40. Dinner and a Show

As twilight descended onto the Plantar house Anne, Marcy and the Plantars were busy setting up a table outside in anticipation of a dinner they would be having tonight. There was a sense of accomplishment in the air as Anne and Marcy hurriedly made their way about the table setting dishes and utensils on it.

"I can't believe the four of us are finally back together," said Marcy excitedly.

"Yep we recharged all four stones and Sasha's turning over a new leaf, things are really looking up," said Anne.

"That's all great" began Hop-pop, "but did you have to invite Grime!"

"Sasha trusts Grime," said Anne.

"Luz doesn't," countered Sprig as he jumped down from a pole he was sitting on. Marcy and Anne looked at each other for a second then back to Sprig

"Apparently she doesn't trust him enough to join us for dinner with him," continued Sprig

"Honestly I would say it's more like 50/50 between both Grime and Sasha," said Luz as she walked over to where the others were gathered still wearing her normal clothes.

"Hey Luz are you sure about not joining us for dinner?" asked Marcy looking sadly at Luz.

"I'm sure Mar-Mar," replied Luz, "I'm still not sure how I feel about Sasha, but I know that right now I just don't want to be around her. Plus I've been kinda feeling in the dumps about my whole powers going away."

"So what are you gonna do?" asked Marcy.

"I'm gonna take a walk out in the woods," said Luz, "it always was a bit calming, and right now I just want to be alone."

"You sure you don't want one of us to go with you?" asked Anne.

"Oh I wouldn't mind joining you Luz," said Sprig, "if it gets me out of having to have dinner with Sasha and Grime I'm all for it."

"Hey why do you get to leave all of a sudden," said Polly, "why should the rest of us have to suffer?"

"Sprig you are staying for dinner," said Hop-pop firmly, "I'm the one who Grime and Sasha tried to kill so if I have to stay then you do too."

"Ahh man," complained Sprig.

"Suck it up Sprig, we all have to endure Hop-pop's cooking," teased Polly. Hop-pop glared at her.

"Thanks for the offer Sprig," said Luz, "but I'll be fine on my own."

"I mean I was kind of hoping all four of us would have dinner together," began Marcy in a pleading voice, "I know things aren't great between you and Sash right now Luz, but this dinner could be a chance for the four of us to be closer."

"Listen, you guys have known Sasha for longer than I have. You've been friends with her longer than me so I get it you want to try and fix what you had. So you guys go ahead and have fun," said Luz.

"Hey before you go we could use some help putting up some lights for outside," said Marcy, with that she pulled out some pieces of paper showing it to Luz while also winking her eye.

"Why don't we all help with that?" suggested Anne, taking one of the papers Marcy had pulled out while trying to encourage Luz to take one. Luz finally did take a paper and on the count of three the girls all activated the light spell causing three glowing orbs of light to appear. They gently guided them up so that they hung around the outside dinner table. Luz smiled at this display.

"Come on Luz," said Anne trying to cheer her up, "help us hang up some more lights and then you can go."

"Alright," said Luz as she took a few more papers and began helping to set up some lights. Hop-pop came over to watch intrigued.

"That's that other form of magic you girls discovered right?" he asked looking up at the light orbs.

"Yeah Marcy, Maddie, and I discovered it together," answered Luz.

"Wow fascinating," said Hop-pop, "I've known about curses but I can't remember hearing anything about magic like this."

"I don't think anyone in Amphibia has," said Marcy, "I hope Maddie is able to teach it others, if more people learn it maybe magic will become common again."

"That would be nice, I bet magic could help make our lives easier," said Hop-pop.

"I hope so too," said Anne, "I'd like to think that maybe some day you guys can have your own cool technology like we have in our world."

"Oooo maybe they can become a steampunk world!" suggested Marcy, "maybe you guys can develop airship technology and travel to other lands!"

"What's steampunk?" asked Sprig curiously.

"It's a kind of sub-genre of fantasy," began Marcy, "means you use steam powered devices in new and interesting ways."

"Huh, not sure I get it," answered Sprig.

"In any case it's almost time for dinner so let's go ahead and put on the finishing touches, and I still need to get dressed," said Anne as she finsihed she turned to look at Luz.

"Hey can I talk to you before you head off?" asked Anne.

"Sure," said Luz, the two of them went off to be alone.

"Hey….so listen….I know you don't want to see Sasha right now which is totally understandable, but I just wanted to make sure you were okay with Marcy and I having this dinner with her," said Anne.

Luz looked into Anne's face for a few seconds before replying, "Things are so complicated right now, on the one hand I am still mad at Sasha, but on the other I know you and Marcy were friends with her for longer than I was. If the two of you want to try and patch things up with her, then I should give you that chance."

"It's just….if being around Sasha makes you uncomfortable, then when we get back home do you think you won't want to be around her there either?" asked Anne in a tender voice.

"I…I honestly don't know," replied Luz, she looked back into Anne's face, "I'm sorry I don't want to put you in an uncomfortable position Anne. If you still want to be friends with her then I promise I won't hold it against you."

"I mean I care about both of you," said Anne putting her hands on Luz's shoulder, "I don't want to lose either of you as friends."

"Hey tell you what," said Luz, "if Sasha really has changed and she shows it when we get home maybe I will give her another chance. I just can't do that right now."

"Okay," said Anne, "thank you for at least understanding and letting me have this dinner."

"Well it was your idea, and if you think it can help Sasha then you should at least try it," answered Luz.

"Again thank you, I really appreciate it," Anne pulled Luz into a hug. The two parted and Luz went off into the woods. Anne went back to the Plantar's house to finsih getting ready for dinner.

Luz kept walking deeper into the woods. When she felt she was far enough away she finally stopped sticking her staff into the ground. She took off her boots and tights and stood barefoot in the dirt, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath of air. She slowly exhaled the breath as she tried to concentrate and focus.

Come on, she thought trying to empty her mind, concentrate just like Uodeela taught you.

Luz relaxed and focused on her surroundings, she felt the breeze against her face, she could hear crickets chirping in the distance

Mmmm crickets sound good right about now, thought Luz before snapping back to reality, no stop. Focus like Uodeela taught you!

Luz kept breathing trying to relax herself, when she finally felt ready she thrust her arms forward trying to blast out some wind….but nothing happened.

"It's alright, it's alright," she finally said outloud to herself, "all I need to do is keep concentrating and try again. If I focus enough I can do this."

Luz again closed her eyes and again took a deep breath, she dug her toes deeper into the dirt in an attempt to connect with the earth. Again she focused her thoughts and again tried to use her magic powers….again nothing happened. Luz let out a heavy sigh

Back at the Plantar's house dinner was underway thought there was some visible tension in the air. The night had started a little rough when Sprig took a seat next to Anne and insisted on staying there.

"Sorry this seats taken," he said with a smile on his face.

Sasha looked him straight in the eye before letting out a "Ehum."

Grime sensing trouble immediately tried to intervene, "Ehum, be nice."

"Ehum, but this little jerk," said Sasha under her breath.

"Ehum," growled Grime trying to get Sasha to drop the issue.

"Ehum," replied Sasha.

"Besides if I wasn't here this seat would be for Luz, I think Anne would have preferred to sit next to her," said Sprig clearly trying to needle Sasha.

"Sprig!" chastised Anne, "come on don't be like that."

"So she's really not coming," said Sasha, "it's because of me isn't it?"

Anne and Marcy looked between each other then back at Sasha not sure what they should say, before Sprig interrupted

"Oh definetly!" he said, "she said she didn't want to be around you right now."

"Sprig!" said Anne, Marcy, and Hop-pop all at the same time.

"What that is what she said isn't it?" said Sprig trying to act innocent.

"No, no, it's fine I get it," said Sasha trying to play it off, "Luz needs more time to forgive me. If she doesn't want to be here then I'm not going to force her."

"Wait really?" said Sprig in surprise.

"Yes really," repeated Sasha, "that's fine, besides Luz was a late addition to our group. For awhile it was just us three anyway."

"Sprig why don't you move and let Sasha sit there?" said Hop-pop.

'But I-" began Sprig.

"This night is about trying to mend friendships," began Hop-pop, "why don't you sit next to Grime,"

Grime flashed Sprig a smile, one that was unfortunately filled with many teeth, making it seem far more sinister than it appeared to be.

"Yeah come on Sprig, let me sit with my friends who I'm trying to make up with," said Sasha with a slight hint of malice in her voice. Sprig glared at Sasha for a few seconds before finally acquiescing and getting up from his seat to move to the other side of Grime. Sasha sat down in triumph

As she sat down next to Anne, Sasha turned to speak to her, "so you like nice this evening."

"Oh, uh thanks Sasha," replied Anne.

"Those flowers in your hair add a nice touch, they suit you," said Sasha taking a drink from her glass

"Oh I guess they do," said Anne adjusting the scrunchie that had the flowers, "they're kind of like the one Luz gave me."

Sasha had to stop herself from spitting out her drink, and tried to simply act cool. Sprig noticed her reaction and smiled.

"So uh let's eat!" said Hop-pop eager to start the meal.

"Mmmm, seriously this food is good," said Sasha as she dug into her dinner.

"Gotta give it to Hop-pop, he knows his way around the kitchen," said Polly.

"Oh so you mean you aren't suffering through my cooking?" asked Hop-pop sarcastically.

"Hey it's great to see you've improved," said Polly, "I was…cautiously optimistic."

"I'll take that as a compliment," said Hop-pop smugly.

It's working, thought Anne, we're getting along. As happy as she was to see the dinner going well Anne's thoughts turned to Luz as she glanced over at the forest. I hope you're doing okay Luz…

"Man Sash I can't get over your armor it totally suits you," said Marcy.

"I know right, way better than that dorky medieval school play we were in," began Sasha, "remember how I convinced you guys to skip rehearsal and hang out on the roof."

"And we had the loudest dance party!" exclaimed Anne

"Ha, classic!" said Sasha as she recalled the memory, "why'd we stop doing stuff like that?"

Anne and Marcy exchanged a look before Marcy replied, "well….when we got caught Anne took the blame and said it was her idea."

"My parents grounded me for a month," said Anne morosely.

"Oh yeah….forgot about that," said Sasha, "I guess I should have said something."

"Yeah it's almost like Sasha just let you take the fall for her," said Sprig giving Sasha a look. A look that she immediately returned.

"Hey it's all in the past," said Anne trying to break the tension, "we're different people now."

"Or are we?" asked Sprig.

"Say who's up for a rousing game of Drawsadoodle?" began Hop-pop in an effort to ease the tension,

Grime immediately stood up from the table, "I LOVE Drawsadooodle!" To emphasize the point he hit the table so hard it sent everyone flying.

"Okay well let's get dinner cleaned up and then set up the game inside," said Hop-pop.

"Hey uh Hop-pop if dinner is over can I go check on Luz?" asked Sprig.

"Sprig don't you want to play the game with us?" asked Anne.

"I do, but I figure one of us should go and make sure she's okay, maybe I can convince her to come back," said Sprig.

"Yeah that would be great, I really wish she was here," said Anne again glancing towards the forest.

"Alright fine Sprig, go check on Luz and see if maybe she's changed her mind," said Hop-pop.

Sprig gave a nod before hopping off towards the forest. Sasha letting out a sigh of relief.

Finally that little pipsqueak is gone, she thought.

Back in the forest Luz was still futilely trying to use her powers. She had continued her exercise of breathing slowly as well as trying to focus on the nature around her though with each failed attempt she had become increasingly frustrated and trying to concentrate proved harder. Again Luz tried to shoot fire our of her hand and again nothing happened. Angrily she kicked the ground in frustration, forgetting only a second too late that she was barefoot. Luz accidentally ended up kicking a stone buried in the dirt and let out a yelp of pain. Deciding to take a break she went to sit over on a fallen log and sulk. After a few minutes she heard a voice.

"So I take it you still can't use your powers?" asked the voice.

Luz turned to see Sprig emerging from the trees looking at her, he came up to the log she was seated on and sat down next to her.

"No I can't," said Luz with a heavy sigh, "I think I have to accept that for whatever reason I just can't use them anymore. I think the most frustrating part is I have no idea why. Like did I do something wrong? Did my powers have a limit for how long they would work? I wish I knew the answer."

"I wish you did too Luz," said Sprig trying to comfort her.

"So uh how's dinner going?" asked Luz.

"Anne thinks it's going okay, but well you know me, I don't trust Sasha," said Sprig.

"Did she attack anyone yet?" asked Luz half joking.

"No, not yet," said Sprig, "but she has been acting a bit….weird."

"Weird how?" asked Luz.

Sprig thought for a moment before responding, "weird in that, I think you should come back so you don't leave Anne alone with her."

Luz listened to what Sprig said taking a moment to absorb it before replying, "Hey Sprig, have you heard of the old saying, if you love something set it free?"

"Can't say I have," answered Sprig.

"The full saying is a bit longer," said Luz, "but the point is that you can't force love. Anne already knows how I feel about her, she said we would talk more when we got back home, but it's still her decision."

"Luz no…." said Sprig pleadingly.

"Sprig, you know what I did, I forced myself on Anne, and that was wrong," said Luz.

"But you were caught up in the moment weren't you?" asked Sprig, "you didn't mean to hurt Anne."

"I may not have meant to hurt her, but I still did," said Luz,

"So you're willing to just let Sasha try and take Anne for herself?" asked Sprig.

"Anne has the right to chose who she wants to be with, if anyone," began Luz, "and if she wants to be with Sasha…." Luz took a very long pause as she said that before continuing, "then that's her choice."

"There's no way Anne would ever chose Sasha over you," said Sprig incredulously, "it would be like Constance choosing Hunter over Alister."

Luz let out a loud laugh at that, "Ha, wait so Anne showed you Love Choice?"

"Yeah, not just me the whole town," said Sprig, "it actually became a HUGE deal, like the town got in a big fight over who Constance should end up with.

"Ho boy, and I thought I was a hardcore shipper," said Luz.

"Well I want you to know I was team Alister all the way!" said Sprig proudly standing up and puffing out his chest!

"Yeah, me too," admitted Luz, "He's so much more artistic and sensitive."

"And right now I am 100% on team Luzanne!" continued Sprig.

"Did you just come up with that right now?" asked Luz smiling

"No I've actually been thinking about it for awhile I'd originally considered Annuz but your names are so short it just made sense to combine both of them," said Sprig, "Luzanne just rolls off the tongue, it's perfect for you two."

Luz let out a laugh at this, "well thank you for coming up with our ship name," she paused before adding, "I guess now we'll see if it ever becomes cannon."

"You and Anne deserve each other," said Sprig, "you're both so kind and understanding you both really know how to comfort someone. You know when we were in Newtopia Anne…" Sprig hesitated before continuing, "Anne got to talking on how she really missed her mom, and I told her how mine died when I was real young, and how I barely knew her."

"So what Hop-pop said in the temple," said Luz, slowly trying to find the right way to say it, "that's what happened to your parents."

"Yeah, the thing is I barely knew them, so I guess….it's hard for me to really miss them you know," said Sprig, "and I feel kinda bad for that, it's hard to miss someone you barely knew….but still…."

Luz hung her head tears forming in her own eyes, "I know exactly how you feel Sprig, something similar happened to me….my dad…."

Sprig looked up at Luz seeing her face fall at the mention of her dad, "he passed away when I was young, so I barely remember him….I don't talk about this often, I haven't even told Anne about it yet, but trust me I know how you feel." Sprig kept starring at Luz as she continued talking

"Part of me doesn't want to think about it, because it happened when I was so young. I want to miss him, but since I can barely remember him it's hard…."

Luz was interrupted by Sprig as he threw his arms around her in a hug tears forming in his own eyes. Luz stopped talking and just kept crying, letting the tears flow from her eyes. Luz put her arm around Sprig leaning up against him. Sprig accepted the gesture and the two of them sat in silence, thinking of the ones they had lost….

"You know it's a good thing we removed the stingers from the hornets," said Anne as she bit into one, "otherwise I'd be scared to eat these."

"I must admit the chocolate compliments the these bugs pretty well," said Marcy taking a bite out another one.

"One minute there we are playing drawsadoodle and the next minute the volcakeno suddenly explodes!" said Hop-pop.

"Yeah I probably should have warned you about that," said Grime realizing his mistake, "I mean fighting the wasps is part of the fun! That's the part we toads look forward too the most!"

"I can see why," said Polly as she munched on a hornet.

"Well it all worked out in the end I guess," said Anne.

"I have to say Marcy that was pretty amazing how you stunned those hornets with those little tornadoes," said Sasha, "was that some form of magic? I've never really seen anything like that. Is it related to Luz's powers?"

"Well honestly I don't know if it's related to what she can do, but it is pretty cool, here let me show you," said Marcy, with that she brought out a pre-drawn wind glyph to show Sasha. Marcy tapped the glyph causing a tornado to form in her hand then shoot upwards, just like it had when she'd used it against the wasps.

"Wow that is pretty cool," said Sasha, "I guess you really did pick up a few new tricks out here."

"Yeah, me, Luz and Maddie discovered that when we were trying to find a cure for Uodeela…." Marcy stopped herself as she realized what she had said, causing Sasha's face to fall. She turned away from Marcy.

"Hey it's fine I get it," said Sasha, "I know Luz is mad at me for that, but I think in time we can work through it, at least I hope so."

"I'm sure she will Sash," said Anne coming up to her and placing a hand on her shoulder, "I think you just need to give her time."

Sasha turned to look at Anne and saw that she had some chocolate on her face from eating one of the wasps.

"Oh Anne you have something on your face," said Sasha, "here let me get it." Sasha reached up her hand and gently wiped away the stain on Anne's face, though as she did she also caressed Anne's face looking deep into her eyes. After awhile Anne pulled her face away becoming uncomfortable with how Sasha was looking at her, but not wanting to say anything.

"Whoa what the heck happened here?!" declared Sprig as he and Luz arrived back at the house.

"The volcakeno exploded, but we're all okay," said Marcy, "hey Luz how ya doing?"

Luz didn't respond, her eyes moving quickly to Sasha. Anne came over to talk with her.

"Hey good to see you," she said, "we were just having dessert, how was your walk?"

"Okay," said Luz trying not to sound sad, she looked up and saw Sasha starring back at her.

"Hey," she said giving Luz a wave of her hand.

"Hey," replied Luz. The two starred at each other for a few seconds not sure what else to say. Before Anne decided to speak up.

"Hey listen Sasha, is it too much of a stretch for you to understand how you hurt Luz? I think the reason it's easier for me to forgive you is because in the end nothing happened to Hop-pop. Yeah you tried to kill him, but we were all really lucky that neither of you ended up dying. If something had happened to Hop-pop I know it would be a lot harder for me to forgive you. And in Luz's case she essentially lost the parental figure that took her in and cared for her, like Hop-pop did for me. Do you understand what I'm getting at?"

Sasha looked between Anne and Luz for a long time before finally coming up to Luz.

"Listen…." she began, "I'm not good at apologies, but I think I understand what Anne is saying. I don't know what else I can say other than I'm sorry again. And I guess I can see why you're still mad at me."

Luz absorbed what Sasha had said, staying silent for a long time before finally speaking, "I can't say when or if I can forgive you Sasha, but I suppose given what you just said….it's a start."

Sasha smiled before offering Luz a hornet, "so uh want some chocolate covered hornets?"

Luz accepted the hornet biting into it, "mmmm this is actually really good." After a moment she looked again into Sasha's face.

"Thanks Sash," she said.

The next day the girls found themselves together in the Plantar's basement excitedly practicing for the newly announced Battle of the Bands!

"It's been awhile since you guys have played hasn't it?" asked Luz

"Yeah I think the last time we played was at the end of the year 6th Grade Talent Show," answered Marcy, "after that I wouldn't say we broke up, but we just didn't meet for jam session anymore."

"Anne told me about your band once before, but I don't think I ever got to see a show," said Luz.

"Yeah it was before we met you," said Sasha, "after 6th Grade we just kinda stopped, no real reason, guess we got to busy with other stuff."

"Hey Luz can you play an instrument?" asked Marcy

"No, I didn't really have the patience to learn one, I can sing though," she said.

"Well that's fine, you can sing, and Marcy, Sash, and I will handle the instruments" said Anne.

"Maybe if I'd grown up with you guys I would have learned an instrument so I could be in the band too," said Luz, "were you guys real popular?"

"I'd say we were a crowd favorite back in the day," said Marcy, "I wonder what song we should play?"

"We should definitely play my song Heart-stomper?" suggested Sasha, "it was always a hit back home?"

"Ooo I'm into that," said Marcy, "how about you Anne?"

Anne paused before saying, "actually I wrote a song about Amphibia and I was hoping we could play it together."

"You didn't tell me you were writing a song, let's do it!" said Marcy, "I mean if that's okay with you Sasha."

"For sure," said Sasha, "teach it to us Anne."

"Thanks Sash," replied Anne.

"Riding snails, but it's no big deal, eating flies but it's no big deal," sang the girls

"Finally me and it's no big deal," sang Anne, "and here's where Sasha plays a killer guitar solo, then we sing the refrain one more time and we're done."

"Nice work Anna-banana," said Marcy, "fun to play too."

"I like it," said Luz, "the melody is really catchy and the lyrics really tell your story."

"Sasha what do you think?" asked Anne coming up to Sasha.

"It's good," began Sasha "I just have a few tiny notes that I think could make it even better."

"Oh…okay," said Anne.

"Great, these lyrics are all over the place tonally they'll have to change," began Sasha, she turned the page to see what else Anne had written, "uh are these bug suits oh, no, no, no" Sasha took a pen and crossed them out.

"Hey! You didn't need to cross them out like that," exclaimed Luz.

Sasha ignored her and continued on her list of changes, "Mar-mar the drumming is a little to dense, let's strip some of this down."

Sasha came up to Polly, "and you, we definitely need more lights," Sasha dropped a ton of glow shrooms onto Polly.

"Frobo, too much fog, and yet not enough fog, you feel me?" asked Anne, Frobo's eyes simply changed to question marks in response.

"Boom fixed it!" exclaimed Sasha sliding into the middle of the room.

"It does seem simpler," said Marcy.

"Yeah these are solid ideas," said Anne, "but it's just not my song anymore. The lyrics are different, the melody is different, it's just different."

"That's called collaboration Anne!" said Sasha.

"That's not at all what collaboration is," said Luz coming up to Sasha, "collaboration is when different people come together with their ideas and find a way to make them work together. What you're doing is saying that we all have to do it your way."

Sasha starred hard at Luz for a few seconds before finally saying, "so once again I'm forcing you to do things my way. You know what maybe I should leave and join a different band."

"What?!" said Marcy.

"No Sasha, it will be more fun if you're here with us," said Anne, trying to stop Sasha from leaving.

"If I leave, you guys can have all the fun you want, I can have all the control I want, and we can all get what we want," said Sasha.

As Sasha said this Luz thought for a moment, part of her wanted Sasha to leave, but another part of her knew that Anne and Marcy were trying to repair their friendship with her and they would both be sad if Sasha left. As strained as her relationship was with Sasha Luz decided to try and see if there was some way she could help.

"Hey Sasha wait," began Luz, "you know what I said about collaboration, it's true. It's not that we don't like your ideas, it's just we don't want to feel forced into doing them."

Sasha stopped in her tracks and turned around looking at Luz.

"Listen Anne, is there a way that we could all maybe talk about this? I know it's your song and you put a lot into it, but maybe we can talk and see if we can come to any sort of compromise. There's no reason we have to reject all your ideas Sash," said Luz looking between Sasha and Anne.

Sasha listened to what Luz had said and was intrigued. She looked over at Anne who smiled.

"Luz is right, real collaboration means that we all have a say in how things go, I may have written the song, but there's no reason it has to be all my way either, in fact it should be about all of us. We all went through unique experiences here," said Anne, "why don't we all sit down and share any ideas we have about it?"

"It's just….well I want us to win!" said Sasha, "that's why I want to change things. If we do it my way then I know for sure we can win the competition."

"Maybe," said Luz, "but let's be real here, Mayor Toadstool basically announced this as a way to keep everyone distracted, I don't really think there's much at stake here besides being able to say, "you won."

Sasha considered what Luz had said.

"Hey, you know I am willing to try and meet you somewhere in the middle Sash," said Anne, "if we all made some suggestions for how the act should go and talked about it as a group, I'm sure we can come up with some sort of compromise. You said the lyrics needed to change, but what if we kept the first verse then added in some more. Hey maybe you could add in a verse for how you feel about Amphibia. What do you think of that?"

Sasha paused for a long time before saying, "well….i guess I could give that a try."

As the battle of the bands kicked off the acts came through quick and fast. Many of them only featuring a few people, and acts that were not all that intriguing. Hop-pop, Sprig, Loggle, and Wally's jug band act had just ended after Loggle fell off the platform.

"That's good enough for me," said Hop-pop reacting to the score they had received.

"Mediocrity is comforting," said Sprig as he also raced backstage, "good luck Anne, Cool costume by the way!"

"Thanks dude!" said Anne, "okay girls we're up next!"

"How's my costume look?" asked Luz. For her Anne had decided she should be a "firefly." Luz wore a costume that was mostly purple in design. She had on purple gloves just like Anne's with little sparkles on them. On her head she had some antenna and on her back she had wings to give her the look of a firefly. Just like Anne and Marcy she had some make-up on her cheeks those hers was in the design of a firefly. Finally she wore purple tights and dark purple flat shoes to complete the look.

"You look great!" said Anne flashing Luz a smile.

"Thanks," replied Luz, " oh check this out!" Luz brought out about half a dozen light glyphs and activated them forming them into light orbs. She tossed them up in to the air where they hovered around her while striking a pose!

"Ahh you look so cute!" said Marcy.

"Thanks," said Luz, "you guys look cute too, these costumes were a great idea Anne!"

Anne had dressed up as a "drag-Anne" fly while Marcy was wearing a green costume with butterfly motifs.

"I'm the personification of metamorphosis!" exclaimed Marcy in delight.

"That's a good look for you Mar-mar," said Luz, "you really have changed a lot out here!"

"Do I look okay?" asked Sasha, she had decided to forgo any insect costumes and simply wore some standard rocker threads.

"You look good Sash," said Marcy.

"You can definitely pull off the rocker look!" agreed Luz, "I'm glad we agreed to let you wear what you want."

"Yeah thanks for that," said Sasha, "not that you guys don't all look good, but I just didn't want to wear anything bug related."

"And that's fair," said Anne coming over to her, "see that's what real collaboration is about Sash, a little give and take."

"Well thanks for letting me add a verse into your song," said Sasha.

"It's not just my song anymore, now it's about all of us," said Anne coming over to the group and pulling them into a big hug, she looked over at Marcy and Luz, "I'm sure they're going to love your verses too." Marcy and Luz smiled.

"So we all ready to have fun out there?" asked Anne, the girls all nodded their heads.

"Ladies and gentle-frogs," proclaimed Mayor Toadstool loudly, "I give you Sasha and the Sharps!"

With that Frobo began to spray some fog onto the stage and Anne began to sing.

"Took a leap through a box super weird to a swamp where frogs talk

Oh-oh!

Now I'm stuck got no plans just my luck I'll do the best that I can

Whoa-oh!

Making friends and enemies, it's weird but hey it's grown on me

Bugs, frogs, newts, and toads, gonna be a bumpy road, flies for snacks worms for lunch, I think I actually like the swamp!

It's no big deal, yeah no big deal! Find a way to start again, brush off the dust and make new friends it's no big deal, yeah no big deal! Feeling home in a place that shouldn't be real, crazy strange but it's not big deal!

Found myself in a city, unlike anything I'd ever seen

Oh-oh!

And it feels like I'm living the fantasy life of my dreams

Whoa-oh!

Made a new life, met the king, became a flipwart champion!

Stopped a cult, sailed a ship, this new world is quite a trip, beat the temples, charged the stone, I feel like I have really grown!

It's no big deal, yeah no big deal! Find a way to start again, brush off the dust and make new friends it's no big deal, yeah no big deal! Feeling home in a place that shouldn't be real, crazy strange but it's not big deal!

All alone in a tower, by myself, without any friend

Oh-oh!

But I turned it around, found a way out in the end

Whoa-oh!

Stopped the herons, rescued Grime, I feel like I am in my prime!

Trained the toads, got new threads, almost wound up very dead, had a dinner, wrote a song, I think we all might get along!

It's no big deal, yeah no big deal! Find a way to start again, brush off the dust and make new friends it's no big deal, yeah no big deal! Feeling home in a place that shouldn't be real, crazy strange but it's not big deal!

Woke up in a swamp, lost my friends, far away from my home

Oh-oh!

But got found, taken in, made new friends, I'm no longer alone

Whoa-oh!

My mentor saw the best in me, I hope one day she will be free

Learned some magic, fought some toads, traveled down many roads, got cool powers, and a cloak, I think really feel at home!

It's no big deal, yeah no big deal! Find a way to start again, brush off the dust and make new friends it's no big deal, yeah no big deal! Feeling home in a place that shouldn't be real, crazy strange but it's not big deal!"

"Okay ready for the big guitar solo Sash," whispered Anne over to Sasha.

Sasha responded with a nod, and a moment later began shredding on her guitar rocking out and filling the group with even more energy! Luz, looked over at her smiling for the first time genuinely glad that Sasha had decided to stay.

Once the guitar solo was over it was time for the rocking finale! The girls all sang together

"it's no big deal, yeah no big deal! Feeling home in a place that shouldn't be real,"

"Killer birds, but it's no big deal," sang Luz

"Riding snails, but it's no big deal," sang Sasha

"Eating flies, but it's no big deal," sang Marcy

"Finally me, and it's no big deal," finished Anne.

With that the crowd cheered loudly, Hop-pop and Sprig jumping up from their seats and waving wildly at the girls. All four girls took a bow making their way offstage, they were all full of energy and hype from their performance as they made their way offstage the girls all came together in a big group hug yelling and cheering.

"That was awesome!" exclaimed Marcy

"You guys were amazing!" yelled Anne, "I'm so glad you changed your mind about joining us Sasha!"

"That…was actually really fun," said Sasha, "I can't remember the last time we had fun like that."

"Me neither," said Luz she looked over and realized that she was hugging Sasha, the two looked at each other before Sasha spoke up.

"Hey uh Luz it was really fun jamming with you up there," said Sasha in a slow almost quiet tone.

"Honestly…it was fun rocking out with you too Sasha," said Luz looking at Sasha and smiling at her again, "I wouldn't mind doing it again sometime, when we get home."

"Yeah sure," said Sasha with some hesitation in her voice, she was going to say something else but was interrupted by the announcement of the last performer.

"All right everyone give it up for your final contestant," said Mayor Toadstool in a loud voice, "Grime time!"

With that Grime came out onstage dragging a large heavy case beside him and laughing manically. He moved to the side of the case and opened it in one swift motion, revealing a large golden harp. The crowd let out a gasp!

"Eh-hum," began Grime, "this piece is dedicated to the serenity of nature."

With that Grime began to play his harp, he was surprisingly talented. The melody he played was soft and serene and captured the attention of everyone in the audience. Luz couldn't believe how someone like Grime was able to play an instrument so beautifully, for a second she was reminded of Gustav and how he played his ocarina. Time seemed to slow as Grime continued to play, so much so that no one noticed that he played for an astounding three hours.

"Well I've seen enough Grime wins!" declared Mayor Toadstool.

"Sorry we lost Sash," said Marcy.

"You know as much as it pains me to lose, it was worth it to have so much fun with you guys up there," replied Sasha.

"Yeah it was," agreed Luz.

Mayor Toadstool continued to speak, "alright, folks gather around, I got one more announcement. Now as I understand it you four girls will be leaving us soon."

"Yep," said Anne, "with the box charged we'll be heading to Newtopia tomorrow for the King to send us home." Anne looked out into the crowd of frogs, "everyone you've all done so much for me and I'll miss you more than you could ever know."

"Ah shucks," said Mrs. Croaker.

"Hey everyone before we go can we take a group photo?" asked Anne holding up her phone.

"Heck yeah!" said Mayor Toadstool enthusiastically, "everybody line up!"

It took a bit of work and sorting, but eventually everyone in town got into position for the group photo. Sprig set the timer on Anne's phone before moving to get in position for the photo himself.

"Sprig come on hurry, hurry!" called Anne, Sprig managed to get in the photo just in time.

Before Luz, Anne, and Marcy headed back to the Plantar home, they said goodnight to Sasha, as they did Sasha asked to have a word with Luz. The two of them going off to be alone.

"So hey, uh, thanks again for convincing me to stay and do the song with you guys. I'm glad I listened," said Sasha.

"I…guess I'm glad you did to Sasha," said Luz, "you know….I think….when we get back I would like to try and rebuild our friendship."

"Wait really?" said Sasha in disbelief.

"Yeah…really," said Luz, "I mean it's going to take time, and it might not happen overnight, but I think that if both of us are sincere and try our best then maybe it can work."

"Yeah…uh maybe it can," said Sasha with some hesitation in her voice, she knew in the back of her mind what was going to happen tomorrow, and that feeling began to gnaw at her and make her feel bad.

"Are you okay?" asked Luz.

"I uh, just nervous about tomorrow is all," said Sasha, "I guess it's time for bed. I'll see you in the morning." With that Sasha waved goodbye to Luz and made her way back to her own home. All the while consumed by her thoughts.

I have to save Luz, she thought

What do you mean? asked the voice.

I can't let her face Beatrix, thought Sasha, I have to change the plan somehow.

You heard what Grime said in regards to the plan it's too late to change it, said the voice.

Just….let me think a bit, thought Sasha, okay so Grime said that Beatrix likes a good fight, so if she knew Luz didn't have her powers she wouldn't want to fight her right?

So what are you going to do? asked the voice.

Sasha took out a pen and paper and began to write a letter, I'll just send a note to Beatrix telling her we're changing the plan. Since Luz doesn't have her powers anymore, it would be a waste of resources to fight her. Instead all she has to do is keep Luz locked up at the Arena then she and her battalion should join the main force trying to take over Newtopia. We'll need her help in the streets if we're going to overthrow the King. So this will be a redeployment of sorts.

You are still going to send Luz to another world aren't you? asked the voice.

I…I mean do I need to? thought Sasha, maybe after all this is over we can still be friends.

If you don't get rid of her she will steal Anne away from you, is that really what you want? asked the voice.

I…I…don't know, but why does it matter so much that I send her to another world? thought Sasha.

I need you to send her to my world, said the voice.

Sasha instantly froze upon hearing that, what do you mean "send her to your world?"

The voice didn't respond, causing Sasha even more panic.

"Hey" she finally said aloud, "what did you mean send her to your world?"

Again no response.