Why would he say that? Did he not care about himself anymore? Sure, he’d let himself go in a massive bout of depression, but was this really how he wanted to go out?! And why would he tell her to go on without him?!

“She only wants me. Go! Save yourself, now!” Grime began to give her commands like the beast she was in the vain hope that she’d actually listen despite clearly not wanting to. He knew she was more intelligent than that, but maybe something in her would actually listen. Yes, she was an alpha, but she was also a child and a former underling of his! He kept going.

“Before it’s too late. What are you waiting for? Get going! Leave me!”

“NO!!... Listen, there’s another reason why I’ve been training so hard. To protect the one person I know I can count on right now. You! You were right all that time ago when you said that the people who raised me weren’t all that reliable. It’s why I came to rely on you, even before I knew I wasn’t a toad! You didn’t dismiss or coddle me just because I’m a kid, but you still allowed for the mistakes that I’d make because of it. You’ve shown me far more respect than any other adult and for that, I see you as a true friend!”

“Wow. I did not see that coming.” Grime genuinely hadn’t realized how much he’d affected the young monster! He wanted to say more to her about it, but he was cut off by the psychotic newt’s reappearance.

“Ah, I see you have decided to submit to the great General Yunan! Scourge of the sand wars, defeater of Ragnar the Wretched, the youngest newt ever-”

“Uhh, do you HAVE to do this every single time?” Sasha cut her off, not wanting to listen to the spiel again.

“Honestly? Yes. Repetition helps it stick!” General Yunan deadpanned towards Sasha and then turned towards Grime “Alright, you washed up slob, time to go.”

“Hey! Only I can call him that!” Sasha yelled while drawing her sword. She ran at the General while yelling in a last ditch intimidation attempt. Yunan simply countered her by jumping and smacking the monster away with her tail! Sasha was more used to people recoiling at the sight of her, but if this newt had already met Anne, then it’d make sense for her to be over it.

“LIEUTENANT!!” Grime shouted after her as she flew back and collided with a rock so hard that it actually cracked! Sasha held the side of her head, obviously disoriented while he extended his tongue to grab a branch off of a tree to use as a makeshift bludgeon. He was about to stand protectively over Sasha when she actually stood up. It seemed most of the blow was absorbed by her armour, so she was still ready to fight! Seeing this, Grime turned to General Yunan and actually spoke directly to her for the first time.

“If you want me, General, you’ll have to fight both of us!”

“Why not? After all, two heads are better than one!” The newt unsheathed her blades, pulling a manic smile that even intimidated Sasha a little bit. She refused to show it, though, and simply addressed Grime while Yunan appeared to be waiting for the first move.

“Welcome back, Captain.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant, for reminding me that I’ve still got something worth fighting for… I’m talking about our friendship, not sure if you caught that.” Grime finished awkwardly. He wasn’t used to talking about that sort of stuff, so he just wanted to make sure he was clear.

“I got it. Now come on!” Sasha shouted before the two rushed in to fight General Yunan! The newt jumped up behind the monster, but took a defensive stance when Sasha whipped around with her sword and tried to slash at her. Yunan parried with her left and went in for a swing with her right! Sasha managed to dodge out of the way just in time and was spared from Yunan going after her again because Grime came rushing in at the newt!

Yunan slashed at Grime’s makeshift weapon until it was nothing more than a few chunks of severed wood lying on the ground! Once the toad realized what had happened, Yunan kicked him in the face and sent him tumbling! She approached him with murderous intent, remembering that she’d gotten permission to kill him before she left. While she hadn’t expected to see the monster that was with him, she was fully willing to take her out too. Marcy didn’t need to know that the only other member of her base species they knew of was a criminal. Best to just sweep that one under the rug!

She was about to take the toad’s head off when she felt a pressure come from her side! The monster had roundhouse kicked her away! She had to admit that this one had far more spunk than Marcy ever would, so she’d have to improvise a whole new fighting style! Feeling the heat of the battle, she jumped back in and focused all of her attention on the beast in front of her.

As she parried blow after blow, she noticed that the creature fought a lot like a toad, but taller. Standing her ground and using her weight to stay grounded instead of ducking and weaving around like Yunan knew to do. It was a bit of an adjustment, but one that she kind of had fun trying to pull off! As they fought, she noticed that the creature was also starting to adapt by making more subtle dodges! She did have the height of a newt, after all. Still, her toad-like style was just enough to get the better of her when the brute strength of her sword swing shattered the blades on Yunan’s right hand!

“Well that can’t be good.” She didn’t even try to hide it, seeing as there’d be no real way to do so. She’d apparently spent so much time trying to keep her blades sharp that she’d neglected to notice how thin the respective blades were getting! Sure, they were replaceable with the spares that the princess had given her, but that didn’t help in the moment! She was brought out of her thoughts by the monster once again going in for another slash that Yunan managed to block just in time!

“HA! Are you struggling ? Didn’t think you’d meet your match out here, did you?” The creature taunted her. Yunan had to think quickly! She glanced over the monster and realized something. With her having a toad-like fighting style, any disruption to her stance would land her on her butt. And with limbs as long and spindly as hers, it’d be easy to do that! Yunan stealthily wrapped the tip of her tail around her ankle and pulled, achieving exactly the result she’d been hoping for!

The general held her remaining blades up towards the creature’s face. She hesitated for a bit, wondering if killing off the only other member of Marcy’s base species was really a good idea. The princess wouldn’t need to know about it and she’d basically denied that the ‘book beast’ incident had ever happened, so maybe it’d be the best for her, but if she ever did find out, then the princess would likely never forgive her. But on top of that, this one had been aiding a criminal that simply had to go! Yunan was about to plunge her blades into the creature’s neck when it spoke up.

“Shoot, what did you say your name was again? I forgot.” As insulting as that was, something was off about what she’d said and Yunan was ready to call her out on that.

“Beetle dung! The only other member of your species that I’ve ever encountered was the smartest person I’ve ever met! There’s no way something as obviously capable as one of your own would be that dumb!” The creature pulled a confused face at her words.

“Really? Anne’s not THAT smart!”

“Wha? Who the heck is Annnnneee?!” The toad that she’d forgotten about earlier had managed to sneak up behind her and push her over the nearby cliff!

“Hope you can swim!” He yelled out, taunting her in the process! Of course she could swim! Any amphibian could, especially a newt! Yunan ultimately decided to ignore the insult in favour of shouting back on her way down.

“This cannot be! I am General Yunan!” She shouted before she hit the water. From above, she heard the monster call out at her.

“Oh yeah? Well I’m Sasha Vors! Monster of the Tower, slayer of herons, and first lieutenant to Captain Grime!”

“And I’m Captain Grime. Drinker of bog grog, grower of beards, and godfather to a monster child!” Sasha did a double take! What did he just say? General Yunan shouted something back at the duo, but Sasha didn’t hear it. She was far too focused on what Grime had said.

“W-wait, what was that last one?”

“Your parents didn’t tell you? Shortly after you discovered that you weren’t really a toad and I helped you through that, Percy actually gathered the guts to ask me if I wanted to sign off to be your godfather because of how much I favored you at the time. I agreed because you were the best pupil I ever had!” He exclaimed! Sasha had to stop for a moment as she just stared at him for a while. He actively signed on to be her godfather, even after all of that? Before they knew that her true form was still sentient?! He continued as though he hadn’t just dropped a boom shroom of information.

“Now I am fired up! Forget retaking the Valley. Forget serving the kingdom at all! How about we raise a frog-dang army and storm the capitol! It’s high time a toad ruled this world for a change!” Grime was, for once, back to his old self and ready to actually start training again! Sasha decided right then and there that she got extremely lucky with Grime actually being her godfather and she couldn’t ask for a better one!

“THAT’S WHAT I’M TALKING ABOUT!!” Sasha shouted while wrapping an arm around his big head and pulling him close for a moment! Neither one of them was really a hugger, but this was a moment of celebration that really called for it! As the two of them started their walk back to the shack, Sasha let her mind wander a little bit.

The fact that General Yunan had seen another one of her kind, but didn’t seem to know who Anne was raised a lot of questions for the girl. Were there actually three of them? Or did the general just not know Anne’s name? And she said that this other one was the smartest person she’d ever met? Anne was homeschooled by frogs, so there was no possible way for her to be that smart! Sasha was missing some piece of the puzzle and she felt the urge to see if she could figure it out.

When the duo was almost back to the shack, they both picked up on the sounds of the toads who raised Sasha calling for the two of them! They were worried, but the girl had full confidence that they’d understand what happened. Selling the two of them on the idea of trying to take over the world, though, would be a little difficult. Once they confirmed that everyone was safe, Sasha and Grime pitched their idea to them.

“I don’t know, Sweetie. This is a pretty tall order and we’d need the help of all of the other three towers.”

“Then we’ll get their help! If we reveal my existence and tell them all the truth about me, adding onto the fact that I literally killed a heron, they’re bound to see that we’re capable!”

“Sasha, how do you know they won’t just kill you for being a monster and then arrest the rest of us?” Percy asked his daughter. He wanted to support her, but he originally got the potions that turned her into a toad in order to protect her from exactly this! Sure, she was old enough to know how to defend herself, but she was still just a kid!

“Don’t worry, Grime will do all the talking while I support him, thus showing my loyalty in a non-violent way.” Grime spoke up in support of his goddaughter.

“And I’ll make sure that anyone who tries to hurt her has to go through me first!” The two parents really didn’t want to do this, but they also knew how important something like this would be for their daughter! Maybe she’d even start calling them ‘mom’ and ‘dad’ again if they did! After a quick conversation between the two of them about this, they came to the conclusion that that just might be what they needed to do!

It took nearly a month and a half of planning and preparations, but at least during that time, Grime managed to get himself back into proper fighting shape again! Sasha told them to keep an ear out for more stories regarding her species because she was pretty sure there was a third one out there somewhere, but they weren’t able to find anything regarding that. They did meet one newt family that spoke highly of Anne, saying that she saved them all from a salt flood, but they figured Sasha probably wouldn’t want to hear about that. They dismissed them pretty quickly before they could go off on another spiel!

Meanwhile Percy managed to get them all brand new sets of matching armour by raising some money with his street performing! After they all got cleaned up, the four of them sent off a proposal request to the council for them all to meet at the Northern Toad Tower. The group was a little bit surprised when their request was accepted, but they knew to make sure they didn’t screw it up at this point. So long as everything went according to plan, they’d be just fine!

The appointed day came quickly and before they knew it, they were all standing on a stage, ready to give their speech! They made sure to bring an easel with a bunch of flippable papers. The illustrations were drawn by Braddock to go along with their big speech! They started off with an extremely flashy introduction coordinated by Percy that got everyone’s attention right away. While most of the toads stared at Sasha in disbelief, Grime demanded the floor by starting up his speech!

“My fellow toads! For years we have kept the kingdom’s servants in line, but are we not just servants, ourselves? I propose a future where toads overthrow King Andrias and take our rightful place as rulers of all Amphibia!” The speech was short, but it got right to the point! No flowery language or buttering up, just a motive and a solution. Sasha had kept her mouth shut the entire time and simply flipped through the easel drawings in order to show how ‘well trained’ she was.

There was silence for a good while. While the presenting party was somewhat nervous about how this would be received, they knew to simply stand their ground and wait. Maybe they were nervous about Sasha’s existence? It was hard to tell until one of the commanders, Bufo of the East Tower, finally responded.

“You all took a huge risk, coming here to gain support for your rebellion.” He narrowed his eyes at them, but was ultimately cut off by Beatrix of the West Tower.

“And it paid off! We froggin’ love this!” The crowd cheered for the group, obviously showing their support, even despite the fact that Sasha was there! Or maybe it was because she was there. Perhaps rumours of her existence travelled up the grape vine, so to speak. Still, Beatrix wasn’t done.

“Nicely done, Grimothy.” She said in a mocking tone. Despite how much she now supported them, it was a reminder that she was Grime’s sister and she was still going to take the occasional harmless jab at him. Grime blushed in embarrassment, though. He didn’t need the family he’d been staying with to know about that. Sasha leaned down to him and softly asked

“No way, is your real name-”

“We’re not talking about this!” He cut her off. Beatrix was the only living person who got away with calling him that and he was NOT about to let anyone else start! Before they could continue with it, Bufo had a question.

“So tell us, tell us. Who’s leading this revolution?”

“I was thinking uuuusss?” The captains’ faces fell and they turned away from the group, whispering to each other before turning back to them. Bufo was the one to break it to them.

“Yeah, I don’t think so. We love your vision, but no toad is going to follow the command of a fugitive with a pet monster.” Sasha crossed her arms at hearing this and spoke just loud enough to be heard as she calmly corrected him.

“I’m not a pet. I’m intelligent, just like the rest of you. I even helped write that speech.” They stared at her for a moment, obviously not having been prepared for her to be able to talk. Beatrix was the first one to snap out of it.

“Bufo’s right, though. Just because rumours of those monsters being benevolent have been spreading around doesn’t mean we should trust one. And besides, with how weak willed they are, given that they’re serving frogs, how do we know this one won’t just buckle under these expectations?”

The group knew that Sasha was cut from a different cloth than Anne, but the rest of the toads didn’t! They just assumed that she was as soft as her, which reminded Sasha about how Anne had incorrectly assumed all of that stuff about her life!

“Speaking of which, this whole thing is beginning to sound too risky. Guards, arrest them!” Seeing their plan suddenly backfire like this enraged Sasha. Sure, she’d never been able to find any sort of beastial rage mode, but if there was one thing she’d learned from being a toad for so long, it was how to channel what rage she did have! As the guards came at them, she ran towards them and weaved around their first attempt at a stab!

She moved forewards to feign a headbutt, which made the guard lift his spear. Instead, Sasha kicked him in his chest with her spindly legs, thus knocking him to the ground without permanently injuring him while also disarming him! She then used the butt end of the spear she grabbed to do the very same thing to the next guard. All of a sudden, they realized that she was indeed a relative threat, but the fact that she actively avoided going for the kill proved that she still had enough restraint that they all let her speak when she turned to Bufo!

“Listen here, you buffoon, what’s it gonna take to prove that you should follow us?!” At this, the previously thought dead toad in the middle of the other two commanders, Aldo of the North Tower, leaned forewards and actually answered for Bufo!

“Barrell’s warhammer!” The other two captains turned towards him.

“Barrell’s hammer? You’ve finally gone senile, Aldo!”

“Yeah, that’s a suicide mission.” Bufo and Beatrix respectively stated.

“It is the one thing, the only thing that will prove we should follow you.” Sasha knew what this was. Telling someone to retrieve Barrell’s warhammer was the same as telling them to just go and off themselves! Still, the girl’s pride was at stake and she knew the legends. She knew that if she somehow actually succeeded, then all the toads in existence would be like clay in her hands! Her inner alpha would finally be satisfied!

“Great! Done! You’ll have it in your crypt-keeper hands by morning!” She promised, not realizing that the toads who raised her were literally shaking in fear of her as she pointed fingers directly at one of the most powerful toads to exist! Even Grime was surprised by her display! At this, she whipped around with a flourish of her cape and walked out of the room.

Grime, Percy, and Braddock all followed her, of course, but none of them expected her to actually be serious about going to get it! Next thing they knew, though, the four of them were all on a raft headed down a calm river towards where the warhammer was supposed to be. As they went, Sasha finally noticed that the toads who raised her were still shaking in fear. Perhaps she’d overdone it back there. Given that they finally had a calm moment, Sasha decided to try talking to them for once.

“Hey, so I realize that I haven’t really been all that great to you guys lately.” They turned to her “So I’d just like to apologize. I know that what I said back there in the tower was pretty… scary. But I know that if we actually manage to pull this off, then we’ll be able to live the rest of our lives in luxury!...” They stayed silent as they listened to her, but Sasha knew she’d have to level with them even more! She sat on the floor of the raft in order to bring her eye level just down to where it’d be if she still had her medicine.

“You do know that I still love you guys, right? I mean, you raised me, so of course I do! You gave me so many opportunities that I’ve taken for granted in the past. So here’s the thing! If things get too wild out here, just give me a signal and I’ll call the whole thing off. I still want to try this, but I’m not about to lose the ones who matter the most to me.” Percy and Braddock hadn’t heard their daughter be this open and compassionate with them in months!

“Okay, sweetie. We’ll let out an ‘I’m frightened’ croak as the signal, but we’ll still give this a try!” Braddock immediately confirmed. She didn’t want to let Sasha down now that the family was so close to truly being back together! In all honesty, she’d thought that maybe her daughter would never call her ‘mom’ again, which broke her heart! But if they at least helped her with this, then Braddock was confident that Sasha would do that.

“We’re here!” Grime announced! Sure enough, they’d landed at an island in the middle of a swamp. After tying the boat up, the group got off and started walking towards the middle. Percy still got Sasha’s attention, though.

“Hey Sasha? Thanks for saying that. I feel better already, knowing you still care!”

“Of course! And don’t forget, just let out the right croak and we’ll leave.” And with that, the four of them started walking around the island, Sasha keeping a stronger lookout, given that she was the tallest in the group! After going for a while without seeing it, Grime voiced a complaint.

“This is insane! Even if it exists, we’ll never find it!”

“Found it!” Percy announced just as Grime finished. Despite having been the one to actually find it, even he was shocked! There was no way it could be this easy, but there it was! It was clearly lodged into the ground with a few cobweb pieces on it, but it was there!

“I-I don’t believe it. It’s real!” Grime practically whispered in disbelief while chuckling “Our ticket to revolution!”

“And no mindless beast in sight! Could life actually be this easy for once?” Percy hoped he hadn’t just jinxed it, but the others didn’t scold him or anything for saying it, so he just let it be. Next thing they knew, Grime was trying to lift the hammer out of the muck it was seemingly stuck in. He couldn’t seem to get it to budge, but that wasn’t surprising at all, given the legends behind it.

“A little help here?” He asked in a quiet voice. The remaining three of them all surrounded the hammer and started to pull with all their combined might! The moment it actually started to move, though, they all knew that whatever was supposedly guarding the hammer was about to show itself because the ground started shaking! They all let go of the hammer and drew their weapons in preparation to fight! With their backs all to each other, they figured there was no way whatever-this-was would sneak up on them!

At least until the very ground beneath them started to really move, that was! Next thing they knew, they were all thrown into the water! While Sasha had indeed learned how to swim in her true form, her swimming strength wasn’t enough to keep her afloat while she had armour on! Thankfully the toads who raised her were there to bring her back to the raft! As they pulled her up, she coughed out the little bit of filthy water she’d nearly inhaled and then turned around!

The creature shrieked in a loud and high pitched way that made Sasha’s ears hurt, but it didn’t seem to affect the toads. She covered her ears with her hands only to feel a pair of cold, slimy hands slip overtop of hers! Sasha looked up to see that the man who raised her had caught on and was trying to help protect her ears. He wore a terrified expression, but he still rushed to her aid regardless.

She then looked forewards and recognized the creature from an old story that someone told her when she was little. It was a narwhal worm! She’d heard that its screech could immobilize or even deafen some creatures, but that amphibians were thankfully immune. For the first time since the Southern Toad Tower collapsed, she genuinely wished she had a bottle of medicine on her!

“What a great way to go!” Grime shouted up at it while drawing his sword. The narwhal worm mercifully stopped shrieking, so Sasha was able to take her hands off of her ears, but what she heard next made her stop.

“I’m frightened.” She heard the croak come from both of the people who raised her. They were both just behind her, but the warhammer was right in front of all of them! Sasha looked back and forth between them a couple of times, conflicted on what she should do. If she should actually call the mission off like they wanted to or go after the hammer. However, she began to remember a lesson she learned long ago when she was at that youth military camp.

‘It’s easier to ask for forgiveness than permission’. In remembering how following that line of thought had led her to where she ended up with Grime, she knew it worked.

“Sorry guys, but we’re way too close to bail. I am not going back empty handed.”

“But-”

“You said-” Percy and Braddock respectively tried to say. They were floored! Their own daughter would risk all of their lives, even after she said what she did?! Was she just lying? Sure, they still saw her as their daughter, but it became clear that she’d stopped seeing them as her parents a long time ago. She began to bark orders.

“Steer it closer! We need to get it to attack us!”

“WHAT?!”

“Trust me!” The parents stood stock still, so Grime did as Sasha demanded. The way the girl’s back was turned towards them made them realize that she’d stopped caring about them entirely. She wasn’t even acknowledging their presence anymore! They sailed right up to it and Sasha started beating on its seemingly impenetrable hide with the hilt of her sword. She didn’t do any damage, but that didn’t seem to be her intention. The worm slithered around to look straight at them!

“Alright, now we’ve got its attention. Get ready!” The three toads waited for the monster’s command right beside her “three… two… one… NOW!!” She counted down for its attack so that all of them would jump at the same time and land right on the narwhal worm’s back, somewhat close to its head. It dove underwater for a few moments, but with the toads’ claws and the girl’s sword, they were all able to keep their grip! Sasha’s grip ended up being the most stable, though, when the slope became too steep for the toads to hang on to thanks to the worm breaking through the surface of the water and rearing its head back!

The girl held onto her sword with one hand and reached out with the other, catching Grime, who caught Braddock, who caught Percy! Thankfully, they didn’t need to hold on for too long as the narwhal worm flattened itself out and started moving in a seemingly random direction. Seeing that the toads were all safe, Sasha removed her sword from the carapace of the worm and started running up the length of its back and towards the hammer! It was right there and all she had to do was grab it! Even with the combined strength of all four of them, though, they simply couldn’t get it to budge again.

“This thing’s never coming loose!” She yelled before an idea hit her! She had some rope on her from the boat, so she tied a lasso and threw it so that it landed overtop of the narwhal worm’s horn. From there, she gave it a strong tug in order to urge the beast in the direction she wanted it to go. It reared its head back, making Percy and Braddock fall backwards a bit and cling on for dear life with their claws! Grime, however, was able to stay where he was simply by tightening his grip on the hammer. Once it leveled out again, he called out to her.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“What’s it look like? I’m getting the warhammer back to the tower!”

“... YOU ARE THE MOST UNHINGED GODDAUGHTER I COULD HAVE EVER ASKED FOR AND I HAVE NO REGRETS!!” Grime shouted at her. And while most would take offense to something like that, Sasha could only smile! She didn’t say it in the moment, but he knew that she couldn’t have asked for a better godfather! The toad who appointed him as such, however, had a much different opinion.

“Sasha! Please! Stop this!”

“But we’re almost there! And we’re in too deep now!” She argued with him! They couldn’t just give up right then and there! Grime gasped as he realized something.

“The tower! It’s coming up too fast! We’re going to crash into it; go left! Go left!” Sasha’s eyes widened as she realized that he was right, so she pulled on the rope in order to follow his directions. However the creature just kept charging straight forewards, ignoring her pulls!

“I can’t! I’ve lost control of it!”

“There must be another way to stop it!” Grime started trying to get Sasha to help him think of a solution, but still grabbed on to the rope anyways in the hope that he could somehow get it to obey.

“The warhammer! It’s the only thing big enough to dent this thing’s armour!” Sasha concluded. The two of them ran over to it and started trying to pull even harder this time! Once again, however, it didn’t budge!

“Ugh, it’s no use. Sasha! We’ve got to get out of here or we’ll all die!” He ordered her. But she wasn’t having any of it.

“NO!! I can do this! I am not gonna fail! I am a monster! I am an alpha! AND I REFUSE TO LET SOMEONE LIKE ANNE MAKE ME LOOK WEAK!!” Grime watched as Sasha’s eyes glowed pink for just a moment! A reaction that he’d never seen before, and realized that it must be her beastial beserk state finally coming out! Thankfully her upbringing as a toad conditioned her to channel all of her rage into physical action, so she widened her stance to a somewhat awkward, but more stable position that matched the width of Grime’s!

Readjusting her grip on the warhammer, she put her all into lifting it, feeling the strain of her muscles as she pushed them beyond their natural limits! She clenched her teeth and focused everything she had into just this one action, finally causing it to move. Next thing she knew, she’d lifted it over her head in pure triumph! She had pulled and was holding Barrell’s Warhammer!

The top heavy nature of it made her stumble back a little bit, but she felt the support of Grime catching it for her. If she was going to be able to wield it right away, she’d need his help! As the two of them held it, it began to light up with pink runes along the whole thing. As much as Sasha might want to know more about it, she’d have time for that later because a small part of the back of it lit up with a pink fire and started propelling the hammer along with the two of them around the area!

Neither monster nor toad expected it to do that, but once they realized what was going on, Grime moved one of his hands to the other side of Sasha’s body. She’d provide the lift and he’d provide the direction for this thing! The two of them worked together to get the hammer to carry them up to the narwhal worm’s head and into the air above it! The both of them yelled as they brought it down, causing the worm to shriek out in pain and seemingly pass out immediately from head trauma! As it slid to a halt, the tip of its horn crashed through the window of the council room and Sasha grabbed the warhammer in order to be the one to present it.

“One warhammer, as promised.” She proclaimed to a gasping crowd as she tossed it into the middle of the arena. She climbed off of the thing and did her best to hide her panting as Grime took over and lifted it up to the rest of the toads! They’d be far more likely to follow him than her due to him being an adult toad instead of a literal monster child. The crowd cheered for the two of them, but was stopped by Aldo’s command before he turned to Sasha.

“We hereby grant you the support of all three remaining towers for your rebellion.”

“YES!!” Sasha exclaimed as the rest of the crowd started murmuring amongst themselves about what might happen next. Meanwhile she and her group started their own conversation underneath all of the noise.

“Well Lieutenant, I had my doubts, but we did it!”

“Of course we did! After all, we’re the best team in the world! Right, guys?” She turned and watched the two toads fall from the narwhal worm’s horn and then struggle to stand back up again “Woah, you guys okay?”

“Okay? Sasha, we almost died back there because of how you lied to and manipulated us!”

“We trusted you and you didn’t care one bit about what happened to us, so long as you got what you wanted. We thought we raised you better than this! To actually understand that other people matter too, but you still turned out just as selfish as any other toad!” The girl hadn’t been scolded by them in so long that she almost forgot what it felt like. She began to panic a little bit, knowing that when one of them was disappointed in her, it was serious.

“That’s not true! I really do love you guys and you proved to me how much you really care by continuing to help even when you didn’t want to. Besides, we did it!”

“No Sasha, you did it. And you proved back there that what you just said was a blatant lie. You don’t care! You haven’t even called us ‘mom’ or ‘dad’ since you found out that you were adopted! Do you have any idea how much that’s stung? We’ve been trying to prove ourselves to you all this time, but if going that far is what it takes, then we’re out.”

“We’ve always seen you as our daughter, but the moment that you stopped seeing us as your parents, we knew that something like this would happen. And now you’ve taken it too far. But hey, you have a godfather that doesn’t seem to mind and now three tower’s worth of armies behind you. You’ll be just fine up here, where we simply can’t follow anymore. Good luck, Sasha.” For the first time in the girl’s memory, her mom had called her by her name instead of ‘Sweetie’ and hearing it made Sasha realize just how much she’d messed up!

“Wh-what? M-mom, d-dad! Come back! You’re not gonna have to do anything like that again, now that we have these armies! Please stay!” Upon hearing that, the two toads stopped for a moment. She’d finally called them what they’d been wanting her to call them for the past several months, but it felt hollow. They knew that she was only doing that to get them to stop, so they needed to let her know that trying to manipulate them again wouldn’t work this time.

“... Goodbye Sasha. We sincerely hope you pull off that rebellion of yours. We’ve always wanted to see you succeed and now that you have the resources to, we know you will. We’ll be watching from afar.” The monster started to run after them, but was stopped by Grime.

“That’s enough, Lieutenant.”

“Get out of my way, Grime.”

“Let them go, Sasha. We all have our limits and it looks like they finally hit theirs. Even when I was cruel to all of my soldiers back at the tower, I still allowed the quitters to leave.”

“But-”

“I know it hurts, but remember. Every dream has its price and not everyone’s willing to pay it. Some are simply less understanding than others. Now come on, my goddaughter, we’ve got a world to conquer!” Grime gave her a single pat on the back and walked away, leaving Sasha to her thoughts. As she thought about what they said, she realized that they were right. She’d been a horrible daughter to them and if what they needed was space, then she’d have to give them just that. They always gave her the space she needed, after all.

“Goodbye mom… Goodbye dad…” she mumbled before walking towards Grime again and just letting him do all the talking from there. Before she knew it, things were already starting to line up! While the strategists started talking everything over, they gave the two of them a temporary room near the top of the tower. It took a couple of days for Sasha to start really smiling again, but she just kept on reminding herself that her parents were safe and out of harm’s way like this. So it was actually a good thing, right?

She decided to distract herself by focusing on how they were going to pull this whole thing off! All of the strategists agreed that the best way to go about it would be to somehow get one of them into the throne room and close to the king. They were stumped for a while on who would do it and how, but then a mysterious package arrived at the tower! It was a crate of little glass bottles containing a glowing yellow liquid, addressed to Sasha!

The girl was floored! Did her parents purchase another crate of medicine and send it to her? There was no way to know, but at that point, the caterpillar was out of the bag and she and Grime had to spill the whole story of Sasha's upbringing to the rest of the toads. Of course, they also told them about Anne and the fall of the Southern Toad Tower, much to their embarrassment.

However, it was that knowledge that finally gave them the edge they needed. As it turned out, the Plantars had been seen entering the king’s palace a few times with Anne even interacting with Princess Marcy! They figured that Anne must have been going in for medical tests after word of her existence travelled far enough to reach Andrias’ ears. He had to have summoned them as a result! But that also meant that if Sasha could just pretend to be friendly and apologetic towards Anne, then that might give her a way to access the king without a struggle!

It was a long shot, but it was the best they had at that moment! All they’d have to do was send a spy in order to see where they might be going next. They’d have to intercept them outside of Wartwood or else the townsfolk would drive them away before they could start their act, so they needed to wait for the perfect opportunity to strike. In the meantime, Sasha was ordered to take her medicine for the first time in months in order to practice her combat skills again!

They apparently just wanted to see if she could still fight in that form, but once she finally did so, they all realized exactly who she really was! Apparently it never clicked for them that she was THE Sasha who was known to be a reformed delinquent that killed that heron several months prior! They’d actually kept the skull as a decoration after the fact, so they ended up moving it into her and Grime’s new room out of sheer respect. On top of that, given that she was raised as a toad AND she was the one who actually pulled out Barrell’s hammer, she was effectively dubbed the unofficial queen of the toads!

She didn’t have to take the medicine very often, but every time she did, the toads were a LOT more receptive to her requests and demands as queen! She had a good reason to keep them on her for once, so she did. She didn’t really like her toad form that much, but it actually served a good purpose in this environment, so she proceeded to take it every now and then. All in all, these preparations made her more ready than ever! The only thing they had to do at this point was wait for the spy to return.

Finally, though, they came back with some very interesting news…