27. The Battle of Tadpole Pond!

Three Years Ago

Toad Tower

At the highest point of Toad Tower Grime had gathered a large group of frogs from the town of Swampshire. Though his focus was on one particular frog.

"Citizens of Swampshire," began Grime in a loud and grandiose voice, "you have all been summoned here today to learn a very hard and valuable lesson. Now of course you know that as citizens of his majesty King Andrias Leviathan you are all required to pay taxes to the crown. And we the toads of the Southern Tower are tasked with collecting these taxes, but it seems there is one among you who believes this should not continue."

The toads closed in around a green female frog who had been separated from her husband and daughter. The toad soldiers manhandled her and pushed her to the ground in front of Grime.

"Ah here we are," began Grime, "this traitorous journalist, who writes for the Swampshire Tribune, wrote an article in the newspaper about how unfair this system is. She thinks that these taxes are nothing more than extortion, and that frogs shouldn't have to pay them. Her article goes on to say how foolish toads are for agreeing to this. Now this sounds like traitorous talk to me."

"It's not treason it's the truth," said the green frog defiantly.

"Silence!" said Grime smacking her across the face.

"Mommy!" exclaimed a young blue frog from the crowd, she rushed forward to try and be with her mother, but the toad soldiers stood in her way preventing her.

"Back in line frog!" yelled Grime to the girl, "your mother is about to learn why you don't spread lies and treasonous talk." With that Grime snapped his fingers and the soldiers grabbed the frog and marched her towards the edge of the tower. A fall from that height would surely have killed her, but unfortunately that wasn't the fate Grime had in store for her.

At the bottom of the tower was a large carnivorous plant. Some toads at the bottom were using ropes attached to the plant to keep it steady. It's jaws smashed open and close resisting against the ropes. It continued to struggle but eventually stopped as it seemed to have noticed that the toads were preparing to feed it a fresh victim.

"Let this be a lesson to all of you. This is what happens to trouble makers who step out of line and start questioning how things work around here," said Grime.

"NO! Please! I'm begging you don't hurt my mom!" said the small blue frog rushing forward to try and rescue her mother. This time though her father held her back.

"It's okay Lilly," said her mother, "I'll always be with you, be strong, I love you."

"Mom no!," cried Lilly as her mother was lead to the edge of the tower.

"Any last words?" asked Grime mockingly.

The frog looked straight at her daughter, "Lilly you have to be strong! Everything I've done has been to try and make a better life for you! I love you! And---

"Blah blah blah," interrupted a rough looking female toad, "you've talked long enough traitor. Time to meet your end!"

The female toad pulled out a deadly looking spiked club and swung it at the frog. It hit her causing her to stumble and fall over the edge.

Lilly broke free of her father's grip and rushed forward to see her mother fall. This time the toads didn’t stop her and allowed her to get close to the edge. Lilly got to the edge just in time to see her mother fall directly into the jaws of the fearsome plant and be eaten alive!

Lilly fell to her knees and cried as he father came up to her to try and comfort her.

"I hope the point has been well made," said Grime, "know your place and don't try and challenge us, or the same thing will happen to you!" With that the toad soldiers began leading the frogs back down the tower.

"No please not my mom!" screamed Lilly as she thrashed around in her sleep. She was lying on the ground in a makeshift sleeping bag just outside Tadpole Pond. A crude barricade had been constructed around the western edge of the town out of furniture, stones,  logs, and whatever else the citizens had been able to cobble together.  The sun was just starting to rise casting it's pink-orange glow over the uneasy defenders. Lilly was sleeping near the center of the barricade where she had been keeping watch before trying to get some rest.

"Lilly!" called Amara running to where Lilly was sleeping and trying to wake her up.

"NO! MOM!" screamed Lilly again.

"Lilly wake up!" called Amara.

"Huh?" said Lilly finally opening her eyes and waking up, "what happened?"

"You were yelling in your sleep," said Amara, "you were saying something about your mom."

"Oh right, my mom…." said Lilly trailing off, "I was having a dream about her."

"You've never talked about your mother," said Amara, "I've heard you occasionally talk about your dad, but not your mom, did something happen to her?"

"No, forget I said anything," replied Lilly quickly, "where are the others?"

"Luz and Uodeela went back to the house to gather up a few things," said Amara, "Gustav is trying to show the townspeople some of the tactics that the toads are known for using so we might have a chance to counter them. As for me I've been up trying to make as many explosive  potions as I can," Amara pointed to a small pile of potions that she had preapred, "they don't have the Herrod's Bane in them yet, but I figured I'd keep that separate like Uodeela taught us."

"Yeah that's a good idea," agreed Lilly, "did you get any sleep?"

"No, not really," answered Amara, "and honestly I don't think I could sleep tonight even if I wanted to. I have a stamina potion that I'll take later if I need to."

"I just don’t want you falling over due to fatigue during the battle," said Lilly, "we have no idea when the toads may attack, and once the battle starts who knows when we may get another chance to sleep."

"I'll be fine," assured Amara, "I'm just nervous more than anything else." Amara opened her bag and began double checking all the potions she had in there. She was trying to think of which ones might be more useful in the battle ahead.

"Was I out for long?" asked Lilly.

"I think only three hours," answered Amara, "I forget when you fell asleep, we were all so busy building the barricade and getting the traps ready, we were lucky to get any sleep. Gustav took a small nap before waking up to do his training, Luz slept a little bit longer before heading off with Uodeela. I don't think Teach got any sleep at all. Do you feel rested?"

"Honestly no," replied Lilly getting up from the ground, "I'm nervous too, did Uodeela hear back from my dad?"

"I don't know," said Amara, "Your dad is still all the way in Swampshire right? Even if he managed to get a small force together I don't think they could make it here in time. Swampshire is almost as far away as Wartwood."

"It would take a few days by snail at least," agreed Lilly, "still we need any resource we can get, and I know that my dad's been busy trying to organize the frogs into a resistance army. I just didn't think we'd need them so soon."

"If only we had the Newtopian Army," mused Amara, "did I tell you I know someone who's an officer in the army?"

"No you didn't," said Lilly, "I thought we were your first friends?"

"She kind of was a friend of the family when I was growing up and she was a few years older than me," answered Amara remembering her old friend, "she was one of the few newts of high status that my parents let me hang out with. Honestly she was more like a big sister to me, but the thing is I haven't really seen her in years. Once she enlisted in the Military Academy she was so busy with training and studying that I never got to see her, since it's been so long I was afraid  that maybe we've grown apart so I'm not even sure if we're still friends. Last I heard she was a captain in the army. I bet she could really help us out."

"Well that's assuming the Newts even care about what's happening out here," countered Lilly,  "and well you heard what Uodeela said about the elites so I doubt it,"

"Yeah, I remember," said Amara trailing off, "Lilly I'm so sorry I had no idea,"

"You don't have to apologize," said Lilly, "you didn't know, and even before you knew the truth about your parents you were already becoming a better person. If anything you surprised me by how much you changed. Maybe if more newts could see how we actually lived they too could be moved to want to change things."

"Maybe…." agreed Amara staring off into space and thinking about what Lilly said, "but before we do that we have a battle to win, and unfortuantly nap time is over. Time for us to get back to patrol!"

Lilly nodded in agreement and joined her friend on patrol.

Uodeela's eyes were glowing as was her basement door. She was muttering a strange incantation as she waved her hands over the door, after awhile the glowing stopped and Uodeela's eyes returned to normal.

"That should hold it," she said, "I've used my magic to seal my basement shut. I stored all my old books and potion ingredients, and anything else that I felt was important, as well as the rest of the Elixir of Life."

"You're sure the toads won't be able to get in," asked Luz.

"I'm sure, though there's nothing I can do about my house I'm afraid," said Uodeela looking around at her house, "the toads will surely destroy it, if for nothing else, than spite."

"You can't seal the house in some way?" asked Luz.

"I could seal an individual door or window," answered Uodeela, "but that wouldn't stop them from simply knocking down the walls. Last time I fought Grime he tried bringing an army to fight me at my house, but I managed to hold them off, mostly thanks to my heron form. At the time Grime didn’t know about my ace up my sleeve so as soon as I transformed into the heron the toads broke ranks and fled. He hasn't tried to attack me since."

"Yeah and you can't use the heron potion this time," said Luz, "you did get rid of it right?"

"Oh yeah, got rid of all of them," replied Uodeela a little quickly, "but Grime doesn't know what happened so I have no idea why he thinks he can win against me this time."

"It probably had something to do with Sasha, yet I also have no idea what she could have possibly said to him to make him think he could win against you," said Luz.

"Well my guess is we'll find out soon," said Uodeela, "Luz go ahead and head back to the town, I'm gonna stay at the house, Grime will have to pass through here on his way to Tadpole Pond. I can harass his troops and whittle them down a bit before returning."

"No I don't want to leave you," pleaded Luz, "please let me stay. I have some Elixirs, I can help you out."

Uodeela looked carefully at Luz's pleading eyes before relenting, "okay you can stay and help me, but be careful. And when I say it's time to retreat, then we retreat back to the town, is that clear?"

"Yes, crystal clear," said Luz she began rummaging through her bag trying to decide which elixir to use.

"Ahh so hard to choose," grumbled Luz, "I wish I could use all these different magics at once."

As Luz said that Uodeela turned to her, she looked at Luz and realized that there was still so much she hadn't told her yet. A worrying thought crept into Uodeela's mind as she wondered if something happened to her in the battle today, she wouldn't be able to tell Luz things that she should know.

"Luz," began Uodeela seriously, "There's something I want to tell you, about how you came here."

Luz looked at Uodeela puzzled.

"I haven't told you the whole truth," began Uodeela, "That box your friend had, it is what brought you to this world, but it's more complicated than that."

"What do you mean?," asked Luz.

"The box is an ancient device called The Calamity Box," said Uodeela, "I don't know exactly how it works, but I know it has the power to allow travel to other worlds, but that's not all. It can also grant power to those it deems worthy. Luz…..the magic spells you've been using…..they don't come from the elixirs. The elixirs are only helping you unlock the power. The magic comes from one of the gems on the box."

Luz looked hard at Uodeela's face, she could see a look of guilt on it.

"How long have you known this?" asked Luz seriously.

Uodeela swallowed hard before replying, "I suspected it as soon as you told me about how you got here, but I wasn't sure until you described the box to me."

"You've been keeping this from me?" asked Luz starting to get angry, "was there a way to send me home this whole time?"

"No there wasn't at least not without the box," sad Uodeela, "and I was sincerely trying to help you, but we need the box and we also need all your friends in order to make it work properly, but that's not all."

Luz starred into Uodeela's eyes, her anger having somewhat abated, she could see a sad and serious expression on Uodeela's face. After a few moments Uodeela spoke.

"I didn't tell you the truth because I felt you were too impulsive at first, you thought having magic powers was all fun and games, I wanted you to be more serious first, I wanted you to have control over your powers. I was going to tell you eventually, but now with this battle hanging over our heads I felt I should tell you now….in case something happens to me."

Luz didn't speak as she processed everything Uodeela had told her, she was getting ready to respond before Uodeela continued.

"There's more," she said somberly, "I don't think that you and your friends were brought here by accident. I think you were brought here for a reason," at that moment an arrow whizzed by her and stuck into the side of the house. Luz and Uodeela turned around to see the toad army slowly emerge from the trees around Uodeela's house. Grime and Sasha leading them.

"Ah Uodeela so nice to see you again," growled Grime in mock praise, "how long has it been since our last encounter?"

"Not long enough Grime," spat Uodeela back at him.

"I don’t suppose you'd be willing to simply surrender," asked Grime, "it would save us all a bunch of trouble."

"No I don’t think I will Grime," answered Uodeela defiantly, "though I am curious about your human companion." Uodeela glared at Sasha.

"What did she say to you to make you think that attacking me would be a good idea?" asked Uodeela.

"I'm not afraid of you," yelled Sasha drawing her sword, "and getting rid of you accomplishes two goals. We get rid of someone who's been stealing taxes from us, and we get to teach these frogs a lesson." As she was speaking she cast a side glance at Luz seeing her out of the corner of her eye but not saying anything.

"If you're so confident you can beat us, then why don't you transform into a heron and send us scurrying?" challenged Grime.

Uodeela caught the intent in Grime's voice, he wants me to be a heron, she thought, but why? Still perhaps it's best I can't do that right now. No sense in playing right into his hands.

"Beating you without the heron will be more fun," bragged Uodeela, with that she closed her eyes and opened them to revel the glowing red eyes.

"Enough pleasantries then," said Grime rasing his sword and pointing it straight at Uodeela, "ATTACK!"

The toads began charging at Uodeela and Luz, Luz quickly looked in her bag and brought out an elixir of air and drank it in one gulp. Right before a toad came up to her Luz concentrated and blasted a stream of air at the toad, blowing him back into a tree. Luz quickly focused and used the air to jump away from the other toads, preventing them from encircling her, and onto the roof of Uodeela's house. From there she watched as Uodeela was fighting another group on the ground.

Uodeela waved her hands and caused a large patch of ice to appear in front of some toads, causing them to slip and fall as they tried to cross it. She then used her magic to summon a group of vines to ensnare some more. Sasha came up to her with her sword drawn and Uodeela brought up her staff to block her attacks. The two exchanged blows.

"Is that all you've got?" taunted Uodeela.

"Pssh I've hardly broken a sweat," replied Sasha, as she said this her eyes turned to the gem embedded in Uodeela's staff, Sasha grinned maliciously. Suddenly she reached behind her back and with her other hand pulled out a whip! She began using the whip to strike at Uodeela's staff trying to grab it and yank it away form her. Uodeela saw what she was trying to do and quickly transferred the staff to her tail to keep it away from Sasha. She summoned a gust of wind and blew it straight at Sasha, though Sasha's armor provided her with some protection against the wind. Uodeela instead switched to a fire spell and threw a fireball straight at Sasha. Her armor took the hit but instantly became hot, Sasha struggled to quickly remove the armor as Uodeela fled, calling to Luz.

"Time to go kid! Fall back to the town!"

Luz jumped from the roof of Uodeela's house, she landed in the middle of a group of toads, but as she landed she let out a burst of wind in all directions that knocked them all back. Luz followed Uodeela through the forest and back to Tadpole Pond.

Sasha looked hard at Uodeela as she disappeared into the trees. She began to chase after her, but Grime held her back.

"What is it?" asked Sasha annoyed by Grime

"Before we go, let's give Uodeela a small taste of her punishment," said Grime holding up a torch and pointing to her house. Sasha grinned as she understood what Grime meant. She grabbed the torch and tossed it on the roof of Uodeela's house. Other toads joined in with their own torches and some helped to fan the flames.

"If nothing else at least we can get rid of her house," growled Bog.

"Yeah it will be nice to burn it down," agreed Fens, "but looks like Sasha wasn't quick enough on the draw."

"So I didn't get the staff yet," said Sasha, "I'll get it away from her, just you wait!"

"Hope so Sasha," said Fens, "cause the whole success of this invasion depends on you taking her powers away."

"Either that or we force her to transform and go with plan B," said Bog, "wonder why she didn't break out the heron form right away?"

"Who cares!" yelled Grime, "once we're done with her hosue we march on Tadpole Pond!" As he spoke the flames that were consuming Uodeela's house danced in his eyes.

Uodeela and Luz jumped through the forest, it wasn't long before they had returned to the town, for a second the townspeople jumped as the saw them approach but relaxed when they realized who it was.

"Battle positions everyone!" called Uodeela jumping over the barricade, Luz following her.

"Wait Master," said Luz, "what was it you were saying back at your house about my power?"

"Not now Luz," chided Uodeela, "I promise I'll tell you when the battle is over. Get ready!"

"Right, sorry" said Luz. Luz got behind the barricade joining Lilly, Amara, and Gustav. The three friends shared a look at each other as they got ready for the fight. All along the barricade the villagers had gathered many holding improvised weapons such as pitch forks, scythes, shovels, and clubs. A few had gathered a pile of small stones and made improvised slingshots. There was a sense of dread in the air as they waited for the toads to attack them. The minutes went by slowly as the defenders looked to the forest where the toads would emerge from.

Before long the toads emerged from the forest weapons drawn and ready for battle. They paused to look at the barricade, but it didn’t appear to deter them from attacking as they gave a loud battle cry and charged straight at the barricade! Right as they approached it Uodeela lay down another layer of ice in front of the barricade to trip them up. Many toads fell as they lost their footing, Luz took the opportunity to help and used her wind magic to blow them away on the ice. Uodeela climbed to the top of the barricade and began tossing fireballs at the toads to keep them at bay. The defenders used their weapons to repel any toads who managed to get close to overrunning them. Before long some of the toads began to retreat and it looked as though the town would be safe.

But right at that moment a loud noise caught the attention of everyone, and they all looked to where it had come from, on the other side of town another group of toads lead by Sasha and Grime came charging up towards the barricade, they were being flanked!

Luz stopped what she was doing and immediately ran forward to face Sasha. She blew a strong gust of wind at her, but Sasha powered through it and slashed at Luz with her sword. Out of the corner of her eye Luz could see her friends had joined the fray, but quickly lost track of them.

"Luz why are you still here?" growled Sasha in anger, "I tried to be nice by giving you a chance to leave."

"You think that was nice?" asked Luz, "letting me leave but still attacking an innocent town?"

"I had no choice," said Sasha in exasperation as she sliced at Luz with her sword.

"You always have a choice Sasha, you didn't have to do this," said Luz, dodging Sasha's attacks and firing back with her own air blasts.

"I need to help the toads and they wanted Uodeela gone, I'm trying to help us all get home," said Sasha.

"Are you trying to help us?" asked Luz, "or are you only doing this for yourself?"

Sasha didn't respond instead she kept swinging at Luz trying to hit her with her sword. Luz used her wind magic to fight back, but also to dance out of Sasha's strikes. Luz soon realized that her air blasts weren't doing much to hurt Sasha and tried to think of a new strategy.

"Why are you helping the toads?" asked Luz in frustration, "you don't have to do this Sasha!"

"Yes I do," yelled Sasha, "you don't understand! Grime's been like a father to me. He encourages me and pays attention to me. He even lets me lead the toads and train them, he's been a better father than my real one who's always off on business trips and thinks I'm too dumb to understand what he does."

Luz actually faltered at hearing this, "I had no idea Sash, I'm sorry you were having problems at home, I really am. But that doesn't give you the right to hurt others! Please stop this!" pleaded Luz putting up her hands. As she looked into Sasha's face she could see tears starting to form in her eyes.

Luz tried to think of what else she could possibly say to get Sasha to stop, "Sasha I forgive you for what you did at the dance!" yelled Luz so Sasha could hear her.

"What?!" said Sasha clearly surprised. She stopped attacking Luz.

"I said I forgive you," pleaded Luz, "Now that you told me about your issues with your dad I understand what you were feeling. I understand why you were scared that I'd "take Anne away from you." I understand why you want to control things so much, it feels like everything is out of your control, but it doesn't have to be. I wish you had told us about what was happening with your dad we would have been there for you, we still can be! I'm still your friend and I think Anne would still be your friend too if you apologized to her as well. Stop this!"

Sasha didn't respond, tears were clearly streaming down her face now, she turned away so that Luz wouldn't see her cry. A large part of Sasha now wanted to end this, to lay down her sword and run up and throw herself into Luz's arms and cry and let Luz tell her everything would be okay. But a voice in her head began speaking to her.

You can't give up now! said the voice.

Why not? said Sasha to her thoughts

Do you really think Anne will forgive you after what you've done? said the voice.

Sasha had to think a bit before responding, no…..she won't.

Exactly, said the voice, if you quit now then the fight with Anne, the mental suffering, all of it will have been for nothing. It's too late to quit Sasha. You've put your lot in with the toads and now you have to see it through to the end!

Sasha wiped the tears from her eyes before turning back around and pointing her sword at Luz, "I'm sorry Luz, I've come too far to turn back."

Luz's face fell at hearing this, Sasha continued to speak while keeping her sword pointed at Luz, "this is your last chance Luz. Leave and I'll let you go. Don’t make me hurt you!"

Luz got into a fighting stance her face now looking firm as she stared Sasha down, "I'm not abandoning my friends."

"Then so be it," said Sasha accepting Luz's decision and charging at her with her sword.

Luz dodged out of Sasha's way and threw wind at her to keep her at bay. Sasha began striking wildly at Luz but Luz managed to stay out of Sasha's range. She found an opening, and created a small tornado in her hands and launched it at Sasha. The tornado caught Sasha and spun her around a bit before dropping her on the ground. Luz came up to her and kicked her sword away.

"Call off the attack Sasha!" demanded Luz.

Sasha instead pulled a knife out and slashed at Luz causing her to jump back. Sasha quickly got up from the floor and began slashing at Luz some more. Luz used her wind magic to keep Sasha at bay, after awhile though Luz attempted to use her power only to realize it had run out. Realizing that she no longer had magic Sasha jumped forward and tackled Luz to the ground, pinning her so she couldn't move. She brought the knife up and prepared to stab Luz with it though she hesitated after looking at Luz's face. The second of distraction was all it took as Sasha was suddenly enveloped in vines and pulled away. Luz looked in the direction Sasha had been pulled and saw Uodeela, vines had sprouted from her hand and pulled Sasha off of Luz.

Sasha quickly used her knife to cut herself free then ran to pick up her sword, turning to face Uodeela.

"Go Luz," commanded Uodeela, "check on the others, I can handle Sasha." Luz didn’t protest and ran off to see how her friends were doing.

"You're the one I want to fight anyway," bragged Sasha.

"Yes I know," answered Uodeela, "I noticed you trying to take my staff away earlier."

"I'll get it this time for sure!" grinned Sasha bringing out her whip.

"You are welcome to try," said Uodeela calmly before her eyes began to glow.

The battle had become chaotic, the toads had finally managed to break through the barricade on one side and were beginning to overwhelm the defenders on the other side. Gustav had picked up a shovel and was dong his best to defend himself against Bog who had singled him out for combat. Gustav brought his shovel up to try and defend himself from Bog's blows but it was clear he wouldn't last much longer.

"It will be great to get rid of you Gustav," said Bog as he swung at Gustav with his hammer, "we'll have one less traitor among us."

"So I'm a traitor now?" asked Gustav indignantly

"You turned against your own kind," snarled Bog, "that's the worst offense you can commit, and I love executing traitors!"

"Turned against my own kind?" said Gustav as he once again blocked a blow from Bog's hammer, "you, Fens, and all the other toads spent all your time bullying and belittling me and saying I wasn't a real toad now you want to accuse me of treason?"

"If you're fighting against us then I guess you really aren't a real toad," said Bog as he swung his hammer at Gustav, "makes killing you even easier!"

Gustav and Bog kept exchanging blows with their weapons until Bog managed to knock the shovel out of Gustav's hands.

"Bah, still weak as always," said Bog raising his hammer about to strike, "did that private training teach you anything useful?"

Gustav reached into his bag and grabbed ahold of a bomb potion, "actually it did!" he replied before throwing the potion at Bog. The potion exploding right in his face.

"Ahh, my eye!" growled Bog clutching at his right eye, "what have you done you little brat?"

Gustav was able to use the distraction to get away leaving Bog to tend to his wounds.

Across the battlefield Amara was locked in combat with a toad. She had grabbed a simple wooden staff and used it in combination with her training to hold her own. The toad slashed at her with a sword, but Amara was able to block the blows with her staff. While the toad kept up her attack Amara used her tail and wrapped it around one of the toads legs tripping her up and knocking her to the ground.

Amara looked out on the battlefield and saw just how overrun they were. The toads that weren't fighting had started setting fire to the houses and buildings around the town. Amara ran to engage a group who had just started a new fire.

"Burn it all down!" screeched a toad in delight.

Amara reached into her bag and threw a potion at the fire. The potion exploded and released a layer of snow instantly smothering the fire. The toad who started it glanced at Amara.

"Little miss newt is gonna regret that!" he cackled charging at Amara with a torch in his hand. He waved the torch wildly trying to hit Amara with it. She managed to dodge his blows and hit him back a few times with her staff before finally knocking the torch from his hand. Then she struck him once more on the head to knock him out. Amara raced her way to the other fires trying her best to put them all out

As the battle had started Lilly had taken a strength potion to give her an edge in fighting though currently she was fighting Fens who towered over her and negated any advantage the potion had given her. Lilly as using a pitch fork to try and keep Fens at bay. Fens attacked with vigor with her spiked club causing Lilly to fall back.

"Ha is that all you got girlie?" taunted Fens, "no way you'll beat me being so weak."

"I can try!" said Lilly, raising her pitchfork to ward off one of Fens attacks. The two continued to exchange blows, with Fens easily blocking everything that Lilly threw at her.

"Pathetic," sneered Fens, "you have no chance against me, and yet you still keep fighting, how stupid are you?"

Lilly didn’t respond to that as the hopelessness of the situation was finally starting to dawn on her. Instead she charged at Fens, though her attack was easily blocked.

"Hey I think I remember you!" said Fens pulling out a knife in her other hand, "we executed your mother for publishing some treasonous propaganda!" 

"Shut up!" yelled Lilly, the remark from Fens clearly upsetting her.

"Ahh did I touch a nerve there lassie," taunted Fens, "I was the one who pushed your mother to her death, come and avenge her if you have the stregnth!"

The words had an effect on Lilly as rage began to overtake her. She stepped up her attacks on Fens trying to get an opening agaisnt her. Even with her increased rage it wasn't enough. Lilly kept up her assaults on Fens, but was slowly starting to get tired.

"Come on is that really the best you can do?" mocked Fens, "your mother would be so ashamed to see how weak you are."

Lilly didn't respond and kept up her attack, Fens kept blocking her strikes, she was now waiting for Lilly to get tired.

"But I guess it runs in the family then," sneered Fens, "weak mother, weak daughter."

"MY MOTHER WAS NOT WEAK!" yelled Lilly.

"Yes she was!" said Fens trying to rattle Lilly into making a mistake.

Lilly didn't answer, and tried to attack Fens but this time Fens managed to knock the pitchfork out of Lilly's hands, and in one swift motions used her knife to stab Lilly in the chest!

Time seemed to stop as Lilly looked at the wound in her chest, Fens cackling as she pulled the knife out and stabbed Lilly again. Lilly slumped forward against the knife going into shock as she saw the large amount of blood leaking out of her. Fens brought up her foot and roughly kicked Lilly off the knife away from her. Lilly crashed into the ground landing hard on her bag that held the potions she was using. A loud smash was heard as the bottles broke. Fens walked up to Lilly and stabbed her once more for good measure.

"Looks like I reunited a mother and daughter," said Fens casually, "my good deed for the day," with that she walked off looking for other victims, leaving Lilly's lifeless body there on the floor.

Uodeela launched a large flame at Sasha who dodged it. Next she tried slamming her hand into the ground to trap Sasha with some vines, while some of the vines did ensnare her Sasha managed to cut herself free quickly and charged forward at Uodeela. Uodeela used wind to jump out of the way.

"I'll admit you are a lot tougher than I thought you'd be," said Uodeela to Sasha.

"You thought cause you have magic that I'd be a cakewalk," said Sasha launching her whip at Uodeela.

"Honestly yes," admitted Uodeela "but no matter, I'll get you eventually."

"I'm not so sure about that," said Sasha as she once again charged at Uodeela.

Uodeela created used her magic to create a sword out of fire and brought it up to block Sasha's blow. Next she went on the offensive trying to get Sasha to back off. The two locked swords with Uodeela doing her best to keep her sword against Sasha's, after awhile it became apparent why as Sasha's sword suddenly began to heat up. It got so hot that she was no longer able to hold onto it and it fell from her hands.

Uodeela threw her flame sword at Sasha who couldn't dodge it in time, the sword hit her armor knocking her down. Sasha tried to sweep at Uodeela's feet to knock her down but she jumped back out of the way. Finally Uodeela slammed her hand into the ground and made some vines to entangle Sasha in, it looked as though the battle was finally over.

As Uodeela walked up to Sasha she felt a powerful pull from behind her. She had moved her staff to her tail to keep it away from Sasha and her whip, but once the battle was over she had relaxed her grip on it. Now though she could feel it being forcefully pulled away from her tail. Uodeela glanced back in horror and saw that Grime had used his powerful tongue to snatch her staff away from her and bring it to his hand. Wasting no time Grime smashed the top of the staff into the ground, shattering the gem!

As she saw her gem get shattered Uodeela could only stare in shock. She'd had that gem for so many years, she had found it right before losing her parents. She had learned to use its powers while she lived in the palace at Newtopia. It had helped to protect her so many times when she first lived out in the wilds, and now in an instant it was gone. As soon as the gem was shattered the red glow in Uodeela's eyes faded, and a deep sense of despair surged through her. For the first time in a long time she was genuinely scared. In the next instant several toads had emerged from the trees and began surrounding her, all of them with evil smiles on their faces.

"Uodeela's got no powers anymore," they yelled in triumph, "time to make her pay for all she's done to us."

One toad knocked Uodeela to the ground, the others began to kick and beat her. Uodeela tried to defend herself, but the blows were too numerous. None of the toads showed any hesitancy in beating Uodeela. They let out shouts and yells to encourage the savagery wanting to inflict as much pain as possible. Grime and Sasha walked up to enjoy the fun.

"So what are you going to do with her?" asked Sasha smiling at the carnage.

"Oh I'll make her suffer for defying us," said Grime, pulling out his sword, "make it nice and slow." With that he motioned for the other toads to step back and in one swift motion cut off Uodeela's tail.

Uodeela let out a raw agonized scream that even managed to unnerve Sasha. The toads continued to whoop and yell at seeing Uodeela humiliated. Grime raised his sword and prepared to cut off another limb, but before he could he was blasted out of the way by a large powerful stream of fire.

Sasha and the toads turned to see Luz approaching them, but she looked different, her face was contorted in rage and her eyes were glowing a deep purple. As Luz got closer she spoke, but in a much deeper voice than her normal one.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" she shouted in rage launching another stream of fire from her hands at the toads causing them to scatter in fear. Luz continued to launch flames at the retreating toads catching some of them on fire. Luz kept up her attack even as the toads ran away from her in terror.

"What's going on?" yelled Grime in terror upon seeing Luz easily defeat his troops, "how is your friend able to do that?" Sasha didn’t answer Grime as she was in shock herself at seeing Luz unlash this kind of power.

Luz continued her rampage against the toads causing all but Grime and Sasha to flee. Luz shot a vine out of he hand at Grime trying to ensnare him, but Grime managed to use his sword t cut the vine, Luz tried again but Grime once again cut the vines before they could reach him. Luz changed tactics and summoned a large orb of light to her hand. She launched the orb straight at Grime's face blinding him for a second, finally making him vulnerable.

Luz used the distraction to shoot a vine out from her hand that grabbed Grime, she lifted him high into the air and then slammed him down hard leaving him lying in pain on the ground. Finally she focused on Sasha and made a motion with her hand, causing a tornado to form around her, Sasha tried to flee but the windstorm was too powerful and lifted her off the ground. Luz again motioned with her hand and brought Sasha, trapped in the vortex, close to her so she could stare directly at her.

Sasha felt fear for the first time in her life as she looked into Luz's eyes. Eyes that were still glowing a deep and unnatural purple. She tried to think of what she could possibly say to make Luz put her down, but she was too scared and couldn't form words. Desperately she said the only thing she could think of.

"Luz, please," begged Sasha, "I'm your friend."

Luz looked directly into Sasha's face and said in the same deep unnatural voice,

"You're not my friend anymore!"

With a wave of her hand Luz launched Sasha far away not particularly caring what happened to her. As Luz approached Uodeela the glow in her eyes began to fade, suddenly Luz felt very tired  and almost collapsed next to her mentor. Luz powered through the fatigue and knelt down next to Uodeela. She could see just how badly beaten she was. Her eyes were both black, blood was coming out of her mouth and tail where Grime had cut it. She also had a large collection of bruises all over her body.

"Master are you okay?" Luz asked weakly.

"Luz….." said Uodeela almost in a whisper, "thank you for rescuing me, but Grime destroyed my staff, my powers are gone."

"I know, I'm sorry," replied Luz.

"It's not your fault," said Uodeela before coughing up a large amount of blood.

"We have to get you some help," said Luz, "can you move?"

Uodeela began to stand up, it took her awhile because of her injuries, but she manged to get to her feet. Uodeela was unsteady and almost fell back down, but Luz caught her and helped her walk. As they made there way to the center of town it was clear that the battle was not going well. Even though Grime and Sasha were out of the picture the rest of the toads were still attacking, all the houses were on fire, and the defenders had all but been defeated. Uodeela looked at the carnage before her and knew there was only one way to end it.

"Hang on a second Luz, I have a potion that can heal me," said Uodeela reaching into her hair.

"Oh that's great Master," said Luz relieved, "heal up and then we can--." Luz stopped as she turned and saw the potion that Uodeela was drinking, it was red and gold.

"Master what are you doing?!" screamed Luz.

"I'm going to make these toads regret attacking this town," replied Uodeela, "but right now everything hurts so I may as well try and take out as many of them as I can before something happens to me. Plus you know I lost my gem, so I'm feeling a little suicidal." She tried to laugh to show she was kidding, but it sounded unconvincing. As she finished speaking Uodeela fell to the ground and clutched her stomach in pain.

"No, no, no, no," sobbed Luz, "you said if you turn into the heron again there was a chance you wouldn't be able to turn back."

"It's my life kid," said Uodeela, "I've lived a long time and done my best to try and fight the system of oppression here in Amphibia, I am more than willing to die for the cause!" Again Uodeela wretched in pain as the transformation began.

"Alright kid listen to me," began Uodeela, "I'm going away and I don't know if I can bounce back this time. Look after the others, continue your training, make your way to Wartwood, find your friend, find a way home."

"Please no," begged Luz.

"And Luz….thank you for being in my life," said Uodeela somberly, it was the last thing she said before screaming in pain as the transformation took hold. Bright red feathers began to emerge all over her body her arms and legs became elongated. Wings sprouted out of her arms and claws emerged from her feet. The large shape of the red heron screeched as it came to life and began charging towards the remaining toads.

"Uh guys," said one of the toads, "the red heron is here! Where's Grime and Sasha? They were supposed to have a plan for this."

"I haven't seen Grime in ages," answered another toad.

"Sasha was fighting Uodeela," said a third, "if Uodeela turned into a heron then shouldn't she be executing the plan?"

"What's going on?" said Bog in desperation as he noticed the heron, "where are Grime and Sasha they're supposed to be handling the heron?"

Just as Bog finished talking the heron snatched up one of the toads close to him, consuming him in one gulp. With Grime and Sasha nowhere in sight the rest of the toads began to panic, as the heron got closer. They decided that the best course of action was to retreat. The toads began running some knocking over others to get out of the way, many fell to the heron's hungry maw.

On the other side of town Amara had met up with Gustav the two of them had stuck together fighting off the toads and trying to put out the fires they had started before they spread too far. They had also been tending to the wounded using their potions to try and heal them. Though in all their time they hadn't found Lilly and were now desperatly looking for her. The two kept up their search before turning a corner and making a horrifying discovery.

"LILLY!" screamed Amara finally seeing her body.

"Lilly! Oh god no!" sobbed Gustav.

The two approached her body, she wasn't moving and it was clear from the stab wounds why. Gustav scrambled to Lilly's bag and opened it, only to find that all her potion bottles were broken, their contents having spilled out. Gustav glanced quickly to Amara and showed her the broken bottles. Amara wasted no time in opening her own bag and looking for her Elixir of Life, finding it she quickly uncorked the bottle and brought it over to Lilly. Gustav had propped her body up against him and opened her mouth, Amara poured the entire bottle into her mouth making sure she swallowed it.

At first nothing happened making both Gustav and Amara nervous, but then a golden glow began to envelop Lilly. The glow spread throughout her entire body covering the stab wounds and making them disappear. After a few minutes the glow shot out of her eyes and mouth in a blinding flash, after which Lilly shot up gasping for air as though she had been revived from drowning. Lilly immediately felt her chest and felt that the stab wounds were gone! There wasn't even any scarring, it was though the wounds had never existed.

"LILLY!!!" yelled both Gustav and Amara throwing themselves at her and hugging her, "Oh god you're okay!"

"Lilly who did this to you?" asked Amara.

"It was Fens," said Lilly pointing to a green toad in the distance.

"I should have known," growled Gustav angrily, "Fens always loves a good fight, she relishes in being cruel."

Lilly breathed heavily before continuing, "guys I saw my mom."

"What?!" said Gustav in shock, "your mom?"

"I never told you, but she died," said Lilly, "Grime killed her for speaking out against them. I saw her…..she spoke to me."

"What did she say?" asked Amara.

"She said she was proud of me, but didn't want to see me here cause it meant I was dead too," answered Lilly, "as I left she was smiling, told me to go and have a full life….." Lilly was slowly faltering as she spoke, the thoughts of her mother still fresh in her mind,  finally it became too much and she broke down sobbing

"I WANT MY MOM!!!" she screamed, Lilly put her face in her hands and cried releasing her pent  up emotions. Lilly continued crying and calling for her mom, a call she knew would never be answered.

"I want my mom," she repeated in a slow soft voice, one that sounded completely defeated.

Gustav didn't know how to react to this, but tried his best to comfort Lilly. Amara looked from Lilly over to Fens who was setting fire to another house.

"Gustav look after Lilly, I'll be right back," said Amara in a firm voice.

"Amara where are you going?" asked Gustav. Amara didn't answer, instead calmly and resolutely walking towards Fens.

Fens had set fire to another house and was revealing in the destruction she was causing, "got to make room for the new Tower, all these houses are just rubble in the way!"

Suddenly a potion exploded behind her knocking her to the ground, Fens got up and looked to see who had thrown it, she saw Amara walking towards her.

"Did you throw that girlie?" called Fens, "I'll make you regret that."

"You hurt Lilly,"  said Amara coldly,

"Hurt her, I killed her," bragged Fens, "what are you going to do about it?"

"I'm going to hurt you, I'm going to make you suffer!" said Amara coldly, with that she downed a strength potion and got into a fighting stance against Fens. Fens cackled and pulled out her spiked club charging at Amara.

Fens swung her club at Amara, Amara manged to dodge out of the way, Fens continued swinging wildly trying to hit her, before Amara struck back at her with punch to her face. Fens barely reacted to this and tried to hit Amara again, this time Amara blocked the club with her arm and used her tail to strike at Fens's feet tripping her to the ground. Fens got up and pulled out her knife, still covered in Lilly's blood, and tried to stab Amara. Amara grabbed Fens's arm and used her increased strength to twist her arm and force the knife out of her hand. Again Fens rushed at Amara desperatly trying to hit her. She finally connected a hit sending Amara to the ground, Fens raised her club and prepare to strike her, but Amara got on all fours and crawled away, as she was crawling she became distracted by a noise in the distance. Amara and Fens both turned to see the giant red heron charging towards them.

"What the hell?" said Fens in disbelief, "Grime and Sasha were supposed to take care of the heron if she appeared, what happened? Why aren't they stopping it?"

Amara looked at the heron and tried to block out her emotions, instead focusing on how she could use this to her advantage. She rummaged in her bag and pulled out a small pouch that help a curse in it. Amara began to focus on her hate for Fens hoping it would work this time. She threw the curse at Fens. Instantly a large clump of hair grew around Fens's eyes preventing her from seeing.

"Ahh! What have you done?" yelled Fens, "I can't see!"

"Hey heron! Over here! Nice juicy toad here!" yelled Amara, waving her hands and trying to bring the heron to where she and Fens were.

"What are you doing you fool?" yelled Fens as she stumbled around unable to see where she was going, "you'll get us eaten!"

"Not us," clarified Amara, "just you." Amara continued to wave and shout getting the heron's attention and bringing it to where Fens was, still stumbling around crashing into things.

"No, please don't do this," pleaded Fens, her voice now full of fear, "I'm sorry for killing your friend."

Amara didn't say anything and instead crawled behind some rubble to hide and watch. The heron drew closer to where Fens was, and scooped her up in her beak, Fens managed to strike the heron and get it to drop her, but she also lost her club as she fell to the ground. Fens ran away but wasn't fast enough. The heron grabbed at one of Fens' leg and began to pull her towards it.

"Please! I'm sorry," begged Fens pathetically as she dug her hands into the ground trying to prevent herself being dragged, "I promise I won’t ever----Ahhhh!!!" Fens screamed as the heron  tore off her leg, blood gushing from it as it brought the torn leg to it's mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. The heron then leaned towards Fens to attack again.

"NO STAY AWAY!" yelled Fens as she futilely tried using her other leg to kick the heron away. The heron simply grabbed her other leg and tore it off, causing Fens to once again scream in agony. She lay on the ground helpless as the heron came at her a third time.

"PLEASE HELP ME!" screamed Fens to Amara, "I'LL DO ANYTHING!!!"

Amara glanced up from her hiding place looking Fens directly in her face before coldly proclaiming, "you…deserve…this…."

In the next instant the heron picked up the still screaming Fens and deposited her into its mouth, consuming her. Amara smiled in dark satisfaction.

Having finished its meal the heron directed its attention to Amara, pulling her back to reality. At that point Luz, Gustav, and Lilly had run up to join her, calling out to Uodeela, trying to get through to her.

"Master it's us!" called Lilly.

"Teach the town is safe, the toads are gone! You can turn back now!" said Gustav.

"Please listen to us, we need you," said Luz tearfully, "I need you. You still have to take me to Wartwood."

The heron stared down at its former pupils, for a brief second it looked as though they might get through to her. But their hopes were dashed as the heron opened its beak an reached towards them trying to snatch them up. The pupils moved out of the way, but Amara wasn't fast enough. The heron snatched her up by her tail, and began to drag her away. Luz, Lilly and Gustav rushed up and grabbed hold of Amara struggling to pull her back. They eventually succeeded in pulling her away, but Amara let out a scream as they did. Once they pulled Amara free Luz threw down a fog potion to allow the group to escape. Looking for new prey the heron made its way towards the retreating toads.

As Grime got up his head was still woozy, he had to take a minute to collect himself, but as he did, he saw the Red Heron off in the distance. She was chasing the toads out of town and back into the forest.

"No," he growled, the plan clearly having gone off the rails. Grime looked around but didn't see Sasha anywhere.

"Lieutenant!" he called, "where are you?" Grime continued searching but couldn't find Sasha anywhere, he decided to follow the toads and see if she had fled with them. Though he did his best to keep his distance from the heron.

Sasha opened her eyes slowly trying to get her bearings. Her head was pounding and her whole body was sore from having been thrown so far. As her view finally became clear she realized that she was stuck in a tree. For a second Sasha thought about lying there and just falling asleep, but a loud screech made her focus. She looked and saw a terrifying red heron off in the distance charging through the forest, while the heron hadn't noticed her Sasha still felt the need to put some distance between her and it. She carefully extracted herself from he branches and slowly made her way down the tree. As she got to the ground she heard a voice calling her name.

"Sasha! Sasha! Lieutenant where are you?" called a voice.

"Grime is that you?" asked Sasha.

"Yes it's me," sad Grime coming into view, "are you alright?"

"My head is killing me," said Sasha rubbing her head, "but otherwise I think I'm fine."

"We need to regroup and fine the others," said Grime. As he spoke another shriek from the red heron echoed across the forest. Grime and Sasha looked in the direction of the heron and saw that it had taken flight and was no longer pursing the toads. The heron flew off majestically into the sky.

"Well that's a small relief," said Grime, "come on, let's go!"

As they made their way back to camp Grime spoke to Sasha, "so what was the deal with your human friend. Why didn't you tell us she could do that thing with her eyes?"

"I had no idea," exclaimed Sasha, "that's new. I'd never seen Luz do something like that before."

"So it's not a human thing then?" asked Grime.

"No I swear," replied Sasha, "if I knew Luz could do that I would have told you."

"We lost the battle," said Grime, "the other toads are not going to like this."

"Let's worry about that later," advised Sasha, "first let's get back to the camp."

It took awhile but eventually Sasha, Grime and the toads all met up back at their camp. Many of the toads were tired and out of breath from fleeing the red heron.

"Alright let’s settle down," said Grime, "this has been a minor setback, but---"

Grime didn’t get to say anymore as Bog came up to him and punched him in the face.

"This wasn't a minor set-back, this was disaster!"  growled Bog as he pointed his swords at Sasha, "this was your bad idea! We were in no position to attack Uodeela, but you convinced us it as a good idea, and now look what happened!" Several of the other toads pulled out their weapons and pointed them at Sasha and Grime, agreeing with Bog.

"Hang on a sec," said Sasha trying to appease the crowd, "the only reason we lost was because of an unforeseen problem. Also Bog what happened to your eye?" asked Sasha finally noticing Bog's eye.

"Gustav happened to my eye," said Bog, "the runt threw an explosive potion at me."

"Your friend almost burned us alive!" yelled one of the toads, "why didn't you tell us she had magic powers?"

"I didn't know Luz had powers," said Sasha defensively.

"You expect us to believe that?" said another toad.

"You said you had a plan to take care of the heron if she showed up" said Bog.

"Your idea was terrible!" growled a toad

"We've lost so many troops in that battle," said another.

"I saw Fens get eaten!" said a third.

"What Fens is dead?" asked Bog who actually seemed saddened at that news.

"It's all Sasha's fault!" said another.

The toads all looked angrily at Sasha, all of them expressing their hate for her plan. Bog stepped forward as the leader of the group.

"It was your bad idea to invite the frogs from Wartwood over, because of that we lost the tower" began Bog, "and now because of this battle, that we never should have fought in the first place, we've lost even more troops!! We're tired of taking orders from you Grime. We're leaving!!!"

The other toads nodded in agreement, fed up with Grime and Sasha's leadership. They all began gathering their supplies and leaving the camp departing for parts unknown. Sasha and Grime didn't do or say anything to dissuade them as they themselves were tired both physically and emotionally from the battle. All they could do was watch as the remnants of Grime's army packed up and fled leaving Sasha and Grime to try and contemplate their next course of action.

Once the group was far enough away from the heron they tended to Amara, it was then they noticed her tail had been ripped off!

"Oh my god Amara are you okay?" asked Luz seeing the blood dripping from her tail stump.

"Ahh, it hurts," cried Amara weakly, "I'll be alright though, I can regenerate a new tail, but it will take time."

"That wound looks bad," said Lilly, "Gustav hand me a salve, does anyone have any bandages?"

Luz looked around for anything that could be used to wrap the wound. She managed to find a torn cloak lying a few feet away, as she moved it she saw a dead frog underneath. Luz let out a yelp at seeing this, as her eyes moved from the body she began to look out over the town and for the first time saw just how much of a toll the fight had taken on it.

Bodies of both frogs and toads were strewn everywhere, fires raged about, buildings were destroyed, and cries from survivors filled the air. Luz spaced out looking at the grisly site before her. She was so distracted that she didn’t hear Lilly calling her.

"Luz, hello? Luz?" called Lilly, finally moving towards her and shaking her.

"What," replied Luz in shock.

"Hand me the cloak so I can wrap Amara's wound please," said Lilly.

"Oh right," said Luz handing the cloak to Lilly, "I just, look at all this." Luz indicating all the destruction and suffering around them.

"I know," said  Lilly, "It's a lot to take in right now, after I finish with Amara we'll go around and look for survivors and try to help them too."

After Lilly was done wrapping Amara's wound the group took a moment to compare notes and see what had happened during the battle, they asked Luz what happened to Uodeela. Luz told them what happened leaving out the part where her eyes had glowed purple and she had managed to save Uodeela single-handedly. In truth Luz was still in shock about how she had managed to fight off the toads, and wasn't sure she should tell her friends about her new apparent powers.

"They destroyed her staff?" said Amara in disbelief.

"Yeah," said Luz quietly, "Sasha distracted her, and Grime was able to get it away from Uodeela and smashed it. I think that was a big reason why Uodeela wanted to drink the potion. She even joked about being suicidal." Luz tried to laugh, but couldn't manage it.

"She didn't recognize us," said Gustav sadly.

"After we escaped the heron kept chasing the toads, but I didn't see where it went," said Lilly.

"So we have no idea where she might be?" asked Amara.

"Do you think?" began Luz, she paused before continuing, "do you think there's a chance she could turn back on her own?"

All the four friends looked at each other not sure what to say.

"I….I….don't know," said Amara.

"There has to be another way to cure her," said Gustav, "I know what she said about curses, but even so, are we sure there's not another way?"

"Uodeela's one of the best magic users in the whole land," said Lilly, "if she doesn't know another way then there isn't one."

"So is that it then?" asked Luz bitterly, "is she gone? Trapped in the body of a heron forever?"

None of the others answered her, most likely because they themselves didn't want to admit it. Luz sniffled for a bit before breaking down and crying, Lilly put her arm around her to try and comfort her, but ended up crying herself. Amara and Gustav joined in also beginning to cry. The four friends sat there in a large group hug their arms wrapped around each other desperately wanting to both give and receive some sort of comfort as the large physical and mental toll the battle had taken on their bodies and minds finally hit them full force.