Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sasha’s fists pounded against rough bark as she worked her way through the tree's body, pummeling it into submission; screams of fury roared from deep within as she continued to turn what was once life, into death. Her knuckles cried with pain, but she either didn’t notice or didn’t care in the heat of that moment.

She pulled back, finally feeling satisfied with her destruction. She desperately pulled her sword from its resting place in the scabbard attached at her hip, and began a sprint in the opposite direction, toward the place where she would continue her training.  A crude obstacle course had been made to test her strengths: a vine that swung precariously from one side of a gushing river to the other, above a fall that meant certain death; a treacherous path of rocks, dead tree trunks and mushrooms where a single misstep could lead to failure; and the mammoth-sized mandibles of a centipede that required precise avoidance. 

The last object on her path was by far the worst; targets made of melon, rocks and sticks that had been specially designed to look like her enemies - the Plantars. With ease, Sasha slid towards the small purple rock - painted to look just like the pollywog - and flung it far into the forest, where it landed with a thud. Next was the old frog; one stomp of her foot and the trunk he was made out of shattered in an instant. Finally, Sprig; Anne’s new-found best friend.

A laugh broke out of her throat as she launched herself at the melon-headed target and smashed it to pieces with a clean headbutt.

Seconds later, and she had her sword back in her hand, pointing directly at the last target. Her .

The one-shoed girl Sasha had once called her best friend. The mannequin wielded a crude imitation of a wooden sword, hair created out of leaves and a badly painted on St. James' school uniform. 

However, the more Sasha’s eyes glared in the mannequin's direction and she prepared her attack, the more those words rang in her mind.

It’s over Sash. You’re not going to push me around anymore.

Hey Anne…maybe you’re better off without me.

A feral scream broke from Sasha, and with one clean swing of her sword she-

Her sword hovered before the mannequin's torso, ready to pierce through and end it once and for all. But she didn't. Could she really…?

    “Leave me alone!” Sasha roared as she reeled back and punched the target in its drawn-on face, sending it flying to the ground.

Sasha placed the sword back in its scabbard and turned around. 

Why can’t you do it? A voice questioned nastily in her mind. 

    “Hey, Grimesy!” Sasha hollered, as she flung open the door to their new home - also known as a shed. “You here?”

No reply. It wouldn’t take a genius to guess something was amiss, and while Sasha was not a genius, she was a lieutenant. The signature scraping of metal rang out through the eerily empty room as she once again drew her sword from its scabbard. Her steps were light as she made her way through the cramped shed.

    “No! No please!” the all-too-familiar voice of her captain pleaded.

Now Sasha was running. Reaching the back of the shed, she raised her sword high into the air, ready to take out any would-be-assassin who tried to end her mentor. But before she could, Grime’s raucous laughter filled the room.

    “No, don’t let Randy be suspicious!” He screamed wildly. “He’s my favourite character!”

    “Of course, Suspicion Island.” Sasha groaned as she sent a barrage of stink eyes towards her captain - strands of hair had begun to show themselves on his face. A part of Sasha thought it suited the old toad, another part of her wanted to cut them off herself.

    “Oi, moustache, what happened to ‘Newtopia could send anyone after me, we need to be prepared’ meant ‘You train, I’ll grow a moustache, hm?’. What happens when Newtopia sends their best, and you’re too busy watching Suspicion Island?!” She snatched the phone away from his lap and back into her pocket.

    “Oh, hey Sash, come to watch season two with me?” The one eyed toad grinned from ear-to-ear.

    Sasha practically seethed. “Why are you watching trash TV right now? You’re supposed to be training!”

    “I will have you know that I am the Captain Grime.” He pointed an accusing finger towards Sasha. “I was taking out the ‘best’ before your parents were born. If Newtopia sends anybody, I’ll deal with it.” The captain reached for a bag of cheesy-beetle-bites, only to find himself stuck in the chair. “Could you get that for me?” he asked, with a surprising politeness.

The blonde roared at him, feral bursts of anger leaking from within. She swiftly sent her fist through the wall, creating a new hole where sunlight streamed in.

    “Oh, it’s morning?” Grime questioned.

    “Ughhhh, it’s midday! I’m going to go see if Percy and Braddock need anything.” She sounded out the words one-by-one. “You’re not having my phone back till you can move out of that damn chair again.”

    “Is this because of Anne?” he so-innocently asked, as though there were not so many layers attached to that question. “Because of her standing up to you at the tower?” The old toad reached behind him and pulled out a can of something that Sasha did not want to even smell. “I’ve told you plenty of times Sasha, throwing yourself into your training like this isn’t going to help. You’re clearly upset over what happened and-”

    “I’m going outside,” her stern voice cut him off as she headed for the exit.

    “Hey, Sasha! Wanna see something awesome?” Percy giggled. Sasha crossed her arms with her eyebrows raised high.

Finally, somebody actually taking this training seriously . Sasha smirked, nodding expectantly.

    “Okay, here goes!” the toad shouted as he ran behind a tree.

Okay, now he’s going to come out with his sword raised high, show off some of the moves I’ve been teaching him and we can go from there .

That was until the toad came back out. Rather than wielding a sword, the toad's drum set had been attached to his back and he had set up his trumpet so that he was ready to play at any moment. Braddock came out from behind the trees too, with her own drums and a horn.

Resisting the insatiable urge to slice a hole through each and every one of those instruments nearly melted Sasha’s brain. Before the couple could begin their obnoxiously loud performance, Sasha had already dove the other way and into the depths of the surrounding forest - and yet the faint noise of drums and trumpets still rang in her ears.

    “It is a miracle Newtopia hasn’t found us already.” she grumbled, fury taking over. “Fine, they can watch all the trash tv they want and mess around as often as they feel, I’m going on a walk.” She spoke to no-one around her, her feet already mindlessly shuffling through the trees.

    “And it’s like he’s a completely different person!” Sasha mumbled. “He used to be the fearful captain Grime, we led an army together, it was brilliant, now that the rest of the toads have left us, it’s like he’s a completely different man. And Percy and Bradock; I love those two, but I need them fighting, not playing music. It was fine in toad tower, they could play us tunes after a day of fighting, but now? They are the only fighters we have left and they can’t fight!” 

    “And who does Grime think he is to say that? The audacity to ask me a question like that. Okay, maybe I’m stuck up on…what happened at toad tower, but at least I’m trying to do something about it! Unlike Grimesy who would rather watch Suspicion Island all day. You get me?”

When her rant had ended, Sasha looked forward, only to be met with a rather confused grubble staring up at her.

    “I am talking to a bug…” she sighed.

    It was then Sasha had noticed the darkness of the night and the crimson glow of Amphibia’s moon. “Man, have I been ranting for that long? I should get back…”

Looking around the dimly lit forest, Sasha’s gulp could not have been any louder. Gone were the pine trees that surrounded her camp, being replaced with the thick swampy trees that could be found in and out of the frog-valley. Her time with maps had been relatively short - up until now, they had a navigator to get through Amphibia - but from the swampy green lands around her, Sasha could easily tell she had left the mountain and made her way to the bottom, where the entrance to the frog-valley had only been a short walk away.

    “Frog damnit!” she screamed, sending her fist flying into a large tree. “Grime could be in danger right now, and I’m out here talking to a bug!” Another punch into the bark. “Why did the tower just have to get destroyed?” Another. “Why did it have to happen the way it did?” One more rough punch. “Why did Anne have to ruin everything?!” Her fist reeled back, and with a battle cry so loud it sent a flock of bug-birds flying away, her fist collided with the trunk of the tree and pummled it so hard, she fell to the ground.

Sasha’s eyes moved down to her hands where, among the blood and cut knuckles, a faint pink glow emenated from her skin. 

The girl felt like throwing up that day's meal - or at least the small amount she did eat. Her vision grew blurry and nausea took over; but a laugh, carried by the wind, brought her back to reality. Listening closer, Sasha noticed traces of chatter and laughter, through the treeline and out on the other side. From one faint smell of the food the group had been cooking, which wafted its way towards her, Sasha found her hand landing on her sword's hilt in seconds.

Through the treeline, Sasha quickly realised how close she was to the pathway into frog-valley. On one side of the path, a cosy wagon had been parked thoughtfully out of the way, while its passengers all surrounded a fire. And if the all-too-familiar smell of Thai food - of which Sasha had grown a liking to ever since Anne took Sasha to her parents’ restaurant all those years ago - weren’t enough, the party of frogs was a dead giveaway to who was there.

A purple pollywog, an ancient orange frog, and a small pink frog who looked more like a plushie than anything else. And on the other side of the fire, her .

What used to be Sasha’s best friend could not have looked any happier; she was making food, cracking jokes, but most of all, she was smiling.

She was happy.

While Sasha had been stewing for months, waiting for their reunion, Anne was as happy as could be. 

She’s forgotten about you, Sasha . 

Sasha couldn’t guess what exactly it was that compelled her to stay. As the night dragged on, all she could do was look down at them, her mind trapped in a state of limbo, her eyes fixated on one of the only other humans in Amphibia.

Midnight. The Plantars had gone into the wagon, almost certainly gone to sleep, except for Anne. The one-shoed girl continued to sit around the fire, staring into the open flame. Her mouth moved slightly but with Sasha’s distance, any attempt to make out the words would be impossible.

Sasha had to get closer.

Why? She still couldn’t say. 

The crackling of the fire had silenced Sasha’s steps - another skill she picked up on with Grime - and she was able to get close enough to the point she could hear anything Anne had whispered.

But, with her mind clouded on hearing Anne’s voice once more, Sasha failed to use another skill Grime had taught her - to be aware of her surroundings. Her feet hooked onto a root which had curled its way onto the surface and moments later, Sasha found herself exactly by Anne’s feet.

    “Sasha?!” Anne yelped as she flew from her seat. “W-What are you…why are you here?!”

Sasha flew to her feet, as both her and Anne’s eyes fixated on each other. What followed was a drawn-out, extremely strained stillness as neither knew what to say.

At least, that was until Sasha had turned on her heels and ran back into the forest. The blonde heaved as she bolted, using every last skill she had been taught to outrun Anne - but of course, the girl was right behind her. 

Why can’t she just leave me alone? Sasha would’ve screamed then and there, but in her fury, she tripped once more, landing head first on a stone slab. 

A bruise began to form on her forehead and any attempts to stand were thwarted by the pain radiating throughout her body. Sasha’s eyes took note of the strange place she had found herself in, stone bricks and slabs that had been eroded after hundreds of years, iron bars sharp enough to impale any creature that came near them, and a thick fog. The ruins she had found herself in may as well have been haunted - and for a moment, Sasha thought they truly were as that voice came back once more.

It’s over Sash. You’re not going to push me around anymore, Anne had commanded.

Trial by combat! Captain Grime had roared.

Hey Anne…maybe you’re better off without me.

As each and every voice made months of agony and resentment come flying back, Sasha screamed. Her fist collided with the ancient stone, another wave of aches flooding her entire body.

The past voice of her mentor chuckled. Looks like you’ve got a rebellious seed of your own. Grime’s smile could not have been any larger then. You’ve given me plenty of advice. Now let me give you some. Stamp this out. Make her yield. Fail, and nothing will ever be the same.

    “You were right…” Sasha’s exasperated voice whimpered. “I lost, and now, nothing can be how it used to be…”

Maybe they can. That damn voice continued to reverberate inside her own head. You’re stronger now. Anne may stand up to you, but there’s one more way to turn thing’s how they used to be.

A maniacal laugh broke from Sasha’s throat. 

    “Grime was right. The only way things can go back to how they used to be is if I end this once and for all!” Sasha pulled herself up, despite the pain spreading throughout her body. 

Her hand reached towards the scabbard on her hip and moments later, her sword was in her hand, practically glowing from the red moonlight.

    “I will win this time, no matter what it takes.”

Anne drew near. Sasha, for the first time in months, smiled.

    “I’m going to be in control once again, and this time Anne won’t stop me.”

Chapter Text

    “Hey Anne…maybe you’re better off without me.”

She let go.

Anne lurched up from her cramped bed in the fwagon. Sunlight streamed in through the windows all around, blinding her briefly as her eyes adjusted to the scorching light. Raising her hand to her forehead, the girl noticed beads of sweat dripping down and into her clothes, her breathing had grown shaky in her sleep.

    “Hey, Anne! Was that you?” Hop-pop called down. “Come on up, there’s something you should see!”

Wiping her sweat and throwing on her shoes--no, shoe, Anne rolled off the top bunk and landed on the floor gracefully where her hands then found the ladder to the roof of the fwagon.

    “Morning H.P, what is it?”

The old frog pointed underneath the two of them, where Sprig and Polly were ruthlessly pulling out maps from a bag - the fact that they hadn’t ripped any yet was astounding. 

    “We’re coming up to a place known as the Ruins of Despair, which means we’re making swift progress on our journey. We’ll be in Newtopia soon enough.”

    “Awesome!” Anne smiled warmly. “I seriously can’t thank you enough for this - you guys are incredible.”

    “Aw, shucks, Anne. You know we’re doing it because you’re family. I just hope that on the way there we come across that Marcy fellow you keep talking about. Now, do you mind taking over for Sprig and Polly before they tear apart our maps?”

    “Come on guys, it’s Anne’s turn,” Anne remarked as she kicked her siblings off. “hey, what time is it, anyway?”

    “Eh, midday?” Polly guessed, squinting up at the sun. 

    “Midday?! Why didn’t you wake me up?”

    Sprig hopped up onto Anne’s shoulder. “You looked so peaceful. How could we wake you?”

Anne couldn’t help but giggle as she picked Sprig up and placed him in the bushy mess of her hair.

It was safe to say the Ruins of Despair were…interesting.

Going against Hop-Pop’s words, plenty of explosions and learning a solid lesson - a usual day for the Plantars, but crazy nonetheless. As the sun dipped past the horizon, the family now crowded around a crackling fire.

    “I’ve gotta say, Anne - your food is some of the best I’ve ever tasted. I don’t know how you earth people do it,” Hop-Pop chuckled.

    “Oh, you can thank my parents for that one, dude. Their restaurant is as popular as it is for a reason. Oh I just thought of something! Maybe when I go back to Earth, you guys can come visit me and try some of their food! If you think my cooking is good, you should try my parents…”

    Sprig’s jaw nearly fell to the floor. “But you said your food doesn’t have bugs. I mean, how do you make food without bugs?” he gasped, nearly falling to the floor dramatically.

    “Oh, foolish, foolish, Sprig, you don’t know just how much better non-bug food is. One day my son, one day,” Anne spoke as she dramatically squished Sprig’s cheeks, sending waves of laughter throughout their camp site.

    “Okay, okay. It’s getting late, kids, off to bed,” Hop-Pop commanded. When Anne didn’t move, he walked into her line of sight. “Coming, Anne?”

    “I’ll be there soon H.P. You guys go in without me.”

When Sprig and Polly had gone off to bed, Hop-Pop looked back to Anne. 

    “Everything alright?” he asked, placing his old, shaky hands on Anne’s shoulder.

    “Yep!” Anne’s chipper voice responded. “A-OK, H.P.”

    “Mm, okay. See you in the morning, Anne.”

    “See you in the morning, H.P. Tomorrow’s gonna be another crazy adventure.” She winked playfully.

With a chuckle, Hop-Pop…well, hopped his way into the fwagon and into bed. Once more alone, Anne relaxed and poked at the food on her plate.

Anne began to chuckle playfully as she recalled the day's events. The ancient factory, filled with technology not too far off from what Marcy had shown Anne back on earth, Hop-Pop nearly becoming as flat as a pancake, Polly showing off her epic moves with Bessie. If today wasn’t a good day, Anne didn’t know what she would call one.

And yet, she still had no appetite - and it certainly wasn’t the near-death experience she had gone through - after all, that was a normal Wednesday for her now. Rather, something else poked at the back of her mind.

    “They're not just frogs. They're my friends!”

As the words replayed in her mind, Anne winced in a futile attempt to think them away.

    “Are you really gonna risk your life for these talking frogs? We don't even belong here. Don't you wanna get back home? See your family?” Sasha spat.

    “Yeah, but…”

    “Then put your sword down, now. End of discussion.”

Anne couldn’t help but laugh as that day flashed in her mind; a weak, regretful laugh.

    “What happened to you, Sasha…?” Anne whispered as she shook her head. “Then again, what happened to me? I guess I realised the truth?” 

    “Anne, what are you doing?!” Sasha backed away, her eyes wider than the moon.

    “Something I should have done a long time ago: standing up TO YOU!”

She chuckled once more. “I just want to be friends again. Once I find Marcy, I’ll find you and then we can all be together again…I hope.”

Her words were cut short as out of the tree-line, an oddly shaped figure came flying towards her. As they tumbled down, they let out grunts and curses until they were directly in front of Anne’s feet, close enough the fire nearly burned them.

At first, Anne would’ve said it was a newt who landed in front of her. Even if she had only seen one before, there’s no way it could’ve been who she thought it was. But after rubbing her eyes in an attempt to see if she had dozed off in the warmth of the fire, Anne found the unfortunate truth of the blonde girl below her.

    “Sasha?!” Anne yelped as she flew from her seat. “W-What are you…why are you here?!”

The blonde flew to her feet. Large eye-bags were present on Sasha’s face and her blonde-hair had become a curly mop not too different from Anne’s hair. Many scars were dotted throughout Sasha’s body, the most notable being massive bruises along her knuckles.

A strangely awkward silence took hold over the two girls and before Anne could take her chance to talk to Sasha, the girl had already bolted off.

Whether it was instinct, or a need to see her best friend again, Anne didn’t know; but she followed rapidly. Sasha was fast, had months of training behind her, and clearly didn’t want Anne following her. And were it not for her also leaving behind a path of destruction in her wake, Anne would’ve lost the girl immediately.

As she ran, Anne took note of the sword bouncing on her back. The golden blade gifted to her by the cunning Tritonio. Truth is, she only had the blade equipped because of the creatures that wander Amphibia’s forests at night; although, a part of Anne thanked herself for bringing it. 

Just in case.

She found Sasha cornered in a ruined building. Fog had begun to settle, shrouding everything in a misty veil.

    “Sasha?” Anne reached her hand out, but at the sight of Sasha’s ruby-red sword, backed away.

The blonde clenched her fists tighter than ever and Anne could’ve sworn she heard stifled sobs.

    “Sasha, it’s okay. I forgive you. Come on, let’s end all of this, find Marcy and go home-”

    “Come with me and Grime.” Sasha’s voice was dry and coarse. “Leave those frogs.”

    Anne sighed. “You already know I won’t do that, Sasha.”

    “You’d really choose those frogs over your best friend?!” she yelled.

Anne clenched her fists as she attempted to remain calm.

    “Those frogs are my family, Sasha. If you think I’m leaving them, you’re wrong.”

    “You have a family on Earth! You have me, Marcy, your parents! Those… Those things are just frogs! Please, Anne…come with me and Grime, we’ll find Marcy and he--he can help us get home!”

    “I can’t believe it…I-I thought you’d really changed. I spent so many nights thinking of us two, being friends again just like how it used to be but…you were right. Maybe I really am better off without you. You know what? If you really can’t let go of the fact that I am doing what I want to do and not what you want, then I’m done being your friend, Sasha. We are over!”

    “Take that back!” Sasha roared as she flipped around, her sword raised high and flying directly towards Anne’s face. Whether or not she meant to do what she did next, neither of them knew.

The heron sword just barely missed Anne’s cheek, almost; as the tip of the blade sliced open her face and tore flesh. What remained would surely form a scar much similar to Sasha’s, although much larger - going from her ear to her lip.

As blood dripped to the floor, Anne’s shaky hands moved their way to her cheek. Adrenaline took over and, accompanied by a feral growl, Anne lunged forward with her fists high in the air and aiming directly for Sasha’s face.

Within seconds Anne had tackled Sasha to the ground and began to throw her own punches. She would’ve been shocked at her friend's own strength, but the scar on Sasha’s face was proof enough of that. 

While Anne was strong though, Sasha was a strategist. It wasn’t hard for her to find an opening where she headbutted Anne, sending her flying across the battlefield. Back on her feet once more, Sasha made a run for her sword, which had clattered away when she fell; but with Anne’s own sword now raised high, Sasha had to jump back to avoid having her insides exposed to the midnight air. Anne remained relentless, threatening to slice Sasha’s torso right open.

Now that Sasha was backed up against a tree, she took the opportunity to perform a cartwheel and on her way down, kicked Anne in the face and sent her tumbling back. One perfectly performed roll later and she too had her sword equipped.

    “I can’t believe you, Sasha!” Anne roared, tears brimming in her eyes. “Don’t you realise, this isn’t a game! This is real life! You can’t just control everything and have it all go the way you want!” 

Anne charged Sasha, slicing her sword in an upwards arc and opening up a deep wound on the blonde's right biceps - luckily, Sasha was using her left hand for her sword.

    “You wanna know what’s real?” Sasha spat. “Your delusions! You think these frogs are your family but they aren’t! You should’ve let me do what I was going to do and then everything could’ve been great, but you had to ruin it!” she screamed as Anne came charging once more. 

This time, Sasha blocked the attack and held Anne in place, glaring daggers into the girl’s eyes. Despite how much pain it caused her, Sasha used both her arms to push the girl back and onto the ground.

    “You could’ve let me deal with that frog at Toad tower, and we could have been with Marcy, back on earth having sleepovers and eating pizza! But clearly, you’d rather spend the rest of your life here!”

After having the back of her head slammed into the stone brick, Anne made pitiful attempts to get up, giving Sasha the perfect opportunity to place her sword back into its scabbard and wail on Anne.

Punch, after punch, after punch, Anne endured as her face was turned into a punching bag for Sasha.

Finally feeling satisfied, Sasha stood back up and glared down at what used to be her best friend. Anne couldn’t move no matter how much she tried to, and she believed she had won. Sasha turned to lean against the ruined stone brick wall behind her, with sticky blood leaking from her arm. It wasn't the first time and it certainly wouldn’t be the last. 

Just as she thought it was over though, she heard Anne slowly stand up, grunting and crying in pain as she did so. The scraping of metal against stone demonstrated that she was reaching for her own golden sword.

    “Stamp this out. Make her yield. Fail, and nothing will ever be the same.”

Sasha knew Anne was likely preparing for an attack that would kill her if she didn’t move. And as Anne came charging towards her, roaring a garbled battle cry, Sasha jumped back as though her brain was on autopilot. Her one good arm reached down and flicked the heron blade out of its home. And before her or Anne could realise what they were both doing, it was already over.

Sasha thrusted her sword forward, straight through the front of Anne’s lower torso as the sound of flesh being torn resounded in Sasha’s ears.

The scream that followed, Sasha would never forget. 

Her sword came out on the other side of Anne’s torso. Accompanied by another terrifying scream, Sasha pushed both her sword and Anne’s slowly limpening body through the battleground. Upon reaching one of the many trees in the forest, Sasha found every drop of strength in her body to push the blade into the bark of the tree, leaving Anne practically nailed to it.  She had managed to lodge the sword so deep inside the trunk, it would have to be cut down to free her.

She did it. 

The one-shoed girl’s shaky breaths began to slow down, her eyes fluttered open and closed and she slipped in and out of consciousness as she made futile attempts to set herself free.

Anne’s hand made a desperate last bid for freedom, only to woefully twitch in the directions of Sasha’s ruby-red heron sword.

Cut short and indistinguishable, attempts to speak were clogged by the overwhelming amount of blood filling her mouth, slowly but surely drowning her.

Her golden sword became covered in a sheen of dark crimson as it clattered to the ground.

This wasn’t a game; it was reality, in the flesh. Anne was right about that. And regardless, the blonde had won.

So why did Sasha feel this way?

The morning sun rose over the land of Amphibia, purging the crimson darkness the worlds red moon had spread. Sasha clenched her fists tighter than ever before and three simple words uttered from her mouth for the hundredth time that night.

    “It was quick…” Sasha whispered as though what she did could be excused. “Painless…” Her teeth bit into her tongue as she lied.

As the shack that Sasha and Grime had been living in grew closer, so did the ever familiar bouts of laughter coming from inside. 

Sasha stopped outside the shack and pushed open the door to find Percy and Bradock playing their music and the once fearful captain Grime lounging in his armchair. But that all stopped when they saw her blood-covered body.

    “What did you do…?” Grime’s voice was new. It wasn’t full of wisdom or fury like it usually was, rather, his voice sounded genuine, and fearful.

Sasha looked down at her hand, where Anne’s golden sword shimmered in the sunlight - even the parts that were coated in her and Sasha’s blood.

    She clattered the sword to the ground. “Anne is dead.” Sasha growled. “It’s over.”

To her surprise, Grime had nothing to say, and Sasha? Sasha laughed.

   “And we?” she broke through her chuckle, her voice practically dripped with a feeling Sasha had never felt in her life. “We are going to find Marcy and make her mine once again, we are going to show anybody that tries to hurt us that we aren’t weak. We… No, I will not lose again.”

    “Sasha, your arm, let me take a look at it.” the caring voice of her mentor pleaded.

    “No time. We’ve got some toads to visit.”

    “The toads? What would we need from them?”

    “Because Newtopia thought they could brand us criminals. We need these toads for one reason and one reason only, Grime: we are going to war .”

Chapter Text

    “Anne?!” Sprig called, his voice scratchy. “Anne?!” he called out again. “Anne, please, where are you?!”

Sprig fell to his knees. Tears brimmed at the corners of his eyes and he frantically pulled at his iconic hat. How long had he been out there? He couldn’t say. How long since he heard those words?

    “Kids wake up!” the panicked voice of Sprig’s grandfather pulled him from his slumber.

    Sprig groaned internally. “Hop-Pop, it’s not even morning yet! What's so important?!”

    “Anne’s missing.”

The scene replayed in his mind for the hundredth time, as though Sprig was searching for a piece of a puzzle he’d been missing; though each and every time the words remained the same, and Anne was still gone.

The morning sun poked Sprig’s eyes, forcing him back to his feet once more. 

    “Anne?!” he called one last time, as if he expected it to be different from the thousands (maybe hundreds of thousands) of times before that one.

    “Sprig?” the all-too familiar voice of his older sister called back. It was so quiet that if Sprig’s sobs had been any louder, he would not have heard her.

   “Anne?” Sprig lunged forward through the overgrowth and was practically running on all fours as Anne’s hushed whimpers were carried by the wind and grew ever so slightly louder.

Sprig broke through the thick of the trees, finding his amphibian-feet landing no longer on dirt, rather on slick stone. His eyes scanned the ruins time and time again, hoping to hear Anne’s voice or see her face once more; but as he turned around, he found himself wishing he hadn’t.

    “No…” his voice broke through sobs. “No, no, no, no!”

He couldn’t bring himself to step forward. Anne’s soft brown eyes warmly glanced down at him and any attempts she made to speak simply came out as muted whimpers. His eyes moved down her blood-stained body and landed on the one thing he had hoped wouldn’t be there.

The same sword that would’ve cut his life short were it not for his big sister. The red-heron sword of Lieutenant Sasha Waybright.

    “Wake up, you big sleepyhead!” Polly interrupted Sprig’s nightmare by chucking a pancake at his face. “If you’re not up here in the next five minutes then I’m eating your pancakes!”

Sprig looked up at his sister and groaned frustratingly.

    “Eat them, I don’t care!” he shouted back up before running to the trapdoor that led into the basement and slamming it shut.

The pink frog moved over to a mirror and wiped the sweat that had accumulated from his nightmare. His, now much longer, orange hair practically begged him to care for it but Sprig simply ran his fingers through it once and threw his hat over it - despite this, strands of hair still poked out at awkward angles.

His eyes moved around the dimly lit basement and he found his feet instinctively shuffling to the shoddily-crafted desk; among other items were one of Sprig’s slingshots - he pocketed one before hopping his way to the basement door. Before leaving though, the small frog took one final look at what had quickly become his new room, before he sighed and left.

It had only been six months since and yet it felt so different.

    “Finally joining us?” Hop-Pop joked, a forced smile bearing down.

    “I don’t feel like eating,” Sprig mumbled. “Besides, Ivy and Maddie wanted me to go meet them.”

    “Well, I’ll save you some chocopede pancakes if you change yer mind.”

    “Sure-” he answered absentmindedly as he made for the door.

The humid summer air hit against Sprig’s face as he left the comfort of his home; small beads of sweat had begun to form on the frog-boy’s forehead and he clenched his fists in a pitiful attempt to ground himself. Finally, Sprig opted to focus his eyes onto the ground and found his feet trudging the right way, deep in the forest.

    “Hey, Sprig!” Maddie called him over. “Come check this out!”

Sprig meandered his way towards the young witch, where a cauldron with a bubbling green liquid rested in the dirt.

    “Ivy had plans to catch butterflies and so, after intensive research, I have created the ultimate curse. With this curse, butterflies will flock to us like vultures to the dead!” The blue frog laughed maniacally. “Ivy claims the true magic of catching bugs is hunting them, but I don’t see the point in that when we can use real magic.”

   “Uh-huh…” the pink frog ensured he stepped at least three-feet away. “Where is Ivy-?”

   “Ambush!” Ivy roared as she materialised from in front of Sprig and tackled him to the ground. “Haha, yes! Maddie, that invisibility curse is amazing!” The yellow frog high fived her witchy friend before pulling Sprig back up. “Mornin’, Sprig!”

    “Hey, Ivy…” Sprig chuckled under his breath, before nervously depositing himself on a nearby rock.

    “Sprig, you really need to work on your counter ambushes.” Ivy laughed before joining him.

    “Yeah well I’ve been…busy.” he whispered.

Clearly growing bored of sitting down, Ivy hopped her way to the nearest tree and within seconds hung from one of the branches.

“Yeah, you’ve certainly been busy.” Ivy chuckled as she began to hop from each tree. “It’s been so long since I last saw you, months even! I missed you.”

    “Hey, don’t forget about me - I’ve missed having a test subject such as yourself, Sprig.” The witchy frog pulled a small vial filled with red liquid from her bag. “Think I could take another blood sample?” she asked, madness clearly loomed behind her eyes.

   “No!” Sprig yelped as he brought his legs onto the rock as well.

From the trees, both frogs heard a laugh before Ivy appeared hanging from another branch, this time her support being nothing more than her feet as she dangled upside-down. Her blue hat threatened to drop off of the girl's head but managed to cling on.

    “Hey, Maddzy, do you think one of those curses can give me wings?”

   “Do I?!” Maddie let loose an unhinged cackle as she bolted to her bag. “Come take your pick!”

    “And then, the mad witch turned the guy into a statue! A literal statue!” Ivy remarked as she hopped around the field, recreating one of her and Maddie’s battles. “Maddzy can do anything!”

    Maddie groaned and rubbed at her temple. “I thought I asked you to stop calling me that.”

    “Sorry, Maddzy, but the name’s staying!”

Sprig chuckled softly as he watched them continue to bicker.

Man, those two have gone on so many adventures since I’ve been gone. He reflected. I guess that makes sense - they’ve always seemed like they could be good friends if they gave it a chance.

   “Isn’t that right, Sprig?!” Ivy questioned, pulling Sprig from his thoughts. “It’s a good nickname!”

   “I’m staying out of this,” he commented, still not entirely sure what the two were actually arguing about.

Once more alone with his thoughts, Sprig turned his attention to Maddie’s bubbling cauldron; it was so loud it blocked out any other commotion. Now that the rest of the noise had been silenced, Sprig was left with only his mind, which decided to ensure that memories of old would be resurfaced.

    “Don’t worry, Anne, it’s going to be okay!” Sprig so desperately lied to her and himself.

    “Help me get her to Bessie! We can get back to Wartwood if we’re quick!”

The garbled voice of his sister as she attempted to calm him was all Sprig could hear though.

Why was she so fixated on calming him? He had questioned then and to this day. 

Why, after what had happened to her, was I the only thing she could think of? Why wasn’t she panicked, worried, or even screaming? Why did fate put her in that situation in the first place, and why did Sasha have to be there too?

Why did Sasha do what she did? Why did she not face consequences for it? Why do I spend every waking second thinking about what I’d do if-

     “Sprig!” The soothing voice of Ivy flung the pink frog back to reality. “Hey, are you okay? You were mumbling there for a second.”

One of the first things Sprig noticed was the wet droplets that leaked from his eyes which he hadn’t even recognised had begun to flow. His fists clenched so tight it was as though he had been fighting against an invisible force; in one of those hands, Sprig held - or rather, crushed - his green hat, while his orange hair flowed freely in the summer breeze.

    “I--I need to go.” Sprig promptly announced, flying from his seat and beginning to run away. All the while, tears streamed from his eyes. 

As Hop-Pop made his way through town, an ever-present feeling of something being wrong poked at the back of his mind - strangely, he couldn’t place what exactly it was. 

Polly hopped alongside him, occasionally running up to various market stalls and begging him to purchase yet another item which he begrudgingly accepted.

    “Hey, Hop-Pop!” Polly tapped furiously at her grandfather’s leg. “I’m tired of hopping.”

The orange frog reached down and now held his pollywog in his arms.

    “Well of course you are, you’ve been hoppin’ all over town today; speaking of which, mind tellin’ me what all these bits and pieces are for?”

    “I’m building something,” the purple ball absentmindedly answered.

    Hop-Pop chuckled softly. “All you’ve been doing since…since these last six months is building. Anything in particular?”

   Polly shrugged. “I’ve just been experimenting. Now I’ve been moving on to other things, like weapons…you know, you can say what happened, right? I’m not a baby anymore.”

    “It’s not that…” He looked away from his granddaughter. “I just…need more time.”

The pollywog shrugged - at least she attempted to - before turning her attention to the few stalls she had yet to visit. Fortunately for Hop-Pop’s wallet, they had just gotten out of the market (after an attempt to buy groceries turned into a dip into the retirement fund) and Wartwood’s central town square grew ever closer. 

As the two Plantars reached the memorable fountain in the centre of town, Polly sprung out of Hop-pop's arms and into the water with an adorably quiet splash.

    “I’m going to pop into loggles for a moment, you stay with the bags,” Hop-Pop said to the still water.

    “Got it!” Polly affirmed as her body dipped to the surface of the water. As Hop-Pop left, he couldn’t help but notice her reaching into the bags and beginning to jam two strange objects into each other.

    “Hey, Loggle, are you open?” Hop-Pop questioned as he entered the woodsmith’s store.

The blue axolotl reared his head around the corner and waved Hop-Pop in.

    “I’m here, for now at least. Is there anything you need?”

Loggle’s goggles had been attached to a belt on his hip and he no longer wore his wood-working attire.

    Hop-Pop’s eyes moved to the backroom, where he noticed many packed bags. “Is something wrong?” 

    “I’m moving to Newtopia,” he mumbled as he pushed aside various objects.

    “How come? Are you opening up shop there?”

    “Absolutely!” The two paused in an awkward silence as they glared into each other's souls. “Not. It’s the war. The toad’s forces are growing stronger every day and Newtopia can’t help, they can only help those who’re on their side of the border. If I leave now, I can get there before the toads try and set up anything to stop me.”

    “But the toads haven’t come for Wartwood, we’re safe here.”

    “Maybe not Wartwood yet, but other towns certainly. How long till we end up sieged? Either way, is there anything you need before I set off?”

    “Hm, well I came to ask if you had that painting done yet.”

    “Absolutely!” Once more, a strange silence filled the room. “Huh, that definitely wasn’t normal.”

   “You’re telling me…”

    “Anyhow!” Loggle ran to the shop’s backroom and came out with a square object covered in a white cloth under his arms. “Here you are. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to close up shop.”

   “Sure thing…” Hop-Pop reversed his direction and began his walk back to the fountain.

    “Hey, Hop-Pop! What did you get, anyway?”

   “It’s a surprise.” He chuckled before sitting down on the fountain's rim, where Polly’s various pieces of junk had been thrown in every possible direction. “So, what kind of ‘weapons’ are you building anyway?” he questioned, still not entirely sure if he should intervene before Polly did something more illegal than her last project.

    “Ones to fight the toads!” she roared. “I’m making traps, maces, even slingshots for Sprig! They won’t know what hit them!”

   “Hm, can’t say I agree with lettin’ you make them, but I also can’t say I disagree with the idea.” Hop-Pop leaned back slightly and let the cool summer air waft around him. Polly continued to smash various objects into one another, causing a loud ruckus.

     “I know that was hard for you, Anne. Thank you, you know, for everything.” Hop-Pop held her hand as the four of them sat around the same fountain he was on now.

    Anne smiled warmly. “Hop-Pop, you three are my family. I'd never let anyone hurt you.”

    “Well, whatever happens next, one thing's for sure,” Anne announced to her frog family as she brought them in for a hug. “If we're together, I know we'll be alright.”

    “Uh, Hop-Pop.” The sound of objects being smashed into one another had quieted down and when the old frog opened his eyes once more, he noticed Polly looking one way, where a small pink blur grew closer and closer.

But it wasn’t any pink blur, it was his grandson. Sprig bolted through town, knocking townspeople over, sending objects flying every which way and even crushing a few of Polly’s objects as he ran past. The first thing Hop-Pop noticed was the tears that flew from his grandson’s eyes; and the second thing was the two small blurs chasing after him.

    “Maddie? Ivy? What’s going on?!” Hop-pop brought the two to a stop as sweat began to run down his forehead.

    “It’s Sprig! He--he started mumbling something about Anne and then…he just ran off! We’ve been trying to talk to him but he won’t stop! W-We don’t even know where he’s going!”

    “I think I know where…” Hop-Pop sighed thoughtfully. “Polly, grab your things. Let’s go find your brother.”

    Sprig’s sobs could not have been any louder. His home grew ever closer and as he reached the door, his feet immediately sent him practically tumbling into the basement - but not before locking the trapdoor so nothing else from the outside world could do to him what happened out there.

His hands, covered in tears, shakily reached into the desk and retrieved the one item that could help him now. 

Anne’s phone.

He held down on the power button and crossed his fingers.

    “Please don’t need to be charged, please don’t need to be charged.” he begged.

But rather than the screen flashing to life like it usually would, all Sprig was met with was a black void with a lightning-bolt symbol in the middle.

In a fit of anger Sprig gripped onto the phone tighter than ever and sent it flying to the floor, which he instantly regretted; a noticeable crack had formed across its glass screen.

    “No, no, no, no! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m…”

The rest of his words simply came out as incomprehensible sobs. Sprig fell to the ground, no longer crying but rather staring. His eyes dared not to move away from the phone and they would have stayed that way were it not for a sudden bang that shook him to his core.

    “Sprig! It’s Hop-Pop. I-I want to talk…can you open the door?”

The pink frog turned his gaze from the phone and onto Anne’s bed. Suddenly, he bolted and flew into the soft blankets that covered the mattress before he gripped onto all sides of the blanket and curled into a ball, covered by the warm embrace of the bed.

     “Anne’s missing.” 

Hop-Pop’s past voice shouted over and over again. Sprig’s sobs had turned into wailing as the past voices clouded his thoughts.

     “Why?”

Six months ago.

    “Anne, it's going to be okay!” Sprig held onto both sides of his sister's face and smiled down at her. “We’re…we’re nearly at Wartwood, we can get you help there!” 

He knew he was lying.

Sprig’s eyes moved from his sister's face and down her body, where the gaping hole continued to drip. The Plantars had done their best to wrap it and clean it; yet a vile red liquid still continued to leak through their bandages.

With every drop of strength in her body, Anne lifted her hand towards Sprig’s face and held his cheek in the palm of her hand. Still, she smiled as her blood gushed from her body and onto Sprig’s lap.

    “It’s okay, Sprig…” she whispered. “You’re going to be okay. You don’t need to cry.” Anne rubbed at the tears that had formed in Sprig’s face, still smiling.

   The pink frog’s gaze didn’t break from Anne’s as he looked down at her dumbfounded. “Why?” he questioned. “W-Why are you smiling?”

    Surprisingly, Anne laughed. “Because, Sprig…no matter what happens, I get to spend whatever time I have left with you guys…”

    “What--what do you mean by that?” Sprig broke through his sobs.

    Anne shushed the frog and placed her hand in his. “It’s going to be alright, Sprig - you’re going to be alright. All of you will be…”

The tight grip of her hand against his suddenly loosened.

    “Anne?”

Anne’s body leaned back, her head fell into the crevice of Sprig’s arm.

    “Anne?!”

    “Sprig, we’re nearly to Wartwood, just hang on-”

Hop-Pop's gaze darkened as he slowly pulled their family snail to a stop.

    “No!” Sprig’s furious gaze met his grandfather’s. “Why are you stopping?! We--we can still…we can still make it!”

    “Sprig…”

Sprig didn’t want nor need to hear the next word that came from Hop-Pop’s mouth; he knew the truth. He’d seen it happen before. And just like the last time it had happened, Sprig denied it over and over again. But he knew.

It was too late.

Chapter Text

    “It’s going to be alright, Sprig - you’re going to be alright. All of you will be.”

Hopediah recalled his granddaughter's last words once more in his mind as he stepped onto the muddy dirt outside. Light rain fell from the sky. It almost seemed like some cruel message, one he already knew the contents of.

After circling around the farmhouse, his feet reached the door to the basement of his home. From all the times Anne had woken him up screaming about a new critter that snuck in, Hop-Pop knew from experience the lock on that door never worked.

    “Sprig?” he politely called down.

    “Leave me alone!” Sprig shouted back.

With a sigh, Hop-Pop pulled open the two wooden doors and descended, only to stop on the first step.

     “Anne, you don't have to do this.”

    “Yes, I do.”

Hop-Pop gulped and his eyes turned to face the outside, until a light sob from down the steps moved his eyes back.

Remember who you’re doing this for.

Upon reaching the final step of the basement ladder, Hop-Pop’s gaze scanned the room. Surprisingly, it wasn’t much different to the last time he had visited (now all those months ago); time had certainly taken its toll. But one look at the room would make anybody wonder if the events of the last six months had ever even happened - something in the back of his mind wondered whether or not that was on purpose.

Laying against the stone brick floor, his granddaughter's orange phone flashed briefly for a moment - to signify it had run out of battery - before flicking off shortly after. A noticeable crack now split the screen, which Hop-Pop was certain never used to be there.

The entirety of the room had its contents strewn about - another thing that hadn’t changed since he last visited, although the pillows had now been hurled across the room. And where the pillows used to be, Hop-Pop found the source of the silent sobs.

    “Hey, Sprig.” He yanked slightly on the blankets, just enough so he could see Sprig’s face.

    “What do you want?” he whimpered through broken sobs.

    Hop-Pop looked around the dimly lit room and back to Sprig. “To talk…”

    “What is there to talk about?” he asked, his voice stern.

    “Anne…”

Sprig’s eyes turned to pinpricks and he pulled the blankets over him even tighter.

    “There’s nothing to talk about. She’s gone, and I’m… I'm the only one who hasn’t moved on. Just leave…”

    “Moved on?” Hop-Pop would’ve chuckled were it not for the circumstances. “Sprig…what do you mean by that?”

    “You and Polly, you act like she…she was never even a part of our lives.”

Hopediah’s face tightened, darkening with guilt; before Sprig could meet his gaze, he turned.

    “Did I…make you think that?” he asked, mostly to himself. 

    Sprig grumbled in fury. “Ever since it happened, all you’ve been doing is pretending everything is normal but I-I can’t do that. Anne is…gone, she was killed, and maybe--maybe back at the tower, if Anne didn’t stop Sasha from killing me…she’d still be here-”

Jumping back around, Hop-Pop placed his arms around the pink frog who grunted in fury as he was cut off. “That’s not true, Sprig - Anne saved your life because you were her family, she saved all of us because that’s who she was; a hero. I’m so sorry, Sprig. I-I thought that if I put aside my emotions and waited for you to be ready, it would help but I…never forgot about Anne; she’s with me and your sister every day.”

    “You…you didn’t forget her?”

    “No,” he affirmed. “And I don’t expect you to either. No matter what, she-” Hop-pop too began to tear up “-she was family…and we can’t forget her.”

Silence enveloped the room and before either of them could say another word, Sprig began to cry once more - though, rather than the stifled sobs from before, this time the tears came out as a flood as he held Hop-Pop tighter than ever before.

    Hop-Pop held his hands against Sprig’s back. “Come on, I think it’s about time all three of us finally talked.”

    “When Anne…died, I-I couldn’t feel her anymore.” Sprig began. Hop-Pop and Polly remained firmly next to him on the bed. “No matter how hard I tried, she was gone. But then I came down here and…I could feel her. She hugged me, held my hand, and I heard her voice - t-that’s why I never left the basement. But she’s…she’s fading, Hop-Pop. When Ivy and Maddie wanted me to try going outside I thought it might help bring her back, but all it did was make things worse.”

    “When your parents…” Hop-Pop paused. “When they died, I felt the same way you did, Sprig. I spent years trying to bring them back, before I came to a realisation…”

    “What was it?” Polly finally spoke up, choking on her words slightly but otherwise keeping her composure.

    “I realised that your parents wouldn’t want me trying to bring them back, they’d want me taking care of their brilliant children; and once I realised that, it helped me find my place in this world again.”

    Sprig finally let go of the blankets that covered his body. “So what do you think we should do?”

    “Well that’s why I got all three of us here. Pretending nothing happened isn’t going to do anything but make our feelings worse; we need closure. Any ideas?”

Polly threw her hands up in the air as a maniacal grin stretched across her face. “Oh, oh! We could take the fight to those toads and teach them a lesson just like we did at Toad tower! That’ll teach them not to mess with us!”

    “Or we could create a memory box. We could fill it with things that remind us of her. Something we can keep close when we need to remember-”

    “We could finish the journey to Newtopia…” Sprig whispered so quiet that nobody heard. “If we can find her friend - Marcy - and tell her what happened, warn her about everything. Maybe that’s what we need: to do what Anne wanted and make things right.”

A warm smile made its way across Hop-Pop’s face.

    “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Sprig. Polly?”

    “Well, as much as those toads deserve to be DESTROYED, I can wait. Besides, my weapons aren’t ready anyway. I like Sprig’s idea.”

    “So it’s settled then; we’re going to finish the journey to Newtopia and find Marcy, no matter what.”

    “For Anne.” Sprig cracked a smile and Hop-Pop smiled back.

But for the first time in months, neither of their smiles were forced.

    “Sprig!” Ivy threw herself at the boy and sent them both tumbling to the ground as she squeezed him tight. “Are you okay? What’s going on?”

    The pink frog chuckled at Ivy’s lack of an ambush. “I’m fine, everything’s okay.” he wheezed. “Me, Hop-Pop and Polly talked and we decided to complete the journey to Newtopia, just like Anne wanted. I’m just grabbing some things before we leave.”

    “So, you’re still going to Newtopia,” Maddie remarked. “Lucky. I need to go to Newtopia if I want to become a level three witch.”

    “Level three?!” Ivy gasped. “But Maddzy, you’re so frogging strong! Sprig, take us with you! We need to see what a level three witch can do.”

    “Sorry, you two - Sprig Plantar is on a mission. Speaking of which, where did I put that darn list?” His hands rummaged through the pockets on his shirt, only to come up empty. “Whoops…”

    “You forgot it?! Come on, let’s go get it - first one back to your house wins, hm?”

    “You two do know I have a curse to materialise anywhere, right? If anyone will win it’s…me.” The volume of Maddie’s voice lowered substantially, but before Sprig and Ivy could see why, a cloud of smoke enveloped all three of them.

When they reappeared, the trio found themselves in an alley not too far from where they had started. Ivy was the first to clear the smoke and while Sprig still struggled to escape its grasp, Maddie had her back pressed against the wall and was taking occasional opportunities to peek out.

    “What is it?”

    “Toads. And they don’t look friendly.”

Ivy spotted the toads immediately as they headed directly for city hollow - the mayor's office.

    “What do you think they’re here for?” A part of Ivy already knew the answer, the words simply came out on autopilot.

    “Weapons out, heading directly for Mayor Toadstool, and enough of them to be considered a threat? Whatever it is, it can’t be good.”

    “Come on, my mum's tea shop is just a short hop away. Let’s find her while the toads are busy with the mayor and see if we can figure this out.”

Maddie nodded, before walking over to Sprig and blowing the smoke away herself.

    “Sasha might have sent them, and after the last time we saw her, I don’t think it’s a good idea to get in her way again, Sprig. Let’s go round the back.”

Using the cover of the swamp, Maddie and Sprig found themselves able to slip past any toad that may have spotted them. Meanwhile, Ivy hopped from tree to tree; as Maddie and Sprig reached the tea shop, Sprig spotted Ivy hopping in through her bedroom window.

    “Going through the front entrance is risky.” Maddie whispered. “Grab my hand.”

Reluctantly, Sprig did so. Immediately after, Maddie reached into her pockets and pulled out two curse pouches. The first, she threw into Ivy’s bedroom window, the next she got ready to throw to the ground.

    “Make sure to breathe it in,” was all Sprig heard before Maddie chucked the curse at the ground and a cloud of smoke erupted around them. One short breath later and Sprig was back in a cloud of smoke, only this time, he could no longer hear the sound of nature flowing in the wind.

    “Maddie?” Sprig called through the smoke as he remained trapped in it once more. Before he knew it, a pair of blue hands wrapped around his waist and pulled him out of the smoke, onto a soft…bedding?

    “Hey, Sprig, are you still awake?” Ivy chuckled as Sprig struggled to focus on her. “Yeah. The first time Maddzy used that on me I felt the same, don’t worry - it’ll wear off soon.”

    “Ivy? Was that you-?” Felicia jumped and fell to the floor at the sight of three frogs in her daughter's room.

    “Hey, Felicia,” Maddie waved briefly before turning her attention to the window.

    “Oh, Sprig and Maddie, good to see you. I take it you saw them too? The toads?”

    “Yeah we did, no idea why they’re here though. Maddie figured they might not take too kindly to seeing Sprig, so we came here.”

    “Well, it’s a good thing you did; one of my regulars was actually at city hollow when those awful toads arrived. I caught her on the way out and she told me they were coming to ‘negotiate’ ownership of Wartwood. Even worse, they’re taking the Plantars back to wherever they came from.”

    “Say what?!” Sprig roared, sounding a lot like his grandfather for some strange reason. “We need to get back to my house!” Sprig attempted to point the way back, only to find his arms couldn’t move. “Uh, you couldn’t carry me, could you? I don’t think I can move my legs.”

    “Do I bring all my prototypes, or just the ones that work…” Polly mulled to herself silently.

    Hop-Pop’s eyes met the pile of ‘prototype weapons’ that Polly had created. “What exactly do they do?” Sweat dripped from his forehead.

    “Hurt people.”

    “I don’t know whether to be proud or afraid,” he remarked as he wiped away a tear.

Suddenly, the sound of amphibian feet sprinting through the forest turned both of the Plantars around. A puff of smoke appeared at Hop-Pop’s feet and before he knew it, Sprig’s creepy friend Maddie, had materialised ahead of him.

    “You guys need to leave!”

    “Well that’s just a bit rude now,” Hop-Pop grumbled.

    “It’s the toads, they’ve come to claim Wartwood under their leadership! Even worse, it seems like a special someone put a bounty on you--all three of you.”

    “Say what?!” Hop-Pop wailed. “But Sprig’s still in town!”

Out of nowhere, the yellow frog, Ivy, also came flying from the trees, perfectly landing on both her feet, accompanying Felicia Sundew. From atop Ivy’s shoulders, Sprig clung on as much as he could. 

    “Hop-Pop!” Sprig called. “Is everything ready?”

    “Well without those supplies I asked you to get…not really, but what choice do we have? Get aboard and let’s go.”

    “Hang on, Hopediah.” Felicia strayed from her daughter directly in front of Hop-pop’s feet. “Take Ivy with you,” she asked, to the shock of everyone else.

    Ivy’s jaw fell to the floor. “Wait, what?”

    “Any second now the toads will claim Wartwood for themselves, and when that happens a lot of bad things are going to come - I don’t want you caught up in the middle of all that Ivy. Remember what I always say? It's dangerous out there, and I want you to be ready before you go. Well, Ivy, you’re ready--ready to face the world.” 

    “Hopediah, can I trust you to get my daughter to safety?”

    Hop-Pop smiled warmly. “I’ll keep her safe as though she was my own. You have my word.”

Ivy stuttered and stammered; but rather than words coming out, she simply stretched both her arms around Felicia and hugged her tighter than ever before.

    “Thank you…” she whispered.

    “Wait!” another frog from the trees called. Stumbling out of the forest, Maddie’s father joined everyone else.

    “Take my daughter with you,” he begged through breaths.

    Maddie ran to her father’s side. “Dad, what about the shop and Ginger, Lavender and Rosemary-”

    “Your sisters will be fine. I found somewhere safe for them to go, but you? I-I know how much you wanted to go to Newtopia and…well I’m sure the Plantars could use all the help they could get.”

    “A-Are you sure? I can help protect Wartwood if-”

    “I’m sure. Just don’t be reckless, and if you kill someone, make sure to resurrect them.” he teased as he ruffled Maddie’s hair.

    “I can’t promise that.” Maddie laughed as her eyes watered slightly. “Are you sure you can handle the shop on your own? I can leave some curses to help out?”

    “Everything’s fine. Go become the strong witch you were meant to be.”

Wiping a tear away, Maddie nodded and clambered aboard the crowded fwagon along with Sprig, Polly and Ivy.

    “Felicia, Mr. Flour, I will get your daughters to Newtopia - I promise.”

    “We’ll hold back any toads that try to follow you.” Felicia smirked. “Believe it or not, it’s not just us looking to help. Wartwood will never forget what Anne meant to this town; those toads won’t know what hit them.”

With one simple hop, Hop-Pop gripped onto the reins of the fwagon.

    “Thank you,” he whispered sincerely before whipping Bessie’s reins and sending the fwagon away from town as fast as possible.

    “How far are we now?!” Hop-Pop called down to the inside of the fwagon, over the rushing noise of the wind.

    “We’re not too far from the exit to the valley!” Polly called back.

Sprig held his spyglass against his eye, taking note of anything that moved behind them.

    “Nothing,” he said to Ivy, who quickly took the spyglass out of his hands and against her own eye.

    “Toads are dumb, but…this doesn’t feel right. You’d think they’d block the roads or at least set up an-”

    “Ivy?” Sprig moved his attention away from the trees and towards the orange frog.

    “Ambush…” she whispered. “Hop-Pop, stop-!”

It was too late. Bessie was guided directly into a thin piece of wire, which snapped the instant it was touched. What followed was silence. Even the sounds of Amphibia’s wildlife somehow knew what just happened, and before any of them could realise what was coming next, a toad roared behind them, bringing everyone’s attention to the back of the fwagon.

An entire armada of armoured toads atop beetles, roaches, snails and spiders awaited them, all brandishing villainous smiles and various weapons. In the centre, one who looked an awful lot like the fearful Captain Grime - with her singular eye and menacing glare - stepped forward.

    “I’ve gotta say, for a bunch of frogs, you nearly managed to slip right out of our grasp. But I shouldn’t be surprised; sending a toad lord and her army to do a single warrior's job seemed odd ever since I was given the orders. Now then, we were told you’d fight, try to run, but also that you were weak, pitiful frogs - and we’ve been watching you for a long time now, so it’s not like we needed to be told that. Now, either you come with us, or you run and I send my men to collect you - alive or dead. What’ll it be?”

From seemingly nowhere, a mud ball was launched at high speeds directly into the toad's only good eye, briefly blinding her; when everyone looked towards the attacker, Sprig held his slingshot high in the sky.

    “Take that, you slimy toad! Hop-Pop, go!”

Hop-Pop whipped the rains and the fwagon was flying off once more, followed by a group of furious toads - although the toad lord stayed behind.

    “Get back here, frog!” a toad roared as the beetle he was riding atop maintained the same speed as the fwagon. Before Hop-Pop could make Bessie ride even faster, the toad - along with the beetle's driver - ditched their vehicle to jump aboard the fwagon.

Quickly thinking, Ivy punched one of the toad's faces, sending him tumbling backwards onto the dirt. With the opening, the second toad grabbed Ivy and held her in place as she struggled.

    “Caught one!” she shouted down to her comrades. “Sending her down now-”

A surge of electricity jolted through her body, causing her to drop Ivy and slowly stumble backwards and onto the road.

    “It works!” Polly laughed maniacally. “Taser, check,” she mumbled as she ticked an item off of a piece of paper.

Deciding not to question his sister's behaviour in fear of finding out what the taser felt like at the electric end, Sprig turned to face the rest of their attackers. On the backs of many roaches and beetles, toads wielded crossbows loaded with fiery arrows. Before they could get any fired, Sprig loaded another mud ball into his slingshot and hurriedly snuffed out any flame through the simple use of firing a ball of mud directly into a toad's face. All but one.

The scorching arrow was fired at incredible speeds into the back of the fwagon and began to set in immediately against the wood. 

    “Maddzy, you deal with the fire, I’ll take care of the toad!” Ivy commanded as she began to run before leaping off the fwagon and onto the backs of one of the beatles - all the while screaming ambush. From there, Ivy immediately lunged onto the back of one of the toads and wrestled him off the large bug.

Maddie reached into a bag below her feet containing many curse pouches and retrieved a pouch tied together with a red string. Unfortunately for them, the fire had grown and crackled against the backside of the fwagon; any attempts to throw the pouch towards the fire were thwarted from the speed at which they were going and the unfortunate angle.

    “I can’t get the fire out!” Maddie screamed.

As Maddie continued to struggle against the growing fire, Ivy hopped atop a roach and easily wrestled its driver off. The fire had grown large enough it nearly pricked at Ivy’s skin, and when she looked down an idea sparked in her mind.

    “Maddzy, pass me the curses!”

The small witch did as she was asked and carefully threw three curse pouches towards Ivy, who caught them with ease. With the curses in hand, Ivy equipped a crossbow and retrieved a bolt from a pouch on the roach. Carefully, she slid the arrow through the curse’s string before loading it into the crossbow and holding it up to her eyes.

The crossbow snapped into place and the bolt flew forward, landing not too far from where the original arrow landed. As it lodged itself inside the wood, a puff of smoke erupted from its spot and suddenly quenched the fire. Ivy repeated this action with the final two curses, each time aiming towards a different spot of the growing fire; by the time she was done, the flames were snuffed.

More toads erupted from the treeline, all equipped with fearsome armour and charging towards the fwagon. Sprig took out some with his slingshot, but with his ammo running dry and more enemies on the horizon, it was beginning to dawn on them all the current chance of escape.

    “Okay, Ivy, you just need to ride a roach…that can’t be too hard, right?” Ivy mumbled to herself as she positioned her body on the saddle and gripped the roaches antennae.

Ivy kicked her legs against the critter and it responded by speeding forward, catching up to the fwagon in mere seconds.

    “Guys, I have a plan!” she screamed over the rushing winds.

    Sprig poked his head over the edge. “Good, because I’m out of ammo!”

From behind Sprig, a curse pouch flew high into the air and landed atop a toad's head, covering him in a thick smoke. When it dissipated, it revealed the soldier’s armour had been morphed into a clown’s outfit; surprising him enough that he let go of his ride and tumbled to the ground as his critter took its chance for freedom. 

    “I’m running low on curses!” Maddie roared from somewhere.

    “You guys head for the exit to the valley, while I lead the toads another way!”

    “What?!” Sprig’s eyes grew so large they nearly fell out of his head. “No way, that’s too dangerous!”

    “I can do it, I know the valley like the back of my hand! Besides, I’ve done stuff like this before!” The yellow frog waved Sprig’s worry away in an attempt to seem cool.

    “You have?!”

    “She has,” Maddie shrugged. “Ivy’s a pro at this kind of stuff - if anyone can lead the toads away and get back to us, it’s her! Besides, it’s not like we have a choice!”

    “Say what?!” Hop-Pop shouted back. “I promised your mother I’d protect you! You can’t seriously think this is a good idea, right?!”

    “Either way, I’m doing it! Take the long path through the woods, the one that leads to Swamp Shire--there’s another path just down it that will take you directly to the valley exit! While you do that, I’ll lead these toads through the forest and circle back around to you!”

    “How do you expect to do that!? Those fiends are after us, not you!” Hop-Pop grumbled.

    “I have a curse for that,” Maddie grinned as she reached into her bag. “It’ll make Ivy look like you three and us look like her.”

    “Then it’s settled. See you guys soon, alright?”

    “I…okay, I trust you. We’ll meet you on the path out of the valley, okay? Good luck.” Sprig’s eyes watered slightly. “Be careful.”

    “Sprig Plantar, you clearly haven’t met me if you think I need to be careful. I’ll be fine, alright?”

    “Of course.” he stammered through tears.

    “You’re going to be alright. All of you will be.”

    “She was supposed to be back by now…” Sprig mumbled under his breath as his eyes searched the dark expanse of the woods at night. He reached for his telescope, only to find his palms too sweaty to even hold it.

    “She’s probably just caught up on something, I’m sure she’s around here somewhere.”

Maddie placed her hand on Sprig’s shoulder and smiled; rather than her usual sinister smile, this one was genuine and warm and only lasted for a second before she moved to the front of the fwagon where her curse bag lay.

    “It’s been hours since we split and there has been no sign of her…h-how am I the only one panicking?! Also, how do we know that the toads aren’t after us anymore? For all we know, they could be watching us, right now!”

    “Sprig, calm down.” Hop-Pop cracked the reins of Bessie lightly as he guided her through the thick forest. “The toads have no idea where we are.”

    “Yeah, big bro, Ivy’s a speedster! I’m sure she’s on her way here right now,” Polly chuckled.

    “Guys, stop talking.” Maddie shushed them all. “Do you hear that?”

Once the three Plantars had quieted down, Sprig strode to Maddie’s side and peaked over the side of the fwagon, into the expanse of growth next to them and through the faint crimson moonlight. One of the many bushes rustled ever so slightly. Carefully, Sprig pulled back his slingshot and slotted a small rock in the elastic band. Hop-Pop pulled the fwagon to a stop; but whatever was hiding in the bush had decided to quiet down.

    “I-Is anyone there?” Sprig called down. “Come out, slowly.” No response. “We know you’re there, you may as well just-”

    “AMBUSH!” Ivy roared from behind Sprig as she leaped from the trees and tackled him to the ground. “Gotcha!” A prolonged laughter broke from Ivy’s throat as she helped pull Sprig back to his feet.

    “I-Ivy, you…”

    “Just achieved the best ambush ever? Oh trust me, Sprig, I know,” she chuckled softly.

    “You’re okay,” Sprig choked as a tear rolled down his cheek. Before he or Ivy could say anything more, Sprig pulled her into a hug and sobbed softly into her shoulder while Ivy remained too shocked to even move. “Oh my frog, never do that again…”

Ivy mumbled incoherently before she too held Sprig in a warm embrace. When Sprig pulled away, he couldn’t help but notice a rosy hue had spread across her cheeks; once Sprig realised what he had just done, his cheeks also reddened.

    “Well, better late than never,” Hop-Pop chortled. “Did everything go okay? Did you lose them?”

    “Things got a bit dicey. I had to go out further than planned and then my roach bucked me off in a river! But I’m okay, the walk here was nice.”

    “Well then, let’s get out of the valley now before the entire toad army shows up lookin’ for us, shall we?”

    “Hey, Sprig?” Ivy shook the pink frog’s shoulder, snapping him out of his trance. “When I got back, you seemed really…upset. Why?”

    Sprig didn’t respond; rather, he kept his gaze focused on the red moon above them as he had been doing for hours. Although, as they passed through what Ivy had once heard be called Ruins of Despair, she couldn’t help but notice his eyes occasionally searching the wasteland before jumping back up to the sky.

    “It…it was the same way we lost Anne,” Hop-Pop answered for Sprig. When he said her name, Sprig instinctively shrunk inside himself. “She never came back one night, and by the time we found her, it was too late.”

    “This is where we had our last adventure,” Sprig finally spoke up, although he was more talking to himself. “Before it happened. We spent the day trying to have some fun and went behind Hop-Pop’s back…Hop-Pop nearly got flattened. We barely escaped and even then still got stuck in an explosion. Just like any other day with her.”

    “Doing something wrong, explosions and learning a valuable lesson. That was our Anne,” Hop-Pop beamed with pride before turning his attention back to the road.

    “Nothing’s the same without her.”

The five of them fell into an easy stillness as the only sounds that surrounded them were the banging of Maddie from downstairs while she prepared more curses. As much as Ivy wanted to jump up and stretch her legs, she couldn’t keep her eyes off Sprig. She knew; no matter how quiet it was outside, for Sprig it was far too loud.

    “Did you ever go back? To where it happened?” Ivy questioned, forcefully dragging Sprig from his thoughts once more and back to reality as his eyes turned the size of pins.

    “No, we never did go back.” Hop-Pop forced out a light laugh. “This is the first time even leaving the valley...”

Ivy didn’t continue the conversation as she watched the cogs turn in Sprig’s head; before she could try to prompt him anymore, he spoke up.

    “Can we? Go back to…to where she--where it happened?”

Light drops of rain sprinkled against Sprig’s face in an almost ironic way as he retraced his steps to the place he had revisited in his nightmares thousands of times before. Any of his frantic footsteps from before would’ve been washed away by now, and yet his legs were on autopilot; lifting up one after the other before landing down in the sticky mud. He hardly registered his feet moving, almost as though he weren’t really there.

But he was.

    “We’re here,” he shouted back to his family as his feet landed on cold, wet stone.

The scene had changed drastically after time took its course. Yet it still felt new and terrifying just as it had every other time he was there; be it in reality or his subconscious. However, in the middle of the ruins, one thing remained the same.

Once more, Sprig heard what had been haunting him all this time. The fearful roar of pain accompanied by the tearing of flesh; Hop-Pop had told Sprig to look away as it happened, but it didn't matter.

The red-heron blade laid atop one of the many stone bricks, clean of any blood that may have once clung to it. Vines and moss had begun to take their toll on the blade, yet it kept its sharp edge.

Hop-Pop was the first to step forward, while Polly burrowed herself in his arms, and reached down to place his hand against the stone.

    “I’m sorry, Anne. I knew something was bothering ya and I should’ve spoken up long before. Wherever you are, I hope you know that we haven’t given up, we’re your family no matter what.”

Sprig stepped forward too and sat in front of the blade. Unlike Hop-Pop, Sprig didn’t have anything to say; and with Polly almost asleep in Hop-Pop’s arms, the two remained in a comfortable silence. He wasn’t sure how long; all he knew was that when Hop-Pop came to Sprig’s side, the darkness of the night had subsided ever so slightly as the crimson moon pointed directly down at them.

    “Are you ready to go back?” Hop-Pop asked quietly. “Maddie and Ivy are probably done setting up the camp.”

    “You guys go ahead. I’m going to stay here a bit longer. I’ll meet you back at the fwagon, alright?”

Hop-Pop smiled and placed his hands on Sprig’s shoulder.

    “Of course. Take as long as you need.”

The orange frog’s muddy footsteps subsided shortly afterwards and Sprig was once more, for the first time since that morning, alone with his thoughts. Before he knew what was happening, his eyes moved to the sharp edge of the blade and his fingers followed too, as they lightly caressed the tip of the sword.

    “You were my world, Anne…and she took you from me,” he choked through tears. “I can’t imagine living without you and your rebellious antics…home is so boring now that we don’t have you blowing up the house every week and-and…” Sprig stopped himself before he could burst into sobs.

Slowly, he brought his hands to the hilt of the blade and gripped it tight, before tearing it from the vines and moss and wielding it high in the sky as he too arose from his knees.

Thunder boomed in the sky above. Sprig turned the blade to point to his right and, given that the blade was made for a much larger, taller person, got a clear reflection of himself glaring back.

An intense, vengeful glare darkened his features, his lips curled into a snarl and, perhaps it was the dark of the night blending with his emotions - but Sprig could’ve sworn a small, blue flame erupted from his pupils.

     “Well, whatever happens next, one thing's for sure, if we're together, I know we'll be alright.”

Sprig erupted with fury, letting loose a feral scream as he lifted the sword high into the air. 

     “You three are my family, I’d never let anyone hurt you.”

The sword was thrusted downwards and plummeted through the cracks of the stone and deep into the dirt as months of torment all came flooding back. The red-heron sword that had ripped his sister's life from him had been returned to the earth.

So why did Sprig want to take it right back out, and deliver that same pain to Sasha?

    “For the last time, tell us where those frogs went, or else.”

Beatrix looked down to see a tall yellow frog, a large smile across her face.

    “If you think I’m telling you anything, you’re sorely mistaken,” the frog chuckled before spitting at the toad lord.

    “That’s it. It’s time we teach these frogs a lesson-!”

    “Beatrix.” spoke a familiar voice behind her, catching her off guard.

    “Ah, Grimothy, good to see ya’. I need some help getting these frogs in line. My men failed the mission.”

    “They failed?” Grime’s face darkened and as he spoke his voice grew deeper and deeper.

    “Please, Captain Grime, d-don’t hurt us!” The soldiers who had failed their mission begged on their knees. “Those frogs, t-they had-” 

    “It’s not me you should be grovelling to, soldier. It’s her.”

Grime’s clawed finger pointed towards the carriage he arrived in, and before anybody could question who he was referring to, his lieutenant clambered out; The Red Heron .

Attached to her hip was her legendary golden sword, a fur cloak draped around her shoulders, and her hair had been cut short enough it just about covered her ears. 

The great Captain Beatrix had met many people in her life, those who inspired rebellion, those who inspired fear, but never before had she met the likes of The Red Heron. As she made her way towards Grime, nearly every toad warrior they had backed away, some even bowing as she passed; even a few townies of Wartwood, who had been surprisingly rebellious till this point, dropped the act.

    “Waybright,” Beatrix shook the lieutenant's hand. “The mission you sent these numbskulls on was lost, the frogs got away.”

    “You lost them?” she snapped to the toads, all of which gulped in sync. “You’re telling me that months of planning, and a hundred soldiers weren't enough to catch a child, an old man and a baby?!”

The lieutenant kept her hand attached to the hilt of her sword, always ready to jump into battle.

    “Fine.” She shrugged her shoulders and turned her back to the toads. “New deal, bring me the frogs - dead or alive - or I will publicly deal with every last one of you, alright?”

    The toads gasped. “B-But lieutenant, t-they aren’t in the valley anymore, how could we find them?”

    “This is me being generous, soldier, now go, or else.”

In a stampede of chaos, every last soldier ran towards their critters and clambered aboard before they sped off towards the valley's exit.

    “Now then,” The Red Heron's voice was oddly calm as she pulled the golden hilted sword from her hip.

    “Who’s talking first?”

Chapter Text

Six months earlier; the first night after Anne.

    “Sasha…” Percy groaned. “Can we…please…stop…for a second.” he pleaded through breaths.

    “No time.” the human answered.

Percy fell to the floor with a crash causing the other two toads to look in his direction. Sasha however did not.

    “Lieutenant, perhaps we should let ourselves rest. We’ve been walking for hours.”

    “Ugh, fine, five minutes. I’ll keep watch.”

Behind her, Sasha couldn’t help but overhear the three toads going over the plan once more.

    “We’re so dead…” Braddock mumbled before she turned to face the human. “Sash, why are we doing this? There’s no way this’ll work.”

    Sasha tensed at the name, but quickly shook it off. “Just remember what we talked about.” she grumbled. “We need the support of the toad captains.”

    Grime nodded with a proud glint in his eyes as he paced around. “I’ve gotta say, Lieutenant. All in all, this is a solid plan…although the chances of the toads actually following us are as rare as finding a golden swamp bug.”

    “Can I fire the T-shirt cannon?!” Percy piped up, interrupting Grime’s mumbling.

    “Fine. Just make sure to deck my sister in the face with it.” Grime snickered to himself.

From there, an argument about something or other broke out and Sasha was once more forced to tune the lovable toads out. Without much else to do, her eyes followed the seemingly never ending road ahead where a series of shapes barely registered to her brain as the Northern Toad Tower; a surge of electricity in her brain reminded Sasha of the significance they reached the towering silhouette, until the three companions behind her dragged the loose threads of her mind back to another significance.

Grime interrupted the battle of her mind with a light cough.

    “Lieutenant, I need to know something.”

Sasha met his command with a raised eyebrow.

    “As great a plan as this is, I can’t help but wonder if you truly know what you’re doing, or why you’re doing it. So, as your captain, I must know; do you know what you’re doing?”

Sasha would laugh if her throat weren’t so dry.

    “What?” she growled. “I know what I’m doing. Once we get to the tower, we get the captains to join us, any means necessary. And then we give Newtopia exactly what they deserve…does it seem like I don’t know what I’m doing?”

    “And why is it we’re doing this? Because Newtopia put a bounty on our heads? Oh please, you and I both know that isn’t true. It doesn’t matter how determined you are; no fool would walk from the valley to the north without so much as a thought for drinking or eating, let alone resting, and I know you are not a fool, Sasha.”

    “Then why do you think I’m doing this?”

    “Anne.” Grime’s one good eye peered towards the golden sword glistening in Sasha’s scabbard. Were he not correct, Sasha would’ve made sure he had no good eyes left.

    “You’ve never taken a life before, and when you do, it’s her !”

Something razor-sharp glistened behind Grime.

    “I can see that sword on your hip, and I know it’s not yours. Now, are you going to keep standing there and telling me lies, or will you finally talk to me-?”

The razor-sharpness flew into the air and Sasha matched it with a tackle of her own, throwing Grime to the side and taking the would-be attacker behind him down. For a split-second, Sasha’s hands instinctively moved towards the sword on her hip until her hands collided with its golden metal and the sound of flesh tearing ringing through her ears convinced her to pull back.

    “Bounty hunters!” Sasha’s hands tightened themselves around the assassin's throat, one exertion of strength away from cutting off his oxygen. “Percy, Braddock, weapons high!”

But instead of hearing the stressed gasps from Braddock, or the honk of a horn as Percy mistakenly retrieved a clown horn instead of a sword, Sasha only heard muffled laughs from the assassin underneath her; soon more echoing snickers joined from the trees.

    “We’re surrounded…” Grime cursed under his breath.

Sasha groaned in fury as veins began to bulge on her forehead. Clenching her fists, she roared before letting loose a barrage of hooks to the assassin's face, leaving him unconscious in a pool of his own blood. Slowly, she rose from the toad underneath her and turned to face Grime.

    “And we’re all that’s left.” she muttered in a voice that sounded more annoyed than anything else.

Multiple assassins, ranging from toads to newts, to even a single frog emerged from the treeline with weapons high. The human snarled in exasperation, letting lose a feral scream before she too had her sword-

She didn’t have her sword.

You left it nailed to a tree with the carcass of your best friend.

    “Don’t you realise, this isn’t a game! This is real life!”

No sword. Fine.

Who needs one anyway?

Thud.

Again. Thud.

Once more. Thud.

The sound made her want to cut her own feet off just so she didn’t have to hear it again.

Thud.

What felt like tears tickled Sasha’s nose, although it quickly registered to her that it was not tears, rather blood from a fresh wound on her nose.

After all, she couldn’t cry now. Not when there was no doubt she was being watched.

    “Always keep your enemies fearful.” Grime’s disembodied voice reminded her.

Thud.

Maybe instead of crying she could scream. That’d surely keep those in the trees at bay while satisfying her primal urge to let her emotions free.

Thud .

Alas, her throat contained the feral roars for a reason she could not understand.

Thud .

Her body finally gave out, collapsing into a pool of murky water that mirrored the crimson moon, making it appear as if she lay in a pool of blood. The blood-like liquid quickly seeped into her armour and her freshly opened wounds which throbbed and burned in pain.

    “No,” she forced herself to her feet. “Grime needs me.”

Using a nearby root to prop herself up, Sasha’s mind came back to reality and surveyed her surroundings. All around her, a wrecked swamp stretched on for miles. Within the murky-red water, strangely shaped islands occasionally bubbled before a steam geyser erupted to the surface.

Great, I have no idea where I am.

Nearby, faint whispers drifted through the air and the human was almost instantly in attack mode. Although with no weapon to use she instead brandished her ‘claws’ which were broken down from hours of biting. Soon, the source of those hushed-whispers revealed themselves to be a newt and a frog. The small frog held a sharpened dagger and bore a face that warned Sasha it may tear her arm off. Meanwhile, the newt walked alongside his companion practically shaking in his boots with a sword that wobbled back and forth just as he did.

    “The toad captain is here…” the frog whispered to her petrified partner.

Sasha’s ears perked up. 

    “What of the lieutenant?”

    The frog scoffed. “That puny creature? If we find it, we’ll take the extra reward, but remember what we’re really here for.”

Puny. Wrong. Delusional.

No.

Prove them wrong. Prove her wrong. Save him.

Shuffling ever so slightly, a jagged rock collided with her leg and Sasha winced in pain, before the fictional lightbulb inside her head lit. Perfect . She thought, an arrogant grin plastered on her face. With precision, she aimed to her left and sent one of the many rocks flying towards it, a violent crack emitting from that spot as it collided with the ground. The crash caused the heads of the assassins to snap the other way as they quieted down. Sasha gripped onto the other rock her leg had scraped on. She moved her hand up to her lap and slowly pulled herself up. With the two still distracted, she ran as fast as her legs would let her, her arm raised high and aiming directly for the back of the frightening frog.

With an underwhelming bap to the frog's head, the first hunter was knocked unconscious, leaving only her quivering associate. He turned to run, only to collide face first with a large tree and join his unconscious sidekick on the ground.

    “Huh…” Sasha remained dumbfounded as she dropped the blood-covered rock.

    “Sasha.” a cold, deep voice whispered behind her, sending her brain into alert mode as it commanded her body to attack. When she turned however, a familiar one-eyed toad awaited her.

    “Grimesey! You’re alive!” Sasha pulled him into a hug before quickly pulling away in embarrassment.

    “Percy, Braddock, did you find them?”

    The toad shook his head. “You’re the first one I’ve come across since those fiends showed up.”

Sasha’s throat made a noise that depicted her frustration. Were she Braddock, she’d start screaming about how dead they are, were she Percy, she’d hide beneath Grime’s cape, unfortunately, she wasn’t either of them. So, she glared into the distant swamp as she wracked her mind over hundreds of ways out of their situation.

    “We need to lose these freaks…” she mumbled aloud.

    Grime nodded in affirmation. “No matter where we go, we’ll be like sitting venomducks--without the venom, of course.” He stroked the faint beard on his face as he spoke. “We could always cross to the other side of this swamp, but that brings risks higher than this mess we’re in.”

    “Such as?”

    “Barrels warhammer.”

    “A-who’s what-now?”

    Grime scoffed. “Toad legend speaks of a fearsome warrior, who gave his life protecting a village from a soul-crushing, heart-stopping, hulking, beast, capable of-!.

    “So some dude died and now we can’t go there?” she questioned nonchalantly.

Grime shook his head disappointedly.

    “The warrior left behind his powerful hammer somewhere in this swamp. But no matter how many try to retrieve it, all that come back are bones, if that! No one knows what’s out here, but many believe it is that same beast, still watching over Barrel’s warhammer awaiting its next meal.”

    “Well isn’t that just great…come to Amphibia where everything is huge and wants to eat you!” Sasha huffed aloud. “Frog dammit, we need to think of something…”

Both Sasha and Grime fell into a pit of dead air.

What would Marcy do? The voice in her head asked. What would that lovable nerd do?

Strangely enough, Sasha found herself mimicking the same thought process as the child-genius.

Going back would mean fighting through a horde of ravenous, possibly cannibalistic, crazies. Clearly, their tactics involve waiting out an enemy, so sneaking or setting traps is a no. Either way, going back would result in a fight to the death that you’re clearly outmatched for. But the swamp? Aside from the beast that Grime’s old tadpole tales claim exists, what’s out there? The treeline is thin enough to spot a hunter, the water is murky and unforgiving, and if these hunters know of this tale too, then they won’t go this way either.

    “We’re taking the swamp route.”

    Grime’s face dropped so hard, he looked as though fifty years of age had been added on in a second. “Did you not hear what I just told you?! Deadly! Beast!”

    “Grime, our options are either die or die fighting a maybe-real soul sucking beast…” Sasha left Grime to think about it for a moment. “Well?”

    “Fine.” he mumbled with crossed arms. “The swamp it is.”

As they pressed onward, mud clung to their boots, the water growing murkier with each step. Now and then, the deceptively dark water would reveal itself to be a deep drop that Sasha would trip over with a comedic sploosh. Reaching the next patch of dry land, she groaned and dramatically slumped her body down.

    “Frog, what is it with you toads and swamps? I hate these things…”

    Grime chuckled under his breath. “Walking through water like this,” he grunted as his body remained in place as the swamp water pulled at him. “It is a test of a toad’s true strength; we all do it when we mature. I suppose it only makes sense we’d be attracted to areas like this. You’ll understand when you’re older.”

A steam geyser erupted from behind the two, waking Sasha back up and filling her with determination. Strangely, each step she and Grime took erupted vibrations that sounded less and less like feet colliding with dirt and more like…breathing.

    “Hey Grime, that beast you were talking about, how big exactly is it?”

No answer.

Her eyes turned to face the green toad and witnessed him in awe. The one glowing-green eye on the captain's face was fixed towards the island next to them, and when Sasha turned, she realised why.

    “Barrel’s warhammer.” Grime giggled to himself. “It’s real!”

    “So it is. Done fangirling yet?” Sasha rolled her eyes playfully. “Come on, let’s get going.”

    “Hang on lieutenant, I just had a wild idea.” 

When did he ever not have a wild idea?

Sasha sighed and sat on the strange island.

    “Go on, what’re you thinking?”

    Grime pointed to the hammer. “There’s no frog damn way the toads will follow us. It doesn’t matter how motivational we are, they’ve been serving the king for millennia. We need something huge, something that’ll show them our strength-.”

    “And what better than a warhammer of legend…” Sasha finished his sentence with a slow nod. “Damn Grime, you actually came up with a good idea for once. Let’s grab this hammer and show these toads we mean business.”

    “I’ll have you know I come up with plenty of good ideas. For example, keeping you.” Grime remarked with a charming grin.

The duo brought themselves to the hammer of toad legend and examined it closely.

    “No obvious signs of any beast. Are you ready to test that?” Grime questioned.

    “Honestly, when asked how I thought I’d die, I would have said assassinated, but fighting to the death against a soul-sucking monster sounds better. I’m ready when you are.”

Starting at three, moving to two, and ending in one, the human and toad pulled the hammer up to the best of their ability but their prize barely moved. Ground around them cracked and broke apart, revealing more steam geysers, but still nothing.

    After countless attempts Grime pulled away with a croak. “It’s no good!” he roared. “We’ll be here for hours…”

The toad captain turned away when, without warning, a crossbow bolt whizzed through the air and landed in his spiked shoulder-guard.

    “Don’t worry, we won’t be here too long…” a deep voice spoke from the trees. “As long as you comply…” he spoke like a snake and laughed maniacally, before he revealed himself surrounded by a group of maniacal amphibians. “Hello, Grime.” the toad spoke his name with a growl.

    “I’m sorry, do we know each other?” Grime scratched the moustache, which was slowly forming into a beard, on his face.

    “Don’t recognise me?” the, most likely, leader of the crazies scoffed. “Of course not. Why would I expect any more from a fool like you?”

Sasha got a better look at him now that he was in the open. The toad looked a lot like Grime, although he had both eyes. And his face was mostly hidden from a large, unkempt beard that went down to his chest. Armour was draped around his muscular body and a large cape whooshed in the wind behind him.

   “Yeah I definitely don’t know you…oh wait, are you that drunkard I jailed who swore he’d curse me? You remind me of him.”

The beastly toad let out what Sasha could only guess was a mix between a laugh and a gasp.

    “You really don’t remember me…” his monstrous teeth revealed themselves one by one as a large grin stretched across his face. “But you will, Grime. That is before I personally place your head on a pike.” The toad lifted his battleaxe into the air. “Now then, you’ve got two options. Either you come with us, calmly, and we’ll let Newtopia torture you before they publicly execute you. Or we deliver your corpses to them and let them tear down any dignity you once had. However I think we both know what option you’ll pick, isn’t that right?”

Grime already had the sharp-end of his sword pointed towards his foes.

    The mysterious toad laughed, before turning around. “Bring me his head or don’t come back.”  his head turned to face Grime and a forked tongue revealed itself. “I’ll be seeing you soon, Captain Grime…”