Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Thunder cracked overhead, the sound drowning out the sound of pouring rain for a moment and startling a girl for a moment before she continued walking through the forest. The girl, Anne Boonchuy, had been lost for a while by now with nowhere to go. So far every town she had managed to find had chased her away without so much as hearing her out.

‘I hope Sprig is alright,’ she thought as another thunder crack rumbled overhead, causing her to flinch again and press her back against a tree. She slid down until she was sitting and curled up so she hugged her legs and pressed her face to her knees. After taking a breather, Anne shimmied a little so she could take off her backpack and take out the music box that had started this mess in the first place.

‘Happy birthday,’ she thought as she opened and closed it several times, failing once again to repeat what had brought her here. With a sigh she put it back in her backpack, slid the pack back on, and stood up before nearly falling over again as hunger pains took hold again. “Stupid bugs are really looking good now.”

After a moment the pains disappeared and Anne started walking again. With the rain still beating down on her she walked, the occasional flash of lightning showing her closest hope for shelter was quite close. The tower wasn't the most inviting thing, but neither had anything in this world, so she'd take it if it got her out of the rain. With one last push up a hill and through a line of trees Anne was at the tower.

“Alright,” she whispered as she walked toward it, “now how do I get in?”

Anne got her answer when she stepped onto some ground that gave way and she fell down, her screams echoing around her as she bounced, scraped, and slid further down the hole. Soon she broke through a wall and fell hard onto rough stone, where she lay unmoving and groaning.

‘Get up Anne. You don't know where you are, so get up!’ Anne thought and slowly pushed herself onto her knees. She felt everywhere on her body, flinching at some now forming bruises, and was relieved when it seemed nothing was broken. That gave way to her next problem of being stuck somewhere totally dark.

After digging through her skirt pockets she pulled out her phone and turned on the flashlight and immediately stiffened up. The room she found herself in was pretty standard for underground rooms: rocks, stone floors, the echoing sounds of distant and not so distant animals. Currently it was the not so distant animals - if that even what they were - that was making Anne nervous. She had managed to stay awake through enough fantasy movies with Marcy to know anything that looks like a dirty goblin was probably not good news.

And right now Anne was in a room with about a dozen of the things. And they were all looking at her.

Anne gulped and slowly stood up. “Uh, hey there. Don’t mind me, just trying to get out of the rain for a bit. If you’ll let me stay until it clears, I’ll stay out of your way.” The goblins looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Anne and each drew a knife. “Oh okay nevermind, you guys look super busy, I’ll just let myself out.” Anne turned and quickly walked toward a set of stairs and only made it up a few steps before another, visibly older goblin in a shawl and a lantern hanging over its head blocked the way.

“What’s with all the shouting?” it said before it saw Anne on the steps. “Oh, it’s just fresh meat.”

“NOPE!” Anne shouted and turned around and jumped toward the group of goblins behind her, managing to jump off two of their heads in order to clear the whole of them. Of course, now she was in the same position she had been, stuck in the middle of a room filled with monsters and the only exit blocked. Anne took off her backpack and quickly took out her tennis racket and held it out defensively. “Stay back! I just want to get out!”

The monsters didn’t listen though, each one of them moving closer and forcing Anne to back up. They were muttering things like ‘fresh meat at last’ and ‘should we cook it?’ the whole time. Time seemed to slow down for Anne as the reality set in once again.

‘So this is it? I’m just going to die here, lost in another world where nobody will know what happened to me? My parents? Sasha, Marcy?’ she thought as she clenched her eyes shut and grit her teeth. ‘Why? What did I do to deserve this? It’s not fair!’ “I hate this!”

Then she backed into something, though instead of stopping something zapped her and made her fall forward onto the ground. For a moment the room lit up and the monsters flinched at the light.

“Wait, stop! The Heart!” The old monster shouted. Anne looked up at him pointing behind her, the rest of the monsters staring with awe, and she looked back as well. There, in the center of the room was a large sphere easily the size of a car glowing with a dim blue light. Anne’s eyes widened at the sight that hadn’t been there before and pushed herself up to her feet to turn fully to the sphere, her plight fully forgotten.

She started walking towards it, entranced like a moth to a flame. Her heart was pounding in her ears as she stopped next to it and slowly, painstakingly, lifted a hand and placed it on the smooth surface. The effect was immediate as the sphere lit up blue and Anne herself felt a power surge through her. Electricity and heat and a hurricane raged inside of her, but she didn’t pull her hand away. She shut her eyes at the light only to swiftly open them again with her eyes emitting their own light. She could feel herself floating off the ground and let out a scream as the power and pain reached a crescendo.

And then it was over. Anne fell and could barely keep herself upright as the sphere glowed brightly and crackled with power. Her head felt light and Anne collapsed on the ground.

“The Heart is alive once more!”

“Does that mean…?”

“The Master has returned!”

“The Overlord!”

The chatter of the monsters was the last thing Anne heard before she fell unconscious.

“Still asleep, is she?”

“Yes, quite the lazy bones.”

“Deader than a drunk frog in a lily pond she is!”

Anne was waking up slowly, barely enough to tell she was sitting upright. She hummed and tried to lift her head only to let it fall back down again.

“Oh, it twitched! It lives!”

“Still groggy though. Maybe some acid to the eyes will wake her up!”

Anne’s eyes shot open at that and flinched back as far as she could go. “NO! NO ACID! I’M AWAKE!” she shouted as the shock fully set in and woke her up. Now she could tell she was surrounded by a couple of the goblins from earlier, the oldest one off to the side watching silently. Anne took them all in before spotting one of them holding a glass bottle and flinched away from it. That seemed to disappoint it.

“Perhaps next time Gribbles,” Oldest said. The goblin threw the bottle on the ground, splashing the contents onto the floor where they sizzled, and sulked away muttering about ‘There never is a next time,’ after which the rest of the goblins dispersed leaving only Oldest. “So you rejoin the land of the living Sire. How do you feel?”

“That depends, are you going to kill me?” Anne asked and curled up into herself.

“Oh no! No no no!” Oldest said, shaking his head and his hands, “We would never! Well, except earlier, but that was a misunderstanding. We didn’t know who you were, Master. You have nothing to fear from us Minions now.”

“...Really?” Anne asked and got a nod. She started to relax and moved into a proper sitting position. “Well, okay then.” Her face scrunched up as some of the words finally caught up to her. “Wait a minute, what did you call me? Master? What do you mean, who are you, what even is this place?!”

“I’ll explain everything, as soon as you’re ready to stand.” Anne wasn’t happy with that, but outwardly nodded and stood up. Once she was up, she looked back at where she was sitting and found an ornately, if slightly broken, stone throne that was more comfortable than it looked. Oldest started walking with Anne following him and he started speaking.

“My name is Gnarl, the oldest and leader of the Minions. Right now we are in the Dark Tower, the throne room to be precise.” Anne looked around the hall that had seen better days and ran over to a window to look out over the forest she had been hiking through during the night. The view of the sun shining over it left Anne breathless.

“We’re… pretty high up, huh?”

“Well of course we’re high, a proper throne room must be! Where else is there, the basement? ” Gnarl said and blew a raspberry, “That’s just not proper.” Anne couldn’t help raising an eyebrow at that.

“You’re sassy for an old guy,” she said while walking back to Gnarl, “so, the master thing?”

“That’s what you are. Master of the Dark Tower, Ruler of all things dark and dreary, Sire of destruction. Overlord of Evil.” Anne stared at Gnarl when he was finished. Stared to an almost uncomfortable degree before she finally let out a nervous laugh.

“That, uh, that’s a lot to drop on me all of a sudden. And no, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I’m not! I’m not evil, I’m just a 13 year old girl from Los Angeles!”

“Ah, you’re a teenager. That explains a lot. Well, no worries, with just a bit of evil training we’ll nurture that innate evil and you’ll be right up there with your predecessor.”

“No, you’re not... I’m getting a headache.” Anne rubbed her temples for a moment and asked, “Where did you even get this idea anyway?”

“You brought the Heart of the Tower to life,” Gnarl said and started walking toward a set of stairs. Anne quietly walked behind him, massaging away her headache the whole way until they finally ran out of stairs and entered the room where Anne had first fallen into the tower. In the center was the glowing orb that once again captivated Anne, though she managed to pull her attention away when Gnarl started talking.

“This is the Heart of the Tower, the source of all our power. When your predecessor was slain the Heart fell silent, taking the Tower with it. For centuries it has been dormant, until you brought it to life. Only someone with sufficient Evil in their hearts could accomplish this.” Gnarl turned to Anne and pointed at her, “That’s why you are the Overlord. You, and no one else.”

Anne, after a moment of thinking, looked down at her hand and then up at the Heart humming away. She caught herself starting to walk toward it and forced herself to turn away from it and grabbed her wrist.

“I don’t care about that, or any of this for that matter! You know what I do care about? Getting out of this world with my friends, if they even came here with me. I… I just want to go home!” It was then that Anne realized that she hadn’t been wearing her backpack and a glance back to the center of the room showed it wasn’t there either. “Oh no, my bag! The music box! Where are they?!”

“The disgusting pink thing? Ugh, we left that in the throne room when we brought you up,” Gnarl answered. The words were barely out of Gnarl’s mouth and Anne was already running back up the stairs, taking the steps two at a time until she was back in the throne room. She ran to the throne and looked all around it, finally finding her bag and racket behind it. She took it into her arms and quickly looked through it to find everything was still where it had been, including the music box. She sighed in relief, put her racket back in the bag, zipped it up, and put it on. By the time she was walking away from the throne Gnarl had managed to make it up the stairs.

“Okay, crisis averted, thanks for not throwing my stuff away.”

“I’m so happy,” Gnarl said sarcastically and rubbed his legs under his shawl, “Ugh, these stairs are murder on my bones. So, are you ready to get started, Master?”

“Oh yeah, thanks but no thanks. I’m just going to get back to looking for my friends. How do I get out of here?”

Gnarl looked surprised by Anne’s statement before scowling at her and pointing to a large basin of water. “That teleportation pool will take you out of the tower and into the forest,” he said and watched Anne walk to it. “Though if I may ask, what do you plan to do once you’re out there?”

“Find my friends and go home, like I’ve been telling you.”

“How?”

Anne stopped at the question, taken aback that she didn’t really have an answer to it. She just figured it’d work out for her. That was really all she had, so she shook her head and said, “I’ll figure something out.”

“Foolish girl, you’ll die before you take twenty steps. There are countless predators and dangers out there, and that’s not even getting into the people . Ugh.” Gnarl had to stop for a moment to gag at the thought. By then, Anne turned to him with an angry look and stomped her shoeless foot.

“Then what should I do, huh?! Just curl up and die? You want me to be some evil overlord, but that’s not going to happen! I’m not evil!”

“So you think you’re Good?," Gnarl replied, gagging out the word, "That won’t work.”

“I am Good! And why won’t it! I got this far didn’t I?”

“Oh yes, you were ‘Good’. And where did it get you? It got you here.” Anne opened her mouth to answer, but felt the words freeze in her throat. Slowly, she closed her mouth and looked down at the floor, leaving Gnarl to start circling her. “I am very old, old enough to see many Overlords come and go. You’re not the first with these delusions and the others like you came here for the same reason. They tried to be good, and the world in turn broke them. It crushed them, chewed them up, spat them out, and then wiped its feet on them for good measure.”

Anne grabbed the straps on her backpack and clenched her hands tightly. “That’s… not…”

“How did the people react when they saw you?”

Aside from Sprig?

“I… they saw a monster. Something to be hunted and chased away. Except for one frog, but-”

“And the other towns?” Gnarl cut her off. Anne clenched her hands tighter and hid her eyes from the Minion, if only to hide her tears. “See? They drove you away into a harsh wilderness, to be killed and eaten while they fatten themselves up. Instead of dying though, you survived and found the Dark Tower. Good brought you nothing.” Gnarl stopped in front of her and slowly, gently, reached out for one of Anne’s hands and took it into his claws.

“But Evil? Evil will always find a way.” Anne’s heart thumped harder in her chest as Gnarl led her toward the throne. “Evil will get you revenge. It will get your friends back, your home returned to you, and you’ll finally have the power to do the crushing instead. All you need to do-” he paused and swept his free claw toward the throne- “is reach out and take it, Overlord.”

Anne didn’t reply as she moved closer to the throne. Gnarl let go of her hand as she walked up to it, step by agonizing step. Soon she was there and let her backpack drop to the floor before she reached out to rest a hand on one of the armrests of the throne.

She didn’t want to entertain Gnarl in the slightest, but the Minion’s words pierced her heart more than they should have. She remembered the looks on the frog’s faces, every last one as they called for her blood.

‘Undeserved.’

Sprig, the one frog who dared to stand up for her, had his words ignored even as she was forced to run.

‘I saved them from that mantis, and still…!’ Her fingers started digging into the stone.

The monsters, the pain, the hunger, the hurt and worry of the past few days started to catch up and overwhelm her.

And then there were her friends, Sasha and Marcy, smiling at her as she stole the box that brought her here in the first place. They knew she didn’t want to do this, that she hated the idea of stealing at all, but still pressured her into it anyway. And they smiled!

“End. Of. Discussion.”

The tears that threatened to fall had dried up, her hands clenched tightly into fists, and her mind was made up. Unknown to Anne, her eyes flashed blue in that instant. She heard shuffling behind her and turned quickly, catching Gnarl’s hand before it could come down on her and plunge a dagger into her back. The old Minion looked up at Anne in surprise, though it was quickly replaced with glee at the look in her eyes.

“Let’s make one thing clear,” Anne said as she grabbed Gnarl’s shawl and hoisted the Minion up like he was nothing. She brought his face close to hers and said, “ I am the Overlord here, your master. If you ever try to backstab me again, I’ll make you suffer so badly you’ll beg for a death that won’t come.” She pulled him closer so their noses were touching and growled out, “Are. We. Clear?”

“...Yes Sire, like glass,” Gnarl said and dropped the dagger, which in turn prompted several Minions to come out of hiding to openly watch. “This was a test of your evil, nothing more than that. Great threat by the way.” Anne didn’t believe him in the slightest, though she gave him a nod and dropped him regardless. When the old Minion was settled, Anne sat down on the throne, her throne, and took a deep breath of the musty air.

“What was it you said, Gnarl? Evil always finds a way?” Anne asked and watched Gnarl as he nodded with a smile. “Well then, let’s get started on finding that way.” Her stomach chose then to growl and she sheepishly added, “After food though.”

Chapter Text

“So this device is how you got here?” Gnarl asked as he turned the music box over in his hands. Anne had been reluctant to let anyone hold it and had to repeatedly stress how important it was before she gave it to the Minion. “The gold is very catching, the gems could be a bit shinier, and the squeaking!” Gnarl opened and closed the lid a couple of times to take it in. “Where did you find this Sire?”

“Um, I stole it from a pawn shop,” Anne answered and slouched on her throne while supporting her head with a hand.

“You found this in a pawn shop?” Gnarl asked.

“I don't get it either.” Anne moved to slouch on her other hand while Gnarl walked back to the throne while looking the box over again.

“This box feels very familiar, Master. If only my brain wasn't as spongy as cheese. I'll have to look into this later.” Gnarl put the box on an armrest of the throne while Anne crossed a leg over the other.

“Do it, I've been stumped on it.” Anne shuffled so she was laying across the arm rests and crossed her arms behind her head, “The more we know about that, the sooner we can use it.”

“When I am able Sire. And what are you doing?”

“I'm trying to find the best way to sit on this. Every bad guy I've seen in movies has a way to sit down.” Anne shimmied again, only this time she lost her balance and fell off the chair onto the floor. “Ow. I almost had it that time.”

“While I admire your dedication to the craft of Evil, perhaps we should focus on getting the Tower, and yourself, up to proper Evil standards?” Gnarl said while Anne pulled herself to her feet.

“I don’t know what kind of standards those are, but you’re right,” she said as she dusted herself off and looked around the wreck of a throne room, “this place needs a cleanup. Or renovations. Maybe we can just burn down and replace the entire thing actually.”

“Don’t worry yourself about the Tower, Master. That’s my job to force the Minions to do. You should worry about making yourself a more imposing and indestructible Overlord instead of a squishy…” Gnarl paused and poked Anne’s arm, “whatever you are.”

“I’m a Human, and I guess I am pretty squishy. I don’t suppose you have anything to help with that?”

“What kind of unprepared wretches do you take us for? Come, and we’ll get you something more fitting for your station.” Gnarl led the way and Anne followed excitedly, wondering just what was in store for her.

Anne was not happy. Unbelievably frustrated would be more accurate as she looked at the two pitiful pieces of equipment that had been laid in front of her on a table.

“I know these aren’t much, but remember that the Tower has been slumbering for a few centuries. These were the equipment in the best condition for you,” Gnarl explained.

“The best here is a breastplate that’s more straps than actual armor and a sword that’s more likely to kill someone from tetanus than from a cut,” Anne said and grabbed the rusty sword and held it up. It was barely up for a second before the blade snapped and fell to the ground. She threw the handle behind her and added, “Seriously, my tennis racket is a better weapon. I know you said this place was in bad shape, but this is very bad.”

“It is unfortunate. We should at least be grateful this place is in better shape than when your predecessor took the throne. The Tower was stripped completely bare then!” Gnarl started pacing and rubbed his chin as he thought aloud, “But now we still have some facilities left, the forge most importantly. Unfortunately the Forgemaster had left some time ago to join a traveling theater troupe and the Minions that remain are…” Anne and Gnarl looked at a trio of nearby Minions who were respectively hitting himself on the head with a club, sniffing his own foot, and picking and eating boogers “...not up to the task.”

“Boo. So what do we do now?”

“We find a replacement. Anyone that can work a forge can work for us.”

“Oh really? We have the money to pay for that kind of thing?” The room grew quiet as the Minions looked at Anne while Gnarl gave her a flat look.

“Evil,” he stated simply. It took another moment for Anne to understand.

“Ooooh, right, they’ll work for free because we’ll kidnap them and force them to work here. Okay, I gotcha.” Anne nodded and added, “I swear I’ll get used to this Evil thing.”

“Oh don’t worry, you’re not the slowest Overlord I’ve worked with. Now, it’s time for your first activity of Evil by taking some Minions and getting a Forgemaster.”

“Wait, I have to do that?” Gnarl nodded and a moment of quiet passed. “This is a strictly hands on thing, isn’t it?”

“Overlords that take matters into their own hands tend to last far longer than those that order others to do their work for them. You can’t get stronger if you sit on your throne all day.”

“I… guess I can’t argue with that. So, the pool upstairs?”

“Yes, it should teleport you to a nearby village. The Minions will meet you on the other side. It’s a shame none of the helmets survived, because then I’d be able to communicate with you through the Tower Heart.”

“You can talk through that thing? Well, I have a cell phone, would that work?”

“I don’t know, if it can hook up to magic maybe.”

“Well, it did get 5G.”

The village of Pondstone was well into its day, with crowded market stalls lining the streets and several frogs going between stores and chatting. It was a typical picaresque day for the town and one that was about to be ruined by the girl taking one last heavy step on top of a hill overlooking the town. She and the five Minions she took looked over the town, the latter all hopping and licking their lips until an energetic song filled the air. The girl took out her phone and answered the call.

“Hello? Testing testing, one two, can you hear me now?”

“Yes, I can hear you.”

“Oh good, I was afraid of this thing exploding from untested means. So Master, how does it feel to be out and about in that DISGUSTINGLY pretty landscape?”

“I’d probably feel better if I didn’t have to walk half an hour to get here. Plus I think teleportation doesn't agree with me.” Anne started walking down the hill with the Minions following behind her. “So where do I find a blacksmith for the Tower?”

“I don’t know, I don’t leave the Tower. The feel of grass under my feet and the sound of birdsong is bad for my health. Thankfully, villagers that live like this are stupid and will probably point you the right way by accident. You’ll do fine, Sire.”

“If you say so.” Anne stopped when she saw a frog lady coming her way, who also stopped when she saw Anne and the Minions.

“Oh wow, a hideous looking, string bean monster,” she said happily while unfortunately being the exact string of words to piss off Anne. Anne immediately narrowed her gaze at the frog and tried not to destroy her phone from gripping it too tightly.

“I have to call you back,” she muttered and hung up the call. She stowed it in her skirt pocket as she advanced on the frog, who looked worriedly as the Minions surrounded her.

“Oh, uh, you fellas look nasty,” she said and poked one of the Minion’s noses, which got that finger nearly bitten off by the Minion.

“Don’t worry about them,” Anne said as she moved past the Minions and looked down at the frog, “I’m the ‘monster’ right? You know,” Anne paused to bend over and give the frog as menacing a stare as she could, “I can be a real monster if you want me to.”

The frog gulped, took a step back from Anne, and said, “No, that’s alright. I deal with enough of that in one day already.” Anne continued to stare at her, watching her shuffle nervously before standing straight and walking next to her.

“Well, ignoring that, this is still a nice village. Peaceful… slimy?”

“Why thanks, we try with the slime.”

“You’re welcome. Anyway, I was wondering if your town had a blacksmith or something. I have a personal project that I need help with.”

“Wow, I didn’t know Sting and Tom were so popular outside of town.” Anne raised an eyebrow at the frog and watched as she pointed into the town. “Their workshop is down in the town square. It’s shaped like an anvil, you can’t miss it.”

“That’s on the nose, but convenient. Thanks for your time, you get to live another day.”

“Thank you!” Anne motioned for the Minions to follow and the group left the frog behind to go on with her day. Once she was far enough away, Anne took out her phone and redialed the Tower. “So, I know we didn’t check to see if you can see me from there, but how did I do there?”

“You don’t need to worry, I saw,” Gnarl said on the other end, “It was a little too polite and not demanding enough for me, but given your lack of outward Evilness I can understand. A good first showing Master.” Anne hung up the phone and couldn’t help but pump her fist in victory as she entered the town.

Just as the frog said, it was easy enough to find the blacksmith’s building given it really did look like an anvil. “Man, how did they get a tree into that shape?” Anne asked aloud.

“Filthy frogs are surprisingly good at agriculture, Master,” one of the Minions said.

“I’ll believe that. Okay guys, here’s the plan,” Anne turned to the Minions and the three pollywogs gawking at them. Anne looked at them and asked, “What, never seen a girl walk her bloodthirsty monsters before?” The pollywogs shook their bodies ‘no’ and bounced away. “Okay, we’re starting to draw attention. Let’s make this quick.” Anne crouched down to the Minions level and waited for them to gather around her.

“Alright, here’s the plan: you stay outside and keep an eye out while I go inside to look around. If these guys are good for what we need, I’ll let you in so you can do your thing. If not, we’ll leave and try some other town, but let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Got it?”

“Yes Master,” the Minions answered.

“Okay, let’s do this.” Anne clapped and stood up before going inside while the Minions gathered outside the door. Anne was barely inside the shop when she stopped and gawked at the inside. “Hoopida boopah, look at this place!” she said as she walked along the walls. On display were a plethora of farming implements in the customer area while the wall behind the counter had a small selection of weaponry on it, from small daggers to absurdly large swords nobody would be able to use. “Okay, they definitely look good, but bad things can look good.”

Suddenly a frog leapt up from behind the counter and shouted, “You doubt our quality?!”

“Wah!” Anne shouted and jumped back a bit, “Were you behind the counter this whole time?”

“Yes, I sleep behind here. Now what were you saying about our quality?” A door behind the counter opened and a toad with gray skin walked out to stand behind the frog and growled at Anne. It probably would have been intimidating if he wasn’t a head shorter than her.

“Um, are you Sting?” Anne asked the toad.

“No, I’m Sting,” the frog replied, “he’s Tom.” The toad nodded and Sting added, “Tom’s mute by the way, so I talk for the both of us.”

“Oh, sorry. I just assumed…”

“No no, I get it,” Sting said placatingly, “Sting is more ‘toad’ than ‘frog’ name. My mom wanted me to be a people pleaser. Now if you're done insulting our craft, why are you here?”

“Right, sorry about that. It's my first time in a place like this. You see, I have a private project that needs experienced blacksmiths for. Quality is everything and I don't want to skimp on it.”

“Oh, a private project eh?” Sting looked back at Tom and they shared a smile. ‘They always pay a lot,’ he thought before hopping onto the counter. “Well, you don't have to worry about quality with us. Tom here used to make weapons for the Eastern Toad Tower, and you know they take quality seriously. I mean that, the blacksmith before Tom was boiled alive for making bad steel.”

“Oof, tough break.”

“Yes, it was. But, Tom survived! With his hammer and me watching the forge, you won’t find better smiths outside of Newtopia!”

“Really?” Anne looked between the two smiths and the wall of weapons behind them until she smiled and nodded. “Okay then, I’ll take you.”

“Oh, excellent! Now we do charge a certain rate for private projects, since we do need to leave the shop for those. Would you like to know the rates?” Anne didn’t pay Spike any mind as she walked to the door and opened it.

“You misunderstood me,” she said as the Minions filed inside, giggling and ready for mischief. Anne closed the door after the last one was inside and said, “I’m ‘taking you’ because I’m kidnapping you and forcing you to work for me. And I’m not paying for it either.”

The smith’s eyes widened and Spike shouted, “Egads, we’re being robbed! Poorly at that!” He pointed at a minion that was staring at the ceiling and another that was chewing on the handle of a rake. Anne could only shrug at the activities, which caused Tom to hop over the counter and crack his knuckles. “Good thinking Tom! Show these scum what a Toad can do!” Tom got into a fighting stance and Anne was starting to feel a little nervous.

And then it was brought to a swift end when a Minion broke a rake over Tom’s head, causing him to wobble and fall to the floor unconscious. Anne and Spike silently stared for a second until the Minions started kicking Tom. “Hey, stop that! We need them alive, remember?” Anne shouted and started pulling the Minions away.

“Sorry,” they all said before spreading out through the shop to look for some rope. Anne then looked at a very nervous Spike and held a Minion up towards him.

“So are you going to try something too?”

“No no, I’m okay. I don’t punch above my weight class,” Spike said while holding his hands up, “Just don’t hurt me.”

“Sit tight and you won’t.” Anne dropped the Minion and let it get on with the search as well. After a few seconds she then asked, “So did that last blacksmith die from the boiling? Because that sounds like an awful way to go.”

Soon the smiths were tied up and were being carried away by the Minions. Anne made sure to put up a closed sign on the shop’s door and followed behind her Minions trying to look casual. Anytime someone stared at them, which was surprisingly not often, she'd wave them off with “Special commission,” and they'd go back to their business.

“Maybe Gnarl was onto something?” Anne wondered after it worked again on a pair of frogs driving a wagon. Those were the last ones they ran into before going off the path and into the woods toward the teleport pad back to the Tower. Anne breathed a sigh of relief that they got there without trouble and waited for the Minions to throw the smiths onto the pad and go into their burrow before stepping on it and letting the spell carry her. It only took a second and Anne was standing on the edge of the teleportation pool and almost immediately doubled over and tried her hardest not to vomit.

“Welcome back, Master. Your mission was a success I see,” Gnarl said as he looked over the smiths on the ground in front of him.

“Yup, total cakewalk,” Anne said and gave a thumbs up before having to cover her mouth again. “Urp, is it normal to feel nauseous when teleporting?”

“The first few times, yes. You'll get used to it in time.” Anne nodded and walked over to Gnarl as he turned his attention to the captives. “As for you, filthy Amphibians, welcome to the Dark Tower. Our Overlord has deemed you fit to work our forge. Enjoy your work or you'll get the lash~.”

“Well this is an awful start to the day,” Spike said as a group of Minions surrounded them and then nodded at Tom, “That's Tom's words, not mine.” Tom glared at Gnarl, who chuckled and clapped happily.

“Excellent, those are wonderful attitudes to have. Now, to show you the forge.” Gnarl turned and started walking to a set of stairs Anne herself tried to follow only to double over with a groan.

“Nope, I can’t hold it, it’s coming up!” She screamed and ran back to the teleportation pool.

“Not in the pool Sire!” Gnarl called back without looking back as he and the group of Minions pushed the smiths forward down a set of stairs. It was a bit of an arduous walk, but soon a strong heat started to permeate the air that was only getting hotter as they went. After one last set of stairs, they were finally in the forge with the massive smelter in the center of the room ready for use.

“This is the forge, where you will work for the foreseeable future! The Overlord requires a suit of armor and a weapon for her nefarious goals, and you will make it. Understood?” Gnarl punctuated his question by pointing at the smiths and finally noticed the awe in their eyes looking at the smelter.

“Are you seeing this beauty Tom?” Spike asked. Tom’s answer was to fall to his knees while his eyes sparkled, and Spike looked down to Gnarl and asked, “So you want us to work with this for you?”

“...Yes, and you don’t get a choice on the matter.”

“Forget what I said earlier, this day just got a lot better! If you can show us the designs and untie us, we'll get started right away!”

“...I love it when Evil just happens. The designs are on the wall right there.” Gnarl made a motion to the Minions and they started untying the smiths. The ropes were barely off Sting before he was hopping to the forge. Tom didn't even wait for that, as he used his Toad strength to tear the ropes off him and followed after Spike. Gnarl watched them hop around and inspect the smelter until he heard Anne come down the stairs gargling some water. She stopped next to him and spat the water onto the floor. 

“Everything's okay, I made it to a window in time,” she said and took a drink.

“I would appreciate it if you didn't spit on the floor, Sire.”

“Hey, I saw a Minion pee in the corner earlier. Don't act like hygiene is important to you now.”

Gnarl blinked before growling angrily. “That must be Toejam again! I keep telling him to use the bathroom, but he never listens!”

“That's another thing, where are the bathrooms?” Before Gnarl could answer, a loud metallic ringing filled the room and they looked at the smiths around the smelter and especially Tom holding a hammer.

“Oh, that’s a good ring!” Spike shouted, “This’ll work steel no problem! Now where were those designs?”

“Wow, you're already getting them to work huh? You’re good at this.”

“Indeed, especially when they want to do it anyway.” Anne blinked a couple of times and scratched her head.

“Um, does this still count as being Evil? Feels like we just hired them for a passion project.”

“Yes, it does. We still kidnapped them, and if they slack off I’ll lash their flesh off.”

Anne blinked again before she shrugged and turned back to the stairs. “You’re the expert, I won’t disagree.” She started climbing back to the throne room with Gnarl behind her. By the time she got there she had finished her cup of water, threw it over her shoulder where it shattered on the floor, and sat on her throne with a sigh. “I’m going to be so busy for a while, aren’t I?”

“Yes, Master. We still have much to do before we can get started on building your Dark Domain,” Gnarl said as he stopped in front of the throne. Anne huffed and moved to lean on her hand.

“Right. So when am I getting that armor and stuff?”

“Patience. Evil doesn’t speed up the process of shaping steel, though it does help with other aspects. More on that later though, we need to turn our attention to the next order of business.”

“And that is?”

“We need to build our forces. The Minions we have now have been sufficient so far, but we’ll need more to have an effective Dark Army. Thankfully making more is easy, especially for one so skilled in using them such as yourself, Lord.”

“Uh, thanks? So what do I need to do?”

“Well,” Gnarl started pacing in front of the throne, “every living being in Amphibia has Lifeforce within it, from the dumbest herd animal to the fiercest predators. Those of an Evil disposition such as ourselves can see and harness it for our uses, like creating Minions.” Gnarl stopped and put his hands together with a gleeful smile. “In short, take some Minions and kill a few beasts. Collect their Lifeforce, make more Minions, and repeat until you see fit to stop.”

“...You’re telling me getting my revenge on those monsters that made my life heck for the last couple of weeks is actually practical? ”

“Exactly!” Anne didn’t know what to say or think at the relief she felt. Instead she started laughing, lowly at first before growing louder and more manic until she was flat out laughing like a madman. “Oh, I love the Evil laugh you’re doing! You’re a natural at this!”

Chapter Text

The forces of the Dark Tower had been busy for the last few days. In an effort to fuel their upcoming war machine, the Overlord of the Tower went on several expeditions with the Minions in tow. They carved a bloody path through anything that got in their way, every death adding to their ranks while the Dark Lord laughed madly as they swung their bloody weapon upon their enemies. During this, the Overlord happened across several relics of the Dark Tower that were scattered from the calamity that befell it long ago. Greater resilience, control over her Minions, and certainly not least, a stone that allowed her to cast fireballs with a gesture. The slaughter only continued with these additions.

All the while, reconstruction of the tower started and progressed nicely, with only the bangs of hammers and crashes of overloaded supports being the only universal negative. And if a Minion got crushed in the process, well, that was just a risk.

Five days had passed with this routine, and on the morning of the seventh day of the new reign of Evil, the Overlord and their Minion Master were discussing matters of the utmost importance in the throne room.

“Okay, question seven: which member do you identify with the most?” Anne asked and flipped the magazine over to show the ever suffering Gnarl.

“I do not care for the drivel you call ‘KPop’ Sire,” Gnarl said before he looked at the picture and rubbed his chin. “Though just from looks… I'd want to flay that one the least.”

“Huh, interesting choice.” Anne marked down the answer and moved to the next question.

“May I ask a question, Master?”

“Shoot.”

“Why are we doing these inane activities instead of building our forces of darkness?”

“Because I need to take a break!” Anne shouted and threw the magazine away and moved to sit properly on her throne. “I’ve been so busy lately. And as I’m sure you noticed, I kinda went a little kill crazy for a few days.” A Minion came over with a mug of coffee on his head that Anne took. “Like how Marcy gets when she’s deep in the zone and can barely remember it. I mean, just look at what I did to my racket.” Anne held up her racket which was absolutely covered in insect blood and guts, along with an eye stuck in the string. “I am not looking forward to cleaning this later.”

“I did notice and actively encouraged it. I just think there's something better to do than lie about doing vapid quizzes.”

“Like what?” Anne asked and put her racket down, “the reconstruction is going fine-” as soon as she said this, a scaffold collapsed on top of a group of Minions, “-mostly. We have plenty of Minions in reserve, and you said there's not much more I can do until that armor is done.”

“All of that is true. I just worry about getting complacent, Master.”

“You need to relax, Gnarl, if it's even a word you know. Everything will be fine.” Anne was about to take a sip of coffee when very shriveled Spike ran up the stairs panting heavily.

“We're done!” He shouted happily and hopped so he was in front of the throne. “Your armor and weapon is done, Overlord!”

“Really? Cool. By the way, are you okay? You're looking kind of… dry.”

“Just a little parched. A bit of water will fix Tom and I right up,” Spike said and collapsed on the ground. Anne blinked at him before pointing at a couple of nearby Minions.

“You two, get a bucket and throw some water on him.” The Minions scurried away while Anne set the coffee on the throne’s armrest and stood up and started walking to the forge, “Gnarl, let’s go see this armor.”

“After you, Sire.” And Anne did, going down the stairs to the forge. She passed by some Minions dragging a shriveled Tom upstairs before she was in the forge proper and stopped when she saw her armor on a stand with an axe next to it.

“Oh…” was all Anne could say to the sight of steel lit by fire light. The helmet looked more or less like a normal helmet, save the jagged spikes on top in the vague shape of a crown. The rest was what Anne would imagine when thinking of ‘armor’ though she noticed intricate carvings in the armor that looked vaguely like writing, though the most noticeable of them was on the chest piece of what Anne guessed was the skull of some kind of amphibian species.

“I know,” Gnarl replied and moved to the Stand, “It's just as fantastic as I envisioned. Now this is armor fit for an Overlord!”

“It's… a little big,” Anne pointed out as she got closer to it and ran a hand along the chest piece.

“While we did have to scale the armor down for you, there is a reason for the size. Try it on and see for yourself.”

Anne nodded and stood next to the armor as a trio of Minions started to disassemble the armor and put it on her from the bottom up. At first she didn't notice any difference, but by the time the greaves were on she could tell something was up.

“Am I getting taller?” Anne asked and looked at Gnarl, who chuckled knowingly. Now that she looked at him, having gotten used to his size compared to her, she did seem to be getting taller. Hoping that a real answer would come, Anne let the Minions continue their work of laying chainmail and fastening armor plates. For a few minutes the sound of clanking metal surrounded Anne as she slowly was encased until only the helmet was left.

“There. Now you're looking like a proper Lord of Dark,” Gnarl said proudly as he looked Anne up and down while the Minions affixed a cloth scarf and skirt. Anne looked herself over and tried moving around, finding it far easier to do than she would have thought.

“It's like I grew to fit it,” Anne said as she flexed her hand before examining a glowing part of her left gauntlet, “is this permanent?”

“No, you'll return to normal when the armor comes off. You're more… spindly than our normal fair of Overlords, so we had to employ some magical enchantments a previous Overlord developed. It may have cost a few Minions, but the results are plain to see Sire, though I personally like the helmet’s enchantment most of all.” The helmet was handed up to a stack of two Minions who in turn placed it over Anne’s head. Although she could feel no difference, her eyes started to glow blue once the helmet was in place and were the only feature of her face that showed through. Gnarl and the other Minions were briefly left in awe at the visage of the Overlord as she moved to pick up and inspect her new axe.

“Huh, it feels as light as my racket,” Anne said and flinched at the deep sound of her voice. “What the- okay, that’s kinda freaky.”

“It’s imposing, Sire. A true Overlord must project the fear and authority they demand through their voice alone.” Anne looked at Gnarl and, more curious than ever, walked past him to go upstairs to the throne room. The trip up seemed shorter than usual and once in the throne room went straight to the teleportation pool while barely noticing the Minions slathering the frog and toad smiths with water. Anne stopped at the edge and looked down at her reflection, the tower of steel armor throwing her off for a moment until she closed one eye in a test and saw the reflection mirror it.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d never recognize me like this,” Anne said and ran a hand along the side of the helmet.

“If it doesn’t suit you Sire, we did have designs for more feminine armor,” Gnarl said as he approached her. “Although I haven’t the foggiest where they went. The one time Giblet didn’t say where he put something. Well, when we do find it-”

“No.” Gnarl stopped at Anne’s interruption and watched as she clenched a gauntlet in front of her. “This will be just fine. Those frogs ran me out thinking I was some kind of monster. Well, a monster is coming for them now, and I think it’d be best if they see it as punishment instead of revenge.”

“That’s cruel. Nearly brings a tear to my eye.” Gnarl wiped at his eyes for a second as Anne took off her helmet and walked to her throne. Gnarl followed as he continued, “And with this we’re so close to being ready to start your dark conquest. There’s just a few little things to finish.”

“Good,” Anne agreed as she set the helmet and axe on the throne’s armrest and picked up her forgotten coffee mug. She looked at the slowly improving smiths and gestured at them. “What do we do about them?”

“Ah yes. While I don’t want outsiders to know about the Tower, we still lack a dedicated forgemaster and they did good work. I say we keep them as temporary forgemasters, maybe let them go back and forth between their town and here to avoid suspicion, and make it very clear where they stand in our hierarchy.”

“I’ll leave that to you dude. As long as they don’t blab about me, I don’t care.” Anne then finally took a drink from the mug, letting the hot contents slide down her throat, and letting out a satisfied sigh when she was done. “This is mud, isn’t it?”

“That was the other thing I wanted to talk about, Sire. We’ve actually been running out of food for a few days now. We’ve had to improvise some cooking to keep from starving.” Anne nodded, let go of the mug to let it shatter on the floor, and walked to a corner of the throne room to vomit at. “We’ll need to find a solution to this to keep from starving to death.”

“No…kidding!” Anne said in between retches.

“Thankfully our current location, Frog Valley, is a hub of farming and ranching settlements. Pick a town, raze it to the ground, and take everything they have. That’ll solve our food problem.”

Anne finished vomiting and wiped her mouth before turning back to Gnarl. “But what if we have the same problem later, or it gets worse and we have one less solution doing that? My mom once said that continuous solutions to a problem are better than a quick one, or something like that.”

“So what do you suggest, Master?”

“We take over one of these farm towns and make them give us their food regularly. How long does it take them to grow food anyway?” Anne vaguely knew how long farming took back on Earth, though given how big and fast things grew here the answer could be very different.

“It’s my understanding that the soil in the valley is very fertile, and that some frogs have developed advanced fertilizer. Depending on the town, they could grow a full harvest in just a week.”

‘Yes, this could work!’ Anne thought as she slammed a fist into a palm. “Alright, we’re taking over a town today. And if I’m allowed to be a little petty about my choice?”

“By all means, Sire.”

“I know exactly where to start.” Anne took her helmet and axe and made for the portal.

It was another day in Wartwood and the frogs that called it home were busy enjoying the day and going about their business. One of them, Hopediah “Hop Pop” Plantar had finished his day’s shopping and was loading up the family snail Bessie. Not that it was particularly easy as money was scarce thanks to the mayor increasing taxes for Frog only knows what reason. It had gotten so bad that he had nearly lost the family market stand to them, and even now found himself grumbling about it. He had finished loading Bessie and saw a crowd gathering in the middle of the square and, curious, he moved to join them until he saw the chest and sighed knowing what was happening.

“Vote Mayor Toadstool,” said the current mayor and source of a lot of problems, “and know that you vote for someone who always looks out for the little guy!” Toadstool then used his designated little guy, Toadie, as a stepstool onto a snail that was then driven away by Toadie.

“Heh, some mayor,” Hop Pop said mostly to himself, “All he’s done lately is raise our taxes and what do we have to show for it?! Our snailways are full of potholes, our buildings are falling apart, and we still haven’t rebuilt the school house from that Millipede infestation!”

“We really should take care of that,” a frog commented as the roars of the Millipedes filled the air.

“And am I crazy, or is he making sense?” another frog, Petunia Sundew, asked.

“If you ask me,” Hop Pop continued, “we would be better off with a mayor that takes care of their community, because the one we have only takes care of himself!” Hop Pop finished his ranting and found that most of the frogs were staring at him. After a moment Hop Pop cleared his throat and said, “Well, that’s just my opinion anyway.”

“I nominate Hop Pop!” a frog shouted.

“Me too!”

“Three cheers for Hopediah!”

And that’s how Hop Pop got nominated as a mayoral candidate. That wasn't exactly what he had in mind for his day, but his name was already dropped into the chest and everybody seemed happy for him running, if the fanfare and them holding him up was any indication. “Well, alright. I'm running for mayor!”

“Yay!”

“We deserve something better than some overlord who only cares about themself!”

Such invitations like that rarely go unanswered, and that includes now. The clanking of armor started resounding through the square, confusing the townsfolk until they saw the source at the gate of the town. Hop Pop hadn’t seen anything like the armored person before, tall as any newt but very distinctly not one, nor the many creatures that came with them. Hop Pop, and many other frogs, cringed at their brown skin and large floppy ears. The monsters spread out into Wartwood while the armored one walked toward them, their glowing eyes unmoving, but staring right through them at the same time. The very air seemed to sing an ominous tone at their arrival.

At least until everyone noticed the tone came from One Eyed Wally, who was fiddling with his accordion. He noticed everyone staring at him, he gave a nervous chuckle and put the accordion away. With that distraction gone, they turned back to the new arrival to town.

‘What could they want here?’ was the common thought among the crowd.

“So, this is the town where you first came to our world Sire? Blegh, in my opinion the only good part of this town is the slime covering it.”

‘I find it quite fitting for this town,’ Anne thought as she moved to the gathering of frogs in front of her. Gnarl had said that the helmet could send her thoughts telepathically to him, so she heard him hum in agreement. She didn’t recognize most of the frogs in the crowd, though the old one that had been held up and was now being set down did seem familiar somehow.

“Ah look, you seem to have caught them in the middle of some political machinations. Quite timely that they elect a new mayor when they’re about to get an Overlord.”

‘Mayor huh?’ Anne stepped past the frogs, who parted from her path and looked at the chest for candidate slips, ‘I wonder…’

“Master, you’re not thinking what I think you are, are you?”

‘I am. I’m going to rule this town anyway, the easiest way might be to trick these frogs into electing me. Wouldn’t that be ironic, they put the very monster they once drove out in charge of their whole town?’

“I don’t think that’s what that word means, but do what you think is best, Dark One.”

“Uh, excuse me.” Anne looked to the side and saw the old frog standing nervously next to her, “Can we help you with anything?”

“Only with one thing,” Anne said, secretly relishing how some of the frogs shivered at her voice. She stood up straight and pointed at the chest, “This election, can anyone enter it?”

“Um, any Wartwood resident can.”

“Well good thing I am. And don’t worry about where I live, you can’t go there.”

Another frog leaned in toward the old frog and whispered loudly, “They must be from the outskirts.” Old frog and a bunch of others nodded as they leaned back.

“Well, if you want to run, just slip your name into that chest and I’ll see you on the campaign trail?” Old frog held out his hand for a hand shake, which Anne very firmly returned.

“Of course. When I win, I’ll see you there.” She said and held the frog’s hand a little longer before letting him go.

“Well, that’s good! I… gotta go prepare for my campaign!” The old frog ran to a snail and zoomed away on it. With him gone, the rest of the frogs dispersed with varying degrees of speed. Anne couldn’t help but chuckle at the speed they ran.

“This is going to be fun, I can tell already.”

“I hope so! In fact, I have a song about how much fun Wartwood can be,” someone next to Anne said. She looked and immediately narrowed her eyes and clenched her fists at the one eyed frog that was responsible for running her out of town. Wally, she’ll never forget him. Wally played a few notes on his accordion before he noticed Anne staring at him. He only managed to let out a nervous chuckle before an armored boot planted itself in his face.

Due to how elections went, the next day was the start of the election trials. Hop Pop had just finished changing into his special exercise clothing for the trials and walked into the living room. “Kids, we’re going to the election trials! Get ready to go!” he shouted. He heard footsteps and bouncing coming down the stairs and saw his grandchildren, one definitely more energetic than the other.

“All ready!” Polly said as she hopped onto Hop Pop’s head, “I can’t wait to get to the monster fights! They’re so fun!”

“Just remember I have to fight them, Polly,” Hop Pop said and patted Polly. “Are you ready Sprig?” Only the sound of a door opening was his answer and Hop Pop looked to see Sprig at the front door. “Sprig?”

“Oh, sorry Hop Pop. I’m not in the mood for this election thing. I’m going to see if Ivy wants to go hunt bugs or something instead, okay?” Sprig didn’t wait for a response as he left the house and started walking down the road.

“Well, if that’s what you want,” Hop Pop said as he watched his grandson walk away. He gave a sad groan that Polly punctuated with a sigh.

“I don’t like seeing Sprig like this. It’s been almost a month and he hasn’t gotten any better.”

“I know Polly, but I don’t know what to do to make up for it. It’s my fault he’s like this anyway.” Hop Pop sighed, once again remembering that creature he didn’t do enough to help if only for Sprig’s sake. “Well, the election comes first. Maybe I’ll think of something after.”

The first trial started in front of a cave outside of Wartwood, where two of the three candidates were doing stretches for what was to come while the third stared impassively ahead. While several frogs cheered for their preferred candidate, none were louder than the monsters that the ‘Overlord’ brought with them.

“Hopediah has got this in the bag.”

“Are you kidding? Toadstool’s tried and true!”

“GO DARK MASTER! EAT THEIR FACES!”

“New crowd and outside candidate aside,” Toadstool said, uncaringly knockin away Toadie with his stretches, “Do you really think you have a chance, Hopediah? Toads have run uncontested for decades.”

“We’ll see who has a chance,” Hop Pop replied, causing Toadstool to grunt.

“And you,” Toadstool said turning to Anne, “are a real mystery friend. Coming out of nowhere to try and steal my job. Where does that confidence come from?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Anne said without looking at Toadstool. Her grip tightening around the axe she held in front of her, the head planted firmly in the dirt at her feet. “Though I will say this, my confidence is wasted on lesser beings like you.”

“We’ll see.”

Just then a green newt in a tricorn hat and red coat, known to the town as Albus Duckweed, walked in front of the candidates and cleared his throat.

“Good morning everyone, and welcome to the mayoral trials! This first one is about strength, because a mayor needs to be strong to protect the ones under them! So the first to mount this beetle wins, begin!” Albus blew a whistle and ran just as an incredibly spiky beetle came out of the cave. The rest of the crowd ran far out of the area while Hop Pop and Toadstool ran to get some distance as the beetle charged. Anne barely managed to dodge out of the way and watched as Hop Pop and Toadstool were battered by the beetle.

“I gotta say, I’m really liking how politics works here,” Anne said as she gripped her axe and charged at the beetle. The beetle saw this and charged as well, the armored foes rapidly approaching until Anne dodged to the side and swung her axe to take off one of the front legs of the beetle. It roared in pain and swung its horn at Anne, who clashed it with her axe. Anne growled in effort to keep the bug at bay, it roared in response, and then Anne felt something bounce off her back.

A quick look up revealed that it was Hop Pop, who hopped onto the beetle’s back and used a branch he picked up somewhere to whack an unarmored spot on the beetle’s head that stunned it and caused it to collapse. With it on the ground, the crowd cheered Hop Pop’s name while Toadstool and his supporters grumbled at the loss.

“Good job Hopediah!” the old Mrs. Croaker said as Hop Pop jumped off the beetle.

“You got this in the bag!” Polly cheered as she hopped onto her grandfather’s head.

“Eh heh, it was nothing,” Hop Pop said while Albus walked past toward Anne.

“Um, I know I said this was a test of strength, but you weren’t supposed to use an actual weapon for this,” he said. Anne’s response was to raise her axe and slam it into the neck of the beetle next to her, causing blood to spill from it and the frogs around her to flinch.

“It’s too late for that now. But if those are your rules, then I’ll play by them. I don’t need a weapon to be stronger than you creatures.” Anne walked past Albus and pointed at her Minions. “Glop, you’re responsible for my axe while we’re here. Take good care of it.”

Glop looked shocked for a moment at being given such an honorable task and then cheered as he ran to try and pull the axe out of the beetle’s corpse while the rest followed their Overlord away.

“Well… onto the next trial!” Albus said hurriedly.

The trials resumed on a cliff face on a mountain. Specifically, in front of a nest with three giant bird chicks. While the crowd watched quietly and her Minions cheered her on, Anne stared in confusion at the birds and wondered how this tied into being a mayor.

“The second trial is about sensitivity,” Albus explained and gestured to the chicks, “can you find what these chicks need? A good mayor would.”

“Wouldn't this be better with frogs?” Anne asked and got a chuckle from Toadstool.

“Shows what you know. Now I know exactly what they need: money. Now watch.” Toadstool took out a sack of coins and walked to the birds and started throwing coins at them.

As this happened, Anne leaned in to Hop Pop and asked, “Think he'll die?”

“I doubt it,” Hop Pop answered even as the chicks pecked at Toadstool and forced him to flee. Anne and a smattering of frogs chuckled at the state he was left in while the Minions laughed uproariously at him.

“Ha, he almost became lunch!”

“Filthy toad only good for meat!”

“Heh heh, okay that made all of this worth it. You go ahead,” Anne said and gestured at Hop Pop.

“Are you sure? You can try.”

“I know what needs to be done, but I'm not wasting Minions on this. I might need them later.”

Hop Pop looked at the Minions and shook his head and said, “No offense, but I think those things are too bony to eat anyway.”

“Well, there is one way to find out.”

Hop Pop decided there that the conversation had gone on long enough and he should take his turn. One thing ‘the Overlord’ was right about was what the chicks needed, and Hop Pop before too long he found a group of worms under a nearby log. He took them, chewed them into mush, and walked to the birds to let them eat out of his mouth. The trial was won and Hop Pop got some affectionate nuzzles from the chicks.

“Yeah, he used to feed me like that when I was little,” Polly said after bouncing next to Anne. “Sup?”

“...Hi.”

“So I'm in-between employment right now, don't suppose you have any openings?”

“You are a literal baby.”

“And?”

The conversation came to a screeching halt when Mama came back to her nest and screeched at the frogs, sending them running. Not even Anne wanted to test her luck or lose any Minions to the bird and started running too. The Minions, not so much.

“Big birdie!”

“Rotisserie tonight?”

“Just run!”

Back at the Tower, Gnarl was grumbling a little. The current trial, finding a way back to town after getting lost in the woods, was easy for the Overlord to accomplish. He did have a chuckle at how the Master threatened the newt when he tried to take her armor from her, an attempt that was quickly given up on, and walked up to the teleportation pool for when the Overlord came back. It was only a few minutes before the Overlord appeared.

“Greetings Master. How are the trials coming?” Gnarl asked.

“Fine enough. Thanks for reminding me I can come here whenever I want, I would have wandered around that forest if you didn't. Man, I'm thirsty.” The Master took off her helmet and walked to her throne with Gnarl behind her.

“I was wondering, Master, aren't you having too much fun with these?” Gnarl asked and silently gaged as the Master took her bag and opened one of her disgusting drinks, the purple one with the spiky bottle. Tripe tried one a few days ago and was hallucinating for hours.

“What do you mean?” The Master asked and started downing the bottle.

“It's just, with your strength and the Minions, you can easily take the town by force. So why don't you?”

“If it comes to it, I will. I just want to see if these frogs are stupid enough to make me their leader just like that. It'd certainly make the conquest easier.” The Overlord let out a loud belch and threw the empty bottle away and started back to the pool. “Besides, the Minions seem to like eating normal food for once instead of mystery grog.”

“Yes, they did seem happy out there. Especially Grub, and he’s picky.” The Overlord nodded and started walking to the pool. “Still, try to remember the mission, Master.”

“Relax Gnarl,” she replied and put on her helmet, “I got this. What what!” She made an odd hand gesture at Gnarl as she fell backwards into the teleportation pool, leaving the Minion Master behind to wander back to the Heart.

Annoyingly, even with the Overlord’s head start via teleportation, she still ended up second to the old frog again. How he managed to befriend beetles to help him was a mystery, but Gnarl still narrowed his eyes at the image of the frog. “This ‘Hopediah’ is a wild card. I’ll need to keep an eye on him.”

Nighttime would be the time of the final challenge, so it would take a few hours to set up. In the meantime, the candidates retreated to their residences to prepare for the final challenge. Well, Hop Pop did. Toadstool had other plans in mind for the night, and while Anne could return to the Tower for some R and R, she decided instead to be petty by staying with one of the frogs in town.

“No no no, get off the tables!” Felicia Sundew, a frog in a green dress with her long hair done up in a braided ponytail, shouted as she ran after several Minions who had jumped onto a table to start eating everything on it. It had been like this since Anne had come with them and let them run roughshod through the house: flipping tables, eating food, and generally doing everything to make the frog’s evening hell. The only part that was left untouched was the table that Anne herself was sitting at while enjoying a cup of admittedly good tea.

‘This reminds me of those tea blends Mom used to have. I wonder if there's something like that here?’ Anne thought as she took another sip. A knock on the door caught her attention and she looked at Felicia, who was busy fretting over a group of Minions coming out of the bathroom. Well, Anne thought it was the bathroom.

“No go in there,” the last Minion out said, which made Felicia stress out more.

“No, don't trouble yourself, I'll get it,” Anne said as she stood and moved to answer the door. On the other side was a frog in a black cloak that Anne recognized as the frog that was always with Toadstool.

“Greetings. An… anonymous benefactor wants to speak to you,” Toadie said.

“If the fat toad wants to talk to me, he can just do it,” Anne said and crossed her arms.

“No comment.”

Anne rolled her eyes and picked up Toadie by the cloak. “Fine, but you're keeping my Minions entertained in the meantime.” She threw him inside the house and shut the door just as the Minions cheered at a new toy. With that out of the way Anne walked to Toadstool’s eyesore of a carriage and opened the door.

“Ah, you came. Come in,” Toadstool said and gestured inside.

“I can't fit inside, and I don't want to anyway,” Anne pointed out and leaned against the carriage.

“Um… okay. Well, getting straight to the point, I wanted to talk to you about the election. I want you to drop out.”

“You are bold asking me that. It'd be respectable if it weren't so stupid.”

“I'm not asking you to do it for free. Name your price and I'll pay it. Whatever you want.” Anne narrowed her eyes at Toadstool and took a step onto the carriage to offset it and have the toad slide closer to her.

“What I want is your town. I want everyone here to cower before me. I want everything you have and then some. And most importantly,” Anne reached and grabbed Toadstool’s collar to pull him closer, “I want you all to weep knowing I'm here because of your own actions. Can you give me that?”

“... I don't think I can swing that toward a reelection.”

“Exactly. One way or the other, I'll get what I want. It's just a question of how much pain there will be.” Anne let go of Toadstool and walked back to the house. She opened the door long enough for a battered Toadie to escape before going in. Looking around inside, she soaked in the prelude for what she had planned for the town before going back to her tea.

The final trial of the election, a straight boxing match between the candidates, ended up being another challenge that Anne had to sit out of for the obvious reason of refusing to take off her armor. She did end up getting it in writing, signed by both Toadstool and Hop Pop, that she would have absolutely won had she fought. Now she just needed the right frame to put it up.

The fight itself seemed fine enough to Anne, the supporters cheering on their candidate while the fight itself played out like an old boxing movie she caught on TV once. Anne had to give it to Hop Pop, the old frog could hit hard. Now if only she could see it without being surrounded by annoying frogs and Minions calling for blood. With Hop Pop winning via knockout, everyone returned home to await the votes to be tallied and revealed in the morning.

That was a fun night for the Minions, and a not so fun one for Felicia Sundew. Come morning, everyone had gathered in the town square to hear the results over a cheering crowd.

“Alright, settle down, I got the results here,” Albus said as he moved to the center of the stage holding up an envelope. He opened it and read for a moment. “With 30 votes, we have our last minute addition, The Overlord.” Anne was surprised she got any votes at all, though when she looked at the group of Minions cheering her on and waving a banner of her helmet she figured where they came from.

“I didn’t know some of you could figure out how to vote. Your loyalty pleases me,” Anne said, which got a roar from the Minions.

“For the Overlord!”

“Beat puny frogs!”

“Pencils are too hard to use!”

“Yeah, that’s nice,” Albus interrupted and went back to reading. “At 88 votes, with 100% of Wartwood, Hopediah Plantar!” The crowd roared in approval, Anne was silently impressed and Hop Pop gasped in surprise.

“You mean I won?!” Hop Pop asked excitedly, “Oh, this is the greatest-”

“And with 22,000 votes from the rest of the valley, Mayor Toadstool wins!” Albus finished, and just like that the square was silent. Everybody just took it in, all while Toadstool looked smug, until-

“Huh?” The Minions said as one.

“Say what?!” Hop Pop shouted.

“What?!” Anne shouted, her eyes glowing brighter under her helmet.

“I was afraid this might happen,” Gnarl’s voice echoed in her head while Albus dared to put a mayor sash on Toadstool.

“Thank you kindly everyone, Democracy wins again!” Toadstool called as confetti rained around him. “I-”

“SHUT UP!” Anne shouted and stomped her foot, causing everyone on stage to flinch. “Why does the entire valley vote for the mayor of a single town?! That doesn't make any sense!”

“What they said!” Hop Pop added, “how was I supposed to know that was a thing? I never even heard of that until now!”

“Wait, you mean neither of you campaigned outside of Wartwood?” Toadstool asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, “Oh, that's just sad.”

“This, My Lord, is called gerrymandering,” Gnarl said with a tut, “The most Evil tool in a politician’s arsenal. I'm sorry you had to see it.”

Just then, like a beautifully crafted stain glass window about to be hit by a ball, Anne's patience shattered and she decided these cretins deserved nothing less than the full Overlord treatment. The Minions, sensing their Overlord’s displeasure, dropped their signs and banners to draw their weapons with a cackle.

“Uh…” Polly said and sank into her bucket as she, along with several other townsfolk, felt the tension going around. Their murmurs went unnoticed by the ones on stage. 

“Well, see you all later!” Toadstool said, failing to read the room, “I got a celebration to-”

“ENOUGH!”

The Overlord’s shout echoed through the square and the crowd froze as The Overlord raised a hand and launched a fireball at the back of the stage they were on, igniting the map of Frog Valley and curtains into an inferno.

Hop Pop and Toadstool gasped at the sudden act before the former was grabbed by his leotard and thrown into the crowd by The Overlord. Toadstool barely managed to take a step back before he got kicked in the face by The Overlord and stepped on once on the ground.

“I've entertained this garbage for long enough,” The Overlord said as they ground their boot into Toadstool. They gave a small laugh at his cries of pain before they looked over at the crowd watching. “I bet you all were laughing behind our backs as we wasted our time with this! Well, let’s see who’s laughing when I’m done with you all!” The Overlord raised their hand and swept it in front of them. It felt like the very air shifted and some of the crowd started screaming as the Minions surrounded them. The Minions thrust their weapons in the crowd’s direction and pushed the slower moving frogs to the ground, grouping them closer together in the center of the square.

Hop Pop managed to pick up Polly’s bucket before it was too late and backed up into the crowd, though still near the front so he and Polly got a view of The Overlord as they threw Toadstool off the stage and jumped off to step on him again. Glop walked over and gave The Overlord their axe and backed away as they planted the head next to Toadstool’s head.

“Now that I have your total attention, let me actually introduce myself. I am The Overlord of the Dark Tower: Master of Evil, Lord of Dark, and your ruler from now on.”

“Oh dear,” Hop Pop whispered and hugged Polly closer.

“What do you want?!” Another frog shouted. The Overlord laughed coldly and walked over to them, making sure to put extra weight onto Toadstool as they did, with a Minion running over and jumping onto Toadstool in their place.

“I want a lot of things: this town burned to the ground, every one of you in eternal pain, an actual cup of coffee . Just to name a few things.”

“What the heck, what did we do to you?!” Polly shouted.

“Polly!” Hop Pop chastised and covered his granddaughter’s mouth.

“Evil brings Evil. No matter what reasons you supposedly had for your actions,” The Overlord lifted their axe and pointed it at the crowd who flinched away from it, “I am only here because of all of you.” Though they didn’t know what they meant, most of the crowd gulped at the idea of somehow offending this person at some point. After a moment to let their words sink in, The Overlord planted their axe into the ground again and leaned against it. “However, what I want and what I need are very different today. Consider yourselves lucky that you’re all more valuable alive today.”

“...Well that’s good,” Mrs. Croaker said.

“So, what do you need? ” Felcia asked.

“Food. Raw ingredients or cooked meals, I don’t care which. I need a lot and you all will provide it. My Minions will make a platform that you will put them on. If you don’t gather enough to satisfy me in an hour or if any of you try to escape,” The Overlord paused to move their axe’s blade next to Toadstool’s neck, causing the toad to flinch as much as he could, “then heads will start to roll. Time starts now.”

The Overlord swept their hand again and the Minions backed away a little so the crowd could quickly disperse throughout the town. As Hop Pop ran back to the house with Polly, they could have sworn they heard laughter from The Overlord.

The Plantar home was in a state of disarray, mostly because of Sprig and his ‘totally-just-a-friend’ Ivy Sundew. They had a great time hunting bugs the day before, though when the night was starting to fall and Ivy started to go home she got a hornet call from her mom telling her not to come back home. From the crashes Sprig could hear on the other end, it was probably a good idea that she stayed the night at his house.

Not that he had any other ideas about that, of course. Naturally.

“AMBUSH!” Ivy shouted, knocking Sprig both out of his thoughts and onto the floor. They rolled on the ground for a bit before eventually getting up laughing. “You gotta pay more attention, Sprig.”

“Yeah, you got me,” Sprig replied in the happiest voice he could muster, which wasn’t that much. Ivy looked sad for a second before going back to her usual energy and punched Sprig in the arm.

“Cheer up a little, ya goof. And hey, thanks for letting me stay here last night. It didn’t sound like Mom was having a good time last night.”

“It was no problem,” Sprig answered and turned away to hide a small blush, “it was fun just hanging out with you.” For totally non-romantic reasons, of course. Ivy was good at distracting Sprig from errant thoughts, and lately he needed a lot of distractions. The conversation came to a halt when the kids heard a door slam downstairs and a lot of loud shuffling drifted up. Sprig and Ivy shared a look before rushing out of Sprig’s room and going downstairs.

There they found the front door opened and Polly on the couch in her bucket. The door to Hop Pop’s study was closed and there was plenty of shuffling inside, so Sprig knew Hop Pop was also here at least. Sprig and Ivy walked over to Polly and he asked, “Hey Polly, how did the mayor thing go?”

“AWFUL!” Polly shouted and pointed at Sprig, “We have a major emergency going on Sprig and you need to help with it!”

“What’s going on?” Ivy asked. The door to the study slammed open and Hop Pop, back in his usual clothes, came out. The moment he saw Sprig, he rushed over and grabbed him.

“Sprig, thank Frog you’re here! I need your help moving our food and crops onto the cart as fast as we can!” Hop Pop said.

“Huh, why? Didn’t we just have a market day?” Sprig asked.

“This isn’t a market day! Our lives are on the line!” Hop Pop let Sprig go and ran into the kitchen to gather food and ingredients on the table. The kids watched for a moment before a buzzing came into the house, which turned out to be one of Felicia’s hornet calls.

“Ivy, where are you?” Felicia’s worried voice sounded through the hornet.

“Mom? I’m at Sprig’s house. What’s going on, are you okay?” Ivy asked.

“I’m fine. Listen Ivy, you can’t come back to town now. It’s too dangerous!”

“Dangerous? What do you-?”

“She’s right,” Hop Pop interrupted as he walked past with an armful of vegetables. “Listen, when we’re done loading our cart, I want you to take Polly and go hide in the woods. Make sure you’re not seen.”

“And don’t come back until we say it’s safe or…” Felicia added.

“Or…?” Ivy asked.

“...Just stay safe, okay Ivy?” A click came from the hornet and it flew out of the house, leaving a very worried Ivy to look at Sprig. The question she wanted to ask, but couldn’t, was evident on both of their faces: just what was going on today? They both looked at Polly for answers, and the pollywog rubbed her eyes with a sigh.

“Okay, so, there was this person in armor that ran for mayor against Hop Pop. In hindsight we should have seen it coming that they were bad news, but we just didn’t. Anyway, we did the results thing and they didn’t take it well,” Polly explained.

“Long story short,” Hop Pop said as he came back into the house, “they’re actually some kind of Evil Overlord with an army of monsters. They’re threatening to burn the town down unless we give them enough food.”

“WHAT?!” Sprig and Ivy shouted at the same time and Sprig hopped onto the table and added, “And you’re just going to let that happen?! Why aren’t we fighting back?”

“We would if we could Sprig, but those monsters and that Overlord’s eyes… they mean business.”

“That Overlord was batting around the mayor like he was a bug ball,” Polly said.

“And I don’t want to know what will happen if they decide to really get violent. It’s… for the best if we just give them what they want.”

“Is this why Mom didn’t want me coming home last night?” Ivy asked mostly to herself and hugged herself as she shivered. “If she can't handle what’s happening, then…” Seeing her like that forced Sprig to calm down a little so Hop Pop can lift him off the table.

“I know you don’t like this Sprig, I don’t either,” Hop Pop said and grabbed Sprig’s shoulders, “but times like these we just gotta take it on the chin and hope to pull through. I can handle myself, but I need you to look after your sister until this is over. Can I trust you to do that?”

Sprig looked at his grandfather, then at the scared Ivy and Polly and he couldn’t help but clench his fists. He hated feeling like this, utterly helpless and unable to do anything to help. Even if he could help here, he had a sick feeling that he’d just make it worse if he did try something.

Just like with Anne.

“Okay. Just… be safe, okay Hop Pop?” At the very least, Hop Pop’s reassuring smile and hug did make Sprig feel a little better.

Now if only it would last.

Between the four of them they managed to load the family cart with as much food as it could carry, Hop Pop urged Bessie onto the road and back into town. Sprig, holding Polly in her bucket, and Ivy went into the woods surrounding Wartwood. With the trees growing close enough for the pair to safely jump to and fro on, they made their way through it to a spot overlooking the town for them to see what was going on. It took a while, mostly due to them being cautious of any odd noises in the woods right then, but soon enough they got to the overlook and peered out toward the town.

Close to the main gate to the town, just outside, Sprig and Ivy saw what could only be The Overlord responsible for attacking the town. The armor they were wearing, plus how effortlessly they were holding Mayor Toadstool down with a single foot despite his struggles, painted quite clearly the picture Polly and Hop Pop had told them. Sprig couldn’t help growling at how they silently watched as frogs unloaded crates and boxes of food onto a wooden platform next to them, surrounded by cackling monsters that threatened to jab them with whatever weapons they had.

“Nasty, aren’t they?” Someone asked, nearly causing Sprig and Ivy to scream if they hadn’t had their mouths covered immediately afterwards. However it wasn’t one of the monsters that had snuck up on them, but another frog girl. The slightly ragged black dress and hair done up in a bun that still covered one eye showed it was Maddie Flour, a local baker’s daughter and witch-in-training. Maddie waited until Sprig and Ivy were done screaming before putting a finger to her lips to shush them and looking back out to town.

“Maddie? What are you doing here?” Sprig asked.

“Hiding, like you,” Maddie answered, “Well, I was actually staying out all night trying to perfect a curse.” Maddie felt something hit her back and looked back at one of three pollywogs that were huddled at her feet, trembling with fear. “And looking after Rosemary, Lavender, and Ginger for Dad.”

“I guess you were lucky to be out here huh?” Ivy asked.

“I’ll say. I was about to take them back to Dad when I saw what was going on and decided to stay here.” Maddie looked back out and narrowed her eye at The Overlord. “Especially because of that one. I can just feel the Evil coming off of them.”

“You can sense that?” Sprig asked.

“Side benefit of working with curses. All of those monsters have the same feeling, but the armored one is the most dangerous.”

“Hop Pop said they threatened to burn the town down.”

“I can believe that.” Maddie felt another bump to her leg and she looked down at her sisters.

“Maddie, I’m scared,” Rosemary said.

“I want daddy,” Ginger added with tears in her eyes. Maddie, feeling a pang in her chest at that, knelt down and picked up the triplets to hug.

“I know, but we can’t right now,” Maddie said and rocked the pollywogs, “Once it’s safe we’ll go see him, okay?”

“When will that be?”

Maddie didn’t have an answer that would make them feel better, or herself for that matter. Nonetheless, Maddie said, “In a little bit. In the meantime, you three need to stay as quiet as possible.”

“But-”

“I know it’s scary, but you need to be brave. If you do, I’ll… juggle you three for as long as you want.” That did the trick as the three pollywogs perked up and nodded happily. “Good, now get away from the treeline until I say so.” The trio nodded again and hopped away from Maddie, who sighed and went back to watching the town.

“Mom…” Ivy said as she watched her mother in the crowd.

“I hate this,” Sprig said and clenched his fists.

“Sprig, you can’t-” Polly started to say.

“I know I can’t do anything! That’s why I hate it!” Sprig shook as an all too familiar feeling crept over him and he turned and started walking away. “I… I can’t watch this.”

Polly watched Sprig walk away sadly and up at the older girls watching the town. She wished she had been able to do something about this, at least without hurting everyone by unleashing the pain. Right now though, all she could do was pass the time. With this in mind, she asked, “Hey Maddie, do your sisters know any card games?”

“I don’t know,” Maddie replied, unknowingly giving Polly an opportunity.

“Well they’re about to.”

Anne was enjoying herself, even if standing around for most of an hour was making her antsy. It did nothing to stop her smiling under her helmet as the frogs walked up to her and gave what they could. Gnarl had been right about the towns, they had a lot of food to take. Heck, one of the frogs owned a restaurant apparently so he had a lot to give. How he was able to do that with two prosthetic hands Anne wouldn’t know, but the cauldrons of slop he put on the platform looked… mildly better than the cold grog the Minions could make, so Anne would take it.

“Well done again, Sire,” Gnarl’s voice rang in Anne’s head, “it always gladdens me to see the lesser peons give proper respect to their Overlord.”

‘I’m sure it’s a first for them,’ Anne thought as Wally came up and put a half eaten loaf of bread on the platform. Anne growled at that and raised her axe a little, which caused the cretin to flee with a scream. Anne lowered her axe again as watched another frog load the platform with food. ‘How much do we need again? I don’t want to take everything if I can help it.’

“Feeling merciful, my lord?”

‘Barely.’

“In that case-” Gnarl trailed off as he hummed to himself, “-I'd say we have enough to last us a while. Minions in the hives don't eat, so we don't have to worry about them. A few more crates will be enough, Sire.”

‘Just a few, huh?’ Anne looked over the crowd, with most of the miserable frogs barely having an armful or a basket of food, until she saw Hop Pop on a snail attached to a cart. Anne raised a hand to get the crowd’s attention, pointed at Hop Pop, and commanded, “You, forward.”

Hop Pop gulped and urged Bessie forward, the snail instinctively flinching away from Anne with a worried chirp. Hop Pop stopped the cart next to the platform and jumped off Bessie, but was stopped from walking to the cart by Anne’s hand. She walked to the cart and looked the produce over.

‘Anything you want, Gnarl? They all look good.’ Anne pointed at a crate of lettuce, which Hop Pop moved to take out. ‘I can do something with that lettuce.’

“I don't know,” Gnarl answered, “I'm not really- hold on, are those radishes?”

‘Yup. You want it?’

“Yes! It's been a century since I had radish and rat stew. Thank you for your kindness, Master.” Anne held back a gag and pointed to the radishes and whatever was next to it. Hop Pop started loading those and Gnarl's laugh echoed in Anne's mind.

“Ooh, I can't wait! That should keep us while we plan our takeover of this valley.”

Anne nodded and waited for Hop Pop to put the crates on the platform before saying, “That will suffice.” The frogs perked up at the words while Anne gestured with her hand to the food platform. A group of Minions moved to the platform, lifted it, and started moving it away from town while the rest gathered around Anne. She turned to the town and said, “You did well today, so I’ll leave you in peace. I’ll be back for the same amount next time.”

The town cheered for a second before they realized what Anne said. “Wait, next time?”

“Yes, I’ll be back in two weeks for the same amount of food. I heard good things about the farms in this valley, so it shouldn’t be too difficult.” Anne watched the looks of horror on their faces for a second before she slung her axe against her shoulder and added, “Don’t disappoint me,” before she and her Minions left Wartwood.

“Okay, what’s your cards?” Polly asked.

“Go fish!” Rosemary said.

“Revolution!” Ginger said and threw four cards in the middle.

“I want to go all in!” Lavender shouted.

“...Wait, what game were we playing again?” Polly asked and rubbed her head.

“I don’t know.”

“Can we even play with these?” Rosemary asked and held up a card, which was a reference card for a vegetable. Polly stared at the card for a second before she rolled onto her face, to Ivy’s amusement.

The tadpole’s antics were the main source of entertainment for the small group of kids, though that was losing its appeal. Maddie hadn’t stopped watching the town for a second and Ivy moved to sit next to Sprig to keep him company. He hasn’t improved at all, simply drawing circles in the dirt while looking at Ivy when she gave him small pats on the shoulder. The tadpoles were about to try and put a real game together when Maddie perked up and looked behind her.

“They’re leaving,” she said.

“They’re what?” Sprig asked and got to his feet and ran over to Maddie along with Ivy. Polly managed to jump onto Sprig’s head in time to join them in watching The Overlord’s group walk away from town. “Oh, that’s a lot of food.”

“I didn’t see them hurt anyone, aside from shoves and threats,” Maddie said.

“So, it’s safe to go back?” Ivy asked. Her answer came in the form of a buzz from one of her mom’s hornets coming toward them.

“I’ll take that as a yes!” Sprig said and jumped down the slope and started running towards town, ignoring Polly screaming about her bucket. Soon the two of them were at the town’s gates where they saw Hop Pop, worried but otherwise unharmed. “Hop Pop!” they shouted to get his attention.

“Sprig, Polly!” Hop Pop called and caught his grandchildren to pull into a hug. Felicia and Mr. Flour also called out when they saw their children and pulled them into a hug as well. For just a moment, everything was okay.

“Unacceptable!” Mayor Toadstool shouted as he got to his feet. He was beaten, scuffed, and his leotard was barely hanging on by a thread. “This Is unacceptable! If they think they can beat me up and get away with it, they have another thing coming!” Toadstool turned and pushed his way through the crowd with Toadie joining and subsequently covering him just as the leotard failed completely and fell off of him.

“What did he mean by that?” Polly asked.

“Who knows? Probably nothing good,” Hop Pop answered and hugged Sprig and Polly tighter. ‘Like a lot of things right now.’

Anne waited until the food had gone through the teleport and, after making sure the Minions were squared away, she went through a well. As soon as she was back at the Tower, she took her helmet off and walked to her throne.

“Welcome back, Master,” Gnarl said as he joined Anne, “and good job with the food. That should be more than enough for now. How do you feel? Accomplished?”

Anne's answer was to drop her helmet and axe onto the floor and sit silently on her throne. She sat there, hair covering her eyes, and just let what happened wash over her. Yes, she did feel accomplished. She finally got some measure of payback on that town with the promise of more to come. She started laughing, steadily growing louder as it continued and grabbed her face with her hands.

“Did you see the looks on their faces, Gnarl?” She asked and dragged her fingers down her face. “Oh, that felt good putting them in their place! If they're all going to be this easy, we'll have all of them cowering in no time! Cowering and slowly bled of everything they have! Oh I can't wait!”

‘Oh good, she's lost it,’ Gnarl thought dryly. ‘Well now I have to think of ways to keep her from burning everything down. Every time an Overlord like this comes along it just…’ Gnarl's thoughts trailed off as he looked at Anne's eyes, really looked at them, and found something different from the usual crazed look of those previous Overlords even if she was giggling the same way. He crossed his arms and decided on a question.

“Sire, would you like that coffee now? I think I saw some loaded back at that town.”

“Yes please!” Anne shouted with raised arms before all but collapsing on her throne. “Oof, I'm beat all of a sudden. Who knew being Evil was so tiring?”

“Oh good, you’re just exhausted. That's much easier to deal with than what I was thinking.”

“...Easier than what?”

“Never mind that, Master. I'll get some coffee prepared before I focus construction on a more important part of the tower. You’ll definitely need it.”

“Whatever you say dude.”

Chapter Text

The Plantars had a very busy day after The Overlord left. With half the town now without food, the rest had to start dividing what remained so nobody would starve. In that respect the Planters were lucky to be able to have food to spare. It still left a bad taste in their mouths at having to do this at all. Now they were at the farm going over what they could spare.

“Good thing we got plenty of turnips this time, Loggle can have some,” Hop Pop said as he made a mark on a list.

“What about those?” Polly asked, pointing to the barrel of Pain Peppers, “can those go?”

“No Polly, those stay.”

“Why? None of us can eat them!”

“They're for garden pests.”

“This is ridiculous!” Sprig shouted as he threw a crate of radishes down next to Polly, “why are we just letting this happen? We have to do something!”

“Do we need to talk about the monsters again?” Polly answered.

“So what? How can they be different from any other predators out there? What did we even do to deserve this?!”

“Well, they did say we brought them here. I don't know why, I haven't done anything… this week.”

“Don't worry about that,” Hop Pop said and put his list down on the table and walked over to hug his grandchildren, “people like that Overlord fellow will say anything. They're just excuses they use to hurt people.”

“So what can we do?”

“Not much I'm afraid. Those monsters are vicious and we can't grow enough food with that deadline. Until we think of something, we just have to help who we can and hope for the best.”

Sprig and Polly watched Hop Pop go back to his list and shared a look, determination and skepticism respectively. “Are you?” She asked.

“Darn right I am! I can't just do nothing, there has to be a way out of this mess!”

“I don't see how. Unless you find a way to talk to that Overlord, which we…” Polly trailed off when Sprig's face lit up and he rubbed his chin. “No.”

“But think about it! If we can find them, we can try to talk them down from this. Heck, even just a bit more time before they come back can help a lot!”

“They didn’t strike me as the type to be talked to.”

“Maybe we’ll catch them in a good mood?”

Polly groaned and said, “I’m taking Dorris and hitting them if this doesn’t work.”

“That’s a good plan B. Alright, let’s do it!”

“Yeah!”

“No sneaking away until you’re done with your chores!” Hop Pop shouted and pointed to his list, which caused both kids to flinch.

“Yes, Hop Pop,” they both said with Polly bouncing away while Sprig picked up the crate of radishes he had been carrying and carried them away while muttering, “Stupid heavy radishes.”

Once the produce was loaded onto the cart, Sprig and Polly were given permission to ‘sneak away’ while Hop Pop was busy in town. Of course, the siblings knew that finding an evil being like The Overlord was going to be difficult, especially since they didn’t know where to even start. So they started looking for someone who could find them. Someone in tune with the particular brand of Evil, someone who knowingly walked the line separating light from dark. Someone who was totally, utterly, CREEPY.

“You didn’t have to say that to my face, you know,” Maddie said flatly.

“Uh, that was supposed to be an internal monologue,” Sprig defended weakly, which got him a smack from Polly. “Ow. Sorry.”

“Eh, I own it.” Maddie backed away from the conversation for a moment to kick some bread dough off the counter and into the waiting oven, an act all the more impressive since she was making good on her promise of juggling her sisters. “Also my hands are pretty full. What did you want?”

“Oh, well, we need help with a top secret mission with the fate of Wartwood at stake!”

“Sprig wants to talk to The Overlord,” Polly answered simply.

“What, are you two crazy? Why would you want to go after them?” Maddie asked and caught her sisters in her arms.

“Because the town’s going to be destroyed if we don’t do something!” Sprig answered.

“And I still want to see if they have a job opening!” Polly added.

“Ignore that! And besides, aren’t you at least a little curious about how they were able to do what they can do? Not even a little?”

“A little? A little?!” The air and lighting darkened to give Maddie a sinister aura as she answered, “More than life itself.” With a snap everything went back to normal and Maddie set her sisters down. “I’ll need to get my stuff and ask my dad for permission, so wait outside for a second.”

“Okay,” Sprig said with Polly adding her own ‘Sure’ at the same time before they left the bakery. Outside they could see the food exchange going strong, relatively speaking. There’s no way to make what is basically a mass emergency food drive look or sound positive, at least barely. Sprig looked them over and stopped when he saw Hop Pop distributing food. If anything, it only made Sprig more determined to end this. After a while, Maddie opened the door with a bag.

“I’ll be back later dad!”

“Be sure to resurrect someone if they die,” Mr. Flour called back before Maddie shut the door.

“Uh, resurrect?” Sprig asked.

“Don’t worry about that. Now let’s find that Overlord.” Maddie led Sprig and Polly toward the town’s gate. Along the way she took out a cloth pouch and started adding ingredients from her bag to it. By the time they got there the curse was ready and Maddie was giggling as she bounced it in her hand.

“So what’s that for?” Polly asked.

“If I mixed it right, it should attune to the Overlord’s evil energy and track it wherever they went.” Maddie stopped just outside the gate and looked around a bit before shrugging, “This is close enough.” She threw the pouch on the ground, where it exploded into blue smoke that swirled for a moment before flying down the path away from town. “After it, it won’t last long after it stops!”

The kids chased after it down the path and, eventually, into the forest surrounding Wartwood. Sprig kept up with it easily even with Polly hanging onto him, leaping from tree to tree while keeping an eye on the smoke. Soon the smoke led them into a clearing with several stone pillars in the center. The smoke entered the center of the pillars where it swirled for a moment before clearing.

“That’s weird. This doesn’t exactly scream ‘Evil hangout’ to me,” Polly said and waved her flippers around.

“Yeah…” Maddie agreed and walked to the middle of the clearing. In the middle they found a stone platform with an intricate design on it. Sprig stared at the lines crossing over each other to form a six-pointed star, studied them really hard, and came to a simple conclusion.

“I don’t get it.”

“Me neither,” Polly agreed.

“No way!” Maddie said with her eyes shining reverently. She knelt down to trace one of the lines before placing her face right onto it. “Incredible!”

“I still don’t get it,” Sprig said.

“You wouldn’t.” Maddie picked herself up and started walking around the platform. “I’ve been around here ingredient hunting a lot, but I’ve never seen anything like this before. I can feel it though, there is some ancient magic attached to this.”

“Okay, so what does this have to do with the Overlord?” Sprig asked.

“Well, since the trail stopped here, I have a theory. I managed to work out a curse for short range teleportation, so I’m thinking this is a focus point for a much larger version of that.”

“Teleportation?” Polly asked and hopped off Sprig’s head onto the pad, where nothing happened. She grunted in annoyance and bounced a couple more times only to get the same result.

“It probably only works when The Overlord or someone close to them is nearby. We’re not going to be able to make it work by jumping on it.”

“Well, can’t you do something?” Sprig asked as Polly hopped next to him.

“Make a curse that will make ancient magic like this work? Sure, if I had time to study how it works.” Maddie took off her bag and sat down next to the platform to do just that.

“Well, how long will that take?”

“As long as it has to. You don’t want to rush anything with curses or magic,” Maddie said while she started taking out curse ingredients from her bag, “Unless you want to end up in a wall somewhere.”

“Relax Sprig,” Polly said and slapped Sprig’s leg, “just let her do her thing and we’ll be seeing that Overlord in no time.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We still have two weeks before they’re back to destroy the town one way or another. How long would we have to wait?”

7 days later

Living in Amphibia generally meant getting used to the thought of death, since it could come at any point to claim you. Sprig had thought he had gotten used to that fact, but as he lay in his front yard staring at the sky knowing The Overlord would be back in a week, dread sat heavy on the young frog. Also the burden of responsibility.

“Sprig, if you’re going to be in the front yard all day, at least get some of those burrowing gnats out of the crops!”

Sprig groaned, but nonetheless got up to do what Hop Pop asked. The infestation today wasn’t as bad as they had been before, though it was still a pain to deal with. Sprig dove into one of the holes that had been opened in the front garden and began rooting out the pests. When he had gotten the third one out, he started feeling like he was being watched, though no matter how much he looked around nothing revealed itself. He squinted his eyes as he sank back into the tunnels to resume his chore, though the only thing out of the ordinary he found was the pests he was hunting.

Soon he had gotten all of the gnats out of the garden and collapsed the tunnels. Sprig dusted his hands off and said, “Well, back to staring at the sky as doom approaches.”

“AMBUSH!” Sprig heard just before he was knocked to the ground. He fought off his attacker for a bit before they let him go, which was when he saw that it was Ivy that had attacked him.

“Ivy! So you were watching me,” Sprig said and got to his feet.

“Heh, yeah,” Ivy answered and adjusted her cap, “I had to help Mom fix up the house after the Overlord’s monsters got to it. It took a while, especially where they went to the bathroom.”

“Your bathrooms were a mess huh?” Sprig asked, only to have Ivy give him a haunted look.

“They didn't use the bathrooms.”

“...Oof.”

“So what have you been doing Sprig?” Ivy asked, just as quickly snapping out of her haze as she had gone in.

“Oh, you know, helping Hop Pop with chores, waiting on Maddie so we can finally end this nightmare.”

“Maddie?”

“Hi Sprig.”

Sprig and Ivy screamed and fell before they saw Maddie, covered in dirt and twigs, staring at them with wide, red eyes and a way too big smile.

“Maddie? Where the heck did you come from?” Sprig asked.

“I did it,” Maddie answered with a mad chuckle, “it took all week, no sleep, a few accidents, and way too many close calls with The Overlord coming and going with their monsters, but I did it!” Maddie reached into her dress and pulled out a curse pouch with the platform's design on it and gently put it into Sprig’s hand. “Just throw this on the platform and it will activate. Be very careful with it, only one person can go through at a time and I only had enough ingredients to make three and I used one to test it. I nearly ran into The Overlord on the other side, so don’t go during the day.”

“...Okay Maddie, got it,” Sprig said and gave her a thumbs up.

“Good. Now I’m going to sleep for a while. See you when I reanimate.” Maddie walked away, ran face first into a fence post, and turned to go back to town properly.

After a moment of watching her wobble away, Sprig said, “She’ll be fine. And with this,” Sprig held up the pouch with sparkling eyes, “everyone will be fine by tomorrow.”

“Yeah! So what was that anyway?” Ivy asked.

“My way to see The Overlord. It’s going to be hard, so I’ll have to do this solo. ”

“I heard everything,” Polly shouted from a window, “I’m coming with you!”

“We’ll see about that.”

“I can still hear you!”

“Sprig, include your sister in whatever you’re doing!” Hop Pop shouted. Now that he was truly caught, Sprig sulked in annoyance that was only slightly helped by Ivy giving him a comforting pat on the back.

Really, only slightly.

That night when the sun had set, Sprig and Polly were about to leave for their ‘date with destiny’. Hop Pop had fallen asleep reading like every night, so the siblings were free to leave with a mischievous chuckle. With only the light of a firefly lantern to light their way, they left the town and entered the dark woods. Though they were worried about losing their way a few times, and definitely about the night time predators that sometimes actually came out of nowhere, Sprig had found their way back to the stone ruins relatively unharmed.

“Okay, here we are,” Sprig said as he picked up and placed Polly on the ground next to the lantern, “now, I'm going to go and talk to The Overlord, you stay here until I get back.”

“What?! That's ridiculous! I want to go too!” Polly objected.

“Maddie said only one at a time, and I trust her to know creepy stuff. Besides, it might be dangerous for you.”

Polly gave Sprig a flat look before she bounced to a rock, took out a rolling pin, and smacked it hard enough that the top half went soaring.

Sprig could only give a nervous laugh as he added, “Point taken, but I'm not budging. Who knows what's on the other side of this thing.”

“Sure Sprig.” Polly hopped over to him and pointed her rolling pin at him, “Tell you what, I'll stay here and when you come running out of there with The Overlord on your tail, I'll smack them with Dorris here and we do this my way. Deal?”

“Deal.” The siblings shook on it and Sprig walked up to the platform. With a deep breath, he took out the curse pouch and threw it on the platform. He flinched away from the smoke and watched the smoke swirl for a moment before it lit up and disappeared, leaving the platform glowing brightly.

“Please work,” Sprig whispered as he gathered his nerves and hopped onto the platform. Nothing happened and Sprig started to relax, stood up straight, and turned to Polly. “Guess I was worried for nothing. You can come after a-”

The platform shone brightly and lifted Sprig slightly into the air, where a screaming Sprig was seemingly torn to pieces and sent along on the winds. Just as suddenly as it happened it was over, leaving a shocked Polly staring at the dark platform.

“Okay… glad I didn't go now.”

Sprig landed on the other side of the teleport on his face and with his stomach churning from the trip. He scrambled forward to a ledge and threw up over the edge. “Ugh, could have warned me about that ,” Sprig complained once he was done and turned around to see where he ended up, his eyes widening once he saw where he was.

The hall he ended up in was huge, the kind of thing one of Hop Pop's plays would say belonged in a castle. It wasn't as put together as a castle would be, as there was scaffolding everywhere covering holes both half fixed and untouched. Out of everything, most finished things being a pool of water in front of him, a few staircases, and a throne at the far end of the hall with someone slouching in it.

It took Sprig a second to register that last point and leap behind a pillar with a whisper, “Oh crud!”

“Who was that?” the person on the throne said, oddly familiar to Sprig. “Toejam if that's you again, remember that we did find a rack in the wreckage somewhere!”

“Sorry Master,” a scratchy voice answered followed by scurrying.

“You better be sorry, we have bathrooms for a reason. Now where was I?”

Sprig let out a relieved breath, looked up at the pillar he was hiding behind, and started hopping up it to a set of scaffold that stretched across the ceiling. Once up there, he started quietly making his way across them towards the throne, though once he caught sight of who was sitting on it he nearly fell off it.

‘Anne?!’

Sure enough, Anne was sitting on the throne looking at some odd light box. Sprig rubbed his eyes and looked again, but she was still there. The afro with a twig and leaves in it, the strange clothes, the ugly face bump. It was her, the ugly hero that had Sprig’s life. Sprig smiled widely and was close to shouting her name and jumping down onto her.

“Sire, where are you?”

Another scratchy voice came from one of the stairs and one of the monsters came down. Sprig hid himself as best he could and watched it walk over to Anne.

“There you are. I have good-”

“Hold that thought,” Anne interrupted, holding up a finger, “this episode is almost done.”

“Felicia please, you have to help me! Ever since Randy found that gun, he's been overly suspicious of everyone!”

“I know you're right Chad, but I'm sorry. You're just… too suspicious!” Felicia turns around to reveal she has the gun. Chad can only gasp before a gunshot went off.

“What will happen next after these suspicious events? Tune in next time on… Suspicion Island!”

“Chad's right though. One of these days one of those ‘blanks’ will be real,” Anne commented and tapped her light box before setting it on the armrest. “Sorry Gnarl, you were saying?”

“You and your ‘entertainment’. As I was saying, I have good news for you, your back, and your sleep schedule! After a week of hard labor and minimal casualties, your private quarters are ready for use, Sire.”

“Private qua- wait, I get my own room?”

“Indeed, though it has been inaccessible until now. Now you’ll get the rest that an Overlord like you deserves instead of sleeping on your throne all the time.”

Unaware of an eavesdropping frog’s dropped jaw, Anne shifted in her seat and said, “It’s not that uncomfortable actually. The sleeping bag helps too.”

“I feel that makes my point for me. But if you don’t want an actual bed Master, then-”

“Now hey, I didn’t say that,” Anne said and stood up, “show me my bed!”

“Right up the stairs, Sire.” Gnarl led Anne upstairs and added, “I’m sure you’ll like it, it’s Overlord sized.”

“What does that mean?” Any further conversation was out of earshot by then, and since there didn’t seem to be anyone else in the room Sprig hopped off the scaffolding to the floor in front of the throne. It took him a second to absorb what he had learned.

‘Anne’s the Overlord. The girl who risked her life to save me and the town is the one threatening it now?’ Sprig ground his hat into his head as the implications swirled around him until he slapped himself. “No, there has to be a mistake! There’s no way a hero like her could become so utterly evil! There has to be an explanation.”

Sprig began pacing, trying to think of any kind of reason for this change, when a small shine on the throne from the torchlight caught his attention. He slowly made his way over and found Anne’s light box, its reflective surface drawing him in. He reached out to touch it, briefly flinched away when it turned on, and picked it up to look at it better.

“Cool,” he said and started touching anything he could on the screen and managed to pull up a media player showing Suspicion Island and saw a recap by happenstance. Once it was over, with wide eyes and an even wider smile, Sprig said, “This will solve everything .”

“Hold on Gnarl, let me get my phone real quick.” Anne’s sudden approach caused Sprig to panic and jump onto a nearby wall out of sight with the light box, which he only realized he still had after Anne walked in. She walked to the throne and stared at it before looking all over and behind it. “What the…? Gnarl, did you steal my phone?”

“No, Sire,” Gnarl said as he stopped in the middle of the stairs, “I wouldn't take anything of yours without reason, even less that thing that sucks away your day like a ripened leech.”

“Well it's not where I left it! I swear, if Drip stole it again I'll gut him and turn him into stew for the other Minions!” Sprig silently gulped while Gnarl gave a sad shake of his head. 

“Best not do that Master. We don't want another outbreak of Minion cannibalism like last time.” Anne and Sprig looked at him in confusion while he climbed back up the stairs.

“Hey wait! What do you mean ‘last time'?” Anne called out and ran after him, leaving Sprig alone again.

“I better get out now before I get stewed,” he muttered and put the ‘phone’ in a shirt pocket and jumped from the wall to a pillar overlooking the pool of water. In the water's reflection, he could see an image of a forest in it. With his only other option being a very high up window, Sprig held his breath and jumped into the pool.

The trip back was just as bad as the first one. Despite that, Sprig landed back in the forest he started in safely and saw Polly hopping towards him.

“Sprig, you're alive! Not that I missed you, but it's good you are.” Polly said as Sprig fought down another bout of nausea.

“Yeah, I'm alright.” Sprig answered and picked up his sister, “But Polly, you're not going to believe who I found over there!”

“Before that, can we go back home first? There's way too many mosquitos out tonight.” Polly pointed to the side where a pile of mosquitos, each twice as big as Polly, lay dead with Dorris sticking out of the one on top.

“Uh, yeah, let's go home first.”

The siblings made it back to the farm safe enough, and with Hop Pop still asleep for Sprig to wake him up by kicking the study door open. “Gah! Dang it Sprig, what did I say about interrupting my reading time?” Hop Pop said as he turned around in his chair.

“Sorry Hop Pop, but this is important! Like, so important I don't even know where to start!” Sprig shouted as he started jumping around the room.

“What in tarnation got you so wound up?” Hop Pop looked at Polly, who shrugged, and back at Sprig in time for him to knock him backwards onto the floor.

“Don’t you get it, Hop Pop? ANNE’S ALIVE! Everything’s going to be okay now!” Sprig jumped off Hop Pop, letting the old frog get up and dust himself off.

“W-who?”

“You know, Anne!” Sprig held up a crude stick figure drawing of someone with long arms and legs, a bushy head of hair, and a single dot in the middle of its face. “The ugly hero who saved us from a mantis a month ago!”

“Oh, the monster with the face bump,” Polly stated.

“Not a monster, but don’t you guys see! With Anne alive, I can make up for what happened back then, then we can be friends for real, and then we can fix everything going wrong together!”

“...How?”

“By finding common ground!” Sprig took out Anne’s ‘phone’ thing and showed it off. “Anne was watching something on this thingy, so if we watch it we can have something to talk about and work to fix everything!” Sprig poked at the screen and showed them the recap he had seen. It had everything: teenagers being dumb, intrigue, and most importantly explosions! How could it not work?

“Ha, they have face bumps too,” Polly said while Hop Pop put a hand on Sprig’s shoulder. 

“Sprig, while I'm glad your friend's alive, this demonic nonsense won't solve all our problems. Besides, if you want entertainment, I can always read you a selection from ‘The Shallow Pond’.” Hop Pop was halfway to taking the play out when his grandchildren gave a firm ‘no’ at the prospect and walked (or hopped, as it were) into the living room. “Culture is dead. Fine, but we’ll only watch one! We have a busy day tomorrow and can't stay up late.”

“Thanks Hop Pop,” Sprig said as he and Polly got onto the couch. Once Hop Pop joined them, Sprig held up the phone, his shot to show Anne that not all frogs were bad and she didn't have to treat them like that, and started the episode.

Surely nothing will go wrong.

Chapter Text

“I can't believe it! After everything, how suspicious we were of everyone, the island was the most suspicious of all!” Randy shouted as the island shook as it rose from the ocean. In front of the group, the waves crashed as something started rising from the sea.

“Is that…?!” Vivica shouted, sharing the same look of shock as the others, before the screen cut to black and the credits rolled.

“Wow…” was all Sprig could say. The brief recaps had nothing on what the show itself was about. The Plantar’s first taste of trash tv was everything to be expected: utterly stupid, but too captivating to look away from. It showed, since all of the Plantars were staring with wide, red eyes.

“The face bump people know what they're doing,” Polly said and ran a flipper along the phone.

“I hate it,” Hop Pop commented, “I hate that I'm hooked. I need to watch more!”

“If even Hop Pop’s hooked, it’s gotta be something special,” Sprig said as the phone screen turned off.

“I guess,” Hop Pop said as he got off the couch and rubbed his eyes. “Alright kids, let’s get to bed. We have a lot of work to do in the morning.”

“Uh, Hop Pop, it is morning,” Polly said and pointed out the window where the sun was peeking over the distant mountains.

“Say WHAAAAAAAT?!”

“I, uh, guess we watched more than one, huh?” Sprig said with a nervous laugh.

“That thing is EVIL! Sprig, put that thing back where you found it right this instant!”

“Yeah, before it sucks away more of our life with amazing sights!” Polly agreed.

“Yeah, I should probably get this back to Anne now,” Sprig said as he jumped off the couch and ran to the door, “I’ll be back soon!”

“Just get back in time for your chores!” Hop Pop called as Sprig ran out the door and toward town. Hop Pop closed the door and looked at a barely awake Polly, smiled at her softly, and gently picked her up to take her up to her room. “Ah, I guess you can sleep in today. Sprig will just take your chores.”

After getting the last teleport curse from Maddie the literal instant her family's bakery was open and a mad hop through the forest, Sprig was teleported back to Anne’s dungeon or whatever that place was. The nausea wasn't so bad that time and Sprig was glad the throne room seemed to be empty. Even so, he still went out of his way to hop from pillar to pillar over to the throne.

“Okay, I'll just leave this here,” Sprig muttered to himself as he took out Anne's phone, “then when Anne comes out, I'll show myself and talk about Suspicion Island. Our friendship will be restored, I'll talk Anne into going easy on Wartwood, and everything will be okay!”

"Interesting plan.” Sprig froze at the voice and turned to see Gnarl staring at him with a bowl of stew in his hands. “You're not supposed to be here, however.”

“Uh…” was all Sprig could say, which was enough time for the situation to worsen.

“Man, that was great!” Sprig gulped and looked at Anne coming down the stairs in what he assumed was her pajamas while stretching her arms over her head. “Good idea with the bed Gnarl. I don't know about it being as big as three king beds, but-” Anne stopped at the bottom of the stairs when she noticed what was happening. Gnarl ate his breakfast while staring at the pink frog that was holding her phone. Her mind made it as far as ‘frog’ and ‘phone’ before she acted.

“You little thief!”

“I'm sorry! I was bringing it back!” Sprig said and put the phone on the armrest.

“I'll bring you back when I kill you!” Anne charged and Sprig jumped out of the way and over her, leaving her to trip onto her throne and him hopping toward the pool. “Gnarl, get him!”

“That isn't happening, Sire,” Gnarl replied simply.

“I'm sorry Anne, I'll make it up to you!” Sprig shouted right before he jumped into the pool. By the time Anne got to it, Sprig was long gone and she could only see an image of the forest in the reflection.

“What was that?! How did he get in here?” Anne asked loudly.

“Good question, Sire,” Gnarl replied between spoonfuls of stew, “The Tower should be protected from invasions like that. Maybe the frog figured something out. And it did seem to know you, after all”

“Maybe, he did seem familiar. Ugh, it's too early for this. Get some Minions to watch the pool from now on, I don't want this happening again.”

“Of course Sire. I would like to know how this happened as well.” Anne walked back to her throne, sat on it, and grabbed her phone.

“And why go through the trouble of stealing my phone? There’s nothing on it that would hurt me. Ah whatever, it’s time to get Suspicious again!” Gnarl let out an annoyed sigh as Anne turned her phone on, though before she could get very far into it she was interrupted by a low battery warning. “What, low battery? What happened?!” A few quick taps and scrolls showed that the video app was still on. “Oh no, he stole my phone to watch TV?! And he watched the whole season too!”

“Hm, maybe it is an Evil artifact if it’s so drawing,” Gnarl muttered to himself. Anne didn’t pay him any attention since just then the phone gave another warning before going dark completely. Her eyes widened and she pressed the screen and buttons several times trying to get a response, but got nothing. Reality set in and Anne could hardly breathe as she fell back into her throne.

“It’s gone,” she said as the phone slipped from her fingers into her lap, “my texts, my pictures, my videos of my cat. All gone…”

“That’s too bad. Maybe you’ll be more focused on building your domain with it gone.”

“They stole it from me! ”

“Or not. Guess revenge is the side dish for today.” Gnarl took another bite and sighed. “We need to find the Reds soon, cold rat and radish stew is just unappealing.”

“You’re dead when I find you, Pink Froooooooog!” Anne yelled as she jumped to her feet. “By the way, what are Reds?”

“A lesson for another day, Lord. Focus on your vengeance.”

“YEAH, VENGEANCE!”

Sprig made it back home just in time for chores. While he was annoyed at getting Polly's chores too, he begrudgingly got started on them while Hop Pop cooked a late breakfast for them all that would be ready when Polly woke up. He was about to get started on the beetle bacon when someone started knocking loudly at the door.

"Now who could that be?” He wondered as he went to answer it, the knocks only getting louder the whole time. He opened it and didn't expect Maddie to be there. “Maddie Flour?”

“Where is he?” She asked angrily.

“Uh, you mean Sprig?” Maddie nodded. “Well, I think he would be tending the corn by now, but why-?”

Hop Pop's question trailed off as Maddie walked away toward the corn field. There she found Sprig inspecting the crops and taking any ears of corn that were ready, not that she cared about that as she charged him the moment she saw him.

“Sprig!” Sprig turned and screamed when he saw Maddie. He couldn’t do more as she tackled him and picked him up with her hands around his throat.

“What did you do?!”

“What do you-?” Sprig started to ask only for Maddie’s grip to tighten.

“Don't give me that! I gave you those curses expecting you to not make things worse! Well they’re pretty worse now!”

“What is she talking about?” Hop Pop asked as he separated the kids.

“Why is everyone yelling?!” Polly yelled from her window.

“Sprig, what happened?” Hop Pop asked again.

“Well,” Sprig started while rubbing an arm, “don't get mad, but I wanted to talk to The Overlord to get them to lighten up to us and Maddie was helping with that. I thought it was going well.”

“You what?!”

“Well it's not!” Maddie shouted, “I don't know what you did, but the Overlord is mad and in town right now calling for a ‘pink frog’. If the town gets destroyed because of you, I'll turn you into an undead slave for eternity!”

“Uh oh, Anne must be angrier than I thought! I can fix this, don’t worry!” Sprig hopped over Maddie and continued down the road as fast as he could.

“Who's Anne?”

“Long story. Don’t know what she has to do with this,” Hop Pop answered.

“Seriously,” Polly shouted from the front door of the house, “what's with all the shouting?!”

“Come on Polly, we need to make sure your brother doesn't die,” Hop Pop said as he walked over and picked up Polly.

“Again?”

The Wartwood town square was in disarray again as The Overlord and their army spread out while the Dark Lord herself was arguing with Mayor Toadstool while a crowd watched. Sprig stopped when he saw Anne in her full armor and panicked at how this was spiraling out of control and barely noticed Hop Pop and Polly come up to him.

“Wow, they’re mad,” Hop Pop said.

“What did you do again?” Polly asked.

“Well…” Sprig started and turned to his family. After a deep breath, he continued, “So it turns out Anne was the Overlord, she somehow turned evil after she was driven away, I wanted to reconnect with her with that show, and I guess she’s really mad about us borrowing her phone. I didn't think she'd be this mad though.” Sprig started laughing nervously while Hop Pop and Polly stared at him.

“You WHAAAAAT?!” Hop Pop finally shouted.

“Well, if you don't get us killed with this, I might spin your friendship with her to work for me,” Polly said, rubbing her flippers together.

“Polly, knock that off!” Hop Pop held Polly up to look her in the eye, “I don't know what Anne could do before, but she can kill us for what happened back then if she’s mad at us!”

“Seriously, who's Anne?” Maddie asked as soon as she caught up. Her question went unanswered as the crowd of Minions in the square suddenly roared in approval and they saw Anne approach Toadstool with her axe ready.

“Oh no! I gotta fix this!” Sprig said and quickly ran into the square with everyone following.

“I’m tired of your excuses! If you don’t bring that pink frog out here this instant, I’ll-”

“Stop!” Sprig shouted and skidded to a stop in the square, very effectively making him the center of attention. When Anne looked at him and narrowed her glowing eyes at him, he couldn’t help but shrink on himself and give a small wave.

“Well, the little thief's finally shown himself,” Anne said and lowered her axe.

“Thief?” Wally asked.

“I knew you Plantars had something to do with this!” Toadstool said with a glare at Sprig.

Anne casually pointed a finger at them and ordered, “Shut them up.” Two Minions answered and jumped on Toadstool and Wally and planted their faces in the ground while Anne advanced on Sprig.

“I-I know you're angry, but I can explain,” Sprig said and held his hands up while he took a step back.

“Explain?!” Anne yelled and threw her axe down so the blade sank into the ground, “I don't want or need your ‘explanations'! None of it matters now!” Anne reached out and picked Sprig up by his shirt and brought him up face to face with her. “You have no idea what you even took, do you?”

“Uh, not really? It was cool though.”

“It also doesn't last forever. It died after you returned it, and it had irreplaceable memories on it that are gone forever!” Anne tossed Sprig on the ground at Hop Pop’s feet, “So you can understand why I’m just ABSOLUTELY LIVID at the moment.”

“Well okay, that does sound bad,” Hop Pop said. Anne grabbed the handle of her axe and he quickly added, “But maybe we can fix it! What would it take? Lotion, a blood sacrifice?”

“I can sacrifice Sprig to it. Maybe that'll revive it,” Maddie added.

“What?!” was Sprig's natural reaction.

“Quiet you!”

“What? No, stop that. We're not doing that,” Anne said with slight disgust.

“Because that's too evil even for you?” Sprig asked hopefully.

“No, because it wouldn't work.” Sprig's face fell as Anne continued, “Nothing you frogs have would fix this, which is why I want to destroy you all! It's not like electricity exists here.”

“Elec-what?” Hop Pop asked, looking confused, much like every other frog that could hear. Anne groaned in frustration as the frogs muttered to themselves.

‘These frogs had better be grateful to whatever force is staying my hand right now,’ Anne thought as she rubbed her eyes and said aloud, “You know, zap zap? As if your pea brains can understand that.”

“Zap zap? Wait, I think I know what you’re talking about!” Hop Pop shouted.

“...Really?”

“Sprig, watch Polly. I’ll be right back!” Hop Pop put Polly on the ground and ran back towards the house. The crowd started talking to themselves and a Minion came up to Anne with a lit torch in his hand.

“Burn?” it asked.

“Hold on to that for a moment. Stay here and keep an eye on the town, I want to see where this goes.” Anne picked up her axe and walked after Hop Pop toward the Plantar home. Sprig and Polly shared a look before he picked her up and followed after Anne from a safe enough distance. After a walk, the three of them approached the Plantar home where Hop Pop came out just then.

“I found it!” he yelled while holding up a book called ‘The Beasts of Amphibia’. He saw Anne and his grandkids and started flipping through the book. “Good timing, I just found what you were talking about. I remember hearing about a species called Zapapedes that live in the northern part of the valley, high on the Misty Peaks.” Hop Pop stopped and pointed at a page detailing a mountain with a line leading towards a drawing of some kind of centipede. “It’s able to zap its prey with a bolt of lightning. It’s pretty cool actually.”

“Of course something like that's here. So your plan is to use one of these bugs to charge my phone?”

“Whatever that is, sure. Unless you have another idea that won't destroy our town?” Hop Pop asked and closed the book.

“While I want to destroy your town, if this has the smallest chance of working I'll try it. Stranger things have happened.” Anne pointed at each of the Plantars and added, “All of you are coming with me. It's your fault this happened and it's your responsibility to fix this.”

“Absolutely!” Sprig said with two thumbs up.

“It was our fault,” Hop Pop agreed.

“I finally have an in!” Polly cheered.

“Sure whatever. How far away is this mountain?”

“It’s half a day’s journey from here,” Hop Pop said as he put the book in the house, “But I’m sure with your strength and your army of monsters-”

“Don’t patronize me. Gather what you need and meet me at the town gate.” Anne started walking back to town, leaving the Plantars to watch worriedly.

“So, how’s your plan going Sprig?” Polly asked flatly.

“There are a few bumps in the road, but I can still pull this off! Let me get my fiddle!” Sprig rushed into the house, got his fiddle, and ran back out past Hop Pop and Polly toward town. There he saw Anne addressing her Minions, along with the town.

“These five Minions will accompany me on this journey,” She said and gestured to the five next to her, “The rest of you return to the Tower. I may still need you today.”

“Burn?” a Minion with a torch asked.

“Maybe later.” The Minion gave a small ‘aw’ and put the torch out before following the rest of its group out of town. Anne looked back at Sprig, who flinched under her glowing eyes, and up at Hop Pop and Polly as they approached.

“It really isn’t that long of a walk,” Hop Pop said with a nervous chuckle. Anne didn’t say anything as she readjusted the axe in her grip and started walking out of town. Someone clearing their throat drew the Plantar’s attention to Mayor Toadstool and the crowd gathered behind him. “Now I know this looks bad everyone, but we’re already on our way to fixing this.”

“Oh, you better!” Toadstool said, “We don’t need any more trouble around here! Either you fix this, or don’t bother to come back at all!”

“Oh, come on, isn’t that a little harsh?” Sprig asked.

“For once, he speaks for all of us,” Mrs. Croaker shouted.

“Wait, I do?” Toadstool asked and was bombarded with a chorus of agreements. “Huh, well that’s never happened before. I stand by it, so get it done.” The Plantars all nodded and the crowd started dispersing, leaving them alone to follow Anne.

“Now I’m worried, kids. That home has been ours for generations. If we lose it, that’ll be it!” Hop Pop worried out loud.

“Don’t worry Hop Pop,” Sprig said as he hopped ahead a little, “As long as we keep at it, I’m sure everything will be okay!”

“And if it doesn’t, maybe we can stay at whatever horrible dungeon Anne lives in!” Polly added. Hop Pop looked at the steel clad Overlord ahead of them and grew to lament a lot of things that had happened in his life.

The walk to the Misty Peak was a mostly quiet one, with the most vocal ones being the Minions as they ran around, picked up, and subsequently discarded objects that caught their attention. Not that there weren’t attempts on Sprig’s part, though that hardly went far when he tried talking to Anne. She was deep in Overlord mode at the moment, focusing only on the path ahead and the mountain growing closer. The one that went the furthest only showed Sprig how broken this friendship he wanted with Anne was.

“I’m glad you’re okay,” he started, and this time got a response of Anne looking at him with glowing eyes trained on him, “I got really worried about you when you disappeared. A lot of us were.”

“Funny,” Anne replied, “I didn’t know you frogs had a sense of humor.”

“Heh, good one. Look, I know you had some bad experiences, but not every frog is bad Anne.”

“DON’T!” Anne shouted suddenly and stomped her foot near Sprig, causing him to jump back a little. The Minions turned to watch the frogs while Anne continued, “Don’t you dare call me that! What makes you think you can use my name like you know me?! How do you even know that name?”

Sprig, while taken aback, eventually grew sad and asked, “You really don’t remember me, do you?”

Anne narrowed her eyes and leaned closer to Sprig. Sprig gave a small smile and wave. Anne couldn’t deny that the frog was familiar, she’s felt it for a while, but she couldn’t quite place where-

“You’re not a beast at all! You’re a hero! An ugly, ugly hero!”

Anne’s eyes widened at the buried memory and let out a small “Sprig,” in response. Sprig himself let out a small gasp and hopeful smile until Anne narrowed her eyes again and stood up. “Well, I guess we were both wrong about each other then, huh thief?” Anne asked before walking away with her Minions following her, leaving a dejected Sprig behind to be comforted by Hop Pop.

Since then any more conversation with Anne was shut down pretty quickly. Not that Sprig really wanted to talk either, so he soon started passing the time by playing his fiddle. If nothing else, it did start to make him feel better and the Minions seemed to like it if the way they danced around him was any indication.

“Master, I don't suppose you can silence the child's playing? Even I'm starting to tap my feet to it,” Gnarl said after some time of fiddle playing.

‘You're going to have to deal with it, Gnarl. I'm kind of liking it too,’ Anne thought back and stopped and looked up at the mountain the Zapapedes were supposed to live on. “How high are these things supposed to live?”

“Oh, way at the top,” Hop Pop answered. Anne let out a long sigh that sounded like an earthquake before she started climbing with the others behind her. All the while, Sprig continued to play.

“I still can’t believe you stole my phone just to watch TV. What were you thinking?” The group had been walking for a while now and while Anne was growing more open to conversation, it obviously wasn’t going well.

“Well, Sprig just wanted to get to know you better,” Hop Pop answered while wringing his hands, “it didn’t quite work, but his heart was in the right place.”

“And that show was so cool!” Polly added, “We literally couldn’t stop watching it! Especially when-”

“SPOIL THAT SHOW AND I’LL EXECUTE YOU RIGHT NOW! I only made it to episode 9.”

“Oh, that was a good episode.”

“Hold on!” Hop Pop shouted, which stopped Sprig's playing, and rushed to the front to point ahead. The mist around them started to clear to show a very rickety rope bridge leading toward a rock spire that had a yellow centipede wrapped around the top. “That’s a Zapapede right there.”

“Huh, kind of cute actually.” Anne said and looked down at the bridge next to her heavy, metal boot. “Yeah, I’m not making it across that. Let’s try this the easy way.” Anne raised a hand forward and a Minion ran forward across the bridge. It reached the other side easily and climbed up a small path until it was next to the Zapapede and grabbed it.

“Got it!” It shouted right before it was electrocuted. The Plantars flinched as the Minion jerked around before it blew up in a small explosion of smoke. The Minion gave a pained laugh before falling backwards off the spire with an orange flash of magic coming out of it halfway down.

“Well, that didn't work.” Anne turned to the Plantars and pointed at the bridge. “Frogs, go get it.”

“After that?! What makes you think-” Polly started to say when Sprig covered her mouth.

“We’re on it, no worries!” Sprig said and, carefully, started walking on the rope bridge. Polly followed after him, glaring at the back of his head and Hop Pop took the rear.

“What the heck are you doing?” Polly asked when they were about halfway across the bridge.

“I'm just trying to fix things,” Sprig answered, “You'll see, once this is over everything will be okay.”

“By getting us killed?! This is not worth it!” Polly bounced so she slammed into Sprig's back and shouted, “Wake up and smell the coffee!”

“Don't shove me!” Sprig turned around and pointed at Polly, “And at least I'm trying to fix this! All you've been doing is go on about wanting to join Anne in this mess! What's your problem?!” Sprig gave Polly a shove, which was returned immediately.

“What's your problem?!”

“I don't have one, traitor!”

“Chad!”

“Vivica!”

“THAT DOES IT!” Polly launched herself at Sprig and clung to his face, knocking him onto his back and shaking the bridge badly.

“Kids stop! The bridge can't take much more!” Hop Pop shouted and rushed to his grandkids, which was just enough force for the bridge to snap entirely, sending them falling into the mist below.

“Typical. We better make sure they aren't dead,” Anne said shaking her head before she and her Minions started doubling back down the path. “What could Vivica have done to get that reaction?”

“Lousy two-timer,” a Minion answered.

“Really? I didn't get that impression from her at all. Randy maybe, but not Vivica.”

It didn't take long for Anne to find a slope to slide down to where the Plantars had fallen. There she found them scraped up, but alive. Sprig rolled out of the bush he had landed in with a groan while Polly rolled herself upright and crossed her flippers.

“Nice going Sprig,” she said.

“Hey, you started it!” Sprig replied.

“And I'll finish it!” Anne cut in and picked up both children. “I'm getting sick of these delays you're causing me. Where am I going to find a Zapapede now?”

“There's more down there,” Hop Pop, who had landed looking down a nearby cliff, said. Anne dropped Sprig and Polly and moved to look over the edge, with the kids and Minions doing so as well. Over the cliff and about 20 feet down was a whole swarm of Zapapedes, wriggling over each other and giving off the occasional spark.

“Oh yeah, those will do.” Anne stood up and started digging through her armor until she pulled out her phone and turned to the Minions. After looking over them for a moment, she pointed at one. “Flam! I'm going to give you the most important mission you’ve ever had in your short life.”

Flam nodded with the most serious look on his face and Anne held her phone out.

“Go charge my phone.”

“For the Overlord!” Flam yelled, grabbed the phone, and ran and jumped off the cliff. Anne and the Plantars watched him fall and bounce off a Zapapede and settle on the head of another. “Hey, this tingles,” was the last thing Flam said before he was electrocuted by the many Zapapedes. Screams filled the air until the electrocution stopped and Flam disintegrated into ash and, more importantly, dropped the phone onto the swarm.

“Gotta admit, I don’t know why I thought that would work. Alright, which one of you wants to go get my phone?” Anne asked and all three Minions raised their hands.

“Oh, enough of this nonsense!” Hop Pop shouted and started walking away from the edge.

“Hop Pop?” Sprig asked.

“What are you doing?” Polly asked.

“Something I should have done a long time ago: take responsibility!” After walking a few paces, Hop Pop turned around and ran to the ledge. He shouted, “I will redeem myself!” as he jumped off onto the Zapapede swarm.

“For what?!”

“I'm okay,” was Hop Pop's non answer as he saw and grabbed the phone. “You know, this isn't that bad.” He was immediately proven wrong as he was electrocuted. Any breaks he got just earned him a chance to moan in pain and attempt to escape, which failed before the next jolt.

“He's not going to last much longer!” Sprig shouted while grabbing his hat in worry.

“And more importantly, I still haven't gotten my phone back!” Anne said as she stood up and crossed her arms. After a moment of thinking, she clapped her hands and said, “I got it! We can chain ourselves together and lower you down like in episode 8. Then we can get my phone back!”

“And save Hop Pop,” Polly added flatly.

“Sure, if we have time.”

With the plan set, Sprig spat out his tongue and wrapped it around Anne's arm, which silently disgusted The Overlord, and hopped onto Polly. With his feet secure, Polly grabbed a Minion’s ankles, who continued the chain until they were ready.

“Alright you freaks, jump!” Polly commanded, which the Minions did with gusto. The weight caused Anne to slide toward the edge, forcing Anne to dig in as the chain lowered towards Hop Pop. It was only once a Minion grabbed Hop Pop that Anne realized a critical flaw in this plan.

“Wait-” was all she got before the entire chain was electrocuted. All of them screamed as the Zapapedes seemed to finally have enough of them and let them have every volt they had. For the second time, an explosion rang out on the Misty Peaks and a smoking chain of people shot up and all the way down to the base of the mountain.

The landing was rough, with Sprig getting the only thing close to a soft landing thanks to a bush. That was ruined with Polly landing on him and bouncing onto the path, Hop Pop landed on the path on his back. Anne crashed through a tree with enough force to split it in half, with her axe embedding itself in the trunk and her helmet bouncing along the ground a couple of times.

The Minions died mid-flight and will be spoken of no more.

“Ow. Is anybody dead?” Polly asked and rubbed a sore spot.

“I'm alive, but I can't move my arms,” Sprig answered as he unceremoniously rolled off the bush. Hop Pop answered with a cough that let out a ring of smoke before he heard a series of beeps from the phone in his hand. He held it up to look at it and his eyes shot wide open at the flashing 10,000% on the screen.

“Holy smokes, that's a lot of percents,” he said and got into a sitting position. A groan to the side drew the frog’s attention to a helmetless Anne as she slowly walked into the clearing.

“That sucked,” she said and ran a hand over her hair that was sticking up, “and I'm going to need a bath after this.” Then she noticed the Plantars staring at her and glared at them. “What are you looking at?”

“Ha, you have a nose,” Polly said and pointed at Anne, who just realized what she had been doing.

“Crud, my helmet! I really should have caught that before! Where did-” Anne paused when she saw her axe and helmet a few feet away, “Oh, there they are. That's convenient.”

“Um,” Hop Pop spoke up while holding out Anne's phone, “your memory box is alive.”

“Wait, really? Let me see!” Anne snatched the phone out of Hop Pop’s hand and checked the screen. “Holy moly! I didn’t know batteries could go that high.” Anne started scrolling through her phone, which still worked despite the extreme recharge, and pulled up a video of Domino sleeping soundly before waking up and rolling onto her back. Anne started crying and pressed the phone screen against her forehead as, finally, one thing went her way.

“So… is everything okay now?” Hop Pop asked, shaking Anne from her thoughts. She turned to look at them for a second before putting her phone away and turning to her helmet and axe.

“Sure. I'll be back in a few days for the food. Don't forget.” The Planters stared at Anne in shock.

“What?” Hop Pop asked as it dawned that the pain they shared in the last day hadn't mattered in the slightest.

“Why you…!” Polly growled, finally done with this and ready to unleash the beast.

Sprig beat her to it.

“ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” Sprig shouted and stomped over to Anne, who didn't even turn around. By this point, Sprig's face was nearly entirely red as he pointed at Anne. “We go through all this trouble to help you, nearly die several times to charge your phone thing, and all we get is another guarantee our town is done for?! What's your problem?!”

“My problem?” Anne growled and rounded on Sprig, “You know what my problem is, you little pest! Treated like dirt, ran out of town, left for dead several times over, I have plenty of problems that you frogs caused me.”

“Gratitude is one of those problems I see. We didn’t have to go out of our way to help you, you know.”

“Now Sprig,” Hop Pop started to say.

“No! Not this time Hop Pop! I’m not going to stand here and be quiet while she brags about destroying everything we know! It’s not fair!”

“Oh, that’s rich coming from the frog that tried to hunt me down thinking I'm a monster like all the others!” Anne shouted and stomped a foot down, “Not so fun when the monster is real huh?!”

“I was wrong! I changed my mind when I got to know you, or at least thought I did. Do you think you were the first strange creature we thought would hurt people? There were plenty of others we were right about, but we were wrong about you. At first anyway.” Sprig crossed his arms and stared defiantly at Anne, even as the Overlord bore over him and her eyes started glowing blue.

“So because you were right before justifies the pain I went through after? All you frogs are the same, crying about ‘fairness’ when the boot’s on your neck and the axe is about to fall. You deserve what you get!”

“Most of our town never even saw you that day! I get you hating the mayor or Wally, but what about the ones who didn’t do anything?! What about Ivy’s Mom, or Stumpy, or Hop Pop?! I tried my best to help you, you know!”

Hop Pop flinched at his name being mentioned, though that quickly faded when Anne grabbed Sprig by the shirt and lifted him up.

“I don’t care,” Anne growled out, “they all deserve to burn for what they did or didn’t do. Fairness is hardly ever fair as it turns out.”

“Big talk for the girl who needs monsters to fight defenseless farmers.”

“Right back at you, thief!”

“Yes, I messed up today! I can admit that!” Sprig managed to struggle out of Anne’s grip and pointed a finger at her. “And you’re right, I did misjudge you. You’re not a hero, beast, or even an Overlord. You’re just a bully!”

Out of everything that was said, that actually took Anne back. “What?”

“You heard me! You’re just a bully, hiding in a suit of armor and behind an army of monsters that do what you say. You pose and lord yourself over others because you can’t have any friends and it’s the only way you can feel good about yourself! Do you? Do you actually feel good after all of this?!”

Anne didn’t answer. Despite how much she wanted to, Sprig had hit a nail that he hadn’t known was there. Her eyes stopped glowing and she found herself unable to look Sprig in the eye, choosing to look down at her feet as Sprig scoffed.

“Whatever, forget this and forget you. I’m going home. Have fun with your memories. ” Sprig started walking away, not looking back at the Overlord that wasn’t worth his time anymore. Anne didn’t try to stop him, nor Hop Pop as he walked up to her.

“Look… about that day…” he started to say only for Anne to hold up a hand.

“Stop. Just go. I want to be alone.” To punctuate her point, Anne turned away from the elderly frog. For a moment, Hop Pop fumbled with his words before sighing sadly.

“I should have helped you that day, and I’m sorry for being too much of a coward to do that.” He walked away, picked up his granddaughter, and started to follow after Sprig. Anne could feel the tadpole’s gaze on her right until they crested the hill leading away from her.

Now Anne was alone, probably for the first time in a long time now that she thought of it. She still couldn’t bring herself to look up, even as a possum with an egg in its mouth walked past her, and she walked over to the tree that still had her axe in it. She ran her hand over the blade before turning around, pressing her back against the bark, and sliding down until she was on the ground.

“A bully, huh? Is that really all I’ve become now?”

That hurt. Anne knew bullies, she had her fair share of them back home after all. Even on her birthday before she fell to Amphibia she had to deal with one. Maggie was an odd girl and Anne didn’t know what she had even done to earn the girl’s scorn, not that bullies like her need a reason in the end. Sprig was right, somehow Anne had fallen into the same trap people like Maggie had: using the smallest bit of power to kick others down to pretend they were bigger than they were.

Anne thought she wasn’t like Maggie, and she knew she wasn’t like Sasha. Sasha didn’t need to ‘pretend’ anything, let alone that she was top of the totem pole. She simply was. She had made it look so much easier than it actually was.

The thought caused Anne to dig her phone out again and scroll through her gallery until she found a picture. It was from one of the many sleepovers she had with Sasha and Marcy. Sasha had stolen Anne’s phone for a selfie that neither Anne nor Marcy had wanted at the time, what with Anne having been goofing off by sticking pencils in her nose and Marcy deep in the Zone for a game. Anne smiled sadly at the confident Sasha and utterly betrayed Marcy pointing at a game over screen on her Switch.

“I haven’t even thought of you two since I started this.” Anne let her hand fall onto her lap as she looked up at the Misty Peak she had just been on. It was surreal at the moment, being alone with her thoughts without Gnarl invading it via her helmet or having the chatter of Minions around her. It was a clarity she now realized she needed. “Sasha, Marcy, what have I been doing? You two could be hurt, dead, or not even here at all and I’d never even know because I’m wasting time hurting people out of revenge.” Anne looked at the photo on her phone again and, with a deep breath and a nod, felt a new resolve come over her as she pushed herself up to her feet.

“You better be alive girls. I’ll find you, whatever it takes. I’ll take towns, food, lives, whatever I need to to see you safe and sound. But no more than I need to. After all, I can’t have farmers growing food for me if they’re all dead right?” Anne nodded again, put her phone away, and moved to pick up her helmet and place it on her head.

“I see you discovered a new resolve Sire,” Gnarl said as Anne yanked her axe out of the tree, splinters flying out from the force. “Far be it for me to complain if it further spins the gears of Evil.”

“I think I’m starting to know where my path on that lays Gnarl. I’ll need help to figure out how to do it, but only after I finish what I started today.”

“Of course Master, I look forward to what you have in mind.” Anne clenched her left hand into a fist, raised it, and in a flash of light was gone.

It was a long trip back to Wartwood, long enough that whatever anger Sprig had felt towards Anne had faded and was replaced with depressed melancholy. Sure, they managed to save Wartwood from immediate destruction, but its death still seemed all but inevitable. Nobody was going to be happy to hear about that.

“What matters is you tried your best,” Hop Pop said somewhere along the way, “and I’d say you did better than most would in your place.”

“For all the good it did,” Sprig replied with a sigh, “I still can’t believe how awful she is now. Did she really get hurt so bad that she became that evil, or was she always like that and hiding it? I just… don’t know anymore.”

“I don’t think you’d like the answer to that, Sprig. I wouldn’t.”

Soon, after a lot of walking and silence, the family had returned to Wartwood. The town was still the same as when they had left it, which only made them feel slightly better about everything. “Well, let’s get this over with,” Sprig said sadly as they approached the main gate.

There they could make out the faint figure of Wally playing on his accordion. He looked up from his playing when he heard approaching footsteps, leapt to his feet when he saw who it was, and rang the bell above the gate with his tongue before running into town.

“There he goes,” Hop Pop said as they walked through the gate. The three of them had many ideas on what might happen now and what would happen in the future.

Confetti was not one of them, and yet a couple of poppers went off once they were in the square. The Plantars could only watch, slightly dumbfounded, as they were soon surrounded by cheering frogs.

“Way to go!”

“You did it!”

“I knew deep down you could do it Hopediah,” Mrs. Croaker said as she slapped Hop Pop's arm. Hop Pop chuckled nervously as more frogs came to congratulate them.

“What the heck is happening?” Polly asked.

“I have no idea,” Sprig answered just before he was ambushed and felt himself get lifted up and have the life squeezed out of him. Thankfully, it was just Ivy instead of anything more nefarious.

“You did it, Sprig! You really did it!” Ivy cheered and gave Sprig another crushing squeeze.

“That's great… but what did I do?” Sprig asked as he started to turn blue. Thankfully Ivy released him so he could catch his breath.

“You saved the town, that’s what,” Ivy said and slapped Sprig on the back.

“We what?” The Plantars asked simultaneously.

“Saved the town,” Toadie said after he managed to move through the crowd. “And on behalf of Mayor Toadstool, I want to give you his deepest thanks for that.”

“If that’s the case, why isn’t he doing it himself?” Hop Pop asked and crossed his arms.

“Oh, the mayor is very busy writing a letter. Been trying to write it for a few days now too.”

“And how exactly did we save the town?” Polly asked and hopped off of Hop Pop’s head, “I thought we ruined any chance of that! Right Sprig?”

“Why are you asking me?”

“Well, The Overlord didn’t think so. They said as much when they came here.”

“Wait, they were here?!” Sprig asked worriedly.

“Yeah, but not for anything bad.” Toadie took out a sheet of paper he had and read from it. “They were so impressed by your ‘dedication and loyalty’ that they decided to pass that on to the rest of us.”

“And… that means?” Polly asked.

“They extended the deadline by a month!” Ivy answered, “And we might not even need to give as much then!” The Plantar’s jaws dropped, which did nothing to stop Ivy giving Sprig one last hit that knocked him down. “I don’t know what you did exactly, but you sure pulled through for us Sprig.”

“I guess you can keep your soul for a while longer, Sprig,” Maddie said with a nod.

“Just don’t do anything to make them mad again, okay?” Mrs. Croaker asked.

“Promise!” Hop Pop and Polly said at the same time. A good amount of the crowd gave them suspicious looks, but ultimately accepted it and started to disperse.

“Hop Pop, did this just happen?” Sprig asked as he slowly started to pick himself up.

“I think it just did Sprig,” Hop Pop answered and scratched his head, “I don’t know what it means though.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it. Can we go home now?” Polly asked. Hop Pop and Sprig nodded, both pretty beat from all the walking today, and the family started heading back home. The surprises kept coming when they got there though as they could see a folded piece of paper stuck to the door with a dagger.

“Dang it, seriously? This was good wood!” Hop Pop shouted as he moved to pull the dagger out of the door and grab the paper.

“Can I have that?” Polly asked as she hopped off of Hop Pop and started reaching for the dagger.

“No!” was Hop Pop’s natural response as he lifted the dagger out of Polly’s reach and looked the paper over. “Hang on, this has Sprig’s name on it.”

“Huh? Why?” Sprig asked as he was handed the paper. After looking it over for a second he unfolded it and started reading it out loud.

Sprig,

Sorry that I'm saying this in a letter and not face to face. I have a lot of things I have to do, so I can't wait for you to show up here, and your town would probably appreciate it too.

Short version, you were right. I got so caught up in the power rush and revenge I couldn't see I was losing sight of what was important to me. If you're reading this, you probably already know about my first step to get back on track. It's still a long way for me to go, but I know I'll get there eventually.

Thanks for being the wake up call I needed. I'll talk to Gnarl to see if he can get you recognized by the Tower. I can't have you sneaking in every time you want to see me, if you think there's still a friendship here.

-Anne

“Wow, you chewed her out so bad it got her to change her mind. Good job, Sprig,” Polly said once Sprig was done.

“I agree,” Hop Pop said, "I mean, I'm sure any threats are still there, but a month is far better than two weeks.”

“I don't get it. How did it work?” Sprig asked as he handed the letter to Hop Pop, “I wasn't trying to change her mind. So…”

“It's easy to get stuck in your head with bad thoughts, Sprig. I know that better than most. When a friend is doing that and hurting others when doing so, the right and hardest thing to do is stand up to them and say ‘no.’ It just happens that this time the friend was an evil Overlord bent on everyone's destruction.”

“Which makes it cooler, being honest,” Polly added while Hop Pop put a hand on Sprig's shoulder.

“It took guts to stand your ground like that Sprig, but doing so helped a lot of people, including Anne. That was one of the most responsible things I've seen.”

“Really?”

“Really.” The word was barely out before Sprig’s eyes widened considerably, his irises grew to take up his whole eyes, and he fell to his knees and held his arms high over his head.

“I DIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!” Sprig screamed in such a way that it echoed through their part of the swamp. He held the pose for a moment before falling onto his back.

“He’s never going to let this go,” Polly said as she rubbed the side of her head to assuage the ringing in her ears.

“Just let him have this,” Hop Pop replied with a slight shake of his head.

Little did they know that even at that moment, Sprig’s little frog brain was running on how to capitalize on this.

Night had long fallen and the Dark Tower had quieted down. That is except for its young Overlord. Anne was in her private quarters, looking down at the polaroid of her, Sasha, and Marcy that each of them had a copy of. She looked up from the picture long enough to take in her new table that she had moved in not long after finishing her business in Wartwood that she was using as a reminder of what she wanted to do.

The music box had been moved there along with a notebook that was open to what could be called a master plan going forward. ‘Escape Amphibia’ was at the top with ‘find Sasha and Marcy’ and ‘fix music box’ falling under that along with a whole list of tertiary objectives Anne felt was necessary to do. Tomorrow she’d get ready to start building a base for her Dark Empire for real; taking towns, looking for more relics, and generally searching the valley for Sasha and Marcy while waiting to look elsewhere on the continent.

“Because I had to land on the one part of this world that’s locked away from the rest for months. I have not been having the best of luck,” Anne said to herself before holding up the polaroid again. “Stay safe girls, I’ll find you soon. Whatever it takes.” Anne set the picture on the table next to the music box and let out a yawn as she stretched her arms out. She started turning to her bed when she caught sight of her phone sitting on the table as well. She stared at it for a moment before she shrugged and picked it up.

“Why the heck not?” she wondered as she crawled on top of her Overlord sized bed to a collection of pillows near the head, dug herself under the covers, and got comfortable as she hit play on the phone. She went through hell to charge the thing, she might as well use it.

“Last week, on Suspicion Island…”

Chapter Text

A series of loud beeps filled the private chambers of The Overlord of the Dark Tower. Said girl groaned, having long forgotten the annoyance that came with alarms, and shuffled half awake to silence the noise. Once it was off, Anne yawned and rolled over, where her arm fell over something solid and she instinctively pulled it closer.

It was only when it made a small ‘oof’ that Anne remembered that anything people sleep with usually doesn't make noise, but that she hadn't gone to bed with anything like that at all. Anne cracked her eyes open to find herself face to face with a smiling pink frog.

“Hi, friend,” it said.

It took Anne a second to process that this was, in fact, happening. When she did, she let out a scream loud enough to startle several birds that had been resting on the Tower into flight.

“I see the Master found her guest,” Gnarl muttered once the scream stopped. Of course it had to happen while he was inspecting the Tower Heart. He wiped his hands off once he was sure the Tower Heart was fine and started walking up the stairs to the throne room. He got there just before Anne came storming in.

“Gnarl, what is this?!” Anne demanded as she held up Sprig, holding the back of his shirt. The frog gave a nervous chuckle and waved at Gnarl.

“That's the guest you wanted allowed into the Tower. It was simple to get him recognized, and once he was he came through immediately. That was about an hour ago.”

“Okay, but why is he here now?”

“You said I could come whenever I wanted,” Sprig answered, “and I wanted to now.”

“I didn’t mean- you know what, never mind what I meant.” Anne rubbed her eyes and set Sprig down, “stay here, let me change out of my PJs, and we'll talk then.”

“Okay!” Sprig said and gave a thumbs up. Anne looked at Gnarl, pointed at Sprig, and then her eyes, which the Minion Master nodded. He and Sprig watched Anne walk upstairs before he turned to the frog.

“You excel in causing problems, don't you?” Gnarl asked and crossed his arms.

“Look who's talking. I don't try to cause trouble, not like you guys.”

“Trouble making is a Minion’s reason to exist, you can hardly blame us for that.”

“Pretty sure I can.” Sprig and Gnarl gave each other a suspicious look that lasted until Anne came back downstairs in her school uniform and sat on her throne.

“Okay, so why are you here?” Anne asked.

“Can't a frog come visit a friend?” Sprig asked and gave her the biggest, cutest look he could possibly muster.

“Are we friends?” Anne asked, which caused Sprig's face to fall before she added, “I'm serious by the way, I don't know where we stand after everything that happened.”

“Oh. Well, I still want to try. After yesterday, I know you're not entirely evil.”

“Yet,” Gnarl added.

“Quiet! That's all I want, really. Especially after the trouble I caused you.” Sprig started twisting his hands guiltily and looked down.

“With my phone? I'm over that by now, especially with that super charge and knowing where to get more Zapapedes. All’s forgiven.” Sprig smiled at that while Anne sighed and slouched onto an arm. “It's still too early for anything though. Let me at least get some breakfast first.”

“Try these. Freshly made,” and older voice said as a plate of pancakes was set on the armrest.

“Wow, pancakes? Don't mind if I do!” Anne picked up the plate and was about to dig in when she recognized the voice and looked at Hop Pop, smiling nervously at her. After a few seconds, Anne asked, “How did you get in here?”

“I came with Sprig,” Hop Pop answered, “though I wish someone would have told me about the nausea coming here. I did keep it to a corner though.”

“Ew. Anyone else you brought along?” Anne asked, giving Sprig a look as she started eating her pancakes.

“Just Polly,” Sprig answered.

“Who's that again?”

“The bloodthirsty tadpole,” Gnarl answered and pointed to a set of stairs, “she went down to the dungeons.”

“We have dungeons?”

“I'm pretty sure I pointed them out before.” A loud crash came from the dungeons followed by the much quieter sounds of hopping as Polly bounced up the stairs.

“Oh yeah! I love this place! You can just watch those monster things beat the stuffing out of everything here!” Polly shouted happily before she noticed the assembled group and bounced over. “Oh, you're awake. Sup?”

“...Breakfast,” Anne answered and took another bite.

“Cool, cool.” A beat passed and Polly gave Anne a suspicious look, “You're not gonna add us to that, are you?”

“No, I don't eat anything that looks like it hasn't bathed in a while,” Anne replied and pointed at a very dirty Hop Pop.

“Fair enough,” Hop Pop said before nervously adding, “So how are the pancakes? I've been making the batter since before the sun rose.”

“It's fine.”

“Good. But are you sure? I can get something for you if you want.”

“Maybe we can do something afterwards?” Sprig asked expectedly, “There's a good lake I like to go swimming at.”

“I want to see you fight something!” Polly said and hopped onto Anne's armrest. “Come on, show me how tough you are, frog eater!”

“Are you really sure?”

“Wanna go? We can taste test Pain Peppers there.”

“Do you eat frogs?”

“Uh…” Anne suddenly felt cornered as the frogs started closing in. She looked at Gnarl, who only gave her a look clearly said ‘you were asking for this,’ and was waiting for her to bail herself out. After a quick round of ‘huh?’ questions from the frogs, Anne let out a groan, set the pancake plate down on an armrest loud enough to get their attention, and looked at each of them one at a time.

“Okay, it feels like all of you want to say something to me,” she said and, after a quick look at Polly, added, “some more directly than the others. So why don't we get all of that out of the way before you annoy me to death. Starting with you.” Anne pointed at Hop Pop. The old frog shuffled for a moment before sighing.

“I already said it before, but I’m sorry about what happened when we first met. I should have done more to help you, but I didn’t because…” Hop Pop glanced over at his grandkids and sighed again, “I had my reasons, not that it makes it any better. I just want to make up for not doing enough.”

“All understandable, but look what I got now since you did nothing!” Anne said and gestured around the throne room. “I doubt I’d ever have found this place if you had done something. I’d say I’m doing better than ever since I became an Overlord.”

“But at the cost of everyone else living under your rule.”

“So?”

“Well… you know…”

“Look, what I’m getting at is that it doesn’t matter what you did or why you did it now. I’m here now and I’m having a blast with what I got now. As far as I’m concerned, we’re cool now.”

“... I don’t know how to feel about that.”

“Deal with it on your own time. You next, Sprig.” Sprig jumped a little at being called, but still nodded and, after some thought, shrugged.

“Pretty much what I said before. Oh, and sorry again about not helping more when you were run off.”

“You were the only one who did anything right that day. That, and the 10,000% charge to my phone is repayment enough.”

“Are you sure?”

“Do you want to get punished more? Because I can if you want.”

“Not really, no.”

“Then just accept that we’re cool.” And Sprig did, giving her the biggest puppy dog eyes Anne had ever seen. She, along with Hop Pop and Sprig, all turned to Polly, who blinked and looked back at them.

“What? I have done literally nothing wrong!” Polly said defensively and crossed her flippers.

“...You know, considering I didn’t even know you existed until, like, a week ago I can’t argue with that. Don’t do anything to make me mad and we’re cool.”

“Ha!”

“So are we good now? You have nothing else to bother me while I eat breakfast and plan my day?” The Plantars all shook their heads no and Anne nodded as she picked up her plate and continued eating. “So what is the plan Gnarl?” Gnarl pushed his way to the front of the frogs as rudely as he could and cleared his throat roughly before speaking.

“With your new plan taken into account, I would focus on expanding your range of influence, Lord,” Gnarl answered. “While the one teleport pad we've been using has been sufficient, yesterday showed how limited that is for longer excursions. The valley is large, so the more inert pads we activate the better off we'll be.”

“And we can't do that here?”

“No.”

“Lame. Guess it's more busy work for me.” Anne started cutting the last pancake and swirled it in the syrup, not noticing Sprig climb up and rest on the armrest.

“Or, instead of that, you can come swimming with me at the lake,” he offered. Anne didn't immediately reject it and Sprig felt hopeful that she actually looked thoughtful.

“Oh no, you are not going to blow off the plan you came up with to go swimming,” Gnarl said and crossed his arms, “what kind of precedent does that make, Sire?”

“Gnarl, come on,” Anne said as she set the now empty plate aside and stood up. “Do you really take me to do something like that right after making that kind of commitment? You need to have more faith in me.” Anne crossed her arms indignantly and marched past everyone to walk upstairs to her personal quarters.

“Well, it was worth a shot,” Sprig said with a sigh.

“‘Have faith’, she says. Bah, every time a teenage Overlord has said that, the very next thing they do-” Gnarl grumbled before the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps came and Anne, dressed in a one-piece swimsuit with swim trunks and carrying a towel, ran down the stairs. She jumped the last few steps, caught Sprig under her free arm, and ran to the portal pool.

“Run Sprig!”

“What?! AAAH!”

“There it is,” Gnarl muttered and rubbed his eyes before shouting, “At least take some Minions on your excursion Master!”

“Sure thing!” Anne shouted back as she jumped into the pool with Sprig. Gnarl could only shake his head.

“Honestly, they're all the same. At least when they're young you can give them a proper Evil upbringing. Ah, the memories.”

“Why do you call her ‘Overlord’ if she's a girl?” Hop Pop asked suddenly.

“What?”

“I mean, shouldn't it be ‘Overlady’ instead? Overdame?”

“My goals and reasons are beyond your comprehension, whippersnapper.” Gnarl got up in Hop Pop's face and stared deep into the frog’s eyes, “So don't go questioning them.”

“...Okay.” After a moment of silence, Gnarl leaned away and Polly cleared her throat.

“So… you got any weapons to look at?” she asked.

“Not particularly, though I'm sure there's drawings of old Overlord weapons somewhere.”

“Awesome!” Polly bounced towards Gnarl, who awkwardly caught her, and she rotated to point forward, “Let's go see them! Hup hup!”

“...Oh, I like this one.” Gnarl led Polly upstairs into the Tower, leaving a miffed Hop Pop to scratch his head.

“Whippersnapper huh? So that's how it feels. Wait, Polly!”

“This is going to be great! I've never gone swimming at the lake with friends before!” Sprig said while bouncing between trees as they walked. Anne, who was following a fair distance away with a cadre of Minions, watched him with some bemusement as she adjusted a pair of swim goggles on her head.

“You’ve never gone swimming with friends before? I've done that back home a bunch of times.” Granted, ‘swimming’ with Sasha and Marcy usually devolved quickly after starting. Anne and Sasha would try to do some kind of activity before getting distracted by Marcy playing a game or reading instead of swimming. Marcy would get dunked as a result, then Sasha would dunk Anne, and revenge would follow. Rinse and repeat until they got bored and left.

“Good times,” Anne concluded and looked back at her Minions following her. “So do any of you want in on this swimming thing while we're here?”

“Can't swim,” one answered.

“Like, is this a lack of learning thing, or you just can't?”

“Can't.”

“Stupid Blues always rub it in when they go swimming.”

“... One of these days, I really need to talk to Gnarl about the color thing.” A loud snap caught Anne's attention and she and the Minions looked for a moment with nothing standing out. “Keep an eye open,” she ordered, the Minions all giving growls of acknowledgement, before continuing. Before long, the group caught up to Sprig waving at them from the edge of the trees where they got a look at the lake they were going to.

“Whoa, now that's a lake,” Anne said as she walked toward the lake shore. Again she was amazed at how large things can get in this world, all the more now since lily pads and mushrooms haven’t tried to kill her… yet. “Bigger than any swimming pool I’ve ever been to.”

“I know right? I would have liked to take some friends swimming too,” Sprig said, though the way he said it had Anne raising an eyebrow as she was setting up her towel.

“Why do I get the feeling you don't have many friends?”

For a moment, Sprig flashed back to the snake skull incident before he said, “Most kids don't get me.”

“Been there. It's rough.” Sprig looked back at Anne with sparkling eyes that she didn't notice as she was busy with the Minions. “Okay everyone, listen up! You-” Anne pointed at a Minion, “-keep an eye on my towel when I'm not here.”

The Minion saluted and sat down on the ground.

“The rest of you spread out and keep an eye out for anything that might try to eat us. I'll call you if I need you; otherwise, if you want to try your hand at swimming, go ahead.”

The Minions all nodded, save for one who yelled, “Finally!” and ran toward the lake and jumped as far as he could. This, naturally, led to him flailing in the water for a few moments before sinking like a stone into it. Once a puff of magic broke the surface, Anne let out a laugh and wiped a tear from her eye.

“Okay, that was pretty funny. Off with the rest of you.” The Minions all scattered around the area attempt to keep watch before inevitably getting distracted by another Minion or a particularly bright blade of grass. Sprig walked over to Anne and tugged her arm.

“Aren't you worried about the one that drowned?” He asked.

“Nope,” was Anne's immediate answer before she rounded on Sprig and excitedly asked, “so who's ready to swim?”

Not to be left out, Sprig shouted, “I am!”

“Then what are we waiting for?!”

“I don’t know!” Sprig and Anne’s hype devolved into screaming at the top of their lungs as they charged for the lake, only to stop once they noticed the sign at the shore that had absolutely been there the whole time. “Oh, what? I don’t remember this being here. ‘Don’t swim’, and it looks like it was written pretty quickly.” And hopefully with red paint. “Why do you think that is?”

“Don’t care,” Anne answered as she walked over, pulled the sign out of the ground, and threw it face down. “There, now we can’t read the sign. That means we can swim guilt free now.” Anne punctuated this by taking her goggles and stretching them in front of her eyes so they could snap into place. “Ow.”

“I don’t know Anne, that sign might have been there for a reason.”

“Listen Sprig,” Anne knelt down and put both her hands on Sprig’s shoulders, “I know it seems dangerous, but sometimes you just have to deal with that to have fun with friends. I know I’ve done plenty of dangerous stuff with my friends that turned out fun in hindsight.”

A ten year old Anne was shaking badly as she was slowly wheeled to the top of a sloped street in a shopping cart by Sasha and Marcy. They stopped right at the edge and Anne was now shaking bad enough to shake the cart.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked and looked back at her friends.

“Relax, Marcy and I got this all planned out. Right Mar-Mar?” Sasha said as she started waving her phone.

“Absolutely!” Marcy said as she held up a notebook with complex mathematical diagrams that Anne could not comprehend at all. “From here, as long as you hit the ramps we placed, it’ll go great and we’ll have the best video to submit to ‘America’s craziest extreme preteens’! We know you can do this Anne!”

“Well…” Anne looked at Sasha, who gave her an expecting look. One that Anne withered under immediately and grasped the shopping cart tightly. “Okay, let’s do it!”

“Great. Make us proud Anne,” Sasha said as she and Marcy grabbed the cart and gave a few test pushes.

“I can do this, I can do this,” Anne repeated right up until the cart tilted over the slope, where it changed to, “No I can’t!” By then it was too late and Anne was sent down the hill screaming while Sasha filmed and Marcy double checked her notes.

“She’s got this, right?” Sasha asked as she started recording.

“Absolutely. I checked my math twenty times, she’s got this.” As soon as she said this she looked down and saw a massive spanner getting thrown in her careful plans, causing her to drop her notebook and grab her hair. “OH CRUD, TRAM!”

“Uh oh…” was all Sasha could say as Anne sailed toward the tram.

“I needed to lose those baby teeth anyway,” Anne concluded.

“...What?” Sprig asked, because flashbacks tend to work better when you actually describe them to others.

“Don’t worry about it. What I’m saying is sometimes you gotta live dangerously to actually live. If you don’t want to, then just stay here and watch me live, okay?” Sprig gulped as Anne stood up and did a few stretches. One way or another, she’d be going swimming in that lake.

She barely made it past a set when Sprig ran past her screaming happily and jumped into the lake. Anne blinked a couple of times before laughing and chasing after him.

So far, despite how dirty the water was, Anne was having a time swimming and seeing what was in the lake. Sprig was also not too bad to be around, having introduced Anne to the joys of lily pad hopping and play fighting with some giant cat tails. The Minions enjoyed that in particular, when they weren't nearly drowning to get them.

Then there was the diving, which Anne was really enjoying just from what the lake had at the bottom of it. There were skulls, various fish, bones, Sprig doing underwater stunts to show off, more skulls. That was all Anne could see on her latest dive before she had to come up for air. She surfaced, took a few breaths, and lifted her goggles up just as Sprig also came up.

“So soon? You’re really bad at staying underwater, aren’t you?” he asked as he started swimming around Anne.

“Well pardon me for not being amphibious,” Anne said while giving Sprigg the stink eye, “but man, did you see all those skulls down there? It’s pretty metal, yet really disturbing at the same time. I’m going to get some for my throne.”

“Gross. And aren’t you worried about what that might mean?”

“From my time before the Tower, I know exactly what it means. I’m still getting those skulls.” Anne snapped the goggles over her eyes, took a deep breath, and dove underwater.

Sprig gulped and looked around worriedly, which let him catch sight of a flash of scales that broke the surface for a moment before disappearing under the water. “That can’t be good.”

Under the water, Anne was looking over each of the skulls she could find in order to find the best one. She found a couple of good ones when she felt a shift in the water around her. Anne looked around and barely managed to see a giant snake swimming through the water around her. Anne sighed as best she could, dropped the skulls, and swam up to the surface. When she broke the surface, she shook out her hair and found Sprig looking at her atop a lily pad.

“Hey Sprig, I found the-” Anne started to say before the water exploded under her and she was thrown into the air by the snake.

“Anne!” Sprig cried as the snake shot up with its jaws open to catch Anne. Anne managed to look down and, with a shout, threw a fireball straight down into the snake’s mouth. The reptile thrashed at the attack and dove back underwater just as Anne landed back in the lake, where she surfaced and started swimming back to Sprig. Sprig helped her by shooting his tongue out, wrapping it around her arm, and pulling her faster than she could swim until she was on the lily pad with him.

“Are you okay?” he asked as Anne coughed up a bit of water.

“I’m so stupid! I should be used to these predators by now!” Anne chided herself and looked out into the lake water where she could see the snake’s body occasionally break the water as it circled them. “Crud, and we're way too far from shore. How fast can you swim Sprig?”

“Pretty fast, webbed toes and all,” Sprig answered and lifted a foot to show off his toes, which he wiggled to Anne's disgust.

“Right. Think you're faster than that snake?”

“Probably… why?”

“I need you to get to shore, you'll be safe with the Minions. I can't swim as fast, so I'll need to think of something else.”

“What, no! I can't leave you here alone!”

“I can defend myself, you can't.” Anne formed a fireball briefly in her left hand before squashing it. “That thing didn't like a mouthful of fire, so maybe I can use that to my advantage.”

“Mouthful of fire…” Sprig said quietly as his eyes widened. “Ooh, I have an idea that could get us both to shore!”

“Eh?”

“You’re going to have to trust me on this, but if you can get on top of the snake you should be able to steer it to shore.”

“What, how? And what are you going to do?” By then the snake came back up and was now heading towards them.

“I’ll give it a mouthful of fire, like you said.” Sprig crouched and jumped toward the snake, which popped out to swallow him whole before diving back down.

“Sprig! What the heck?!” Anne looked around and found a stick sticking out of the water close to her. She grabbed and broke it into a makeshift weapon before turning to the water. After a moment of tense waiting, the snake came back up and Anne ran and jumped just as it lunged at her, missing her and destroying the lily pad.

Using the stick as an anchor, Anne managed to grab onto the snake's body and climbed up towards its head as it tried to shake her off. Once she was on its head, she wasted no time driving the stick deep into one of the snake’s eyes, causing the snake to thrash around in pain that Anne had to keep a tight hold on to the stick to keep from being thrown off.

Then the snake stopped and Anne saw its cheeks puff out comically before and let out a roar of pain and actual fire, along with a burnt, screaming Sprig being launched out of its mouth and into the water. Before Anne could register that, the snake dove down and started running along the water with its mouth open. Thinking quickly, Anne grabbed the stick and gave it a sharp pull, which caused the snake to pull in the same direction and send it towards the shore. Anne kept her grip until the snake hit a giant rock that sent her flying and tumbling onto the shore and left the snake stunned.

“Master!” a Minion called as a group gathered around Anne. She pushed herself onto her elbows and pointed at the snake.

“Kill that thing!” she ordered with her eyes briefly flashing blue. The Minions looked at the snake and roared before charging, more than a few giving their own affirmatives as they ran. The snake briefly managed to shake off the pain from its collision just as the first of the Minions reached it, jumping up and stabbing their weapons into its hide. It roared in pain and tried to shake the Minions off of it while opening its mouth to prepare to lunge at some Minions it saw on the ground.

Some Minions saw the mouth as an opportunity and leaped into it to stab any part inside they could, some piercing straight through the bottom of the mouth. A few managed to get onto the snake’s throat and started cutting deep into it, ultimately sliting its throat wide open and sending it crashing to the ground dead after a final, defiant roar.

Anne lay on the ground taking deep breaths as she watched her Minions continue to hack into the snake. Some splashing from the lake drew her attention and she saw Sprig swim up to the shore and then slowly crawl out of the water. “Sprig!” she shouted as she got up and ran towards him. When she picked him up and shook him a little to find he was indeed still alive, she asked, “What the heck were you thinking there?! What did you even do?” Sprig dazedly looked at Anne before reaching into his shorts and pulling out some kind of pepper.

“Pain Peppers: so hot they’ll make you wish you were dead,” Sprig explained, “I snuck a few out of my house in case we wanted to do an eating challenge with them.”

Anne stared at Sprig for a moment until she let out an amused snort and pulled the frog into a hug. “Sure, you goof. Good thinking, but don't do that again.” Sprig blinked at the sudden contact, but didn't hesitate to return the hug as he saw it as a step forward.

The moment was then thoroughly ruined with a wet sound followed by a shower of blood onto the Overlord and frog. “Eye see what you did there!” A Minion shouted atop the snake to a cacophony of laughter from the other Minions.

“Ew,” Anne said in thorough disgust.

“Yeah,” Sprig agreed, “but it is just blood. Could be worse.”

“You bathe in it then,” Anne said as she held Sprig out at arm's length and dropped him. Sprig watched her walk back to the lake, saying ‘ew’ with every step. Once she was in and dove underwater, Sprig hopped after her.

“Yeah, good idea.”

Once the blood was washed out of her hair as best she could and she had thoroughly beaten the Minion responsible for the literal blood bath to a pulp, Anne decided she was done with swimming for the day and relaxed on her towel. Sprig joined her not long after and watched the Minions work on the snake. Not haphazardly either, given how carefully they were skinning it before hacking away and separating the meat underneath bit by bit.

“I didn't know they were smart enough to do that,” Sprig commented as a group of Minions separated and started carrying the snake's head away.

“They're really not. Gnarl says thinking hurts them, but every now and then they surprise me,” Anne said and sat up a little to shout “Careful, that's going in the throne room!”

“Got it!” The Minions shouted in response as they went. Anne lay back down and put on a pair of sunglasses as she started to relax.

“So… do you mind if I ask something, Anne?” Sprig asked.

“Shoot.”

“Why are you doing all of this? The Overlord stuff?”

“Because what I was doing before wasn’t working. This is.”

“Okay, and what are you trying to do?” Anne tilted her sunglasses down and glanced at Sprig. After a moment, she sighed and pushed them back up.

“Find my friends and get back home. I don’t know if they are here, but if they are then I have to find them. Becoming the Overlord gave me the power to do that, and I’ll do anything I have to to get them back.”

“Really? Even…” Sprig couldn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t have to though, since Anne’s conquest has been the main stumbling point of discussion no matter what the subject was.

“Yes, even that. If you have people that mean the world to you, you’d understand.”

“I guess…” put like that, Sprig could understand. Everything that he had done recently was to make sure his loved ones would be okay. “I just wish I could get you to go easier on us. I mean-”

“I am going easier on you.” Anne rolled onto her side and continued, “Like I wrote before, I lost focus on what was important to me, and I took my anger out on the easiest targets. I don't want to do that again, so… keep doing what you're doing now. It is helping, in its own way.”

“But-”

“Why don’t you think of it this way?” Anne sat up, took off her sunglasses, and faced Sprig. "I won't need to be the Overlord once I find my friends and can go home. And in the meantime, a content Overlord is one that won't hurt their subjects. Help me with my problems, keep my pantry stocked, maybe throw in a side adventure like this every other day, and everything will go back to normal in no time. Deal?”

It wasn't exactly perfect for Sprig, since he really just wanted her to stop being The Overlord entirely. But if Anne was right and she had friends out there going through what she had, then he had to do something to help. And if he couldn’t stop her, then maybe at best he could limit the damage she could do. 

‘And maybe she could change her mind later anyway.’ “Sure,” Sprig finally answered and shook Anne’s hand, “but I would have helped anyway.” That got a laugh out of Anne and she pulled Sprig into a side hug.

“You’re a good kid Sprig, even if you’re a little troublemaker who steals my stuff.”

“I said I was sorry!” Anne laughed again and gave Sprig one last squeeze before letting him go and going back to lying on the towel. After a minute of fidgeting and watching the Minions, Sprig slowly reached into his pocket and took out a couple Pain Peppers. “So, want to try a Pain Pepper? I brought more just in case.”

“... Ah what the heck, give it here.” Sprig gave Anne a pepper and watched her turn it over for a better look. “This doesn't look too bad. I've done worse pepper challenges with the girls.”

“You have to be careful. I licked one once and it felt like I stuck my tongue into a fire ant hive. Those breathe actual fire!”

“Don't be so dramatic. I can handle a little spice. I'm Thai, it's practically in my blood.” With that thorough temptation of fate out of the way, Anne ate the entire pepper in one bite, to Sprig's horror.

“I hope so,” Sprig said and grabbed the straps on his hat.

A second later Anne's eyes shot open, bloodshot and watering. For the second time that day, the young Overlord’s screams sent birds flying off their perches all around her.

Chapter Text

“This is your own fault, Toejam. We keep warning you, but you never listen.”

It was a normal day of upkeep in the Dark Tower for Gnarl. You know, the parts of starting and running a Dark Empire that real Overlords can’t be bothered to deal with, such as the most recent one. It set his heart aflame like a particularly noisy and flammable orphanage to see the Overlord taking to her role so well, though in recent days it was hampered by the frustration of not knowing what she’d be leaving the Tower for. Sometimes it’d be for actual work: subjugating towns, searching for her companions or tower relics, or just the mad rampage against the wildlife that she oh so enjoyed.

Or she’d leave for not so Evil reasons. Gnarly really didn’t like the sway the frog family seemed to be having over the Overlord, but the Dark Lord’s focus and overall progress had increased since then. Gnarl ultimately decided that as long as conquest was happening, he wouldn’t complain about the frog’s wanton slice-of-life adventures too loudly around the Overlord.

Speaking of, the Teleport Pool lit up and the Overlord appeared in the throne room with her arms behind her back. “Welcome back, Sire. No luck finding them again?”

“No, this valley is surprisingly big for being such a small part of Amphibia,” Anne said and looked at Toejam disapprovingly as he scrubbed the floor with a dirty rag. “Did he go on my floor again?”

“Unfortunately, though as you can see I’m already taking action about that. Though whether I should make Toejam eat one of those peppers you got or drink your energy swill as an additional punishment is something I’m still deciding on.” Toejam looked at the Minion Master fearfully before he started scrubbing more earnestly.

“I’ll leave that to you. Though on that topic, the Tower is coming along nicely isn’t it?”

“I suppose so, though I feel it’s missing something. I mean, the snake skull really draws out the menace you have while sitting on your throne, but it’s still missing something. Like a rug or-”

“Or an adorable cutie pie to bring love to an otherwise dire place?” Gnarl didn’t like the sound of that, for multiple reasons, though it now made Anne’s hidden hands all the more telling.

“What did you bring this time?” Gnarl asked and crossed his arms.

“Only the cutest little thing to ever walk this world!” Anne screamed and moved her arms to hold out a caterpillar to Gnarl. One look at the black and white spotted bug was enough to send the old Minion reeling in shock. “I found her in the woods being harassed by hornets and saved her. She looks just like my irreplaceable cat Domino back home, which is why I decided to replace her with Domino 2! She’ll be great to have around, don’t you agree?”

Only this Overlord would find a Coastal Kill-a-pillar nearing its pupa stage and decide to bring it back to the Tower as a pet. After taking a moment to gather his thoughts, and watch Anne rub her face in the monster’s fur, Gnarl straightened up and gave his answer. “No.”

“What? Why not?”

“It's dangerous to have it around the Tower. Take it back where you found it.”

“No, she'll die out there! I'm the Overlord here, and I say she stays!”

“Well I have to look after the Tower, and the only reason I'll have that in here is as food.”

“Don't you dare. Domino 2 is a precious baby and won't ever hurt anyone. Isn't that right girl?” Domino 2 let out a meow, which Anne nodded to while Gnarl looked at the creature unimpressed.

“You don't know what that really is, do you?” He asked.

“A real cutie, something you'll never understand. You know who will, the Plantars. They'll help me look after her, especially Sprig. Domino 2 loves him.” Anne turned around and started marching to the teleport pool, unaware of the hungry look Domino 2 was giving the Minions. Once Anne was gone, Gnarl shook his head with a sigh

“Honestly. Sometimes our Lord acts like a teenager.”

“She is a teenager,” Toejam replied.

“For that remark, you'll lick a Pain Pepper when you're done with the floor.”

“Aww.”

It wasn't a long walk to the Plantar farm, though it certainly felt longer as Anne had to keep Domino 2 from escaping from her grip to go after smaller bugs. That was soon fixed when the caterpillar found its way into Anne's shirt to curl against her stomach. It took a lot of strength from Anne to keep from breaking down into cuteness induced sobs from how she was purring against her. Despite these difficulties, Anne made it to the Plantar home and slowly creaked open the front door.

“Hello?” She called out and got no answer after a few seconds. “Okay, the coast is clear.” Anne slipped in, shut the door behind her, and moved to open the cellar door and go downstairs into her secondary basement bedroom.

Something that a lot of people underestimate is just how time consuming the average wacky adventure is. Now, Anne knew how time consuming any given Overlord excursion could be; plundering can be a fun day out for anyone. But those were entirely under her control and can stop whenever she wants. What isn’t under her control is how a simple shopping trip with the Plantars can spiral out of control into a three day excursion that ends with them almost eaten by giant spiders that Anne would ultimately burn to ashes.

Basically, after something like that can happen spontaneously, Anne would sometimes need a place to crash that wasn’t as big as her Tower chambers, which was big enough to hold a ten foot tall spider. Hence, Hop Pop furnished the basement for Anne to stay over every now and then, which she appreciated since the basement could only hold a spider about five feet tall and provide a good open space for a certain caterpillar.

Bless his hospitality.

“Okay Domino 2, here’s your new home!” Anne said as she set Domino 2 on the old bed. The caterpillar looked around for a second before spinning in a circle and lying in a small ball. Anne cooed and flopped her head onto the bed to get a better look at the cuteness. “How could Gnarl say you aren't the cutest thing ever? Maybe being Evil has cooked his brain so he doesn't see cuteness anymore.” That gave Anne pause and she slid off the bed onto the floor. “I hope not actually, I'm supposed to be more evil than him. I would die if I can't appreciate cuteness anymore!”

Before she could go down that particular spiral further, Anne slapped herself across the face and stood up. “Enough of that, I need to focus on now! Domino 2 needs engagement: food, places to climb and hide, and toys!” She could at least provide the last one for now, as she pulled a toy mouse out of her skirt pocket and put it next to Domino 2, who woke and pounced on the toy and purred happily as she tossed it up in the air with her stubby little legs. “I'll need help for the rest, and I know just who to get… as soon as I know where he is. Stay here Domino 2, I'll be back soon.”

Domino 2 answered with a meow and a shot of web right into Anne's face.

“I love you too precious,”

After cleaning the web off and ascending the stairs back into the Plantar living room, which was still quiet and absent any frogs. After a moment of looking in the adjacent rooms, Anne took a deep breath and yelled, “SPRIIIIIG!” as loud as she could.

“Back porch!” came the answer. Anne followed the voice to the back door and found the Plantars lazing on the back porch/dock.

“Oh, there you are. Hey Sprig, I need your help getting stuff for the basement.”

“What kind of stuff?” Sprig asked and spat into the pond right after.

“For that thing we were talking about earlier. Just a few things here and there.”

“Okay, as soon as we’re done here, if that’s okay.”

“Sure.”

“Being awfully vague over there,” Hop Pop commented before he spat, the lob reaching the middle of the pond, “what exactly do you want?”

“Just some things to make that basement better to live in.” Hop Pop squinted at Anne suspiciously, but dropped it when Sprig spat again, getting just slightly farther than last time. “Okay, what the heck are you guys even doing?”

“Spitting,” Sprig replied as Hop Pop went again, this time failing to even go a foot.

“...Why?”

“Everyone has hobbies Anne!” Hop Pop defended, “and some of us have some that don't threaten the lives of other people, unlike someone I know.”

“Hey, I haven't killed anyone… today . But fine-” Anne moved across the dock to stand next to Polly's bucket “-you can do whatever you want. Just be mindful of Polly here. A lady like her shouldn't be exposed to too much ‘boy stuff’.”

“Jokes on you, I'm the best spitter in my family,” Polly said and proceeded to demonstrate, generating a disgustingly large amount of saliva for her tiny body and spitting it across the pond right onto a crab with a mug on its back.

While the Plantars celebrated, Anne came to a horrifying realization. The love of dirt, spitting, and generally gross actions from the rest of the family (‘ why save a lump of ear wax?!’ ) this little tadpole has been surrounded by boys her whole life. This. Could not. STAND!

“Uh oh, she's got the look,” Sprig said worriedly.

“What look?” Polly asked right before she was lifted out of her bucket screaming and hugged close to Anne's side.

“Emergency! You, me, girl's time! Hop Pop, wallet!” Anne commanded.

“Uh, okay,” Hop Pop replied and gave his wallet to her, silently wondering why she'd want that anyway. Anne took it and kicked the gate open, intent on leaving as fast as possible.

“Wait, what about your shopping?” Sprig called and got hit in the face with a piece of paper.

“Start without me! I have priorities, Sprig!”

“Kidnapper! Where are you taking me?!” Polly shouted as she and Anne disappeared around the corner. Sprig managed to peel the paper off his face and started reading the list on it.

“How am I supposed to buy anything without your wallet?” Sprig wondered as he shoved the list into a pocket.

“Well I don't have any money in that anyway,” Hop Pop said and waved a hand, “eh, let's worry about that later. Back to spittin’!”

“Prepare to eat your words!”

“Seriously, what is happening?” Polly asked after Anne sat her on her head while they walked into Wartwood.

“You have been around boys your whole life. You need to get away and reprogram yourself away from that at once in your short life, which is why I am going to show you how we have a girl's time out, human style !” Anne explained while shaking her fists excitedly.

“Joy,” Polly said with a roll of her eyes. A day of boredom seemed to wait for her, though that was put off for a moment once Anne entered the fountain square. A few frogs were milling around until they saw Anne, where they stopped what they were doing and quickly left the square. Some even through the windows into a building. “Uh, what?”

“I see that rumor has spread nice and well,” Anne said with a satisfied smirk, “Thank you, Sprig’s little girlfriend.”

“What rumor?”

“That The Overlord took me captive and put me in charge of looking after Wartwood.”

“...Bwuh?”

“It's a funny story.” Anne continued walking and waved at a Minion holding a spear leaning against a broken light post. “Hey Snot.”

The Minion saluted and ignored the befuddled stare from Polly.

“How long has that been there?!”

“You know, that's also a funny story.” Before Anne could elaborate, a ringing came from her skirt and she stopped and slouched with a loud groan. “Why does he have to call now? ” She wondered as she took out her phone and answered the call. “If this is about Domino 2, I’m ready to accept your apology. Otherwise, I’m very busy.”

“Domino what?”

“I will never apologize, I stand by that,” Gnarl said on the other end. Polly moved to get a better listen as he continued, “I was just wondering something, Sire. While I applaud you taking the initiative in using the old frog’s funds, why are you not considering using your own?”

“Because… I don’t have any?”

“Yes you do, we have a treasure room for that after all.”

“...I have a treasure room?”

“Treasure?!” Polly said with stars in her eyes.

“It seems I have failed you as your Minion Master again, Sire. Return to the Tower at once and I will make up for my failure!” The call ended and Anne stared at her phone for a moment before putting it away.

“Guess we’re taking a quick detour. Is that alright Polly?”

“I heard treasure, and it’ll keep us away from this girl’s time thing!” Polly said excitedly, pulled the twig out of Anne’s hair, and pointed forward with it. “Onward to glory!”

“Don’t just take my twig. Who do you think you are?”

“It’s the strangest thing, Lord. I could have sworn I at least mentioned the treasure room before,” Gnarl said as he led Anne and Polly through the corridors of the tower. As of now they were only a hallway down from Anne’s room.

“To be fair to you, you probably did and I just didn’t retain it,” Anne said, which got a nod from both Polly and Gnarl, “I really got to get better about that.”

“One day at a time, Sire. In any case, the treasure room is right here.” Gnarl threw open a set of double doors and led the girls inside, where they gaped at the contents within. For what is a treasure room but an excuse to dedicate a room exclusively to having a large pile of coins to look at?

“Whoa mama!”

“Look at all the Coppers!” Polly shouted and leapt off of Anne's head onto the pile of coins, which ended with her face planting rather hard on them. “Ow.”

“It is beautiful, isn't it?” Gnarl said and moved over to where Polly was swimming in the coins, “It's not quite as shiny as gold pieces, but it works.”

“Where did this come from?” Anne asked as she knelt down, scooped up a bunch of coins, and let them fall through her fingers, “was this here all along?”

“No. Our old treasure was lost when your predecessor was slain. Filthy raiders. These are all thanks to your hard work Master.”

“Really? I don't remember getting this at all.”

“Alas, the days of finding bags of gold pieces on the bodies of your enemies are long behind us, but there are other ways of getting funds, Sire. Your semi-frequent rampage on the wildlife has helped a lot with that.”

“Really? How?”

“Everything has a price and someone who is willing to pay it, especially for carcasses of predators. The Minions bring them here for processing, those blacksmiths distribute them for a cut of the profits, and the rest comes right here.” Anne nodded and moved to lie back first on the pile of coins. After a moment of contemplative silence, Anne let out a sigh.

“This is the happiest day of my life. So I can use these for whatever I want?”

“Well, I prefer you use it to upgrade the tower and your arsenal, but you are The Overlord. If you want to spend it on anything that catches your eye, go right ahead.”

Anne and Polly shared a look and a smile. “You thinking what I'm thinking?” Anne asked.

“Oh yeah,” Polly agreed and, at the same time as Anne, shouted, “Weapon shopping!”

“Best girls time ever!”

“Dang it, I was hoping you forgot!” Polly cried and slammed her little flippers against the coins.

“Oh Polly, I will never forget my plans. Now wait here, I need to get some sacks.” Anne pushed herself up and rushed out of the room, leaving Polly to turn to Gnarl.

“If I ask nicely, will you kill me before she comes back?”

“No, your suffering is far more amusing,” Gnarl replied with a chuckle, which only got louder when Polly rolled onto her face to groan her frustrations.

“Well, we managed to get the right kind of wood from Loggle. Why does Anne need this kind of wood again?”

“Uh… she likes scratching it? It’s good for her nails.”

Shopping with Hop Pop wasn’t going well for Sprig, though at least they were making slow progress. The bit of leftover wood that Loggle was going to throw out anyway was the recent and biggest addition to the purchases, in that it was the only one. It was even harder keeping the reason for getting this secret from Hop Pop, but hopefully Anne will understand why Hop Pop now thinks she likes balls of yarn and small toys.

“That makes sense,” Hop Pop said with a nod and a rub of his chin, “Those nails do seem really sharp. So what’s next?”

“Nothing that we can get without money, unless you have a secret stash in Bessie’s shell?” Both frogs looked at the family snail, who gave a few calls at the attention, and Hop Pop shrugged.

“Not today.”

“Hey guys!” Sprig and Hop Pop turned to wave at Anne as she approached, only to freeze and scrunch up their faces to keep the laughter in.

Anne herself looked fine, having found someone to straighten out her mess of a hairstyle, and clean it to boot, and found a nice light green dress to wear.

Then there was Polly, the source of her family's barely contained laughter, who had on a big powdered wig and an incredibly ostentatious dress. Sprig thought he saw lipstick on Polly, forcing him to physically hold his lips closed.

“Hey girls,” Hop Pop said with a chuckle, “You look like you're having a good time.”

“Oh yeah, we…” Anne started until she noticed a frog mother pushing a stroller staring at her. With a glare, she asked, “What are you looking at?” The woman quickly pushed her stroller away and around a building. With that done, Anne looked back at Hop Pop and continued, “We just finished a spa visit and got some new clothes. Polly loves hers, right Polly?”

“Save me!” Polly replied pleadingly.

“The first girl's time is always the hardest. BT dubs, here's your wallet back.” Anne took out and gave Hop Pop's wallet back to him. The old frog looked through it briefly before putting it away.

“You didn't use it?” He asked.

“Didn't need to. Turns out I'm rich! Speaking of,” Anne took out a bag and tossed it at Sprig, who caught it and opened it to gape at all the Coppers inside.

“Whoa!”

“For my shopping. Thanks again for the help, Sprig.”

“No problem! Where did you get this?”

“Don't ask questions you don't want the answers to. Now, Polly and I have a date with some tea, you boys have fun. And you can keep what's left over.”

“Why does my suffering give you delight?!” Polly shouted as she tried in vain to escape Anne's grasp as she walked to her next destination and her only hopes were waving them goodbye.

“Stay out of trouble!” Hop Pop said and put his hands on his hips. “Hey, Sprig…”

“I am not marrying Anne for her money,” Sprig replied as he slung the sack of Coppers over his shoulder.

“Just thought I'd ask. Though now that I think about it, how is she walking around without a mob after her?”

“I'll tell you while we shop. I think it's one of my greatest ideas.” That did not fill Hop Pop with confidence as he followed his grandson.

The next stop of the day was the Sundew teahouse, where Anne and Polly were seated without hassle despite the people already there. “And here's today's signature blend. I hope you enjoy it!” Anne smiled politely as Felicia filled her and Polly's cups before moving on. Anne picked up the cup and took a sip.

“Mm, this is a good blend. Probably could be a little spicier, but that’s just me. What do you think, Polly?”

“I can’t move,” Polly replied flatly while wiggling her arms at the cup.

“Oh, don’t be such a baby. I’ll ask if they have a straw for you.”

“I am a baby, Anne!” Polly’s rage was quenched suddenly when a straw was placed in her teacup along with a plate of scones.

“There you go,” Ivy said and hopped up to put her elbows on the table and see Anne, “is there anything else you need?”

“Nah, we should be good for now,” Anne answered and picked up a scone and took a bite out of it. It was very crunchy, but Anne pushed down the question as to why. ‘Probably no worse than anything else I’ve eaten here.’

“So, are you enjoying your time out here? Probably far better than wherever The Overlord shoves you in, right?”

“Wha?” Polly asked.

“Well, a bed is a bed,” Anne answered over Polly, “After a time in the wilderness, I’ll take anything even if it comes from a jerk. It’s just a fact of life.”

“I hear that. Well, good luck with that. Shout at Mom if you need anything else.” Ivy hopped off the table and walked away, leaving the girls behind to what little conversation they had.

“Okay, you seriously gotta explain what that’s about. Why are you saying you’re your own prisoner?” Polly asked and crossed her arms.

“It’s really not complicated. Though I say that after the fact, since it was Sprig's idea while I was busy trying not to die at the time.”

Anne howled like a madwoman as the Pain Pepper ate at her senses. She rushed to the lake and dove head first into the water to try and dilute the pepper, to little effect. Sprig watched her along with some Minions that gathered around her with sympathy while not noticing Ivy walking up behind him also watching the spectacle.

“Well that’s something,” Ivy said, which caused Sprig to scream and jump into a front flip to land on his back. “Wow, I wasn’t even trying to ambush you that time. You’re way too easy to get, Sprig.”

“I guess,” Sprig said and got up on his feet. “So, Ivy, what are you doing here?”

“I was mushroom hunting when I saw you hopping along with your… friend?” Ivy looked over at Anne who just pulled her head out of the water.

“MY SOUL IS ON FIRE!” she screamed before plunging her head right back in, with two Minions giving her comforting pats on her back.

“Oh yeah, that’s Anne,” Sprig explained, “I invited her out for a day of swimming. There was a snake, but it’s been taken care of.”

“Oh, she’s Anne.” Sprig had told Ivy about Anne almost as soon as she had left. Not that it really needed an explanation, it was obvious Sprig had been down about something ever since the ‘monster’ was driven away. “Well it’s good she’s okay.”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

“More or less. But, why are The Overlord’s monsters with her?” Both of the kids flinched for different reasons. For Sprig, this was probably the biggest hurdle to getting Anne successfully integrated into Amphibian society. He was certain the town still saw her as a threat to be driven away, which wasn’t technically wrong, but anyone connecting her to The Overlord would sink any chance of her seeing the good side she’s missed.

‘But…’

“Well… they’re keeping an eye on her for The Overlord!” Sprig answered.

“We are?” a nearby Minion asked.

“Yes, you are!” Sprig growled out in response, which the Minion nodded in understanding to, and he turned back to Ivy. “You see, the whole thing with The Overlord yesterday was because I found Anne there and borrowed something from her. I guess they got something big planned for Anne, so they got pretty mad about that, but it’s all okay now and Anne can go out and watch our town with a bit of supervision now. You know, since we did such a good job helping them.” Sprig finished with a deep breath and a big smile as he watched Ivy slowly process everything. Both were quiet, with only Anne’s screams of pain filling the air, until finally…

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

“...Really?”

“Oh yeah. I was honestly wondering why The Overlord hasn’t taken prisoners yet. I’m kinda worried about the ‘plans’ they have, but as long as Anne’s safe, we can figure that out, right?” Ivy elbowed Sprig’s arm and he laughed a little as he rubbed it.

“Yeah, I already have an idea of what to do about that. Don’t tell anyone that though.” Ivy nodded and mimed zipping her lips just as Anne came over with her tongue hanging out.

“Ah cahn feel mah tongue,” she mumbled while gently prodding it. She then saw Ivy and raised an eyebrow at her. “Who ahr ‘ou?”

“This is Ivy Sundew: longtime childhood friend and occasional sparring partner,” Sprig answered as Ivy walked up to Anne.

“Sprig told me about you. You seem pretty cool,” Ivy said and held out a hand to Anne, who shook it after a second. “Sorry that you have to end up as The Overlord’s prisoner though. Hope you're doing alright.”

“Uh…” Anne looked at Sprig, who winked at her, and she sucked in her tongue and said, “Eh, it's not so bad. Beats mud and mosquitos.” For some reason, that got Anne a few pats on the arm from Ivy.

“It's okay. It'll get better.” Anne blinked at her as Ivy turned and said, “Well, I'll let you get back to swimming. I'll see you around Sprig.” She then got right up in Sprig's face and added, “Because you won't be seeing me! ” And, with a laugh, Ivy sprinted into the forest with Sprig waving her off.

“See you Ivy!” he called out before turning to Anne and freezing at her expression. A smirk that spoke of plans and evil that made Sprig's skin run cold.

“Well, she was cute.” Sprig suddenly felt slimy at the way Anne said that.

“I don't know what you're talking about. We’re just friends.” Sprig crossed his arms, which didn't help when Anne picked him up into a side hug.

“Ah, don't worry, Sprig. I won't try anything today. You'll never know when I'm ready to strike there. ” Sprig gulped nervously at that, though he probably should have saved that for when Anne held up a Pain Pepper in front of him. “Your turn to eat this.”

“...Okay.”

“After that, Sprig and Ivy spread the word about ‘what happened’ to me. Now I can go around and watch frogs walk around eggshells around me. Like so.” Anne looked to her right at a random table of frogs that had been looking at her, only to suddenly get very interested in their cups once she looked. Anne laughed quietly and said, “Man, this is a different kind of entertainment than what I usually do.”

“...What are you planning to do with Sprig?” Polly asked with a suspicious squint at Anne.

“That, my dear Polly, is for another day. Now drink your tea.” Anne returned to drinking her tea and, while Polly didn’t want to drop the subject, she reluctantly grabbed the straw and took a sip.

“Eh, not my thing.”

“Yeah, you seem the type to like her coffee black.”

“Hop Pop won't let me have coffee anymore, not after I nearly destroyed the house once.”

“That also tracks.” The two fell into silence, of which Polly lasted five seconds before groaning.

“This is so boring! Why does Sprig get to go on crazy adventures where you almost get eaten and I get tea time and dress up? Why can't we do something like that?!”

“Maybe I don't want to get eaten? Maybe I don't want to almost die twice in one day? Maybe I just want to relax with a girl friend instead of being surrounded by morons begging to do something dangerous? You ever think of that, Polly?”

“Well, why not just do this with other ‘girl friends’?”

“Like I can?” Anne roughly set her cup down and growled out, “the only two girls I'd ever do this with aren't here and might not ever be here. All I have is you, so can you please at least pretend to be having a good time?!”

“Nope. This isn't working.” The two stared at each other, neither backing down. Then Anne sighed, closed her eyes, and slouched onto her hand.

“I know. I'm not stupid, not when it counts. Just in every other way.”

‘Oof,’ Polly thought and looked around the tea house. Thankfully everyone else was too wrapped in their own business to worry about theirs. After a moment of awkward silence where Polly watched Anne stare into her tea, Polly gave a small cough and asked, “So… two other girls? Who are they?” Anne didn't react at first, but she sighed and sat up straight after a second.

“Sasha and Marcy. They’ve been my best friends for as long as I can remember and we always used to do stuff like this. They were with me when I got zapped here, so it’s possible they came with me, but I haven’t found them yet. I’m worried about them and have been trying to keep myself busy to keep from getting too distracted about it. I am very busy.”

“Huh. And they both like this froufrou stuff?”

“Sasha more than Marcy. You’re a lot like Marbles, always bored of stuff like this without something to toy with.”

“And why do you think that is?” Anne had the gall to look genuinely confused at the question and Polly tried, but failed, to hide her annoyance. “Okay, look, all I’m saying is I’m fine with going on some wacky adventures, but it’s got to be something we both like. Don’t force me into things I obviously won’t like.”

“Yeah, but…” Anne paused before shaking her head and clapped her hands, “Actually, how about this? Let’s finish our tea and these probably disgusting scones first, and then we can do something you want to do, no matter how ungirly it is. Does that sound good?” Polly smiled, and Anne returned it and picked up her cup. “So, what do you want to do?”

“Oh, you know what I want to do,” Polly answered, her smile widening into a wicked grin. Anne thought about that for a moment before she also grinned.

“My girl.” Anne tapped her cup against Polly’s, sealing the pact.

Frogs screamed as they suddenly found their town invaded. Doors were beaten down by disgusting monsters and the residents forced out, sometimes through a window. Following the monsters was the clanking of heavy armor and a high-pitched evil laugh. The population were forced into the main square, the monsters surrounding them on all sides, and where they watched in horror as their toad mayor was thrown to the ground by their leader.

“That should be everyone,” they said as they planted a boot on the mayor's back and an axe next to his head, the laughter continuing from them. “Now I know what you're all thinking, so I'll answer. I am…”

The laughter continued, enough that it was actually throwing Anne off of her game. She reached up to her helmet and picked up a pollywog that had been riding atop it. She swung her rolling pin and laughed, confident the black cloth mask over her eyes would obscure her identity despite the bow.

“Kind of overdoing it, Battlemaster.”

“Sorry Overlord, I'm just so amped to be here!” Polly said and hopped out of Anne's hand onto the mayor.

“Understandable,” Anne nodded and looked back at the gathered people. “As I was saying, I am The Overlord of the Dark Tower. As of now, you are part of my domain, just like many before you.”

“Yeah!”

“What do you want?” A frog woman asked, which Anne laughed softly at.

“Everything, to start.”

“You won't get away with this,” the mayor groaned and looked up at Anne, “when Captain Grime hears about this-”

“Who said you can talk?!” Polly shouted and brought her pin down on the toad's head, knocking him out cold. Polly then spat on him and growled out, “Trash!”

“No, she's an innocent tadpole! Turned into that!”

“What can we do against such corrupting evil?!”

“Please leave us in peace!”

The frog's cries were like music to Anne, even if she had to mentally laugh at the accusations.

‘I corrupted her? I think I'm four years too late for that.’ That aside, Anne picked up her axe and pointed it at the frogs. “Your peace can only be bought. Gather your food and bring it to me. Appease me, and you can return to your ‘peace’.”

“Get going, before you find out what pain is really like!” Polly finished and pointed her rolling pin at the crowd. They screamed and ran through the gaps the Minions made for them. While the Minions followed to watch them, Anne knelt down so Polly could hop into her hand. “See? Now this is fun.”

“Yeah, beats that massage idea the tea lady offered. I guess I really was overthinking everything today. Sorry about all that.”

“Eh, this makes up for it. It's not like you're a normal girl anymore either, right?”

“Guess so, though I take offense to it.” A crash drew the girls' attention to a few Minions running out of a building, the last one having a plunger on his face, which they couldn't help but laugh at. “You know what, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.”

“Me too. Now can we walk around? I want to hit somebody with Dorris.”

“Of course. I want to see what they have anyway.”

“Oh, you think they have squash here?”

Night had fallen by the time Hop Pop and Sprig were done sprucing up the basement for Anne. Well, mostly it was Hop Pop since Sprig had been trying to keep Domino 2 hidden, which was a lot easier said than done. Sprig only really relaxed when they were both back in the living room where Hop Pop couldn't see her and where she couldn't try to bite them.

“Thanks for the help, Hop Pop,” Sprig said once they were up and he closed the door to the basement. “Anne will love this.”

“It would have gone faster if you helped instead of dancing around and posing like you're hiding something.” Hop Pop gave Sprig a suspicious look and asked, “And why does Anne need so many small toys that pets like?”

“Uh, you mean like Charlie Bigbottom? He liked toys.”

“And that's the problem! He left them everywhere! Why, one time he left a pile of them in the toilet, and guess who had to pick them out!” Sprig let out a small sigh of relief at the dodged subject. Frog bless Charlie Bigbottom, wherever he is. Mid rant, Hop Pop suddenly stopped and clamped Sprig's mouth shut. “Wait, I just realized something!”

“Hm?”

“Polly isn't home yet! She must still be with Anne!” Hop Pop let Sprig go and started pacing in a panic. “Where could they have gone? Is she alright? Did Anne finally break and eat a frog?! I know Polly is cute as a gum drop, but she doesn't taste like one!” His panic was cut short when the front door was kicked open and Anne came in with Polly.

“In the house, baby!” Anne cheered.

“Best girl's time ever!” Polly cheered.

“Amphibia will fear PollyAnne!”

“Still don't like that name!”

“Oh, there they are,” Hop Pop said calmly before he pointed at Polly and sternly said, “Polly Plantar, where have you been? Do you know what time it is?!”

“That’s my fault,” Anne said holding up a hand, “we lost track of time at my place.”

“Yeah, and we had a great day before too,” Polly added, “I mean, I wasn’t all there for the spa and tea, but the rest of the day made up for it!”

“Nothing like pillaging a village to help you relax. We should make this a weekly thing.” Hop Pop’s jaw dropped and Polly sighed.

“Thanks for ruining my chance to ease Hop Pop into it, Anne.”

“He knows what I'm about. We got squash if you want some.”

“I don’t want your blood vegetables! I’m just going to forget that part ever happened. And you, Polly!” Hop Pop held out his hands and Anne handed over Polly. “It is way past your bedtime. Let’s put you to sleep.”

“But I’m not even ti-” Polly tried to argue, only for a yawn to interrupt her and she found it hard to keep her eyes open.

“Mhmm, let’s see how you feel once you're in your bucket.” Hop Pop held Polly close as he took her upstairs, with Anne giving a small wave to both of them. Now that it was just Sprig and Anne, he felt it right to speak up.

“You went to the spa without us?” Sprig asked sadly.

“Yeah… you like the spa?” Anne asked and Sprig nodded. “Huh. We'll try and go another day, okay?”

“That works. What's PollyAnne?”

“It’s our team name,” Anne answered, “we put our names together to show how close we are.”

“... It’s not a very good name though.”

“Well excuse me, I’m working on it,” Anne said with a scoff and crossed her arms.

“How come we don’t have a team name? I’ve known you for longer.”

“...Huh, I never actually thought about that.” Anne rubbed her chin for a moment before she moved to open the hatch to the basement. “Let’s talk about it after I hug my baby precious.” She went downstairs and Sprig perked up and hopped after her.

“Sure! I think I set up everything you asked for alright.” He did a backflip as he hopped into the basement and sent out his tongue to grab the hatch and close it behind him.

Anne stayed the night to help Domino 2 ‘settle in’ to her new surroundings. Evidently it was very rough since Sprig found her in the morning covered in scratches. This did nothing to deter Anne in the slightest as she dove headlong into caring for Domino 2, through bites, scratches, webbing, and the occasional dead insect. In down moments, Sprig begged and Anne eventually relented in teaching him how to use her phone. The second he figured out how to use the camera, it was over.

“And here we have the fearsome Overlord of the Dark Tower, the most dangerous and Evil being to ever walk Amphibia!” Sprig commented as he filmed a video of Anne, who was too busy rubbing her face into Domino 2’s back to attempt to stop him. “Buried under this mass of poofy hair is a diabolical mind plotting our destruction. Only time will tell if this can be stopped before it’s too late.”

Suddenly, Anne lifted her face up and asked, “Did you say something?”

“Uh… no.”

“Are you filming this?”

“Yes?”

“...Good.” She went back to rubbing her face into Domino 2 and Sprig sighed in relief.

“Anne, are you down there?” Hop Pop shouted, scaring both Anne and Sprig. Anne quickly threw a bed sheet over Domino 2 just in case and moved to the stairs.

“Yeah, I'm down here,” she called up.

“Can you come up? I need to talk to you about something.”

“Ugh, this better not be another lecture about hunting Wally. Keep an eye on Domino 2 Sprig, I'll be back.” Anne climbed out of the basement, leaving Sprig alone with Domino 2. He heard loud purring and turned to see Domino 2 staring at him with big eyes under the sheet.

“Heh heh, good caterpillar,” he said and took a step back, only to get a shot of webbing in the eyes that knocked him to the floor.

Upstairs Anne shut the door to the cellar and turned to Hop Pop. “So what's up HP? This gonna take long?”

“Don't call me ‘HP’. How old are you Anne?” Hop Pop asked.

“Thirteen.”

“...Really? I could have sworn you were older.”

“Well, I'm not. What does this have to do with anything?”

“Well, I was thinking of teaching you something that you should probably know by now. Thirteen should be old enough, I suppose. Who knows, might even help with your Overlord business. Maybe.”

“Wait wait, you know something about Overlording? I feel you're playing me, but I'm curious and it might be good for a laugh.”

“So you'll do it?” Anne nodded and Hop Pop straightened up and put his hands on his hips. “Well great, we'll do this in my study. Come on.”

Anne followed the old frog into his study, though only made it a few steps inside before she stopped. A feeling of dread washed over her as Hop Pop walked to a large book in a corner. Nothing good even came from large books.

“What are you teaching me?” Anne asked far too late.

“Well, you said you had money of your own. And with money comes financial responsibility. Which is why I'm going to teach you how to do-” the world seemed to darkened around Anne, with only Hop Pop seemingly in the light as a cruel joke. Anne was practically drowning in anxiety as Hop Pop said that last, damning word.

“Taxes.”

“No…”

“I know it's daunting. I should know, I finished my taxes a while ago and boy, it was stressful.”

“Then why do it twice? What's wrong with you?”

“I'll consider it practice, and if you learn something from it then all the better. Now, are you ready to crunch some numbers?”

Right then, Anne knew there was nothing more terrifying in this world than the old frog standing before her. No monster, no animal, not even her mother at her angriest. She didn't hesitate to make it known.

“No. No, you can't do this to me!” Anne shouted and immediately turned to sprint for the door. She barely made it out when she tripped and fell face first onto the floor. She looked back and cringed at the sight of Hop Pop's tongue wrapped around her legs. “Ew, that's going to go through my sock.”

“Don't make this harder than it has to be Anne,” Hop Pop said and started reeling Anne in by hand. Thinking quickly, Anne grabbed a door to stave off her fate, though the creak of wood and her aching grip showed it wouldn't last.

“Help me!”

“What's wrong?!” Sprig said as he hopped out of the basement covered in webbing.

“Why do people always shout?!” Polly shouted as she landed on the last step of the staircase.

“You have to stop him! He's trying to teach me taxes! ” Anne begged, her fingers aching, and hoped her only hopes would understand her plight.

“Oh,” was Polly's reaction before she started hopping upstairs, “Good luck with that.”

“I would help, but I'm kind of busy down here,” Sprig replied as he slowly backed himself up into the basement and reached for the hatch, “so…” he trailed off and shut the hatch.

“You traitors! I spare your lives and this is the thanks I get?!” Anne shouted and waved a fist in the air. She looked at the fist and realized her mistake just as her grip failed and she was dragged into the study to her doom.

“This will pay dividends for your future Anne,” Hop Pop said cheerfully, “dividends!”

“Noooooooooo!”

As a final nail, the study doors closed by themselves, leaving the young Overlord at Hopediah's mercy.

Time had ceased to exist, trapped as she was in this prison. Her gaoler had prattled on for what felt like an eternity, though it was really just a few hours, with a small break for him to cook dinner for the house. Sometimes she would regain sanity enough to listen only to fall back into blissful insanity a few seconds later. If she couldn't find a way out soon, ceasing all thought was the only possible escape from this drudgery.

That reprise did end up coming thanks to a knock on the study door and Sprig coming in. “Excuse me Hop Pop, but can I talk to Anne for a second?” he asked while trying not to look at Anne in her miserable state.

“What is it Sprig?” Hop Pop asked while turning in his seat, “I was just getting into the deductibles. You know Anne, you'd be a deductible if you lived here.”

“Kill me,” Anne begged Sprig, if not any force out there that could end her misery.

“She's really taking to it. So what is it?”

“I'd really like to talk to her in private,” Sprig answered and wringed his hands.

“Anything that can be said to her can be said to me.” Hop Pop squinted at Sprig, suspicious of his attitude and the incredibly suspicious puckered face he was making. This little standoff lasted until Sprig broke.

“I’m sorry Anne, but this might be important! I can’t find Domino 2!”

It took a few moments for Anne’s consciousness to snap back into place in reality and process what Sprig had said. Once it did, she looked at Sprig and asked, “What?” at the same time Hop Pop asked “Who?”

“So I was looking after her like you asked until Hop Pop called us for dinner, so I left her to nap. When I went back after, she was gone and all I found was this!” Sprig held up Anne’s phone to show a picture of Anne’s bed that had a massive cocoon on it. Anne, who had been listening somewhat patiently, shot to her feet and grabbed her head.

“No! My baby precious!” she shouted and ran from the room to the cellar door, barely giving it enough time to open before diving in.

“Wait, ‘baby precious’?!” Hop Pop asked as he leaped off his chair and ran out into the living room with Sprig, “That’s a pet name, for a pet! Did you sneak a pet in here?”

“I mean… I didn’t,” Sprig answered with a shrug, which only got him a scowl from Hop Pop. “Really, I just helped Anne when she couldn’t keep it at her tower! It just made her so happy when she found it, since it looked like her pet back home. It was a black caterpillar with white spots, and-”

“A black caterpillar with white spots?!”

“Yeah… sensing something wrong.” There was a crash downstairs.

“That’s no ordinary caterpillar, that’s a Coastal Kill-a-pillar! They’re dangerous amphibavores, and they only get white spots when they’re ready to pupate!” Another, louder crash came up while Hop Pop shouted, “I knew I shouldn’t have trusted you when you said that those noises were Basement Ghosts! They never sound like that!” The hatch opened slowly and Anne carefully came up and shut it behind her before turning to the frogs, her face carefully set in a neutral expression.

“Okay, good news and bad news,” she said and held up a finger. “Good news, I found Domino 2.”

“Well… that’s good,” Sprig said.

“And the bad news?” Hop Pop asked skeptically and crossed his arms.

“Well…” Anne clasped her hands together just as the hatch burst open and a giant moth reared up behind her with a loud roar. It slammed down onto its legs and looked around with its compound red eyes reflecting the lights. “Domino 2 might be a bit bigger than I remember.”

“Uh oh,” Sprig said, already looking ready to high tail it out of there.

“Now calm down,” Hop Pop whispered and put a hand on Sprig’s shoulder, “these things hunt by sound. If we’re quiet, we can get out and-”

“HEY FAMILY!” Polly shouted and hopped down the stairs, “GUESS WHO’S TURN IT IS TO SHOUT NOW!” Naturally, this got her Domino 2’s attention, which Polly only noticed once the moth looked at her and roared. Polly screamed in response and managed one hop upstairs before Domino 2 took flight and dove to scoop Polly in one of her paws.

“Polly!” Hop Pop and Sprig shouted.

“AAH! I changed my mind, Anne, I don’t want to be eaten anymore!” Polly shouted as Domino 2 turned and dove onto Sprig and Hop Pop.

“No, Domino 2!” Anne shouted and ran next to the moth as it started throwing the frog family into the air, toying with them before the meal started. “Those frogs aren’t for eating! You can eat when I find Wally!”

“It’s not going to listen, Anne! It’s just a wild animal!” Hop Pop shouted.

“No, she isn’t! We have a bond!” Anne argued, though it was proven wrong a second later when Domino 2 flapped a wing and knocked Anne back with a gust of wind. By the time Anne regained herself, Domino 2 had rolled over to pin the Plantars under her and opened her mouth to reveal a horrible green tongue. “Domino 2, no!”

“So this is how I die huh?” Sprig asked.

“Please eat Sprig first!” Polly shouted. This rapidly spiraling situation caused Anne to lower her gaze and clench her fists tightly at her sides.

“Domino 2…” Anne said and took measured steps forward. Dominion 2’s tongue was inches away from Sprig’s face when Anne grabbed it. Domino 2 screeched in surprise and tried to pull it away.

“I.”

Anne squeezed the tongue tightly, forcing the moth back enough for the Plantars to get away and press up against a wall.

“Said.”

Anne reached out with her free hand and grabbed the fur on Domino 2’s face, forcing it to look at her.

“NO!”

Anne got right into Domino 2’s face and stared right into the moth’s eyes, seeing her own eyes glowing blue in them. Domino 2 squirmed under the gaze while the lights flickered and the room darkened under Anne’s sheer presence. The moth tried to roar a challenge, only to get a slap right in the center of its face in response.

“No.” Anne said forcefully. Two more times Domino 2 tried to roar, only to get another slap and “No,” in return. After the third, Domino 2’s posture lowered and she started backing away. Anne let the tongue go and watched as Domino 2 backed into a corner purring with her ears flattened.

“Wow, cool Anne!” Sprig shouted at the sight.

“SHUT UP!” Anne shouted in response and looked at the frogs, the whole room going dark with only the light of Anne’s eyes providing any light. In this moment, Anne was truly a visage of Evil in the Plantar’s home that left them all scrambling and apologizing over each other. Anne stared at them for another moment before turning back to Domino 2. “Baby Precious, I don’t like being forceful with you, but you’re leaving me no choice,” Anne explained as she took a few steps closer to Domino 2, which the moth reacted to by lowering even further and purring louder. Anne stopped and closed her eyes to take a deep breath, letting it out slowly, and opening her eyes again to show they weren’t glowing anymore and the lights came back on.

“You know what the problem is? This house is too small. You need somewhere nice and big.” Anne reached into a skirt pocket and took out a mouse shaped cat toy and dangled it in front of her, which caused Domino 2’s ears to perk and her eyes to shine. “Come on girl, I’ll get you somewhere you’ll thrive.” Domino 2 got up slightly and started walking to Anne. “Oh, right. Predator.” Anne ran out of the Plantar house as fast as she could with Domino 2 on her heels, which she knew from the sound of a wall breaking down behind her. It would be a run back to the Tower, but Anne knew she could make it.

The Plantars moved to the open hole in the wall to watch the Kill-a-Moth fly after Anne into the night. “You know, it’s really easy to forget how terrifying she can be,” Sprig said with a slight shiver.

“A terrifying pet for an equally terrifying master,” Hop Pop said with a slight sniffle, “It reminds me of Charlie Bigbottom so much.”

“Yeah, that’s great,” Polly said dismissively, “now can we fix the GIANT HOLE IN THE WALL?! This kind of thing never happened before Anne got here.”

“That’s what you think. You should have seen what it was like when your grandmother was still around.”

“No.”

“Oh come on!”

“I said no! Absolutely not!”

Negotiations for letting Domino 2 stay at the Dark Tower were going the same as the last time: Anne for, Gnarl against, and neither budging on the matter.

“I thought you of all people would be all for this kind of thing!” Anne shouted and pointed at Domino 2, who was looking around the Throne room curiously before shuffling away.

“I didn’t want that thing here when it was a larva, why would I want it here now?” Gnarl returned.

“You don’t get it Gnarl, Domino 2 and I have a bond! I’m already getting into her head, and she-”

“Is eating all of the Minions,” Gnarl interrupted and pointed behind Anne. Anne looked back to see Domino 2 had pinned Toejam under its paws while another was dangling from her green tongue and screaming as he was drawn into her mouth with a loud crunch.

“...That’s a small price to pay to have a pet.” Anne defended 

“It’s a very large price actually. Not to mention that, as creatures of magic, Minions don’t have any nutritional value for creatures like that moth. It could, not to mention it will , eat every Minion in the Tower and get nothing from it.”

“Then I’ll get her some food she can eat.”

“That won’t- listen, Sire. I understand that you’re attached to the monster. I get attached to Overlords all the time.”

“Aww.”

“BUT we have to understand when something is simply untenable. This is one of those times, and I feel even you understand that.” Anne was quiet for a moment before she sighed sadly and grabbed an arm.

“I know. I just… never mind.” Anne took out the cat toy and held it up. Domino 2 caught sight of the toy and dropped Toejam from her tongue to advance on Anne. Anne carefully led her past the teleport pool to the ledge overlooking the forest. “I thought we could have a future together, Domino 2, but it just wasn’t meant to be.” Domino 2 let out a small growl and Anne started to tear up. “I’m sorry I couldn’t make it work!” she shouted and turned to throw the cat toy as far as she could out of the Tower.

Domino 2 soared over Anne to follow the toy into the forest. Anne watched her go until she disappeared into the trees and sighed again. She felt a hand touch her arm and looked down at Gnarl giving her a sympathetic look.

“You did the right thing for everyone Sire,” he said and patted her arm a few more times.

“I suppose.” Anne wiped away her tears and started walking to the teleport pool. “I left a bit of a mess at the Plantars. I'll clean that up and be back.”

“Whatever you feel is best, Sire.” Anne nodded and made it to the edge of the pool when she stopped.

“Toejam! Did you go on the floor again?!”

“But Sire, I was nearly eaten by a moth! You can’t blame me this time, right?”

“Don’t care! Clean it up!” And then Anne went into the teleport pool. Toejam sighed and went to get a bucket again.

Gnarl decided, for once, to have some mercy on the Minion and left to get some helping hands. By the time the mess had been cleaned up an hour or so later, Anne had come back to a clean Tower and was feeling a little better about tonight.

“Welcome back Master,” Gnarl called as Anne made her way through the throne room the stairs to her quarters. That’s when he saw the black thing in her arms and asked, “What is that?”

“Oh, this?” Anne held out a stuffed, patchwork animal that looked like a black and white caterpillar. “It’s a stuffed version of Domino 2 that Sprig made for me, from genuine hairballs and fur. Isn’t it cute?” Anne hugged the toy tightly with teary eyes.

“It’s rancid, but if it makes you happy, Sire.”

“It does. Now I’m going to bed, it’s been a long day.” Gnarl nodded and watched Anne continue to the stairs, only for her to immediately turn around and point at him. “Actually wait, I have a question for you! Actual Overlord stuff this time!”

“Yes?”

“I went pillaging with Polly the other day, and the toad mayor mentioned a ‘Captain Grime’. Does that mean anything to you?”

Gnarl rubbed his chin and hummed in thought for a moment. “If it came from a toad, then he was probably talking about the leader of the Toad Tower.”

“Toad Tower? I feel like that’s something I should know by now.”

“It’s simple, Master. Amphibia runs on a particularly brutal caste system, with frogs at the bottom and newts at the top. There are other species spread out here and there, but the important ones for this discussion are the toads in the middle of the system.”

“The middle child species huh?” Anne asked and walked to sit on her throne, putting the doll on an armrest. “I’ve seen toads around and they look pretty integrated in frog towns. What’s the difference with Toad Tower?”

“Towers, plural. The toads are responsible for overseeing, collecting taxes, and generally oppressing the frogs. Basically what we do, but the toads do it in service of the ruling newts. To service that, there are four Toad Towers that each oversee a specific part of Amphibia, one in each cardinal direction. The South Toad Tower is the one that oversees Frog Valley and all surrounding lands.”

“And this Grime is in charge of that Tower?” Anne asked and Gnarl nodded. “So basically, everything I’ve been doing since I took this throne: building an army, claiming a domain, all of it. It’s just been us getting ready to take on this Toad Tower.”

“There can only be one Overlord, in action if not title.” Anne nodded and slouched onto a hand.

“Then that means that Grime-”

“Is our ultimate target, Sire.”

“I was going to say a dead man, but I guess it’s the same thing.” Anne pushed herself up, picked up her stuffed Domino, and slowly walked to the stairs. “Now I’m really going to need some rest. Because tomorrow-” Anne squinted her eyes as they started to glow, “-we march to war.”

“Indeed, Sire,” Gnarl agreed and grinned widely as Anne walked upstairs, “I love a good war.”

Chapter Text

Finding Toad Tower wasn’t that difficult, Anne just had to ask Hop Pop where it was and he was happy to show her on a map. Getting into it was a different story, as Anne would find out once she got there in her armor along with a small force of Minions.

“Well, it’s definitely a tower,” Anne said as she looked at Toad Tower through a pair of binoculars. An imposing place surrounded by walls on an isolated mountain, with only a single bridge to connect it to any other land, the tower jutted to the sky like a jagged tree, with secondary towers coming off every few floors and draped with red flags. “I like mine better. I don’t think there’s any way for me to get in though. Those are some strong gates.”

“The Toads are always ready for an attack, mostly from each other,” Gnarl answered in her head, “While all the Toad Towers have an alliance, it’s much like a chicken bone: easily broken and very easy to choke on.”

“So you’re saying it’d be impossible to break in, especially if they're paranoid about attacks all the time.” Anne lowered the binoculars and crossed her arms. “The only way I can think to topple this tower is to either draw Grime out, or get him to let me in.”

“The former is definitely easier, Master. Get anyone angry enough and they’ll come marching for your head personally.”

“Yeah, but how easy will that be exactly? You’d think he’d have noticed what I’ve been doing by now.” The silence from the Minion Master was louder than any answer and Anne sighed. “Of course. I need to think about this a little.”

So The Overlord left with her Minions to plan for another day, unaware of a set of curious eyes watching them from Toad Tower’s highest cell.

It didn't get easier as Anne tried to work through a plan of attack. If the Toads hadn't noticed her actions before, she doubted increasing them would make any difference. Outright attacking the tower seemed suicidal, no matter how many Minions she had. Giving herself up would get her inside, but then she'd be without her Minions or armor. Even taking into account she could just teleport out, it'd still be a net loss in regards to her identity.

‘If I could get a message to him, that'd be a way. But everything I heard about Grime is that he's very action oriented since he used to be a gladiator, and not the type to deal with paperwork. Frog forbid he decide to check his mailbox in case someone wanted to duel him.’

Anne sighed and rubbed her eyes, the frustration almost too much. She only barely noticed Sprig climb up her back and lean over her shoulder.

“You alright Anne?” he asked.

“I'm fine, just frustrated,” Anne answered and crossed her arms.

“Anything we can do to help?”

“I think you should stay out of it this time, Sprig. It doesn't concern Wartwood this time, so you shouldn't worry.”

“Okay… but if you do need help, just ask.”

“Sit down boy, before you fall off Bessie again,” Hop Pop said. Sprig obeyed and sat back down as they entered Wartwood square. Immediately Anne noticed the new statue of Toadstool kissing a pollywog that stuck out like a bad boil and cringed at it.

“The heck is that?” she asked.

“Mayor Toadstool put that up a few days ago to ‘celebrate his love for this town's people’. Not a very good statue if you ask me, the thing is constantly under maintenance.”

“Sounds just like Toadstool. Hey wait, as a mayor he can send messages to Toad Tower right?”

“Yeah, but don't hold your breath. He said he sent a letter about The Overlord weeks ago, but hasn't heard anything since.”

“Poo.” Once again, another plan stymied by Grimes's refusal to check the mail. Now Anne wanted to kill him for reasons other than her job. ‘Seriously, how hard is it to check it, or even order someone else to do it?!’

Anne's pondering came to a halt when Bessie did and Hop Pop ordered everyone off. “Alright kids, I have to pick up some new ascots, so you all go get a snack while I do that,” Hop Pop said as he handed out some Coppers to each of them.

“Thanks Hop Pop,” Sprig said.

“Your mistake, old man,” Polly said as Sprig lifted her up onto his head.

“So do I have to pay you back like always?” Anne asked once she got her coins.

“Nope, my treat,” Hop Pop answered and waved her off, “now skedaddle, I got a date with some quality neckwear.”

Anne watched him walk into an ascot store (which was apparently a thing) before she followed Sprig and Polly into a general store. There wasn't much to write home about, since it reminded Anne of any given convenience store she had been to on Earth, so she started idly wandering the aisles while thinking over her Toad problem. Unfortunately nothing was sticking out to her either in the store or in terms of plans. At this point, it really seemed that charging Toad Tower’s gates and hoping for the best was her only-

“Holy frog, is that beetle jerky?!” Anne stopped in her tracks at the sight of the snack on a shelf, “And it’s the last bag too! Sweet!” Anne paused for a moment as she realized what she was getting excited over and let out a huff. “I’ve been here too long.”

She reached for the back, only for a tongue to latch onto it and take it away before she could react. She watched the tongue go back to its owner and felt a surge of anger when she saw him. “Wally, I called dibs on that!”

“You snooze, you lose, Scarecrow!” Wally replied and hopped out of sight.

“I'll kill you!”

Wally paid her no mind and stopped at the counter to pay. He barely had time to reach into a pocket when something crashed down behind him. He and the clerk looked to find Anne on top of the fallen shelf glaring at Wally with murder in her eyes.

“Wally!”

“AAAH!” Here you go!” Wally shouted as he threw a fistful of coins at the clerk, “keep the change, I gotta go!” Wally ran outside and hopped away just as Anne reached the counter.

“I know where you live, you one-eyed freak!” Anne shouted and slapped a jar of cockroaches off the counter onto the floor, paying no mind as the jar shattered and the roaches escaped every which way.

“My store! What are you going to do about this, Scarecrow?” the clerk asked, immediately earning Anne's ire. A few seconds later, the clerk escorted Anne to the door and ordered her, “Stay out, Scarecrow!”

At least that's what Anne thought he said, what with the pumpkin smashed over his head muffling his voice. Not that Anne cared for his demands either, as she showed by kicking him in the crotch on her way out, leaving him groaning on the ground as she marched back to Bessie. Sprig followed out, rapidly apologizing all around, and Polly laughing at the clerk's pain from atop her brother’s head.

“These frogs are as good at retaining lessons as I am,” Anne grumbled under her breath. Her angry march was interrupted by a sudden bark that spooked her enough to jump and fall to the ground, where a spider and its owner walked over her.

“Watch where you're going, Scarecrow,” Mrs. Croaker said without even looking down at Anne.

“You're lucky I like you, old hag!” Anne shouted back.

“Like that's worth anything.” Anne squinted at the old woman, but let her go on her way. Anne picked herself up and started to brush off some dirt when Sprig and Polly caught up.

“Are you okay? Sprig asked.

“No, I'm not,” Anne answered while taking a moment to adjust the twig in her hair before turning to Sprig, “because this whole town seems to constantly have a death wish!”

“You should fit right in then,” Polly said.

“You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?”

“What's going on?” Hop Pop asked, having walked into the conversation with an armful of packaged ascots.

“Trying not to burn your town down.”

“And she assaulted a clerk,” Polly added.

“Again?” Hop Pop walked next to Bessie and started putting his purchases in a saddlebag while Anne ranted.

“I mean, it's insane how quickly they switched attitudes even though they know what will happen if they make me mad! And I know that they know, so why act like this?”

“That's just how frogs are here Anne,” Hop Pop said as he finished putting his things away, “they're slow to accept, even slower to respect. It's even our town motto.” Hop Pop pointed to a sign hanging off the main gate of town that said exactly that.

“Why would you be proud of that? And you're really not helping with keeping your town alive.”

“You just have to give them time.”

“Then they'll respect you,” Sprig finished.

“I don't want their respect, I want their fear . Fear that if they cross me, they'll be hanging from that gate instead of a sign.” Sprig took a step back and he and Polly had uncomfortable expressions that Anne picked up on. “And now I'm getting mad over this when I don't need to.” Anne took a step back, took a deep breath to calm down, and said, “I need to calm down. I'm going to go home, get me some tea, and I’m going to think of ways to hurt the people I'm actually mad at.”

“You… want a ride there?” Hop Pop asked nervously.

“I'm good. I could use the walk anyway.” Anne was about to leave when a droning sound caught her attention. “The heck is that sound?” she wondered as the sound grew louder. Soon the source made itself known when a large tarantula pulling a carriage sped through the main gate and skidded to a stop in the square. Once it stopped, three figures jumped off it for everyone to see.

The three were toads, an orange male, a green female with a braided ponytail, and a third that was probably male, though the helmet made that difficult to tell. After a moment of looking around, the orange one nodded and turned to the others. “This is the place,” he said and rubbed his hands together, “we got a job, so let’s get started. Pick what’ll be the most fun.” The other two nodded and (probably) smiled wickedly as they moved to the cart.

“Toads?” Sprig wondered as he peeked around Anne’s legs.

“What are they doing here?” Hop Pop wondered.

“Great, as if this day couldn’t get more annoying,” Anne said and rubbed her eyes. “I’m just gonna bounce, I’ll see you guys later.” With a wave to the Plantars, Anne started walking to the town gate.

“...She's not bouncing though?” Polly asked, confused.

“Humans are such strange creatures,” Hop Pop said, just as confused as Polly. “Either way, we should get home. Come on Sprig… Sprig?” Hop Pop looked around before Polly tapped his head and pointed to Sprig running after Anne. “Oh. Eh, he'll be fine.”

Sprig caught up to Anne, who didn't say anything to his presence, and it would have been a quiet walk back to the Tower if not for the toads noticing them as they walked past.

“Whoa, look at that!” The green toad said, “freaky looking. Wonder what it tastes like.”

“That looks like…” Orange muttered to himself. After a second, his eyes widened in recognition and jogged after Anne. “Hey, stop right there!” he said and grabbed Anne's arm. Her response was to turn around and throw a punch right into the toad's eye. He screamed and let her go to cradle his eye while the other toads stepped closer at the violence.

“Touch me again, and I'll make you regret it,” Anne warned them and took out her racket while Sprig pulled out a slingshot and readied it.

“Is that a challenge?” Green asked as she readied a spiked mace and jumped forward. She swung it down toward them, though Anne and Sprig managed to get out of the way so the only thing she hit was the ground. Being wide open, Green couldn't do much as Anne wound up and whacked her in the face with her racket, sending her flying back to the other toads with net marks on her face.

“She should have gone farther. Dang it, my swings are getting rusty,” Anne said and rotated her shoulder.

“What are we going to Anne?” Sprig asked as he moved closer to Anne, his slingshot trained on the toads.

“We’re going to kill them, duh.”

“Yeah, I don’t think I have the stomach for that.” Such a drastic plan didn’t need to happen though, since once Orange recovered he started laughing, to Anne and Sprig’s confusion. “Did you give him brain damage?”

“Here’s hoping.”

Orange laughed a bit more before he held his hands up placatingly. “You got more spunk than I thought. Guess I brought that on myself huh?”

“And more,” Anne replied with a glare and pointed her racket at him.

“Easy, we don't want to fight. Right?”

“Kinda,” Green answered while getting up before getting an elbow to the side, “I mean, no.” The helmeted one gave a simple thumbs up before going back to the cart.

“The name's Bog,” Orange, now Bog, continued before he jerked his thumb behind him, “they're Fens and Mire.”

“...Anne,” Anne replied and sent her racket on her shoulder before patting Sprig's head, “this is Sprig. Now why are you here?”

“We're collecting taxes,” Fens answered with a wicked grin.

“Taxes?” Sprig asked, lowering his slingshot, “But everyone already paid.”

“Not from what we heard,” Bog said and crossed his arms, “Some frogs didn't pay up this year, so we came to collect, no matter what.”

“There's always a few every year,” Anne said dismissively and put her racket away. “Well, you guys have fun with that, we gotta go. Come on, Sprig.” Anne started walking away and, while he looked between her and the toads briefly, Sprig started following after her.

“Actually,” Bog spoke up and rubbed his chin, “we have a bit of a long day ahead of us. What would you say to help us out with that?” Whatever reaction Bog was expecting, at the very least contemplation, he was taken aback when Anne started laughing.

“Are you serious? Look, I don't like the frogs here, but I don’t like you guys any more. Nothing personal, it's just how things go.” Suddenly Anne's phone started ringing and she let out a groan. “Now I really gotta get back to the Dark Tower. Why are they getting so antsy when I'm gone for so long?” Anne started walking away again and pulled out her phone to answer it. Sprig gave the toads a quick look before hurrying after Anne.

Bog wasn't happy about that, especially since he was certain that Anne was the same kind of creature that Captain Grime had locked up at the tower. He decided to let it go for now, since he still needed the list of back taxes from the Mayor and those taxes weren't going to collect themselves.

He'll just nab Anne on the way out for the extra bounty.

Sprig couldn't get what happened with the toads out of his head. Something about them didn't seem right, especially their reason for being here. Sprig came to a stop and glanced back at town, his instincts telling him that he had to be there.

“You coming?” Anne asked, having just noticed Sprig lagging behind and covered her phone with a hand.

“I'm… going back actually. Something's not right with those toads, so I'm going to scout them out,” Sprig answered and turned to Anne, “Do you want to help?”

“Wish I could, but with the way Gnarl's talking, I need to be there now. I hope nothing flooded again. You do you, Sprig ” Anne uncovered her phone and said into it, “No, I heard you. I'm teleporting in now.” Anne put her phone away, waved at Sprig, then raised her hand and disappeared in a flash of light.

‘That must be so convenient,’ Sprig thought and started back towards town, where he caught up with and started quietly trailing the toads as they pulled their cart through town. Soon they came to their first stop and Sprig settled in some bushes to watch as they went up to and forcibly entered Wally’s house.

When the crashes came from inside, Sprig knew something was definitely up. He moved just a bit closer to hear the toads talk as they loaded their cart with whatever they could: plates, furniture, a bag of beetle jerky? All the while Wally was yelling and pleading for them to stop, which they didn’t until they all started leaving.

“Next time, don’t be late with your taxes,” Bog said with a hearty laugh while Wally watched sadly from the door with only a towel and his hat on.

“Okay, that is weird. Wally always pays his taxes! What's going on?” Sprig was about to follow the toads when a rustling from the woods behind him caught his attention. After a few hops into the trees, Sprig found the rustling was coming from Mayor Toadstool and Toadie, the latter carrying a large sack.

“Hurry Toadie, the tax toads will only be distracted for so long,” Toadstool said.

“Coming sir!” Toadie replied, not noticing the bag caught a branch that tore open enough of a hole for a single Copper coin to fall out. Sprig waited until the two of them were away a bit before he jumped down from the tree and picked up the coin.

“A Copper? Mayor? Tax Toads? Hole in bag?” Sprig wondered and looked to where Toadstool had gone. He pocketed the coin and hopped after him, certain the root of today's problem lay with the Mayor.

Sprig wasn't the only one that was doing some spying. Snot, one of many Minions that The Overlord had tasked with watching the towns under her Dark Domain, had seen the altercation between his Dark Lord and the Tax Toads. If the Overlord deemed the toads worthy of spying, as she had told her frog companion, then Snot was going to see the task through.

So far, the toads had been going around town stealing everything that wasn't theirs and making it theirs. That wouldn't do, that was the Minions job!  Even worse, they were saying repeatedly that it was going to Toad Tower, which wasn't the right tower at all. His brain hurt as the dots slowly connected until he decided it would be better to tell The Overlord and Master Gnarl about this and let them do the thinking.

Snot left the toads to ravage some tea shop and ran for the nearest Minion Burrow, sure that his masters would know what to do.

“You really needed me to just sit here for a while and let them see me? They were that upset?” There were a lot of things about this Overlord thing Anne had trouble understanding, but this one was still out there.

“The Minions thrive under an Overlord, and while they know you're here, we've never had an Overlord that spends long stretches of time away from the Tower,” Gnarl explained while shooing the last Minion away. “Seeing you here puts their minds at ease so they can focus on action.”

“Ugh, it's like training a pet that you leaving the house doesn't mean you disappear for good.” Anne slouched onto an arm and sighed, “It doesn't fill me with confidence that most of my evil Minions can be handily outsmarted by my cat.”

“Ah, but can your cat wield a blade in your name and spread your evil across the world?” Anne didn’t answer and, in fact, seemed to be really thinking about her answer to Gnarl’s concern. “That was rhetorical, Master.”

“You haven’t seen Domino when she’s mad,” Anne said and sunk deeper into thought, “Maybe if I get her to wear a vest and teach her how to use a knife…”

“Master!” Anne and Gnarl perked up and looked as a Minion ran into the throne room from the nest room.

“Snot? What are you doing here?”

“Toad! Town! Money! Brain!” Snot said before falling to his knees clutching his head.

“Hey, enough of that! What did I say about thinking?” Gnarl asked as he walked over to Snot and took one of his hands off his head.

“...Don’t do it?”

“Exactly. Now what did you see that got you so excited?” Gnarl let Snot go and, after a moment of deep breaths, Snot continued.

“Toads are in Wartwood stealing things we should steal! And worse, they are taking it to a tower for toads instead of here!”

“To Toad Tower?!” Gnarl asked and angrily clenched his fists tightly while Anne’s eyes widened in realization. “The nerve! How dare they attack our domain so blatantly!”

“Oh,” was Anne’s response, which got her a look from Gnarl. “I… may have passed by and thrown some punches at them on my way here. They said they were collecting taxes too. In hindsight, it makes a whole lot of sense that they came from Toad Tower.”

“And this is only coming up now, Sire?”

“I was frustrated that the frogs were making me more mad than usual and I had to come here to assure the Minions I hadn’t disappeared for good. Sorry if I was a little busy.”

“Well, now your Domain is under attack, and I hope I don’t have to explain a Domain that looks weak reflects on its Overlord.”

“I know. But look at it this way, this is perfect!” Anne stood up and put her hands together, “I’ve been stuck on how to get a message to Grime for a while, but now I have it! All I have to do is beat those three to near death, though now that I think about it you only need one person to deliver a message, and have them tell Grime about me! My Domain will be defended, I can let some anger out healthily, and Grime will finally know I’m coming for him! Kill three birds with one stone in the best way: intense violence!” Snot cheered and Gnarl chuckled in approval while Anne to the forge for her armor, giggling all the while.

“Now, Snot,” Gnarl said and turned to Snot, “for bringing this to our attention, you may either have first hit against the toads or-”

“FIRST HIT!” Snot cried out.

“...This is why you’re such a good guard.”

Sprig had been following the Mayor and Toadie for a while, with them making some stops to put more money into the bag, until finally they reentered Wartwood and moved behind a maintenance flap that was around the new statue. With his suspicion only growing, Sprig hopped over and jumped to the top of the partition to peek over. Inside he saw the Mayor emptying the bag into the statue, which had a hatch to access the inside.

“This was a great idea!” Toadstool said inspecting his claws, "Taking all the tax money for ourselves while letting those tower goons run amok, and hiding it all literally in front of them!”

“You come up with such great ideas, sir,” Toadie said as he shook the bag to make sure it was empty. Once it was, Toadstool closed the hatch with a chuckle.

“And once this day is over, no one will be any wiser about what happened.”

“But I am!” Sprig shouted as he leaned over fully over the top. Toadstool and Toadie jumped back while Sprig continued, “I can't believe you're stealing everyone's taxes for yourself! Have you no shame?”

“A little, but you have to understand! This money is better used in my hands.”

“People are getting everything they own stolen and you don't care! We’ll see if you do when I tell everyone about this!”

“Now we can't have that.” Toadstool punched a fist into his hand, “but get down here and let's talk.”

“You'll need to watch me first, Fatty!” Sprig jumped off the partition and started hopping away. A crash briefly drew his attention behind him, and laughed at the sight of the Mayor having tripped over the partition, causing the whole thing to come down around him. Sprig continued to hop away, with Toadstool barely managing to keep pace.

The clouds were starting to darken over the Plantar farm. Not that either Hop Pop or Polly really knew as they were in the kitchen making dinner and reluctantly watching dinner be made respectively. It was really only enjoyable for one of them.

“Are you almost done, Hop Pop?” Polly asked from the table, where she was leaning against one of her flippers.

“Cooking takes time, sweetie,” Hop Pop said as he grabbed a head of lettuce, “why don’t you go play while I finish up?”

“Fine.” Polly hopped off the chair she had been on and hopped into the living room. She was almost to the couch when a knocking came at the door. After a glance to see if Hop Pop was coming, Polly hopped over to answer it and found Bog outside.

“Hi,” he said, seconds before Polly slammed the door in his face.

“Hop Pop, it's for you!” Polly shouted.

Hop Pop came out of the kitchen grumbling, “Always when I'm at the best part.” He picked up Polly at the door, and opened it to ask, “Can I help you?”

Bog, irritated at the treatment, simply said, “Yes. We're here to collect your taxes.”

“Oh no!” Hop Pop said, incensed in a way Polly hardly ever seen, and marched outside while closing the door behind him. “I've seen this happen before. Let me guess, I didn't pay my taxes?”

“Yup. The list said so,” Bog answered and held up his list, with Fens nodding in agreement and Mire standing silently.

“And now you'll take anything to cover it. I know a racket when I see one! Well, you're not taking anything from my house, I already paid my taxes!”

“That ain't what the list says.”

“Well, it's wrong! Now get lost!”

“Look old timer,” Bog said as he put his list away, “I'm trying to be reasonable. Don't make me hurt you.” That only got a glare from Hop Pop and Polly.

“That's a big snail,” Fens said and pointed at Bessie, idly eating some snail feed next to the house, “that should cover everything, don't you think Bog?”

“Oh yeah. Grab the snail.” Fens nodded and she and Mire stomped over to Bessie, who gave a distressed chirp and hid in her shell when she saw them. Suddenly, Hop Pop jumped between the toads and Bessie.

“Don't even think of touching Bessie! Get off my property now!” Hop Pop shouted.

“Yeah, or you'll regret it!” Polly added. Something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention and when she turned a bit she got a big smile. “Oh ho!”

“I think you’ll regret it first,” Fens said and hoisted her mace and advanced on the frogs. Hop Pop flinched, but didn't move while Polly was more engaged with what was coming. Fens raised her mace and brought it down, while Hop Pop closed his eyes to await impact.

Only the clanking of armor and the sound of metal hitting metal came instead of pain. Hop Pop cracked open an eye to find Fens's mace had met with a familiar axe, with the toad staring in shock at an armored Anne. Hop Pop himself stumbled back with a yelp at the Overlord’s sudden appearance while Polly was shaking excitedly in her grandfather's grip.

“What in the-?!” Fens said.

“Now, we don't want to do something you'll regret,” Anne said before she grabbed her axe with both hands and forced Fen’s mace up and away and used the opening to land a solid kick on the toad's chest. Fens was sent flying back a few feet onto her back, her mace landing close by, and Mire backed up at the show of force. Bog growled and moved up in front of Fens.

“And who are you?” He asked as the first drops of rain started to fall. Anne gave her axe a quick spin before planting it head first in the ground at her side with one hand on the top of the handle.

“I-”

“Presenting-” Polly shouted suddenly and appeared next to Anne, “The Overlord of the Dark Tower! Lord of Darkness, Master of Evil, and your greatest nightmare! You're in trouble now!”

“...I can introduce myself.”

“Sorry, I just wanted to do that once,” Polly said completely unapologetically before she was picked up by Hop Pop again and pulled away.

“Overlord? What's that supposed to mean?” Bog asked as Fens got back to her feet.

“Exactly as it sounds. This town, not to mention most of this valley, is under my Dominion. You toads are trespassers here, and I don't take kindly to that.”

“Trespassers? Don't make me laugh,” Fens said, picking up her mace.

 “This town is under Captain Grimes's Toad Tower,” Bog added.

“Not anymore. The Toads time is over and the rule of The Overlord is now. You are not welcome here, though this is a great opportunity for me.” Anne moved to grip her axe properly and pulled it off the ground.

“Hey, look,” Bog said and held up his hands, “That quarrel is for the Captain. I'm just collecting taxes.” Anne narrowed her eyes at the toad before turning to Hop Pop.

“Is that true?”

“That’s what they say, but I already paid my taxes!” Hop Pop said.

“You don't have to remind me,” Anne said quietly, the trauma of taxes still fresh in her mind. Pushing that aside, she looked back at the toads, “I know you have collected from others. Were they all ‘behind’ as well?”

“Yup,” Bog answered with a nod, “Everyone on my list didn't pay.”

“And how many frogs are on that list?”

“This whole town actually.”

“Say what?!” Hop Pop shouted, voicing his surprise along with Polly and Anne's as their eyes widened. Anne's posture broke a little and she slouched as she took in this revelation.

“And that doesn't sound suspicious at all? An entire town not paying their taxes despite saying otherwise?” Anne hoped she had missed something, because there was no way this was happening.

“Nope,” Bog answered, shattering Anne's hopes, “The list says they didn't pay, so we collect. Everyone tries to get out of this anyway.”

Anne couldn't believe what she was hearing. These morons saw their job and didn't think anything was weird at all? Her grip on her axe loosened a little as she came to the horrifying conclusion that these toads might actually be dumber than her Minions. Gnarl hadn't said anything the whole time, but she could easily imagine his astonishment.

Or maybe he knew this already and wasn't surprised at all. Either way, it was disturbing.

Anne, trying very hard to keep her composure, turned to Hop Pop and asked, “You give money to these idiots ?”

“Hey!”

“Well, they're ruthless, violent, and have plenty of weight to throw around,” Hop Pop said and counted off some fingers. He then squinted at Anne and added, “It's why we give our food to you.”

‘Well, damn, can't deny that,’ Anne thought and nodded before looking at the toads. “Well, that aside, it doesn't change anything. You're still intruders and I don't want you here. Now I want to kill you just on principle; your deaths can only be good for the ecosystem.”

“Oh buddy,” Bog said and drew a hammer with a wicked grin, “you're making a big mistake.” Fens lifted her mace and Mire widened his stance.

“No,” Anne said and waved Hop Pop away. He backed up with Polly as Anne lifted her axe and gripped it firmly with both hands. “You made yours by coming here.”

Now the rain was really coming down as The Overlord and the toads stared each other down. Anne ground her boots into the earth and narrowed her gaze at the toads, each side waiting for the other to break first. That turned out to be the toads, as Fens had enough of waiting and charged Anne with a yell. Anne waited for Fens to swing her mace before she deflected it with her axe and knocked her back with the flat of the blade.

Bog charged right after and managed to land a hit on Anne’s chest, knocking her back onto her knees where Mire grabbed her axe arm. Anne growled and retaliated with a point blank fireball to his face. Naturally, super hot fire and a metal helmet is not a good combination and Mire screamed and ran away clawing at his helmet as hot metal burned his skin. Anne got back to her feet and swung her axe to block another blow from Bog.

“Now you really-” Bog started to say before Anne deflected his hammer down and away suddenly and punched him square in the face. Bog stumbled back, giving Anne enough time to ready herself and swing fully at Bog. The blade hit squarely on Bog’s left horn, breaking it off at the base, and hit his other horn to send him down.

With Bog down and grabbing his broken horn, Fens growled and let out another roar, charging at the Overlord before jumping up for a powerful downward attack. Anne saw it coming and held up a hand to cast another spell. She felt a drain of mana before it pushed out, creating a dome shield that blocked even the raindrops. Fens, fully committed to the attack, screamed and swung her mace as hard as she could to try and break the shield.

She instead hit the shield and was stopped dead. If anything, it may have rippled a little before the blowback sent Fens flying onto her back. She groaned and shook the dizziness away in time to find Anne looming over her, glowing eyes boring into her and axe raised high before coming down on her right elbow. Fens screamed and rolled away from the axe, leaving the arm behind, and grasped at the stump leaving herself open for Anne to stomp onto her back and grind her into the ground.

This whole time though, Mire had been panicking and looking for a way to cool his helmet, which he found in the pond behind the Plantar home. He ran and dunked his head in the water, screaming the entire time, until it was cooled enough. He pulled his head up, already wincing at the burns he had gotten, and looked back at the fight that was not going well, save for The Overlord not looking at him.

“Now, about who made a mistake,” Anne said as she stepped off Fens and raised her axe again, ready to cut off the toad's head.

“Behind you!” Polly shouted, though too late. By the time Anne started looking behind her, Mire had jumped onto her back. The impact shook her grip and she dropped her axe, and the toad was stronger than he looked (and he already looked plenty tough) and wrapped his arms under hers and locked his hands behind her head, leaving Anne's arms sticking out to the side.

Bog, seeing his chance with Anne distracted, got up, grabbed his hammer, and charged. He wound up and swung as hard as he could into Anne's stomach, a blow that she felt even through the armor, and let out a wheezing breath as Bog wound another blow to her left knee. There was a crack as the knee broke from the blow and Anne was forced onto her good knee. Even with the pain, Anne growled and glared at Bog, who was definitely looking pleased.

“Nice try,” he said as he lifted his hammer, “but look on the bright side, we'll get a bonus for bringing you to the Captain.” Anne said nothing as Big lifted his hammer higher, ready to strike.

There was a flash of lightning and a crash of thunder, both hiding the whistling of a stone as it flew forward and hit Bog in the eye, forcing him to drop his hammer and grab it.

“Why that eye?!”

“Finally, I found you!” Anne, along with anyone who could look, turned to see Sprig nearby with his slingshot aimed at the toads. Behind him were an assortment of town frogs, each angry and determined as they continued to form up. Sprig looked back at them and shouted, “Are we just going to stand here and let them steal everything from us, even though we all did everything right?”

“Heck no!” Mrs. Croaker shouted and gripped her cane tightly while Archie let out a small bark on her head.

“Gimme back me pants!” Wally shouted, clad only in a towel. The rest of the frogs shouted similar sentiments as they all advanced with whatever they had ready as weapons. By the time Bog could see clearly, there were a lot of frogs with pitchforks (torches not included due to inclement weather.)

“You gotta be kidding me,” Bog muttered and picked up his hammer. With Fens down and Mire preoccupied, this might be too much to deal with. It then became too much when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw The Overlord clench their fists, their eyes glowed brighter, and Bog felt something shift in the air.

That's when spears landed around him and the Minions came out of the woodwork. Screaming and howling for blood, they charged past the town frogs and quickly surrounded the Plantar’s front yard. The townsfolk stopped from surprise and fear and the toads trapped on all sides with spears, swords, knives, and one rake pointed at them.

And then there was Mire, in the very unfortunate position of attacking their Overlord. Two Minions made their displeasure known by jumping onto Mire's back and each biting down onto some exposed skin on his arms. Mire screamed in pain and let go of Anne, falling to the ground and backing up while trying to get the monsters to release their bites. He didn't see the third Minion get behind him and get on his hands and knees so the toad will trip and fall over him onto his back.

The nearby Minions charged the instant he was on the ground, pinning down Mire's arms and legs. One very excited Minion jumped over them onto Mire's chest, where he started to bash his dagger handle against the toad's helmet. “First strike! First strike!” he chanted with each smash until he broke the latch for the helmet's visor and ripped it open. Snot roared into Mire's small face, with the toad screaming back in fear, before he raised his dagger and drove the blade into Mire's eye.

First blood set the Minions loose and they all descended on Mire with fists, feet, blades, and teeth. That was as far as Polly saw before Hop Pop covered her eyes.

“Hop Pop, I was watching that!” Polly complained and tried to move her grandfather's hand with her flippers.

“No, you aren’t!” Hop Pop said and flinched as Mire's beating continued and his screams gave way to wet gurgles. Several of the frogs that had come did the same, though Sprig continued to the Minion line.

‘Okay, always lead with the Minions. That's what I get for trying to show off,’ Anne thought and shook her head before raising her left hand. “Dribble, come here,” she ordered and watched a Minion with a backpack separate from the crowd and come over to her. He dug through the pack until he pulled out a large glass vial filled with a red liquid.

“For you!” he said as he held the vial out to Anne. Anne took the vial, pulled the cork out, and started drinking the concoction. It tasted like cough syrup going down, but the effect was noticeable as the pain started disappearing and Anne could feel her knee mend itself and pop back into place. She didn’t stop until she had drunk the entire vial and waited for the healing to finish while taking some deep breaths and the residual magic bled through her armor in a red mist.

Then, to Bog and Fens horror, Anne pushed herself back to her feet and discarded the vial. Anne took a moment to test bend her knees, feeling the healed one was sore yet manageable, and nodded. ‘I’m never going to doubt those potions you insisted I take again,' she thought and got only an approving hum from her Minion Master, though the message was clear. Dribble went the extra step of getting Anne’s axe and holding it up for her to take, which she did with a follow up swing as she faced the toads.

“Round two,” she said and advanced on them.

In this situation, facing down someone who just healed from devastating injuries, one of his teammates dead and the other literally disarmed, and surrounded by both fierce monsters and very angry frogs, Bog did what was probably the smartest thing he did that day. He dropped his hammer, raised his hands, and shouted, “Wait, we surrender!”

“Not accepted,” Anne said and gripped her axe with both hands. Bog stepped back in horror.

Then Sprig, in another one of his ill-thought out plans, decided to jump over the Minion line and stand between Anne and the toads. “Stop!” he then shouted and held his arms out in front of Anne.

“Now is not the time for this! Get out of my way!”

“But they're surrendering! There's no reason to kill them!”

“I can think of plenty. Like breaking my knee.” Anne glared at Bog, who swallowed a lump in his throat.

“Well…” Sprig faltered a little before shaking his head and standing firmer. “No! There's no reason to fight at all! I found the taxes they were looking for!”

“You what?!” Bog shouted, something which plenty of the other frogs started muttering about. That wasn’t enough to convince Anne, but Gnarl chose then to clear their throat.

“If I may Master, you did say you wanted the toads to deliver a message to Grime. While not impossible, it’s much harder if they’re all dead.”

‘Oh… yeah, I forgot that plan with the broken knee and all,’ Anne thought as she lowered her axe, causing Sprig to relax and let out a breath he had been holding. “And what happened to it?” Anne asked. Before Sprig could answer, there was a rustling in some nearby bushes that drew everyone’s attention. After a moment, Mayor Toadstool came out wheezing and bent over.

“Too fast. Whew, I am… out of shape. Gotta cut back on those cricket nuggets,” the toad said as he fought to get his breath. For Anne, the mayor’s appearance answered so many questions that all she could do was sigh and rub her eyes.

“Don’t tell me…”

“Yeah…” Sprig said sympathetically before pointing at the mayor and shouting, “It was him! He stole all the town's money and kept it for himself!”

The townsfolk gasped and looked at Toadstool with shock and anger, to say nothing of what Bog was giving him. This was very much not the center of attention Toadstool wanted, and all he could say was, “Uh oh.”

“I really shouldn't be surprised,” Anne muttered and pulled her hand down to look at Sprig. “So where is it?”

“I'll show you,” Sprig answered and started hopping away, with both the Minions and town frogs moving to let him through. While the frogs started following Sprig, Anne raised a hand to get her Minion’s attention.

“Bring the toads along. All of them,” she ordered. The Minions sprang into action, with one group moving on Bog and Fens while another advanced on Toadstool with evil chuckles. Anne was about to move too when she felt someone tap her arm and she looked down at Hop Pop and Polly.

“What about that?” Hop Pop asked and jerked around thumb back at the pile of Minions that had taken Mire. Anne cringed a little at just how far they were going with the beating.

“They'll clean up after themselves,” Anne answered.

“They better. I don't want a dead toad on my lawn.”

“I said they will!”

Sprig led everyone onto Wartwood and stopped at the Mayor's new statue. “Of course…” Anne muttered as Sprig turned to her and pointed at the statue.

“It's all in there. It's hollow,” he explained. Anne nodded and motioned for Sprig to back up behind her before pointing at the statue.

“Destroy the eyesore,” she ordered, and the Minions were happy to oblige as they charged and swarmed the statue, cackling madly as they climbed and beat it with whatever they had. The only one who really cried for it was Toadstool, who made sad groans as his statue head was bashed off. Several other Minions dove into the statue through the neck hole to beat it from the inside.

“Um… there’s a hatch on it, you know,” Sprig pointed out.

“Sure, but this is more fun,” was Anne’s response along with a chuckle.

“Ah, Minions in hollow statues. This brings back memories of cunning plans,” Gnarl said with a laugh. Anne left the Minion Master to his musings, mostly because the context was lost to her, but also because the Minions finally found the hatch and busted it open. A wave of Coppers along with the cheering Minions came out, causing the townspeople to gasp again before they turned their anger onto Toadstool.

“Now hold on, I can explain,” Toadstool said and held his hands up placatingly while backing up as much as the Minions would allow, “do you have any idea how expensive it is to buy your love?” 

Evidently not, as plenty of frogs picked up pieces of produce while the Tower toads looked ready to throttle him. The final straw was Anne silently forming a fireball in her hand. “And as mayor, I hereby pardon myself of all wrong doings!” Toadstool shouted before turning tail and running, the Minions laughing as he ran from produce.

“You do this again and I'll have you drawn and quartered, Toadstool!” Anne shouted and crushed the fireball. With a wave of her hand, several Minions dove into the statue to dig out the hidden money while Anne focused on the toads. “Now, what to do with you?”

“Listen, it's been a rough day for everyone,” Bog said as calmly as he could given the rage he felt at the mayor, “we just came to collect taxes, nothing more.” Anne stared at them for a moment before smiling under her helmet.

“Then you can have it.”

“...Huh?” The toads, and indeed most of the town frogs, hadn't expected that. Anne decided to let them stew on it for a moment as she moved to the statue and dug out a fistful of coins.

“It is quite a shame though, letting this go,” Gnarl lamented, “it is quite the sum.”

‘And look at the trouble it caused,’ Anne replied and turned her hand to drop the coins on the ground, ‘Best to get rid of it.’ Anne turned to the toads and gestured at the coins. “I have no use for these. The tithes my domain pays are far more useful. So, you may have all of this as my mercy.”

“And give us our stuff back!” Mrs. Croaker shouted, to the roaring agreement of the town.

“And that, sure.”

“Uh… thanks? What's the catch though?” Bog asked with Fens nodding in agreement.

“Oh, that's easy. Toad Tower is no longer welcome in this valley. If Captain Grime insists, then only war and destruction will await you.” Anne leaned forward and the toads could feel Anne's smirk as she added, “Make sure you tell him that, okay?”

“Oh, we will. The Captain won't accept that and he's far worse than us though.”

“We'll see.” Anne waved her hand and then Minions surrounding Bog and Fens backed away. “Go get your cart. You'll need it.”

The toads said nothing and walked away, though Fens started complaining about her arm once they were on their way. Anne let out a small sigh, though her relaxation stopped when she felt the presence of a certain loathsome frog.

“Uh, excuse me, Sir,” Wally said, still in only a towel and holding his hat to his chest, “I just wanted to thank you for sticking up for us and you’re about to kick me again, aren’t-” Wally didn’t get to finish before Anne’s boot hit his face and sent him flying back.

“Yes,” Anne said flatly before waving her axe over the crowd, “I don’t want your thanks! I didn't do this for you! I am not your protector, and you all could have lost everything today and I would not have bat an eye! Do you understand?” The crowd backed up and nodded while cowering. When Anne saw the Plantars, who were looking more concerned than frightened, an idea came to her. Her words like this carried far more weight than normally, so why not use it? Anne spun her axe and planted it head first in the ground before she said, “If you really want to thank someone, give it to the girl.”

The frogs looked around in confusion until Wally pushed himself into a sitting position and asked, “Girl? Who?”

“Anne Boonchuy.” A bunch of frogs gasped loudly and started talking among themselves while the Plantars looked at each other confused.

“What?” Sprig asked.

“My sentiments exactly,” Anne said and rested her hands on her axe’s handle as she continued, “The girl is an enigma to me. Despite everything you have done to her before I found her, and still do, she still finds it in her to argue in your favor. Anne’s heart is bigger than mine if she can find that kind of mercy and fondness for you.”

It wasn’t hard to come up with the story. After all, the best lies have an element of truth to them, even if she wanted to bury it deep. Anne left the frogs to think over what she said and, while she was watching the Minions gather the coppers, she heard them all talk among themselves. One thing that Mrs. Croaker said stood out.

“Maybe it is worth it if she likes us.”

“You don’t have to give it back to him.”

“I kind of do.” This back and forth has been going on for a while now, and Bog was starting to get impatient. Why did The Overlord have to argue this one frog’s possessions when he's the last one?!

“But you really don’t. You already have his money, why not his furniture as well?”

“Because it’s not worth it. If I collect more than I’m told to, then the Captain will ask questions, then make us split it with everyone else, and maybe put us in the Pain Room if he’s really mad. I don’t want to go in there, so he gets his stuff back.” The Overlord let out a long sigh before looking at Wally.

“One of these days your luck will run out.”

“I suppose so, Sir. Can I please have me trousers back, at least?” Wally asked and had a pair of trousers thrown in his face by Fens. “Thank you.” Wally pulled the trousers off his face and then threw his towel away.

“Ew.”

“Why?”

Bog and The Overlord blocked the sight out until it was over and Wally was bouncing happily. “Oh sweet trousers, how I missed you!”

“Yes, we’re all glad for you. Now get out of here before I skin you alive.” Wally was quick to accept that, taking out an accordion from… somewhere and danced away while playing a song while a group of Minions followed him carrying his furniture. “That’s the last of it. Bring up the money,” The Overlord said and the money, carried by another group of Minions, was unceremoniously thrown onto the Toad’s cart. Fens (with some extra trouble from her missing arm) got into the driver’s seat while Bog held back for a moment.

“Well, we’re going back to Toad Tower now. The Captain isn’t going to be happy to hear about this, you know,” Bog said, though the warning only got a laugh from The Overlord.

“Oh, I’m counting on that,” they said before reaching down to a Minion that had been wearing Mire’s blood stained helmet and pulled it off. Bog growled as The Overlord threw it into the back of the cart, “Make sure he knows, or I’ll spell it out with bodies. Understand?”

“Oh, don’t worry. He’ll know.” Bog walked over and jumped into the driver’s seat and took the reins. With a crack they were off and Bog tried hard to ignore the feeling of eyes watching him. Once they were out of town and on the way back to the Tower, Fens finally let out a loud sigh.

“This did not go well.”

“Oh, you don't say?!” Bog shouted and gripped the reins harder, “This was supposed to be a simple shakedown, and instead we got the mother of all nightmares!”

“What do we tell the Captain? We can't hide this,” Fens said and poked her stump. “Ow.”

“I know what we're not telling him: that we were nearly conned by a municipal toad of all people! As for everything else, I have the trip back to the tower to think about that.”

“Okay.” Fens looked back and found herself looking at Mire’s helmet. She sighed and got up to move into the back, “I’m going to get some sleep.”

“Uh, sure, just make sure you don’t bleed to death.” Fens grunted and settled down on her good arm. Then it hit Bog just how hard this will be. “Oh for, how am I going to explain Mire?”

It would take a few hours to get back to Toad Tower by cart, and by the time they were making their way up into the mountains Bog had a general idea of what to tell Grime that was both true while omitting a lot of his mistakes. The Captain really wasn’t a tolerant toad and Bog really didn’t want to go into the Pain Room.

That would soon prove to be the least of his problems as he saw Toad Tower come into view, along with its recent giant problem. Bog yanked on the reins, forcing the spider to stop, and gaped at what was happening.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” He said, which was enough to pull Fens out of sleep and for her to push herself up to look at the Tower. She was wide awake the moment she did.

“Herons?!” Fens shouted while watching the massive predatory birds walk over the tower. They looked to be nasty Herons too, what with the myriad scars across their bodies and the meat of previous prey stuck in their teeth.

“What is with today?! ” Bog said, gripping the reins tightly. He wasn’t sure what force of nature he had angered to get today to happen to him, but he wasn’t appreciative of it.

“What do we do?” Fens asked. Charging Herons was almost certainly a suicide run, though maybe the Tower could be able to fight them off. Though, from what Bog had been seeing lately, Grime’s control had been slipping lately so that was unlikely.

“We’re not going over there,” Bog answered and turned back to Fens, “We’ll stay here until the Herons move on, then we move in and see what happens. If Grime’s still alive, it’ll be business as usual. If not, then we can finally take over. Wouldn’t that be swell?”

“Do you really think the Captain would die to Herons?”

“After the day we had, anything could be possible.”

And so they waited, having moved the cart out of sight of the Herons and watched. They didn’t have to wait long, as even from where they were the sound of war drums and shouts of toads charging into battle carried a long way. The tower was fighting back and, from how the Herons were reacting, they were doing very well.

Bog even thought he had seen someone climb on top of the birds, which was almost enough to give whoever the suicidal warrior was some of his respect. Nonetheless the Herons were pushed back into full on flight and the victorious roar of toads filled the air. Bog and Fens nodded at each other and moved back to the cart.

The past month has not been great for Sasha Waybright. What had started as a simple celebration of Anne's birthday changed in a literal flash. Trapped in another world alone, her friends missing, and held prisoner by toads, lesser people would have been crushed.

Sasha was anything but. She held fast, knowing she’d find a way out soon enough and had fun messing with her toad captors along the way. She’s still proud of her personal record of convincing six toads to quit in a week and was well on her way to matching it when the Herons attacked. Thankfully that whole debacle proved to be her way out.

And up, surprisingly. Once the Herons were gone, Captain Grime had given Sasha a choice: she could either go out into greater Amphibian with only the clothes on her back and what she could carry, or join the Tower as Grime’s second in command and get everything she could ever want. While it wasn’t much of a choice, it was one Sasha hadn’t minded. Plus ‘Lieutenant Sasha’ had a nice ring to it.

Here, in a moment of calm after Sasha had made her choice and finally had a chance to breathe, she leaned against a wall and took out a polaroid of her and her girls. “Hold on just a little longer girls, I’ll find you soon enough. And then, when you’re safe, we can have some real fun with this place.” Sasha couldn’t help but smile at the thought, because with a group as strong as these toads they could do practically anything.

She heard the sound of cart wheels entering, probably some late comers to this party they just had, and Sasha pushed herself off the wall and put the photo away. She was sure she had a lot of work to do now.

“WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!”

Which seemed to include keeping her new Captain calm until he internalized her lessons. She found Grime at the newly arrived cart confronting the two toads that had come with it. Sasha kind of recognized them, since most of the toads had guard duty over her at some point, though she didn’t bother to get the names of the more rigid toads. She could also understand why Grime was shouting since both toads looked like they had been through a meat grinder of some kind.

“Well, sir-” the orange one started to say.

“I SEND YOU ON A SIMPLE JOB, GET BACK TAXES, AND YOU COME BACK MISSING A HORN AND AN ARM?! And where’s Mire? If that lout deserted, I swear I’ll-!”

“Mire’s dead, sir,” the green one said while saluting with her only arm. Grime was stopped short while the orange one went to the cart and took out a blood stained helmet.

“It’s just as Fens said, Captain. This was all we could recover from him.” Orange set the helmet on the ground and Grime stared at it before turning an unhealthy shade of red.

“Uh oh,” Sasha muttered and quickened her pace.

“WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT! BOG, YOU BETTER EXPLAIN THIS RIGHT NOW OR I’LL-!”

“Grimesy!” Sasha said, sliding herself between Grime and the toads with a smile, “They were just about to explain. I know you’re upset for them, but getting angry won’t help anyone.” Sasha then stepped closer to Grime and added, “We talked about this.”

“But… they!” Grime sputtered for a moment before he got himself under control. “That’s right, actually. I’m upset that we… lost two capable fighters on what should have been an easy mission. I will have to be more careful next time.” Sasha gave Grime a double thumbs up and moved to his side.

“Uh, Captain, why is she out?” Bog asked and pointed at Sasha.

“While you were away, I got promoted,” Sasha explained and passed a hand through her hair.

“She is now your Lieutenant, for bravery in battle. Understood?” Grime added with a scowl.

“Y-yes sir!”

“Good. Now, what happened?” Bog and Fens looked at each other before Bog started speaking.

“Well sir, the job itself went just fine. The tax money was waiting for us when we got there, so we just grabbed it.”

“What? Then why weren’t we paid before?”

“Clerical error,” Fens said, which got her a look from Bog. That was not the planned explanation, at all.

“Of course,” Grime growled and ran a hand down his face, “That’s what I get for trusting soft, municipal toads to do their jobs! And what about Mire and your injuries?”

“We were attacked on our way back,” Bog said, feeling his wrecked horn.

“Attacked? By who?” Sasha asked. Anything that could match toads could throw a wrench into her plans.

“We… actually don’t know their name or what they really looked like. They were tall and covered in this strange armor, and had an army of monsters at their command. They called themselves ‘The Overlord of the Dark Tower.”

“...Really with that name?”

“They said we were trespassing, that they had taken over that part of the valley,” Fens explained and rubbed her stump, “we fought back, but there were too many and they were vicious.”

“Mire gave his life so we could get back here,” Bog finished.

“Huh, didn’t think you guys had your own evil overlord running around. Feels like one of Marcy’s fantasy movies,” Sasha said and crossed her arms while Grime rubbed his eyes.

“Oh, this is just what we needed after today. Well, no matter,” Grime said and stomped his foot, “If some upstart punk thinks they can take over the valley under my watch, they got another thing coming! Lieutenant, you may have a job already.”

“Actually, Captain,” Bog said, “There was another thing we saw in that town we went to. Um… Ma’am, what do you call yourselves?”

“What do you mean?” Sasha asked and narrowed her gaze.

“You know, your species.”

“Humans. I’m a Human.”

“Ah. Well, we saw another Hummus in that town.”

“Hummus? How did you-” Sasha paused as what they said registered and her eyes widened. “Wait, what did you say?”

“You saw someone like her in town?” Grime asked and stepped closer. “Where?”

“Well, she was leaving when we arrived,” Bog explained, “I tried to stop her, but she gave me a good crack in the eye for it. I had to focus on my mission after, but I did plan to try and get her when I left. It… slipped my mind. Sorry, sir.”

“You saw a… what did she look like?!” Sasha really couldn’t believe how her luck was turning today as she pulled out her BFF photo.

“Um… about your height, darker skin…”

“Big, poofy hair,” Fens added.

“I think she said her name was Anne.” Sasha felt her breath leave her as she turned the photo to Bog and pointed at Anne in it.

“This girl?”

“Yeah, that’s her,” Bog nodded. Sasha looked at the photo again and felt like a whole weight was lifted off her shoulders.

“Oh my god, Anne’s alive!” Sasha said and felt tears coming on.

“And apparently in Wartwood all this time,” Grime added. He then scratched his chin in thought and said, “And come to think of it, I have been getting ‘urgent’ letters from that mayor for some time. Really should have read those.”

Sasha really couldn't believe it. Anne was alive and, hopefully, close by! And if she had managed to survive for this long, then she could hold on until Sasha came for her. A smile grew on Sashas's face as things finally seemed to be going her way.

“Actually, now that I think about it, didn't that Anne girl mention a Dark Tower too?” Fens asked, which brought Sasha's thoughts to a halt.

“Oh yeah,” Bog agreed, “and seemed like she was in a hurry to get back there. Same place that Overlord came from too.”

Sasha's eyes widened and the smile dropped. It felt like the world had taken a hammer to her head. Because if that's true…

That means…

“That’s interesting. I wonder what the connection is?” Grime pondered.

That means…!

“I wonder if-”

“ANNE’S BEEN TAKEN PRISONER BY SOME SAURON WANNABE?!” Sasha shouted and grabbed her hair.

“That…” Grime started to say before he really thought about it. This might just be the perfect motivation to get Sasha going. The girl obviously cared for her friends and was willing to go to great lengths for them. So, in the interest of pushing Sasha on, Grime finished with, “might actually be true. I feel there’s something more going on with this ‘Overlord’ that we’re not seeing. As such…”

“RAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!” Sasha charged forward, Bog and Fens barely managing to get out of her way, and grabbed the bottom of the cart and flipped it over in one smooth motion. Any nearby toads, Grime excluded, backed away as Sasha kicked the cart while shouting in anger. “If that armored creep thinks he can keep my best friend prisoner for some sick kicks, he’s got another thing coming!” Sasha yelled and kicked one last time, managing to put her foot right through the cart’s wood. Sasha pulled it out and stood there breathing heavily, nobody noticing the flash of pink in her eyes.

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Grime said and walked up to pat Sasha on the back. “We both want the same thing ultimately: you want to save your friend, and I want this Overlord gone.”

“Just point me in the right direction and I’ll take care of this!”

“I admire your dedication, but you’re not ready. Herons are one thing, but anything that can overpower my men is something else entirely. You’ll need weapons, armor, and training far superior than  ‘cheerleading’. Thankfully, you’re my Lieutenant.” Grime gave Sasha one last pat before turning and walking away. “We’ll begin tomorrow.”

“Yes, sir,” Sasha agreed with a nod and looked down at her photo again, at Anne specifically. “Fun can wait. I’m coming for you Anne. Please be okay.”

“Ah, dang it!” Anne hissed as she rubbed her knee. Even lying down and constantly massaging it didn’t do much for the soreness. She would just have to hope that rest will fix it. A knock came at her door and it opened without her say so. Once Gnarl walked in, Anne rolled her eyes and went back to massaging her leg. “What is it, Gnarl?”

“Just checking on you, Master,” Gnarl answered just as a fast pink shape ran past him and dove onto Anne's bed. “Also, you have guests.”

“Anne!” Sprig shouted as he got to his feet and dove at Anne, knocking her onto her back and hugged her neck. “Are you okay? Hop Pop and Polly said you took a beating from those toads!”

“I'm fine, Sprig,” Anne said and lifted Sprig off of her so she could sit up, “just a little sore. Is it just you this time?”

“No,” Gnarl answered and moved out of the way so Hop Pop could enter. Anne's eyes widened at the basket he was carrying, filled with snacks and trinkets and Polly. “Third time I've seen an Overlord get a gift basket, but the first from peasants.”

“Whoa, what's with the basket? Also, what were the first two from?”

“Kings that were happy to relinquish their crowns to The Overlord,” Gnarl explained as Hop Pop put the basket on the bed, “They always go out with the gifts then. Crunchy Frogs are to die for, Sire.”

“Really? Right in front of my grandchildren?” Hop Pop asked indignantly.

“Oh, don't worry yourself. Not even the sweetest chocolate could make you taste good.”

“Well… good! Whatever that stuff is.”

“Old timers, you're making me hungry,” Anne complained as she scooted to look through the basket. “So, who put this together?”

“The whole town,” Sprig answered.

“They wanted to thank you for standing up to… you… for their sakes,” Polly said and scratched her head. “I think?”

“And they wanted you to know they're sorry for how they treated you,” Hop Pop added, “and that you're welcome in Wartwood whenever you want. Well, specifically ‘whenever you escape’ but same difference.”

“Huh. So I'm now both feared and respected.” Anne laughed at the thought, “Man, who’d have thought that could happen? Ooh, beetle jerky.”

“So, this is your room?” Hop Pop asked and looked around, “It's…  certainly spacious.”

“This bed’s bigger than our living room!” Polly shouted as she hopped out of the basket and onto the bed. “I like your place Anne.”

“Thanks, but your place doesn't fit as big spiders as this can. So that's a plus,” °Anne said though a mouthful of jerky.

“Still haven't gotten over that, huh?” Sprig asked.

“Never!” Anne replied, her face shadowed over save for her glowing eyes.

“...How do you do that?”

“Do what?” Anne asked, her face back to normal. After a moment, Sprig just shrugged and took a piece of jerky.

“What's this? Master plan?” Anne looked to find Hop Pop had found her plan notebook. Not that she was worried, she wasn't really hiding anything from them. “So, you were serious about taking on Toad Tower?”

“Yup. They're the biggest obstacle between me and this whole valley. For that, they have to go down.”

“Hmm… well, I guess I can't talk you put of it. Just be careful, okay? Toads don't take threats lightly.”

“Oh, I know,” Anne answered and rubbed her knee. Hop Pop continued reading the notebook while Sprig hopped over to the table with the jerky sticking out of his mouth.

“You have so much cool stuff, Anne,” Sprig said as he touched her phone, and then her racket. He ran his fingers across both at the same time like they were the greatest things ever before he moved on to the music box.

‘Wait!’

“Oh, this is cool. Is that real gold?” Sprig lifted a finger, which was as far as he got before the box was torn away and he felt a tremendous pressure coming from Anne.

“Don't touch that!” Anne shouted, causing Sprig to back away from her and her glowing eyes right into Hop Pop.

“I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I won't touch it!” Sprig said as Hop Pop put the notebook on the table and hugged Sprig. That and the looks she got was enough for Anne to calm down, where she took a few breaths that stopped her eyes from glowing.

“No, I'm sorry. It's just… this is important to me. I don't like others touching it.”

“Why? It's just a music box,” Polly said. Anne looked at Gnarl, who gave her the same disinterested look he always gave when he was expecting her to do something, until she sighed and moved to sit on her bed with the music box in her lap.

“This… is the reason why I'm even here,” she said while thinking, ‘The Plantars already know almost everything else, might as well let them know this too.’

“Really?” Hop Pop asked as he let Sprig go and moved to get a better look with Sprig and Polly. “How?”

“I'm not sure, but I know what I saw. One of my friends, Marcy, found this in a thrift shop on Earth and thought it'd make a good birthday present. After we… acquired it-”

“You stole it,” Gnarl corrected.

“Thank you, Gnarl.”

“I still don’t understand why you’re so against me saying that. You’ve done far worse than that just today, never mind ever since you became Overlord.”

“Thank you, Gnarl!” Anne took a breath before looking back down at the music box. “Anyway, after I got it, we went to a park and I opened it.” Anne opened the box, where nothing happened again, and made an explosion gesture with her hands. “When I did, there was this huge flash of light. I felt like I was falling, and then I found myself alone in a forest here in Amphibia. This thing hasn’t worked since, but I know it can get me home if I can fix it.”

“Huh… may I?” Hop Pop asked and held his hands out. After a moment of deep thought, Anne reluctantly handed him the music box. The old frog looked the box over, turned the key, and opened and closed the lid a few times before he reached his conclusion. “Nope, doesn’t ring a bell.”

“Figures. Gnarl’s older than all of us combined and then some and not even he knows about the box.”

“I don’t remember what I know about the box, Sire,” Gnarl defended, “It’s a very distinct difference.”

“But still useless.” Anne took back the music box and got up to put it on the table. She sighed and leaned against the table while staring down at the box. “Not that it matters anyway. Until I know if Sasha and Marcy are here too, I can’t go back at all. Fixing this is very much an ‘end of journey’ goal.”

“Well, don’t worry,” Sprig said as he hopped onto Anne’s shoulders, “I already promised to help you find them, and this doesn’t change that.”

“Look at you, inserting yourself into my problems again.” Despite that, Anne smiled and patted Sprig’s leg, “Thanks buddy.” Sprig chuckled at the praise before he found himself lifted off Anne’s shoulders and thrown back onto the bed. “Well, with that out of the way, who wants to tear into that gift basket and rot our minds with TV?” Anne shouted while holding up her phone.

Sprig and Polly both cheered while Hop Pop looked at her suspiciously. “Again with the ‘TV’?” he asked before quickly adding, “You got more Suspicion Island?”

“Even better. I’m going to introduce you guys to Primthistle Manor.” All the frogs ‘ooh’d’ at the name.

“Ugh, familial bonding,” Gnarl said with a roll of his eyes and started to leave, “I’m going to go kick something.”

“Shut the door on your way out!” Anne shouted before she flopped on her bed and started scrolling through her phone while the Plantars gathered around her.

Even as the night went on and they lost themselves in the tale of Lord Frankerton and Lady Franklin, Hop Pop still shot the occasional look at the music box. Something scratched at the back of his mind that he had seen the box somewhere before. But where?

He had some reading to do when he got back home.

Chapter Text

It had been two days since the Tax Toad situation, and Gnarl once again couldn't find the Overlord. She was still in the Tower at least, since the Heart hadn't been used that day, and yet he couldn't find her anywhere. He was coming down to the throne room after searching her private quarters when he saw Toejam going through to the Hive floor while carrying a bottle of water.

“Toejam, where are you going with that?” Gnarl asked.

“Helping Master,” Toejam answered, stopping at the steps.

“Oh, and where is she?”

“Training grounds.” Toejam then ran down the stairs, leaving behind a slightly surprised Minion Master.

“Hm, didn't know I told her about that.” Gnarl followed Toejam, taking a moment to inspect the Tower Heart while he was there, and moved into a passageway that led to the training grounds.

The name was overselling it a little, being little more than a small piece of land easily accessible from the Heart chamber. Still it was wide open and generally flat, which meant it was perfect for working out knots and putting new Overlords through the paces. Here Gnarl found The Overlord in workout clothes, along with her hands and feet taped up and a headband he hadn't seen before, facing down a few Minions holding up wooden boards.

He watched as she went through a routine, punching and kicking through the boards before following up with an attack on the Minion to keep a flow going. Soon there was only one left and, after a second to take a breath, Anne advanced and broke the board with a knee strike, followed with an elbow drop to the Minion’s head, and finished with a spinning kick that sent the Minion flying to the side. Only then did Anne let out a breath and relax.

“Good work, guys. Let's take a quick break before getting back into it,” Anne said as she started fixing her hand wraps.

“Got it…” a Minion said, briefly lifting a thumb up before collapsing. It was then that Gnarl started clapping and walked to Anne.

“Fine show, Sire. I admit, I wasn't aware you could fight like that. What was that?”

“It's called Muay Thai, a traditional Thai martial art.” Anne knelt down to fix her foot wraps and continued, “My Mom enrolled me when I was a kid to help me burn off energy.” ‘And because I annoyed her too much,’ Anne thought with a shudder. She'll never forget the look her mom had that day in the kitchen. Once she was finished with her wraps, Anne stood up and took the water bottle from Toejam.

“Interesting. Though if I may ask, why have you not focused on this kind of training before, Sire?”

“I didn't have a reason before. Now, I do.”

“This is about the toads, isn't it?”

“This is about the toads, isn't it? Of course, it's about the toads!” Anne twisted the top off the bottle and started downing it.

“I don't understand why that would bother you. You were victorious, after all.”

“It bothers me BECAUSE I WAS HUMILIATED!” Anne shouted and threw the bottle on the ground. Toejam scurried over to collect it and then left to refill it as Anne continued, “You saw what happened there, those punks nearly killed me! All it took was one mistake, so how can you consider that a win?”

“Because you're still alive and they were beaten. As long as you end up standing in the end, you win no matter how the fight goes.”

“Yeah, because of Sprig. I can't count on being so lucky to have someone save me every time.” Anne walked over to a nearby ledge and nudged a rock over it with her foot. “I guess I got hyped up with this talk about being this ultimate Evil. Sprig was right. When you get down to it, I really am just a girl hiding behind monsters to fight things that can't really fight back. Not really Overlord material at all.”

“You would also say that when you first came to the Tower, and look at the strides you made since then,” Gnarl said and moved next to Anne. “I admit, your lack of actual combat experience was something I overlooked because of how well you fared without it. You're right in that it needs to be fixed, and you've already taken the first step in fixing that.” Gnarl turned to Anne and poked a finger in her side. “Train, Sire, so that no one can match you ever again.”

“Yeah, but I can't exactly use Muay Thai in my armor, and tennis gave me only a basic idea on how to use weapons.” Anne crossed her arms and tapped her foot, “Can you teach me how to fight?”

“Unfortunately not. I'm too old to fight and any pointers I could give would be lost as you already learned them with experience. What you need is a specialist, Master.”

“Well, I haven't heard about anyone who can teach me to fight. And even if I did, good luck getting me actual training because my Overlord status will just turn them into yes-men under pain of death. I don't know what to do.”

“Leave it to me,” Gnarl said with a smirk and a wring of his hands, “As your Minion Master, I have ways of collecting information. I'll find you a worthwhile teacher.”

“Better than any ideas I have. Until you find one, I'll just keep going through the basics.” Gnarl nodded and watched as Anne returned to the training Minions. “Alright guys, break's over! Time for round 2!”

Gnarl left the training grounds as the Minions pulled themselves to their feet. He'd have a busy day of ordering Minions out and keeping tabs on them through the Heart, but his Master's future depended on it. Nay, the future of Evil in Amphibia itself did!

When night was starting to fall, a Minion came across good news. Very good indeed. Gnarl spent the rest of the night crafting a cunning plan, one that The Overlord would be most happy with.

“How are you doing, Polly?” Sprig asked as he played with his sister. He was lying on his back on the couch while spinning Polly with his feet.

“I feel like I'm going to throw up! Keep going, it's going to be a record!” Polly shouted happily. Sprig was more than ready to keep it up and started spinning Polly faster when the front door slammed open and Anne stormed inside.

“That jerk! I can't believe him! What the heck is he thinking?!” she shouted while pacing angrily around the room. Sprig watched her rant for a while before speaking up.

“What’s up, Anne?”

“I’LL TELL YOU WHAT’S UP! That ingrate, zombified husk of a Minion Master kicked me out of my Tower!”

“Huh. I didn’t know he could do that to you.”

“Less talking, more kicking!” Polly demanded.

“Well, I guess he can! Because now I can’t get in by teleporting no matter what , the Minions won’t respond to me at all, and it’s been so long since I actually walked there I don’t remember where it is! I swear, when I find my way back, I’m going to beat that bag of puss and throw him off the top of the Tower!” Anne took a few deep breaths as her rage bled out before she moved to sit on the couch next to Sprig. “So, yeah, I need to crash here for a bit while I figure out how to do that.”

“That’s no problem,” Sprig said with a smile, “your bed is still down there, so go and make yourself at home. Polly missed you.”

“I can feel it coming up!” Polly shouted, causing Anne to look at her in concern.

“I’m just going to get out of your way,” Anne whispered and started to stand up, only for the cellar hatch slamming open suddenly to startle her back onto the couch.

“Nobody is staying here today!” Hop Pop shouted as he poked out of the cellar.

“Jeez Louise, HP! What are you doing in the basement?”

“Fixing a leak,” Hop Pop answered and climbed out of the cellar and grabbed the hatch. “Uh, that’s one reason why you can’t stay here. There’s three feet of water down there and I’m sure some Sucker Eels. Don’t want you losing all your blood in your sleep.” Anne gulped as Hop Pop shut the hatch and pointed at his grandchildren, “And you two aren’t staying here for a while either!”

Sprig’s eyes widened and he mistimed a kick, which sent Polly through the air where she hit Anne’s head and landed in between Anne and Sprig. Both frog kids looked at Hop Pop and asked “What?” and “Say what, Gramps?!” simultaneously.

“I’ve been telling you I have to go to the annual Crop Con for days now. I can’t trust you to run the farm for the weekend.”

“Oh, come on. I'm thirteen, and you're saying you can't trust me to watch Sprig and Polly?” Anne asked.

“No.”

“...Yeah, you're probably right.” Anne laughed and crossed her arms behind her head, “Boy, can you imagine that? This place would burn down in an hour.”

“If you were trying,” Polly said and hopped onto Anne's lap, “I give you a day normally.”

“Aw, thanks Polly.”

“Kids, you aren't helping my anxiety,” Hop Pop said and stood up straight, “But not to worry. I have a solution that will work for everybody!”

A while and one snail rider later, they got the answer to that question.

“A stinkin’ daycare?!” Sprig shouted once the building came into sight.

“Feeling really talked down to today,” Anne said as she slumped in her seat, “I haven't been to a daycare since I was six.”

“Why must you torture us?” Polly moaned and rolled onto her side.

“Oh, don't act like that,” Hop Pop chided, “I'm only going to be gone for the weekend. You need someone to keep an eye on you anyway. Why, it feels lately that we've been getting into two wacky adventures a week these days.”

“Or a giant adventure that feels like a mishmash of different adventures rolled into one,” Sprig added.

“Oh, I'm not the only one who noticed that?” The conversation died down as Bessie pulled to a stop in front of the daycare, which Anne only now noticed was a giant tower. The front opened and a well dressed newt with a goatee came out to greet them.

“Hello and welcome,” the newt said cheerfully and bowed, “I am the instructor of this daycare. A pleasure to meet you.”

“That's odd. I thought Briar and Iris Bogwater ran this daycare?” Hop Pop wondered while Anne helped Sprig and Polly off of Bessie.

“The Bogwaters retired last year and sold their business to me. I am Tritonio Espada, the new instructor of this daycare.”

Anne froze when she heard the name and unceremoniously dropped Polly on the ground, which the tadpole didn't appreciate, before turning to stare at the newt as Hop Pop introduced himself and the kids. ‘Wait, did he just say-’

“Tritonio Espada?”

“Indeed, Sire,” Gnarl confirmed with a nod, “Drip overheard this from a Toad Tower patrol. This newt might just solve your problems.”

“Okay,” Anne crossed her legs and leaned against her throne’s armrest, “who is he?”

“A newt that appears to be a thorn in Toad Tower’s side. He takes in kids, teaches them how to fight, and uses them for heists on Toad Tower assets.”

“I like him already. Still don't know how to get past the Overlord hurdle though.”

“Not to worry, Master. I have devised a cunning plan to get the newt to teach you without revealing your connection to the Dark Tower.”

“Oh? What do I have to do?”

“First, don't get mad.”

“...For what?” Anne narrowed her eyes at the Minion Master.

“For this.” Gnarl snapped his fingers and Anne had barely a second to see the four Minions surrounding her before they each grabbed a limb and lifted her off the throne.

“What the-?! GNARL!”

“Go to your frog family. A birdie told me they'll take care of the rest,” Gnarl explained as Anne was carried to the teleport pool. He then gave her a cheeky wave and said, “I'll look forward to your progress, Sire!”

“I'll kill you, you piece of sh-!” was all Anne got out before she was thrown into the pool. She came out the other side, landing on her butt on the stone, and sat there grumpily for a second. She stood up, tapped her foot against the teleport pad a few times, and bent over when it didn’t work.

“Shrimp meat.”

‘Cunning plan indeed, holy crud!’ Anne thought in the present, ‘Gnarl must have heard Hop Pop mention that con and came up with this when he found where Tritonio was. That genius! Now I can learn to fight and Tritonio will be none the wiser about-”

A sharp crack brought Anne out of her thoughts and she yelled, “Ah, dammit!” and grabbed her head while falling to her knees.

“Rule 4: always pay attention! Attacks can come from anywhere.” Tritonio said while tapping Anne's head with a stick.

“I was in a flashback, you butt!” Anne shouted while also taking in Tritonio's change of clothes. He had apparently been wearing an ensemble of white dress shirt and brown vest, both opened to show off his surprisingly muscular chest, black pants, brown boots, and long, unruly hair under the teacher robes.

“Real enemies do not care about flashbacks, friendship speeches, or evil monologues. All that matters is winning.” Tritonio walked away spinning the stick and, while Anne got what he meant, she still glared at the newt. He stopped next to a sign that read ‘combat crash course (for kids)’ and tapped it. “But not to worry! Here at my school, I will make sure you learn everything to make you truly unstoppable! Much like a train at high speeds. Onward, to knowledge!”

Tritonio backflipped into the school, and while Sprig and Polly were staring wide eyed at the door, Anne simply sighed and stood up.

“So it begins.”

“What's wrong? Don't you like Tritonio?” Sprig asked.

“Teachers and I just don't get along. They're just jealous of my free spirit.” Never mind that Anne had a habit of goofing off, playing games, and literally running out of classes when caught, but Sprig and Polly didn’t need to know that. “Still, I need to do this. So, for now,I'll tolerate him.”

“That’s the spirit!” Polly said and hopped into Anne's hands, “Now let's learn how to hit things!”

Day 3 of training and Sasha was already getting into a routine at Toad Tower. It helped to think of it like cheerleading training, except way more intense and with more swords. The hardest part was the meals, which Sasha just could not stomach no matter what. Thankfully, Brunton was working with her to get her a menu more palatable to her even if it was ersatz to a degree.

After her morning workout, Sasha entered the mess hall for lunch. Today it was tacos, just like Sasha liked them. Save the mystery meat, but Brunton managed to make it taste just like hamburger, so it was just like fast food back home. She was halfway through her first one when a pair of toads walked over to her table.

“Hi Sasha,” Percy, a male toad in standard armor wearing a jester's hat, said with a wave.

“Mind if we sit here?” Braddock, a female toad with bunned up blonde hair, asked and gestured to the two bowls in her hands.

“Course not! There's nothing better than sitting with the cutest couple in the tower!” Flattery aside, Sasha did enjoy the pair being around. They, along with Grime, were the ones helping Sasha the most with her training: sparring partners, helping get her exercise routine right, and a unique brand of moral support from Percy.

The couple blushed a little and seated themselves as Sasha finished her taco in a bite and washed it down with a drink. She didn’t know what it was exactly, it had the consistency of chunky oatmeal and tasted like cinnamon. But it also didn’t make her sick like most Toad food, so Sasha was able to down it by thinking of it as an odd smoothie. Soon the toads were settled, Braddock gave Percy his bowl, and they both started digging in.

“So what’s on the agenda today?” Braddock asked.

“Same as yesterday: training,” Sasha answered as she put her drink down and picked up another taco, “I can’t afford to waste a second, not now.”

“Because of Anne, right?” Percy asked. Sasha paused for a moment before she took a bite. It’s not like her motivation was a secret to anyone in the tower, she destroyed a cart to prove that point. It still felt weird to have it outright pointed out though.

“Yeah. My girl is in danger, so I need to do what I have to to get her out. It’s always been that way.”

“Yeah, you seem the type,” Braddock said and slurped from her bowl.

“And don’t worry,” Percy added, “we got your back all the way! Heck, you might just end up tougher than Captain Grime!” Naturally, Grime chose that moment to come up behind Braddock and Percy menacingly. Braddock turned to see him while Percy was frozen just from knowing he was behind him.

“If that ever happened Percy,” Grime said as he raised a hand and placed it on the toad’s head in what was supposed to be a placating gesture, but only pushed the jester’s hat down and cause Percy to sweat more, “it would make my job easier. Are you ready for today, Lieutenant?” Sasha responded by stuffing all her remaining tacos into her mouth at once and downed the rest of her drink to swallow them all whole.

“Always,” Sasha said, ready for anything.

“I mean, I would have waited for you to finish your lunch, but sure. Go ahead and stuff it all down at once like an animal.”

“Nice hustle, Sprig! Well done, Polly! Anne, too slow! Start over!”

“All of my hate…” Anne whispered and missed the next bar in her swing. The jolt caused her to let go of the bars entirely and fall flat on her face on the ground.

“Anne…”

“I HEARD YOU THE FIRST TIME!” Anne shouted and pushed herself up so she could walk to the beginning of the bars. “Some training. The only thing getting a workout is my patience.”

The bad feeling Anne had been getting had only proven true as the ‘training’ went on. Sprig and Polly were having the time of their lives and got to learn a weapon of their choice (which was concerning in Polly’s case. The tadpole had grown to love Boom Shrooms a little too much). Meanwhile, Anne only got talked down to and wasn’t even allowed to touch a weapon.

“Swinging an axe and using one are different things. Anne, ” Anne mimicked briefly with a groan, “I’m half tempted to burn his face off, the insufferable, slimy little…” Anne continued to grumble when she got to the start and climbed onto the bars again.

“Slow to start Anne! Start quicker, much like an unstoppable train!”

Anne was not feeling it and simply let go of the bars.

Sasha hit the ground hard and rolled to the side just as Grime came crashing down with a training sword. She got to her feet and raised her sword to block another of Grime’s strikes, which pushed her back a few feet before they stopped with blades locked.

“You certainly learn fast,” Grime said and broke the lock and struck out a few more times. Each time Sasha met them easily and soon pushed into another lock.

“Yeah, I had to-” Sasha started to say before Grime punched her suddenly, sending her to the ground. She groaned and felt a tap from Grimes's sword on top of her head.

“I win again,” Grime said with a chuckle and walked away while Sasha sat up rubbing her face.

“I’m getting real sick of these cheap shots you’re throwing in.”

“Those ‘cheap shots’ are how fights are won. I don’t know how fights go where you’re from, but here there are only two sides: the winners, and the dead. And generally the dead aren’t just those who fight, but who they’re fighting for , understand?”

A brief image of Anne, battered and chained to a wall, got the point across. Sasha stopped rubbing her face, the pain nothing now, grabbed her training sword, and stood up.

“So if you want to win, you better-” Grime turned around in time to see Sasha charge at him with her sword high. She screamed as she struck and Grime matched with one of his own. They traded blows a couple more times until they locked blades again, or so it seemed as Sasha slid her blade along his and followed that with a low spinning kick to his legs. Grime was knocked onto his back and found himself with Sasha’s sword pointed at his throat and her breathing heavily. Grime couldn’t help but chuckle as he grabbed the blade at his throat.

“Now you’re getting it.”

Night had fallen on the first night of training and Anne was alone atop the school tower. The day had gone the same the whole way through and frustration had long since given way to disappointment and sadness. Maybe it was a waste to come here after all, she wasn’t sure anymore. Sprig and Polly were enjoying themselves, but their joy won’t save Sasha and Marcy. It won’t help her take over the Valley or find a way home.

“Anne, there you are.” And there was the source of her troubles. Anne looked back to see Tritonio climb up from the outside of the tower. “Why are you not eating? Even the mightiest warrior cannot fight on an empty stomach.”

“I’m not hungry,” Anne answered and turned away from the newt to look up at the night sky. Tritonio didn’t say anything yet, so Anne decided to just bite the bullet and be honest. “Hey, Tritonio, can I ask you something?”

“Of course, Anne. What is it?”

“Why don't you like me?” She asked and stood to face the newt, “You're nowhere near as strict with Sprig or Polly, so why me?”

“What? I like you, Anne,” Tritonio said and walked over to Anne, “teaching is just a strict job. If I seem more strict with you, it's just that I see such potential in you. I have since you first came here.”

“Really? How?” Anne wasn't sure she did anything to warrant that assessment, but she was feeling a little better.

“You are far different from other kids I've trained. There's a drive, a fire in you that few your age have.” Tritonio hopped onto the parapet and walked along it. “You know what you want and will do anything to get it. You just lacked the motivation and skills to see it through, but that's also why you're here: to get it.”

“Wow… I don't know what to say.” Anne leaned against the parapet and looked down at her hands. “You're different from the other teachers I've had.”

“I'm sure they all thought the same way. Every teacher wants their students to succeed, it's just that some of them require a different touch. Surely you've had teachers like that?”

Anne first thought of Gnarl. First meetings aside, the old Minion had been with her since she started down the path of Evil. He had answers when Anne had questions, suggestions when she needed direction, and the kind of patience that came from experience with who knows how many previous Overlords. Then there was the principal of her school, the chemistry teacher, her tennis coach: each one having seen just what kind of person Anne was and how to drive her, even if she didn't exactly appreciate it.

“Yeah, I guess you're right,” Anne said with a small smile. Tritonio nodded and hopped off the parapet and faced Anne with his hands behind his back.

“Well Anne, after seeing you improve today I believe it is time for you to start weapon training. However, I don't think an axe is right for you, considering your frame and muscles.”

“You'd be surprised,” Anne responded with a smirk before pushing herself off the stone wall, “so what would you recommend?”

“A sword, of course.” Tritonio moved his hands from behind him to show a sword in a scabbard, both gold colored. He held it out to Anne, who took it and pulled the swords out enough to look at the blade. She gasped at the blue glow it gave off, not noticing Tritonio’s confused blink.

‘It wasn't doing that before,’ he thought, but decided to keep it to himself when he saw the awe on Anne's face. He could work with this.

“This sword has been in my family for generations, but now it’s yours. I know you’ll use it wisely.”

“Of course. I won’t let you down.” Tritonio nodded and jumped onto the parapet.

“Then tonight, eat and rest well. For tomorrow, the real training begins!” Tritonio said before he backflipped off of the tower with a laugh. Anne smirked at the edge and looked down at her new sword.

“Finally,” she said as she sheathed the blade.

It was a day full of training for the two girls separated by several miles. Anne had the basics of swordplay drilled into her until they were second nature along with a few neat tricks to help her in fights (who knew a free hand and sunlight could be a game changer?)

In much the same way, Sasha was learning proper utilization of strength. Because as she learned going against the brick wall that was Grime, no amount of strength will matter if the enemy can take it.

“Come on Lieutenant, throwing strikes like this will never work,” Grime said as he drove Sasha back again, the girl's feet skidding across the ground from the force, “Watch your opponent. Remember, any disadvantage your opponent has is an advantage to you.”

Sasha did as such and immediately noticed Grime’s scarred eye. She had wondered for a while if he was actually blind in that eye, and what better time to find out than right now? Sasha gripped her sword and charged, readying her sword to prepare a stab. Grime raised his sword and fully committed to a block just as Sasha feinted to her left. Grime grunted in surprise as Sasha, now in his blind spot, slashed at his armor and knocked him back. After a moment, he let out a laugh.

“Very good. One thing though,” he said and motioned for another attack. Sasha raised an eyebrow, but attacked anyway. This time however, she barely started to attack when it was blocked. Then, with a quick maneuver, the sword was ripped out of her hands and sent across the yard.

“What the…?”

“I've been blind in this eye since I was a tadpole,” Grime explained and pointed at his eye, “and I've learned to compensate for it. A real warrior will always do the same, so be careful.”

Sasha let out a huff and started walking to her sword. “Good lesson, but don't hold easy on me. The Overlord won't when I find him, after all.”

“Well, you won't really learn if you keep getting beaten, but I suppose it is your training.”

Sasha's eyes widened and she started running for the sword as she heard Grime coming behind her, only barely getting it up when he reached her.

“Excellent work! You've all improved so much over the weekend. Especially you, Anne.”

“Well, I did have a good teacher.” Anne chuckled a little and ignored the looks Sprig and Polly were giving her, like they knew she'd defrost on Tritonio eventually. Tritonio paid them no mind and instead led them to a table covered in papers with a board with train plans next to it.

“Now children, tomorrow will be your final test! I hired an ‘acting troupe’ to assist you in this: a fake train robbery! Your target being this: a ‘fake’ priceless gem in a ‘fake’ treasure car!” Sprig and Polly oohed at the explanation while Anne gave a simple ‘neat.’ “If you succeed, you will have passed my camp! Study the plans, become the plans, eat the plans.” Tritonio ripped off a corner of the plans and ate it with some small smacks.

“Delicious. I will leave you to them! For tomorrow, we march toward destiny, like a train gaining speed! Away!” 

“Wait! I have a question!” Anne said suddenly, stopping Tritonio in his tracks.

“Yes?”

“Who owns this train, you know in the world of this acting thing?”

“Oh. Toad Tower.”

“Oh, that’s great motivation! I’ll get right on these.”

“Great work ethic Anne! Once again, Away!”

Tritonio somersaulted away from the table, leaped up the stairs, and out of the room, the door closing behind him, leaving the kids alone. Anne picked up one of the papers on the table while Sprig and Polly looked at the board plans suspiciously.

“Guys, it might just be me,” Sprig said, leaning closely to the train diagrams, “but doesnt it feel like we're actually robbing a real train?”

“Yeah…” Polly agreed and leaned closer to a giant note in the corner that read ‘Do not listen to train crew if they say they aren't actors.’ “Could Tritonio be using us?”

“Duh,” Anne replied, not looking up from the paper to see the shocked looks Sprig and Polly gave her. “Man, look at these locks. They really don't want us getting in this car.”

“Wait, are you serious?!” Sprig asked while pulling down on the straps of his hat.

“I mean, if anyone would know about something evil and criminal, it would be Anne,” Polly reasoned.

“Oh yeah… Oh crud, we’re really robbing a train?!”

“Yup,” Anne replied.

“And you knew about this from the start?” Polly asked, squinting her eyes at Anne.

“Eh, kinda? I knew about Tritonio, but not this camp.” Anne dropped the paper as she continued explaining, “He's a conman who trains kids like us to fight and then uses them for heists. The training part is why I'm here at all.”

“ You needed training?”

“After what happened with those toads, yeah.”

“Oh frog, what are we gonna do?” Sprig asked panicky and crouched into a ball, “we can't rob a train! Hop Pop will kill us!”

“Pull yourself together!” Polly shouted at Sprig before turning to Anne, “but what are we going to do?”

“I know what I'm going to do,” Anne said and pointed at the plans, “I’m going to stick to this.”

“Say what?!” the siblings shouted, before just as quickly muttering, “Actually that makes sense,” and “Don’t know why I was surprised by that.”

“But, I’m going to do one better. Instead of letting Tritonio have the prize, let’s take it for ourselves! Even if we can’t sell it, it’ll make a nice trophy.”

“Why though?” Polly asked and Anne started counting off her fingers.

“One: I want to test myself in a real fight, and this is good for it. Two: this screws over Toad Tower, the guys I'm at war with. Three: you can't deny this is gonna be fun.”

“No, I can’t.”

“I don’t know, Anne,” Sprig said and rubbed an arm, “this still seems really risky.”

“If it helps Sprig, just think of this as a Robin Hood thing,” Anne offered.

“Who?”

“Robin Hood. He’s this super famous dude from my world. He and his band of Merry Men stood up to a tyrannical regime, robbing from the rich to give to the poor! Loosen your definition of ‘poor’ and that includes us.”

“I… guess? We can’t kill anybody though. Can you promise me that?”

“Oh, sure, no problem.”

“...Well, I’m sold!”

“You are really easy to convince, Bro,” Polly deadpanned and looked at Anne, “And you, wanting to backstab the teacher you like so much. Isn’t that something that the old ‘Teachers are the worst’ Anne would do?”

“Oh Polly,” Anne said, patting Polly lightly, “that Anne might be dead and buried, but let’s be real about what’s happening. If you don't want to…”

“Oh, I’m still down for backstabbing. So, how are we going to do this?” Anne couldn’t drop the smirk as they went over the plans.

Another day and Sasha found herself doing the worst thing she could: nothing. Grime had said he was preparing special training today, so until that was ready Sasha had to wait in her room after breakfast and morning workout. She wasn't a fan of the idea, since if she wasn't keeping herself busy her thoughts would wander.

And so they did, which is how Sasha found herself sitting on her new couch, staring at her BFF photo, and not touching her cold cup of tea. She stared at Anne and frowned at the sight of her friend's smile, since the real Anne was probably cold and alone in a cell somewhere. Sasha didn't want to think further on that, since she always went to a worst case scenario about Anne's imprisonment and every time it got worse.

Sasha then looked at Marcy and felt her stomach roil again. At least Sasha knew where Anne was, generally speaking, but Marcy was a total unknown. Since Anne was here, Marcy probably was too and that didn't bode well for her given what Sasha had learned about this world as a whole. Marcy couldn't go five feet without Anne pulling her out of harm's way, and that was on the good days.

A knock came at her door and Sasha got up to put her photo under her pillow and took a breath. ‘Just stay safe Marbles, and I'll come for you when I rescue Anne.’ Her thoughts and worries back under control, Sasha went to her door and opened it just as another set of knocks started and she found Percy on the other side.

“Hey Percy, what is it?” She asked and leaned against the door. Percy looked more nervous than usual and was sweating up a storm.

“Hi Sash. Um, the Captain is ready for you now,” Percy said nervously, though not too badly for Sasha to raise an eyebrow at.

 “About time.” Sasha stepped out of her room and shut the door before asking, “Is he at the usual place?”

“I'll show you.” Percy started leading the way and Sasha followed, watching the sweating toad very intently.

“What's got you so jumpy? Got a date with Braddock or something?”

“No! Well… yes, actually, but that has nothing to do with this.”

Sasha hummed at that and resolved to ask Braddock about that later. For the rest of the walk, she mulled over what kind of training needed this amount of preparation. Soon they were at the door out to the courtyard, where they found Braddock looking about as nervous as Percy.

“Hey Braddock. Is Captain Grime out there already?” Sasha asked as Braddock handed her a training sword.

“Yeah, everything should be ready,” Braddock said. Once Sasha had the sword tied to her side, Braddock and Percy opened the doors for her and watched Sasha enter the courtyard. “Good luck, Sasha.”

“And we're sorry,” Percy added.

“For what?” Sasha asked and looked back in time to see the door shut loudly behind her. “...Great.”

“Hello Lieutenant!” Grime shouted suddenly, which drew Sasha’s attention to the top of the gate out of the tower’s courtyard where Grime was waiting. “I hope you’re ready for your assessment test.”

“All of this build up just for a test? Whatever, I’m still ready!” Sasha shouted and started walking towards Grime. She only made it a few steps when she noticed a bunch of other toads waiting along and on top of the wall, all watching her. “Okay, what’s going on?”

“A little something from my time as a gladiator: a Battle Royale!” Grime shouted while throwing his arms wide open, “the combatants: these toads versus you, Lieutenant.”

“What?”

“But why, you may ask? For the rewards of course! Any toad that gives you a good fight will be rewarded.” Plenty of toads cheered at that while Grime leaned against the battlement wall to stare at Sasha. “And if you get far enough Lieutenant, I’ll consider you trained enough to take on The Overlord.”

That got Sasha’s attention. She had been worried that this training might be taking too long, but if she made it through this she would be one step closer to rescuing Anne. Sasha clenched her fists tightly at the thought while Grime’s laugh echoed through the yard.

“So, are you ready Lieutenant?”

“Always!” Sasha shouted, drew her sword, and pointed it forward. “Bring it on!”

“Yes! That’s what I like to hear! You all know what to do, so get to it!” The toads roared and they started charging at Sasha, who took a moment to take a breath.

‘I can do this. I have to do this,’ she thought as she gripped her sword and charged at the toads.

The plan was simple on paper, and apparently in real life too. Anne wasn't sure about the whole ‘hurt orphan’ bit to stop the train, but it did work and Sprig was really selling it. He stopped the train and distracted the crew long enough for Anne and Polly to get to the engine car.

“You know, I wondered this whole time how you guys can have trains. I should have known the answer was bugs,” Anne commented and tapped her shoeless foot against the beetle that served as the train’s engine.

“Well yeah, our world isn't as crazy as yours, Anne,” Polly replied. Anne gave her a look that was ignored as Polly hopped to a nearby shovel, “Now let's get some fire on this bad boy!” Anne shrugged it off and obliged Polly, using the shovel to scoop a few burning hot coals and drop them into an opening of the beetle’s shell onto its innards, goading the giant bug into a full speed dash.

“Hey, this kid's ankle isn't broken!” one of the toads gathered around Sprig said, right before they finally noticed their transportation was ditching them. They left Sprig behind and ran after it, only for the boy frog to Hop on all of their heads and reach the train before then.

“See you later!” Sprig shouted before he shot his tongue toward the engine, where it wrapped around Anne’s arm and pulled him fully onto the train. With his feet on the train, Sprig wiped his forehead overdramatically. “You know, this is going really smoothly.” Just then, the toad conductor climbed halfway into the car, spooking all three of the kids.

“I trusted you!” He shouted, obviously betrayed by Sprig’s act. Sprig hopped out of the way as he climbed aboard and tried to hit Anne with a sword, though Anne had enough warning to dodge out of the way. Anne drew her sword and blocked a follow-up strike before striking back herself with a slash that knocked the sword away. Defenseless, the conductor couldn't do much when Anne pointed the sword at his throat and glared at him with glowing eyes.

“Get off,” Anne ordered. The toad held his hands up and backed up until he fell off the train, which he hadn’t meant if the yell was any indication. Anne smirked as she sheathed her sword and turned to Sprig and Polly to say, “Okay, let’s get this done before they catch up… again.”

The trio made their way to the rear of the train where they found a heavily armored car with locked hatches. Anne took a second to look over the side to see large writing on the side. “Newtopian Treasury. This must be it. Okay Polly, you’re up!”

Polly gave an evil chuckle as she took out a few Boom Shrooms and placed them on the locked hatch. She gave each a tap before they backed away from the mushrooms and watched them explode after a moment. “Boom Shrooms!” Polly said excitedly as her pupils turned into explosions.

“Those seemed a lot more powerful back at the camp,” Anne commented as they moved to the hatch.

“Well yeah, if you handle them roughly Anne,” Polly answered while Anne pried open the hatch. Polly hopped the moment she could while Anne looked back at Sprig.

“Okay Sprig, you’re on lookout. Polly and I will be right back.”

“On it!” Sprig said with a salute and turned around to look around with his hand over his eyes. Anne slipped into the car and saw the inside was very bare, save for a single platform with a single butterfly shaped gem on top of it.

“Sparkly…” Polly said as she stared at the ruby.

“This is what we came here for? It doesn’t look like much,” Anne commented as she walked over to it. She will admit, it was a pretty shade of orange, though that was about as far as her gem analysis could go. Either way, if it was valuable then it was valuable, so Anne stepped closer to get ready to swipe it.

“Ah, you found it!” Anne and Polly both screamed and turned to see Tritonio in the car.

“Jeez you’re quiet! When did you get here?” Anne asked.

“I’ve been watching you all along, and I was very impressed,” Tritonio said and walked forward, revealing Sprig standing behind him.

“Sprig? What are you doing here? I thought you were on lookout?”

“I was, until Tritonio came along and said I had to follow him,” Sprig answered.

“...And you didn’t think to warn us Tritonio was coming?”

“Was I supposed to?”

“That is usually how lookouts work, Sprig,” Tritonio said as he picked up the ruby and looked it over. “Ah, the Tiger Moth’s Eye. I’ve long wanted to hold it for myself.”

“Yeah, that’s great,” Anne said and started to reach for her sword, “So…”

“Now there’s just one last question for you,” Tritonio said as he put the ruby away, “Do you remember what I first taught you?”

“Uh… trust no one?”

“Exactly.” Tritonio then threw a mushroom at them, which they saw was yellow with a starburst pattern on the cap and was flashing.

“Oh, you-” Anne started to say before the mushroom exploded in a blinding flash of light. “Argh, you fool!” she shouted instead as she covered her eyes with her hands too late and fell onto her butt. She heard rapid footsteps and clanking metal, and by the time she managed to recover and see again she found the hatch out had been shut. She got up and gave it a push to find it was stuck, and then realized what had happened.

“Ugh, what happened?” Sprig asked as he and Polly rubbed their eyes to see again and saw Anne rush to the barred windows.

“Tritonio! You backstabbed us before we could backstab you! How could you?!” Anne shouted while waving a fist outside the bars. Sprig and Polly could only look deadpan at each other.

“Sorry Anne, but I follow my own lessons. You only have yourself to blame. I saw how you reacted when hearing my name for the first time.” Anne growled at Tritonio’s explanation and could feel the smirk on his face. “But all is forgiven Anne. Enjoy prison!”

“This isn't good, is it?” Sprig asked and looked around the car.

“He's not getting away with this!” Anne said, bashing her hand against one of the bars before turning to the frogs. “If he thinks he can backstab me, he's got another thing coming!”

“Can you at least not sound like a hypocrite?” Polly asked flatly.

“It's not hypocritical when my pride is hurt. So do you want to get out or not?”

“How? The only way out is barred,” Sprig said and got a finger wag from Anne.

“Tritonio forgot a good lesson: never underestimate your enemy. Isn't that right, Polly?” Polly blinked at Anne before pulling out half a dozen Boom Shrooms, causing Sprig to back up a step while Anne smiled. “That's my Battlemaster.”

Atop the train, Tritonio was making his way off it. “They were good kids, too bad they have to go to jail forever,” he said as he moved along, just as an explosion happened behind him blowing the hatch off the armored car. He looked back and flinched at the sight of glowing eyes appearing in the smoke.

“Surprise,” Anne said as the smoke cleared to reveal her, Sprig, and Polly staring at Tritonio.

“You found a way out? I have to say, even I’m impressed,” Tritonio said as the kids got ready to fight, with Anne slowly drawing her sword. Tritonio squinted his eyes and asked, “Could your eyes always glow?”

“Well, you see GET HIM!” Anne shouted and pointed at Tritonio, causing Sprig and Polly to leap forward in attack. Sprig launched his tongue, holding a sai, at Tritonio, though the newt quickly drew his fencing sword to block the sai. He then quickly wrapped the tongue around the sword with a flick of the wrist and proceeded to swing Sprig around with his tongue right at Polly.

“Oh, hi Sprig,” was all the tadpole could say before her brother slammed into her, both of them ending up on the roof of the train and Polly's Boom Shrooms exploding in the air. Anne waved away some smoke as it passed her and moved past the dazed frogs to face the newt.

“So are you going to fight seriously now? Because I will,” Anne said as she held her sword out.

“Oh Anne, I'd be insulted if you didn't,” Tritonio replied and held his sword out. “En guarde!”

“Oh come on, that's not even Spanish!” Anne charged at Tritonio and raised her sword for an overhead swing. Tritonio blocked it easily, though the force was greater than he expected and he had to brace his blade with his off-hand even as he was pushed back slightly.

“What the heck is Spanish?” He asked as he angled his sword so Anne's would slide off and onto the roof. Tritonio jumped over Anne as she dragged the blade across the roof, leaving a trail of sparks behind as she sounded around to face him. She advanced on him, with Sprig and Polly managing to recover and get out of the way as the duelists continued striking and parrying each other.

“Your form has improved. Have you been practicing without me, Anne?” Tritonio asked, though Anne didn’t answer as she went to stab at Tritonio. He jumped over it and actually landed on the blade and stood on it as Anne stared at him and silently marvelled at how light he was. That lasted until he tried to kick her, though she managed enough awareness to catch the boot and push it back before slicing her sword upwards. Tritonio did a spin in the air, managing to parry the blow while doing so, and landed on his feet in time to block another of Anne's strikes.

“Okay, I’ll admit, that was slick,”Anne complimented as she pushed against Tritonio.

“Thank you, I practiced a lot,” Tritonio said, though Anne was briefly distracted by the sun getting into her eyes. Anne's eyes widened and readied herself as Tritonio continued. “Though you should know Anne, there's a big difference between a student and a mast- er?”

Anne backed up suddenly, causing Tritonio to stumble just long enough for Anne to angle her blade to catch the sunlight and direct it onto Tritonio’s eyes. The newt yelled in surprise and closed his eyes while waving his sword blindly. That was enough for Anne to zip in, slash the sword out of Tritonio’s hand and off the train, and shoulder check him onto the floor. Sprig and Polly quickly hopped over to pin his arms down while Anne pointed her sword at Tritonio’s throat.

“Lesson 4: Pay attention. Enemies don't care about flashbacks, speeches, or monologues. Gloat when you win,” Anne said before swinging her sword into a reverse grip, knelt down, and dug the Tiger Moth ruby out of Tritonio’s pocket. “Schools out, teach.”

Oddly, Tritonio smiled at that and said, “I suppose it is.”

“What now?” Sprig asked and looked nervously as the train started to slow down, “we're totally gonna be in trouble with those toads.”

“What are you talking about?” Anne asked as she sheathed her sword and took Polly's ribbon off her head. The tadpole looked offended while Anne wrapped the ruby in the ribbon before putting it back on her head. Anne's eyes stopped glowing as she clasped her hands together, “We're just innocent kids that got dragged into this. We didn't know this was a real heist. Why would we get in trouble?”

“Oh ho ho!” Polly laughed with a wide grin.

“I'm so proud of you,” Tritonio said with watery eyes.

“I'm so glad I'm not out there.”

“Agreed.” Braddock flinched as a toad face planted into the wall next to the door she and Percy were behind. “She's really going to town out there.”

While it may have taken a minute for Sasha to really find her rhythm, soon enough she was demolishing toads like they were scores in Super Dance Fusion. She also learned Grime wasn't an exception, toads were very tough as a whole and took a beating. No wonder they were a warrior race.

That wasn't much of a deterrent though, especially since they seemed to be fighting in a way that she would have a shot, not crowding her to the point she couldn't move.

Once she hit a soldier hard enough it broke her sword in half , that went out the window and it turned into a real brawl. At the time, Sasha had thrown what was left of her sword at Fens, hitting her in the face and letting Sasha steal her mace to use until that broke. That was when the toads started to fly.

Some of them could have sworn the Lieutenant's eyes started to glow, though whether or not it was a trick of the light, the adrenaline of the fight, or actually true, they couldn't say. They could say that, once they seemed to glow, Sasha started hitting like a Rhinoceros Beetle. Eventually there were only a few toads able to stand and try to fight.

Simon, a perimeter guard, was the first to move. He tried to strike her with his spear, which Sasha countered with her own spears that she picked up at some point. Sasha twirled her spears over his and charged with a yell, with Simon yelling in fear as Sasha’ spear slipped between his legs and she proceeded to lift and throw him over and behind her.

Bog chose to literally jump in with his hammer right then, forcing Sasha to block with her spear. The wood broke in half under the blow, though Sasha quickly pressed Bog as he recovered and struck him several times across the face with the broken spear. Bog at least managed to power through the strikes and land a punch on Sasha's face, making him one of the few toads that landed a solid hit on Sasha.

She countered with both halves of the spear to his face, sending him rolling onto his back. Sasha then threw one of the halves at the last toad charging at her, hitting him dead center in the face and laying him flat, before spinning around on Simon trying to get up and slammed the half spear into the back of his helmet. That weapon cracked in half again and Simon decided to stay face down on the ground.

After the chaos for the last who knows how long, the silence was deafening. Sasha would have been sure she'd have heard groans of pain if her heart wasn't pounding in her ears, her breathing wasn't so heavy, and her body didn't ache so damn bad. She was sure Bog had busted her lip or gave her a bloody nose because something was dripping down her face, but she didn't care.

She had done it.

“WHO ELSE WANTS SOME?!” Sasha screamed as loud as she could, her voice echoing all around, and naturally the challenge wasn't answered. Her arms finally went limp, what was left of her spear falling unceremoniously to the ground while Sasha herself collapsed to her knees to catch her breath.

“Holy crud…” Percy said once the carnage was gone. Then a new sound filled the air: the very mirthful laughter of the Captain.

“AAAH HA HA HA HA! That was fantastic!” Grime said as he hopped down into the courtyard and made his way through the downed toads towards Sasha. The girl looked up at Grime and momentarily boggled at the sight of the Toad Captain munching away at a huge bucket of popcorn.

“You have popcorn here?”

“Of course we have popcorn. Admittedly, this could use more gnats, but it’s fine.” Grime threw the bucket in the air, caught it with his tongue, and ate it whole. Grime put his hands behind his back and said, “That was very impressive Lieutenant. It reminded me of my days back at the Colosseum! This ‘cheerleading’ must be a formidable training indeed.”

‘Not enough to do this. Maybe I'm just a natural?’ Sasha thought, but shook the thought away. She didn't care about why she could do this, just that she did. Slowly, and with the help of Percy and Braddock, Sasha got back on her feet and asked, “So, did I pass?”

“Pass? Ha! With that kind of brutality, hunting down The Overlord will be child's play!” Grime took his hands from behind his back to reveal a sword and held it out to Sasha. After a moment, she took it and pulled it out of the scabbard to marvel at the magenta blade and handle stylized to look like a heron with its wings spread to form the hilt.

“Yes, you pass. Once you've rested, go out and find The Overlord. But take some toads and keep in touch, ‘kay?”

“Yes sir,” Sasha replied, her eyes still fixed on the blade. Grime nodded and looked around the yard.

“The rest of you get some rest too! There's still plenty to do and exhaustion won't help with any of it!”

“Yes sir…” a majority of toads said wearily. Grime walked away, leaving Sasha to her thoughts as well as Percy and Braddocks's company. She couldn't help but smirk at her reflection in the blade before she sheathed it.

‘Vengeance is gonna be real sweet.’

Hop Pop, surprisingly enough, didn't ask too many questions about what happened over the weekend. Though given how haggard he had looked, which definitely wasn't because of ‘swarms of killer locusts’, he probably couldn't be bothered about how the kids ‘didn't rob a train’ or why Anne suddenly had a sword.

Actually, that last one was definitely expected of her. Probably.

In any case, the ride back to the Tower was uneventful, especially once Sprig and Polly had fallen asleep. Anne spent the trip making sure the younger frogs stayed put until the ruins that surrounded the teleport pad came into view.

“Here's your stop, Anne,” Hop Pop said once Bessie had come to a stop. Anne grabbed her sword and stood up. She was nearly off the snail when Hop Pop said, “So did you at least have fun?”

“...Surprisingly, yeah. It was intense, but eye opening. It gave me some things to think about.” Anne hopped off the snail and gave the shell a few pats before looking up at Hop Pop. “Get some sleep, HP. Seriously, you look like you've been dragged through heck and back.”

“I have no idea what you mean,” Hop Pop said slowly, his bloodshot eyes widened and staring directly at Anne. She cringed a little and backed up a few steps. “Anyway, let's go home girl,” Hop Pop said and gave Bessie’s reins a quick snap so the (also slightly beat up) snail could go back home.

“Yeesh, hope I never meet killer locusts here.” Putting that thought aside, Anne walked to the teleport pad. As she approached, she let out a sigh of relief that the pad lit up as she approached and walked onto the pad to let the magic take her home. One quick trip later and she was back in her throne room with only the smallest amount of nausea and an odd sight in front of her.

“Are you… cleaning my throne?” Anne asked.

“Even thrones need occasional washing, Master,” Gnarl replied as he walked over to Anne, leaving the group of Minions to scrub the stone throne. “So, how did the training trip go, Sire?”

“Well, I did learn how to fight properly. I also got to rob a train, got flashbanged, and learned a greater appreciation for teachers despite all of that.” Anne narrowed her eyes at Gnarl and added, “I would have liked it if I had been told what your ‘cunning plan’ actually was though.”

“My apologies about that. It’s an unfortunate truth about the universe that the more one knows of a plan, the more likely it is that it will fail. I was only looking after your well being, Dark Master.”

“Well, it worked out in the end. I even got a cool sword out of all of this.” Anne drew the sword and held it out for Gnarl to see, along with a few Minions who were attracted to the glowing blade. “I don’t think it fits with the ‘Evil Overlord’ aesthetic we have here, but glowing stuff is always cool, right?”

“Agreed, on both counts. We’ll need to have a proper blade made for you Sire.” Gnarl held out his hands and Anne handed the sword to him. The blade stopped glowing when it left Anne’s hands, with only the Minion master noticing with a whispered, “Fascinating.”

“I’ll grab Spike and Tom tomorrow, and get them a ton of water if they’re going to be working the forge for that sword. First though, I have something else to do today before I take a very long nap. Do me a solid and put that in my room, okay Gnarl?”

The Minion Master nodded and took the scabbard from Anne and watched her walk down to the forge. She stopped at the stairs and looked back at Gnarl. “And Gnarl? Thanks for looking out for me all this time. I haven’t really shown much appreciation for it, but I do.”

“I was simply doing my duty as your Minion Master. You are welcome though.” Anne nodded and walked down into the forge. Once she was gone, Gnarl looked closer at the blade and hummed. “Now where did that newt find an Arcanium sword? Questions for another day, I suppose. We’re having a lot of those.”

The train that Tritonio was being held in traveled at a steady pace, and by now he was sure he had humored the toads long enough. He stood up and stretched out his arms over his head as he looked around the car for a way out. The best way seemed to be the door, which just had a normal lock on the outside. Before he could act on that though, the train suddenly screeched to a halt and, out of curiosity, Tritonio creeped over to the door to hear anything.

“More orphans?” The conductor shouted, “Look, it’s been a long day, so-”

“RAAGH!”

“Not orphans, NOT ORPHANS! Get away you little-!”

Tritonio flinched at the sound of a *CRACK* and a thump of something hitting the ground outside.

“Where do you keep getting those rakes?” a voice, deep and menacing in a way that made Tritonio curl up a little, asked.

“Woods,” another voice, high pitched and scratchy, replied.

“Whatever. Check the cars, blow them open if you have to. He’s got to be in one of these.”

Tritonio’s eyes widened and he quickly dashed away from the doors and into a corner. A few seconds later, there was some scratching from the door followed by some familiar beeping before a small hole was blown open in the door. Tritonio watched the door open and two horrible looking monsters jumped in, both immediately looking at him.

“Newt!”

“Found him!”

“No no no! Big T is not tasty at all!” Tritonio said to no avail, as the Minions advanced on him and picked him up. He struggled against them for the short trip to the door until he was thrown out onto the ground.

“That's him,” the deep voice said again. Tritonio looked up and wished he hadn't once he saw a large armored figure with glowing eyes looking down at him.

“The Overlord? Oh no.”

“Finally my name is getting around. Hold his arms out.” Two Minions did as commanded, grabbing one of Tritonio's arms each and holding them straight while The Overlord raised their axe.

“Wait! I don't know what I did, but-!” Tritonio shouted, only to close his eyes when the axe fell. There was a crack of metal and, once Tritonio felt he wasn't in pain, he opened his eyes to see the axe had broken the chains binding his arms. The axe lifted and the Minions backed away, letting Tritonio get up and stare at the chains. “I'm pleased, but very confused.”

“Consider your freedom payment for the training,” The Overlord said, planting their axe in the ground.

“Training? What?” The Overlord knelt down and lifted their helmet enough for Tritonio to see her face, causing him to gasp and back up a step. “Anne? You're The Overlord?”

“Surprise. Bet you didn't see that twist coming, huh?” Anne asked with a smirk.

“...Not, but this does explain quite a bit.” A quick look around led to Tritonio discovering the two Toad Towers toads unconscious nearby, who Tritonio approached and searched for the key to his shackles. Once they were off, Tritonio turned back to Anne and clasped his hands behind his back. “This is still a risk telling me this. Why risk it?”

“I wanted to see the looks on your face,” Anne answered and slid her Hemet back on, “and because I'll have you hung from your entrails if you do tell. Not that anyone would believe you.”

“Fair enough. Either way, thank you for the break out. This valley is getting too hot for Tritonio Espada. It's about time for me to move out and away from Toad Tower, once the snow melts.”

“Toad Tower won't be a problem for much longer, your training will help with that. Oh, yeah, one last thing. I don't really need this.” Anne dug into her gauntlet and threw something at Tritonio. He caught it and felt his jaw drop at the sight of the Tiger Moth's Eye in his hands. “Now you owe me. Good luck, Teach.”

Anne raised her hand and started marching away with her Minions. Tritonio watched for a moment before he chuckled to himself, stashed the ruby in his shirt, and ran the opposite direction.

‘Tritonio Espada, trainer of Overlords. That's a new one.’

Chapter Text

For the Minions charged with upkeep of the Dark Tower, choices for drink were limited. Normally, a steady supply of beer would be enough to get them through the day, but since that was impossible at the moment they had to settle for Tower-made Grog. A wonderful drink that could double as emergency rations, that could be made by Minions chucking any old ingredients into a cauldron, hot or not. Snail slime, actual dirt, leftovers, red dye no. 2, battery acid, pepperoni: if it can go into a pot, it can be made into grog. The Minions loved it.

Anne did not, and was currently regretting asking where the kitchen was that day.

“I agree Sire, it’s much better hot,” Gnarl said with a nod, “But beggars can’t be choosers. It grows on you too.”

“Oh Frog, I’ve been eating that stuff,” Anne said, suddenly feeling very sick to her stomach.

“Everyone always complains when they find out how it’s made, but they still happily eat it before then,” Gnarl said with a shake of his head. Anne, once she saw the Minions throw a whole centipede head into the pot, didn’t bother with a reply and started leaving the kitchen. “And where are you going today?”

“To find somewhere with an actual kitchen, and hopefully before you all kill my appetite permanently.” Gnarl shrugged and let the young Overlord leave. He did have to admit that cold grog wasn’t very appetizing though. They really have to find some Reds soon.

As it would turn out, the Plantar family kitchen wouldn’t prove any better than the Tower. Anne had barely opened the door when a pungent smell assaulted her and put her in a coughing fit. “Oh, what is that smell?! Did Hop Pop finally croak?”

“What did you say about me?” Hop Pop shouted from the kitchen.

“Nothing!”

“Hey Anne,” Sprig said from his spot on the floor, in the middle of reading a book of some kind, “You chose a bad day to come visit. It’s ‘Traditional Plantar cuisine’ night.”

“So why does it smell like an entire rotting swamp?”

“Hop Pop says it’s a ‘character flaw’, whatever that means,” Polly explained. Thoroughly worried, Anne held her nose and braved to enter the kitchen, where she found a mess of pots boiling over, ingredients, and Hop Pop cutting up bugs for… whatever he was working on.

“Smells good, doesn’t it Anne?” Hop Pop said as he scraped whatever bug he was cutting into a pot.

“Not in the slightest. What the heck are you even making?” Anne asked and dared to sneak a peek at the pot.

“It’s an old family recipe. I’ve been eating this and many other Plantar family recipes ever since I was a tadpole. You sure you don’t want any?”

“No, especially since I just came from dealing with this exact kind of thing at my Tower. Where are you getting this recipe anyway?”

“That book right there.” Anne picked up the book and quickly skimmed it before coming to the obvious conclusion. “Well, I found the problem here. Old things are dumb and old people don’t know how to cook at all.”

“Well, no need to take your bitterness out on me. It’s not like I’ve seen you cook anything.”

“Oh, don’t start that with me. I helped out at my parent’s restaurant all the time. I’m sure I can whip up something far better than what you or Gnarl thinks is acceptable food.” Hop Pop squinted and groaned to himself at the insult, though this was presenting an interesting opportunity. If she was willing to cook today, it’d free Hop Pop’s schedule enough for something he’d been putting off for too long. So Hop Pop took the boiling pot off the stove, pushed away what he had been working on, and faced Anne.

“Alright then, what do you have in mind, little chef?”

“Wait, you're giving in just like that? What's the catch?”

“There's something else I want to get done and this saves time.”

“Ah, I can respect that.”

“Anne’s cooking?” Sprig poked his head through the door to ask while Polly flipped into the kitchen.

“Our Evil saviour!” she shouted and hopped over to Anne. “So, what are you making?”

Now that was the question, wasn’t it? Anne hadn’t expected her boast to really go anywhere, so she crossed her arms in thought for a moment. There were plenty of Thai dishes she knew how to make, but didn’t know if the proper ingredients were around in this world for it. Finding that out and experimenting with that would be an adventure for another day. Today it had to be simple with plenty of available ingredients. Like with a lot of things, Anne’s cravings led her on and she knew what to make.

“I got it! I’m going to make you a human delicacy, known and enjoyed everywhere in my world.” Anne took out her phone and showed them what she meant. “Behold: Pizza!”

“Wooooow,” Sprig and Polly droned as they looked at the picture of a pizza.

“So round…” Polly added.

“What is that?” Hop Pop asked.

“That,” Anne said as she picked up Hop Pop and pressed his face to her’s, bringing the phone closer so he could see it, “is the perfect food. Circles into triangles and you can put almost anything on it. I’ve seen some crazy people put candy on it.”

“Disgusting.” Hop Pop wriggled out of Anne’s grip and crossed his arms, “You aren’t doing that here.”

“Of course not,” Anne agreed, not really paying attention as Sprig took her phone away, “I need to make sure even a basic pizza can be made here. Which means we need to- wait Sprig, what are you doing?”

“Uh…” Sprig said, pausing with a hammer over his head and Anne’s phone on the table. “I was freeing the pizza?”

“You really got to stop doing that,” Anne said as she took her phone back, “seriously, my patience has its limits with this. So who wants to go ingredient shopping?”

“I do!” Sprig cheered and threw the hammer away, nobody really reacting when it broke something. “Oh, you know what we should get? Pineapple! That would go great on-” Sprig didn’t get a chance to finish before he was seized and found himself face to face with an angry Overlord with malice infecting the air of the kitchen.

“You will never put pineapple on pizza in my presence, EVER! Do you understand?”

“Y-yes, Dark Lord!” Sprig replied, utterly terrified.

“Good!” Anne happily said, the atmosphere snapping back as if nothing had happened, and slung the limp frog child over her shoulder before walking out of the kitchen, “let’s go buddy.”

“This won’t end well,” Hop Pop said and grabbed the Plantar Family recipe book and scooped up Polly in his free hand before following.

“But it will be funny,” Polly added, rubbing her flippers together.

The first ingredient was easy enough to find at the Flour Bakery. The Plantars caught Mr. Flour in the middle of filling out an order, which gave Anne a front row seat to some of the most over the top fighting moves used to put bread in an oven that she had ever seen. Given that none of the Plantars reacted to this at all, this was apparently the norm for this baker and left her wondering just what the other professions in this town were like.

“Sorry about that. So what can I do for you, Hopediah?” Mr. Flour asked and leaned on the counter.

“Good question. What are we here for?” Hop Pop asked Anne.

“Dough, raw dough,” she answered.

“Dough, eh? Yeah, I can spare some of my important dough, but you'll have to trade something of equal value,” Mr. Flour said as he held up a lump of dough tauntingly.

“Can't I just buy it like a normal person?” Anne asked.

“No.”

“...You drive a hard bargain. Okay, what do you want?”

“I want your grandson to marry my daughter,” he said and gestured to a dark corner where Maddie was lurking with an evil grin, a needle in one hand and a doll that looked like Sprig in the other.

“Oh, I like her. You're becoming a real Casanova, Sprig.”

“Who?” Polly asked.

“Human thing.”

“This seems a bit extreme,” Hop Pop pointed out, “isn't there something else to make where we won't have to sell Sprig?”

“This is for pizza. Trust me Hop Pop, one bite and you'll want to sell Polly off for another one,” Anne said proudly, while also ignoring Polly's scream of ‘You better not!’. She pointed at Sprig and asked, “What do you say, Sprig? Ready to take one for the sake of dinner?”

“Sure,” Sprig answered.

“Then we have ourselves a deal!” Anne and Mr. Flour quickly shook hands and exchanged the dough.

“Are you sure about this Sprig?” Hop Pop asked, "Marriage is a huge commitment.”

“It'll be fine Hop Pop,” Sprig said with a shrug, “Maddie’s not that bad once you get to know her, and I'll have my whole life for that.”

“Hey.” Sprig jumped and turned to face Maddie who was now behind him. “I've seen your death in my dreams.”

“Really? Well, can you keep it a surprise?”

“It will be.”

Sprig laughed nervously and slowly turned to Anne as she put the dough away into a bag. “So what's next Anne?”

“Cheese and basil leaves,” Anne answered, “I'm sure something here makes milk, but Frog help me, I don't want to know what.” Anne shivered at the thought, because she was sure she wouldn't like it.

“Wait, you're Anne?” Maddie asked suddenly.

“Uh, yeah. Anne Boonchuy. Nice to meet you?” Anne held out a hand to shake, but it went ignored as Maddie looked at Sprig.

“The same Anne?”

“Yep,” Sprig answered casually. Immediately Maddie's pupil shrunk, she dropped the doll and needle, and backed up a step while staring at Anne.

“Oh crud…”

Anne blinked and then squinted her eyes at Maddie and asked, “What's ‘Oh crud’?” Maddie could only shiver and fail to form words, which only made Anne squinted more until Hop Pop grabbed her hand.

“Can you scare my new in-laws later? We have more things to get and daylight is burning,” he said as he dragged Anne out of the bakery with Sprig following right behind.

“We're not done here! I'll come back for you!” Anne shouted before Sprig closed the door. Maddie continued shivering while her father laughed.

“A husband and a new friend on the same day. You're really moving up, Maddie.”

“I just hope I'll live long enough to enjoy it,” Maddie said, which just made her father laugh again.

Cheese was next on the list, but it turned out to be more difficult to get. Herding cattle (even if they were giant worms) was a workout for her and Sprig, but they were able to get it done by following Sprig's lead.

It was weird for Mrs. Croaker to be nice to her, and Anne could have done without knowing where the cheese came from.

Basil was easier because it grew out of town, which meant Anne was free to just throw Minions at any problems until they were solved. Turns out she did need that.

“Okay, that's the basil. That was easier than I thought it would be,” Anne said while counting the ingredients they had.

“The giant aphids usually are a bigger hindrance,” Hop Pop said while showing a page from the family recipe book describing the aphids, “huh, and apparently go great with olive oil when you take out the tongues. Gotta try that.”

“I just like seeing the Minions distract them,” Polly added.

“Are they going to be okay?” Sprig asked while wincing in sympathy at the monsters.

“Oh, they'll be fine. They love this stuff. Right Gogar?” Anne looked back at her Minions, particularly once absolutely covered in scratches and aphid bites. Gogar gave a thumbs up and a long, pained laugh before collapsing. “See? They're fine.”

“I'll believe it. So what's next?”

“The most important part of pizza: tomatoes,” Anne answered and rubbed her hands together with an evil chuckle, “the originator of so many foods back home. I can't wait!”

“Wait, tomatoes?” Hop Pop asked while looking through his book again, “Um, can I suggest a substitute for that?”

“Why?”

“Well, it's just that tomatoes are listed here as ‘very dangerous’. It suggests prunes as a replacement.”

“EVERYTHING in this world is dangerous! It doesn’t mean anything! I was nearly killed by a firefly on my first day here! IT SPAT ACTUAL FIRE!”

“Oh yeah, you got to watch out for those.”

“They’re the worst in summer,” Sprig added.

“Good for making things spicy though,” Polly added as well.

“Not the point,” Anne said and shook her head, “and I’d rather die than make a pizza with prune sauce. No, we’re getting those tomatoes.”

“Well… okay then.” Hop Pop turned a few pages in his book and showed it to the group, “The biggest tomato patch in the valley is right here.”

“Hey, I think I know that place. One of my teleport pads is close to there.”

“That’s good!” Hop Pop said and closed his book, “So… don’t suppose you’d do me a favor and… go get your armor and more of your little monsters for this?”

“What? You want me to go full Overlord just to get some tomatoes?” Anne asked in utter disbelief of the request.

“Yes, I do,” Hop Pop answered with complete sincerity, “It’ll make me feel better.”

“Pfft, okay then. We’re going to the tower either way, so I’ll armor up while there. It’ll be totally unnecessary though.”

It was completely necessary, as Anne found out later when they got to the clearing and found herself facing a twenty foot tall monster plant with three heads full of razor sharp teeth and a whole host of tentacles coming out of the base. This was an Amphibian tomato, and Anne sighed.

“Really should have seen this coming. I hate this world,” Anne said before a tentacle wrapped around her leg and pulled her off her feet and into the air. The Minions watched for a moment before charging wildly while the Plantars wisely hid behind a tree while the actual fighters did their work. So far, it wasn’t going well since the Minions were split between hacking at the tomato stalks, climbing up said stalks, and getting eaten by the tomato mouths, whole and not. And then there was Anne, who managed to cut off the tentacle holding her and fell right next to the tree hiding the Plantars.

“Now, I don't want to say I told you so-” Hop Pop said.

“Yes, you do,” Anne interrupted and picked herself up to look at Hop Pop.

“Yeah, you're right. I told you so! Ha!”

Anne growled and stood up to face the dread tomato. “Focus on the stalks! We need to cut this thing down! Muck, no torches! It's no good burnt!” Anne charged with her axe held high and the Plantar’s watched from their hiding spot.

“I really want to help her,” Sprig said while bouncing on his feet, “What if she gets eaten?”

“We can't do much. We'd just get in her way,” Polly replied with a shrug, “Besides, I think she's got this.”

“Stop jumping in its mouth, you idiots!”

“...But if there was a way, I'd do it.”

“Hop Pop!” Sprig grabbed and started shaking his grandfather, “please tell me you know something! Your book knows about tomatoes, is there anything else in there?!”

“Now, hold on! Let me check,” Hop Pop said as he pushed Sprig off of him and opened his recipe book. Polly hopped onto his head to read along with him as he flipped through pages before finally finding the entry on tomatoes. “Alright, it says here that the insides of a tomato’s stalk tastes delicious eaten raw.”

“The inside? What about the outside?”

“Same, but it's hard to chew through. It deters and stops predators not scared by the teeth. The inside’s soft though.” The frog family turned to the tomato plant just as Anne landed a solid hit on the middle head, and stared for a few seconds until Polly sighed.

“We're just going to have to get used to this now, aren't we?” She asked.

“Sorry, sweetie.”

For Anne, the battle wasn’t exactly going well. The tomato was fighting back with everything it could, a thought Anne never thought she’d have and hated with all her being, and it wasn’t helping that the Minions seemed intent on climbing inside the thing’s mouths. Frustrating didn’t begin to cover it, and if she didn’t figure a way to end this soon she’d be out of Minions to throw into this grinder.

‘Maybe if the Minions keep it distracted, I can grab some of the smaller ones?’ she thought. Before she could give the order, the Plantars charged past her screaming at the top of their lungs at the tomato. “What are you doing?!”

“Don’t worry, we have a plan! Sort of!” Sprig shouted as he and Hop Pop jumped, right as the middle head lunged forward and swallowed the family whole. It even made a whole show of swallowing them while Anne could only gape at what just happened. Slowly, she shut her mouth and clenched her teeth as rage boiled inside her. The right head took the chance to lunch at Anne, mouth wide open and salivating at the potential meal.

It closed on empty air and seconds later the head was cut off entirely with one swift motion from Anne's axe. It screeched and tried to wiggle a little before falling still, leading the others heads to stare at Anne and rear back a little at the visible black energy coming off the Overlord.

“You are going to pay for that.” Anne dragged her axe along the dirt, with fresh tomato ‘blood’ still on the blade, while Minions gathered around her laughing. The tomato, at least to a casual observation, actually might have regretted its recent actions. Not that it would save it from Anne.

Then the middle head gave a loud belch and both heads looked down at the main body of the plant. Anne looked down at a particular section that seemed to be rippling from something before it suddenly burst open in a spray of juice. Anne's eyes widened when she saw Polly had burst from the inside, screaming at the top of her lungs, and started eating along the edge of the hole as Hop Pop and Sprig followed after doing the same thing.

“Okay, that's terrifying, but very clever.” Anne quickly charged the left head and swung at the trunk, her axe burying into the skin and forcing the head to the ground. “Dive in! Snack time!” she shouted and her Minions charged at the head, prying it open and diving in to repeat the Plantar’s feat wherever they could. That head could do nothing but writhe as it was eaten from the inside and the last head, combined with the pain of the plant as a whole, fell with a roar to the ground where Anne quickly moved to swing her axe into its head just to make sure it stayed down. With everything done, she took a deep breath, removed her helmet, and walked to where the Plantars were sitting.

“Woo! That was amazing!” Sprig cheered while Hop Pop rubbed his head.

“I just hope we don't have to do that again anytime soon,” he said and looked over at Polly, loudly munching away at the tomato stalk. “Don't eat too much of that Polly, you'll ruin your appetite.”

“Make me!” Polly shouted. Hop Pop met her challenge by grabbing her and lifting her over his head, where she futilely struggled until they noticed Anne looming over them all.

“Uh, hi Anne,” Sprig said right before Anne rapped the top of his head, “Ow!”

“Don’t ever scare me like that again! What were you thinking?!” Anne shouted and knelt down next to the family, who looked slightly remorseful about this.

“Sorry Anne. Hop Pop’s book said these taste good raw and we just wanted to help.” Anne raised an eyebrow and scooped up a handful of tomato stalk to take a bite. Her eyes widened and she stared at the plant in amazement while she swallowed.

“Oh wow, that is good.” She looked at the frogs again and shook her head slightly. “Still, don't do that again unless I order you to your deaths. Okay?”

“Deal!” Sprig answered, followed by a ‘Sure,’ from Polly and a ‘Wait, what?’ from Hop Pop. His question wasn't answered as Anne helped them stand up before standing up herself and turning her attention to her leftover Minion horde.

“Okay, time to gather!” She shouted to get the Minion’s attention, “the big guy goes to the Tower and everything else gets split between going to the Tower and coming with me. Hop to it!”

“Yes Master!” The Minions called and saluted, including two that were holding the head of another tomato open causing it to fall and bite down on a third.

“Eh, he'll be fine.”

After a quick stop to drop off Anne's armor, the door to the Plantar home was kicked open by Anne as she rushed to the kitchen with her bag of ingredients, chanting “Pizza, pizza, pizza!” over and over while the Plantars followed right behind. However, once he reached the doorway to the kitchen Hop Pop turned around and held a hand out to stop his grandchildren.

“Not you two. You're not allowed in the kitchen,” he stated simply.

“What?”

“Oh come on, why?!”

“I can't trust you two to be responsible in the kitchen. Not Polly after the pillbug incident-”

“One time!”

“-and Sprig least of all.”

“What? Name one time I've been irresponsible in the kitchen!” Sprig demanded.

“You want a list?”

“How about just three,” Polly offered.

Hop Pop was stirring a pot of stew, which was coming along nicely. After taking a small taste with a ladle, he commented, “Needs a bit more. Where's the pepper?”

“I got it!” Sprig called and ran to the pot holding a hive of some kind. Hop Pop gasped when he realized what that was.

“Sprig no! Thats-” He started to say, only too late as Sprig threw the hive into the pot. A few seconds later, the stew started boiling rapidly before it exploded spectacularly and covered the kitchen entirely.

“Oops. Too much kick, I guess?”

“Yes. Kicking Termites will do that.”

Sprig was watching Hop Pop make pancakes for breakfast, the latest one sizzling in the pan while Hop Pop left to take a stack over to Anne. Left to his own devices, Sprig decided it was a good idea to try and flip the pancake like Hop Pop had been doing. He managed one successful flip, until the second one landed awkwardly and somehow caused the pancake to explode and fill the kitchen with smoke.

“Dang it, boy!”

Hop Pop was in his study reading, trying to find anything on Anne's music box he was sure he had somewhere, when he smelled something burning. His eyes bulged and he rushed to the kitchen to find Sprig flinching from a fire on the counter.

“Sprig! What did you do?!”

“I just wanted some water! I don't know how this happened!” Sprig shouted and, seeing one of Polly's buckets around, picked it up and threw the water on it. As if the universe itself decided to spite the frog boy, that somehow only made the fire bigger. “Why?!”

Hop Pop stared at Sprig in the way only a disapproving adult can, and Sprig eventually had to concede the point. “Okay, so I was unlucky yesterday…”

“Unlucky? At that point, I think the universe is giving you a hint!” Anne called from the kitchen, “and my clothes still smell like burnt pancakes!”

“But I’ve gotten better! I want to try again!”

“I’ll decide when you can try again,” Hop Pop said and crossed his arms, “It won’t be today though. I got something more important I want the two of you to do.”

“Important?”

“For us? Well come on, let’s hear it!” Polly started hopping and looked at Hop Pop excitedly with her brother.

“Yes, very important. You see…” Hop Pop deliberately paused to build suspense in his grandchildren. They stared up at him with wide grins as he continued. “I need you two…” They both nodded right up until Hop Pop reached behind him and revealed a book titled ‘Plantar family history’. “To get started on the family shrub!”

Immediately, both frog kids' faces scrunched up and Polly shouted, “Oh come on!”

Anne stuck her head out of the kitchen and asked, “Family what?”

“Family shrub,” Hop Pop answered and showed Anne the book. He opened it and flipped through a few pages for Anne to see, though the only things that really stood out was a picture of a frog woman in a rocking chair and a whole lot of frogs standing in fields. “It may not seem like it, but our family goes back a long time. We make family shrubs to help young people connect with their ancestors.” Hop Pop gestured at his grandchildren, with Sprig looking very bored and Polly letting out a belch in response.

“Oh, so like a family tree back home?” Anne asked, and though she should have expected this by now, she was still taken back a little by the frog's confused looks. “Oh please don't start with that. It's literally the same thing with a different plant.”

“I don't have time for your insane human nonsense Anne, these kids have work to do.”

“Sure thing, HP,” Anne said with a roll of her eyes and pointed at Polly, “Can I borrow Dorris for a bit?”

“Sure,” Polly replied and took out Dorris and gave her to Anne. “Take care of her and she'll take care of you.”

“Cool. You got a cheese grater in here, HP?”

“I think so. Where did I put that thing?” Hop Pop walked into the kitchen with Anne, leaving Sprig and Polly to gather what they needed to start on the shrub. Paper, scissors, pencils, crayons, and a lot of glue was piled on the living room table and both kids got started on the outline.

In the kitchen, Anne got started on the pizza, flattening and kneading the dough into the right shape while Hop Pop gathered everything she'd need and set it on the counter. “Do you need anything else?” he asked once he was done.

“Dunno. I'll shout if I need you,” Anne answered and nodded once the dough was sufficiently flat. She moved to get started on the sauce and said, “Don't let me keep you from your shrub business.”

“Okay… but be careful.”

“Don't worry, I'm used to the kitchen.” Anne then took some tomatoes, put them in a bowl, and stared down at them with glowing blue eyes. “Prepare to be paste, tomato!” She declared and raised a fist into the air.

Hop Pop could only back out of the kitchen as the Overlord smote her culinary foe.

After some time, both the pizza and the shrub were coming along nicely. Hop Pop was even glad that Sprig and Polly seemed to be getting into it after they started and he enjoyed relaying stories about their ancestors.

Even if they tended to follow the same path.

“Oh, Deborah there is actually in the last generation. She was a lot older than she looks,” Hop Pop said while pointing at the woman.

“Really? Wow,” Polly replied as she corrected the placement and applied more glue for good measure.

“Yep. That's what happens when you spend your life tending grapes. She was quite the oddball in the family.”

“...How are grapes weird for farming?” Sprig asked. Before Hop Pop couldn't answer, Anne appeared in the kitchen doorway.

“Hey, what toppings do you all want? I'm just going to divide it up that way,” she told them.

“Is pineapple still no good?” Sprig asked. Anne glared at him and clenched a fist, which Sprig didn't react to as he went back to drawing. “Just checking. Beetle bits are fine.”

“Same as Sprig, but with some peppers,” Polly answered and rubbed her flippers together, “Mama likes her beetles spicy.”

“As long as it isn't too many,” Hop Pop said before turning to Anne, “and I'm fine.”

“Kay. Be out in a minute.” Anne then went back into the kitchen and came out a few minutes later while setting a timer on her phone. “Alright, it's gotta bake for a bit, but then it's done.” Anne then sat down at an unused side of the table, looked over the shrub, and asked, “So how do you put this together?”

“You want to help with the shrub?” Hop Pop asked.

“Sure, why not?”

Hop Pop didn't immediately answer as he seemed to be on the verge of crying tears of pride, so Sprig spoke up.

“I'm drawing a bunch of pictures of our family, Polly glues them in place, and Hop Pop makes sure it's all right.”

“Cool, pass me some glue.” Polly obliged and for a while the group quietly worked on the family shrub save for the occasional questions about a member that caught their interest. It didn’t take long for the kids to notice a specific trait they all shared.

“Were they all just farmers?” Sprig asked.

“Just farmers?” Hop Pop asked, “now that isn’t true kids. For instance, Great Aunt Gertude was a master dirt tiller. And Second Cousin Alfred was a king!”

“A king? Now we’re talking!” Anne said excitedly.

“Yeah. The king of single-tiered irrigation systems!” Hop Pop excitedly showed a drawing of said systems, though the kids didn’t share his excitement over this.

“Walked right into that one, didn’t we?” Anne asked as she glued another face onto the shrub.

“They couldn’t all be farmers though, right? Not one scientist or explorer or anything?!” Sprig asked and flopped onto his side of the table, “What about you, Anne? There were other Overlords beside you right? What were they like?”

“Gnarl doesn’t talk about them and also tells me not to ask about them or their plans.” Anne went wall eyed and imitated Gnarl as she added, “You should make your own plans, Dark Master! After all, if your predecessor succeeded, they’d still be alive!”

“Can’t argue with that, but at least it’s still something. Our ancestors were boring!” Polly complained just as Anne’s phone started beeping. Anne took it, silenced the alarm, and rushed into the kitchen.

“Boring? Kids, the point of the family shrub is to give you an appreciation of our history. The Plantars have plenty of layers to them, you just have to look for them.”

“Oh really? Then what’s her story?” Polly asked and pointed a flipper at a random Plantar on the shrub.

“Pollyanna? Oh, she’s got a story. She wasn’t just a farmer.” Sprig and Polly perked up in excitement that one of these ‘layers’ might be revealed. “She was a turnip farmer!” That caused their expressions to fall and both of them face planted onto the table.

“Well, you know what doesn’t have turnips on it?” Anne asked as she walked back into the living room while carrying four plates with pizza on them. “Pizza! Time to dig in!” Sprig and Polly cheered as Anne set some plates in front of them and gave the last one to Hop Pop. He looked at the plate critically while the kids each took a bite.

“Oh wow!” Sprig exclaimed and took another bigger bite while Polly proceeded to devour everything on her plate like a piranha. Hop Pop took a small bite of a slice and silently agreed that it was pretty good. He looked over at Polly, who had finished her slices in seconds, and she looked up to meet his eyes before narrowing them.

“Don’t even think about it.”

“I wasn’t thinking of nothing,” Hop Pop defended and took another bite.

“You wouldn’t guess this is my first time making a pizza huh?” Anne asked as she finished her first slice and moved to the couch. “Well, you all have fun with your shrub thing. I’m just gonna sit over here. Not like there’s anyone in your family like me, job or species.” Anne sat down, set her plate on the armrest, and took out her phone to play a game.

“You don’t need blood to be family, Anne.”

“No, but you do need to be a master stacker to get to level 46.” As Anne said this, she grumbled as she failed out of another attempt at the level. “Dang it, sudden death always gets me.”

“I say this with no prior knowledge, but I feel like that thing will rot your brain,” Hop Pop said while picking up a glue bug.

“Actually, Marcy told me once that games like this help improve memory. There was a… brain science study thing and everything.”

“I don’t buy into that kind of hooey.” Hop Pop squeezed the bug and only got a pitiful gust of air from it. “Dang it, looks like we’re all out of glue.”

“Does that mean we can take a break?” Sprig asked.

“No! No breaks or fun until the Shrub is done! I just have to go get some more glue at the store.” Hop Pop walked to the front door and opened it, taking one last moment to point at all of the kids and shout, “All of you stay still until I get back!” before shutting the door. Sprig and Polly stared at the door for a moment before Sprig cleaned off his entire plate with his tongue and sighed.

“You’re lucky you’re not family, Anne. Our history is weak.”

“Our ancestors were boring!” Polly complained.

“And incredibly focused on being normal farmers. Like, to a weird degree,” Anne added and groaned, “darn you sudden death!”

“Not one explorer, or scientist, or warrior!” Sprig complained and hopped over to the fireplace and gestured at a painting of a frog farm couple. “I mean, look at these two! Utterly bored, not enjoying themselves, and all our ancestors were like that! It’s enough to depress anyone.” Sprig leaned against the picture, unknowingly pushing in a switch that had always been there. The whole fireplace started to shake and Sprig had to jump away as the whole thing opened to show a tunnel leading down.

“Sprig, you broke the house!” Polly shouted while Anne moved to the open passage.

“No, he opened some kind of hidden tunnel,” Anne said and squinted into the darkness, “That’s been here this whole time apparently.”

“And probably filled with danger and intrigue,” Sprig added. He and Anne then looked at each other, each looking into the other’s eyes for a semblance of a shared thought. When they found it…

“WE HAVE TO CHECK IT OUT!”

“Jinx, you owe me a soda!” Anne yelled after.

“What?” Sprig and Polly asked.

“...It’s a human thing, don’t worry about it. Let’s still check this out!” Sprig and Polly cheered in agreement and both went into the tunnels, with Anne doubling back to get her pizza and a lantern before following them. Anne lit the way ahead for them, though they only made it a few feet before the door they came through shut behind them.

“Uh oh, I think we got locked in,” Anne said as she and Sprig went back to the shut door. Sprig started pounding on the door while Anne looked around as best as she could. “I don't see a way to open this.”

“Hey geniuses,” Polly called, “why not just keep going? There’s bound to be another exit.”

Anne and Sprig glanced at each other. There wasn't much choice but to do that, so the kids steeled themselves and pressed on.

Anne had long finished her pizza when the trio found their first accessible room. The tunnels seemed to stretch on for miles and there were a lot of doors and rooms down here, though most seemed locked with different kinds of locks. The one open door they found led to a staircase downwards, and after that was an open room they hadn't expected.

“Holy Fronkenstein,” Anne said. The room was filled with beakers resting on tables, shelves full of jars with various things floating inside, and equipment that none of the kids could put names to. Sprig jumped toward a table filled with papers while Anne carried Polly to the shelves. After some rifling around, Sprig held up a paper with a grin.

“You're not gonna believe this! This room belongs to cousin Skip! He wasn't just a farmer, he was a brilliant scientist! He experimented on all kinds of stuff!”

“That irrigation thing must have been something he came up with himself then,” Anne commented and tapped a jar, which caused the vegetable inside to turn and look at her with five eyes. She shivered, backed away, and muttered, “Creepy.”

“Don't you live in an actual tower of Evil?” Polly asked unimpressed.

“There's a difference between Evil and creepy, Polly.” All the same, Anne continued away from the shelves and stopped next to Sprig as he continued going over papers.

“This is amazing! Look at all the stuff he did! I'm surrounded by knowledge and want to know more! Like what that does!” ‘That’ being a lever that Sprig pulled before Anne could even call his name.

There was a grinding nearby and the kids turned to see a gate open, behind which a giant sickly gray pumpkin came out before turning around and roaring with a very detailed face. The kids screamed and ducked under a large vine that the pumpkin swung at them, where it smashed into a wall and caused a column to collapse and provide some cover for the kids to hide behind.

“What the heck is that thing?” Sprig asked as he and Polly peeked over the column.

“Probably one of Cousin Skip’s experiments?” Polly asked before dropping back onto the floor, “Well, there’s nothing to worry about. Anne can just smite that thing with a fireball. Right Anne?” There was no response. “Anne?” Polly and Sprig turned to Anne to find her cuddled in a fetal position with wide eyes.

“I thought the grog was just giving me nightmares, but they were visions of what was to come! Killer pumpkins and fiery hellscapes, all around me. Tearing into me, unspeakable agony.” Anne said and fell onto her side, “If I just stay here, I won’t be killed by a pumpkin.”

“...Oh, come on! Why are you useless now?!” Polly shouted and bounced on Anne's head. This attempt to get her to move didn't work, though that didn't stop the tadpole.

“I have an idea,” Sprig said suddenly and hopped over the pillar. Polly watched as Sprig carefully approached the killer pumpkin, which had halted its roaring to watch the frog. “Hey, it's okay. Everything will be alright,” he said as he walked up and hugged the pumpkin, which smiled and made happy sounds as Sprig gently patted its body. Polly could only stare flatly at the scene as Sprig gave the pumpkin a few comforting pats and even kissed it.

“What is even happening?”

“Shh, it's okay. You horrible, horrible creature,” Sprig said before ominously whispering, “forgive me,” and kicked the pumpkin. It rolled back into its cage, where Sprig quickly leapt up and closed the gate, once more trapping the gourd monster to its displeasure.

“Wow, that was cold bro,” Polly complimented and looked back at Anne and said, “Hey stupid, Sprig defeated the big, bad pumpkin for you.” Anne peeked over the column and saw it was true and Sprig was walking over to them waving. Anne wasted no time in jumping over the column and pulling Sprig in a crushing hug.

“Thanks so much buddy!” She cried through relieved tears, “You're my favorite and bravest general!”

“No problem Anne. Love is the cruelest weapon, after all.”

“What even was that?” Polly asked after hopping over to them, “You face down toads no problem, but a pumpkin sends you crying like a scared little tadpole?”

“You wouldn't be saying that if you saw what that grog showed me.” Polly crossed her flippers with a deadpan look while Anne set Sprig down and continued, “Anyway, if stuff like that is down here, this place might be more dangerous than we thought. We should find a way out before-” There was a crack and the floor started to buckle under them. Sprig and Polly looked down at the floor while Anne simply sighed.

“I’ll learn one of these days,” was the last thing she said before the floor crumbled and sent them down. They all groaned once they had settled and sat up in the new room. Anne quickly found the lantern that had fallen away from her and held it up to light up the room. Polly’s eyes widened and she gasped loudly at being surrounded by walls of weapons, from simple daggers to really painful looking flails.

“Look at this place! There are weapons everywhere! This is heaven!” Polly hopped around the room while Anne and Sprig picked themselves up. They started looking around the room when Polly found a portrait of a frog in armor. “Pollyanna? Hey, this must be her room! She wasn't just a turnip farmer, she was a turnt up warrior!” Anne spent a moment looking between Pollyanna's portrait and Polly as she moved to grab a flail and looked at Sprig.

“You see it too, right?”

“Oh yeah,” Sprig nodded and moved to a stack of books, “it must run in the family. Hey, Pollyanna's diary.” Sprig took out a book and flipped through it with Anne reading over his shoulder. “The Bogwater wars of ‘48, the Western Toad invasion of ‘53. She was in a lot of battles. Hey, she even fought an Overlord!” Anne leaned closer to see the drawing of an armored Pollyanna and a frog Overlord in a sword fight.

“She was the toughest, strongest Plantar ever!” Polly cheered, “Hey, does that say if she won?”

“Yup.”

“So cool. No offense Anne.”

“None taken. I knew there were others before me, but it's still weird seeing proof of it,” Anne said and tugged the diary out of Sprig's hands. She was regretting not paying attention to dates now since the Overlord on the page might be the one before her. She started to wonder what he might have been like when she heard a click.

“Oops,” Sprig said and Anne looked back to see his hands on another lever. “Maybe it opens the way out?” he asked, unaware of a suit of armor raising a sword behind him.

“Sprig!” Anne rushed to pull Sprig away from the armor and they watched as half the room turned into a gauntlet of sword swinging armor and giant axes coming from the ceiling. “Stop pulling levers!”

“I can't help it! Levers are meant to be pulled! Why is this here anyway?” Anne rolled her eyes and flipped through the diary for anything.

“Okay, says here it's her training area.” Anne looked back at the training area and shook her head, “Girl must have been a glutton for punishment. The switch to turn it off is on the wall on the other end.”

“Should be easy,” Sprig said as Anne dropped the diary.

“Yeah, as long as we don't rush it like idiots. Let's take it slow and-”

This plan was immediately ruined by Polly leaping in with a flailing while screaming at the top of her lungs. Sprig and Anne screamed Polly's name before bearing witness to her destruction, watching as the little tadpole dodged every sword and axe, went out of her way to destroy every set of armor, and finished by landing on the switch. Everything shut off and the door opened while Polly hopped to the floor, blew on the flail, and watched Anne and Sprig walk over to her.

“Piece of cake,” she said. Anne smiled down at her and knelt down to pet the top of Polly's head.

“Good battlemaster,” she said, getting a giggle out of Polly.

“Can we do it again?”

“No.” Anne picked up Polly and left the room with Sprig hopping after her.

The group continued their trek through the tunnels and Sprig, absolutely excited about everything he was learning down here, had run ahead to try every door he could. Like before, most were locked one way or another, but that did little to diminish the boy's excitement.

“These tunnels just go on,” Anne said after another turn, “how far does this go?”

“Well, Hop Pop said our family is pretty old,” Polly replied as she watched Sprig fail to open another door, “so even if only people like Skip and Pollyanna have rooms down here…”

“That is a lot of frogs. I can’t help but admire the dedication though. This could not have been easy to build.”

“I found an open door!” Sprig yelled suddenly. Anne hurried her pace and found the door Sprig had opened. Despite her hopes, it wasn’t an exit, but another Plantar room. It was very different from what they had found before though. “Just look at all these games!”

Indeed she did. How could she not when the room was stacked practically to the ceiling with board games and puzzles? Anne set Polly on the ground so they both could look around on their own. Anne started searching through a pile and found a few games that seemed interesting, with one named ‘Danger’ catching her eye.

“Ooh, Frog Risk. I'll save you for a rainy day. What else is in here?”

“Hey, I found the diary of our collector!” Polly shouted. With the promise of a new curiosity, Anne and Sprig met Polly in the middle and looked at the book she had found.

“Whoa, Emma the Newt?” If she wasn't seeing the picture of a red skinned newt with large, poofy hair and her frog family next to her, Anne probably wouldn't have believed it. “I didn't know you had newts in your family.”

“Me neither. It says here she traveled all around Amphibia collecting every puzzle and game she could.”

“Neat,” Sprig said and turned the page, “And after that, she settled down in Wartwood and was adopted by the Plantars.”

Yet another thing Anne hadn't expected, and again if she wasn’t staring at a photo of Emma happily hugging her newfound family she wouldn’t have believed it. “That’s pretty cool of them,” she said with a small smile, “I guess everyone can find a place. Even weirdos like me, to an extent.”

“Extent nothing,” Sprig replied and hopped onto Anne's shoulders, “We're just doing what we've always done, I'd say.”

“Weirdo. Thanks though.”

“Yeah, I'm all for that,” Polly interjected, “but is there a way out of here?” It was a good question, and after a bit of searching Sprig found something door-like. It stretched from the floor to the ceiling and was decorated with colorful tiles.

“Is this it?” He asked before pushing on it, though the stone did not yield even slightly.

“If it is, I can't see a way to open it.” Anne pointed.

“Maybe we just need to break it down!” Polly shouted and tried to strike the door down with a flail, only to end up bouncing unceremoniously. After a moment of her shaking from the recoil, Polly shrugged and said, “It was worth a shot.”

“Wait, this looks familiar…” Anne took out her phone and looked at the game she had been playing. “I knew it! This is just like my game! Freaky. I wonder…” Anne put her phone away and walked up to the door. After finding that the tiles could be moved, she wasted little time in moving them all into a neat stack at the bottom.

“Ha, easy.”

The room decided otherwise, as it started shaking and while more tiles were coming down the door, the ceiling started coming down too.

“What did you do?!” Polly shouted.

“Wow, this place has its own sudden death round? Cool. Alright, time to focus.”

And focus she did. Using years of blocking out teacher lectures, her mom's complaints, and just the Minions in general, Anne went at the door challenge. The tiles were falling faster and it was taxing working out how they all fit together in the short time that she had. Still, even with the sound of the ceiling coming down and the scared screams of frogs, Anne kept her focus as the space got tighter and tighter until-

*click*

-the last tile slid into place and the door opened, which was good as the descending ceiling was only a few feet from Anne’s head.

“Yes! In your face Hop Pop!” Anne shouted excitedly even as the ceiling started pressing down on her. “Who says video games rot your brain? Not Emma Plantar, that's who!”

Sprig and Polly tackled Anne out of the room then and, save for a close call where Sprig barely got his hat out of the room, the three of them were safely out of the room.

“That was way too close,” Sprig said as he put his cap on.

“Hope the games are okay,” Polly added right before they were both thrown off by Anne standing up suddenly.

“Yeah! That was great! I am pumped up!” Anne shouted excitedly while pacing a little, “Man, I’m going to have to do something to burn off this energy later. We really do need to find a way out now.”

“Seconded,” Polly said.

“I think I know how,” Sprig added while reaching for a nearby lever. Until Anne grabbed his wrist, said a simple ‘No’, and carried him away over her shoulder with Polly bouncing after them.

Against her better judgement (not that it has been a day of good judgment) Anne had given Sprig the lantern for what was hopefully the final stretch of walk. So invigorated by this responsibility, Sprig took Polly to look ahead of the path they were on. This was only spurred on when he heard something akin to air blowing somewhere. “Come on Anne, I think there’s an exit ahead!”

“I know, just wait up!” Anne called back, though by then the frogs had sped ahead of her by a wide margin. By then Anne had started using her phone's flashlight to light the way. As she walked, she brushed her hand along the wall and wondered to herself, “But man, there’s a lot of hallways down here. Who built all of this anyway and for how long?” It was an interesting idea, since someone had to start digging here for whatever reason. She thought about this so hard that she hardly noticed when her fingers sank into the wall for a second.

“What the…?” Anne pulled her hand back for a second before looking at the wall again. Slowly, she reached out to the wall and watched wide eyed as her hand sank into it. It didn't feel cold or anything gross, so Anne took a chance and walked forward and passed through the wall. The hallway she was now in looked the same as the rest, though behind her was a shimmering red wall that covered an opening.

“Cool. Freaky, but cool.”

“Anne? Are you back here?” Sprig said as he walked into view with Polly on the other side of the light wall. The wall stopped shimmering once he was in view. Anne put a hand on the wall and found it was completely solid now.

“How did we lose her? Wasn’t she right behind us?” Polly asked.

“I am right behind you,” Anne said, though neither of the frogs reacted to her. “The heck? Does this stop sound too?” Anne pressed a little harder on the wall and found the area around where her hand pressed started to shimmer again. “Huh, weird magic wall. Wait… magic? Why…?” Anne looked behind her, her flashlight shining down the hall and illuminating a door at the end. “I wonder… don’t move guys, I’ll be right back.”

Not that the frogs could hear her, but they decided it was a good idea to sit and wait for Anne to appear again.

Anne walked down to the door, which was just as worn down as the other doors in the tunnels, and thankfully unlocked despite Anne needing to push her entire weight against it to budge it open. Once she was in, she was a little disappointed that the room she found was mostly empty. There were what looked like a bunch of bookshelves and display cases with nothing in them, barely any furnishings aside from a large painting that took up the main wall and two lantern fixtures on either side of the door that Anne came through.

“Weak, and after all of that build up too,” Anne muttered as she walked over to the painting to at least see who wasted her time here. The painting showed another generic famer frog, with brown overalls over a white shirt, and pink skin to go along with his relaxed stance and expression. At the bottom of the frame was a name, though this was a first for the rooms she had been in so far. “Jeremiah… huh? Why cross out the Plantar name?”

This wasn’t all that unusual, since Anne had heard a good few stories of frogs that ended up getting thrown out of the Plantar family for one reason or another. She was also under the impression since coming down here that none of them ended up with their own rooms in these family tunnels. Why then did this frog get a room all to himself, and hidden behind a seemingly magical wall at that?

Anne looked around the room until her attention fell on the lanterns near the door, conveniently ready to be lit. She also noticed the pattern on the metal that surrounded it, and a quick check showed it was movable. Intrigued by this, and more importantly wanting to save on her phone’s battery, Anne created a small fireball and used it to light both lanterns.

“Great, my 9000% charge is safe.” Anne shut off her flashlight and looked around with the new lighting. It didn’t take long for her to see the larger parts of the patterns cast on the walls. She tested the rotating part of the lantern and hummed when the large pattern stopped on Jeremiah’s portrait. “Weird, that looks so familiar.” She moved the other one in the same way and found her answer with a startled gasp.

When aligned correctly over the portrait, the outlines formed a sinister looking helmet with a three pronged crown. Anne had seen the exact same insignia on some new banners in the Dark Tower for a while now. Anne boggled at its presence here until the room started rumbling. She looked around to see the empty shelves and cases were rotating around to show ones with several books and items on display while the main painting also turned around. In its place was a stone statue of a frog in armor, the helmet similar to Anne’s own, with his hands on a mace planted head first at his feet with the insignia of the lanterns shining on his chest.

“No… way! The Plantars had an Overlord as an ancestor!” Anne shouted and ran up to the statue with shining eyes. “THAT IS SO COOL! What is all this stuff anyway?” She looked around and was immediately drawn to a book at the foot of the statue, which she immediately snatched up to read. That didn’t last long and she flipped through the page in confusion as most of the pages were blotted out with ink for most of the pages. A few words managed to survive this odd purging, like ‘sister’ and ‘Pollyanna’ that painted an interesting picture. At the very end, Anne found a page that was actually legible.

“A diary? Interesting habit. However, this is nothing but worthless pulp and paper now. The frog that wrote this diary is dead. Now, there is only The Overlord, and that’s who Amphibia will remember.” Anne cringed and set the book back down before moving on to something hopefully more pleasant. A lot of the books were history and research books of one kind or another, like ‘An abridged history of the Leviathans’, ‘The facts and fictions of Olms’, and ‘How to properly organize your library’ which didn't seem to have been opened once. Anne didn't know where to start and walked past a display case that caught her attention enough for her to plant her face against the glass.

It was a hand drawn map of Amphibia with plenty of crawled notes and colored areas. What really caught her eye was the drawings of a Minion's head in several parts, different ones colored red, blue, and green respectively. “Now what are you? This should be interesting.” Anne looked at the old Overlord’s statue and asked, “You don't mind if I borrow this, do you?”

“Of course not, Anne! Anything for a fellow Overlord!” She whispered for the statue before opening the case and taking the map. She rolled it up carefully and stashed it away before walking to the door. “Well it's been fun knowing you, but I gotta go now. But hey, I'll be back later.” Anne reset the lantern shades, causing the room to start reverting back to how Anne found it, and Anne left the room and shut the door behind her.

Back at the magic wall, Sprig and Polly were still there and facing away from Anne, letting her ‘just happen' to appear again. “You don't think she just… teleported away without us, do you?”

“Nope,” Anne answered, startling the frogs, “mostly because I forgot all about that. What a day, huh?”

“Anne! Where did you go?” Sprig asked and hugged Anne's leg.

“Nowhere really, just saw a hallway a bit back with another room. I just wanted to check it out, and boy was it cool.”

“Really? Was it another cool warrior?” Polly asked.

“Or explorer? I haven't seen a Plantar explorer yet!” Sprig added.

This was enough to stoke a bit of self reflection in Anne. Sure, she thought the Plantar Overlord was cool, but she had to remember that he was the same as her and every other Overlord that came before her: conquering tyrants that killed, destroyed, and ruled with iron fists. Sprig and Polly were excited about their family history for the first time in ever, and Anne found she didn't have the heart to tell them about this one bad branch of their family shrub.

‘Besides, Overlord secrets are for Overlords,’ she reasoned as she shrugged. “He actually was an explorer. A… map making person?”

“A cartographer?” Polly asked.

“Yeah! Wait, how do you know that word?”

“I'm a baby, not stupid.”

“I'll take it. Anyway, I found a map there I can use, so it was worth it.”

“Neat! So, want to get back to finding a way out of here?” Sprig asked.

“Can you teleport out of here?” Polly asked.

“I don't know if that's safe for you. I only ever teleported by myself. If you want to risk it and end up getting splinched together into a mockery of life, that’s on you.”

“...I’m okay with the hallway,” Polly decided.

“Same here,” Sprig agreed.

“Cool, let’s go then.”

Hop Pop finally returned home after a very, very long shopping trip. He was still picking pieces of glue out of his wrinkles when he noticed the living room was empty and the house as a whole was too quiet for three children being in here. “Darn kids, where’d they run off to?”

Hop Pop got his answer when the grandfather clock started shaking before it rotated and spat out Sprig, Polly, and Anne onto the floor. “Cool, we’re back,” Anne said once she managed to look around before she saw Hop Pop. “Hop Pop! You’re not going to believe this! We found those Plantar family layers you were talking about!”

“What? Kids, when I said that I wasn’t being literal.”

“Yeah, we didn’t think so either,” Anne said as she walked to the fireplace and pressed the switch in the painting, causing the fireplace entrance to open and Hop Pop’s jaw to drop. “There’s a whole bunch of tunnels down there.”

“And there’s rooms filled with Plantar family heirlooms! Like laboratories!” Sprig shouted.

“Turnips with eyes!”

“Training grounds!” Polly shouted.

“I saw my life flash before my eyes!”

“So many levers!”

“Pollyanna fought an Overlord!”

“And games don’t rot your brain! Ha!”

“Secret tunnels filled with family heirlooms?!” Hop Pop shouted in shocked excitement, “Why, this is the greatest find I ever heard of! And of course, once again, I was right!”

“You sure were!” Sprig cheered as the kids rushed to the Shrub on the table to add what they learned down in the tunnels to it.

“Our family was the best warrior-scientist-cartogropher-farmers ever!” Polly shouted.

“Well shucks, now I want to see what’s down there!” Hop Pop said, which caused all the kids to freeze.

“Uh, you might want to hold off on that. There’s a lot of traps down there. Like, an absurd amount really,” Anne explained.

“Oh, pshaw, after the day I had I think I can handle it. What do you say, Loggle, up for another adventure?” Hop Pop turned his back to the kids to show Loggle had been stuck to his back with a lot of glue.

“Absolutely…” Loggle started saying before Hop Pop rushed into the tunnels, where he then shouted, “NOOOOOOOOOOOOT!” The kids couldn’t help but stare at the dark entrance for a moment.

“Uh, was he there the whole time?” Polly asked.

“I got to go on adventures with Hop Pop sometime,” Anne stated with an amused smile, “Between that and the locusts, he seems to have a lot of fun when we’re not looking.”

“Should we go after them?” Sprig asked, which was immediately answered by the echoes of Hop Pop tripping a trap and calling for help.

“Oh yeah,” Polly answered and drew her flail.

“Bar the door open and let’s see what else we can find down there,” Anne said standing up.

“Can we keep that monster pumpkin as a pet?”

“Can you not?”

Chapter Text

“This is still an amazing find,” Gnarl said to himself as he studied the map that The Overlord had given him the other day. ‘This has Minions on it, you're all about that, maybe you can make sense of it,’ she had said. And she was right, more than she realized perhaps. “And to think she found it in hidden archives her predecessor left behind. Finally good for something, that one.”

Gnarl rolled up the map and stowed it away in his shawl and started wringing his hands. “Taking the risk on that girl is certainly paying off. It reminds me of a certain Overlord, the chaos and efficiency he dealt before being lost to an Infernal Abyss.”

“Scary monsters!” a nearby Minion screamed.

“That as well. It's been ages since we had an Overlord take a flying mount, let alone taming and bonding with one so quickly. It's a shame the beast was too young and untrained to not eat everything it saw. Hopefully a few months in the wild will beat that out of its peanut brain and we can try again.” Gnarl was sure when that happened the young Overlord would only warm up to him more.

“Daft Punk!”

“...You're not even listening to me rambling.” Gnarls turned on Drip to find the Minion staring intently at The Overlords hypno-box she loved so much, and was snatched away by Gnarl. “Now Drip, the Master doesn't like you touching this. You don't want me to tell, do you?” Drip’s eyes widened and he frantically shook his head no, though a thrum from the Tower Heart stopped the conversation dead. “It's now out of my hands, Drip.”

As Drip ran to hide inside the Brown Hive, Gnarl made his way up to the Throne room to greet the Overlord on her return. He found her standing in front of the teleport pool and approached. “Welcome back, Sire. You left your hypno-box here.”

“Oh, it was here,” Anne said as she took her phone from Gnarl. She squinted her eyes and asked, “Was it Drip again?” Gnarl nodded and Anne rolled her eyes as she pocketed her phone. “Of course. Remind me to waterboard him later.”

“Of course, Master.” Gnarl then noticed the new presence, a frog girl in a black dress and purple hair styled to cover one of her eyes. She was also stiff as a board and covered with mucus, which got worse at the flat look Gnarl gave her. “Oh goodie, another frog that somehow earned a right to be here. So what's your story?”

“Feet to you meet. Flower I Maddie,” she replied.

“...What?”

“She's just nervous from the talk we had,” Anne said and knelt down to put a hand on Maddie’s shoulder, “This is Maddie Flour, Sprigs new fiancé and Wartwood’s local witch.”

“A witch? Interesting…”

“And get this,” Anne continued, “she's the one who helped Sprig activate the teleport pads so he could get here in the first place.”

“I'm really sorry about that,” Maddie whispered.

“Oh, don't be. Water under the bridge as far as I'm concerned. Right?”

“Indeed. It's impressive to be sure.” Maddie blinked a couple of times before looking between the two in confusion.

“Wait, really?”

“The amount of times the Dark Tower’s teleportation has been used against a sitting Overlord can be counted on one hand, and only because the intruder had previous access. Nobody has ever managed to get it to work without that. It takes intense magical ability for that. So, yes, you are intriguing.”

“Well… I’m still only a level one witch…”

“Just don't do that again.”

“Sure.”

“Either way, I want to bring her aboard,” Anne said and pat Maddie’s shoulder, “I’m sure there’s something she can do with her magical know-how.”

“I can think of a thing or two,” Gnarl answered, “The runes on your armor could use some work.”

“Runes? No way, I thought that was a lost art!” Maddie exclaimed and grew thoughtful. The possible benefits could work wonders and were starting to outweigh the negatives that come with working for an Evil Overlord. After a moment of weighing her options, Maddie asked, “If I help, can I use what I learn here for my own magic studies?”

“As long as you help me first, I don't care,” Anne answered.

“Awesome. Thanks for the opportunity, Dark Master.” Maddie held out her hand and Anne shook it, after which the young witch turned to Gnarl and asked, “So, where are these runes?”

“The Overlord's armor is down in the forge,” Gnarl answered and pointed at the appropriate staircase. “A pair of blacksmiths are working on something down there, so don't interrupt them unless necessary.” Maddie nodded and rushed toward the staircase, disappearing down into the depths. Gnarl turned back to Anne and said, “She's eager.”

“I know right?” Anne agreed, “Can you keep an eye on her while I'm gone?”

“I have to. Don't want her slimy hands getting somewhere she's not supposed to. Though I must ask Sire, where are you going?”

“Setting my next evil plan in motion. By the time I'm done, Sprig will have himself a cute little girlfriend and eternal happiness!” Anne giggled evilly and turned back to the pool while Gnarl blinked a few times.

“Didn't you say the witch was the pink frog's fiancé?”

“Don't worry about the details.” Anne jumped and did front flip into the teleport pool, leaving Gnarl to shake his head.

“At least she's happy.”

Footsteps echoed around her as Sasha made her way through the castle. Any monsters that got in her way had been swiftly dealt with. Now, Sasha paused and shifted the grip on her sword as she looked at the dark woods double doors, high as the ceiling. Beyond it, the throne room of The Overlord.

“What? That's not right, not even close. Let’s just…”

The scenery swirled into a bleary mess and Sasha felt an intense vertigo. She was about to collapse when the swirling settled.

“Much better.”

When Sasha could see again she was in a cave of some kind standing at the foot of a grand stone staircase. Writing off the vertigo as another Overlord trick, Sasha started up the staircase two at a time with her sword ready for whatever may happen. Soon enough, at least to her, the staircase ended in a large open hall. She slowly walked into and took in the whole room, the pool of water and open balcony overlooking rocky mountains to her left and to her right…

A throne with a large armored figure sitting in it. He easily could have been one of the tallest people Sasha had ever seen, with black armor that spiked up wherever it could, a helmet that covered his face in darkness while leaving his glowing eyes visible, and a red cape around his shoulders to complete the look. An Overlord in every meaning of the word.

“So you're The Overlord?” Sasha asked as she gripped her sword in both hands.

“I suppose,” he answered, “though I long left that particular title behind. You may call me that if you wish, though I prefer Abyss Lord now.”

“You got the ego, at least. Well it doesn't matter, this ends today!”

“So you think, but this journey has only started, Sasha Elizabeth Waybright.”

Sasha's eyes widened and she took an involuntary step back. “How did you know my name? Did you make Anne tell you?” The idea of this man hurting her friend steeled her resolve from the momentary shock.

“Ah yes, Anne. No, I learned both your name and that of your other friend on my own. Anne is currently beyond my sight; the result of an accord between me and my son from long ago. You wouldn't understand those kinds of things though, seeing as you're still on the crossroads of Good and Evil.” The Abyss Lord leaned forward and interlaced his armored fingers together, and Sasha could feel the smirk he was giving her. “I wonder though, are you able to ‘save’ your friend as she is now?”

Sasha growled and decided she let him talk long enough. She rushed forward with a yell and swung her sword at him, hoping to take his head off with one swing. It didn't go well, as her sword was stopped by a gauntlet and she found herself face to face with The Abyss Lord.

“Really?” he asked, his tone filled with disappointment. Then Sasha was hit by what felt like a brick wall that sent her flying into a nearby pillar and fell to the floor. There was a clanking of armor as Sasha coughed and tried to get up just to get pushed back down with a boot to her back. “This is what the next generation can do? To say I’m disappointed is a massive understatement.”

The boot ground into Sasha's back for a moment before suddenly coming off. Sasha looked at her armored foe as he backed away with a laugh. “Although, I wasn't very impressive either when I started. I'll abide by the accord for now and see where this goes. We'll see whether or not it's time for me to break my shackles in time.” The Abyss Lord turned away from Sasha and walked back to the throne.

“Wait…” Sasha said as she pushed herself to her knees, “where is…”

“Oh yes, you'll want your dream back. Very well.” The Abyss Lord waved a hand and a set of torches near a staircase lit up. “The happy ending you desire is down there. Enjoy the respite, Sasha. I look forward to seeing what you and your friends do.” The Abyss Lord started laughing again as he raised a hand and disappeared in a burst of flame.

Sasha didn't know what to make of this encounter. She was alive and victorious, for a definition of the word, but the Lord's already fading words had shaken her to her core. Then she realized what he had been referring to and pushed herself to her feet and rushed down the lit staircase. At the bottom was a typical wet and pungent dungeon, most of the cells empty save for the furthest one. Inside that one was her.

“Anne!” She was chained to the wall and her clothes were slightly tattered, but it was definitely Anne. Sasha wasted no time in using the conveniently placed key on the wall to open the cellar door and moving to slice the chains in half with her sword. Anne fell to the floor with a few coughs before looking up at Sasha.

“Sasha?” She asked shocked while sheathed her sword.

“Hey Anne, I-” Sasha started to say before she was nearly bowled over by a hug from Anne.

“You came for me!” Anne cried while squeezing Sasha's neck.

“Of course I did,” Sasha said, returning the hug, “I'll always have my girl's backs.” That apparently meant more than Sasha thought as the next thing she knew, Anne kissed her cheek and stared into Sasha's eyes.

“I know.”

“Whoa, okay.”

A particularly rough bump hit the cart and knocked Sasha, who had been sleeping in the bed of the cart, back into the waking world. “Gah! What happened, where am I? Did anybody see that?” Sasha asked worriedly and rubbed her cheek.

“Sorry Sasha,” Percy apologized from his seat at the front, “bit of a rough road now. Didn't mean to wake you up.”

“No, it's fine. I needed to get up anyway.” Sasha shuffled into a more comfortable position and looked out at the plain they were passing through. Though the dream was already fading away, Sasha still felt embarrassed by the weird turn it took at the end. “Stupid dreams…”

So far, the hunt for The Overlord hadn't been going as planned. For someone that apparently had a hand in a lot of misery and (often repeat) destruction, he was basically a ghost. The few towns that were comfortable speaking about the experience (especially to anyone from Toad Tower) said basically the same thing: when The Overlord attacks, they often come out of nowhere with their monster army. The Minions, as Sasha had learned they were called, would ransack the town and gather the people in front of The Overlord. They would be extorted and then The Overlord would disappear once sated.

That's just what Sasha had learned, since Percy was having better luck with the occasional traveling merchant. Apparently the actual reach The Overlord had was sporadic and seemed focused mostly on towns that could provide some kind of goods, food mostly. Since Frog Valley was mostly farming towns, that was a large amount and meant by now almost every village paid something to keep The Overlord away for a while.

Now, a maniac holding her friend hostage with a monster army, that could seemingly be anywhere at any time, and that managed to get that kind of reach before anybody like Grime knew they were even there was bad enough. What frustrated Sasha to no end was how nobody seemed to care! The acts that should bring out calls for war just get a shrug at best, if they even notice! Braddock did explain that Amphibia was a death trap on the best of days and everyone was basically numb to gallows topics, but come on! One woman even had the gall to say that some Minions being left behind in towns to ‘hold towns for the Dark Master’ were a good thing for keeping predators away.

‘It's like they don't understand that someone like that can turn around, kill them all, and burn down their town just for kicks!’ Sasha thought with a groan and rubbed her forehead. “I'm getting a headache again.”

“Are you hungry again Sash? I think I still got some of those energy bars if you want one,” Braddock said from the front.

“I… actually, yeah, that sounds good right now.” Braddock handed Percy the reins long enough to dig out a bar and hand it back to Sasha, who took it and tore out a bite to chew while thinking. By now, Sasha had to admit that she probably wouldn’t happen across The Overlord anytime soon. She'd have to plan around their movements and trap them somehow.

Now if only she knew anything about them worth a crap.

“Have either of you heard of an Overlord before now?” Sasha asked.

“I don't think so,” Braddock responded, “why?”

“I was just wondering. I mean, Towers don't tend to spring up out of nowhere, so I was thinking that Overlords existed before.” Sasha managed to stay awake long enough for Marcy’s fantasy movies to at least know that much. “If we could find anything about them, we might have better luck with the one we're fighting.”

“Oh, I get it,” Percy said, “but, no, I haven’t heard of that before.”

“Same here,” Braddock added, “and you’d think something like that would have come up.”

“It should have, and it’s weird that it hasn’t.” Sasha finished her bar and sat up to crawl over to the toads up front. “Is there a place back at Toad Tower where we could look stuff like that up?”

“Not really. The Captain isn’t really the type to… keep books around,” Percy said carefully, as if Grime could hear him from out here.

“Well, is there anyone who does?”

“I dunno.”

“Maybe there’s something in the town archives?” Braddock offered.

“...The what?” Sasha asked.

“It’s something the local frogs do. To keep important books and documents safe for the future, they keep them in underground archives. There’s a lot of them around the valley, but the biggest one is the one near Wartwood.”

“Wartwood…” the same town that Bog apparently saw Anne. Sasha had wanted to go there the moment she could, but something stopped her. She wasn't sure what it was: caution to keep Anne safe while Sasha didn't know where she was, an urge to stave off disappointment if she wasn't there, or plain old anxiety. Whatever the reason, Sasha didn't want to risk going to Wartwood until all other options had been exhausted.

“I guess we could try that, as long as they aren't too close to town.”

“Alright. The Wartwood Archives aren't too far and they're a fair ways out of town. We shouldn't draw attention from The Overlord while we're there.”

‘Oh, that's what the anxiety is for. Stupid war.’

The sun was setting by the time Sasha's group made it to ‘The Historic Wartwood Archives’, as the sign said. Percy and Braddock hopped off the cart while Sasha affixed her sword and raised the hood of her cloak. Sasha wasn't exactly impressed by the place, with only a statue of a frog scholar marking the outside of what might as well be a hole in the ground. There was probably dirt everywhere down there and Sasha wasn't looking forward to it.

“Looks like we're not the only ones here,” Percy said and pointed at the other cart parked outside of the archives. It didn't really stand out from their own, save being pulled by a snail as opposed to their spider.

“Who cares?” Sasha asked and jumped out of the cart, “people share libraries all the time back home. I think. Let's just stay out of each other's way and go our separate ways once we're done.”

“I'm all for that,” Braddock said and led the group toward the door. Before she could open it though, it opened from the inside as someone started coming out facing away from them.

“Careful with those,” one of them, a male voice said as he walked out with a stack of books.

“I am,” this one, a woman replied. She came out after her companion with her own books and Sasha got a good look at both of them.

Too tall and skinny to be Toads or Frogs, Sasha could only assume they were Newts. She wasn't sure if it was normal for them to be walking around in large red robes like these two, but she'd bet the answer was no. Something about them was sending warning signs to Sasha.

“Are you sure we got everything?” the woman asked.

“We're running out of time as it is. We'll come back to check tomorrow,” the man replied as he adjusted the books in his hands. The woman nodded and took a few steps to their cart before she noticed Sasha and the toads and froze. Frantically she gestured her head toward them and her partner also looked.

Sasha raised an eyebrow at the looks on their faces, like kids caught with their hands in the cookie jar. That was definitely not normal by any stretch and alarms were going off in her head as Sasha could only think of one reason for the creepy dressings.

‘Of course this place has cults. What's their deal?’

“Um… can we help you?” The man asked.

“No. We were just going to do our own research down there,” Percy said pointing at the Archive entrance, “Don’t let us keep you.”

“Oh… good. That’s good,” the woman said as she slowly put her books in the back of the cart, not caring that they tipped over and spilled all over.

“We’re done down there, so you go right ahead,” the man added and threw his own books in the cart. “We’ll just get out of your way.”

“Oh, no worries,” Braddock said, “you go on your way.”

“Are you two serious? You're gonna let them go despite how suspicious they are?” Sasha asked incredulously.

“Whaaaaaat? How are we suspicious?” The woman asked with obviously fake innocence.

“You’re dressed in red robes. That's suspicious on its own.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Yes, it is.”

“Maybe they're going to a fancy party?” Percy offered.

“Shut up. If it is a party, it’s a cult party.”

“Hey, we are not a cult!” The man shouted, “We're part of an ancient order with plenty of history!”

“Uh huh, and what's it called?”

“None of your business.”

“The Order of the Olms,” the woman answered at the same time.

“You idiot! Don't tell them that!”

“That's very culty-y,” Braddock said with a nod at Sasha.

“Oh, you're definitely a cult. What books did you take?” Sasha took a step forward and both newts immediately went on the defensive.

“It’s nothing! Now if you’ll just let us go-”

“If it’s nothing, why are you so defensive? Just let me see one and-” Sasha took another step and the man had the bright idea to draw a sword on her and point at her.

“Listen girl, just let us go and-”

“After you drew a sword, not a chance.” Sasha smirked as she drew her own sword and added, “Thanks for the excuse. I was getting tired of pretending to care about what you were saying.” Sasha took another step forward and both of them started backing up.

“Think fast!” The woman suddenly yelled and threw something at Sasha. She only had a second to see it was a yellow mushroom before it went off with a bright flash.

“Argh, you fool!” Sasha yelled and fell back clutching her eyes. There was a lot of commotion that she couldn't quite make out aside from the newt’s screaming and a wagon taking off. By the time she could see again, she found Percy was standing over her and Braddock was yelling at something in the distance. “The heck was that?!”

“Flash shroom,” Percy answered, “are you okay Sash?”

“Where are they?!”

“They just took off down the road!” Braddock said as she started walking back.

“After them!” Sasha ordered as she grabbed her sword, got up, and ran back to their cart. She hopped into the driver's seat and whipped the spider forward, barely giving Braddock time to get on the cart and Percy no time at all. He was left barely hanging on and screaming as the cart shot forward.

Sasha didn't pay attention to him, nor Braddock pulling him on. She only had the newts on her mind.

They caught up to the newts just as they entered the forest. Sasha followed after them, headless of her companion’s screams nor how rough the path was on the cart. All that mattered was keeping those newts in her sight even as the forest got in her way. Unfortunately a small mammal of some kind ran right across their path and their spider decided that was a better use of its time and veered off after it, causing the cart to smack into a tree and stop.

Percy and Braddock didn’t even have time to recover before Sasha took off into the woods with an angry growl. The tracks of the other cart led deeper into the woods, so at least Sasha didn't have to worry about getting lost. She ran as fast as she could through the woods, hopping over trenches and mushrooms and dicking under low branches, until she saw the light of a fire up ahead. Sasha slowed down and carefully made her way to the tree line to see what lay beyond.

The area was lit by a large bonfire, the cart and snail were parked to the side as one of the newts stayed with it to unload books while the other ran into the camp to another two newts. One was dressed like the other two, but the other was different: a white cloak over armor and a golden snake mask. Sasha rubbed her chin as things played out.

“You’re finally back,” Goldmask said with a very tinny voice, “were there any problems?”

“Big problem actually!” The woman said, clearly panicking. “We ran into a Toad Tower patrol on our way out of the Wartwood Archives. They were… slightly suspicious of us…”

“You threw a flash shroom at them!” The man shouted at her as he walked up and threw a stack of books into the bonfire.

‘What's that about?’ Sasha wondered for a moment.

“You drew your sword first!” The woman countered as the man walked back to the cart. Goldmask just sighed and put a hand to his face. 

“The last thing we need is to antagonize the local toads,” he said and lowered his hand, “Did they follow you?”

“They were, but I think we lost them in the woods.”

“Let us hope. Finish burning what you brought and get ready to move. I need to return to the greater Amphibia, so the rest of the Archives in the valley will be up to you all.” The woman nodded and moved to the cart. Sasha watched them for a moment before she felt a tap on her shoulder. She looked back at Braddock with Percy right behind her.

“Are you okay Sasha? We got worried when you ran off,” Braddock said.

“I'm fine, just watching these guys. Is book burning a big thing here?” Sasha asked and pointed forward as more books were thrown into the flames.

“I don't think so,” Percy answered. “Why are they doing that?”

“I'm gonna find out. You two circle around and try to flank them. I'll get their attention here. Okay?” Percy and Braddock nodded and began to sneak away. Once they were a fair distance away, Sasha stood up and walked into the clearing. Goldmask saw her instantly and Sasha used her fingers to whistle for the other's attention. “Hey guys, I caught up.”

“Oh crud!” The woman said and threw her books into the fire, her partner following before they both drew their swords. Sasha grabbed the hilt of hers when Goldmask moved forward and put his hands on the shoulders of the two.

“Calm yourselves,” he commanded and looked at Sasha. Sasha didn't like the look in his eyes. It was the same sharp look that Grime usually had. Whoever this guy was, he was no slouch. “Soldier, I understand you had a bad experience with my underlings. Is such a slight really worth the effort in chasing them all this way?”

‘Oh, he’s wordy,’ Sasha thought, already feeling exhausted. “Look dude, I am mad about the mushroom, but that's not why I'm here. Your creepy little cult sneaking around is not something we need right now. Just make this easy and come along to explain what you're doing to Captain Grime. Or you can just tell me what you're up to right now.”

Goldmask laughed at that. “I'm not scared of some gladiator has-been like Grime. The goals we are working toward are far beyond what you can understand. While I wish to avoid conflict, the threat won't stop us.”

Sasha rolled her eyes and drew her sword. “Hard way it is then. Don't say I didn't warn you.”

“I don't have time for this. Deal with her.” Goldmask pushed the two forward. Sasha raised her sword and watched as Goldmask turned and handed something to the third newt who had been watching. “Find the others. You know what to do.”

“Yes sir,” he replied and started to leave.

That was when Percy and Braddock chose to act. With a yell, they both leapt into the clearing toward the leaving newt and Goldmask respectively. The newt tried to run, but was powerless to stop Percy as he landed and sat on his back, pinning him to the ground. It would have been more impressive if Percy hadn't decided to wear the jester hat in the time since he left. Braddock had worse luck however, as Goldmask was skilled enough to catch her and throw her to the ground before sprinting into the woods.

“Dang it!” Braddock shouted as she got to her feet and drew her sword while looking at where Goldmask disappeared.

“Forget him! Get the others!” Sasha shouted before she had to parry a strike from a newt. She found an opening and kicked him away before she tore her cloak off and threw it into the other newt’s face, blinding her and leaving her open for Braddock to tackle out of the way. Now free to focus, Sasha advanced on the male and swung an overhead strike at him that he blocked.

“Damn toads just couldn't leave well enough alone, could you?!” he shouted as he pushed Sasha away. While she managed to parry his strikes, Sasha was finding it hard to force a hole in his defenses open to strike.

“Dude, we have so much more important things to worry about than book burners! Just tell us what they were and we'll leave you alone!” Sasha shouted and swung at the newts legs, causing him to jump back.

“Screw you!”

Negotiations were obviously not going well. Sasha managed to push him back enough to see the woman newt had managed to fight Braddock to a standstill and Percy was managing to keep his newt pinned.

What happened next would become something of a blur for Sasha going forward. She had looked back at her opponent to see he was approaching and parried his sword. She had seen the tip of her sword aligned with his chest and, on instinct more than anything, stabbed forward. She would remember the man's gasp, the feel of something wet hitting her hands when the blade stopped at the hilt, and moving to the side when his weight started coming down on her. In that instant of stillness right after, the weight of what happened came crashing down on Sasha and she found it hard to breathe.

“Hank!” the woman shouted and Sasha glanced over to see she was charging her. She gripped her sword and swung on instinct, the first taking the newt’s hand and the follow-up taking her head. The newt fell down next to her partner and Sasha stared at both of them.

“What did you do?!” the last newt shouted and started struggling more against Percy. By that point the only thing Sasha could hear was her own heart beating.

“Look buddy, just come along quietly and we can talk about this,” Braddock said while walking over to help Percy.

“And end up like them? I'm not taking the chance!” The newt managed to swing his tail to hit Percy off of him. Braddock sped her pace up, but couldn’t get to him in time before he drew a dagger and stabbed himself in the throat with it.

“Ah!”

“Holy crud!” Percy shouted and scooted away from the dying newt. Both toads watched as he twitched a little before stilling.

“Are you okay?” Braddock moved to help Percy up while trying not to look at the newt.

“No, I'm fine. But what was his problem? Why would he do that?”

“I don't know, but he seemed pretty freaked out. Don't you think Sash?” Sasha didn’t answer. Braddock and Percy looked at her to see she was still staring at the newt bodies and had backed up a couple of steps. She was barely holding her sword now, and she didn’t seem to be breathing. “Sasha, are you okay?”

She was not okay in the slightest. Though she wasn’t feeling terrible either. Sasha wasn’t sure how she felt, she wasn’t sure of anything. There was a lot of red on the ground now, slowly spreading to cover the ground. All because of her. The thought made her head spin.

“Sasha? Hey, look at me,” Braddock said. Sasha couldn’t find it in her to look at Braddock, but did manage the smallest of gestures to show she was listening. “I don’t know how your kind is about killing, but it's always hard at first. Just take a breath for me.”

Sasha did as she was asked, but knew halfway through that it had been a bad idea even before everything she ate that day came back up. The vomit didn’t get on anything important, but Sasha knew more was coming even as Braddock grabbed and led her to a nearby tree. She dropped her sword on the way there and was thankful when she felt the tree under her hands just as she heaved again.

“Yeah, it was the same way for me,” Percy said sympathetically. It really wasn’t making Sasha feel any better.

“Just let it out,” Braddock added.

“I am!” Sasha growled out before coughing. “Just… go see what you can find here and leave me alone.”

“Sure thing. We’ll just be over there.” Braddock gave Sasha a couple of pats on the back before leaving her to shake off her jitters. Sasha threw up one more time and pressed her forehead against the tree bark while she coughed and fought off any more heaves.

Now that she had gotten over the shock, Sasha knew she should have expected something like this to happen. She had been planning on killing The Overlord to rescue Anne after all, but she hadn’t really thought about what it would feel like. It was far too easy to end a life, especially when she actually meant to.

‘Is it going to be like that all the time? Especially with The Overlord?’ Sasha wondered and failed to hold back a foul smelling burp. It wasn’t a good feeling, but maybe a necessary one. The Overlord isn’t liable to just let Anne go, after all. As Sasha pushed herself upright and took a few deep breaths, she figured she could at least push it down when it mattered the most. Now that she was feeling more or less normal, Sasha turned around to pick up her still bloodied sword and saw Percy and Braddock watching her.

“Are you okay?” Percy asked.

“I'm fine. Did you find anything?” Sasha asked as she moved to one of the newt bodies and cleaned her sword off on their robes.

“Not really,” Braddock answered, “everything they brought here was burned. No saving that.”

“One of them had a satchel,” Percy continued and showed said satchel. “I haven’t looked through it yet, but-”

“Let me see,” Sasha said. She sheathed her sword and took the satchel from Percy and started looking through it. “Let’s see… bag of coppers. You can have that,” Sasha threw the bag over her shoulder so either Percy or Braddock could catch it, “What else: harlequin romance novel, feather pen, junk mail (come on, don’t take that with you). Who stashes all of this crap in here anyway?” Sasha found and pulled out a folded piece of paper, unfolded it, and held back a startled gasp at what was on it.

“Sash? What is it?” Percy asked as Sasha folded the paper again and stowed it away.

“Something I need to talk to Captain Grime about.” Sasha threw the satchel into the bonfire and walked over to the two newts she killed. “Throw the bodies in the fire, we’re done here.”

“We are? But-”

“Now. I want to get back to those archives.”

“O-okay.” Percy and Braddock moved, with Percy grabbing the newt he had pinned and Braddock getting the newt Sasha had decapitated. Sasha herself looked down at her first kill, took a deep breath, and started dragging him to the fire.

‘Push it down Sasha. Deal with it later.’

The Archives were a total bust, though not for lack of trying. Because apparently, the stupid door had a lock that only opened at certain times of day and night was not it. Sasha bashed her head against the door for a while when she found out about that before Percy pried her away from it and they all went back to Toad Tower. Night had long fallen by the time they got back. Sasha dismissed Percy and Braddock and went to report what had happened to Grime.

“As if we didn’t have enough problems. First this Overlord, and now a cult running around. I missed when things were quiet.” Grime rubbed his eyes and started pacing around what could generously be called his office. “Just what is even happening out there?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think it’s a coincidence that both of them show up like this. I think these Order guys are working for The Overlord,” Sasha responded. She didn’t have irrefutable proof of that, but it was very plausible at the very least. And then there was the paper that had been on Sasha’s mind since she got it. “And even if I’m wrong on that, I think they’re still worth looking into.”

“And why is that?”

“One of them had a satchel. Most of it was junk, but this was in it.” Sasha took out the paper and handed it to Grime. He opened it and looked over the drawing for a moment while Sasha took out her phone and scrolled for a picture.

“A drawing of a music box? What about it?”

“Because I’m sure it’s the same as this music box.” Sasha finally found the right picture and showed it to Grime. Sasha had forgotten all about the music box she had gotten for Anne for her birthday, what with being trapped in another world and all, at least until it showed up again in the hands of a group of weirdos. “I had this box with me before I got zapped here. I’m not a big believer in ‘just coincidence’ right now.”

“Interesting. Very well,” Grime said and gave Sasha the drawing, “you may look into this if you have time. And if you can, try to bring one alive. I’d be very interested in talking to them.” Grime licked his sharp teeth, which was enough for Sasha as she put the drawing and her phone away.

“Of course. You’ll be the first to know.”

“Then you’re dismissed. Get some rest Lieutenant.”

Sasha gave him a salute and left to go to her own room. On the way back, she started thinking about the newts again. While she still didn’t feel very good about what had happened, the long trip back to Toad Tower and some thinking had led Sasha to a conclusion. There were bound to be others like them that would stand between her and Anne’s safety, none lesser than The Overlord himself. The thought made Sasha sicker than she had been earlier and she slammed a fist into the nearby stone wall. She hardly cared that she left a small indent in the stone.

“Fine then, let them come and try to stop me. They’ll get the same. I’ll get over it, even if I have to spill a river of blood. My girl’s safety is more important than any lives.”

Sasha pulled her fist out of the wall and continued walking, wanting nothing more than a hot shower right now. Hopefully Brunton had gotten that working by now. Sasha thought of Anne once more, hoping beyond anything that she was alright.

Anne was feeling great. How could she not after the stellar plan she had come up with going so well, especially when you have other people making the plans for her? Granted, there were more than a couple of hiccups along the way and Anne now needed to figure out how to make Love Doves extinct, but knowing Sprig was one step closer to having the perfect little girlfriend was worth it. That, plus her sword coming along nicely and Maddie having some good ideas on what to do with those runes left Anne more than happy as she retired to her room for the night to watch videos of Domino while curled under her covers.

“I hope you’re doing okay without me. I’ll be back soon,” Anne said as she watched a video of Domino grooming herself. As good as these videos were, Anne was really starting to miss her baby precious. All the more reason to get back home as soon as possible. Anne didn’t get a chance to dwell on that for long before she heard a knock on the door. “Whaaaaaat?!”

“The old frog wishes to speak with you, Sire,” Gnarl called from the other side of the door. Anne checked the time on her phone and frowned a little.

‘This late?’ “Is it important?”

“He said it was. Want me to send him off?”

“No, send him in. He has more hits than misses when it comes to telling me things.” Anne then started crawling her way through her covers to one of the edges of her bed. Given how big her bed was, this took longer than she was used to. So unused to it that when she did find the edge, it took her by surprise and Anne found herself crashing face first onto her floor. “Ow.”

“Uh… are you okay, Anne?” Anne moved her head to look at Hop Pop and Gnarl both standing in the doorway looking down at her, with only the former looking at her in concern.

“I’m fine. This isn’t the hardest I’ve fallen out of bed before,” Anne said and rolled fully out of the bed and settled onto her back on the floor. “So what brings you here so late, HP? If it’s about that lady you met at the dance, I will think of something soon enough.”

“No, though now I am worried about what you want with Sylvia.”

“Don’t worry about that.” Anne tried to look past Hop Pop as best as she could and asked, “Are Sprig and Polly with you?”

“Er, no. Them not coming is… part of the point,” Hop Pop replied, naturally intriguing Anne. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and noticed Hop Pop had brought a book along with him that he was hugging protectively.

“What’s the book for?” she naturally asked, which only made Hop Pop hug it tighter.

“Well… before I say, can you promise me something?” Anne raised an eyebrow and motioned for Hop Pop to continue. “I don’t want Sprig and Polly involved in what I want to show you. So, can you try to keep them out of this?”

“I think you’d have better luck telling them to stay out of it, and they’d listen just as well either way. Why the sudden care about that now?”

“And the audacity to make demands of The Overlord,” Gnarl added.

“There’s nothing wrong with asking,” Hop Pop said, which only made Gnarl roll his eyes as he moved to a corner, “And I got my reasons. I just want to keep them as safe as possible.”

“In a world like this?” Anne asked and crossed her arms. Hop Pop looked away from Anne and hugged his book a little tighter.

“If I explain, will you agree?” he finally asked.

“If it’s good.”

“Fair enough. Well, it has to do with… Sprig and Polly’s parents.”

Anne’s eyes widened and she involuntarily held her breath as Hop Pop walked to her bed and hopped onto it, setting his book to the side once he was properly sat down. While Anne had been curious about where the Plantar parents were, she also knew not every family had a happy story. Sasha had more than proven that. The personal swerve in the conversation put Anne on edge.

“Uh, what about them?” Anne finally asked.

“Well, it’s been a few years now,” Hop Pop started and clasped his hands in front of him, “I used to travel a lot more when I was younger, and I was out of town when the Herons came to Wartwood.”

“Uh, Herons?”

“Large predatory birds native to this world, Dark One,” Gnarl answered, “they can average out at around fifty meters in height.”

Anne, by her own admission, wasn’t exactly a numbers girl. Pop culture could thankfully make up for that, and the idea of any kind of bird the size of Godzilla sent shivers down Anne’s spine.

“Just about,” Hop Pop admitted sadly. “Sprig and Polly managed to hide, but their parents… weren’t so lucky.”

“Oh Frog,” Anne whispered and moved to sit next to Hop Pop on the bed, “They don’t… remember that, do they?”

“I don't know. I don't think Polly remembers, since she was really young, and Sprig doesn't really talk about it. I remember though: the chaos in town once the Herons moved on, and finding Sprig and Polly huddled alone in the basement. Ever since, I swore I'd do anything to keep them safe. Like you said, I couldn't do much about the world itself, but I still protected them from what I could. For a while, it worked out alright.”

Hop Pop looked at Anne with an utterly guilt ridden look. “Until it didn't. Until me trying to protect them started something I could have never seen coming.”

“Well someone's got a high opinion of themselves,” Gnarl sparked.

“Shush. Hop Pop, I thought we were past this?” Anne asked.

“I thought so too.” Hop Pop started tearing up, “But… every time I see how well you get along with Sprig and Polly, how much they look up to you, it just hits me all over again. I'm sorry Anne, for how badly I messed up. I'm just so sorry.”

“Hey, enough of that.” Anne pulled Hop Pop into a hug, which the elderly frog hesitated on returning for only a second. “You already said that plenty of times, and I moved on from that blame game. Dwelling on what happened nearly ruined me, and I don't want anyone doing the same.” Anne squeezed Hop Pop one more time before gently pushing him away? “I want to focus on what I can do now, and there's quite a lot. And just so you know, Sprig and Polly mean a lot to me too. I can't guarantee their safety, especially if they insist on tagging along, but I will try and protect them as best as I can. Okay?”

Hop Pop sniffled and nodded with a smile. “Thanks Anne. It means a lot.”

“Gag me,” Gnarl muttered, which went ignored.

After a moment, Anne coughed into a fist and pointed at Hop Pop's book. “So, about what you wanted to show me?”

“Right.” Hop Pop picked up his book, put it on his lap, and started flipping through while Anne watched. “When you told us about your music box, I couldn't stop thinking I had seen it before. I've been looking through all of my books since.” Hop Pop stopped flipping, having seen what the next pages were about, and said, “And then I found this.” He flipped the page and Anne gasped loudly at what she saw.

“Holy crud, it's the music box!” Anne took the book out of Hop Pop's grasp and dashed to her planning table.

“It's what?” Gnarl asked before he was roughly pulled over to Anne's side.

“See? It's totally the same music box, right?” Anne asked as she pulled the music box next to the book. Indeed, Hop Pop's book had a detailed drawing of the same music box along with several descriptors.

“Huh, it is. Interesting.”

“That name though. ‘Calamity Box’? That sounds dangerous.” Not helping that the box had the word ‘dangerous’ plastered across the page along with another saying the box had been destroyed. Obviously, that one wasn’t true. “Where’d you find this book, HP?”

“It’s been in my family for as long as I can remember,” Hop Pop said as he got off the bed and walked over to Anne and Gnarl. “I hope you understand why I want to be careful letting Sprig and Polly near that now.”

“Well, it did bring me here from my world,” Anne conceded and looked at the ‘Calamity Box’ on the table, “I wouldn’t be too shocked if it can do anything else. What do you think, Gnarl? Any of this shaking some cobwebs loose in your brain?”

“The name ‘Calamity Box’ does ring a bell,” Gnarl answered. He shrugged and added, “Nothing more than that though. Apologies Sire, this is quite annoying for me too.”

“Eh, whatever. One thing is for sure, my music box showing up in a book that came from this world means we’re on the right track on figuring out how to get this thing working again. There’s not a lot to go on in this book though. Do you have any more books that could help HP?”

“I looked through everything I had, only this one had anything,” Hop Pop replied and stroked his chin, “Maybe the Wartwood Archives has something. I needed to look something up there anyway, so I’ll get you when I’m ready to go.”

“Sounds like a plan. I never was one for research, but I’ll put up with anything if it gets me home.”

“It might have to wait though. I made plans to go camping with Sprig and Polly in a few days, and I can’t change that.”

“Eh, that’s fine.” It’s not like Anne wanted to go camping anytime soon anyway. She could wait a few days.

Chapter Text

The forge of the Dark Tower was working full time, though Maddie had managed to work out that the armory storage near the stairs was cool enough for her to work. Still, she made sure to keep a bucket of water and a ladle nearby to ward off dehydration. The two blacksmiths appreciated it too, occasionally coming over for a splash and break. During one of those trips, the toad stayed a bit longer to silently watch as Maddie worked.

“Can I help you?” Maddie eventually asked.

“You're staring again, Tom,” Spike said as he walked over, “and he's just wondering what you're doing.”

“Oh. Well, right now I'm just trying to organize these runes.” Maddie then squinted and added, “Which would be easier if I had that rune dictionary I asked for.”

“Organize? You can understand those things?”

“I am working on it. Best I can figure right now is that every rune is actually a letter. By spelling out certain words and channeling magical energy into it, you can give something any attribute you want.” Maddie chewed on her pencil a little, which did nothing to diminish her grin. “If I am right about that, then I can pull off some really intense things with these runes.”

Spike let out a whistle and looked at the Overlord armor on display. “Kinda makes you wonder what they put into that armor, eh Tom?” Tom nodded in agreement.

“Nothing too fancy for a simple suit of armor.” The trio looked up at Gnarl coming down the stairs with Anne behind him, though she quickly moved past him when they reached the bottom of the stairs. While Anne started looking around the room, Gnarl made his way to Maddie and handed her a rolled up parchment. “Glubnub had that hidden in his toenail collection. It should suffice for your work.”

“Thanks, and gross,” Maddie said as she took the paper and opened it, immediately drawn in by what she saw. “So I was right about the alphabet theory.”

“And how is your work coming along?” Gnarl asked, turning to Spike and Tom.

“Almost finished, though would it be bold to ask for some of the little monsters to give the metal some extra kick?”  Spike replied.

“Take 100 of the new ones. That should suffice for now.”

“Then we should be done soon enough.” Tom grinned widely and cracked his knuckles.

“Then don't let me stop you.”

“Dang it, where the heck is it?” Anne said and poked her head out from behind her armor. “Hey, have any of you seen my backpack?”

“Nope,” Maddie replied while Spike and Tom shook their heads.

“I believe you last had it when you last went to the frog's house,” Gnarl said.

“I must have left it there then. Okay, I'll check there.” Anne walked out and started going to the stairs.

“Before you leave Master, I wanted to speak to you about the map you found the other day.”

“Will it be quick?”

“It should be. I left it on your throne.”

“Okay, then let's see it.” Anne and Gnarl started heading back upstairs while Maddie, Tom, and Spike got back to work. Once in the throne room, Anne sat in her throne and picked up the map that was on an armrest. “So, what did you find out about this?”

“Your predecessor left behind quite the gem,” Gnarl said while tapping the map, “This map of Amphibia will make finding the lost Minion Hives easier, as the markings are actually showing Minion migration routes!”

“Lost hives? Oh, is this the color thing?” Anne asked excitedly, “Am I finally going to learn what the colors are about?!”

“Indeed. I can fill in the details, but I know you understand enough yourself that I won't have to explain everything. Am I correct?”

“Ugh, I hate pop quizzes. Well, from the map and what I know so far, I'm guessing there's four kinds of Minions for me to order around?”

“Correct. So far you've only had Brown Minions, such as myself, in your army. They're… easy to understand.”

“Dumb as rocks, but strong and loyal to make up for it?” Anne and Gnarl looked over at a nearby Minion, who was utterly fascinated by a bug-rat that had snuck into the tower before smashing it with a brick.

“Very apt, Sire,” Gnarl agreed.

“So if you're a Brown too, why aren't you like them?”

“With age comes wisdom.”

“Fair. Moving on, you always talk about Reds when it comes to cooking, so I guess they have fire powers of some kind?”

“They have fire magic, great for cooking foes and food alike. While not nearly as hardy as Browns, you won't need Reds to be tough as long as they're far enough away.”

“...Only now am I realizing how useful that would have been,” Anne said, her mind alight with images of forest fires. “Anyway, I also remember Numpty complaining about Blues being able to swim. Is that their whole thing?”

“Only the least impressive. Blues are resistant to magical attacks, so anybody that relies on that is in for a surprise. In addition, Blues are able to revive dead Minions, assuming there's still something to bring back.”

“Again, very useful to have.” If only to make Minion deaths less annoying and more funny. “So that just leaves…”

“The Greens, Master. Aside from their… ungodly hygiene, Greens are able to become invisible to the naked eye. Assuming an enemy can’t smell a Green, they’ll never be able to see them! And because of their habits, they're practically immune to poisons.”

“Are… are you exaggerating about the hygiene thing?” Anne asked. Gnarl responded by giving her the flattest look he ever gave her, and Anne balked at the fact that no, Gnarl was not exaggerating at all. And considering how bad the normal Minion was…

“Moving on, where does this say we find these other Hives?”

“From the map and past experiences when Minions went on their way, I managed to narrow down where the hives are. Unfortunately, most may be out of our reach right now.” Gnarl walked next to Anne and pointed at the map. “Reds prefer hot and fiery environments, and Amphibia's largest active volcano is perfect for them. That's in the north of the continent.”

“Poop. And the others?”

“Greens prefer environments that stink just as much as they do, and the wetter, the better for the Blues.”

Anne stared at him for a moment before she groaned loudly and pulled at her hair. “But the entire continent is a swamp!”

“Hence the difficulty in finding them. It would help to find a member of those tribes to lead us, but it would be easier to look at where the map points us. Right now, the only place we have ready access to is a jungle in the valley that's perfect for the Greens to stink up to their sick little hearts content.”

“Great, more mud.” Anne rolled up the map, gave it to Gnarl, and stood up. “I'll do it tomorrow, because I really need to find my backpack. It's very important.” Anne made her way to the teleport pool while Gnarl went back to supervising the tower.

Sprig, helped by Polly, was busy trying a bevy of camping equipment onto Bessie's shell. Polly had just tossed up some cooking pans when Anne came across them. “Hey Anne!” Sprig called out, only for Polly to bean him in the back of the head with a ladle.

“Hey Sprig, Polly,” Anne said and waved to both siblings. Bessie gave a few happy chirps and leaned down towards Anne, who smiled and started petting her. “And how could I forget the most loyal snail in Amphibia? How are you doing, girl?” Bessie chirped again, which got her more pets.

“Uh… did I miss something? When did you start liking Bessie?” Polly asked, looking back and forth between Anne and Bessie. 

“You should read her book sometime. It's life-changing,” Anne replied. Bessie took the moment to start nibbling at her hair, causing Anne to laugh and back up a bit. “Okay, okay, don't nibble my twig girl.”

Polly looked up at Sprig, who shrugged at Polly. He had missed Anne's part of that misadventure after all. “So what brings you around here today?” Sprig asked.

“I was looking for my backpack,” Anne replied as she shook off some residual slime from her hands, “It's not at my tower, so I thought it might be here.”

“Oh, that? It's down in the basement. We moved it there when you left yesterday.”

“I knew I forgot something. Thanks buddy.” Anne and Sprig shared a wave as she left the siblings to their task and approached the front door. She opened it in time for Hop Pop to walk out with an armful of bags. “Excuse me, HP.”

“Howdy Anne,” Hop Pop returned as Anne let him pass before going inside and shutting the door behind her. The hatch downstairs was opened and Anne could see her backpack sitting in the middle of the floor, a sight for sore eyes.

“Thank goodness. My hands were getting pretty dry.” Anne shook her hands and knelt down next to her backpack and started digging through it. She ended up having to pull out a lot of things she had packed in her search: her racket, a traditional Thai dress, a tuxedo jacket. “Come on, I packed so much stuff, I have to have lotion somewhere.” Anne felt something hard and pulled out a mask decorated with a black and blue swirl design. “The heck? Why do I have a Carnival mask? Well, I'm sure you'll be useful for something.”

She put the mask back and felt around a bit more when she felt a paper bag. She grabbed and pulled it out, mildly confused at why she had it in the first place until she noticed the stylised ‘blish’ logo on the bag. “Wait…” she muttered and opened it, her eyes widening at the wonders inside.

Outside, the Plantars were finishing up their packing when Anne kicked the door open from inside and rushed out. “Guys, you’re not going to believe this! I brought a bath bomb from home and didn’t even know it!” Anne shouted and happily showed off her new find, a bath bomb with the tag still in it labelled ‘peony princess’, and started rubbing it lovingly. “Oh, I’m going to enjoy you later.”

“I’m happy for you Anne,” Hop Pop said, not looking back at Anne as he tightened a knot. Anne raised an eyebrow at the frogs and put her bath bomb away as she walked over to them.

“What are you guys even doing?” Anne asked.

“We’re going camping!” Sprig said.

“Dueling with nature for our very survival!” Polly added and waved Dorris around.

“Oh yeah, I remember you telling me about that,” Anne said with a nod and crossed her arms, “but why bother going camping if it’s going to be exactly the same as where you live anyway?”

“The thrill and the experience,” Hop Pop replied as he turned to Anne. “There’s nothing quite like spending a night outdoors under the stars. You should try it, Anne.”

“I did try it. It sucked. That's why I want to burn your continent to the ground!” The Plantars were quiet for a moment before they started muttering things like, ‘Oh yeah’, ‘Forgot about that’, and ‘She really does hate the world.’

“I suppose that makes sense,” Hop Pop said while rubbing the back of his head. “I guess it’s for the best that you don’t come along then. Camp Phlemington is probably too much for your temper, especially with that jungle next to it and-”

“Hold that thought,” Anne said and slapped a hand over Hop Pop’s mouth, “What was that about a jungle?” Hop Pop tried to talk through Anne’s hand until she pulled it away with a flat look.

“Sorry. I was saying Camp Phlemington is right next to a really deep jungle. I’ve never been, personally, but I’ve heard stories about it.”

“Is it stinky and dirty?”

“I mean… probably?”

“Why does it matter?” Polly asked. Anne didn’t answer at first as she thought it over before smiling widely.

“Hey guys, guess who’s suddenly jazzed to go camping with my favorite frogs?!” Anne asked excitedly and pointed at herself with her thumbs, “This girl!”

“Cool, hop on!” Sprig said.

“Wait a minute, what about all that stuff about how you hated camping?” Polly asked suspiciously.

“Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat? When did I ever say anything about that?” Anne asked overly curiously to a suspicious degree.

“Literally a minute ago. You know you don’t have to lie to us about your evil schemes, right?”

“...Oh yeah.” Anne straightened up and said, “Okay, right now I’m looking for something to help with my conquest. But I don’t know where it is outside of vague descriptions, and even if I do, I’m not going to go all Overlord over there until I know what I want is actually there. One of those places is close to where you're going, so I’m tagging along.”

“See, that’s much better.” Polly couldn’t help the smug smile.

“Well, I suppose you can come along if you really want to,” Hop Pop reasoned.

“And maybe this will change your mind and show you how wondrous camping can be?” Sprig asked hopefully.

“Oh, absolutely not,” Anne replied, which caused Sprig’s expression to fall, “I’ll always hate the outdoors here and camping in it. But I’ll put up with anything if it means getting what I want out of this rotting corpse of a world.” Everyone was quiet for a moment, save an awkward cough from Anne at the impromptu evil monologue.

“I’ll take it!” Sprig eventually said.

“Make sure you get everything you need for a few days,” Hop Pop said.

“Sure thing, let me grab my backpack.” Anne walked back into the Plantar home, plan set for the excursion. She was sure nothing would happen in her absence.

She started having second thoughts when the ‘natural tick repellent’ came out.

On the other side of the valley, Sasha ended up having a similar problem as the day went on. Starting from when she (finally) got her backpack back from Grime and started digging through it.

“Come on, I know I put some lotion in here somewhere. Anne made sure of that at some point.” She wasn’t having much luck on that, though her digging did pull out a bath bomb she remembered buying with Anne at some point. That would have been useful before the shower had come along. Sasha still decided to save it for something or other, maybe Braddock would appreciate it.

Or Percy.

Speaking of, Percy chose that moment to knock on Sasha’s door and peek inside. “Um, Sasha? The Captain wanted us to go out soon. The Overlord was spotted a few days ago.”

“He was?” Sasha stood up, slipped her backpack on, and massaged her knuckles. “Alright, I’m game! So what happened, another town got sacked?”

“Uh…”

“Oh crud.”

Percy hadn’t answered her question back at the Tower, and seeing it now Sasha could understand. There was no real way to describe the scene in front of her, especially from Percy.

“So… I may have blanked a bit on the way over. What happened again?”

“Well,” Braddock started, “The Overlord was apparently doing the ‘collection’ thing they do in towns they control. The Toad Mayor in the town over there decided to stand up to them. And…”

“It ended badly,” Percy finished.

That was an understatement. The Toad Mayor, stripped down to his underwear and hung from a tree, was covered in cuts and bruises. That wasn’t accounting for the massive cut across the toad’s neck that the noose was digging into. The Overlord didn’t take dissent lightly and wanted everyone to know that.

“And how long ago was this?” Sasha asked.

“Well, we only just learned about this, so…”

“A few days by now. Which means he’s long gone. Again. Ugh!” Sasha kicked a rock and stalked back to the cart. “I’m getting so sick of late leads and complete misses! Every day we don’t catch this Overlord is just a day wasted!” ‘And another day Anne has to suffer,’ Sasha thought as she pushed her back against the cart and slid onto the ground.

“Well… maybe we’re thinking about this too hard?” Braddock said as she and Percy walked over to sit on either side of Sasha.

“If anything, I don't think we're thinking hard enough.”

“Well, maybe we should think about it like when we lose something?” Percy suggested, “The harder we look, the more likely we just miss it. If we let it go, it'll come to us. Trust me, I've been looking for my jester hat for the last week, but I'm sure it'll turn up eventually.”

Sasha and Braddock both looked at the jester hat sitting on Percys's head silently. Sasha was the one to break the silence and say, “It's been on your head for the last week, dude.” With a wide eyed surprise like Sasha gave him an existence changing truth, Percy reached up and stared at the hat.

“See Sash, it came back!”

Sasha looked at Braddock with an utterly exasperated look, and the toad looked away to avoid Sasha's gaze.

“Okay, bad examples aside, maybe you should at least take a night to recharge?” Braddock pushed herself to her feet and clapped her hands, “How about we spend the night put under the stars? There's a campground not far from here, Camp phlemington, that I heard was great to stay at.”

“Ugh, camping? Pass.”

“You don't like camping, Sasha?” Percy asked.

“I went camping at the Sequoia national park after my dad remarried. Hated it.” Though Sasha quietly admitted that hadn’t been the forest’s fault.

“Well, maybe camping here will change your mind?” Braddock offered.

Sasha only needed to look ahead at a small wild snail passing by that immediately got snatched up by a nasty looking bird to decide her opinion on that. “Doubt it.”

“Well, it's also getting pretty late, and we're far from the Tower. So…”

“Ffffffff-” Sasha let out before sighing. “Fine. But no PDA from either of you.”

“Deal!” Both toads shouted before they grabbed each other's hands and started hopping happily in a circle at their new course.

Sasha was already regretting this.

Camping turned out to be as enjoyable for Anne as when she had been forced to do it when she first came to Amphibia. She didn’t remember having such atrocious luck though when it came to starting campfires or setting up tents. She wasn’t sure how the thing had burst into flame just from falling over, though Anne now knew that things bursting into flame wasn’t funny when it happened to her .

“Gah! Careful with that stuff!” Anne said as Sprig applied more of the disgusting pest repellent on her back, the result of a midnight accident involving a thorn bush with a double whammy of a tick hive nestled inside. The repellent only mildly dulled the stings.

“I did warn you about the ticks, Anne,” Sprig said as he applied another layer to Anne’s back. Once he smoothed it out, he nodded and let Anne lower her shirt. “So, any luck finding that thing you want yet?”

“Nope. As much as I absolutely hate to say it, this place isn't nearly bad enough. I need somewhere worse than this: dirtier, stinkier, just awful. The type of place you wouldn't even dare look at!” Anne and Sprig were quiet for a moment before Anne turned to the young frog and stuck her hands in her shirt pockets. “Or, you know, something like that.”

“Question,” Hop Pop spoke up from the Plantar tent while giving Polly a quick scrub, “do you even know what the thing you're looking for looks like?”

“Vaguely. Dang it, you're right HP. I should have asked before I left.” Anne was about to pull out her phone to call Gnarl when a bush started laughing. They stared at the bush as a rough, mountain man looking frog came out. Anne took in his scraggly beard with various bones in it, tattoos, and hat before he stopped laughing.

“So, you're looking for a harder camping experience?” He asked.

“Why were you in a bush?” Polly asked.

“Seconded, and also not what I was talking about,” Anne added. She then crossed her arms and rubbed her chin for a second, “But your hat does exude confidence. I'll let you influence me, rough boy.”

“Thank you, it was a birthday gift. The name's Soggy Joe. I've been all around these swamps and jungles looking for the hardest outdoor challenges! These campgrounds are for the weak and babies, who need things like ‘shelter’ and ‘potable water’.”

“I take offense to that,” Polly interjected.

“Challenges, huh? Does that include monsters?” Anne asked.

“Yep,” Soggy Joe answered.

“Like, for instance, horrible little gremlins that wreak havoc wherever they go and (allegedly) smell really, really bad?”

“Oh, you heard of the Mud Men?” Anne, having no idea what that was, slowly glanced away from Soggy Joe.

“Sure.”

“I misjudged you girl. You're far tougher than you look, and you don’t look tough at all. If Mud Men is what you're after, then ol’ Soggy Joe will be your guide. But only if you can handle it, because this will be Hardcore Camping for us. And if you survive, we'll have pancakes for breakfast in the morning.”

“Cool beans. Lead the way.” Anne picked up her backpack and followed Soggy Joe toward the jungle. The Plantars watched nervously for a moment before looking at each other.

“Should we go after her?” Sprig asked.

“Bro, it's far too late to question whether we should be involved by now,” Polly answered.

“Polly's right,” Hop Pop said, resigned to facing almost certain death again this week, and picked up Polly's bucket. “Bessie, watch the camp while we're gone!”

The snail chirped her answer and watched the Plantars follow Anne into the jungle. Once out of sight, Bessie did her duty of making sure no other frogs disturbed the camp while munching on the wild grass in the area. After a few minutes a cart pulled by a tarantula and carrying some toads passed by the site, though Bessie only gave it a passing glance before forgetting about it.

“Wow, this place is better than I thought.  And hardly anyone is giving us the stink eye,” Percy said and waved at a frog family, who nervously waved back while their pollywog started crying.

“I've wanted to go camping for a long time,” Braddock said as she pulled into their spot, “it reminds me of boot camp when I worked for Captain Beatrix. I hope there's no trebuchets to attack us at night this time.”

“Still not selling me on this whole ‘camping’ thing,” Sasha said flatly from where she lay in the cart. Since Percy and Braddock had gotten out Sasha got out as well and took a moment to glance around at the unimpressive swamp they were staying in. “So why would anyone come out here to a swamp that looks exactly like every other swamp we’ve been to?”

“The thrill of it?” Percy asked.

“People bungee jump for thills too. That doesn’t mean I have to do it.”

“I feel that.” Percy dug through the cart and took out some bags that held the group's tents. “So, you really don’t enjoy camping?”

“Only an overnight sleep out with Anne and Marcy, and even then we were still in Anne’s backyard that was a short walk to an actual toilet.”

“Well, there’s a toilet over there,” Braddock said and pointed to the filthiest out house that Sasha had ever seen. An impression that wasn’t helped when an equally disgusting frog came out, burped, and left with a trail of toilet paper following after him. Sasha mentally debated whether it would be worth the trouble to burn it and the entire surrounding swamp to the ground before stiffly turning around.

“I’m going to build a dummy to beat up,” she said as she walked away.

“Okay! I'll set up the tent!” Percy said.

“And I'll get a fire going!” Braddock added.

“Do we cut our own firewood, or can we just buy it?”

“... I'll ask.”

It turned out you can just buy it, so it didn't take long for the camp to come together. Two tents were set up and the fire pit was ready to go when night fell, which left Percy and Braddock with not much else to do but watch Sasha let out her anger on some hapless training dummies. Some hours passed and three of the things were built and sumarilly reduced to splinters before Sasha was satisfied and moved to sit with Percy and Braddock.

“I really needed that,” Sasha commented and wiped away some sweat on her forehead.

“It did look… really cathartic,” Percy commented nervously.

“Guess you had a lot to get off your mind?” Braddock asked.

“Oh, absolutely. Stupid Overlord.” Sasha was starting to get twitchy just from sitting around, so she took out her BFF picture to look at again. She glanced at Anne momentarily before moving to focus on Marcy before any dark thoughts came to her. Naturally, looking at Marcy’s smiling face didn’t help her much either.

“Thinking about your friend again?” Percy asked sympathetically.

“My other one, actually,” Sasha answered and sighed. “Grime said everyone was looking, and I’ve been around the Valley more than once, but Marcy hasn’t shown up at all. I hope she’s doing okay, that girl is beyond hopeless without us looking out for her.”

“Really? How hopeless?” Braddock asked.

“One time she was so distracted with her game she wandered right into the zoo when it was having a mass snake escape. Anne had to rush down there before she got bit by something poisonous.”

“Yikes.”

“Anne never really recovered from that. And that was back home, who knows what could happen here?” Sasha put the photo away and rubbed her eyes with a sigh.

“It must be hard being responsible for other’s safety,” Percy whispered to Braddock.

“That would explain the Captain,” Braddock returned, getting a nod from Percy. They looked back at Sasha and Braddock asked, “Is there anything we can do to help?”

“Nah,” Sasha sighed as she dragged her hands down her face and stood up, “I’m just gonna try and get some sleep.” Sasha left to get her backpack from the cart before settling down in her tent so the love birds could have their time. She sat down and started looking through her bag for something to occupy herself when she found something she hadn't expected.

“Oh, no way!”

Percy and Braddock, more than happy to let Sasha wind down her own way, had gotten the fire going when Sasha scrambled out of the tent. “Guys, forget what I just said! Anne pulled through again!” she said as she rushed over to them.

“Uh, how?” Percy asked nervously. Sasha answered with a wide smile and held out what she had found: a box of Graham crackers, a package of chocolate bars, and a bag of marshmallows.

“The holy trinity of camping foods. Anne and I had a big shopping trip before we got zapped here, so she must have snuck these in my bag. Love that girl.” With a flick of her wrist, Sasha started spinning the box of crackers on a finger as she moved to sit back down.

“Um… okay? What are they for?” Braddock asked.

“S'mores. Trust me, they're great even if all you have is a stove.” Awkward for three girls and one mom, but worth it. All the thoughts of food suddenly got Sasha’s stomach growling to her embarrassment. “And I just remembered I haven't eaten since breakfast. Great.”

“I hear that. Why don't we have dinner first?” Percy asked and scratched his head. “I'm sure we have something you can eat, Sash.”

“Or you can make S’mores?” Braddock offered.

“Nah, s’mores are very much a dessert,” Sasha answered with a shrug, “I’ll wait and see what you make Percy.”

Percy got to work cooking while Sasha gave Braddock a quick lesson on s’more making. For whatever reason, she seemed to get really hung up on the idea of the ‘proper order’ of the ingredients no matter how many times Sasha told her it didn’t matter. Sasha was in the middle of telling her marshmallow placement didn’t matter for the third time when Percy said the stew was ready. Braddock complimented Percy on the cooking and while Sasha did agree, she focused more on keeping the food down by any means necessary.

Too bad that cooking skill didn't seem to transfer over to s'more making.

“Aw man,” Percy whined as he (once again) pulled out a marshmallow that was more charcoal than marshmallow. “This is harder than it looks.”

“Some people like them burned like that,” Sasha replied as she carefully roasted her own marshmallow. “For instance…”

Braddock reached over and took Percy's charmallow and added it to the top of the small stack of similar marshmallows on a cracker and chocolate. Afterwards, she squished it all down into a thick s'more and happily took a bite.

“As long as someone likes it, who cares?” That got Percy blushing while Sasha focused on making her own s'more. This was nice, she had to admit to herself. While the massive problem of The Overlord was still there, she really did need a moment of destressing to face her problems head on tomorrow, even if it was just making s’mores for a night.

Sasha was about to put her marshmallow on a cracker when an explosion went off in the nearby jungle. Sasha, the toads, and basically every frog at the campground turned to stare at the massive dome of pink light that came over the trees, followed by a gust of sweet smelling wind. It was all over in a few seconds, but the impact lingered along with the scent.

“What the heck was that?!” Sasha shouted and turned to the toads, “is that normal around here?”

“I don’t think so…” Percy answered and looked around confused. “Does anyone else smell Peony?” Braddock, staring at the area where the explosion had been, simply ate her s’more in one gulp.

‘So much for a quiet moment.’ Sasha thought with a sigh and looked back into the jungle.

It had been an amazing fight against the Mud Men, the kind of which legends will be written about. It had everything: Cannibal frogs, a family desperately fighting for survival, torches, the occasional bit of comic relief, and finally a last second, completely bonkers final move that was cleverly foreshadowed earlier that clutched victory from the jaws of death. So wild was it, that it would probably fit right in on an episode of Jaja’s Crazy Journey, which Anne will deny having seen if her parents ever ask.

“Yeah, I can smell it. Is it Peony?” Soggy Joe asked.

“It is Peony!” Anne replied happily.

“I knew it, I have a nose for these kinds of things.”

“So… yeah, that just about catches you up.”

“I see. I have to admit, I’m kind of disappointed that I missed the whole fight.”

“I’ll say!” Polly cheered, “now that the horror is over, that was one of the best fights ever!”

“I definitely feel sorry for anyone that missed that,” Sprig added.

“Eh, I could have gone without,” Hop Pop said.

“Yeah, out of all the fights I’ve been in since I got here, that was a pretty mid 5 out of 10,” Anne said.

“Spoil sports,” Polly said and gave Anne and Hop Pop a look. The group settled into an awkward silence for a moment.

“So, you wanna go back early for those pancakes?” Soggy Joe asked.

“Oh yeah.”

“That sounds good.”

“I’m more of a waffle girl, but eh.”

As they all got up to leave the jungle, Sprig caught up to Anne and tugged on her shirt to get her attention. “So, you never did find what you were looking for, did you?”

“No,” Anne answered with a sigh, “I guess I should have expected that. There’s a lot of places like this in the valley, let alone Amphibia. What are the odds I’d find it on my first outing looking for-”

“WAIT!” Soggy Joe suddenly shouted, stopping the whole family. He looked around carefully and squinted his eyes. “I smell it… a smelly smell… a smelly smell of something that smells… SMELLY.” Anne and the Plantars shared a quick look before Soggy Joe leapt into the bushes with a yell.

“You know, I’d say he should get out more often, but I’m not sure if he even has a house.”

“He doesn’t seem the type,” Polly replied.

“I got the sucker!” Soggy Joe came out holding his catch by the neck one handed while waving his other hand in front of his face. “Boy, it smells even worse than I thought.”

The Plantars silently agreed, each of them scrunching up their faces at the slightest whiff of the creature’s horrible stench. “It’s like my eyeballs are trying to melt off my face!” Hop Pop cried out while rubbing his eyes.

And then there was Anne, who was vibrating giddily and smiling widely at the sight of the horrible, stinky, green imp in Soggy Joe’s grip. “Oh Frog, forget what I was saying! Everything’s coming up Anne today!”

“Anne, please, I’m going to be sick!” Polly begged as Anne unknowingly shook her around. The Green Minion, for the imp could only be that, soon focused its eyes on Anne and recognition flashed in its eyes before it smiled a wide toothy grin. That did get Anne to stop shaking to Polly’s relief, though Anne’s excitement was replaced with dread.

“Oh no…”

“Ma-”

“SHUT UP!” Anne tossed Polly away, though Hop Pop thankfully managed to catch her, and Anne dove at the Minion. Soggy Joe let go of the Minion before Anne hit it and wrestled it to the ground with a hand over its mouth. “Shut your Frogging mouth, you moron!”

“Yes, fight! Fight!” Polly cheered happily.

“Soggy Joe is now Confused Joe,” Soggy Joe said as he and the Plantars watched Anne beat the Green’s head into the ground.

“Anne, please don’t tell me that is what you were looking for,” Sprig pleaded.

“Huh? Oh, yeah it is,” Anne answered before freezing for a moment and pushing the Green away from her. “Oh wow! I didn’t notice at first, but these guys really do stink bad! Like a corpse fell into a decade old sewer and someone threw up on it.” Anne retched a little and held her nose to try and keep the stench away from her. The Green had the gall to sniff itself with a laugh.

“You were looking for those things? Why?” Soggy Joe asked.

“When a job’s given to you by The Overlord, you do it,” Anne said, having successfully fought her nausea down.

“The armored fellow that’s taking over the valley? You work for them?”

“She’s a very poorly kept prisoner,” Hop Pop explained.

“Don’t think too deeply about it,” Polly added.

“And not a scratch on her? Wow, she really is tougher than she looks,” Soggy Joe said and gave Anne a thumbs up.

“Um… thanks? Anyway, I need to focus on this disgusting little guy now, so why don’t you all go on ahead and get some pancakes? I’ll catch up later.”

“Well if you insist! Let’s go get pancakes!” Polly shouted.

“Polly! Are you sure, Anne?” Hop Pop asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry HP. I’ve done plenty of worse things before, I’ll be fine,” Anne answered before flinching away when the Green poked her. “Ew, don’t touch me. I don’t know where your claws have been.”

“If you’re sure.”

“You know where to find us, right Anne?” Sprig asked as everyone started walking away.

“I’ll have a good idea,” Anne replied and waved at Sprig, “Be careful out there.” Sprig returned the wave and hopped after his family and Soggy Joe. After a moment all the frogs were out of sight and Anne stopped waving. “Alright then, let’s do it,” she muttered, turned to the Green, and crossed her arms. “You know who I am, right?”

“The Overlord!” The Green answered.

“Correct, and am I right in thinking your Hive is out here?”

“Yes yes! Minion Filth show you the way, Master!”

“Neato, but let’s hold that thought for a second.” Anne dug out her phone and called the Tower, pacing a little bit as it dialed.

After a few seconds, Gnarl finally answered. “Welcome to the Dark Tower Hotline, how may I help you?”

“Guess who found some Green Minions?” Anne asked smugly.

“You did? That’s excellent news! We’ll need to retrieve the Green Hive as soon as possible, Magnificent One.”

“That's why I’m calling. Do you think you can send one of those temporary teleporters my way?”

“Of course. Take two steps to the left.” Anne blinked in confusion and took a few steps away from where she was standing. She only barely stopped moving when the mud shifted and several rocks broke through the surface and formed into a small teleporter platform with magic humming through it.

“Awesome.” Anne hung up and turned to the Green Minion, “Alright, Filth was it? Stay here, I’ll go to the Tower and get armored up to take the Hive back. Got it?”

“Yes Master!” Filth answered with a salute before sitting down and grabbing its legs. Right before her eyes, Anne saw the Minion all but disappear from sight. She could still feel its Evil energy and see a slight outline where it sat, but anybody else would probably never tell it was there.

“Wow, they weren’t kidding about that.” Anne put her phone away and walked onto the teleport pad, disappearing in a flash of light. Filth watched the teleporter in anticipation, happy that a new Overlord was finally crowned and that its life and the life of its brothers finally had meaning again. It felt good.

Some nearby bushes rustled and Filth watched them. Animals came along all the time in the wilds, though they never found the Greens once they were in hiding. Filth decided to watch what would come out and idly licked its teeth when a Toad soldier came out of the bush.

“Are you sure we’re even going the right way, Percy?” Sasha asked as she and Braddock entered the clearing that Percy fell into. Sasha could smell the Peony as they went in ( ‘Where the heck did that smell even come from in this world?’ ), but Percy had seemed to zero in on the smell from minute one. So he had led the way through the jungle to where that good smelling explosion apparently originated.

“You just have to trust me Sash, I can smell it,” Percy answered as he pushed himself up to his feet and looked around the clearing. “It’s really strong here. This might be where it came from.”

“Really, here?” Sasha looked around the clearing, which at least had signs of someone having stayed there recently from the logs situated around a fire pit. Whoever was here seemed to have left though. “I don’t see anything that would have set an explosion off.”

“It’s worth looking around at least, right?” Braddock asked. Sasha nodded and the trio started looking around. Sasha was busy keeping an eye on the treeline in case some predator tried something, though while she was walking around her foot caught on something that caused her to trip and land face first on a rock.

“Ow.”

“Are you okay Sash?” Percy asked as he and Braddock rushed over to Sasha.

“I’m fine, just tripped.” On what, Sasha didn’t know since she couldn’t see anything. She patted her face a little to alleviate some of the pain and looked down at where she had fallen to find a rock platform. Not just any rock though, a rock with a very familiar pattern carved into it. “What in the…? Guys, do you see this?”

“The… rock?” Braddock asked.

“The pattern.” Sasha ran a finger over the pattern and hummed to herself, “Remember the places we've been to that people say The Overlord used to get around? Doesn’t this look like the same kind of pattern here?”

“Kind of? So what does that mean?”

“Uh… guys? Doesn’t that mean there’s a chance The Overlord is around or about to be? ” Percy asked while backing away from the pad sweating heavily.

“Probably. Oh wait, this could be our chance!” Sasha leapt up to her feet. “If we keep an eye on this pad, we’ll be able to catch and ambush The Overlord when they come out or go back to whatever hovel they live in! Let’s get Captain Grime and-”

The teleporter pad suddenly pulsed behind them. Everyone looked back at it just as it pulsed again and again.

“Or he could come now.”

“Uh, Sash?” Percy asked nervously.

“Hide. Hide now!” Percy and Braddock ran for the tree line and Sasha made to follow, only to trip on something again. “Dammit, are you serious?!” The pad flashed again and Sasha stared at it in horror before something grabbed her arm and yanked her away. Braddock caught her and dove behind a large knocked over tree with Percy.

“Are you okay Sash?” Percy asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Sasha answered and touched a wet spot on her arm. “Did you just yank me with your tongue?” She asked and looked at Braddock. When she nodded, Sasha gave her a grateful smile. “Thanks girl.”

“Anytime Commander,” Braddock returned. The conversation was cut short by another flash and an audible gust of wind. Sasha put a finger to her lips and glanced at both toads, who both nodded and returned the gesture, and moved to look over the log.

Right after Sasha slapped the jester hat off Percy’s head. Seriously.

The pad flashed one more time and out of the light he appeared. A massive person in armor, clutching a large axe, and with glowing blue eyes being the only feature showing on his face, The Overlord stepped off the pad and looked around the clearing.

“So that's him huh? Looks different up close,” Sasha whispered. She hadn’t been sure at the time, but now she could tell. The Overlord was the same dude in armor that had been spying on the Tower a while ago. ‘Guess he was planning this little war for a while now.’

“Driving away pests huh? I don’t see anything here. Guess that means it worked,” The Overlord said and shouldered his axe. “Filth! Are you still here?”

“Here Master!” A disgusting green monster shouted and appeared out of thin air.

“What the heck is that?!” Percy whispered.

“Was that there the whole time?!” Sasha wondered, noticing the thing was around where she tripped. “I tripped on that thing? Wait…”

“Oh, there you are. Did anything happen while I was gone?” In answer, the little monster turned to look right at Sasha’s hiding place. The trio ducked behind the log as fast as they could and huddled to make themselves as small as they could.

‘Real bad place for a fight,’ Sasha thought as the clanking of the Overlord’s armor got louder until the log rocked a little and the Overlord’s axe appeared above Sasha’s head. She watched the axe with her pupils shrunken down to pinpricks while Percy and Braddock shook and sweated next to her. For a few agonizing moments that felt like hours, The Overlord hung over them, looking into the jungle beyond, before he finally moved away.

Sasha didn’t dare let out her held breath until The Overlord started talking again.

“Whatever you saw must be long gone. Still, keep an eye open. There are things lurking in the mud.”

Sasha carefully peeked over the log, flinching at the Green thing still looking right at her, and watched as the mud burst open that made The Overlord step back in shock. After a moment, a mound of earth with a brown glow came out of the mud and another monster appeared.

“Minion Burrow for Master!” the monster said, gesturing at the mound with a pickaxe.

“Oh, that’s what that was.” The Minion dove back into the mound before The Overlord pointed at the mound and raised his hand, which caused a spew of Minions to burst forth. Sasha couldn’t help but widen her eyes at the small group that formed around The Overlord.

“That’s a lot of monsters,” Braddock commented.

“No wonder everyone’s been having problems with him,” Sasha added, “Bog said they were tough. And a lot of anything could tear anything apart.”

“Poor Mire.”

“Okay everyone, we only have one thing to worry about today,” The Overlord said and turned to the Green Minion (that was still staring at Sasha) and growled at its inattention. A quick smack on the head from the side of his axe fixed that problem. “Pay attention, Filth! You’re the one who’s going to lead us to your Hive. I don’t want you to focus on anything other than that, understand?”

“But-”

“NO BUTS! LEAD NOW!”

“Yes Master!” The Minion shouted with a salute before walking further into the jungle. The rest of the Minions followed after with The Overlord right behind them after one last look around the clearing. Once The Overlord was gone, Sasha and the toads stood up and moved around the log.

“Man, what a piece of work,” Braddock said while rubbing her hands.

“I know,” Percy said as he brushed off his jester hat and put it on, “we’re going to need a lot more help if we’re going to take that on. Right Sasha?” Sasha didn’t answer, instead walking past Percy toward the treeline The Overlord disappeared behind. “Sasha?”

“I’m going after them,” Sasha said firmly, “go back to the Tower and get Grime here. We are going to need him.”

“Wait, you’re going alone?!” Braddock said and ran in front of Sasha. “You can’t do that! You know what they can do to you if you’re found out!”

“I know.” Braddock found herself caught up short by Sasha’s words and especially the sad look she gave her. “It’s risky, but I can’t miss this chance. Not after everything I've done. I owe it to Anne to try.” Braddock couldn’t think of anything to say and could only watch as Sasha ran around her and into the treeline. Braddock looked at Percy, who shared the same worried look she had, and they both looked at the trees.

Filth led Anne through the jungle, through muddy paths and rivers and past any number of predators that watched the convoy. The ones dumb enough to try for a meal were quickly overwhelmed and added to the Dark Tower's stores of Lifeforce. After some time, they found themselves at a cave on the side of a mountain that led down with a visible cloud of green gas coming out that Anne was wary of getting close to.

“Minion Hive in cave, deep in caverns. Minion Filth show Master!” Filth said and ran to the entrance, where he and a few more Green Minions that came from inside started… sucking up the gas.

“Ew,” Anne muttered.

“Ah, adorable little stinkers. They made themselves a little nest,” Gnarl’s voice echoed in Anne’s mind. “Better be careful Master, no doubt the inside is just as noxious as the Greens.”

“Goody.” With that ominous warning, the Greens finished their work, cheering and motioning for Anne to follow them into the caves. She took a deep breath and did so with her Minion horde following behind her. She had barely been in there for a few seconds and already something felt off, not just because of the smell. The distant sounds of water and mud pits along the path were massive red flags.

“This cave doesn't feel right. Are you guys really living here?” Anne asked as she walked past another mud pit.

“Oh yes,” Filth answered, “Very long time. Others move in not long ago, pay share to stay.”

“Wait, others? What others?” Filth pointed at a nearby mud puddle, and no sooner had Anne looked at it did a Mud Man rise up from it and look at her with glowing eyes. He screamed at her and charged at her with a wide open mouth, though the attack was stopped pretty handily by Anne just lifting her gauntlet up for the Mud Man to bite down on. Anne and the Minions stared at the Mud Man as he chewed on Anne’s gauntlet a few times until he noticed all the eyes on him. Slowly, he opened his mouth and backed up a few steps from Anne and pressed his finger tips together.

“I made a mistake,” he muttered in a distorted voice.

“Yep,” Anne agreed as she grabbed the Mud Man by the throat and swung him around to slam into the wall. The Mud Man struggled in grip, futilely clawing at her armor and only succeeding in leaving mud stains on her armor, and Anne looked down to glare at Filth. “Were you planning to explain that you were sharing a hole with the Mud Men at some point?”

“Probably,” Filth answered, which Anne could only roll her eyes at before turning back to the Mud Man.

“Listen, I don't have time to deal with you cannibals again. These Green Minions and the Hive that spawns them are my property. Let me take them with no trouble, and I may let your little colony survive.”

“You can't take them, they're good at finding things to eat!” the Mud Man complained, “Do you know how hard it is to be a cannibal in this age? Hardly anyone comes this deep in the jungle anymore!”

“That’s not my problem, especially since you freaks have already tried to eat me before. Last chance, surrender or die.”

The Mud Man, to his credit, did seem to think it over for a moment. All for naught, however, as the next thing he said was, “But we were here first.”

“That’s what everyone says.” Anne gripped the Mud Man's throat tighter and cast a fireball on him, setting him alight and cooking him in his mud coating. Anne threw him on the ground and watched him scream and roll in an effort to put out the flames before she gave him the mercy of her axe blade. The Minion horde heered before following Anne deeper into the cave.

Not long after, Sasha walked down the same and stopped at the sight of the Mud Man's corpse. “Yikes. Well, I'm on the right path at least.” Sasha gave the body a quick nudge with her foot to make sure he was really down, and drew her sword once she was satisfied he wouldn’t get up when she turned her back to him. She continued down the corridor, following the trail of carnage, bodies, and Minion laughter. Sasha made extra sure to mind her footsteps to not cause excessive noise or step in mud puddles until she reached a section that opened into a larger cavern. A quick look around showed the cavern was overgrown with a load of sickly green plants, all surrounding a mound of green something that The Overlord and his Minions were very interested in for whatever reason.

“There you are.” Sasha looked down at her sword, adjusted her grip on it, and took a deep breath. “This is so stupid. I shouldn’t even think I can do this, but… if I can stop him here, then I can save Anne that much sooner. Random strength bursts, don’t fail me now!”

After one last deep breath, Sasha stepped out into the open, raised her sword, and prepared to call out to The Overlord and end this once and for all. At least until something clamped their hand over Sasha’s mouth, grabbed Sasha’s sword arm, and dragged her backwards into a mud pit before she had time to scream.

“What was that?!” Anne shouted as a large splash behind her drew her attention. Some Minions laughed as she took a few steps toward the passage she had come from.

“String bean got dragged to doom!” A Minion screeched excitedly.

“We were being followed?! And dragged by what?”

“Mud Man.” Anne stared at the Minion before she walked over to Filth, busy watching a bunch of Browns lift up the Green Hive, and picked him up by the neck.

“Filth, how many Mud Men are in here and where are they?” Anne asked flatly.

“All around us, Master. Mud coating good for enforcing infrastructure,” Filth answered. Anne stared at him for a second before dropping him and looking around the cave, taking in that the walls were more muddy then she would expect a cave wall to be. The Minion’s brains seemed to make the connection as well and readied their weapons.

“They’re in the walls…” Anne said as she grabbed her axe with both hands and raised it, “THEY’RE IN THE FROG DAMN WALLS!”

Then the walls started cracking open and glowing eyes stared down at the Overlord and her group.

Sasha struggled to maintain some semblance of place even as she was dragged underwater. Whatever had her was strong, but it hadn't grabbed both of her arms so at least one was free. She felt for a moment until she found her dagger on her waist, drew it, and stabbed behind her. Her captor's grip loosened immediately and Sasha tore free from its grip, letting her sword go so she could grab it, turn herself around, and stab at it three more times. All she could make out of it was a dark tone and glowing eyes that dimmed as it died and floated away from Sasha.

That only left Sasha with the immediate and inevitable danger of drowning. She could feel the water enter her lungs, unable to tell where to go in the murky water, and could see black clawing at the edge of her vision. It was getting harder for Sasha to move and was on the verge of letting go when something slammed into her and dragged her up. Her head broke water and Sasha coughed out water and gulped down air, both growing more desperate as she was pulled onto solid ground.

“Sasha, are you okay?!” A familiar voice shouted next to her and Sasha looked up at her savior.

“Braddock!” Sasha coughed again and vomited dirty water before she was able to weakly ask, “You came for me?”

“Of course! You’d do the same for us,” Braddock said and looked around a little, “Percy may have gotten separated from us a little while ago, but I’m sure he’s around. Who are these guys, Sash?”

“I don't know, but they're not friendly to anyone.” Sasha managed to stand up and look back at the water she was pulled from. She coughed hoarsely again and said, “I dropped my sword down there.”

“Leave it to me. Just catch your breath for a bit.” Braddock took a breath and dove into the water. While Sasha did intend to do what Braddock suggested, an incoming scream and the sound of tiny bells caught her ear. She looked at a nearby tunnel in time for Percy to run in followed by two Mud Men.

“Help me Sasha!” Percy screamed when he saw Sasha. Sasha took another breath before she threw her dagger at one of the Mud Men, the weapon spinning and hitting him dead center in the throat. The other Mud Man stopped in shock, though that didn't save him from getting a headbutt from a screaming Sasha that knocked him to the ground. Sasha took another few deep breaths as she watched him scrambled away, fearful of the attack and her glowing eyes.

“Forget this!” He screamed suddenly in a high, scratchy voice and stood up, “I just wanted to live without bathing! That isn’t worth this!” He then ran away while screaming and waving his arms over his head, while Sasha could only watch him go with a nonplussed look.

“...Sure, whatever,” Sasha eventually decided and moved to collect her dagger. She managed to get it out of the Mud Man and sheathed when Percy hugged her from behind.

“Thank you so much Sasha!” Percy cried and squeezed Sasha harder.

“I can feel your appreciation,” Sasha replied before Percy let her go and she dropped to the floor. Sasha got up and straightened her hair just as the water next to them exploded, causing them both to scream and hug each other until they saw it was because of Braddock.

“I got your sword Sasha!” Braddock called and held up Sasha’s sword, only to then notice the scared (and annoyed in Sasha’s case) looks on her companion’s faces. “Um… did I miss something?”

“Just you scaring the crap out of us,” Sasha answered as she backed away from Percy. Braddock hopped out of the water and gave Sasha her sword, which was sheathed as well. “Thanks for getting this back.”

“Sash,” Percy started to say, stopping only to take a nervous gulp before continuing, “I know you wanted to fight The Overlord, but I think we should-”

“We need to get out of here.”

“Uh… yes, that.”

“Really? What about earlier?” Braddock asked.

“Don’t get me wrong, if it was just The Overlord I’d say we’d have a chance. But them and these mud freaks coming at us from both sides? That’s too much even for me. Now if only I knew the way out of here.”

“I thought I knew it, but I got lost,” Percy said and looked nervously around the cave, “but man, I can’t believe Mud Men are actually real.”

“I know right? Wait, you know about these freaks?”

“Only a story or two I heard from some frogs back at camp. It’s a local legend, I guess.” Percy looked around for a second before continuing, “these guys are monsters that eat any who trespass on their territory. They only fear sunlight and being clean, and apparently the jungle comes alive with them at night.”

“They're just frogs covered in mud,” Sasha pointed out and nudged the dead Mud Man with a foot, “though the cannibalism is enough of a reason to get out. Let’s just beat it and hope we find a way out of here.”

“And The Overlord?”

“If we’re lucky, the freaks will get him. Let’s go!”

The trio started running through the tunnels, making sure to steer themselves away from any offshoots that seemed to have shouting coming from them, either from Mud Men or The Overlord’s Minions. It was hard to tell the difference sometimes. It was one of those hard times that Sasha quickly switched from one tunnel to another that she saw too late had a pretty steep slope to it. She managed to hold her footing on the way down and fell into a large cavern filled with the sickly green plant life.

“Are you okay Sasha?” Braddock called after a moment.

“I’m fine. Come down whenever-” loud screaming started coming from a nearby tunnel along with the distinct yelling from The Overlord, “-NEVER MIND, STAY UP THERE FOR A MOMENT!” Sasha looked around for a place to hide before she dove into a particularly large bush. There, she watched as a Mud Man was chased in by a group of Minions, along with The Overlord leading the Hive escorting Minions. The unlucky Mud Man tripped next to Sasha’s bush, where the even unluckier girl had to watch him get torn apart by the Minions.

“Keep it moving! I don't know why these idiots collapsed the entrance, but we'll find a teleport pad further along,” The Overlord said as his group moved through the cave. Sasha held her breath as the tyrant passed by her bush and watched a screaming Mud Man land on The Overlord's back and try to attack him. All that got him was a fist to the face that knocked him to the floor followed by The Overlord’s axe to his chest. “And I wish these guys would leave me alone! All you're doing is getting my armor dirty! What I'd give for another bath bomb to drive these morons away!”

Sasha blinked in confusion and watched The Overlord's group walk away down another passage, emerging from the bush once the coast was clear. She barely heard the sound of Percy and Braddock coming down behind her as she was too busy processing The Overlord's words.

“Sorry Sasha, we heard more Mud Men coming and we couldn’t stay there,” Percy explained once he and Braddock were down. Sasha didn’t answer, which caused the toads to look at each other in concern before they approached Sasha. “Are you okay?”

“Bath bombs? How would he know about those?” Sasha wondered aloud to herself. The two toads once again glanced at each other while Sasha started rubbing her chin. “The only way that makes sense is…”

She had her suspicions, of course, but hearing The Overlord himself confirm it was something else entirely. Sasha couldn’t believe it, and clenched her hands into tight fists as a fresh wave of anger surged through her.

“THAT PUNK! HE STOLE ANNE’S STUFF IN ADDITION TO KIDNAPPING HER?! HE’S A DEAD MAN WHEN I CATCH HIM!”

Truly, it was the only line of thought that made sense. At least to Sasha.

“What?” was Percy and Braddock’s reaction to this revelation.

“I knew The Overlord was awful, but taking Anne's bath bomb for their own purposes is low.” Sasha blinked and really thought of that again. ‘Why would he need a bath bomb unless there’s a good reason for it? If it was from Anne, then…’ “OF COURSE!”

“I’m lost again,” Percy said before Sasha grabbed the sides of his face and squeezed it together.

“I know exactly what to do to get us out of this! And, if we’re really lucky, we can take these mud guys and The Overlord out at the same time! We just need to find some water.”

“Water? How?” Braddock’s question was left unanswered as Sasha grabbed both her and Percy’s arm and ran down a tunnel deeper into the caves.

The first Mud Man they found was very compliant with helping find a large body of water, though only after a failed attack that ended with Sasha cutting an arm off.

“You cut off my arm!” He complained when it happened.

“You tried to eat us!” Braddock countered.

“But that was my arm!” He repeated and clutched the stump with a hiss.

“It'll be your head next if you don't answer my question!” Sasha shouted and thrust the tip of her sword to the Mud Man's neck. “Now where's The largest body of water in this cave? Not any of these puddles or water tunnels, a big one.”

“Dang it, now you're going for our water hole too? That makes the best mud!”

“That works. Where is it?”

“The… the deepest part of the cave. Just keep going down and you'll find it. First that iron monster takes our food finders and now this. What did we do to deserve this?”

“...You're cannibals…” Percy answered with a baffled look.

“So? Horned Bullfrogs eat people too and nobody complains when they do it.”

“Yes they do,” Braddock said.

“This conversation is boring. Let's get going,” Sasha said and started walking away.

“And what about my arm?”

Only to then immediately turn around and swing her sword to cut into the side of the Mud Man's neck. The Mud Man clutched at his neck as he fell down and writhed until Sasha walked over to kick him in the chest.

“Stop complaining!” she shouted and kicked him once more when he stopped moving. Even then, she stared at him for a bit longer until Percy shakily spoke up.

“Uh, you okay Sasha?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s get going,” Sasha replied casually, maybe too casually, and walked past Percy and Braddock. The toads gave each other a worried look before following after her down a tunnel. While they hoped it would be a simple walk, reality came in the form of a nearby constant stream of Mud Men coming their way.

Braddock was more than happy to simply force a way through the dirty cannibals as she led the way forward. The ones they successfully passed were deterred from following thanks to Percy, menacing even with the jester hat, though few even spared a glance backwards.

Any that got too close to Sasha didn't get any of that mercy though, being perfectly happy to kill or dismember any frog with only a spare glance.

Really, the only danger that came from the tunnels were the (thankfully few) times they reached a section that The Overlord was also taking, forcing them to stall their progress until the tyrant passed by. Sasha still made sure to watch how he fought so she'd know what to expect for the inevitable showdown.

If anything, those Minions are the biggest problem. If I can separate them from him, it'll be a lot easier.’ Sasha's mind was abound with thoughts, strategies, and post fight gloating for when she won. She was so lost in thought that she didn't notice Braddock stop until she ran into her back. “Gah! What's up?”

“That,” Braddock answered and pointed forward. Sasha looked over Braddock’s shoulder, with Percy looking over the other, to find the ‘water hole’ they had been looking for.

Though calling it a hole was a massive understatement, since the group was looking at a pretty sizable subterranean lake that had a small village of wooden huts on stilts built on and around it. As the Mud Man had said before, the surrounding shore of the lake seemed to be used solely for making mud for the Mud Men to slather their bodies with, which Sasha regarded as overcomplicating the matter.

The trio walked out into the open and saw The Overlord fighting their way toward an island in the middle of the lake, Mud Men on both sides of their group as they slowly pushed their way forward with the hive.

“Man, this really is working out for us isn’t it?” Sasha asked as she knelt down and started digging through her backpack. While she was doing that, Percy and Braddock heard sounds from the tunnel they came from and looked back to see a group of Mud Men stalking out from it toward them.

“Uh, Sasha?” Braddock said and drew her sword.

“Hold on, I know it’s in here somewhere.”

“But Sasha…!” Percy started to say.

“I know, I gotta organize my stuff better. Ah, found it!” Sasha stood triumphant and held her final weapon up high. To Percy and Braddock’s surprise, the Mud Men were shocked and started backing away.

“Oh no, not that!” One of them shouted.

“Yes, that! Time you freaks learned the power of Lucious Lavender!” Sasha pulled the tag out of her weapon, narrowed her eyes at her target and, with the largest wind up she could, threw her bath bomb as hard as she could.

“I don’t care if it’s perfect or not, I already fought you morons getting stuck on cave walls the whole way here. Just set the thing down on the pad so we can get out of here.”

Anne’s wishes were answered as the Minion’s set the Green Hive down on the teleport pad, though a Minion had the bad luck of getting his toes caught under it. She watched anxiously as the Hive was enveloped in light before it disappeared in a flash.

“The Hive’s in the Tower,” Gnarl said right after, “Quickly Sire, come through before the smell infests your armor any more.”

“I know, I’m coming through now.” Or at least she would if something hadn’t knocked against her helmet, knocking it askew. “Gah! The heck?” Anne fixed her helmet and looked back when she heard a ‘plop’ in the water and had enough time to see a purple ball sink into the water. “...Was that a bath bomb?” The water started bubbling rapidly and Anne’s eyes widened while the Minions ran to what burrows they could.

“Oh f-”

“Hold on to your butts!” Sasha screamed and grabbed Percy and Braddock tightly.

“Why?” Percy asked. It only took a glance at the bubbling waters for him and Braddock to scream and hold on tightly to each other.

Far away from that, the Plantars were enjoying their pancakes with Soggy Joe.

“Man, these pancakes are amazing!” Sprig said happily as he cut and ate another piece of pancake.

“Still a waffle girl, and I like Hop Pop’s pancakes better, but you take what you get!” Polly said before tearing into her own stack of pancakes like a wild animal.

“Polly, please chew between bites,” Hop Pop begged.

“I’m glad you’re enjoying your pancakes. I found this place years ago and made it a ritual to come once a week, more if I can,” Soggy Joe said happily.

“It’s a little unfair that Anne’s missing out on this though,” Sprig said and glanced at the jungle, “Do you think she’s doing okay with that job of hers?”

“Anne’s a strong girl, and she’s gotten used to Amphibia by now. If she wanted help, she’d have come find us by now,” Hop Pop reasoned. Just then, another explosion came from the jungle, once again drawing all eyes onto the purple light as the shockwave and smell washed over everyone. Soggy Joe sniffed a couple of times and narrowed his eyes.

“Lavender, the smell of war.” The Plantars looked at him with concern before shrugging it off.

“I think Anne’s doing okay,” Sprig concluded.

“I agree,” Hop Pop said with a nod. The sounds of havoc on the table drew their attention to Polly gnawing away at Sprig’s pancakes. “POLLY PETUNIA PLANTAR! Don’t eat your brother’s food!”

“Make me, old man!” Polly challenged. Hop Pop took a deep breath and stood up, which caused Polly to deflate immediately. “Wait no, I was joking!” Polly shouted and tried to hop away, though not far enough to escape Hop Pop’s grasp.

The bath bomb explosion sent Sasha, Percy, and Braddock from the Mud Men cave screaming as they flew through the air. The trio crashed through some trees before they crashed into the ground sparkling clean.

“I don’t think I broke anything. Are you okay?” Percy asked as he rubbed his butt.

“I’m clean in places that have never been cleaned before,” Braddock said, unable to get up from lying on her back, “so, pretty good all things considered.”

“YEEEEAAAAAAAAH!” Sasha screamed as she stood up, staggering a little as she waved her arms over her head. “Nobody makes bath bombs like Blish! Don’t mess with top of the line beauty!” Out of nowhere, several not so muddy Mud Men landed near them. The scrawny frogs looked around and screamed at how clean they were.

“Man, this is lame. Twice in one day? I’m going back to being an accountant,” one of the Mud Men said before he and the others ran away.

“That’s right, you better run!” Sasha shouted as she waved her sword in the air before she sheathed it, or tried to since she missed the sheathe entirely and dropped her sword on the ground. “Go pray to whatever god you want to, it won’t help! They all tremble at the name ‘Sasha Elizabeth Waybright’!”

“Um… are you okay Sasha?” Percy asked as Braddock finally got up. Sasha looked back at them with an almost manic look on her face.

“I feel great! Not gonna lie, probably a little concussed, but I don't care! I showed them all!” Sasha started laughing loudly and evilly before she suddenly collapsed forward unconscious with her cloak falling over her head. Percy and Braddock stared at her for a moment before looking at each other.

“Well, that was certainly an adventure,” Percy said.

“And maybe Sasha did get The Overlord after all. Captain Grime would be happy about that,” Braddock said. No sooner had she said that, a large axe landed blade first in the dirt next to her and a much heavier load landed near Sasha. The toads watched and their eyes widened in horror as the (very shiny) armored form of The Overlord rose up and stared down at them. Percy and Braddock hugged each other tightly and screamed at the sight.

The Overlord vomiting up a load of soapy water did nothing to abate their fears.

“Fish paste,” the Overlord said and coughed a couple of times. Then they really noticed Percy and Braddock and could only sigh. “Toad Tower soldiers. Whatever, I don’t care.” The Overlord saw their axe next to the toads and walked to it, stepping on Sasha along the way. Once the axe was pulled free, The Overlord turned to the toads and said, “I got what I wanted, my armor is clean, you can drown in the mud for all I care. I’m going home.”

Then The Overlord raised their hand and disappeared in a flash of light, leaving two terrified toads shaking in each other’s arms.

“I need to change my armor,” Percy said.

“Me too,” Braddock replied.

Chapter Text

The integration of the Green Minions into the Dark Tower had gone smoothly. With only the rancid stench that now infested the Spawning Pit being the only negative side effect, the Greens were put to work spying on conquered towns using their invisibility and ambushing predators that ventured too close to Tower portals. This was great for Gnarl, since the seamless integration and the Greens willingness to be bossed around left his hands free to deal with the latest grand crisis the Tower was facing.

The Overlord was bored.

“Uuuuuuugh…” Anne groaned as she slouched in her throne more than usual. Gnarl knew that a bored Overlord was a very dangerous thing, though past experience also showed that with a proper guiding hand they can get some truly grand Evil done. It would just require a deft touch, just like making baby seal nuggets.

 ‘I miss seal nuggets,’ Gnarl lamented for a second before he shook the thought away and approached the throne. “Sire, you appear to be in need of a task. Might I suggest a touch of pillaging? There's nothing like lighting a peasant aflame to ignite the heart.”

“The pantry’s full right now and I don't want any snacks,” Anne said and slouched further. “Besides, Wartwood’s collection is coming up soon and I don't want to do that more than once a week if I can help it.”

“I see. Well, how about a rampage on the wildlife to build your army?”

“The Greens are doing that just fine. Sneak attacks take the fun out of it.” Anne rubbed her eyes with a groan and stood up to pace a little. “I'm just so bored of being trapped in this valley! How much longer do I have to wait until we can lay siege to the rest of Amphibia?!”

“That is a fair question. Truth be told, I haven't been keeping tabs on the path out of the valley lately, although the snow pack must be melting somewhat by now.” Gnarl crossed his arms as he added, “Though you must remember that Toad Tower will have to fall before we can properly move out of the valley.”

“Then that's what I'll do. I'll grab the Plantars and see how that path is doing, get a feel for how long I have to take down the Toads. Maybe make an adventure out of it while I'm out there. Good idea, Gnarl.”

“Anything to grease the wheels of Evil, Master,” Gnarl said as he and Anne walked to the portal.

“And that's why I love having you around. I'll be in touch.” Anne said and gave Gnarl some finger guns before she cartwheeled into the portal and disappeared.

“She's going to break her neck doing that one of these days,” Gnarl mused. He then rubbed his beard in thought. “It would be funny though… Fumble, I have a job for you!”

The Plantars were happy to have Anne along for the trip, especially since they were going to check on the path out of the valley anyway that day.

“Okay, it’s scary how in sync we’re being lately,” Anne said at the time as everyone boarded Bessie.

“It really is. Hope that doesn’t bode ill for me,” Hop Pop said worriedly.

“Can you share some of that with me?” Polly then asked Anne.

“Maybe some other time.”

The ride to the pass out of the valley had been uneventful by Amphibia standards, with only one close call from a praying mantis to slow them down, and they were at the entrance to the mountain pass out of the valley by the afternoon.

Unfortunately, to Anne’s frustration, there was little progress on the ice blocking the valley melting. She did see some of the dangers in crossing any other ways though, if the monsters trapped inside were any indication.

“Well, I hate to say ‘I told you so’ Anne,” Hop Pop started to say.

“No, you don’t,” Anne interrupted.

“Yeah, you’re right. HA, told you so!” Anne rolled her eyes at the old frog’s small pettiness before he walked over to the ice. “Yup, by the looks of things, it’ll still be a few weeks before this starts melting.”

“Great.” Anne groaned and rubbed her eyes before she turned around, crossed her arms, and started pacing. “Well, that gives me plenty of time to get ready to take down Toad Tower: build my army, look for Sasha and Marcy again, beat some of the more uppity villages back into submission. It’s going to be busy for a while.”

“Sure sounds like it,” Hop Pop muttered worriedly while Polly rubbed her flippers in anticipation of the chaos and Sprig took the initiative again by hopping over and onto Anne’s shoulders.

“Well, if you’re not busy right now, want to go on some careless misadventuring to take your mind off that stuff?” he asked. Anne grabbed his face and pressed it against hers.

“I would love nothing more. ”

“Cool. There’s a creepy lagoon nearby, want to check it out?”

“Heck yes! We might even find a body to poke with sticks!” Sprig hopped off Anne and the two kids ran off to do just that.

“Be careful now, you two! And get back soon!” Hop Pop shouted after them and got only a flimsy wave from Anne to show they had heard him. Polly, now bored, looked around for any form of entertainment and found it in a sign pointing at a dark forest full of dead trees.

“Hop Pop, can I go into those spooky woods to see what’s in there?” she asked excitedly.

“No Polly, just stay here with me until it’s time to go,” Hop Pop answered without even looking at Polly. The tadpole immediately frowned and turned to her grandfather with a scowl.

“Why not?! It’s just over there! You let Sprig and Anne go on more dangerous things all the time!”

“Sprig’s older than you and Anne’s a terrifying Evil Overlord with access to Dark Magicks beyond comprehension. They can take care of themselves while you’re just a baby.”

“You wouldn’t be saying that if I had legs,” Polly muttered and crossed her flippers.

“Well, you don’t have legs yet. Until you do, and even beyond that, I intend to be extra protective of you. That’s just how it is.” Polly scowled more at that. It’s not like she was freshly hatched, after all. Screams drew both her and Hop Pop’s attention as they saw Sprig and Anne running back at them with a small group of burning leeches chasing them.

“GET ON THE SNAIL!” Anne shouted, which got Hop Pop moving as he picked up Polly and hopped onto Bessie’s shell. Anne and Sprig clambered on soon after and Bessie took off just as the leeches caught up, subsequently leaving them in her dust. “Whew, that was close,” Anne said once she was able to relax.

“What did you two even do?” Hop Pop asked.

“Turns out that lagoon had a ton of leeches in it,” Sprig answered. “They were fast and had legs.”

“And they do not play well with fire,” Anne added, her eyes wide and distant.

“But man was it cool! Definitely in my top 10 adventures so far.”

“I’d say it’s bad that I can fill out 10 spaces, but it was entertaining at least.”

“Would you say it was once in a lifetime and something you would hate to have missed out on even a little?”

“Sure, I guess.”

Polly could only sit there and seethe as Anne and Sprig talked about their misadventure. It wasn’t helped when Sprig got up in her face and asked, “What about you, Polly? Bet you hate having to stay with Hop Pop, huh, instead of going on dangerous adventures?”

“I’m gonna smack you, Sprig!” Polly answered.

“Why?” Sprig asked, though he didn’t get an answer as he was smacked in the cheek by Polly.

The weather, temperamental as it is in Amphibia, started turning bad on their way back to Wartwood. The rain, along with the sun starting to set, unnerved Anne enough that she ended up calling Gnarl to see if they could get a teleport pad to shorten the trip. By the end of the call, the news hadn't been good.

“Bad news guys,” she started as she hung up and put away her phone, “Gnarl's still on edge about having animals in the Tower because of Domino 2, so he won't teleport Bessie.”

“Well, I didn’t want help from him anyway, and we're not leaving her. Bessie's dependable anyhow, she'll see us home no problem.” Hop Pop's words, and Bessie’s chirps, helped ease their anxiety right until they hit a bump in the road and Bessie immediately swerved erratically before stopping.

“What happened? Sprig asked once everything had settled.

“We must have hit something.” Hop Pop hopped off of Bessie and moved behind her while the kids hopped off and followed him. He tried to lift her shell but slipped a little when he really tried. “Ah dang it! The ground’s too slick for me to see what's under Bessie’s shell.”

“Let me try!” Polly said and hopped over to Bessie, “I’m small enough to fit under there.”

“No Polly,” Hop Pop said and picked up an obviously angry Polly, “Stay on top of Bessie where you’ll be safe.” He set the tadpole up on the snail, ignoring how obviously upset she was, and went back to inspect Bessie while Anne tried to cover herself from the rain and Sprig looked around their surroundings. Thankfully, Sprig managed to see some lights through the rain and darkness and he was ecstatic to see what they were.

“Hey, I think I see a bed and breakfast over there! Who don’t we stay the night there and start back to Wartwood in the morning?” Sprig said.

“Seconded!” Anne said and raised her hand.

“Overruled, both of you!” Hop Pop said and crossed his arms and shook his head at the lights. “I’m not spending any coppers at a bed and breakfast. Especially since-”

“HP, if you say camping…” Anne warned angrily, to no avail as Hop Pop took out a tent and effortlessly started setting it up.

“-we have a perfectly good tent right here,” he finished.

“ I'm going to rip your tongue out!” Before Anne could carry out her threat, and even before Hop Pop could hammer in the first peg, the wind suddenly kicked up and lifted the whole tent away from them. Then it was struck by a bolt of lightning, causing it to disintegrate to ash that was carried away on the winds. The Plantars all watched where the tent flew away until Sprig broke the silence.

“Correction: we had a tent.”

“Did I do that?” Anne wondered aloud as she looked down at her hands.

“Alright, B and B it is,” Hop Pop relented and stood up, “but no extras. Just one night and housing for Bessie til the morning.”

“Question,” Anne started as Hop Pop started tending to Bessie, “does ‘extras’ include robbing the place when we’re done with them?”

“Anne…” Hop Pop groaned and rubbed his eyes.

“What? It’s not like I’m going to leave them alive either!”

After ignoring Anne’s question and getting Bessie as comfortable as possible, the Plantars ran to the ‘Dandy Lion Inn’ as the sign said and went inside to get out of the rain. Once inside, the family was blown away by the atmosphere that radiated coziness and warmth.

“Wow, this place ain’t half bad,” Hop Pop said, his eyes drifting to the roaring fireplace.

“Even I can admit that much,” Anne replied and walked around the foyer to see what was put out, stopping at a well done painting of a sad frog clown. “Oh this… this is beautiful.” ‘I’m definitely stealing that.’

“Well, thank you all.” The Plantars all looked at a doorway where an elderly woman walked in and looked over them all. Anne narrowed her eyes at the woman as she seemed to look at Anne a bit too long, but that passed before Anne could call it out. “My name is Martha, and welcome to my Inn. Are you all staying for this awful night?”

“Just for the night. Snail trouble,” Hop Pop answered, “and just one room for all of us.” The kids all groaned at that.

“Oh, no need to worry about. It's the off season and we're practically empty. How about I give you all your own room, four for the price of one?”

“Wow, that's a steal,” Anne said surprised.

“Come on Hop Pop!” Sprig pleaded.

“Well… alright. Just three though, Polly here will be bunking with me.” Hop Pop gestured at Polly on his arms, ignoring the unhappy growl from the pollywog.

“No problem.” Martha waved at the Plantars and led them over to a fireplace. “Why don't you all heat yourselves up? I'll get some fresh baked cookies for you.”

“I'll take the fire,” Anne said as she got close to the fire to warm up from the rain, Hop Pop and Sprig sitting down to do the same. Anne couldn't fully enjoy it though, as she could feel the Inn keeper's eyes on her. To try and get the feeling to go away, Anne said, “You know, I don't see many toads running B and Bs. How'd that happen?”

“Toad? Oh, I'm not a toad dearie, I'm a Horned Bullfrog.”

“Really? My mistake.”

“So, you're not from here then?” Hop Pop asked.

“No. Me, my late husband Teddy, and my sisters all visited this valley years ago. We loved it so much, we moved here and opened an Inn.”

“Oh, my condolences for your husband.”

“Thank you. Well, stay here for a bit. I'll get those cookies and bring your snail into the barn.” Another round of ‘Thank Yous’ accompanied Martha out while the Plantars continued warming themselves up.

“She seems nice,” Sprig said cheerfully.

“I guess. I don't like the way she looks at me though,” Anne added.

“You can't have your Evil nature make you suspicious of everyone, Anne,” Hop Pop said. Anne shrugged and took out her phone to play a game. A few minutes later Martha came out with a plate of cookies that she set on the table before she walked outside. Hop Pop and Sprig each took and ate a cookie while Polly seethed in her grandfather's arms and Anne played her game.

“You don't want one Anne?” Sprig asked.

“Not hungry, and I'm still trying to get past this sudden death round. You'd think doing one IRL would help, but nope.” Anne immediately failed after saying that and groaned before starting over.

“Are you the guests tonight?” Everyone looked up at another Horned Bullfrog in a yellow dress that was coming from upstairs. “Oh, don’t let me interrupt you. I just wanted to let you know that your rooms are ready when you are.”

“Thank you,” Hop Pop said while Anne put her phone away and got up to stretch.

“I could use a bed right now,” she said and started to move to the stairs.

“Oh, I see Martha already gave you some cookies. Did you enjoy them?” The Bullfrog asked as she picked up the half-eaten plate of cookies.

“Yup!” Sprig answered happily.

“They were delish!” Hop Pop added. The Bullfrog looked at Polly, only to swiftly move on when the pollywog gave her a look filled with malice and anger and looked at Anne.

“Not hungry, and sweets before bed always messes me up,” Anne answered.

“Well, that won't do. Martha makes the best cookies around,” the Bullfrog said and walked over to Anne. She held up a cookie and waved it like a treat to an animal. “You must try at least one.”

“No.”

“Please? A beast like you would love them.”

“I'm. Not. Hungry.” Anne growled out as her anger rose from both being talked down to and treated like an animal. Again.

“At least a bite?” By then, Anne was done and took the cookie the Bullfrog was holding along with the one on the plate in one hand and grabbed the Bullfrog's mouth with the other.

“You eat them if they're so good!” she said forcefully and pulled open the woman's mouth to shove the cookies into before pushing her away. The woman had barely steadied herself by the time Anne started walking upstairs.

“Anne! We're sorry, she has a bit of a temper,” Hop Pop swiftly apologized while Sprig ran after Anne.

“No trouble,” the Bullfrog said and chewed the cookies. “Mmm, so good!”

“...So I can talk with my mouth full! You lied to me again, Hop Pop!” Polly shouted and pointed at Hop Pop.

“Polly, please. Sorry again.” Hop Pop got to his feet and went upstairs with Polly. It was only when they were gone that the Bullfrog spat up the chewed-up cookies back onto the plate.

“Whoo! The best thing of all: independence!” Anne shouted as she jumped on her bed. In the room right next to her, Sprig was cheering for the same thing in addition to the free cookies and easy access laundry chute to slide down.

Seeing their joy did nothing to improve Polly’s mood as she was carried by Hop Pop into their room. She was set down on the admittedly comfy bed scowling as Hop Pop got ready for bed. Slowly. Pajamas. Brushing his teeth. Gargling. All done as slow as he possibly could.

It was maddening.

“Hop Pop, can I go play with Sprig and Anne?” She finally asked when it got to be too much.

“No, I don’t want you wandering by yourself here,” Hop Pop replied.

“But they’re right down the hall!” she pointed out. Hop Pop set the glass of water he was using down and faced Polly with his arms crossed.

“That’s too far for a little pollywog like you to go.”

“Are you kidding?! You want to keep me locked in this boring room?!”

“Hey now, there’s plenty to do in this room. And you have all the cookies you could possibly eat.” Hop Pop demonstrated by poking Polly in the face with one of the suspiciously ubiquitous cookies. Polly was having none of it and slapped the offensive sweet away.

“I don’t want any of your pity cookies!”

“Really, then how about a pity early bedtime?”

“But I’m not tired!”

“Well, I am.” Hop Pop let out a large yawn to punctuate the statement and scratched his backside. “One bedroom, one bedtime.”

Polly needed an escape, any kind of escape from this torture of being looked down on, and looked around the room until she saw the slightly ajar door across from the bed. She hopped off the bed and bounced to see what was behind it. Her eyes sparkled at the salvation before her.

“Hop Pop, look! There's a bedroom connected to this one! I can stay in here tonight!”

“I don’t know…” Hop Pop muttered.

“I'll be super quiet, keep the door open the whole time, and go to bed right away. Pleeeeease?” Polly even threw in some ‘puppy dog eyes’ as Anne called them for good measure. It always worked on her, and Hop Pop was no exception.

“Well, alright. As long as you go to sleep right away.”

“Yay! Thanks Hop Pop!” Polly hopped into her new room and immediately dove under the covers before turning to watch Hop Pop as he did the same. They both said their good nights and watched each other, all the while Polly counted down. As soon as she hit zero, Hop Pop immediately fell asleep with his mouth wide open. “Right on cue.” Polly got out of bed and closed the connecting door between the rooms.

“Finally, independence! I'm gonna tear this room apart in a one girl slumber party!”

Down the hall, Anne was still jumping on her bed. After one last front flip, she was out of breath and ready for bed. “Still not as nice as my bed back home, but it's still nice.” Anne’s eyes widened a little when she realized she didn't know which home she meant. She rubbed her eyes to distract from the sudden homesickness and took out her phone to call Gnarl. If anything, some mild overloading could get her mind off things.

“Ah, I was wondering where you had run off to. I take it you're not coming back to the Tower tonight?” Gnarl said once he picked up.

“Yeah, snail trouble. We hunkered down in a b and b for the night. I'll rob the place in the morning, so it won't be too much of a waste,” Anne explained.

“Very good, Master! I look forward to the spoils you bring back.” Anne smiled at the Minion’s words, then frowned as a stray thought came to her. It might not be much, but since she already had Gnarl on the phone, she might as well ask.

“Actually, before you go, I want to ask you something.”

“Of course, anything you need.”

“You know about the species in Amphibia right? All of them?”

“The ones worth knowing about, which is a thankfully short list.” Gnarl gagged at that, causing Anne to roll her eyes before rolling onto her side.

“Right, well have you ever heard of Horned Bullfrogs?”

The silence on the other end was deafening until Gnarl said, “Yes. Why do you ask?”

“Well, the innkeeper and her sisters are Horned Bullfrogs. I just wondered if I needed to know something about them.”

“You didn't eat anything they gave you, did you?”

“No. Hop Pop and Sprig did, but I wasn't hungry so…” Anne drifted off as the implications finally set in and she sat up. “I'm in danger, aren't I?”

“ Yes.”

There was a creaking behind Anne and she turned to see a pair of sinister figures in hooded cloaks glaring at her from the doorway. They were nice enough to give Anne time to sigh and say, “Crud. I’ll call you back,” and hung up before they charged her.

Polly was done having fun in her room, glad to be alone for once in a frustrating day, and settled down in the bed to sleep the night away. This was when reality set in for her as a pollywog sleeping alone in a strange place. Every creak of the wood was some unknown menace, the sound of the wind blowing was extra eerie, and especially the inexplicable pile of objects that looked like a horrifying ghoul with the lights off was more than a little harrowing. Polly made sure to destroy all of that the moment she realized it was there, and by the time she was panting over a pile of splinters she was starting to feel better.

“You know what? Sleep is for babies anyway! All the cool kids stay up late, and I know the coolest kid of all.” A few hops later and Polly threw open the door to Anne's room. “Hey girl, where's the party at?!” She shouted and only after realized the room was empty. She looked around at the mess only a newly teenage girl could make in a short time until she saw Anne's phone on the floor. “Huh, not here. And she left her phone here. The phone she nearly burned down Wartwood over…” Polly was quiet for a moment before nervously shrugging.

“That doesn't mean anything. She's probably… in the bathroom. Or with Sprig. Speaking of.” A few more hops and she threw open Sprig's door to party with him, only to find him gone too. “Huh, he's gone too. Well, it's nothing to panic about. He's probably just… somewhere else. Now, to casually go back to my room.”

If hopping for your life in a panic counted as ‘casual’ then indeed she did do that. Once back in the room, her eyes strayed to the door leading to Hop Pop's room and she weighed the option for a moment before she slapped herself.

“Pull yourself together! If you go crawling back to Hop Pop, you'll never be left alone again until you're a full frog! You can do this!”

So, Polly returned to bed to try and get some sleep. It took another creak of the wood for Polly to break and run to Hop Pop, throwing the door open into the dark room.

“Hop Pop, wake up! I want to sleep with you! This place is too scary and-” Polly stopped once she climbed the bed only to find Hop Pop was gone too. Polly only barely realized that when the door was shut behind her and she heard deep breathing.

“I’ve been looking all over for you,” someone said. Polly looked behind her to see a hulking figure covered in a cloak starting to lunge at her, which Polly screamed at and dodged out of the way. She tried to hide among some dolls on a dresser, which only lasted a few seconds before she was found out. She dodged another swipe that knocked the dolls off the dresser and found herself cornered except for a laundry chute next to her. Hoping Sprig was right about this, opened the chute and hopped into it, barely escaping her attacker’s grasp as she fell into the dark chute.

Polly banged against the sides of the chute a few times on her way down, ultimately being sent down a separate chute entirely. Clutching at whatever her fins could grab, Polly managed to slow her slide down to a stop just before she hit a grate. Her relief didn’t last long as she heard laughing from the room behind the grate and she moved to look out of it. On the other side she saw a kitchen of some kind, with a large oven on one side with a large pot on it, a fireplace perfect for slow roasting something on the opposite wall, and plenty of utensils for cooking all around. In the middle was a table with two Horned Bullfrogs standing at it with three cards on it.

“Alright Juliet, you know how it goes. Pick a card,” the Bullfrog Polly recognized as the one Anne assaulted with cookies before said. The other Bullfrog, identical to her sister save for wearing a green dress instead of yellow, ran a finger over the cards for a moment before picking one.

“Ooh, I got the old one,” Juliet said and held up a card with a drawing of Hop Pop on it, “I always liked a bit of age on my meat.” As she talked her sister picked a card and gave a frustrated sigh.

“The tadpole. That’s barely even a snack, let alone a meal. Maybe Martha will share the boy with me?” Polly’s eyes widened in horror as she realized what was going on.

“They’re cannibals!”

Twice in one week. What were the odds?

“Well Juniper, maybe she’ll let you have the drumstick over there?” Juliet said and pointed a thumb to a corner. Polly followed it and gasped when she saw her family tied up there, Hop Pop and Sprig sleeping while they were tied to a long stick and a very awake Anne thrashing against her own bindings while screaming through a gag. The door to the kitchen suddenly flew open and the cloaked figure that attacked Polly came in, lowering their hood to reveal Martha.

“The little one got away from me!” she cried out, “she must not have eaten any of my cookies. Did I get the recipe wrong? I was sure pollywogs loved sweets.” Polly saw Anne had stopped thrashing when she heard that and relaxed a little at the news. Polly blinked at that, though realized what was probably going through Anne's head.

‘Way to put the pressure on, Anne,’ Polly thought with a roll of her eyes.

“She didn’t seem the type to like sweets, like some other people here.” Juniper said while glaring at Anne, who rolled her eyes.

“And a little pollywog like her isn't going anywhere, not while we have her family,” Juliet said as she walked over and lifted the stick Hop Pop and Sprig were tied to.

“Yes, you're right. It's been a doozy of a day,” Martha said and walked over to Anne with a satisfied smile. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to find you again. After what you did to my Teddy, I would dream of getting revenge for him. So, I want to hear what your last words will be, if you please?”

From where Polly was watching, she could clearly see the utter confusion on Anne’s face. And even before Martha took the gag off of Anne, Polly knew just where this would be going.

“Who?” Anne asked once she was able. Everyone in the room stopped and stared at Anne in shock, nobody reacting to the banging that suddenly came from the oven. Meanwhile Polly could only rub her face with a flipper and quietly groan Anne’s name to herself.

“What? My husband, Teddy.”

“Yeah, I remember you talking about him. What does he have to do with this?”

“... YOU KILLED HIM! ”

Anne could only awkwardly turn her eyes away.

“You cannot be serious. You and your monsters attacked him and left his body in the road!”

“You’re going to have to be more specific…”

“YOU MURDERED HIM AND CUT HIS HEAD OFF!”

“Not ringing any bells.”

“You… you are serious. You murdered my dearest Teddy and you don't even remember?” Martha backed up like she had been sucker punched before she glared even harder at Anne. “How could you?!”

“Maybe it was a crazy week?” Anne suggested with a shrug, “I'm way too busy to keep track of every single person that I had to put down for annoying me. And if he was a cannibal like you, I'd say it was justified fully. It wouldn't even be my first one, and that’s a thought I’d never thought I’d have. If your uncle or whoever wanted me to remember him, he should have been more interesting.”

Even as ridiculous as the situation was, Polly did like the look on the Bullfrog’s faces right then. Martha, in particular, looked about ready to have an aneurysm as Anne glared at her. “I’m going to enjoy eating you alive,” she finally said after a moment. “But first, I need to get the actual dinner cooked.”

Polly snapped to attention and watched as the twin Bullfrogs lifted Hop Pop and Sprig and carried them towards the fireplace, full of wood ready to burn. Polly’s eyes narrowed at Juliet as she picked up a pack of matches and her flipper’s gripped the grate tightly. “That’s. My. Family!”

“Oh, something’s getting cooked alright,” Anne said with a smirk, “too bad it’ll be you guys. Because you made a big mistake.”

“Oh?”

The oven started banging louder as Anne grinned and her eyes started glowing blue. “You let my Battlemaster run loose.”

“Your… what?” The grate flew off the wall as Polly burst through it screaming. The Bullfrogs watched as Polly landed on the table before launching at Juniper and smacked her hard on the head, causing her to fall. Juliet lunged for Polly, who jumped in time for the Bullfrog to completely miss and fall onto her sister while Polly landed on the stick holding her family.

“Polly!” Anne shouted happily.

“Rise and shine, Fam! Wake up!” Polly shouted as she raised a flipper and slapped Hop Pop.

“Huh, wazzat?”

Followed by Sprig.

“Hi Polly! What’s going on?”

“Cannibals! We have to get out of here!” Polly said and started to chew at her family’s bindings. She only got a bit through when shadows came over her, and she looked over to see the twins got back on their feet with Martha behind her.

“The little tadpole is back,” Juliet said as she and Juniper held up a set of knives and Martha held up a rolling pin. “What do you expect to be able to do?”

Polly glanced around quickly before she looked at them more determined than before. “You’re right, I am just a little tadpole! And I’m not ready to be alone!” Polly punctuated this by taking off her bow and throwing it in just the right way that it flew and knocked over the pot on the stove. It fell over and spilled a slick looking sauce on the floor that quickly spread to surround the Bullfrog’s feet. The three of them looked down at it, not noticing Polly’s bow had sailed through the air in a way that it smacked against Juliet’s head, knocking her into the other Bullfrogs and causing them to slip and fall to the ground.

“Yeah, Polly!” Anne cheered as Polly caught her bow and put it back on her head. She turned her attention back to her family’s bindings and managed to pull them hard enough to snap the ropes and free them. Hop Pop grabbed Polly and he and Sprig jumped over the Bullfrogs as they were stuck slipping on the sauce.

“Hold on Anne, we’ll get you out!” Hop Pop said as he landed next to Anne and started trying to undo her bindings. Polly looked back and saw Sprig staring unblinkingly at the stove, which still had something banging and trying to get out of it. “Sprig, you’re being quiet! Whatever you’re thinking, don’t do it!”

“Don’t open the oven!” Martha shouted before slipping and falling onto her face. Sprig silently looked at her and then back at the oven before he reached out and opened it.

Or at least got the latch off, because the second he did the door burst open and three scaly, red monsters burst out screaming. Sprig, the Bullfrogs, and Hop Pop all screamed in fear, and then there was Anne screaming in joy at the imps.

“MINIONS!” The Red Minions looked at Anne and froze for a second until they started cheering.

“THE MASTER!”

“OVERLORD!”

“That’s right! Free me!” Anne commanded and the Reds ran over to her, one of them pushing Hop Pop out of the way, and they started clawing at Anne’s bindings. “Man, things just keep working out for me, huh?”

“I suppose, even if they’re rude,” Hop Pop commented while brushing himself off.

“Hey, those are our firestarters!” Juniper shouted.

“Well, they’re my firestarters now,” Anne said just as the Reds managed to free her. She stood up and shook her hands out a little before saying, “It’s about time we blow this joint. I’ll clean up here, you guys find Bessie.”

“Works for me, come on kids!” Hop Pop said as he picked up Polly and ran out of the kitchen with Sprig right behind him. Anne then walked around the kitchen to stand next to Martha and stared down at her.

“You know, I’m something of a cook too,” Anne said. Martha looked up into Anne’s glowing eyes while the Red’s cackled behind her. “Have you ever tried Bullfrog Flambé?”

“Um… no thank you, I'm alright dearie,” Martha said nervously.

“Too bad.” Anne pointed at Martha and the Reds threw fireballs at her, immediately catching her aflame and leaving her screaming and unable to move.  Juniper and Juliet watched in horror as their sister was burned alive in front of them until Anne looked at them.

“Don't worry, your deaths will be quicker. Just stay put.” Anne turned to her Minions and twirled a finger around. “All of you, gather up anything that looks valuable and take it outside. I'll get my stuff and meet you out there.”

“Yes Master!”

“On it!”

“This is fun!”

The Minions ran out of the kitchen and immediately started smashing the place up. Anne was about to follow them when she spotted a few barrels stacked in the corner labelled ‘vinegar’ and ‘baking soda’.

“Finally, a chance to show everything I learned in chemistry,” she chuckled and cracked her knuckles.

The Plantars ran outside, with Hop Pop holding a firefly lantern for light in the rainy night, and ran to the barn hoping Bessie would be inside. He and Sprig pried the doors open and went inside, happy to see Bessie lying in the middle of the barn. Bessie gave some happy chirps at seeing the family while Sprig ran to hug her.

“Bessie! I'm so happy to see you, you sweet girl!” Sprig said as he squeezed the snail.

“I am too, but we need to hurry Sprig. Hold the lantern,” Hop Pop said and held the lantern to Sprig. He took it and followed Hop Pop behind Bessie and lit the area up so Hop Pop could kneel down. “Polly, see what you can find under there.”

“On it, chief!” Polly said and hopped out of Hop Pop's arms and squeezed under Bessie's shell. After rooting around under there for a minute, she found the tip of Bessie's tail and dragged it out into the open, along with the trap on it. “That's not good, is it?”

“So that was what was causing her so much pain,” Hop Pop said as he got onto Bessie's tail and forced the trap to open with his feet. Bessie let out a sigh of relief once the trap was off. “How did this get on her tail though?”

“Uh… guys…” Sprig said nervously. Hop Pop and Polly looked back at him and saw he was illuminating the back of the barn that turned out to be filled with transport snails like Bessie, each with a trap on their tails. All of the snails each chirped at them, crying for help.

“This has been happening for a while,” Sprig said as he looked at a snail still decorated in ‘just married’ decorations. “They trap frogs here and eat them up! We're the ‘breakfast’ in ‘bed and breakfast’!”

“...Obvi! We already figured that out, Spring!” Hop Pop chided.

“You were literally about to get roasted five minutes ago,” Polly added.

“We can't leave these snails here!” Sprig shouted.

“No, we're not,” Hop Pop stated as he took the lantern from Sprig, “you two get to freeing and I'll get Bessie ready to go.”

It didn't take long for Sprig and Polly to get the traps off all the snails, even if all of them were very insistent in licking and nuzzling them to show their gratitude.  Once they were free and Bessie was ready to go, they got on the snail in time for Anne and her Minions to run in giggling, the former holding the clown painting and the latter with a big bag of spoils.

“And what have you been doing?” Hop Pop asked as Anne climbed on and the Minions threw the bag onto Bessie's shell.

“I've been very open about that, HP,” Anne said and looked back as the Reds climbed on. “Let's get out of here.”

Wasting no more time, Hop Pop shouted, “Bessie, things are getting messy!” and everyone held on as Bessie charged and broke through the barn door. The kids cheered at the escape as they sped down the road away from the Inn, the other snails behind them veering off back towards their homes.

“Whew, that was close,” Sprig said and slouched in his seat. “We should warn everyone about that place.”

“Nah, they won't be a problem anymore,” Anne answered casually.

“What makes you think that?” As soon as he asked that, the Inn exploded in spectacular fashion, completely destroying the building and sending wood flying everywhere.

“Just a hunch.”

None of the Plantars could relax until they made it back to Wartwood. Even the brief moment where Anne dropped off the Reds and stolen goods at the Tower pad was a bit too far away for them. Still, once the farm was in sight, they hurried up until they were at the front door.

“Home sweet home!” Sprig cried out and fell to kiss the floorboards, “I missed you so much!”

“Agreed,” Anne said as she dragged herself in and fell into the couch and let out a loud groan. Afterwards, she took out her phone and called Gnarl.

“I'm glad to be home too,” Hop Pop said as he set Polly down and shut the door behind him. “And Polly, I'm sorry for all the coddling today. You and Sprig have just been growing up so fast, and I guess you're ready to be more independent now. I promise to back off of that kind of thing from now on.”

“Thanks Hop Pop,”Polly returned and fiddled with her flippers, “but I was still really scared tonight. I'm fine with a little more independence, but I'm not ready to grow up completely yet. So… can I sleep with you tonight?” Hop Pop gave a small chuckle and picked up his granddaughter.

“Sure thing.”

“Wait, so I did kill their dad?” Anne asked, drawing the attention of the Plantars. “That explains why you knew about them. Well yeah, I'm sure they'd have tried to eat us regardless. Why did I do that though?” A long pause and Anne's eyes widened and she crossed her legs. “Oh yeah, the prank on Toadstool! I remember that. That was a good prank, everyone in town could hear him scream.”

“Wait… Anne, y ou were responsible for the head in Toadstool’s bed?” Hop Pop asked, squinting his eyes while Polly and Sprig's eyes widened.

“Oh, don't be so shocked,” Anne said with a roll of her eyes. “Anyway, I'm staying with the Plantars tonight, I'll see you in the morning.” Anne hung up, put her phone away, and put her arms behind her head. “All's well that ends well.”

“I hope you learned a lesson from this, Anne.”

“Yup: when you kill someone, get their family too. Keep the cycle of revenge a straight line.”

“I gotta write that down,” Polly whispered to herself.

“That's not…” Hop Pop gave up and rubbed his eyes, “Oh, never mind. Now off to bed, all of you.”

“Sure, good night guys,” Anne said as she stood up and went down into the basement. Everyone else said their good nights as well and headed for bed. Hop Pop had just settled in with Polly snuggling up next to him, already thinking back to when Sprig did the same thing at Polly's age, when the door creaked open to allow Anne and Sprig to peek inside.

“Hey… so, turns out being captured and helpless against cannibals can be slightly traumatizing,” Anne said carefully.

“Can we sleep with you too?” Sprig asked. Hop Pop smiled at them and waved them in, and they wasted no time getting under the covers and cuddling together in a big hug pile. Soon the family was asleep and ready to put that night behind them when morning came.

It was mid morning when the toad patrol found the ruins of the Dandy Lion Inn. Sasha, freshly recovered from the swamp incident, hopped out of the cart and walked to the ruined Inn while Fens followed behind her.

“The heck happened here?” Sasha wondered aloud as she nudged a bit of wood with her foot. Sasha found it odd that the barn right next to the Inn was, for the most part, undamaged in the explosion.

“There’s been a lot of explosions happening lately, hasn’t there Commander?” Fens asked. Sasha found she couldn’t disagree with that, especially having caused one herself. There was the sound of crying coming from the ruined Inn, and Sasha and Fens walked through it to find the source. Soon they found it coming from a toad (?) woman in a yellow dress that was cradling another that looked nearly like her next to another one. At least, Sasha thought that was the case since the bodies were badly burned on one hand and missing half her head from whatever trauma caused it.

“Jeez, what happened here?” Sasha asked, causing the woman to turn and look at her.

“Oh great, another drumstick,” she said with thinly veiled anger.

“Drumstick?” Sasha asked when Fens tapped her shoulder.

“Careful Commander, she’s a Horned Bullfrog,” Fens said while squinting at the woman.

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

“They’re cannibalistic.”

“Ugh, not again.” Sasha grasped her sword as she looked back at the Bullfrog. “Look lady, we’re just trying to find someone causing trouble in the valley. Things blowing up tends to mean they were around, so just tell us if you saw someone and we’ll be on our way.”

“Oh, you and your ‘trouble’!” the woman screamed as she stood up. “All my family wanted was to just eat wayward travelers and just live our lives. But then Teddy got killed and that poofy haired drumstick blew up our home!”

“Poofy haired?” Sasha wondered as the Bullfrog continued ranting before she realized who she meant. Sasha started seeing red as she asked, “Did you see another girl like me with that hair?”

“Exactly! I’d love nothing more than to slice her up for what she did. If I ever get my hands on her again, I’ll-” The Bullfrog turned to Sasha in time to get a dagger to her eye. She screamed and grabbed Sasha’s arm as she fell to her knees, though her remaining eye was fixed on Sasha’s glowing pink eyes. Fear ran through her as Sasha grabbed one of her horns.

“You. Hurt. Anne!” Sasha growled as she pulled the dagger out, flipped it, and started stabbing her in the chest. Fens shouts of ‘Commander!’ went unheard as Sasha focused on the Bullfrog before she finished her with a slash across the throat. Sasha and Fens watched her fall over and futilely fight to stay alive, her hands grasping towards Sasha until she finally died. Sasha let out a breath, sheathed her dagger, and turned to walk back to the cart.

“Uh… Commander?” Fens asked and flinched when Sasha looked back at her, seemingly uncaring of the blood on her hand and front.

“What?” Sasha asked.

“Shouldn't we…” Fens gestured at the Bullfrogs with her stump, “you know… take care of them?”

“No. Let them rot.” ‘Anyone who hurts Anne deserves it.’ Sasha went back to walking to the cart, leaving Fens to look at the Bullfrogs before she shrugged and followed Sasha.

“Makes our job easy.”

Chapter Text

Another day, another shopping trip into Wartwood for the Plantars. Along the way, unusually, the Plantars passed by Anne who was busy staring at Stumpy’s.

“Hey Anne! Over here!” Sprig called as they passed her, which got Anne’s attention. She waved at them and followed them as Hop Pop drove Bessie to a parking spot that was just slightly too narrow for the snail, but that didn’t stop Hop Pop. The whole situation of Hop Pop slowly backing into the space, scraping the shells of the snails on both sides of Bessie, and him giving a sincere nod at the local sheriff’s disapproving look, it took everything in Anne’s power to not double over in laughter. Once the snail was parked and the family was off the snail, Anne joined them while chuckling to herself.

“Have I said how much I love you guys?” she asked.

“We love you too, Anne,” Sprig said and hopped up to give Anne a hug, which she returned before she set him on the ground. “So, what are you doing out here today?”

“Just looking around town. Is that a restaurant over there?” Anne asked and pointed at Stumpy’s.

“Yep, Wartwood’s oldest restaurant. Also, it's the only restaurant,” Hop Pop answered with a smile.

“Is it good?”

“...It’s edible,” he answered without changing his expression.

“...Maybe some other day.” Hop Pop nodded and turned to Sprig and Polly, handing the former a bag of Coppers.

“Alright kids, go get yourselves a snack while I do my shopping,” he said.

“Thanks, Hop Pop!” Sprig said as he picked up Polly and ran off.

“Maybe one day you’ll learn!” Polly added before they disappeared into the general store. Hop Pop chuckled at that and walked to the ascot store. It was only when he got to the door that he realized Anne was following him.

“Uh… can I help you, Anne?”

“Nope. Just following you today,” Anne replied.

“Why? Not that I mind, but…”

“I just wanted a change of pace from Sprig. Also, I’m hoping to get involved in one of your wacky adventures that you always seem to have when I’m not looking, or at least one I don’t directly cause. Hope you’re ready for what I have planned for Sylvia, Bee Tee Dubs.”

“I’m really not.” Hop Pop fought down a blush and entered the store with Anne, who started wandering around while Hop Pop went straight to the counter. “Good morning, Wartidla!”

“Well, good morning Hopediah! And good morning to you too, Anne!” Wartilda said, though Anne merely gave a small wave before picking up a pink ascot.

“How are the kids doin’?”

“Great! You know, my daughter just got accepted into Newtopia University!” Wartilda pointed back at a poster of a grand city that said ‘This summer, why don’t you visit Newtopia?’

Hop Pop gave a low whistle and said, “Now that’s the big leagues there.”

“I’m sorry, Newtopia?” Anne asked and walked over to look at the poster.

“Newtopia is the capital city of all of Amphibia,” Wartilda explained, “it’s got top of the line universities, it’s the center of trade.”

“And it’s where the King lives,” Hop Pop added.

“The King?! I didn’t know you had a King,” Anne exclaimed wide eyed.

“Well, duh. We’re not anarchists, Anne.”

“...Are you sure?”

“Polly doesn’t speak for all of us.” Anne nodded and looked up at the Newtopia poster with a thoughtful look, and Hop Pop suddenly got a sense of overwhelming dread at what he may have just put into the girl’s head. Thankfully, that was put to the side when Wartilda spoke up.

“My daughter’s got a bright future there. It’s a good thing too. Ascots aren’t as popular as they used to be.”

“You know, I’ve never seen an ascot in real life before I met Hop Pop,” Anne said and held up a red ascot, “They were always a thing in really old cartoons. I am buying this one, by the way.”

“See?”

“I’m feeling that. Veggies aren’t doing too good now either. Everyone’s all into fruits. That's just life, I suppose.” Hop Pop tapped his fingers on the counter for a moment and sighed. “Maybe I’ll just get four this month, Wartilda.”

“THIS MONTH?! You buy a bunch of these every month ?” Anne asked incredulously.

“I like being fashionable.” Anne could only stare and shake her head, understanding part of the Plantars' financial woes, before turning to Wartilda.

“I’m paying today.”

“Anne-”

“Don’t. I’m in a good mood.”

The purchase was made and both Anne and Hop Pop left with their ascots. Anne had put on and tied hers in in a way that would have made Hop Pop cringe if he had been paying attention. The conversation brought back recurring thoughts Hop Pop had been having and worries for his grandchildren that were all too familiar.

“Bright future, huh? I wish I could make sure Sprig and Polly will be alright,” he said while looking down at the ground. Anne took a moment to rub the top of his head comfortingly, though it felt more like pity to him.

“You worry too much. Sprig and Polly can handle themselves and they got both of us to watch over them. They'll be fine.”

“I can't help but worry. I ain't gonna be here forever, and you need to get home sometime. I just wish I could do more to make sure they’ll be alright.” Anne rubbed his head more before they both heard murmurs from a crowd forming around the town bulletin board. “What's that? More ascots?”

“What? Why would they sell ascots out here?” The two of them moved to join the crowd, stopping next to Sprig and Polly and saw what was put up.

“Look guys! Amphibia’s got Talent is coming to Wartwood!” Sprig said excitedly as he pointed at the new poster that had been hung up.

“What's that nonsense?” Hop Pop asked.

“Oh, it's a talent show!” Anne said with a snap of her fingers, “we have these back home. Contestants show their stuff to a panel of uncaring judges to prove they're special.”

“That sounds exploitative.”

“And potentially humiliating!” Polly added.

“Oh, it is. You get it, girl.”

“Look guys! Auditions are being held this weekend! Maybe I can impress the judges with my fiddle playing!” Sprig took out his fiddle and played a quick little tune. “Eh? What do you think?”

“I have the utmost faith in you, little pal,” Anne said and knelt next to Sprig.

“Thanks Anne. By the way, is that an ascot?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Oh no, he’s turned you!” Polly whispered in dread.

“I don’t know Sprig…” Hop Pop said.

“Again, you worry too much HP,” Anne said and leaned on Sprig’s head, “besides there’s a 20% chance this is a legit talent show, and winning it will set the winner up for a life of success and opportunity.”

Just then, Hop Pop’s eyes widened and he seemed to be a million miles away. He wouldn't respond when they waved their hands in front of his face and the kids were worried that his mind finally broke under the pressure his whole life had heaped on him, until he finally came out of it with a large gasp.

“That’s it!” he cried.

“What’s it?”

Life was great for the Plantars. Sprig's fiddle talents had paid dividends, no small thanks to Hop Pop's guidance, and now Sprig and Polly were set for life and would never have to worry about anything. A large mansion with a tennis court, a team of chefs making meals and counting every calorie. They even had a pool! Hop Pop looked over all of this as Anne rolled his wheelchair to the poolside and felt content, smiling at his grandchildren lounging in the pool.

“Finally, I can rest… forever,” he said and closed his eyes.

“Hey, wait a minute, if this is the future why don't I have legs?” Polly wondered as she lifted her shades and looked at her coconut drink in confusion. “And what the heck are these?”

“Why am I still here?!” Anne shouted and looked down at her nurse uniform, “and why am I a nurse and not crushing the populace beneath my boot?!”

“And I just wanted to have fun playing my fiddle,” Sprig said as he looked up at his way too well done hair. 

“Kids-”

“This is your doing, isn't it Hop Pop?!” Anne accused angrily.

“Kids, I'm trying to pass peacefully,” Hop Pop said and closed his eyes again.

“Pass huh? Let me help you along,” Anne said as she grabbed Hop Pop's head and slit his throat with a knife.

“Anne!” Sprig screamed.

“Yeah, bloodshed!” Polly screamed, though Hop Pop couldn't hear it over his own screams.

“Gah! Dang it, Anne!” Hop Pop shouted.

“What?! I haven't done anything!” Anne shouted back as she opened the front door of the Plantar house.

“You murdered me in my daydream!”

“Well, don't make me do stuff I don't like in your daydreams.” Anne pulled the door shut and went back to her work while Hop Pop turned to Polly, who was busy preparing projectiles to help Sprig train.

“And Polly, no cheering for my death!”

“No promises!” Polly shouted nonchalantly, which Hop Pop rolled his eyes at.

“Uh… You okay, Hop Pop?” Sprig asked while giving his grandfather a concerned look. He had been in the middle of giving advice when whatever that was happened.

“I'll be fine. Let's get back to practicing, Sprig.”

The Plantars were hard at work getting ready for the talent show. Anne threw herself into her task of making Sprig’s moth-base costume with gusto, Polly was doing her job as Morale Officer well despite her best efforts to show her singing. Thomas Hopps was probably fine from that bird landing on him. Sprig had been in the middle of training with Hop Pop, who had a very intense idea of training this week. Even if Sprig was seeing improvement, it just kept going over the days.

Sprig was at the moment jumping between the tops of some large wooden poles that Hop Pop had installed while Sprig had tried playing fiddle while underwater (a failure on many levels) while Polly gleefully shot produce at him with a mini catapult. After one landing, a turnip hit him in the face and sent him flying to the ground.

“Sprig! Is the fiddle okay, and you?” Hop Pop shouted as she rushed to Sprig’s side.

“Don’t worry, I'm okay,” Sprig said as he sat up and rubbed his cheek. “That’s probably going to bruise.”

“You’ll be fine. We’ll just have to get you jumping faster. Polly, shoot faster!”

“On it!”

Sprig, ever the inattentive one, started looking around the yard in this brief moment of rest and stopped when he saw a grouping of odd creatures near the tree in the front yard.

“This delay is rough. We'll have to work twice as hard to make up for it. Are you ready, Sprig?” Jop Pop turned around to find Sprig was gone and left to investigate the tree. After a moment, Sprig found something that made him gasp and run to the house with his new find.

“Anne!” Sprig shouted after kicking the front door open. He started running around the living room shouting Anne's name until she finally came up from the basement.

“What? Did I kill someone in a dream again?” Anne asked.

“Better! Like, seriously, way better. Look what I found!” Sprig held up his find to Anne: an egg with a complex red and black pattern painted on it.

“An Easter Egg?”

“What's Easter?” Sprig asked. Anne looked at the confused look on his face and shook her head.

“Never mind, wrong guess. What is that?”

“I think it's a ticket to the Bizarre Bazaar!”

“Bazaar Bizarre?”

“No, Bizarre Bazaar. It's a secret market that appears once a year that sells all kinds of cool and exotic stuff. Merchants from all over go there, or so I heard.”

“Exotic, huh?” Anne pondered and crossed her arms, “sounds like just the place to do some information gathering on my music box. Hopefully more than the Archives will, in any case.” That trip did reveal some interesting things and ended with Anne adding cicadas to her ‘to make extinct’ list. Even if she didn't learn anything about the box, she still deemed it worth it. “Let's hit it tonight.”

“Oh yeah!”

“Oh no!” Hop Pop shouted as he and Polly came inside. “You two aren’t going to the Bizarre Bazaar tonight, not when we have so much practice to do for that talent show!”

“The show’s days away dude,” Anne pointed out.

“Hop Pop, it's just one night,” Sprig said as he put the ticket away, “and it could help Anne out. We could use the break.”

“Tough. Even if the show wasn't coming up I wouldn't let you go. The Bazaar is far different from the market here in Wartwood: there are scoundrels, thieves, ruffians, and pick pockets everywhere. If you go there with something important, you might lose it for good!”

“Then I'll just kill them! What's the big deal?” Anne asked and threw her arms in the air.

“As much as I love being on your side Anne,” Polly said and pointed at Anne, “ that is probably the big problem.”

“Well, if the hammer works.”

“No, it won't, and you're not going to try and pick it up! We have work to do for that talent show, and that's what we're doing.” Sprig and Anne tiredly gave a simultaneous ‘Yes, Hop Pop.’ and watched him pick up Polly and walk outside. After a moment, Sprig turned to Anne.

“We're still going, aren't we?”

“Obvi,” Anne said and knelt down to drag Sprig closer, “and I have the perfect plan to keep HP from knowing.”

Anne and Sprig figured it would be easier to sneak to the Bizarre Bazaar from the Dark Tower. Thankfully, Anne managed to convince Hop Pop to let her take Sprig back to the Dark Tower in a way only Anne could get away with.

“Don’t worry Hop Pop, there’s nothing quite like a quick stretch on a rack to really loosen up those joints and muscles. By the time I’m done, Sprig will be the loosest and most flexible fiddle player Amphibia has ever seen!”

“Hmm… you make a good point. I’ll leave him to you, Anne,” Hop Pop replied with a smile and a nod. If he had been in any way close to his normal mindset, he wouldn’t have agreed in the slightest, but he wasn’t. Such was the price to pay on focusing on the future he wanted. “And it’ll give me time to perfect the obstacle course too!”

“Exactly, win win! We’re gonna go now. Come on, Sprig.” Ann then quickly led Sprig away from the Plantar home by the hand, only noticing the forlorn expression on the frog boy’s face a bit later.

“You’re not actually going to rack me, are you?” he asked.

“What, no, of course not! My enemies get tortured, not you guys!” Anne blinked and felt like she was forgetting something. ‘Eh, probably not important.’

In any case, Anne’s reassurances helped as Sprig let out a relieved sigh and he rode the rest of the way to the Tower on Anne’s shoulders. Soon they were at the Tower, and after explaining their plan Gnarl was delighted.

“It has been some time since we were able to partake in the Bizarre Bazaar. You’ve no doubt reached the conclusion that there are some commodities that can only be found there.”

“Glad we were thinking the same thing,” Anne said as she shifted on her throne, Sprig sitting on an arm rest. “There’s bound to be someone who knows about the Music Box at the Bazaar, right?”

“...Of course Sire. That’s… what I was talking about…” Gnarl said, pointedly looking away to avoid meeting Anne’s eyes. The young Overlord raised an eyebrow at the Minion Master’s actions, but shrugged them off.

“So, it’s okay for us to stay here until night so we can go find the Bazaar?” Sprig asked.

“How are people supposed to find this place if you need to find eggs to know about it?” Anne asked.

“This rigamarole is only for first time customers, Lord,” Gnarl explained and crossed his arms, “Once you know where it is, you can find it easily. It really is great luck that you were deemed worthy of going to the Bazaar. If you play your cards right, we might have a good source for future materials.”

“We’ll see. We still have some time before we need to go, so Sprig and I will just watch TV until it’s time to go.”

“Of course. If I may, while you’re there, could you pick up some trifling things for the Tower?”

“Eh, sure,” Anne answered with a shrug, “it’s not like those Coppers are going anywhere. What do you want?”

“Baby Seal meat. Since you found some Red Minions, I've been craving some piping hot Baby Seal Nuggets, and I know some unscrupulous merchants have it.” Anne and Sprig stared at Gnarl until they turned to each other.

“Do you guys even have seals here?”

“I’ve never heard of them,” Sprig answered.

“It’s a very exotic meat,” Gnarl explained.

“And it… has to be specifically baby seals?” Anne asked.

“Of course! Adult seals have far too hard flesh to use for nugget making.”

“Sure then. Anything else?”

“Well, you need the proper spices as well. Some chips as a side as well, a hammer for further tenderizing. Banang, if you can find it. Oh, and-”

“Alright, you’re listing more than five things. That means it’s time for a list,” Anne interrupted and got up to go to her room, Gnarl behind her continuing to list things he wanted from the trip. Sprig, having chosen to stay behind, was left kicking his legs on Anne’s throne while drumming his fingers and blowing raspberries in some form of tune. This was how Maddie found him when she came up from the Forge.

“Dark Master, are you still here!” she shouted as she ran up only to stop short when she saw Sprig. “Oh… hi Sprig…”

“Hi, Maddie…” Sprig returned and hopped off the armrest, hiding most of himself from Maddie. “What are you doing here?”

“Just… working. On the Overlord’s magic… streamlining some things…”

“Neat.” An awkward silence as neither frog knew what else to say. Eventually, Sprig coughed and asked, “So… is your family alright?”

“Yeah, same as always. You?”

“Well, you know us, always on an adventure. Hop Pop had me training for a talent show, but Anne and I are taking a break to go to the Bizarre Bazaar.”

“The Bazaar's tonight?! Shoot, I wish I had known earlier, they have good reagents there.”

“Really? We can get you some, if you want.”

“It's fine, I don't want to impose on the Master. Besides, it's better if I find them on my own anyway.”

“Okay…” Another long silence, this time it really seems like there was no recovering this conversation. After some very long feeling moments Sprig said, “I should check on Anne! Nice seeing you Maddie!”

At the same time, Maddie said, “I need to get back to work! Bye Sprig,” and they both went up (or down) their respective stairs. Along the way, they both cringed at just how awkward the conversation was.

Night fell and Anne and Sprig left the Tower to head towards the Bizarre Bazaar. After a quick scare where Sprig broke the egg, that turned out to be the correct thing to do and they were soon chasing an adorable critter through the woods. It was far faster than it looked, and even with Sprig's natural frog jumping and Anne's learned agility they soon lost it.

“Shoot! Where did that adorable thing go?” Anne asked as she looked around where the creature disappeared.

“I can’t see it. Sorry Anne, I think we lost it,” Sprig said and walked over to Anne.

“And after all the trouble we went through sneaking away from Hop Pop and dragging the music box here.” Anne adjusted the straps on her backpack, which the music box was safely inside of, and turned to Sprig. “So what do we do now? I don’t-” Anne stopped short when she saw a mushroom suddenly light up behind Sprig. “...Did that mushroom just light up?”

“What?” Sprig asked and turned around just as another mushroom lit up. He and Anne shared a look and both followed the mushrooms as they lit up a path for them to follow, all the way to a cliff face that lit up in a grand display to show the entrance to the Bazaar proper along with the symbol that the ticket had. “Cool!”

“A bit show-offy, but I don’t mind it for once,” Anne said as she led the way into the Bizarre Bazaar, where she and Sprig just stood and stared in awe at the whole thing. Stalls as far as they could see in the cave lit up by firefly light, each of them selling a wide variety of wares and foods, and Amphibians of all kinds wandering to and from each of them. As Anne and Sprig started walking through the stalls and looking around, Anne saw there were games going on as well, both official stalls and ones started on the spot on any of the numerous tables spread around.

“I can kind of understand why Hop Pop didn’t want us to go here alone,” Sprig said as they passed by a stall selling some kind of bun, “this place is huge!”

“Kind of reminds me of stories Marcy would tell about conventions,” Anne replied as she glanced at a large orange Amphibian with an eyepatch. She thought he looked at her, but was gone just as fast. Shaking it off, Anne turned to Sprig and said, “Okay, we need to focus. We need to find anyone who might know something about my music box, so let’s keep an eye out for anyone selling old junk. Then we can do Gnarl’s shopping if we have time.”

“He loves keeping you busy, doesn’t he?”

“Well, Dark Domains don’t build and run themselves. So…” Anne looked around the Bazaar before she turned to Sprig with a distressed look. “I think I’ll follow your lead here. I have no idea where to even begin and you have good instincts.”

“Uh, okay. Let’s try this way.”

Sprig led the way through the Bazaar, both of them stopping along the way to look at a booth that caught their attention and picking up the occasional bauble. Sprig had been particularly persistent, to the point of outright begging on his knees, for Anne to buy him an interesting looking slingshot which Anne didn't put much effort into resisting. Eventually their wandering led them to a corner of the Bazaar where a glitter of gold caught their eye.

“Wow, that's a cool shield!” Sprig said when they got to the booth. The shield that he saw, and was now touching, was beautifully decorated with several frog decorations. It wasn't the only one with those at the booth either.

“These decorations look just like the ones on my box,” Anne said as she ran her finger over a decoration she was sure was the same as one on the box. “Maybe they were made by the same people?”

“Why don't we ask whoever runs this booth?” Sprig asked and both kids looked up to see closed curtains and a sign that said ‘Out to Lunch’.

“Lunch? But it's only…” Anne took out her phone to check the time, “11 at night? Huh, it doesn't feel that late.”

“Guess we'll just have to wait for them to come back. Let's go see what else the Bazaar has! It won't be here for another year, after all.” Sprig hopped away and Anne started following him. She stopped for a second to look back at the booth before she followed for real.

Even as she walked away, she couldn’t help but feel she was being watched.

Despite being forced to wait, Anne and Sprig still found themselves having fun at the Bazaar. There was a game similar to hoop shooting back on Earth that Sprig was surprisingly good at, and Anne had a good laugh at Wally getting cheated at a dice game only to get accosted by guards afterwards. They also found food from all over Amphibia, which Sprig loved and Anne tolerated. She could do without the spider egg tea, but those buns were good though, even if they turned out to be filled with live insects.

Anne stared at it for a moment before shrugging and eating it. After eating Minion Grog, anything would be a step up.

The real problem, and the current time sink Anne wasn't looking forward to, was doing Gnarl’s shopping. The pair approached a butcher stand and Anne knocked on the counter to get the attention of the toad butcher.

“Welcome! What can I get for you?” He asked and wiped his hands on his apron.

“Do you sell exotic meat?” Anne asked.

“Depends on what kind you want. I got plenty of the bigger insects and the odd predator. I got the rump of a Scorpoleo if you want it.”

“Ooh,” Sprig cooed with wide eyes.

“I don't know what that is, and not what I'm looking for. Have you got any baby seal?” That caused the butcher to lean away from Anne in shock, which she rolled her eyes at. “What, is it ‘illegal’ and ‘morally questionable’ to sell that?”

“It kind of is,” Sprig pointed out.

“Well yeah, but why should it matter here?”

“It matters because I’m an upstanding business man!” the butcher said, “It’d be suicide for a butcher like me to carry meat like that. You’d have better luck on the Shady side of the Bazaar.”

“Oh? You guys have an actual black market?”

“I meant it literally.” The butcher pointed behind Anne and she and Sprig turned around to see he was pointing to a path leading to an (actually) darker side of the Bazaar that had plenty of (figuratively) shady individuals going into it.

“Great. Knowing my luck, I’ll probably find everything on my list too. Even Banang, whatever that is.”

“Oh, you can find Banang over there.” They turned to see a bright yellow stand filled with plastic bottles manned by an uncomfortably happy frog. “I’ve been trying to get a spot away from them for years, but it hasn’t taken.”

Anne stared at the stand, a prelude of just how much work she’ll have to do, and turned to Sprig. “Hey, Sprig…”

“Help you with your shopping? As long as I don’t have to go on the Shady side, I’ll do it.”

“Thanks, I’ll make you a copy and give you some money.” Anne set her backpack down to take out a notepad and pen and looked at the butcher. “I’ll take that Scorpoleo meat too, for the novelty.”

“Sure thing, lass.”

Splitting up let the pair of kids get everything on the list in no time, barring Sprig getting distracted by the myriad of stalls and one incident on Anne’s part that may have been an overreaction.

Anne was walking through the Shady side looking at her phone when a frog in a trench coat walked up to her.

“Want to see something strange and mysterious?” he asked. Anne responded by putting her phone away, grabbing a nearby chair, and cracking it over the frog's head. With him unconscious, Anne was surprised to see the chair hadn't broken or even seemed to show damage. She set the chair upright and saw a little carving in the backrest of a smiling Loggle.

“Dang Loggle, this is sturdy. Hm, I could use more chairs in the Tower.”

In any case their shopping was soon done and they reconvened at the food court.

“This looks like more than was on the list,” Sprig pointed out as Anne packed away her purchases into her backpack.

“Yeah. Since I can cook in my Tower now, I wanted to experiment,” Anne said and picked up the last of her purchases: the ever elusive ‘seal meat’ Gnarl wanted. “Not sure if this counts as a seal, looks more like a cockroach to me, but it's what they gave me when I said the name. Hope it's close enough.” It took a bit of shoving, but the meat finally fit in there too and Anne managed to zip it up and slung it onto her back. “I'm sure he won't mind.”

“How do you do that?” Sprig asked and pointed at the backpack.

“I’m very good at packing. So has there been any change in the stand?”

“Oh, I've been busy with these skewers,” Sprig answered and held up two skewers with insects and veggies on it and shoved one of them into his mouth to eat all of them off the stick. He threw the stick away and held the other out to Anne, “Want this one?”

“No thanks, I'm full.” Sprig shrugged and started eating while Anne sat down and stared at the stand she wanted to visit.

“We've been shopping for hours. How long does lunch last?” Anne wondered and got her answer when a hand reached out and took the sign away. Once the curtains started opening too, Anne stood up excitedly and dragged Sprig along toward the stand. “Finally! I thought you'd be on lunch forever!”

“Apologies. Lunch is the most important meal of the day,” the woman behind the counter said before turning to face Anne and Sprig. She was an old Newt, by far the oldest Anne had seen so far, and dressed in showy black robes. Red eyes stared at them, one of them barely able to open on its own. Most striking though was her missing right arm cut off just above the elbow, though judging from the glove on her tail the amputation hadn't slowed her down at all. To her right on a perch was some form of featherless parrot-insect thing.

“*Squack* Most important meal!” it parroted.

“Really? I was always told breakfast was the most important meal,” Anne said and leaned on the counter.

“That's what they want you to think,” the newt said, pointing at Anne with her tail, before doing a small flourish. “Valeriana, at your service.”

“Anne, and this is Sprig.”

“Look, she doesn't have an arm,” Sprig said rather thoughtlessly, including pointing at said arm.

“Sprig! We think those thoughts, not say them.” Sprig at least had the awareness to be regretful about what he said, especially with the glare Valeriana gave him, and quickly picked up a random pot.

“I meant to say you have a lot of cool stuff?”

“...You could say that,” Valeriana said as she picked up the pot while her tail lifted up a watering can. “I've traveled all around Amphibia to collect my wares. I've seen and heard it all.” Valeriana poured some water into the pot and Anne and Sprig were awed when a plant emerged seconds later. Valeriana set the pot aside while Anne grinned widely and leaned further onto the counter, pacing her fingers together to rest her chin on.

“Well, bet you've never seen anything like me, huh?” She asked.

“No, I haven't,” Valeriana admitted as she pulled out by far the coolest magnifying glass Anne had ever seen and leaned forward to inspect the Human. “Where did you come from?”

“Oh… places. So, would you say you're an expert on semi or definitely mystical objects?” She asked.

“I suppose,” Valeriana answered and put the magnifying glass away, “are you interested in such things?”

“Yeah. I actually got something just like these,” Anne said and pointed at some of the frog decorated items, “do you think tell me something about it if I showed you it?”

“One way to find out. If you have it, show me.” Anne nodded as she took off her backpack and set it down on the ground. She started digging through it, growing more annoyed as she went.

“This is why I wanted to do this before my shopping, now it’s buried under all this crap.”

“Hey, Anne, I was thinking about what Hop Pop said earlier,” Sprig said as he walked up to whisper to Anne, “You know, about thieves. How do you know she won’t take the box?”

“Oh Sprig,” Anne said as she turned to Sprig and set a hand on the top of Sprig’s head, the other pointing at his chest, “nobody will steal my stuff from me. I have the eyes of a hawk and the viciousness of a rabid badger. Anyone who tries will suffer for it.” Anne moved to grab her bag again, only to find nothing but thin air. She looked to confirm it was, in fact, gone and immediately shot to her feet. “What happened?! Where’d my bag go?!”

The two of them looked around the crowd and Sprig caught sight of Anne’s bag being carried by a masked ruffian. “That way! He went That way!” Spring shouted and looked back at Anne. She looked and saw the thief, and her eyes immediately started glowing blue as she growled angrily.

“YOU THIEF!” she shouted and ran after the thief, leaving Sprig to hop after her worriedly. Valeriana stared after them before clasping her hand and tail together.

“Those eyes… Leander, could she be the one we’ve been waiting for?” She wondered.

“*squawk* Who we've been waiting for!” Leander answered and started coughing.

“No Leander, not on the carpet!”

The thief was small and quick, though when you're like Anne at the moment that didn't matter. Rage and a desire for punishment can offset any disadvantage, such as hapless pedestrians that were knocked to the floor for daring to stand in Anne's way. Sprig followed behind, muttering apologies to everyone he could, and hopped onto Anne's shoulders when she stopped to see the thief jump behind the counter of a stall. Sprig gulped as Anne marched over to the stand as a frog put her backpack on the wall.

“You!” Anne said and slammed her hands onto the counter of the stall. The thief, still in the middle of taking off his mask and cloak, looked back at Anne before throwing the items away and walked over to the counter.

“Hello there, would you like to try my games?” he said, as if nothing was wrong.

“No. Give me back my backpack.”

“Backpack?”

“ That backpack that you just put up!” Anne pointed at her bag while Sprig hopped off of her shoulders, “Don’t make me repeat myself!”

“You really should just give her bag back,” Sprig said.

“Oh, that bag?” The thief shrugged and Anne could feel his little beady eyes avoiding her, “That's the Magical bag of Mystery. It just fell into my stall. Who knows where it came from?”

“YOU DO, YOU LITTLE THIEF!” Anne shouted and tried to climb over the counter, only for her and Sprig to be just as quickly yanked back by a couple of guards that had been constantly seen throughout the Bazaar. They both struggled in their grasp while Anne’s glowing eyes burned into the thief as he dared to lean on his counter and smile smugly at her.

“Now now, once an item is on my wall the only way to get it back is to win it back. Bazaar rules.” he said. Anne stopped struggling and narrowed her eyes at the frog, which caused Sprig to gulp nervously.

“Uh, Anne?”

“You have ten seconds to get out of the way, Sprig,” Anne said.

“Thanks Anne.” The guards set them both down and Sprig ran past them and hid behind another stall’s counter to get out of Anne’s way while the girl herself took a deep breath and leveled her glare at the frog again.

“So I have to play a game to win back my own stuff that you stole from me? Fine, I’ll play your game you rogue, but you won’t like how I play.”

“Splendid! So the game is-”

“No, we play my game. Last chance. Give me my backpack and I’ll forget this ever happened.”

“Eh, no. Bazaar rules stand, and I can have you thrown out if I want to, girl.” The thief’s response caused Anne to close her eyes and take another breath as the guards moved to either side of her.

“Your funeral.” Without opening her eyes, Anne raised a hand with her palm pointed at one of the guards and cast a fireball spell. Instantly the guard was engulfed in flame and screamed loudly in fear, causing his fellow guard and the thieving stall owner to back away in shock. The commotion and sight of a guard falling to the ground on fire and failing to put himself out naturally drew all kinds of eyes from the surrounding crowd as the second guard found his wits and glared at Anne.

“Big mistake!” he shouted and made to grab his sword when Anne waved her hand and he suddenly found himself more sluggish than normal, his body moving much slower than it should be. “What? I can’t…”

“Slow spell. Sucks for you,” Anne said as she turned on the guard, drew his sword, and slashed at his legs. The spell broke then and the guards collapsed onto his good knee, just in range for Anne to run the sword through his neck. She let the sword go and turned away as the guard fell to the side trying to remove the sword to once again advance on the seller.

By then, as Anne hopped the counter and walked slowly towards him, he was shivering in fear and backing away as much as he could. “L-listen, I may have been too hasty before. Perhaps we can-”

Anything he might have said after was cut off thanks to Anne's fist impacting on his face. He stumbled back into the wall when another blow landed and he found himself pinned to the wall by Anne's foot.

“You're the one that wanted to play,” Anne said before she pulled her foot back and kicked him in the throat again, leaving him wheezing and clutching his throat as he fell to the floor.

“P-please, many apologies! You can have the bag!” Anne stared at the seller for a moment, waiting for the expected continuation that came as he held up a finger. “...For 100 Coppers.”

Anne's response was to grab a sword he had hung up on the wall and stab him through the mouth with it, pinning him to the wall. Whether he lived or not, screaming and flailing as he was, meant nothing after that as Anne finally took her bag off the wall, slung it over her shoulders, and hopped back over the counter. “We're done here, Sprig,” she said as she started the walk back to Valeriana's stall. Sprig hopped out from behind the counter he was hiding behind, pointedly looking away from the carnage, and followed Anne though the crowd that had formed, all of them parting in fear of the girl.

In that crowd, a large orange frog in an eyepatch narrowed his eye at the kids.

The Bazaar was close to closing and Valeriana was finishing up her final business there. The chance encounter with Anne had been an unexpected boon and Valeriana was feeling optimistic. After so long, it seemed fate was finally moving along and the prophecy was one step closer to coming true. There was much work to be done in the future.

“I'm back! Sorry about that,” Anne called out while Valeriana was arranging some items. The newt turned around and froze for a second wide eyed at the state Anne was in. Whatever had happened the girl got her bag back, though her hands and the front of her outfit were now stained in blood that she was not reacting to at all. At least her frog friend was aware enough to look around nervously.

“Red flags! *squawk*” Leander said from his perch.

“Shush, Leander. It’s good to see you again. You've… got some red on you,” Valeriana said cautiously.

“Don't worry, it's not mine,” Anne said while holding up a hand placatingly.

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

“It’s fine, really. Now, about that thing I wanted you to look at.” Anne swung her backpack around so she could start digging through it again. While she was busy with that, Sprig and Valeriana saw a host of Bazaar guards coming their way.

“Uh, Anne?” Sprig said and tugged on Anne’s skirt.

“Not now, Sprig, I thought I felt it just now.”

“But Anne!”

“There you are!” one of the guards shouted as they drew their swords and started to surround Anne. The girl’s only reaction to yet another distraction was to close her eyes, take a deep breath, and open them again now glowing blue.

Something in Anne’s gaze, though not directed at her, felt like deja vu that sent chills through Valeriana.

“Oh. My. Frog. You people just can’t leave me alone, can you?!” Anne asked and turned on the guards, the closest backing up a step under her gaze, “And for what, getting my own stuff back from a thief?”

“You murdered two guards and stabbed a sword through Marnie’s mouth!” Valeriana’s eyes widened and she stared at Anne worriedly.

“I could have done far worse to him! And if those two did their jobs instead of backing a thief, they wouldn’t have suffered my wrath! But fine,” Anne handed Sprig her backpack and clenched her hands at her sides, “if all of you need a taste of that to LEAVE ME ALONE, then by all means!”

“You little-!”

“STOP!” Valeriana shouted as she got in between all of them, holding her hand and tail up to stop Anne and a guard. “There’s no need for further bloodshed tonight!”

“That’s up to them,” Anne said simply, her gaze not leaving the guards. Valeriana gave her a quick look before turning to the guards.

“Dawn is coming soon. By the time I’m finished attending to her, the Bazaar will be over and we’ll all be on our way home. There’s no need for violence in these last few minutes.”

“You didn’t see what she did!” the guard said.

“I don’t have to.” The guards looked taken aback by that and the one Valeriana was conversing with looked between her and Anne a couple of times before waving his hand, which caused most of the other guards to start dispersing.

“Anything else that happens is on you,” he said before pointing at Anne, “And you are banned from the Bizarre Bazaar for life.”

“Like I want to come back to your crappy little market again,” Anne said. The guards ignored her and sheathed their swords as they all started spreading around the Bazaar again. Once the three of them were alone again, Anne let out an annoyed sigh and crossed her arms. “What was their problem?”

Sprig gave Anne a blank stare while Valeriana turned on her with a smouldering glare. “You murdered two of their colleagues,” she said plainly.

“Oh, like nobody else here has killed someone.”

“I haven’t,” Sprig said.

“And I’m very proud of you for being above the influence, Sprig.” Anne pat Sprig on top of his head and Veleriana sighed and rubbed her eyes.

“Just let me see what you want to show me so this nightmare can end,” Valeriana said while waving her tail around.

“Couldn’t agree more,” Anne said with a nod and took her backpack back from Sprig. “I haven’t been having good luck with this, so why don’t you try Sprig?” Anne then unzipped her backpack and held it open toward Sprig. He and Valeriana shared a look before he shrugged and shot his tongue into the backpack. After a second, the tongue came back and Sprig suddenly found himself with a mouthful of music box. “Oh sweet, thanks Sprig! Long tongues are so useful sometimes.” Sprig got a few more pats as he spat out the saliva covered box into Anne’s hand, though by that point Valeriana was more focused on the box than anything else.

“That music box… where did you get it?” she asked, utterly transfixed on it.

“It fell into my lap,” Anne answered and moved the music box to show Valeriana more of it, “have you seen something like this before?” Valeriana didn't answer, moving closer to grab a hold of the box only for Anne to move it out of the way. “Nuh uh. Look, don't touch.”

“...Very well.” Valeriana held up her hand so Leander could drop her magnifying glass into it before landing on Valeriana's shoulder. As she took a close look at the box, the three gems in particular, she explained, “It does look Old Amphibian in origin. I have seen many scriptures describing something like this. Tell me, has it worked since it came into your possession?”

“Nope, not even a note.” Anne demonstrated by turning the key and opening the lid a couple of times, “and fixing it is kind of important.”

“Did those old books say how to fix it?” Sprig asked.

“No, they just put emphasis on the dangers of using it. They seemed very afraid of it.” Valeriana pulled away from the box and gave Anne a critical look, cupping her chin with her tail hand. “Tell me, what do you intend to use this for?”

“It brought me here, so it'll take me back. I still have plenty to do before then though.” Valeriana nodded while Anne put the box away in her backpack and slung it onto her back with a sigh, “ If I can find a way to fix it.”

“Good things come to the tenacious, and you seem very tenacious.”

“Thanks. So, do I owe you anything or…?”

“No, but you can pay me back when we meet again,” Valeriana answered as she walked behind the counter of her stall.

“...Wait, what do you mean-?” Anne started to ask, only to be cut off by the sound of a gong that echoed through the Bazaar.

“Whoops, Bazaar's closed. Farewell!” Valeriana said cheerfully, Leander giving his own ‘farewell’ before Valeriana closed the curtains and the stall seemed to shrink and disappear into nothingness. All around them the rest of the stalls disappeared in a similar fashion along with the crowds, until only Anne and Sprig were standing in the cavern.

“...Huh. Well, that was fun in a traumatizing sort of way,” Sprig said.

“There’s a new trauma every day, Sprig. Still, I'm glad I came here. Now I know I'm on the right track. Let’s get home before Hop Pop wakes up.” Suddenly, someone cleared their throat loudly behind them and they turned to find the same large, eyepatched frog glaring at them with his arms crossed. They turned to face him with Anne returning both. “What? Do You have something to say after stalking me all night?”

The frog responded by grabbing his cloak and face, ripping both away to reveal his true form: Hop Pop on stilts.

“HOP POP?!” Sprig shouted in surprise.

“Whaaaaaaaaaa?!”

“I knew I couldn’t trust you two to behave yourselves for even a day!” Hop Pop shouted as he pointed at the two of them. 

“What are you doing here?!” Sprig shouted.

“I have so many questions. What’s with the disguise?”

“I bet you thought you were real clever Anne. Did you think I was stupid enough to believe you’d actually torture Sprig for any reason, even quote unquote ‘good’ ones?” Anne could only look to the side at that, because Hop Pop absolutely nailed her on that one. Hop Pop started walking around the pair as he continued, “I knew you two couldn’t resist the allure of the Bizarre Bazaar, so I followed you in secret to bail you out if you got yourself into a pickle. WHICH DID HAPPEN, ANNE!”

“Yeah, and I got myself out of it,” Anne countered as Hop Pop jumped off the stilts.

“Yeah, in the most you way possible! You realize Marnie ran Cockroach Races right? I’m the best racer in Frog Valley!”

“Wait, really?” Sprig asked.

“Yeah, they called me The Wrecker. Check yourself or you’ll wreck yourself.” Anne let out a laugh at that, which got Hop Pop’s attention back on her. “I would have won your bag back for you no problem, and without anyone getting hurt!”

“Yeah, that wasn’t happening. Anyone who crosses me gets the bottom of my boot. You know this by now, HP!”

“Unfortunately I do, and that’s why it’s hard to take you places.” Hop Pop sighed and started rubbing his eyes, “We could have been training for the talent show right now instead of this.”

“Uh, yeah, about that Hop Pop,” Sprig started to say.

“Not now Sprig, focus your energy on practicing. And as for you, Anne, I got a special present for you.” Hop Pop reached behind him and pulled out a paper cone hat with ‘Dunce’ written on it.

“What? Why do you carry that around with you?” Anne asked.

“For when I need to crown a Dunce.” And Hop Pop proceeded to crown a Dunce, and she could only sigh in response to it even as it was utterly deserved. “Now let’s go home kids. I left Polly home alone, and I’m afraid of what we might come back home to.”

“I guess,” Sprig said and stuck his hands in his pockets, “So… since you’re a famous racer, have you ever killed anyone, Hop Pop?”

“What happens in the Bazaar, stays in the Bazaar.”

Thankfully, Polly only managed to destroy a few windows by the time they got back to the farm. Anne had to wear the dunce cap for the rest of the week in addition to wearing her swimsuit while she worked on getting the blood out of her school uniform in addition to finishing Sprigs costume. All the while Sprig continued his harsh practice under Hop Pop and Polly’s supervision. By the time of the talent show Sprig was ready along with his costume and Anne’s uniform was as clean as it was ever going to get in Amphibia.

The competition was stiff, but Sprig and his top notch fiddle skills were more than equal to it in his shiny blue moth costume. In the end, Sprig was victorious after nearly being eaten by a bat. Polly got to demonstrate her ‘singing’ to rescue her brother and Hop Pop, in turn, learned a lesson that having fun can sometimes be better than any amount of success. Especially if the latter could lead to you getting murdered by your adoptive granddaughter. The trophy was still appreciated though.

All in all, the perfect end to a perfect Plantar family adventure.

Chapter Text

Another day in Wartwood, another day at the market. What started for Anne as a means of seeing how the future food collection was coming along had changed when Hop Pop had roped her into helping run the Plantar family stall. She didn't need much persuasion, since it kept her busy and let her keep an eye on all the frogs.

“And here you are, Mrs. Croaker,” Anne said as she gave a bag of vegetables to the old frog. “Try not to choke on them.”

“They haven't gotten the better of me yet,” Mrs. Croaker responded with a laugh. “Gotta say, it's nice to see you settling in after everything that happened. The Overlord still treating you well?”

“Yeah, that's fine. Do my job and they look the other way. And I didn't think I'd settle well either, but it helps I only hate the ones who deserve it. What was Wally's favorite food again?”

“I'm not telling you that. Take care Anne, and give Hopediah my regards.”

“Sure thing, Mrs. Croaker.” Anne waved as Croaker walked off. “Love that woman. Now, is there anything else to do?” Anne looked around the market as the frogs went about their business, none of them stopping at the stall for one reason or another, and Anne soon found her gaze wandering until she saw the Flour family stall across the pathway. “Huh, I didn't think they had one. Oh hey, it's Maddie.”

Anne waved at Maddie, who was busy baking bread. Specifically, bread that looked a lot like her and Sprig that seemed close to catching on fire in the oven. Maddie did turn around, giving Anne a usual wide Maddie grin and waved slowly in return.

“Heh, classic creepy Maddie.” Anne stopped waving and a basket next to her shifted and she saw a familiar face form out of the vegetables. “Sprig? What are you doing in there?”

“I'm hiding from Maddie,” Sprig explained, the vegetables shifting around as he talked. “Ever since we got engaged, it's been hard being around or talking to her. It's just so awkward . And she keeps leaving cursed objects in my room.”

“Really? You seemed to be getting along fine.”

“Yeah, we were. I don't know what to do if this is going to be the rest of my life.”

“Dude, if you don't want to be with Maddie anymore, then just break up with her. It's just that easy and it has absolutely no downsides whatsoever!” Then, mostly to herself, Anne whispered, “Unless you have kids.”

“It's not that easy Anne. It's hard to even talk to her now, and I'm worried she'll curse me for saying anything that'll upset her. You have to help, especially since it's your fault!”

“Okay, I'll break you two up.” Sprig blinked at Anne’s answer and stuck out of the vegetables.

“Wait, really? I mean, I'm glad, but after getting us engaged in the first place?”

“Sure, I'm allowed to go back on my decisions if I want to. The benefits of this arrangement lasted only a day anyway.” Anne reached over and dragged Sprig out and set him on the counter. “Don't worry Sprig, I got this. I used to help my friends with break ups all the time because they were too cowardly to do it themselves. I even got a nickname for it: The Break-up Queen, A.K.A Angel of Death. Get it, cause my name is Anne.”

“Not… really, but if you can help me, then I'll take it.”

“Don't worry, Maddie is far less scary than football players and they feared my approach as much as anyone. Just watch.” Anne cracked her knuckles and walked around the counter to approach the Flour stand. She got to the counter to find Maddie cheerfully chopping a loaf of bread into slices, complete with maniacal laughter.

To anyone else, that might have been a balking point. Anne just found it bemusing.

“Are you having fun there, Maddie?”

“Oh, hello Dark One,” Maddie replied, though a look from Anne made her drop her grin and stand up straight, “Anne, I meant Anne. Sorry, I'm still getting used to the public thing.”

“You will,” Anne said before leaning on the counter and smiling like it didn't happen. “So, are you?”

“I am. It's the kind of thing you get being a baker's daughter.” To demonstrate, Maddie gathered up the bread slices and gathered them into a tower of slices like a poker player shuffling cards. Anne gave a light clap as Maddie set the tower to the side and looked back with her normal grin. “So, how can I help you?”

“I just wanted to talk. You know, girl time stuff.” Anne cupped her chin into her hands with a conspiratorial smile. “Like you and Sprig. You seem to be doing well.”

“Ugh, don't remind me of that,” Maddie groaned and leaned forward to plant her face in her hands. Anne's smile dropped and she blinked in confusion.

“Er… something wrong?” Maddie shook a little before her hands fell to the counter.

“If I can be honest,” she started to say and waited for Anne to motion to continue, “a lot of things have been happening lately, and some things seem to be moving too quickly. I mean, Sprig and I only started talking really when yo- The Overlord first attacked the town after all.”

“Really? So that thing about Sprig not having many friends was true?”

For a quick moment, Maddie thought about the snake skull incident and whispered, “Everyone had their reasons.” Louder, she continued, “I thought things were going fine there when you basically forced an engagement on both of us. Which I was fine with, don’t get me wrong, but then the thing at the Tower happened and… it just feels like I’m juggling too many things at once and something has to be dropped. I guess I already decided Sprig was that one.”

“You want to break off the engagement?” Anne asked while trying her hardest not to outwardly show her joy at this development. She couldn’t have asked for a more perfect break-up set-up.

“I feel bad about it because he’s such a nice guy, but it’s just so awkward trying to talk to him about anything now.” Maddie rubbed her eyes and looked at Sprig for a moment before looking up at Anne. “Can you help me with this, or at least bring it up to him? I promise to work harder if you do.”

“...Well, that kind of is why I’m here actually. Sprig wants to break up too.” Maddie blinked a couple of times in astonishment.

“Really?” she asked. Anne nodded and Maddie glanced at Sprig again and crossed her arms. “Huh, so he noticed too. Well, that’s sweet of him, putting my happiness over his own. He really is too nice.”

Anne could only glance to the side awkwardly at the assumption. Heck, if that's what she wants to think then who was Anne to correct her?

“Well, if it’s okay with Sprig, then I guess that’s that. Thanks Anne.”

“No problem. What about your dad though? I did technically make that deal with him.”

“Eh, it’s fine,” Maddie dismissed with a wave, “Dad probably already forgot about it. If he does remember, I’ll just say The Overlord ordered it undone for their own reasons. That is something they can do, right?”

“I was never told otherwise.”

“Good enough for me. Thanks again Anne, and tell Mr. Plantar that his bread order is nearly done. It’ll probably take another day to get the Good Luck bread for you and Sprig done right.”

“I was wondering what those were. Well, good luck with that. Bye.” The girls exchanged waves and Anne walked back to the Plantar stand and circled around back where Sprig was waiting for her. “Congratulations Sprig, you’re single again.”

“Really?” Sprig asked, more than a little surprised.

“Yeah, Maddie wanted to break up too. She wanted to focus more on her career than marriage.”

Sprig blinked as he thought it over before he looked down at his hands. “Is this what freedom feels like?” He asked as Anne pulled him into a one armed hug.

“Take it in, Sprig. Because it'll last only as long as it'll take me to get you and Ivy together.” Sprig blushed at that and smiled at Anne.

“Thanks Anne.”

“No problem, dude. Anything for you.”

“SPRANNE AGAINST THE WORLD!”

War cry shouted, the pair started an elaborate gesture of friendship they more or less made up on the spot. High fives and fist bumps flew until Anne cupped her hands for Sprig to step into for an assisted high jump. The jump turned out to be a step too far as the result was Sprig landing right on top of a passerby, knocking him over and causing him to spill his bucket of berries.

“Oh crud! I'm sorry!” Anne shouted while Sprig also gave his own apologies. Anne moved to help the man up and only then did she notice his, to put it kindly, outlandish outfit. The purple top hat, poofy orange hair, and equally showy show suit was definitely eye-catching.

“It's okay children, no harm no foul,” the man said once he was up.

“Still, we're sorry Barry. We weren't looking at what we were doing.” Sprig insisted.

“Wait, you know this Willy Wonka guy, Sprig?” Anne asked.

“This is Barry. He makes and sells candy in the market,” Sprig explained as Barry gave a small bow with his hat off.

“You guys have candy here?!” Anne asked in astonishment. Both Sprig and Barry nodded before Sprig scratched his head.

“Who's Willy Wonka?”

“Eccentric candy maker. Likes to turn kids into giant blueberries to teach them lessons about greed.”

“Sounds like my kind of guy,” Barry said, putting his hat back on.

“I agree. I think you two would get along. Sorry about the thing again.”

“No trouble, really. Oh wait! What’s that behind your ears?” Barry reached to Anne and Sprig and, through sleight of hand, pulled out a piece of candy from behind their ears and gave it to them.

“Oh wow!”

“Cool, thanks.” The kids ate the candy while Barry picked up his bucket of berries and happily skipped away to his own stall to entertain a group of children. “He seemed… mildly agreeable.”

“Barry’s great,” Sprig said with a nod. “So what do you want to do today?”

“We still have to watch the stand until Hop Pop comes back.”

“Oh… what about after?”

“I’m not particularly busy today, so whatever you want dude.” That made Sprig smile as they went back to work.

A lone cart was travelling along a road, driven by a pair of Toad Tower soldiers. They had been on the road for some time on their patrol and have yet to encounter anything out of the ordinary. For the trip they had only really heard two things aside from their intermittent conversations. One was the rumbling of the cart’s wheels as they travelled.

The other was the loud, annoyed groaning from Sasha in the back of the cart.

“Are you feeling okay back there, Sash?” Braddock asked as she turned around in her seat to look at Sasha.

“No, I’m not,” Sasha responded as she rolled onto her back with another loud groan. It had been some time since her ‘victory’ over The Overlord and got that tiny scrap of information about Anne. If she had known then that all leads would have dried up immediately after, she would have savored it more then. Now there wasn't so much of a hint of The Overlord popping up besides their guard Minions.

He was planning something, maybe even a full scale attack, and Sasha didn't like that she didn't know what it was or when it’d happen.

Sasha turned onto her side as her thoughts once again drifted to Anne. That Anne was alive and active, even if she was getting herself in danger, had initially been a boost Sasha had needed. That had quickly faded and was replaced by the now usual dread that had come as she continually failed to turn up. She was trying to keep her spirits up, sure that Anne would somehow pull through without her. She could be surprisingly clever when she needed to be.

Until she actually saw her, that was all Sasha had.

“Anything we can do to help?” Percy asked, pulling Sasha back to the current predicament.

“No. Let’s just get this whole thing done,” Sasha said, exhaustion leaking into her voice. Percy and Braddock glanced at each other before they looked forward to the road they were travelling down. They both knew that Sasha really shouldn’t be coming on these plain patrols anymore, but Captain Grime was the one who was deciding that.

Plus, nobody wanted to bring it up to Sasha. She was scary enough as is without actually getting her angry at them.

The group continued their patrol, one less enthused than the others, passing plenty of frogs that gave them a wide berth along the way. On the way back to Toad Tower they found the first actual obstacle in their patrol in a wagon stuck in the mud.

“Oof, that cannot be fun to deal with,” Percy said.

“Who cares? GET OUT OF THE ROAD, YOU JERK!” Braddock shouted.

“I’m trying!” the other driver, a newt dressed in a red robe. “These darn country snails get held up on the smallest things. Who knows if it’s a rock or a bug or whatever!”

“Think we should help?” Percy wondered, which Sasha answered with a groan as she sat up.

“For Frog’s sake, just go around the dude!” She shouted and then, after a second of realizing what she said, fell against the seat with a groan. “And now I’m saying ‘Frog’ instead of… wait a second.”

“What is it?” Braddock asked as Sasha leapt to her feet and pointed at the newt.

“I know you! You’re one of those Order of the Olm jerks!”

“W-what?!” the newt said and laughed nervously, “I never heard of that! You must have me mistaken for someone else.” Even as he said that, he started to snap the reins on his snail as fast as he could, to no avail. “Come on, start moving!”

“Well, now that you point it out Sasha, he does have the same cult-looking robes,” Braddock said while scratching her head.

“Wow, it’s been a while since we heard from them, huh Sash?” Percy asked and looked back at Sasha, only to find she had hopped off the cart and started walking up to the newt’s wagon. Percy watched her walk before he looked back at the newt and asked, “So what are you all doing here again?”

“All of us? What are you talking about? It’s just me, by my lonesome,” the newt replied and cracked the reins more. The snail looked back and chirped happily at him, which just made him angrier. “Come on, why are you doing this now?!”

“You are not subtle in the slightest,” Sasha said as she walked along the newt’s wagon and hopped onto the driver’s seat. “Sucks to suck, doesn’t it?”

“N-now hold on!” The newt all but screamed as he let go of the reins and reached for a dagger on his waist, “I don’t want to hurt you, but-”

Sasha’s fist landed right on his snout, sending him off the wagon and into a heap on the ground. “Just shut up already.”

“Whoa, Sash!” Percy said while Braddock got off the cart and moved to help Sasha as she hopped off the wagon. She started picking up the newt, got him up a ways before Braddock came to grab him and throw him over her shoulder. While Braddock carried the newt back, Sasha took a moment to cut the snail free from the wagon and watched it dash away with some happy chirps before she went back to their cart.

“So what are we gonna do with this guy?” Braddock asked as she threw the newt into the back of the cart and helped Sasha into it before she ran around to hop back into the gunner’s seat.

“I’m hoping he might know something about what his master is up to,” Sasha answered as she settled back down while the cart started moving again. “I’d say some time with Captain Grime will get him talking. Maybe he’ll let me watch, I’ve never been in the Pain Room before.”

“It’s not fun,” Percy said, suddenly looking haunted along with Braddock.

“All the better.” Sasha looked down at the unconscious newt and laughed darkly, her eyes flashing pink for a second.

The Pain Room of the Southern Toad Tower was, dispensing of all pleasantries, a torture room. One of those things the soldiers of the tower acknowledge, but don’t talk about if they can help it. Both because they don’t want to go in there and because they did. Before Lieutenant Sasha came along, the toads had seen the inside of the room at least once and were at least used to what awaited inside.

The newt that was brought that day was not, as the screams that resonated throughout the tower could attest. The sounds also went from horrifying to annoying in record time.

“Oh Frog, quit your whining,” Bog muttered when another round of screams started up, “It’s not that bad.”

“Not that bad?” Fens asked and stared at Bog in shock.

“Well…” Bog started to say and scratched the back of his head, “in comparison it isn’t, at least.”

“Compared to what?” another toad asked. Bog didn’t answer and awkwardly returned to his food. The others followed and waited as the screams came to a stop. After mentally counting down to when they will start again, only to be surprised when nothing came and they felt relieved at the silence. That didn’t last long as the pounding footsteps of their Captain drew closer and they all turned when the doors flew open.

“We have a lead, at last!” Grime shouted as he and Sasha walked into the dining hall. “Everyone, get ready to march!”

“March to where, sir?” one of the toads asked after they all stood up at attention.

“Thanks to the Captain’s people skills, we now know the Order of the Olms is making a push through the Valley to some unknown location,” Sasha said before she looked over at Grime. “And if I may say, that was quite fun to watch Captain. Very educational.”

“Yes, but please leave that kind of thing to me Lieutenant. It needs a surprisingly deft touch that I'm not sure you have,” Grime retorted.

“Whatever you say, Captain.”

“In any case, their caravan will be hurrying to the west side of the valley over the next few days. If we mobilize quickly, we'll be able to capture the whole lot of them before they have a chance to escape the valley.”

“They might put up a fight, but these newts have nothing on the best fighters in the valley!” Sasha said and smiled when the crowd of toads all cheered.

“So get ready and let's show them what we're made of!” Grime shouted and got another round of cheers from the soldiers before they all but charged out of the hall. Once they were alone for a moment, Grime rubbed his chin and said, “I must say, these ‘compliments’ are a very devious witchcraft indeed.”

“I know right?” Sasha replied and chuckled as she rubbed her hands together. “I can’t wait to get this going. It’s about time I showed that Overlord he can’t mess with me or my friends!”

“In due time, Lieutenant. For now, we should get moving. We should be able to catch them by nightfall.” Grime and Sasha left to do just that, both chuckling at what was to come. “Oh, I love laughing evilly!”

Much as Grime said, the march had lasted to sunset and continued into the night. Along the way, Sasha felt a sort of buzzing nervousness go through her. She looked around at the army of toads marching alongside her and Grime and, for probably the first time since joining them, realized just how small her fights with them had been up until now. The clash with the Mud Men had been one thing, more an extended skirmish that she hadn’t been prepared for, but marching with an actual army to deal with an enemy she was sure would be a problem? That was new, and the thought of it continued to circle in her head and failed to settle no matter how she tried to frame it as something she needed to experience to better fight The Overlord.

Apparently, her jitters were showing more than she thought they were, since Braddock handed her a flask of something or another. Sasha didn't really care at that point, taking the flask without a word and downing a gulp of whatever the contents were. She regretted it almost as soon as she drank it, the gulp settling like a rock in her stomach, and Sasha coughed to get her breath back.

“What the heck was that?” she asked as Braddock took the flask back.

“Tea. My grandma taught me how to make it. Goes down great, right?” Braddock answered as she put the flask away.

“That was about the only good part about it.”

“It is an acquired taste, but at least you're not nervous anymore, right?”

“... I guess so.” Sasha really hoped it wouldn’t upset her stomach before the upcoming fight. She really didn’t need that right now. She didn’t need to think hard on it though as the caravan came to a stop. The toads started to mill and make small talk while Sasha gave Braddock a wave before moving ahead of the line towards where Grime was waiting with Bog.

“Anything wrong?” Sasha asked and got a chuckle from Grime.

“Quite the opposite,” Grime said and pointed to the light of distant fires. Bog, who had been looking through binoculars, reached over to hand the binoculars to Sasha so she could see as well. “The Order has been moving as we were told. They'll be easy pickings.”

“The best kind,” Sasha said as she looked over the Order camp. The camp was busy with activity, with newts going back and forth to tend to whatever needed tending to. “At least they don't wear their stupid robes all the time. Oh, scratch that, some of them are.”

“What they wear doesn't matter. We’ll have them surrounded and in custody soon enough.” Sasha was fine with that and gave Bog his binoculars back and they both looked at Grime. He pointed at Bog and said, “Take half the troops and cut off their escape to the west. The Lieutenant and I will take the rest the other way and box them in. Don't let any escape.”

Bog saluted and ran to relay the orders. Grime gave Sasha a nod and moved back to the line as well. Sasha took a second to take one last breath to calm her nerves and followed Grime. Slowly the toads started splitting up, following Bog or Grime towards the camp, and all moved surprisingly stealthily for being toads. Sasha split the time walking over watching the path and the camp equally, hoping that the armored form of The Overlord would end up appearing in the camp.

It would have been great if that did happen. Her luck said otherwise, as the only ones she saw milling around the camp were newts she knew nothing of. Sasha bit down her disappointment and gripped her sword tightly. One way or another, she’d get her answers about The Overlord from these newts.

Soon they were in position, watching the newts in the meantime until Bog’s half was in position. After a few minutes of silent watching, Fens came up to them and nodded at Grime. The toad captain chuckled and rubbed his hands together.

“And now comes my favorite part of all this. Watch and learn,” Grime said and stood up to walk toward the camp. Sasha watched with a baffled look until she saw the other toads weren’t thinking much of it, this apparently being a thing Grime just did. With nothing else to do, Sasha looked back to watch Grime as he stopped just at the fire light of the camp. Along the way, he overheard a conversation from some nearby newts.

“Why are we running off so quickly anyway? All I heard was that Scott got a message from the Master, but not what it said.”

“You’re guess is as good as mine, but I’m not complaining. It’s not safe in the Valley right now and Toad Tower has been mobilizing for war. Something’s got them spooked badly, and we’re caught in the middle of it.”

“Wait, you don’t think they know we’re here, do you?”

“Yes, we do.” The newts, along with any nearby, screamed and turned to Grime. The closest raised drew their weapons and faced Grime, who simply chuckled at the act. “I must say, it’s a pleasure to meet this Order that I’ve heard so much about. Not entirely though, you’re all far more terrified of me than I heard you’d be.”

“Captain Grime?! How did he find us?!” one of the newts shouted, the sword in his hands shaking as he tried to point it at the toad. Grime laughed as red eyes (and one bright pair of pink eyes) shone through the darkness of the surrounding forest, driving the newts further into the center of the camp.

“I feel you have more important things to worry about,” Grime said and crossed his arms, “Those of you who surrender will be allowed to live, and the ones who don’t will not. I think that’s simple enough for you.” Several of the newts that had been trembling started lowering their weapons at that.

“Do not falter!” One of the newts in the Order robes shouted suddenly. The others looked back at him as he continued, “We must remember the purpose we are fighting for! If we let brutes like these stop us, the greater world our master wishes for will never happen. For our master, we must stand firm!” He drew a sword to finish it and the newts around him seemed to straighten up at the speech and turned back to the toads with renewed purpose.

“Well, that’s too bad,” Grime said and drew his own sword before letting out a deep roar. The toads answered in kind and all charged into the camp.

To call it a battle would be overselling it, though a surprising amount of the newts managed to hold their own against the toad soldiers in that they were actually managing to stall the charge. It took two to stop Grime momentarily while the poor soul who tried to stop Sasha was parried immediately and got a sword through the throat for his trouble while Sasha moved on with barely a glance. Her focus was kept on the newt who had spoken up, the instant he said ‘master’ catching her attention. If anyone would know where The Overlord was keeping himself, it’d be him.

Another newt attacked Sasha and got his sword batted away before being stabbed through the heart. Again, Sasha continued with barely a glance, and the surrounding newts realized getting in her way was a guaranteed death sentence and kept out of her way as best they could. By now, the toads were pushing back enough that enough newts were outright surrendering in an attempt to be spared any slaughter. Either way, a path was cleared very quickly and Sasha narrowed her eyes at her target. He saw her approach, glowing eyes and all, and didn't flinch away as he raised his sword towards her.

“You have no idea what you are interfering with!” he shouted and waved his arms boldly around, “The world we mean to build without the tainted knowledge! If you only knew, you would-”

“Oh, shut up!” Sasha interrupted and struck out, forcing the newt on the defensive as they clashed swords. “You’re the only one who cares about whatever you’re doing! I just want your master!”

“You’ll never have him!” Sasha locked swords with him, both of them struggling to overpower the other, until the newt suddenly spun around and tripped Sasha with his tail. She rolled away quickly to avoid a follow up stab and got back on her feet to face him. With his foot on her sword, Sasha reached for her dagger as he started talking again.

“This is what happens when you side with barbaric toads! If you just stayed quiet and did as you were told, you’d get to share in the great new-”

A sudden blow to the side cut him off and sent him to the ground. Sasha blinked, obviously confused, until she saw Percy standing over the newt. “I got your back, Commander!” He said while waving around… a rubber chicken?

‘Whatever,’ Sasha decided as she walked over to pick up her sword. A quick look around showed that while there was still fighting, the toad's strength was very quickly overpowering the opposition. “Keep an eye on him,” Sasha said and lightly kicked the newt, “I have plenty of questions for him.”

“Yes, Ma'am!” Percy then moved to sit on the newt, which he naturally wheezed in discomfort about, and Sasha moved to help with the rest of the newts.

As it turned out, the newt Sasha had been fighting was a de facto leader of sorts for them. Once Scott, or whatever his name was, had fallen the rest of the Order was quick to follow. The ones that didn't surrender fought to the death, and there were more of the latter than the former. The toads suffered only a few scrapes and cuts from the battle, with the worst wound being the emotional one Percy was getting from Captain Grime as the newts were being gathered and bound.

“Percy… why did you bring that instead of a weapon?” Grime asked in a growl as he pointed at the chicken in Percy's hand.

“It was the first thing I grabbed, Sir!” Percy answered nervously, “I thought it was a mace?” Grime closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and let it out before opening his eyes.

“While it’s impressive you actually managed to beat an enemy with it, never bring it to battle again.” Percy nodded rapidly and said ‘Yes, Sir!’ before going back to his post. By then, the Order newts were gathered and tied up and Grime moved to address them. Sasha had joined him, once again not looking away from Scott. “Now, see how much easier this is than fighting us was? This is much less hassle for everyone.”

“Say whatever you want, it won't change anything,” Scott said, adorably defiant. “We're just one small group. You will never stop what our master has started.”

Sasha started shaking in anger while Grime laughed. “You’re master is why we’re here. Now, why don’t you tell us all about him before my Lieutenant gets impatient? I guarantee, I’m far more pleasant to deal with.”

“I'm not impressed by a bunch of brutes. Our master won't be either, especially when he hears about this.”

“I hope he does!” Sasha shouted and advanced on Scott. She grabbed him by his robes and pulled him up to get in his face. “That is if I don't find him first! He and I have unfinished business I'm eag er to finish. So enough beating around the bush! Where is The Overlord!” It was something she had desperately wanted for a while and she could feel it was close, right at her fingertips. So she did not like the next thing he said.

“Who?”

Sasha’s eyes widened and it took everything in her to not beat the newt to death right there. “What do you mean ‘who’?” she said, trying to fight down a twitch in her eye.

“I never heard of any Overlord. Why would you think I would work for someone calling themselves that? That’s just asking for trouble.” Sasha looked over at the rest of the newts, all of whom were either just as confused or nodding in agreement with Scott. That didn't help Sasha's mood in the slightest.

“Oh really? So this whole thing was a misunderstanding then?” Grime said, sounding calm enough. The toad soldiers, however, knew that their captain was barely keeping his anger in check. “So you're not working for the upstart trying to take over my Valley? If that's true, then who is your master?”

“You ought to know already, because you-”

Scott was cut off there as Sasha had enough, wrapping her hands around the newts neck and squeezed as hard as she could. Scott gasped and tried to struggle before he fell onto his back so Sasha could apply more pressure. A simple stab was too good for him.

“Weeks! I wasted weeks of my time tracking and looking for you freaks and you're telling me it was all for nothing?!” Sasha shouted as she lifted the newt’s head and slammed it down onto the ground. She thought she heard someone shouting her name, but it was distant and unclear as she focused on Scott. Her eyes glowed as she stared into his widened eyes and squeezed harder, her thumbs sinking into the newts's neck and releasing streams of blood that ran down onto the ground.

“Now Lieutenant, I do want him ali-” Grime started to say until Sasha squeezed hard enough that there was a snap and Scott stopped struggling and collapsed. Grime threw his arms into the air and said, “Or you could just kill him now. That works too, I suppose!”

“I can’t believe this!” Sasha shouted as she got up and started pacing angrily. “I could have been doing literally anything else besides chasing these losers and I’d be more productive finding Anne!” Sasha punctuated this with a kick to Scott’s head before storming away. “What a waste of time!”

Grime watched his Lieutenant with a shake of his head before he shouted, “Percy, Braddock!”

“Yes, sir!” “On it Captain!” Both toads shouted and ran off after Sasha in an effort to appease her. With that taken care of, Grime drew his sword while he walked over to Scott and stabbed him in the neck to make sure he was actually dead. The newts flinched away from the captain as he pulled the sword out and stepped toward them.

“Well, I suppose that didn’t go well for any of us, did it?” Grime said, addressing the gathered newts, and grinned his ever so ‘charming’ smile at them. “Not that I would say it was wasted though. You may not be with The Overlord, but I’m still curious about you and especially that music box everyone is so interested in.” Grime sheathed his sword and motioned at the frightened newts, causing the toads to move forward and start picking them up. “We’re taking them back to the tower. I’m going to have a lot of fun figuring them out.” Grime started laughing at the thought, which some of the other toads chuckled along to as well. More than one newt swallowed at that.

As for Sasha, the night had been a crushing blow to her. Anne was still as far away as ever and somehow The Overlord had gotten even further away than before. She managed to hold it in through Percy and Braddock’s attempts to cheer her up all the way back to her room at Toad Tower, where she finally let out her tears of frustration into her pillow.

‘Anne, please be okay.’

“And you’re certain of this?” The Minion nodded and Gnarl turned over the dire news that was shared with him. “Yes, quite serious indeed. I’ll be sure to bring it to The Overlord’s attention when she next comes in.” He didn’t have to wait long however, as the teleportation pool activated then and The Overlord landed in the throne room. Gnarl turned to address the latest development only to stop short, shut his mouth firmly, and stare at the Overlord’s current plight.

“Don’t say it,” she said, narrowing her eyes at Gnarl as he took her in. She had turned into some form of humanoid bird, a long beak in place of her mouth, wings and bird talons replacing her arms and legs, and brown feathers covered her whole body. Gnarl’s cheeks puffed out and his eyes widened as Anne pointed at him and said, “If I hear even a chuckle out of you, I’ll beat you.”

Then she clucked like a chicken.

Thankfully, Gnarl managed to swallow down his laughter and approached The Overlord as a living orange hairball peeked out from behind her legs. Gnarl gave the hairball a glance before looking back at Anne. “I would never laugh at any plight of yours, Dark One. I assume you’re looking for the Witchling to help with your… condition?”

“Yeah. Is Maddie in?”

“She is down in the forge, working hard as usual.”

“Great. Let's go Sprig.” Anne started walking to the stairs with the hairball hopping onto her back.

“I still think I could have cured us with time,” the hairball said with Sprig’s voice.

“Don't kid yourself, buddy.” Once the pair were down the stairs and out of earshot, Gnarl and the rest of the Minions in the throne room let out their cackles.

Anne and Sprig had barely made it down to the forge when they found both Maddie and Spike. The latter stopped in his tracks with his mouth open as he took in both of them, which got him a glare from Anne. “What?” She asked.

“...This is definitely a bad time, but we finished that sword for you. It's in your armory when you want it,” Spike said and pointed over to the rotating armory where a new sword was set next to Anne's axe.

“Oh. Cool, I'll be by later with some Coppers for you two when I'm done dealing with… this mess,” Anne said gesturing to herself.

“Thank you very much, I will let you handle that. Tom's cousin got something like that once. Seven eyes was not fun, from what I heard.” Anne nodded and she and Sprig moved over so Spike could leave up the stairs and they could move over to Maddie working on a plate of armor and a sheet of runes.

“Uh… hi, Maddie,” Sprig said nervously.

“Greetings Sprig, Master,” Maddie said and glanced at the both of them for a moment, only to double take at their states. “Oh, that is some nasty curses on you both.”

“We noticed,” Anne said before quacking loudly.

“We were kind of hoping you could… get rid of them for us?” Sprig asked while twirling his fingers together, “Our own attempts weren’t working out.”

“I’d like to,” Maddie said as she pushed herself up to her feet and brushed off her dress, “but curses can only be lifted by the person who cast them. I can help you find them though.”

“Good enough. What do we need to do?” Anne asked as Maddie took one of her wings to examine.

“When did you first notice these changes and did you leave Wartwood at all before then?”

“The feathers came in this morning, and no. It was a very boring day to be honest. Not even one monster attack!”

“Same with this hair,” Sprig said with wide eyes. “I have hair in places that I didn’t know existed. It’s been pretty awful.”

“The caster must be in Wartwood then,” Maddie said with a nod and let go of Anne’s wing to walk toward the stairs. “If we hurry, we’ll be able to catch them.”

“Cool. I have so many ideas on what to do when we catch them,” Anne said as she and Sprig followed Maddie, unconcerned with the look Sprig was giving her. They got to the throne room and stopped to watch the small horde of Minions. Anne in particular glared at a Minion in the middle that had its tongue stuck out and pantomimed a chicken, half folded arms and all. The two young frogs watched as Anne marched up to the horde, of which only Gnarl actually noticed her immediately and went from cackling approval to deadpan disapproval and cleared his throat loudly.

The rest of the Minions felt the air shift and all turned to look at their Overlord, who was still staring at the one Minion that irked her the most at the moment. Him blowing one small raspberry broke the silence.

“Gnarl, throw that one into the Iron Maiden,” Anne ordered and pointed at the Minion.

“Of course, Sire,” Gnarl answered and snapped his fingers, causing some of the Minions to grab and lift up the offending Minion. “Did you want me to clean it out first?”

“Clean it out?” Anne asked in confusion before her eyes widened a few seconds later. “Oh crud, I forgot about Gunther!”

Down in the dungeons of the Dark Tower, right next to the passage towards the arena and next to the guest rooms, was a solitary Iron Maiden.

“Hello?” a voice echoed from within, “Ms. Dark Overlord? I’m sorry for chasing you. Can I come out? This skeleton is starting to freak me out.”

“GIVE ME YOUR SOUL! And your tusks. And your wallet.”

“Help…”

After thinking about it for a moment, Anne shrugged her shoulders. “Eh, I think he’ll be fine for a few more days. I’m going out again, be back soon.” Gnarl nodded and led the group of Minions down into the dungeons with the rest of the Minions scattering throughout the Tower. With them gone, Anne let out an involuntary hoot and growled. “We have to get rid of this soon. Let’s go!”

“Why would she kidnap Gunther?” Maddie asked and looked at Sprig.

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Sprig replied and looked away from Maddie as he followed Anne to the teleport pool. After a moment, Maddie shrugged and followed as well.

Once they were in Wartwood, Maddie used a spell to track Anne and Sprig’s curse back to its source, which turned out to be a large building on the outskirts of the town. The three children carefully pushed the door open and peered into the dark interior before stepping inside.

“Are you sure this is the place?” Anne asked.

“The spell led us here, it has to be,” Maddie replied.

“But who could possibly hang out in a creepy place like this?” Sprig asked as he walked over to a light mushroom and turned it on. When the light came on, they saw that the building was full of shelves filled with jars and boxes of candy, with more showing up as more lights came on.

“Oh, you gotta be kidding me,” Anne said as a laugh filled the room. The kids looked to the farm side of the room where they saw someone leaning against a wall in the darkness. When the lights finally illuminated him, they saw none other than Barry.

“Hello, children,” he said as he lifted the brim of his hat up.

“Barry?! You cursed us?” Sprig asked in shock.

“Indeed, it was me! I dabble in the Dark Arts on the side. You see, while I may be nice and appealing on the outside, I'm actually petty and vindictive on the inside.”

“I should have known. Never trust anyone wearing a top hat unironically,” Anne whispered and glared at the Salesfrog. “But why curse us? The heck did we do to you?”

“Don't you remember what happened yesterday? I was minding my own business when you bumped into me and made me spill a bucket of my precious blue Moon Berries! They grow only once every ten years! They were priceless! My image is everything, so I kept up my friendly persona at the time until-”

“Wait, are you serious?” Anne interrupted. “You cursed us over some blueberries?”

“ Priceless Moon Berries!”

“Whatever. And you couldn't just… wash them?”

“That's not the point. It's the principle of the thing. You inconvenienced me, therefore you get cursed.”

“...Wow, is that what I sound like when I get like that?”

“No,” Maddie answered.

“A little,” Sprig said at the same time. Anne gave Sprig a look while he looked at Barry and clasped his hands together. “Barry, we're sorry again for not paying attention to what we were doing. So will you please uncurse us?”

“Hm, let me think. NO!” Barry shouted and crossed his arms. “I'm also particularly spiteful and unforgiving, so there.”

“Oh, I'm going to peck your eyes out buddy!” Anne growled. A crow poked its head out of her feathered hair and cawed. “Kurt the Crow agrees!”

“No Dark One, allow me,” Maddie said as she held out a hand and stepped forward. “Everything about you is against what I stand for as a witch. You should only curse people who deserve it, and buddy-” Maddie pulled out a few fabric pouches,”-you deserve it!”

Maddie threw a pouch at Barry, who managed to get out of the way in time for it to hit a shelf of candy, bringing it to life. When Barry came out with his own curse pouches to throw, Anne and Sprig both dove for cover to avoid getting any magical crossfire. One curse was already bad enough, though there were a few close calls and many carnivorous butterscotch pieces to step on. Soon, there was a lull in the curse slinging for Anne to poke her head out.

“Jeez! Magic duels are no joke!” Anne commented as Maddie ran over to her.

“I ran out of curses! Master, give me a hand!” Maddie said, holding out her hand to Anne.

“Like literally give you a hand or…?” Anne asked while extending a wing. Turned out it was literally as Maddie tore out a few feathers from the wing, to Anne's displeasure, before running to Sprig. She tore out a clump of hair out of Sprig before running at Barry. The salesfrog had one last curse.pouch that he was taking his time to aim and throw while Maddie fashioned a new curse pouch from the feathers, hair, and a piece of her dress.

Sprig and Anne watched anxiously as Barry finally threw the last curse at Maddie, though that changed when the witch caught the pouch and threw it and her improvised spell back at Barry. The building exploded with magical power and Anne and Sprig were both engulfed in a magic cloud that left them coughing. When it dissipated, Anne was happy to find she could see her normal fingers and Sprig was back to his slimy, non-hairy self.

“Yes, I'm not Big Bird anymore!” Anne cheered happily.

“And I can't taste hair anymore!” Sprig cheered as he hopped next to Anne. They high-fived and looked at Maddie, who was staring at a magic cloud with coughing coming out of it. Soon it was gone and they could see what had happened to Barry.

“Good Golly! I'm ripe for plucking!” he shouted as he looked at his new hairy bird form and then clucked.

“Ha!” Anne laughed before she took out her phone and took a picture of the fat bird.

“Alright, you had your fun,” Barry said as Anne continued taking pictures of his newfound shame, “Now hurry up and change me back.”

“No way. You're far too dangerous to let go,” Maddie stated and crossed her arms. Anne laughed again and took a picture of Barry’s shocked face.

“Aw, come on Maddie,” Sprig said and walked up to Maddie, “this whole thing was our fault to begin with.” He then leaned over and whispered, “Plus Anne's probably going to do worse to him, if I'm right.”

“You are,” Anne said as she put her phone away and stuck her hands in her skirt pockets, “and I think you should change him back too. The shaking chicken thing is just kind of sad to look at now.” Maddie looked at Barry and did have to agree, he was looking very pathetic right now. After thinking it over for a moment, she sighed and crossed her arms behind her back.

“Alright, I'll change him back, but on two conditions,” she said and turned to Anne. “What's the alternative?”

Anne giggled as she leaned over to whisper into Maddie's ear. In essence, Barry was finished in Wartwood and Anne would rob and destroy his home, business, force him to watch as she torched his Moon Berry plants, and then exile him from her Dark Domain under pain of death.  And considering the current impossibility of leaving the Valley, it'll be a hard time for him.

“Ooh. You know, he wasn't lying about those berries. They're basically endangered nowadays,” Maddie whispered back.

“Good.”

Maddie didn’t know what she expected from Anne, so she didn’t say anything as she turned back to Barry. “Alright, I’ll change you back… for a price.”

“What else could you possibly want from me?!” Barry asked. Maddie looked at the shelves full of candy and back at Barry with a very wide grin. Barry could only swallow nervously at the look.

Once everything was done there (uncursing, taking three large crates of candy, some minor arson) the three kids went back to Wartwood with Maddie’s haul. “So, can I have a bit of this?” Sprig asked along the way.

“No,” was Maddie’s simple answer. They were soon at her house and she set the crate she was carrying in front of it. “You can just set them here, I’ll take them up to my room later.”

“Sure thing,” Anne answered as she and Sprig set their crates down next to Maddie’s. The crow poked its head out of her hair and Anne waved at it. “Farewell Kurt. You have your mission.” The crow cawed and flew away as Anne turned to Maddie. “Thanks for the help again. I’ll have to start paying you for all the extra help soon.”

“There’s no need, Anne. This candy and making sure Barry wouldn’t do that again is enough. Gotta make sure the bad ones aren’t causing trouble for everyone else… not that you are one.”

“Of course.”

“Maddie,” Sprig said while rubbing his arm nervously, “I know everything with that engagement is taken care of now, but I still wanted to apologize for it. I should have at least tried to bring it up myself instead of getting Anne to do it for me.”

“It’s alright. Like I told Anne, it was something I wanted too. I mean, it’s not like you did something really lame like break up with me by letter. That would have annoyed me at the very least.”

Nobody noticed Anne glancing away from them, deciding to keep her backup plan for that to herself from now on, while Sprig nodded. “Still, I’d like to keep being friends with you if you want.” Sprig held out his hand to Maddie and, after a moment of surprised staring, she took and shook it.

“Yeah, I’d like that,” she said before suddenly pulling herself closer to Sprig so their faces were touching. “I can’t wait to hang out!” she said before just as suddenly pulling away and moving to move her candy into her home. Sprig and Anne watched her for a moment before Anne nodded and smiled.

“I really like her,” she said.

“I’m sure I’ll only slightly regret that,” Sprig said and turned to Anne. “So what do you want to do now that we aren’t cursed? You want to play with Hop Pop’s scythes again?”

“Sure. I've been getting better at holding them since last time.” The two of them started to make their way back to the Plantar farm, making it to the town square before immediately getting side tracked. “SPRIG WAIT! Do you see what I see?!” Anne yelled and manually turned Sprig's head toward the bulletin board. Aside from the crowd, the first thing that drew Sprig's attention was the giant poster for a dance the upcoming weekend.

“Another dance huh? That sounds like fun.”

“Look closer, Sprig.” Sprig did so, seeing his Hop Pop just a bit outside of the crowd. He was looking at something in the crowd, and Sprig soon found he was looking at Sylvia.

“Anne, no.”

“Anne, yes. My time has come again!” Anne straightened up, bringing Sprig up with her and pulled him into a hug. “Can you see how happy they'll be when my foolproof plan succeeds?”

“I guess. You need to cool it with multifaceted adventures though. We just got done being cursed.”

“Maybe when the valley is mine unquestionably, but today is not that day! Come on Sprig, I'll need your help setting this up. Operation: Old People Romance is a go!”

Across the square, Hop Pop felt a chill go down his spine. He hoped it was just the weather.

Chapter Text

Gnarl paced outside of the bedroom door of The Overlord, mentally weighing the pros and cons of waking her up this early, especially after the last week she had. A whole week of teaching the Old Frog “dancing”, in a very generous use of the word, and getting inexplicably side tracked into playing a local sport for a holiday. Only when the dance was finally over did she come back to the Dark Tower, cheering her victory and somehow inebriated.

The nerve. She didn't even bring anything back for the Minions!

Nonetheless, Gnarl couldn't put it off any longer. The Overlord needed to know what was happening in her Domain. Gathering himself, Gnarl pushed open the door to The Overlord’s chambers, the torches inside coming alive with a wave of his hand, and he moved to the bed and the lump in the middle that was no doubt the master. Already she was groaning in displeasure of the increased light, which got worse when Gnarl cleared his throat.

“Apologies for waking you like this Sire, however this is quite urgent.” The lump groaned again before rising up and rapidly moving toward Gnarl. The side of the covers lifted to show the glowing, bloodshot eyes of the young Overlord.

“What do you want?” She asked with as much malice as she could muster.

“Something came to my attention while you were cursed last week and that I haven't been able to relay due to prior ‘schemes’ you were focused on. One of the scouts reported a large army gathering together in your Domain.”

“The toads?”

“Oh no, they're of no consequence here. From what I've heard, it could be connected to an old dynasty your predecessor deposed during their rise to power. I don't need to remind you that we cannot tolerate aggressors of any kind.” The Overlord said nothing as she shifted a little to look at her phone. The light illuminated her face and she didn't look amused at all.

“And you had to wake me up at three in the morning for this?”

“I gave you time to recover from last night, and nobody will expect an attack at early dawn. The longer we wait, the worse it'll look for us in tolerating them.” Anne groaned again, but did end up sliding out of bed and onto the floor.

“Fine. Let me get some coffee and maybe an aspirin first. I'll just take my anger out on them.”

“Very good, Lord.”

It happened as quick as a lightning strike. One moment, everyone was asleep in the fort save for a young prince, soon to be future king of the reborn realm of Kornika, as he drew battle plans against those who wronged his family. Then there was fire, screams of both fear from his subjects and rage from the monsters that cut them down.

The Prince only had a moment to see the attacking army before his oldest friend carried him to the safety of the throne room, but towering over the monsters was their leader: a mass of armor with glowing eyes and a sword that cut through soldiers like a knife through butter. The Prince had heard of The Overlord and had hoped his attempts to rebuild his birthright would go unnoticed by the tyrant.

Folly. Utter folly. As he sat on his throne with the faint sounds of The Overlord’s army coming ever closer, The Prince lamented how his justice would never come to pass now, that his family and his kingdom would now only be doomed to the ashes of history.

“My lord.” The Prince looked up as his oldest friend, acting every bit the General he was supposed to be, came into the throne room. He barred the door behind him and came up to the throne. “My apologies, but our defenses have fallen. We'll be overrun soon, so I must urge you to escape and start anew.”

“And what precedent would that set?” The prince responded sorrowfully, “what nation could possibly be born from an act of cowardice? No, my friend, I'd rather stand and fight for what I believe in than throw it away for a false kingdom.” The Prince gestured at his friend to come closer and continued. “However, I would not ask the same of you. You've already saved my life once, so let me return the favor so that you may escape.”

“With all respect, I refuse. If you have the courage to face down death itself, it would be ill of me to not double the same.” The general moved to the throne and readied himself. “We may fall this day, but hopefully we may fling a light for others to follow.”

“Well said. Now, let's show this Overlord what true bravery is like!”

They didn't have to wait long before the door was attacked on the other side, the roars of The Overlord's Minions echoing through the room. The door splintered as a sword drove through the woods, big enough for a Minion to crawl through and unbar the door. The last defense out of the way, the horde of Minions and their Overlord entered the throne room.

The prince braced himself for the confrontation, ignoring The Overlord as they stopped short and stared at him.

“So, Overlord, we meet at last. Word of your deeds had managed to reach me even during my confinement. If you thought you'd find easy prey, you thought wrong!”

“...What?”

“True, I may die today, but ideas aren't so easy to kill. Others will rise and someday, you will meet your match. What say you?” The Overlord looked around, almost like they were looking for something that wasn’t there, before turning to a Green Minion.

“Am I being Punk’d? You’re seeing this too, right Scum?” The Minion nodded and The Overlord looked back at the Prince. After a moment of silent staring, The Overlord moved past the Minions and approached the throne.

“So, single combat is it?” The Prince looked at his General and nodded. “My friend, show them what a true hero is made of.”

“At once! I’ll make sure they remember me for all time!” The general let out a war cry and charged The Overlord. The Overlord barely had to raise a hand to launch a fireball at the general, catching them aflame immediately and leaving them screaming on the floor. The Overlord didn’t even so much as glance at them as they walked up to the prince and stared down at them, the prince staring defiantly back.

“That means nothing. No matter what you may do to us, we will live on in those who will hear of us,” The Prince said. Anything else he would have said halted when The Overlord lifted their helmet to show their befuddled face, and in that moment the Prince recognized her. “You! You’re one of the gaolers I escaped from!” Anger filled him as he shouted, “So it wasn’t enough to degrade me like that, you desire to drag me back to the execution grounds! Well know this, I won’t go back without a fight!”

“Okay, I’m definitely not seeing things. What the heck?” The Overlord said and slid her helmet down before reaching toward the Prince. Try as he might, he could not move fast enough before the cold hands of The Overlord closed around him.

“A Grubhog?” Anne asked aloud as she lifted the Grubhog off the throne, its shrill cries already annoying her. “I had to get up at three in the morning and fight through a castle of animals for a Grubhog?” Anne looked closer at the grub and her eyes widened at the design painted on its face. “Wait a minute, is this the same Grubhog that Sprig and I lost a while back? I thought you were eaten!”

The Grubhog puffed its cheeks out and Anne barely had time to recognize what that meant before she turned it away from her and let it spit up a glob of acid right onto a Minion that got too close. While he screamed and ran around trying to wipe the acid off, Anne continued inspecting the Grubhog while keeping it facing away from her.

“Nearly forgot these things spit acid. Seriously Gnarl, what the heck?”

“I must admit, I'm at a loss myself Sire,” Gnarl replied and Anne heard shuffling paper, “all the notes I took back then said this kingdom was ruled by fearsome insects. Perhaps we caught this one before it had a chance to metamorphose?”

“These things get even worse?!” Anne thought for a moment before sighing. “Of course it does.” She started walking back to the Minion horde, passing the still burning body of a vulture, while the Grubhog continued crying and wiggling in her grip. “Man this thing is loud.”

“My Grubese is a bit rusty Master, but if I'm hearing it right it's either calling your mother some form of small rodent or trying to get you to wear socks with sandals. Either or.” Anne's eyes twitched and she brought the little grub close so she could stare right into its eyes.

“I really don't like your attitude or what you may have said, but keep crying. I know exactly what to do with you when we get back to the Tower.” She saw it gulp and moved it away from her, just in time for some Minions to hold up little torches.

“Burn?” one asked.

“Sure, go ahead. I don't want anything here.”

The Minions cheered and lobbed their torches around the room, each area bursting into an inferno that was heralded by more cheers. As they left, a new torch was thrown into a new room until the entire castle was engulfed in flames. The Grubhog cried louder as it watched its ancestral home burn until it was teleported away to the Dark Tower.

A nice breakfast after the morning she had was exactly what Anne needed. She happily took another bite and relished the combination of sweet sauce and slightly tangy meat. Anne had nearly forgotten how great cooking had been and was again thankful for the Red Minions's fire abilities. If they were pulling their weight now, she couldn’t wait until she found their hive and got to add them to the front lines.

“I have to say, eating something like this makes the fight worth it Gnarl. Mostly.”

“Apologies again for waking you up that early Master, but it had to be done,” Gnarl said between bites of his own breakfast of rat and radish stew. “I must say Sire, this sauce you made is quite delectable.”

“I know right?” Anne said holding up a fork of meat, “I’m so glad this place had what I needed to make my parent’s recipes, with some substitutions. Totally worth it though.” She took a bite and briefly wondered what this meat could best fit in with before her attention was drawn to the teleport pool lighting up and depositing Maddie. She stumbled a little before catching herself and moving to the throne with a basket in her arms.

“Morning Maddie,” Anne said and waved with her free hand.

“Morning Master,” Maddie returned before she set the basket down on the armrest “This is a gift for you from Dad.”

“Cool. What's in it?”

“Fresh bread from our bakery. I was on my way here anyway, so I figured I'd drop off our portion for the collection.”

“Collection? That's today?” Gnarl nodded in answer and Anne blinked a couple of times before shrugging. “Time flies. I've been so busy conquering the Valley I didn't notice. Is that Pita bread?”

“And the towns have been so good with the ‘donations’ we barely needed to pay attention,” Gnarl added as Anne took out a couple bread loaves, holding one out to Gnarl. “No thank you Sire, yeast gives me indigestion.”

“Suit yourself.” Anne handed that one back to Maddie before getting back to her breakfast. “And here I was wondering what I should do today. Thanks for the reminder.”

“What are you even eating?” Maddie asked before taking a bite of the bread.

“Grubhog. I totally get why that one Plantar ate one. They're really good fried and served with Thai sauce,” Anne said and took another bite before tearing off a bit of bread to soak in the sauce.

“Where did you get a Grubhog?”

“Long story. Just know that this thing messing with me was the last mistake it ever made.” Anne chuckled evilly as she ate the bread and started scraping what was left of her meal directly into her mouth. She had a busy day coming, after all.

“Did you at least save the liver?”

“Gnarl wanted it for whatever reason. The thing was all spotted, so I don't know why.”

“The less you know Sire, the better,” Gnarl replied.

“Spotted, huh? So much for a short winter. Well, I’ll just get back to work then. I had a bad premonition in my bath this morning, so I’m going to stay away from Wartwood for a while.”

“Sure thing. Make me happy!” Maddie nodded in answer and left for the forge while eating her bread. Once Anne’s plate was cleaned she set it to the side and stretched her arms over her head. “Well, I better get ready. It probably won’t look good if I delay that collection, huh?”

“Yes, though I’m sure by now that you will have nothing to worry about from the frogs,” Gnarl replied with a nod. “And may I trouble you to get more radishes while you’re out?”

“Sure thing, as long as you promise to make something with them that doesn’t have rats in it. They stink up the kitchen.”

“No promises.”

As had become more routine as more villages had come under her control, the armored Overlord with a small horde of Minions had descended on the town of Wartwood and set up a collection area in the town square and the guard Minions spreading the word. Unlike the last time this had happened to the town under great duress, today it was a more orderly state of affairs as frogs lined up to deposit their dues to The Overlord. To their surprise, because of the sheer number of towns giving food to the Tower, they ultimately didn’t have to give up much; as long as they gave something worth giving, it’d be accepted.

This was purely pragmatic on Anne’s part and had nothing to do with the ever growing soft spot she had developed for the town.

“Good morning, oh Dark One,” Felicia Sundew said on her approach and gave a small bow to Anne. Ivy had also come along and was giving Anne the most adorable little death glare. Anne had to stop herself from laughing at it given that she was working right now.

“Your offering?” Anne asked. Felicia straightened up and held out a box.

“This has a few weeks worth of tea blends for both you and Anne to enjoy.” Anne took the box and opened it to confirm the contents, smiling to herself when she saw more than a few of her favorite blends inside.

“This is acceptable,” Anne said and added the box to the collection pile. “Go back to your business.” Felicia bowed again and walked away, while Ivy took a moment to give Anne a quick ‘watching you’ gesture before she followed her mom. ‘She’s so cute. I gotta remember to give them some money later.’

The next donation of note was Stumpy, who was holding a to-go box in his spatula hand. Anne raised an eyebrow and took the box from the cook. “What is this?”

“A little something for Anne, Dark One. Ever since she helped with my restaurant, I've been thinking of new dishes to put on the menu. I was hoping she would try that and tell me what she thought.”

While Anne should have been insulted at being used as a delivery service, which she hoped her silence conveyed, she couldn't help but be touched by the effort Stumpy went through for this. And after opening the box to take a look, it didn't look terrible and the only real bug part she could see was the ‘noodles’ she remembered telling Stumpy about were worms cut into thin straps. Presentation could use some work, but that can be fixed and Anne didn’t have to worry about lunch today.

“Glop!” She ordered and looked down at a Minion that ran over and gave him the box, “Take that to the Tower. Don't. Spill. It!” The Minion saluted and ran off toward the nearest Burrow while Anne turned back to Stumpy. “Do you have anything else?”

“Anything else?” Stumpy wondered for a moment while scratching his cheek with an actual hook hand. “I suppose I can give ye some peppers as well.”

“Acceptable. Go get them.” Anne could already feel herself drooling at the possibilities. Stumpy had barely turned to go when a shrill siren started filling the air, leaving him, Anne, and everyone else in the town square to look around for the source. Soon the source was made clear as the Plantars ran into town. Or rather, Hop Pop carrying Sprig, who was making that blaring noise, and he in turn was holding Polly over his head. The family ran past Anne and Stumpy and circled the founder statue as more frogs came outside.

“That's the emergency siren. Must be serious,” Stumpy said and walked over to join the crowd. Anne blinked as the Plantars came to a stop and sighed before grabbing her sword.

“Watch the food. I won't be gone long,” she told the Minions, who all nodded and surrounded the food while Anne walked to see what all the fuss was about.

“Attention everyone, this is serious!” Sprig shouted as he leapt off of Hop Pop and set Polly down. “I've been keeping an eye on the thermometer, and today is the third day in a row that the temperature dipped below the Frog Line!” To punctuate, Sprig pulled out a thermometer that indeed showed the current temperature was below a marked line. “If I'm reading the signs right, then that means Hiberday is here!”

The rest of the town gasped and started talking among themselves while Anne looked about as confused as an Overlord could look.

“Hiberday?” She asked, causing more than a few frogs to jump and look at her. How they could have missed her was unknowable.

“I thought it felt a bit drafty, Sire. I better close the windows.” Gnarl chimed in. Anne rolled her eyes at that and pointed at Hop Pop, the old frog flinching at the sudden attention.

“You. Explain.” Hop Pop swallowed nervously before he began.

“Well, Lord, Hiberday is a sort of local phenomenon. Once a year, the temperature throughout the valley drops so low that it sends everyone into instant hibernation. When we thaw out a day later, everyone wakes up energized, refreshed, virile.”

“Don't ever say ‘virile’ again,” Anne ordered with a shudder. Unnecessary images aside, so far this was sounding pretty standard, but her time in Amphibia taught Anne to know better. “But what's the obvious dark twist?”

“Well, for the last few years, whenever Hiberday comes somebody in town disappears and is never seen again,” Hop Pop said and quickly hugged his grandchildren close to him.

‘There it is,’ Anne thought and looked around to see several of the townsfolk hugging and saying ‘possible goodbyes’. Toadstool and Toadie, Felicia and Ivy, Stumpy and that one hair dresser Anne met all of once. Anne understood what they were doing, but they once again forgot the situation they were broadly in.

“Possible goodbye Sprig, Polly,” Hop Pop said as he hugged Sprig and Polly.

“Possible goodbye Hop Pop,” Sprig and Polly said and returned the hug. Then they both turned to Anne and started walking towards her with their arms (and flippers) open.

“And possible goodbye-” they started to say before they were stopped by a metal boot.

“This is pathetic, even for you,” Anne said and pushed the frogs away lightly.

“Um, you're kind of stepping on tradition here,” Hop Pop said, which just got them a terrifying sight of Anne looming over them, her form seemingly darkening despite the sun and her glowing eyes boring into them.

“Do I look like the type to care about ‘tradition’?” she asked, her voice growling. Hop Pop and Sprig were both shivering at the voice while Polly simply blinked.

“No,” Polly answered. Just like that, the oppressive aura Anne gave off disappeared and she nodded before moving on. The Plantars all got up as Anne pointed over the town.

“And if all of you think I’ll do nothing after hearing something will steal one of you peons away from me, you don’t know how tight my grip can be then,” Anne said to the assembled town and clenched her free hand into a tight fist to serve her point.

“Wait wait,” Toadstool interjected, “are you saying you’ll protect the town during Hiberday?” A lot of the frogs stiffened up at the thought of The Overlord running free in town more than usual. Anne couldn’t help but chuckle at that.

“Do you really think I’d waste my time on actually protecting you all?” she said with a shake of her head. “I’ll get Anne to do it. She’s warm blooded and just loves doing this kind of thing.”

The Plantars shared a look while the town visibly relaxed with a lot of relieved sighs to go with it. “Well if Anne’s looking out for us, I don’t think we have anything to worry about,” Ivy said happily.

“She is surprisingly consistent with coming through when she wants to,” Toadstool admitted before clapping his hands, “Alright, well we have to prepare for Hiberday either way, so let’s get on that.” The crowd started dispersing and Anne used that to return to her Minions and, with a wave of her hand, ordered them to pack up what they got and return to the Tower. No point in continuing that since the day was going to be busy for a different reason.

“Well, uh… guess we’ll run along now to… tell Anne what just happened,” Hop Pop said awkwardly as he and Sprig started to slowly slide away toward Anne. “You know, so she knows what to do.”

“And totally not for any other reason whatsoever!” Sprig added.

“No one actually cares,” Polly added. Hop Pop and Sprig looked around to see nobody was really looking at them as they went about their business.

“Well, we’ll see you all after Hiberday, bye!” Hop Pop shouted before they all ran after Anne, managing to catch up to her outside of town as she was following her Minion horde back to the Tower. They skid to a stop next to her and walked alongside her with Polly hopping out of Hop Pop’s grasp to hop along.

“Hey Anne, thanks for agreeing to look out for us,” Sprig said and hopped a little ahead of Anne, “this has been stressing everyone out for a while now.”

“I said my piece back in the village. There’s nothing else to add,” Anne said with a wave of her hand.

“We all knew you’d come around to loving us,” Polly said with an adorable, smug smile.

“Just don’t go spreading it around,” Anne replied with a laugh and then asked, “So do you guys even know what’s taking frogs?”

“No. Hibernation is like a very deep sleep for us frogs. We aren’t aware of the world at all until we thaw out,” Hop Pop explained and, after a moment of silence, added, “I probably shouldn’t have told you that.”

“Eh, I’m not in the mood to take advantage of that. This is sounding really easy the more I learn, it’s just watching a bunch of sleeping frogs for a day.”

“Are you sure you’re up for this? This is kind of a big responsibility Anne.”

“So is being The Overlord. Watching over Minions is basically a full time job already. At least I won’t have to worry about feeding you frogs when you freeze, right HP?” No response, and after a moment Anne stopped and looked back. “Guys?”

What she found was each of the Plantars had frozen in a block of ice with surprised looks on their faces.

“HOLY CRUD!” Anne shouted and reeled back, which caused the Minions to turn and watch her. Anne was barely able to process the sudden freeze when she saw a lone snowflake fall in front of her and land on her gauntlet. A few seconds after, a single sheet of snow fell from the sky, covering the ground and anything it hit on the way down in an instant half feet of snow. After that, a winter chill that bit into Anne's armor and sent shivers along her skin.

“Jeez! They weren't kidding about the weather! Ah crud, I thought I'd have more time to prepare for this! Everyone must be scattered by now! How are we going to keep them safe now?!”

During Anne's rant, she bent over and picked up a frozen Hop Pop, which was much easier than she thought as he felt like he didn't weigh anything. “Oh. Man, these frogs are light. Should have known that from Sprig.” Without further ado Anne picked up Sprig and Polly, setting the latter on her helmet, and turned to her gawking Minions. “What are you standing around for? Get that back to the Tower before it freezes! I'll be there to come up with a plan after I take the Plantars to Wartwood.”

 A stray breeze caught the Overlord and sent more chills along her skin. “And I really need to find a coat.”

With plans set, both Minion and Overlord started trudging through the snow toward their destinations. All the while, Anne's thoughts raced on how to deal with this situation.

Once the Plantars were in town, Anne gave the guard Minions orders to start gathering any frozen frogs in the square and teleported back to the Dark Tower. She barely took in how Gnarl was having the balcony covered in haphazard wooden boards before she went down to the forge to remove her snow covered armor. The heat of the forge helped a lot though, melting the snow near instantly and left her in steaming armor. She removed her helmet and started on what she could without Minion help when she saw Maddie in the corner doing what she always did here.

“You’re back early,” Maddie said while looking over a piece of wood, of all things, “it went well, I take it?”

“Sort of, but it had to be cut short because winter decided it’s happening today,” Anne explained as she hung up her helmet. “Now I get to watch a bunch of ice frogs to make sure they don't get eaten.”

“Hiberday is today? That explains the bath.” Maddie set the wood to the side and stood up with a stretch. “Well, I better hurry if I want to get that hibernation in.”

“Wait, you want to hibernate? You could die, you know.”

“Have you ever had a really good nap, Anne? The kind that just wipes away any stress and exhaustion from you? That's what hibernation is like for us. I've been staying up too late trying to figure out your runes’ pedantic wording and I really need this. And you're looking after us, so I know my life is in good hands.”

“Well… thanks for the vote of confidence.” Anne had to fight down a blush from the praise. “Well, just wait until I'm ready to go so I can carry you to town when you freeze.” 

The witch gave a quick salute before walking over to the stairs. She had to wait a moment as a group of Minions came down to help Anne out of her armor before she could ascend. The chill was still getting into the throne room, though it was still warm enough to keep Maddie from freezing. After some time, Anne ran up from the forge and up to her room and spent a few minutes up there before coming down wearing a thick wool cap, yellow mittens, and a St. James hoodie.

“This should be enough right?” Anne asked and did a little twirl. “I'm glad I decided to pack winter clothes, just in case.”

“...Why would you ever do that? Wasn't it close to Summer when you came here?” Gnarl questioned.

“DON'T QUESTION ME, GNARL! THERE'S A METHOD TO MY MADNESS!” Anne shouted before turning to Maddie with a smile. “So, ready to go Maddie?”

“After you, Lord.” Both girls walked to the teleport pool while Gnarl waved them off.

“Remember Sire, don't eat yellow snow! You never know how poisonous it is!” He called.

“Gross.” Anne and Maddie jumped into the pool and came out into a snowy forest, just as Anne left it. Anne looked at Maddie as she looked down at the snow curiously.

“Huh, so that's what snow feels like? It's not that- Grk?!” Maddie said before suddenly flinching and being encased fully in ice. Anne blinked at the frozen frog for a moment as she absorbed that.

“Man, that really is fast,” she finally said before picking Maddie up. “Well, come on Maddie. We have work to do.” Stowing the witch under her arm, Anne started the walk back to Wartwood. After a few steps, she added, “Really missing that other shoe right now.”

Once in Wartwood, Anne set Maddie next to the Plantars before she and her Minion horde spread through town to help gather all the frozen Amphibians. After some time, the square was filled with frozen townsfolk. When Anne added the last one to the square she brushed off her hands and gave a relaxed sigh.

“And that's that. Everyone is here.”

“Missing one eyed frog,” one of the Minions pointed out.

“EVERYONE. IS. HERE!” Anne replied through gritted teeth. “That aside, this whole thing is easy so far. Town protector!” Anne couldn't help but strike a pose from a show she watched with her father a lot years ago, which several of the Minions did along with her. With that out of her system, Anne clapped her hands and turned to the Minions.

“Alright everyone, time to get started. First off, split up by color!” The Minions jumped into action, forming two groups of Brown and Green Minions that Anne looked over with her arms crossed. “Okay… actually hold on. You!” Anne pointed at a Brown Minion. He pointed at himself and Anne nodded. “Yeah, you. Get over here.” The Minion obeyed and walked to sit next to Anne while she addressed the rest of the Browns.

“The rest of you, circle the town and keep an eye out for anything that doesn't belong. You see anything, come and get me. Go!”

The Minions saluted and ran around to their new posts as Anne turned to the Greens. “You all will stay here to watch the frogs. If you see our mystery snatcher, dogpile and kill it. Got it?”

“Yes Master!” The Greens cheered before scattering around the square and hankering down. Soon the Greens were all invisible to the naked eye and Anne was happy that the town was well covered.

“And me?” The last Brown asked, causing Anne to crouch next to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

“You have the most important job of all the Minions today: keeping me from getting bored. Because a bored protector is a bad protector. Normally, this is Sprig's job, but…” Anne nodded over at her currently frozen buddy, “he's a bit busy right now. I mean, I could thaw him out and it'd probably be very funny. Just this once though, I'll let him sleep in.”

Anne reached behind her and pulled out a duplicate of Sprig's iconic hat. “So until Sprig is able to resume his duties, you'll fill in for him. I dub thee ‘Sprig 2’.” Anne to the hat on the newly named Sprig 2, who clutched at the straps reverently and started crying tears of joy. Anne left Sprig 2 to his joy and walked over to a log and sat down on it, willing to wait out the sudden cold.

This lasted all of a minute before an immutable truth revealed itself to the young Overlord. This was boring. And as she already pointed out, a bored protector was a bad one. She leaned forward and rested her head in her hands and tried to think of some way to kill time.

She then looked at the frozen frogs around her, and a smile came to her face.

“Do de do de do. It is a lovely day to be alive in our miserable world,” ‘Sprig’ said as Anne manipulated him in a walking motion down the street. “What should I do today? Hang out with my bestie Anne? Use my slingshot to… shoot… pumpkins?” Anne faltered for a moment before she looked down at Sprig in confusion. “What do you do when you’re not hanging out with me?”

Sprig offered no answer.

“You’re right Pal, questions for later. And we both know what you want to do today anyway.” Anne carried Sprig over and set him down next to Ivy. With Anne’s help, Sprig then ‘said’, “Hello Ivy! It is a lovely day, isn’t it? Do you want to go out with me on whatever we Frogs do for dates?”

Ivy ‘gasped’ and Anne moved Ivy closer. “Of course, Sprig! I would love to go out with you and be your violent gremlin girlfriend! Thank goodness for Anne’s brilliant plan to secure our eternal happiness!” Anne then helped the two frogs with ‘kissing’, or as much as the ice surrounding them would allow. Anne still counted it.

Suddenly, Sprig 2 slammed a third frog in front of them, and Anne gasped at the sight of Maddie’s intrusion. Anne could already hear the dramatic music as Sprig 2 went into a speech for ‘Maddie’. Not that Anne could understand the Minion’s muttering, but she could see the way Maddie was looking at Ivy and hugged Sprig closer as ‘Maddie’ moved closer and gave Ivy a ‘kiss’.

Anne squealed. “Oh my Frog! Maddie was in love with Ivy the whole time?! What a twist!” Anne quickly moved to take a picture of the scene, after kicking Sprig 2 out of the way, and soon had a filter over the picture that put a heart over the two girls, a giant red X over Sprig, and the massive caption of ‘Drama!’ over them all. “It's too bad I'm ride or die on the Sprivy train. You’re good at improv, Sprig 2.” Anne said, causing her current helper to smile happily.

Anne soon got hungry, and retrieved Stumpy’s contribution for a quick lunch with the chef himself. She also brought a notebook to jot down her thoughts on the meal for Stumpy to look at later. She also got an unexpected show from Sprig 2 and some of the guard Minions in the form of an impromptu snowball fight between the two of them. Even with some scattered frogs being used as cover, Sprig 2 was still losing.

Anne laughed at the sight as she dug into her meal. The stir fry smelled good, even with a quick Red Minion reheating, and she was surprised to find the fried meat was bug meat after all and paired well with the vegetables.

“Now if only the noodles weren't worms,” Anne commented as she held up some of the worms in her fork. Not that she didn't still eat it after a second. “It might be better for a frog palette though. I'll need to ask about that.” Anne moved to write that down in the notebook while wondering aloud, “I wonder if wheat exists here? Then again, Maddie’s dad is a baker. The things I need to look into for some actual noodles.”

With that added along with a suggestion for adding peppers, Anne finished her meal, picked up Stumpy, and walked back to his restaurant to drop off her notes. A dazed Sprig 2 followed after with the laughter of Minions behind him.

Anne had decided to teach the Minions about the ancient human game of bowling using giant snowballs as bowling balls and assorted townsfolk as the pins. Sprig 2 seemed to be getting the handle on the method easily enough, since rolling things down hills toward helpless victims was probably one of the things inherent to Minion behavior. Either way, it was a close game between him and Anne.

“I hate how good you are at picking up spares, Sprig 2,” Anne commented after yet another good turn from the Minion. A group of Minions set up the ‘pins’ again and Anne eyed the path down the hill carefully, trying to find the best way to pull ahead. Once she found a way, she got behind the snowball and pushed it down in a way that would give it a small spin. Everyone watched the ball as it rolled, Anne most of all as she clenched her fists tightly and bit her lip, only for the ball to be sent off course by a bump in the path. Anne clutched at her hair while the Minions leaned in to watch.

Including the one that was right in the snowball’s path. It crashed into him, knocking him onto his back, while the snowball bounced back onto the path at just the right angle for it to knock down all the ‘pins’ at once.

“YEEEEEES!” Anne shouted and threw her arms in the air, “Strike baby! And to think I wasn’t good at bowling back home.” Anne lowered her arms and set her hands on her hips as she turned to another Minion that was supposed to be keeping score. “So, what’s the score now?”

The Minion looked at the paper in his hands and held it up for Anne to look at, revealing it to just be a mess of squiggles that couldn’t even count as chicken scratch. Anne stared at the offensive paper, knowing the whole game was now moot, before she shrugged.

“Eh, scores are dumb anyway. Let's roll a few more balls for fun. We’re here after all.” Sprig 2 nodded and the Minions all rushed to set up the game again. They would end up playing a few more games before moving on to other things.

Back in the square, Anne was taking a moment of indulgence in making a snow angel while also failing in teaching the Minions how to do the same. Ultimately, probably for the best considering their inability to master anything other than hitting things.

After she finished with her snow angel, Anne sat up and stretched her arms out over her head before standing up. “Alright, I had my fun. Time for a quick head count before more fun.” Anne got up, kicked Sprig 2 until he was up, and did a quick round of the square while marking off a checklist she had made.

“Toadstool, Toadie, Mrs. Croaker, the tulip guy, Ivy, Sprig, Hop Pop, Polly, all going so- WAIT!” Anne ran back when she registered that Polly's bucket was empty. “POLLY?! Where is she?! You guys were supposed to watch here!” There was no movement in the square, and when Anne concentrated she couldn't feel any of the Greens around either. “What? Where are the Greens?”

“Master!” Anne and Sprig 2 looked at a guard Minion running over to them. He stopped to catch his breath for a moment before pointing behind him. “Big thing ran into woods from town. Frozen frog went with it.”

“Oh no! Was it Polly? Wait, what about Wally?” Snot chose that moment to run up and shook his head.

“One Eyed Frog still there.”

“DAMN YOU AMPHIBIA!” Anne shouted and fell to her knees to slam her hands on the ground. “I LEFT YOU WALLY! WHY WON’T YOU TAKE HIM?!” Her anger spent, Anne took a moment to catch her breath while Sprig 2 gently patted her on the back. Soon she clenched her hands rightly and stood up, her eyes glowing as she looked down at Polly's bucket.

“Whatever. Whoever took my Battlemaster/little sister made a huge mistake.” Anne took out her racket and batted it against her hand. “Get all the Minions together. We're going hunting.” The Minions cheered and ran to fulfill her.orders while Anne walked toward the forest.

Once the Browns were gathered the march started, though Anne was worried about finding anything in the frozen wilderness. That was lessened by Sprig 2's surprisingly sharp nose that soon led to a wayward Green. As the Green explained, whatever took Polly was ambushed as planned, but was tougher than thought and managed to escape with the Greens on it. Scum was the first to be shaken off, but since other Greens held on…

“I know it's rough Sprig 2, but you have to follow the Green's scent.” Anne said. Sprig 2 was less than enthused at the prospect, but The Overlord’s orders were absolute. So he followed the disgusting rank and led the horde on. Bit by bit they found the missing Greens until they found a grouping of them in front of a cave.

“They're in there, I take it?” Anne asked. The Minions looked at her and nodded. Anne tightened her grip on her racket and pointed at the Greens. “Stay here and watch the entrance. Don't let anything leave until I'm done.” The Greens grunted and moved to let Anne and the Browns enter the cave.

 Anne carefully moved into the cave, her racket held in front of her, until she entered a large area in the cave. Her feet hit something and she looked down and shivered at the pile of bones. Ignoring that, she looked around the inside, taking in the snow covered floor and icicles hanging from the ceiling, and moved the Minions forward before following.

“So far so good. Anyone see Polly?” A few Minions screeched and pointed up, where Anne soon found Polly attached to an icicle. “Really? Dang it.” Anne took a second to rub her eyes before pointing up at Polly. “Sprig 2, get Polly down from there while we find who took her.”

Sprig 2 left the group and started slowly climbing the cave wall while the rest of the horde spread through the rest of the cave. Anne felt the snow under her feet and she had enough time to sign in irritation before it exploded under her. She landed in a roll and turned to face the attacker along with the horde, finding a large weasel rearing over them with its white fur marred by scratches and blood from the Green's attack.

“Huh. I was expecting another bug. Get it!” Anne led the charge with her racket raised and the roars of The Minions behind her while the weasel also screeched and showed its sharp teeth. It shot forward toward Anne, though she jumped to avoid the lunge and landed on its back. She grabbed a clump of fur and started hacking what she could with the racket while several Minions joined her to do the same. They weasel screeched and started whipping its body around to throw off its attackers, managing to dislodge some Minions and Anne herself. She managed to land on her feet and turn around in time to get hit by the weasel’s tail and sent flying.

Anne hit the wall and slit down, dazed but alive, and growled as the weasel continued fighting off the Minions. “You dirty rat!” Anne shouted at the weasel. Then, almost so quiet that she almost didn’t hear it, Anne heard something behind her. Curious, Anne moved to a section of the wall that was little more than some vines covering an opening and parted them, revealing a nest with a trio of kits in it. “Oh. That would explain a lot.”

The weasel screeched louder than ever and Anne dove out of the way on instinct. The weasel zoomed past her and curled protectively around the nest, giving another screech at Anne before covering her kits. Anne stood up while the Minions gathered around the opening and pointed their weapons inside, waiting on her command.

“I have to admit, I do get what's happening here,” Anne told the weasel before scowling at it, “I'd be more sympathetic if you had taken Wally and not someone I cared about, but what's done is done. What to do with you?”

“Master!” Anne looked to the side and saw Sprig 2 running over to her while holding Polly over his head. “Tadpole!”

“Good job Sprig 2.” Anne looked back at the weasel, who was growling and looking at Sprig 2, and sighed. “Well, if food is all you care about, it would be easy to make something for you. I have been on an omelette kick lately.” Anne then crossed her arms and rubbed her chin. “ Or I could just kill you? I can live with that on my conscience. Choices.”

Anne was deep in thought for a while, with neither weasel nor Minion making a sound. Eventually Anne groaned and threw her hands in the air. “Forget this, let's make it simple.” She then dug through one of her pockets before taking out a coin. “Heads, you live; tails, you die. Do you understand the rules?”

The weasel blinked at Anne and gave a small screech.

“Good enough.” With that, Anne flipped the coin.

Once that was done, Anne and the Minions returned to Wartwood and put Polly back in her bucket. “Well, we figured that problem out. Now we just wait until they thaw.” Despite her hopes, the town did not thaw immediately. She blinked and realized something she had missed this whole time and took out her phone to check the time. What she found was very distressing.

“It's only been an hour?!”

Anne fell to her knees and then face first into the snow, with only Sprig 2's pats offering any relief.

23 hours later

After a very boring day, a quick role play at Stumpy's for dinner, the creation of Townietron, and stuffing everyone into the Plantar home for the night, Anne had gathered everyone back into the square for breakfast. She was in the middle of making an omelette over a fire when Sprig 2 poked her and showed her the thermometer that was starting to rise above the frog line.

“About time. I was running out of winter activities to do,” Anne said as she looked around the square. In a near comical reversal of what happened yesterday, the snow all over town melted at a record speed to leave Wartwood slightly more muddy than normal. Afterwards, the various frozen frogs all around the square started shaking before they all broke out of their frozen states with various degrees of confusion.

“What happened?” Ivy asked.

“Why are we in the square?” This one was Toadstool.

“Oh, I really needed that!” Maddie exclaimed and started rubbing circles in her cheeks. Eventually they all got the confusion out of their systems and noticed Anne sitting to the side and cooking her omelette.

“Anne?” Hop Pop asked as he, Sprig, and Polly went to her, “What happened?”

“And why is there a Minion wearing one of my hats?” Sprig asked.

“That’s Sprig 2. He was filling in for you while you were hibernating. Oh, and Hiberday came early,” Anne answered as she transferred her omelette onto a plate, “you all were frozen by the time I got here, but I’ve been watching you since. Want an omelette, HP?”

“Uh… maybe later.”

“You replaced me?” Sprig asked while crying.

“Only for a day. Your duties are completed Sprig 2.” Sprig 2 looked at Anne and grasped the straps of the hat. “Oh. He wants to keep the hat. Is that okay?”

“That’s okay. It’s one of my spares anyway.” Sprig said as he wiped the tears away.

“You can keep the hat.” Sprig 2 cheered, ran to shove Toadie to the ground, and then ran out of the square back to the Tower. Maybe.

“So did we lose anyone?” Toadstool asked and everyone started looking around.

“Give it a second,” Anne replied. After a few seconds of confused silence, the distant sound of an accordion grew louder until One-Eyed Wally came hopping into the square.

“Howdy everyone! Boy, Hiberday hit like a hammer huh?” he asked and looked around.

“Damn!” Anne muttered, her final hope that Wally froze to death now dashed, and stood up. “Well, with Wally here now, that means everyone made it.”

“Really?” Everyone was quiet for a second before they started cheering. “Everyone survived the year!”

“What was even happening?” Mrs. Croaker wondered.

“Warm blooded predators,” Anne answered and shrugged, “I took care of it this time, so as long as there’s food other than you guys lying around you should be left alone in the future.”

“D’oh, I knew I was forgetting something!” Toadstool said with a smack to his forehead. “Toadie, why didn’t you remind me about that?!”

“I… didn’t know? And maybe we shouldn’t be saying that with the town all right there, sir?” Toadie answered. He and Toadstool then looked around at everyone staring at them. After a moment, Toadstool straightened up and nervously adjusted his tie while Toadie stood up with a nervous smile.

“So… about that-”

“Zip it,” Anne said and gave him a flat look, “We’re just going to pretend you didn’t say that. Agreed?” The whole town shouted ‘agreed’ to that and resumed the celebrations.

“Good going Anne! You really proved yourself to be this town’s protector!” One of them said, unknowingly poking at a sore spot in Anne’s conscious at the moment. Instead of burying it like normal, she decided to air it out just this once.

“But I’m not,” she said, catching everyone’s attention. “I mean, protectors are supposed to care for who they’re looking out for without fail. I couldn’t even make it a few minutes before losing focus and goofing off, and Polly nearly got eaten by a weasel because of it.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Polly asked, suddenly very concerned.

“I don’t know, maybe that kind of thing just isn’t me? It certainly feels like it.” Nobody said anything for a moment until Hop Pop came over and put his hand on Anne’s knee.

“Anne, we didn’t trust you to protect us because we thought you’d unfailingly protect us. It’s because we trusted you to do the job. Even if you did goof off, when something happened you stopped at nothing to fix it. If you ask me, that makes you the perfect protector for this town.” Anne gave Hop Pop a confused look and he nodded. “No matter how ironic it is, it’s still true.”

Anne looked around and found that most of the frogs were nodding in agreement. “Huh, that’s… really nice.” ‘Very funny, but still nice.’ Anne reached out and pulled Hop Pop into a hug. “Thanks HP, that means a lot.”

“Sure thing, Anne.”

“Can we talk about that weasel now?” Polly asked.

“Don’t worry Polly, I took care of it,” Anne answered.

“That’s a really vague answer.”

“Hey Anne, can I borrow your phone?” Sprig asked.

“Sure thing buddy,” Anne said and absent mindedly handed Sprig her phone before putting Hop Pop down and standing up. “You know, that might have just been the boost I needed. I just have to do my best, tie up all my loose ends, and then- wait, did I just give Sprig my phone?” Her head snapped to Sprig, who was now staring at the phone with a look of betrayal. “Uh… Sprig?”

“Anne! How could you?!” Sprig cried and turned the phone around to show Anne the ‘Drama’ photo.

Along with the rest of the town, who gasped on seeing it. Anne dared to look at Ivy and Maddie, who stared at the photo in shock before looking at each other, blushed, and just as quickly looking away while pulling down her hat and covering her face respectively. Anne was cursing her need to photograph everything she did as Sprig continued to show the town just what she had been doing.

“Anne? Did you use our frozen bodies as bowling pins?” Hop Pop asked after a moment.

“...Let’s be real Hop Pop, there are a thousand worse things I could have done while you all were asleep. I should be praised for keeping my impulses down to just shipping and winter games,” Anne said and crossed her arms. Hop Pop was not comforted by this at all.

“Hey wait a minute, why am I the one wearing the wedding dress?!” Toadstool asked indignantly.

“NONE OF YOU UNDERSTAND MY VISION!”

As with any extreme weather phenomenon, it doesn’t go away at an equal rate. In a part of Frog Valley still deep in the cold, Sasha huddled under her cloak close to a fire to keep warm. She glanced over to Percy and Braddock, currently frozen in ice with surprised expressions, and then back to the fire. She sneezed and huddled further into her cloak.

“This sucks.”

Chapter Text

You are standing in front of Saint James Middle School. At the moment it's still morning and you're idly scrolling through social media on your phone waiting for your friend. It's getting close to the start of classes when you see her coming in on her bike out of the corner of your eye. You put your phone away and start walking to her when you see a familiar girl beating you there.

You can't help but scowl. You are too far away to hear what Maggie was saying, but past experience was a great teacher. At the moment, your friend is holding her own and showing off her morning snack, but soon Maggie got physical. That was your cue to intervene.

“Hey Maggie! Leave her alone,” you say as your arrival is heralded by a sick guitar solo. Vince's practice has been paying off and you tell him as much.

“Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?” Maggie asked. She was one of those types that talked better than they walked and the right kind of pressure would make them fold easily. You already know what to say.

“Well, it's just that my Dad had a new pool installed and I was thinking of throwing a party to celebrate it. It'd be a shame if that party happened and you were the only one not invited.” You're halfway through the spiel when Maggie starts to cave. It's all about tone, after all.

“H-hey, I was just playing around Sasha,” Maggie says nervously before shoving Anne's snack back at her and making a hasty exit. Anne watches her walk away before sighing and looking at you gratefully.

“Thanks Sasha,” she says.

“No problem. What would you do without me?” You reply half-jokingly while Anne finishes her snack. “Anyway, forget her. Happy birthday girl! You're finally a teen too!”

“I know!” Anne replies excitedly. The two of you start a little dance before being rudely cut off by the warning bell.

“Ugh, lame. Hey, let's go have a celebration of our own later, okay?”

“Okay, but I have to be home in time for the party my parents are throwing.”

“Don't worry, I got you.” As the two of you walk to class, your mind races with plans to make sure she has the best birthday ever.

School was lame, and dissecting frogs in science class was disgusting, so you decided to skip on it for the rest of the day with Anne. It took her a bit of pushing to follow along, but you knew she’d enjoy herself once she was out of those halls.

So you two did, from the simple activities of riding rogue shopping carts and conquering two player mode on Super Dance Fun Time Fusion (with the bonus of getting more quarters from the machine) to the more esoteric like a light bit of graffiti. You notice Anne definitely needs to learn to chill from the occasional passing police car.

All fun must wind down however, and the two of you soon stop for a drink at a café. School had actually gotten out a while ago and you are texting Marcy while Anne finishes her drink. You don't know where she got the sunglasses for you both to wear.

“Huh, so that's what a unicorn tastes like: corn syrup,” Anne commented once she was done with her drink. Marcy texts you a picture of a music box just then while Anne checks her own phone and panics. “Oh crud! It's almost six?! I have to get back home!”

“That can wait,” you say and show Anne the photo of the box, “Marcy just found the perfect gift for you. You think those gems are real? Let's go meet up with her.”

“But-”

“Anne, you know what kind of party is waiting for you there. Now do you want to go do balloon animals, or do you want to hang out with people who actually care about you?”

“Well, hey now!” Anne says and glares at you. The pushback is starting to get on your nerves.

“Anne, I'm starting to annoy me. We're going to see Marcy. End. Of. Discussion.” Normally that would be that, but Anne just glares harder.

“Is that really the last thing you want me to remember of you?” She asks and stands up, blocking the sun with her hair.

No… the sun itself has gone out, dowsing everything outside the cafe windows in darkness. Your phone slips out of your hand and you stand up in shock.

“Wha-” you start to say, only to stop at Anne's glare. Lights in the cafe start going out one by one.

“It's your fault I'm dead,” she says just as the darkness takes her. You gasp and hold out a hand to where Anne used to be before the last light goes out.

Seconds pass into eternity, and then with a loud ‘fwoosh’ torches light up to bestow firelight on you. Now you are in a cave with a set of stairs going upwards illuminated in the torchlight. You look down at your hands to see you were wearing gloves and feel the familiar weight of armor hugging you and a sword at your hip. The memory of this cave comes to you and fills you with dread as you move to climb the stairs.

Anne is here. You have to find her.

She’s wrong about you.

Your footsteps echo around you as you climb the stairs until you reach the top and enter another familiar room. The large throne to your right is another kick to your memory and an uncomfortable weight settles in your stomach again. The clanging sound of armor puts you on edge and you unconsciously reach for your sword as the hulking form of The Overlord (Abyss Lord? It didn’t matter) comes up another set of stairs and looks at you.

“Oh, hello Waybright. I was wondering where you were,” he says.

“You! What are you-?” you begin to say.

“Listen Waybright, I’m not interested in playing along with your dream this time. This one is a little too personal for my tastes,” he interrupts. With a snap of his fingers, the torches on either side of the stairs he came up from lit up. “Your ending is down there like last time. Enjoy it, if you can.” He then starts walking away to your confusion.

“What are you-?”

“Oh, one thing actually,” he interrupts again and then points at you. “Your time on the crossroad is over. It’s about time you made your choice. Good or Evil? I look forward to what you do.” He raises a fist and vanishes in a burst of fire.

His words confuse you more than ever, as does his talk of choices. It doesn’t matter right now, you still need to find Anne. You vaguely remember he was telling the truth last time you saw him, so you go to the staircase he came from and start down it. Soon you reach the bottom and find yourself in a dungeon, one that's practically falling apart from disuse.

You make your way through it, stepping over collapsed stone and past rusty metal doors, until you reach the furthest cell. The door is ajar and you can see someone slumped over inside unmoving.

You recognize the uniform immediately.

“Anne!” You scream and run into the cell. Even as you kneel beside her and try to shake her, you know deep down you're too late. She's not breathing, her skin is cold to the touch, and no amount of shaking you do can change that.

Anne is gone.

“Anne…” you cry and hug her close, utterly lost on what to do. You want to take her with you, but what about after? Would you bury her, or hope to find a way back home to bring her there?

Can you even get back home now?

You can't even answer your own question before something grabs you by the throat and throws you away. Your back slams against the metal bars and you cough as the air leaves your lungs. You hear footsteps and barely see that Anne's feet are moving in the dark. You look up at Anne…

But it isn't her. Her skin is withering away even as she stalks closer to you. Her eyes are just pinpricks of light against the darkness. Her body cracks with every movement.

“Anne?” You manage to whisper out, afraid and unwilling to do more than that, even to defend yourself.

“This is your fault,” it says with Anne's voice before it reaches toward you, her fingers going to your eyes.

Everything goes dark.

But Sasha doesn't die. That would have been too easy, as she instead found herself jolted awake in her bed. Just another in a series of nightmares that had been plaguing her for days now. Sasha let out a sigh and pushed herself up and out of bed. No matter how she felt, she still had work to do.

Probably the only thing she’ll do for the rest of her life, as every day she spends just seems to bring her further and further away from both home and Anne. Might as well get used to it now. Once she was dressed she went down to breakfast, already tuning out everything around her. She barely recognized the food as something she could eat, sat with Percy and Braddock as they were talking about something she didn't bother to listen to, and quietly ate her breakfast.

Sasha's mood was evident to anyone that was paying attention since she was very much a dark cloud hanging over the room. Grime himself knew full well about those and he wasn't happy with it. ‘So she had all of her aspirations and goals crushed repeatedly over the course of a few days? Like that should mean anything! We all have work to do, whether we like it or not.’ He himself had a busy day with the Newts in the Pain Room and he couldn't concentrate with Sasha like this. As such, he had the perfect mission for her to do and he trusted Percy and Braddock to get it done.

Grime couldn't help but shudder at the idea that he actually trusted Percy with something, but these were the stakes right now. As long as Sasha was doing something away from Toad Tower, it’d be fine.

Breakfast was done and Sasha was led to the carts by Percy and Braddock. She didn’t bother trying to fight them off, or complain even.  A job was a job when you get down to it, and she had little reason to try and escape it.

“So, are you ready to go Sasha?” Percy asked once Sasha was lying in the back of a cart.

“Sure,” Sasha answered, staring up at the sky.

“Don’t worry. The Captain gave us a special mission this time. I’m sure you’ll love it.”

“Whatever.” That was the definitive end of that conversation, and Percy and Braddock boarded the cart and started driving it out of the Tower. Sasha rolled onto her side and tried to focus on what she could do right now.

‘Fat load of not much. The Overlord is probably long gone and Anne with him. She must be so scared. Who knows what kind of awful things are happening to her right now?’

Two weeks ago…

Theater night had come to Wartwood, or at least it would have if the acting troupe hadn’t been eaten on the way. Thankfully, Anne came in clutch with a wondrous concept called ‘Movies’. So she saved the night by showing them Love Choice , a drama romance notorious for causing virulent shipping wars. It was a hit with the town!

And the next day, the real entertainment started. The town had split into two over who was better, Hunter or Alastair, in a very literal case of color coded warfare. The very bitter enmity was boiling under the surface of both camps and Anne was loving it.

“Anne, don’t you think this is going a little too far?” Hop Pop asked as he and Anne watched this unfold from a good distance away.

“Not at all. Compared to some of the flame wars I saw back home, this is nothing,” Anne replied as she shoved a fistful of popcorn into her mouth. She leaned back in her chair and watched a Hunter supporter break the window of a store with a brick in order to steal more bricks. She laughed and commented, “I always wondered about that store.”

“Well, this has to stop before it gets worse! We have to get on with our lives eventually and they already wrote graffiti on my tum tum.” Hop Pop only got the barest of sympathy from Anne for that in that she held back a snicker.

“Right, sorry. But you’re also right.” Anne stood up and threw her popcorn away to rub her hands together. “This was fun at first, but we should see if we can provoke an open war! Turn this fire into an explosion.”

“And will that stop this nonsense?” Hop Pop asked.

“Eh, probably. I have an idea. Have you ever heard of capture the flag?”

7 days ago…

Anne made a joke a while ago about seeing a Moss Man, one that she really was taking seriously. The Plantars weren’t serious about it and told Anne as such. This led to Anne disappearing for a few days where neither they nor her Minions knew where she went off to. The Plantars would eventually find her again in Wartwood Square, standing around in a daze while Wally was walking away in his usual Wally way.

“Anne! We heard you were still being compared to Wally,” Sprig said as the family ran up to her. Anne didn’t react at all. “Are you doing okay?”

Nothing.

“Uh… Anne?” Polly asked and bounced over to slap Anne’s ankles a couple of times, again to no reaction.

“Anne, this is really starting to scare me,” Hop Pop said and looked increasingly worried. Sprig climbed up onto Anne’s shoulders and, acting mostly on instinct, wet a finger with his tongue and stuck it into Anne’s ear, successfully knocking Anne out of her stupor.

“ARGH! GROSS!” Anne shouted and shook Sprig off of her. “What the heck was that for dude?!”

“You were in a trance! Probably put on you by a wizard of some kind,” Hop Pop said.

“That was the only thing I could think of that could wake you up,” Sprig added.

“Oh… well, good job bud.” Anne scratched the back of her head and looked around in confusion. “How did I get here?”

“Wait, do you not remember where you’ve been the last few days?” Polly asked and squinted her eyes suspiciously.

“No, I don’t. I remember leaving the house at night, and then nothing until now. Was I really gone for days?”

“Heh, you better be careful Anne or you’ll be as crazy as Wally!” Sprig said with a laugh, though that stopped once he found Anne looming over him with glowing eyes.

“Don’t you ever compare me to Wally again,” she warned him, causing him to gulp nervously. Thankfully, the atmosphere broke in the next instant and Anne was smiling playfully at him while holding her arms over her head mock threateningly. “Or else One-Shoed Anne is gonna get you!” she shouted and took a big step toward Sprig. He started laughing and hopped away from Anne, a little faster after Anne picked up Polly by the top of her head and got ready to throw her.

“Anne, wait!” Polly shouted, causing Anne to look back at her. “Hold me by the bottom, I throw better that way.” Anne blinked at Polly before quietly rotating the tadpole into the desired position. “That’s better. NOW LET ‘EM RIP!”

Anne threw Polly and watched as the tadpole soared through the air toward Sprig, who turned around mid jump to catch his sister and they both landed in the central fountain. The two of them laughed at the situation, Anne laughing as well as she ran toward them.

“Well, all's well that ends well,” Hop Pop concluded with a good hearted chuckle. And then he ran to make sure his grandkids wouldn’t kill each other.

Last night…

Hop Pop screamed as he ran into his study. On the other side, a legion of zombies controlled by the devious mushroom Apothecary Gary (alternatively referred to as Apothegary by absolutely nobody). He backed away from the door and hit his desk and watched in horror as the door was beat down. Anne stepped inside, her eyes glowing purple, and pointed at Hop Pop as a horde of similarly mind controlled Minions came in and very slowly advanced on him.

With no other options, Hop Pop climbed his desk and leapt out the window to his escape. A second later, he came back in to grab a model of the Green Lady he had been working on.

“I mean, I can’t just leave her.”

Truly the scope of awful things that could happen to Anne was unknowable. Sasha was so wrapped up in her thoughts that she didn’t know where she was even going. By the time she pulled herself out of her funk to look around her, the cart was pulling into a town. “Ugh, where the heck are we?” Sasha asked as they passed under the town gate that read ‘Wartwood’. Some Guard Minions were on either side of it watching them as they passed, which caused Sasha to shudder. “And it’s Overlord controlled too. Why are we here?”

“Well, the captain didn’t give us a mission per se,” Braddock said.

“Just that we should get out of the tower for a bit,” Percy added as they pulled up next to a statue. “Do you think this counts as vacation days?”

“Maybe if we don’t bring it up to the captain?”

Sasha groaned and leaned against the side of the cart as she looked around the town they were in. Like always, the frogs all eyed them warily and gave them a wide berth. Many of them opted to go into one of the many quaint little businesses here: some kind of woodworking shop, a tea house, a restaurant, some giant stage with ‘Frog of the Year’ displayed on a banner.

Sasha’s eyes widened and snapped back to the restaurant when she realized it had a sign advertising it as a Thai fusion restaurant. She rubbed her eyes and looked again, but the sight didn’t change.

“What?” she asked, which caused Percy and Braddock to look at her and then the restaurant as well.

“Oh hey, I didn’t know that was here,” Percy said as he and Braddock got out of the cart, “a lot of frogs around the valley have been raving about that when they visit here. Some were saying that when we were camping a while back.”

“Really? What do you think, Sash? I am a little hungry after the trip,” Braddock said, only then noticing that Sasha had left the cart and started walking to the restaurant. Percy and Braddock ran to catch up and enter as a group.

The inside was just about what Sasha expected from a frog restaurant: wood and stones were the main building materials used with leaves for decorations. Still, Sasha could feel the Thai influence everywhere, from the floral decorations marking the booth seats and a smell wafting about that she had long ago come to associate with the Boonchuy kitchen.

‘This has Anne written all over it. But how?’ Sasha's thoughts were detailed by a rough voice coming from a frog behind the counter, looking equally as rough, holding up a prosthetic hand that looked like a spatula.

“Toads, eh? Well if you're here for food, get in any open booth. Menus are on the tables.” He gestured around the restaurant and got back to work, leaving them to find their own seats. There was an open booth despite being fairly busy and Sasha sat opposite Percy and Braddock as they went over the menu.

There was what Sasha assumed to be standard frog fare, but what really hit her was a whole selection of Thai dishes that felt familiar, save for slight alterations for Amphibian diets. It was slightly off putting imagining maggots in larb and it kept going from there. Not that that didn’t stop Sasha from being hungry.

“Um… I don’t really know what any of this stuff is,” Percy said and scratched his head. “Do you know what to get, Sasha?”

Sasha glanced up at Percy and Braddock and then back down at the menu. “Yeah, I think I know what you'll both like,” she answered. They probably would like anything, toads were just kind of like that, but Sasha owed it to them to at least try. After a few minutes, the rough frog came over with a pitcher of iced tea.

“So that'll ya be having?” He asked and held up a pen and notepad prosthetic.

“Uh…” Percy started before Sasha interrupted.

“He'll have the worm stir fry, medium spice. She'll have the cricket Pad see ew, and I'll have the larb with no maggots in it.”

“I don't think I can do that,” the frog responded while writing down the orders.

“Then as little as possible.”

“Coming right up.” Sasha rolled her eyes as the frog walked away and she settled in for the wait.

“Wow, you seem to know a lot about this Sash,” Percy said.

“I'm glad for that. This place is so close to the restaurant that Anne's parents run back home. Anne has to have been responsible for this.”

“Huh. So do you think she's here?” Braddock asked.

“Being honest,” Sasha said as she leaned over the table, “if she has been here the whole time, I'm going to be very happy and very mad. I'm not gonna make assumptions yet.” Sasha then poured herself a glass of tea and tried as hard as she could to ignore the flies in it as she drank it during the wait.

Percy and Braddock made small talk, Sasha giving one word answers if she was addressed. After a while the frog came back with three plates that he set in front of them. Sasha shuddered at the maggots in her food, but otherwise the larb looked fine enough. She looked up and saw Percy and Braddock already started digging in, so Sasha picked up a fork and warily took a bite. She was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't half bad and that the maggots didn't take away from the taste that much.

It helped to pretend they were gummy worms and to just force them down though.

Sasha had managed to clear a quarter of her plate and poured a second glass of tea when the sound of a ringing bell caught her attention. She wasn't the only one either as all the frogs in the restaurant perked up and started leaving, even the restaurant owner. Soon Sasha's table was the only one left. 

“The heck?” She wondered aloud.

“Must be a town announcement,” Braddock said with a shrug, “that's usually a big deal.”

Percy, who had been enraptured by his stir fry to the point of scraping all of it into his mouth, set his plate down with a satisfied sigh. He looked at Sasha's plate and then her with a bashful look. “Can I try some of yours?” He asked.

“Just a bite,” she said and pushed her plate toward the toads and stood up. “I'm going to see what's up.”

“Okay, we'll be here.” Sasha nodded and walked to the door. She lifted the hood of her cloak over her head before she got outside and ran behind the corner of a building that gave her a good view of the stage and crowd that had formed in front of it. She couldn't make out anything the crowd was saying as they talked among themselves, though that quieted down when the Toad Mayor of the town walked on stage with a smaller frog next to him.

“Settle down everybody!” The mayor said, holding a hand up before grabbing the hems of his coat. “Now it's that time of year again: time to announce this year's Frog of the Year!” The crowd applauded while the assistant gave the mayor an envelope. “Where we celebrate one individual's accomplishments, blah blah blah, we all know how this goes so let's get this over with.”

Sasha rolled her eyes at the display of professionalism while the mayor opened the envelope and read it. “The Frog of the Year is- I don't believe it, Anne Boonchuy?!”

Sasha's eyes widened and she swore her heart nearly stopped. ‘Anne?! She is here?!’ And judging by the cheers and applause, quite well liked as well. Yet, no matter where she looked, Sasha didn't see the girl of the hour anywhere. Instead, an older (familiar) orange frog stepped on stage with a proud look.

“Sorry to say that Anne isn't here right now, but as the owner of the basement she lives in, I'll happily accept for her and give her the news personally,” he said to the crowd.

“Well, that works. I can’t wait to see what she’ll do tonight,” Mrs. Croaker said, which the frogs around her agreed to.

‘Future tense! Like she’ll be around soon enough!’ Sasha thought while she bounced giddily. The past few days of nightmares and depression melted away in an instant at this incontrovertible evidence that Anne was actually alive! She got herself under control in time to hear the mayor speak up.

“Now hold on! Have all of you lost your minds?! Frog of the Year is supposed to go to the most selfless person in town, and Anne is most definitely not selfless! Do you really want someone like her planning the party?”

“This coming from the guy who stole our tax money?” A frog shouted, catching the mayor off guard.

“Uh… well…”

“Now look, I get it,” the old frog said and held up his hands placatingly. “Anne can be a little selfish and has made some mistakes.”

“I'd say more than just some!” A young voice shouted.

“Thank you, Polly! But she's also done a lot of good for us. I say that she at least deserves a chance to try. She might surprise you.” The crowd mumbled among themselves in agreement, though the mayor looked far from convinced.

“I doubt it, but why not? I look forward to this disaster,” he said and walked away, which seemed to signal the end of the gathering as the frogs started to disperse, the old frog hopping off the stage and leaving with a couple of kids.

“A party that Anne has to plan? For this dump?” Sasha wondered and crossed her arms. Sasha did share the mayor's skepticism about Anne being able to accomplish that, her own experience more than enough to show planning a party was tough. But, that did mean that Anne was absolutely going to be in town as well! The thought of seeing her friend again and potentially rescuing her was more than enough for Sasha to act on this.

A passing Minion guard put a damper on her enthusiasm though and brought her back to reality. The Overlord controls this town and loves having a death grip on anything he owns, which would include Anne. Charging off recklessly would end badly, like the last time she did that in the jungle. She’ll have to be a bit more patient and have a lot of back up.

With an idea in mind and a spring in her step, Sasha made her way back into the restaurant and over to Percy and Braddock.

“Hey, Sasha,” Percy said nervously as he looked between Sasha and all the empty plates on the table. “We… may have eaten all of your food. Sorry.”

“I do not care! ” Sasha said and slammed her hands on the table. “You know why? Because Anne’s alive and going to be here tonight! ” Sasha couldn’t help the squeal of joy that escaped her right then before she pointed to the door with her thumbs. “We gotta get out of here and get to work.”

“But what about the bill?” Braddock asked.

“Who cares?” Sasha asked and threw a bag of coppers onto the table before she started to leave. Percy and Braddock scrambled to follow after her, none of them noticing the wave the restaurant frog gave them as they left. None of them said anything as they all got onto the cart and rode out of town, Sasha watching the frogs and Minions to see if any of them paid them any real attention. Once they were far enough away, she leaned over to grab both Percy and Braddock’s shoulders.

“Here’s the deal, I need both of you to go back to the Tower and get Captain Grime. We’ll need everyone here by tonight to help rescue Anne.”

“Everyone?” Braddock asked.

“You saw all of those Minions in there. I am not taking chances on this, not with Anne.”

“Wow, you must be really happy that she’s here, huh?” Percy commented.

“Absolutely. Also, super furious at myself for not coming here earlier. But I’ll get over it.” Sasha let go of the toads and moved to the side of the cart. “I’ll see you guys again tonight, okay?”

“Again? What do you-?”

“I’m staying here to keep an eye on the town. Anything can happen by the time Grime gets here, after all.” ‘And if Anne really will be here, I want to see it with my own eyes.’

“But-”

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything without you guys!” Without giving them a chance to say anything else, Sasha vaulted over the side of the cart and landed on the ground in a roll. Once she was on her feet, she ran off to find a good place to watch Wartwood while the cart hurried back to Toad Tower.

“It's been a good couple of weeks for us, hasn't it Gnarl?” Anne wondered aloud as she paced in front of her throne. Gnarl simply nodded in agreement before continuing with his snack. Anne noticed this and gave him a flat look. “Will you stop eating those mushrooms? They turned us into zombies last night!”

“And yet they haven't since,” Gnarl said as he waved a purple mushroom around before biting the cap off. “These are quite delectable, Master.”

“As long as they stay away from me. So, about what I was saying? I think we're just about ready to take on Grime and put an end to Toad rule in the Valley. Plus with the pass out of the valley about to thaw, it'll be the best time to take this Evil train to Amphibia as a whole!” Anne stopped in front of her throne and held her arms out. “And once that's done and Amphibia is mine, finding my friends and a way home will be a cinch! It'll be perfect!” Anne couldn't help but throw in an Evil Laugh at the end, which Gnarl applauded along with.

“Great speech, Sire. And I agree, the time to strike is nigh. I can see the toad’s faces already.”

“I know right?” Anne lowered her arms and crossed them behind her back. “So until we're actually victorious, we'll need to be hyper focused and let nothing distract us from what's important!”

Right then, the teleport pool lit up and the Plantars landed in the throne room. “Anne!” Sprig called and ran to Anne.

“Right after this!” Anne corrected and dashed over to Sprig, leaving Gnarl to roll his eyes and go back to his snack. Anne caught Sprig mid jump and did a quick spin as she hugged him.

“Congratulations Anne!”

“Thanks! Why am I being congratulated?”

“You won Frog of the hopping Year!” Anne stared at Sprig before looking to Hop Pop for an actual explanation.

“Well, Anne, every year Wartwood votes for who they think best embodies the spirit of the town. This year, you won that,” Hop Pop explained.

“...Are you sure? Me?”

“Yep.”

“Because we’re the only ones who know what you actually do,” Polly added, “and it was really hard not to laugh when they announced it.”

“Huh. That’s kind of cool actually. So, do I get a big trophy or something?” Anne asked as she set Sprig down.

“You get to plan a party!” he answered.

“Huh? How is that a prize for me?”

“It’s supposed to show appreciation for the community,” Hop Pop answered, “They put their trust in you with this, so you give back with something that shows you understand and return it.”

“That’s flying over my head, but this is still a great opportunity! I’ll do it!”

“You will?” Gnarl asked and stashed his mushroom snacks into his shawl and walked down to Anne. “And why would you entertain this, Sire?”

“Because it gives me a chance to put my victory party plans into action! It’ll just be a pre- victory party instead!” Anne answered proudly. “Also, I’ve been planning a victory party for when Toad Tower falls and the valley is mine for realsies.”

“Very prudent, Master.”

Anne nodded at the praise and looked at the Plantars. “Just give me a second to get those plans and we can be off.”

“We’ll be right here, Anne,” Hop Pop said. Everyone watched as Anne ran up to her private quarters before Gnarl turned to the frogs.

“You understand you’re helping The Overlord with this, of course?” he asked as he started eating mushrooms again.

“Obvi,” Hop Pop replied and put his fists on his hips, “this is exactly the kind of thing Anne would get… bothered by.” The frogs all shuddered at the notion.

“Every time she says that, something always goes wrong,” Sprig added. “Second only to ‘Wouldn’t it be funny if-?’ except that sometimes does work out.”

“Every time…” Polly trailed off.

“Man, the font on these menus is super tiny, and the atmosphere as a whole just isn’t cutting it,” Anne said. The second attempt at making pizza for the family wasn’t as successful as the first, so they decided to eat lunch at Stumpy’s. So far, Anne wasn’t impressed by anything so far. The frog himself came over before they could even place an order and dumped four bowls of slop in front of them.

“Enjoy. Or don’t. I don’t care,” was all he said before wandering off.

“Ugh, and he didn’t even give us silverware! What, are we just supposed to drink these right out of the bowl like animals?”

“Stumpy’s trying his hardest,” Hop Pop answered diplomatically.

“Yeah, it’s been pretty rough for everyone,” Sprig added.

“That’s hardly an excuse,” Anne said with a scowl.

“Excuse me, sir!” a new voice called out and the table turned to see a familiar newt in a tricorn hat waving Stumpy over. “My soup has a fly in it. It should have dozens! I’ll have you know this will go into my review! And another thing-”

“Hey, isn’t that the guy who oversaw the mayoral elections?” Anne asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Albus Duckweed?” Sprig returned, “Yeah. He’s a food critic for the local newspaper.”

“You guys have newspapers? And your elections are overseen by a food critic?” Anne blew a raspberry and slouched in her seat with her arms crossed. “No wonder that whole thing was such a mess.” They all sat in silence as Duckweed continued with his criticisms, and Anne’s eye started to twitch as he went on. “Man, he’s long winded. Give the dude a break.”

“Yeah, Albus kind of needs to be for his job,” Hop Pop said as he glanced from Albus to Anne. He narrowed his eyes at Anne as she kept twitching. “Anne…”

“What? Did you expect me to be bothered by some food critic blowing his opinions in here?” Anne asked.

“Well-”

“BECAUSE I AM!” Anne shouted and stood up, taking a moment to slam her fists onto the table, before she marched over to Albus and Stumpy.

“Oh dear.”

“So, are we going to eat or not?” Polly asked.

It’s the Plantar Family fishing Trip and Sprig can’t wait to get out there and spend some quality time with his Hop Pop! At least that was the plan before it turned out Sylvia was coming along as well. Anne had been overjoyed while Sprig was determined to make the best of the situation, which lasted up to when they were actually out on the water.

As the day went on and it became more and more clear Hop Pop was distracted by Sylvia, Sprig was starting to get depressed about the whole thing. Something that Anne noticed when she wasn’t busy hitting birds and crashing into the deck of the boat in her increasingly failed attempt to paraglide.

Once she had crashed close enough to Sprig to hold a conversation, she asked, “Hey buddy, how are you holding up?”

“Not good. I haven’t been able to spend any time with Hop Pop at all today! This was supposed to be our day…” Sprig said and leaned against the railing to look sadly into the water. Anne managed to detangle herself from the paraglider and stood up.

“That sucks dude. It really seems like you were really looking forward to this too. Seeing you like this really bothers me. ”

Immediately Sprig straightened up with a look of horror before he turned to point at Anne. “Anne, no! I don’t need your help on this!”

“I didn’t say anything. I just wanted to- oh no, not again!” a stray gust of wind suddenly hit the paraglider and sent Anne up into the air with a scream. Sprig let out a sigh of relief.

“That was close. Who knows what she could have done?”

“I know right?” Polly asked and crossed her flippers. “And you’re more than capable of ruining things by yourself.”

“Exactly! I know exactly how I can get Hop Pop away from Slyvia!” Polly rolled her eyes at her brother and watched him run off to do his ‘plans’.

Right after he throws bait in Polly’s face.

Hop Pop had been bothering Anne for almost a straight week now, and vice versa. It’s like a girl can’t spend five hours in the bathroom without someone using a battering ram on the door anymore. The nerve! And now with someone stealing their crops, they had to put that aside in order to catch it. That didn’t last long, they finally got on each other’s last nerves, and they were finally going to finish it.

Even if Hop Pop’s head was a tea kettle and Anne's hair had become an aurora. That was irrelevant.

“I’ve had it Anne! You’ve pushed your luck for long enough! You’re going to behave yourself and you’re going to like it!” Hop Pop shouted and pointed at Anne. Anne wasn’t intimidated in the slightest and let out an evil laugh before she and Hop Pop started floating.

“I’d like to see you try! Don’t forget that I’m the Overlord of Evil, with powers beyond your reckoning! Observe the dark powers that I’ve allied myself with!” Anne shouted, her hair started to turn into swirls of blue and black as she gathered Dark Energy around her. Once it was built up enough, she fired it into the air in a beam into the night sky. The clouds parted and a blob of energy fell and landed behind Anne before forming into a cartoon dog with yellow fur.

“Won mih yortsed. Uoy yarteb lliw poP poH.” It said in a black tongue.

“Ha! I’m not scared of that, Anne!” Hop Pop shouted and gathered his own energy, the spout on his head spewing steam. “In the name of all things farming, I call upon the almighty Axolotl!” The air around Hop Pop simmered before it formed into the ethereal form of a giant axolotl. It blinked once before it focused on its foe.

Anne and Hop Pop stared each other down before they pointed at each other. Their respective champions gathered energy in their mouths before firing powerful beams that collided between them. This proved too much however, and the beams created an explosive wave that engulfed the fighters, and then Wartwood, Frog Valley, and Amphibia as a whole.

Where the continent once stood, there was nothing.

Sprig and Polly stared at Hop Pop with confusion and concern. Gnarl just gave him an irritated look.

“What? Does nobody else remember that?” Hop Pop asked.

“You slime brained fool. If you and the Master had destroyed Amphibia, we wouldn't be here right now,” Gnarl said with overt distaste at having to point out the obvious. Evidently, Hop Pop hadn't considered that as his eyes widened and he scratched his head.

“Huh, you're right. Well, now I wonder what actually happened then.” Hop Pop didn't notice Sprig and Polly glance at each other.

The kids could only stare at what was happening in front of them. Hop Pop and Anne, both completely out of their minds on whatever they drank, were pathetically engaged in a slap fight with each other. Their speech had devolved into incoherent mumbles and, ultimately, only got a few slaps in each before they collapsed and hugged each other while crying ugly tears.

“...This is sad,” Polly said.

“But they're being so friendly with each other. One more push, and they'll be friends forever!” Sprig said.

“Sprig…!” Polly started to say, though her place on Sprig's head meant she was soon dragged along with her brother's scheme to steal more corn.

“Not important,” the young frogs said simultaneously. The sound of footsteps from the stairs meant the issue was dropped once Anne came back into the throne room with a rolled up piece of paper.

“I got my party plans! Now let's get this ball rolling!” She cheered.

“But we're not holding a ball,” Hop Pop said while Anne picked up Polly and put the tadpole on her head.

“Not important!” Anne replied as she picked up Sprig and Hop Pop under her arms. “To the farm!” She shouted and ran to the teleport pool, Polly giving her own battle cry as they jumped into the pool.

Once they were gone, Gnarl finished the last of his mushrooms and went to get more snacks. He'd need something while watching The Overlord’s latest scheme.

Once back at the farm, Anne and the Plantars gathered around the living room table as Anne unfurled her plans on the table. “Behold! My plans for the greatest victory party ever, slightly modified to include actual people in it.” The frogs ‘oohed’ as they looked it over, with Polly going so far as to jump on the table and smell it.

“It still smells like victory to me,” she said with a sigh.

Hop Pop smelled it and cringed. “Just smells like old paper to me.”

“Now then,” Anne said as she crossed her arms behind her back and started pacing, “You said the town will help with putting the party together. Combine that with Minions for heavy lifting and that takes care of the actual construction. Which leaves us to focus on the Big Three.”

“Big Three?” Sprig asked.

“A good party needs three things to be truly legendary: Entertainment, Exclusivity, and Spectacle.” Anne punctuated the last one with wavy fingers before gesturing at the Plantars. “Thankfully, I have the three frogs I trust the most to provide those things.”

It took a moment of looking around for the Plantars to realize she meant them. “Oh yeah.” “That makes sense.” “Of course I knew that!”

Anne smiled and waited for them to settle down before she pointed at Hop Pop. “HP, you’re in charge of entertainment. When frogs are at the party, make sure they’re enjoying themselves. I dub thee, Master of Ceremonies.” Anne produced a microphone and gave it to Hop Pop, who accepted with a loud gasp and wide eyes.

“I’ve been waiting for this my whole life!” he shouted with tears in his eyes before rushing to his study.

“Polly!” Anne said, causing the tadpole to snap to attention, “As my trusted Battlemaster, you are in charge of exclusivity. You decide who gets into the party and who doesn’t.” Anne put a velvet rope stand next to Polly, who also gasped at the sight.

“I can’t wait to abuse this power!” she shouted as she took the rope up to her room, leaving Anne and Sprig alone.

“And what about me?~” Sprig asked in song, more than eager to know what Anne had planned for him.

“Sprig, you have the most important job of all: the spectacle. The thing that everyone will be talking about long after the party is over. Where people will go, ‘hey, remember that party where that cool thing happened? I was there for it!’”

Sprig, overly excited at being in charge of something so important, could only bounce in his feet excitedly with a massive grin.

“Which is why, at the party…” Anne continued, staring at Sprig with a matching enthusiasm, “...You're going to tell Ivy how you feel about her!”

“Wha-huh?” Sprig said, as he felt he had run right into a wall at full hop.

“It’s the perfect thing to tie the night together!” Anne said excitedly as she grabbed Sprig and lifted him onto the couch with her. “Nothing gets people jazzed and excited more than young love coming true before them!” She even had a magazine saying as much, and since it was in a magazine it had to be true.

Never mind the fact that the last time she listened to a magazine about love, she and the Plantars were nearly eaten by Love Doves. That’s besides the point.

“I don’t know, Anne,” Sprig said as he put the magazine down, “this is a big step. Plus… after what happened on Hiberday…”

“THAT WAS A MOMENT OF WEAKNESS! Brought about by sudden drama landing in front of me! I’m thirteen, Sprig, I can’t help myself when something juicy happens!” Anne defended before slamming her hands on Sprig’s shoulders, “I’ve always been on your side on this Sprig, you know that. Do this for me and I swear I’ll keep my nose out of romantic shenanigans from now on! And I know I double back on my promises a lot, but I mean it this time.”

Sprig had to look away from Anne’s eyes as they bore into him. It wasn’t like he was against the idea after all, it was just sudden. And he couldn’t stop thinking of how things would go if they went bad. Of course, nothing was without risks, the fact he was friends with Anne now after everything was proof of that. Eventually he looked back at Anne and scratched his cheek.

“Okay, I’ll try. What’s the worst that could happen?” Sprig said and was immediately pulled into a hug.

“Thank you! And don’t worry, Sprig,” Anne said as she stood up, “You’ll have plenty of time to practice, and I’ll make sure everything goes off without a hitch! Let’s get this party started!” Anne shot a fist into the air and Sprig added his own with a weak little ‘Yay’ before he was dragged away.

It took some time for Sasha to both find a good lookout position she wouldn't be found on and gather everything she'd need, but she managed. Now on a hill overlooking Wartwood and with plenty of snacks with her, Sasha settled in with a pair of binoculars to watch the town.

“Okay, let's see what's going on down there,” she said as she peered through the binoculars down at the town. Without an accurate clock she couldn't be sure, it didn't feel like she was gone more than an hour, but the town square had come alive in the time she had been gone. Frogs were setting up decorations all around, drinking glasses were being polished, the restaurant frog was tending to a giant pot, and-

Bushy hair under a hat, dark skin, a familiar school uniform, Her face.

Sasha nearly dropped her binoculars in shock before she recovered and looked again. There was no doubt about it, Anne was down there, alive and more than well! A little scuffed and dirty maybe, but infinitely miles better than dead. Sasha had to resist the urge to scream and rush down to hug her friend, hard as it may be. She had something resembling a plan going, and she needed to stick to it. Especially since The Overlord's Minions were still down there, that Anne was giving directives too?

‘Weird. I wonder how she did that?’ Sasha wondered. Anne always had been a major people person, but that she managed to work her way to something resembling comfort in The Overlord’s hierarchy? Either way, Anne still needed rescuing and Sasha was determined to figure a way out of that. She set the binoculars down long enough to grab some chips and threw some into her mouth before she resumed watching Anne walking through the square.

Down there, Anne was pleased at the progress being made so far. Stumpy was making a stew that was looking good so far, decorations were looking good so far, and Loggle was making that statue of herself just as she was envisioning it.

Well, no, that was a lie. She couldn’t make a statue of her Overlord half without giving the game away though, so she had to make do. She gave Loggle a thumbs up and marked something on a clipboard she had before moving on to her Master of Ceremonies.

“Hey HP, how are you doing for tonight?” she asked while Hop Pop looked over some note cards.

“Great actually,” Hop Pop replied and gestured with his note cards, “I got some jokes that will slay the crowd! Am I using that word right?”

“Hopefully not in the way I’d use it. Let’s hear it, give me your best shot.” Anne waited while Hop Pop looked at his notes and chose something.

“Okay, have you heard the one about the snail that went on a diet?”

“No?”

“Well, he’s a shell of his former self!” Hop Pop started cracking up at the joke, but Anne simply stared unamused.

“Could use some work. I’ll leave you to it,” Anne said as she marked her clipboard again and left Hop Pop to his flat comedy. Maybe the dumber frogs will enjoy it. A bit further on, slightly hidden in a space between two buildings, Sprig was starting at a dummy made to look like Ivy. “Hey buddy! How are you going over here? Getting psyched?”

“I don’t know what that means, Anne,” Sprig said and took a deep breath, put his hands in his pockets, and approached the dummy. “Hey Ivy! I just wanted to say-” he started before inexplicably tripping into the dummy and knocking it to the ground. The horror didn’t end there either, as the dummy landed wrong and the head of ‘Ivy’ flew off of the body and bounced a couple of times against the ground.

“IVY! NO!” Sprig yelled and ran to cradle the dummy head. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean it!”

“Oof, tough luck,” Anne said as she crouched next to Sprig and rubbed his back. “But that also wasn’t the worst confession I’ve seen. Practice makes perfect Sprig, keep it up.” Sprig nodded through the tears and Anne stood up to move on, though it happened in time for her to see Polly get a little too into her role. While it was impressive that she was swinging the velvet rope like a nunchuck, it did end up knocking a table over and destroying everything on top of it.

“Oops,” was all Polly could say, unaware of the look on Anne’s face as the clipboard groaned under her grip. Mayor Toadstool and Toadie passed by then, took one look at what was happening, and the former shook his head.

“See what I was talking about Toadie? This will be the worst Frog of the Year party ever,” Toadstool said loud enough for Anne to hear before walking away. It had the desired effect, since it absolutely got under Anne’s skin. Her clipboard started bending in her grip as Hop Pop and Sprig both approached her.

“Um… Anne? Are you okay?” Sprig asked nervously.

“You shouldn’t listen to him, Anne. Just plan the party how you want,” Hop Pop said, hoping to head off a potential disaster.

“Guys, please,” Anne finally said and turned to the two frogs with a smile. “Do you really think I’d let someone like that bother me? Because it doesn’t. It does not bother me.”

“Well, that’s good. For a second, I thought you were-” Hop Pop said with relief, only to be interrupted by Anne snapping the clipboard in half. “Oh no…”

“I lied, it bothers me. IT BOTHERS ME A LOT!” Anne screamed and threw the clipboard down. “Calling me the worst at something?! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?! I’ll show you who’s bad by the time I’m done!”

Anne looked at Hop Pop, who hid behind his note cards right as they were ripped from his hands. “Hop Pop, these jokes just aren’t cutting it anymore! From now on, you’re on improv!”

“Improv? But I don't know how to improv!” Hop Pop protested.

“Well figure it out!” Anne turned on Sprig and simply said, “You know what to do, Sprig. Don't disappoint me.”

Instantly, it felt like a mountain fell on Sprig. His face scrunched up and he was covered in stress mucus while Anne moved on.

“Polly!” The tadpole turned at her name being called, “don't break stuff! Otherwise, keep up the good work!”

“Yes ma'am!” Polly said and bounced away.

“Loggle! Redo that statue, make it more majestic!”

“Oh, come on!”

“Stumpy, you stew is too basic! We're gonna go with sashimi for the party!”

“What the heck is sashimi?” Stumpy asked.

“It's fresh fish! Now go get some!” Stumpy simply shrugged, changed a hand to a mace, and left to get this ‘sashimi’ while Anne continued her downward spiral. “Make the glassware fancier! Get better music! Gems for decorations! And where is that chocolate fountain I wanted!”

Every frog in the square watched Anne heaving heavy breaths after that with only the Plantars being brave enough to approach her. “Um, Anne? Don't you think you're taking this a little too seriously?” Hop Pop asked.

“No!” Anne shouted in answer, her eyes shining blue for the split second she had turned on Hop Pop. “Now get back to work! There's only twelve hours until the party and I won't tolerate any setbacks!”

Anne marched off to deal with something or another and the crowd looked at the Plantars for some kind of explanation. Dripping with mucus, Hop Pop nervously said, “Mayor Toadstool got under her skin a little.”

“That makes sense.” “Yeah, he'd do that.” “Being Frog of the Year is so stressful.”

Appeased, the crowd dispersed to do their tasks, the Plantars giving each other a worried look before going to their own.

Sasha, meanwhile, lowered her binoculars and shook her head. Even if she couldn't hear what was going on down there, she could recognize a full control meltdown when she saw one. “Rule one of party planning: don't take others' opinions seriously. Guess Anne has to learn eventually.” Sasha took in the town, still bustling with preparations, and sighed after a minute.

“Welp, I got time to kill.”

As Sasha found out, watching someone else plan a party was far more boring than planning one yourself. She trained for a bit, watched the town, ate some snacks to make up for missing lunch, watched the town again, laid on her back staring at the sky while contemplating the meaninglessness of her own existence, watched the town one more time to see Anne destroying a bunch of pumpkins with her racket for some reason.

“Mood, girl. Utter mood.”

Eventually Sasha started dozing off and eventually fell asleep. She really did need it after the last few days of nightmares, which thankfully didn't show up this time. After a dreamless sleep, Sasha startled awake and looked around frantically. “Who was that? Where am I? Of course I changed my…” she said before realizing where she was and sighed. “So glad nobody saw that. I must have been more tired than I thought. What time is it?”

The answer to that was explicitly night time. Sasha hadn’t intended to sleep that long and she hoped she hadn’t missed anything. At the very least, Percy and Braddock had to have made it back to Toad Tower and informed Grime about what was going on by now, so Sasha just had to wait until Grime got here before she could finally rescue Anne.

Speaking of, how were things going down in the town? Even a cursory glance right now showed the town was far more lively than it was before. ‘Are those spotlights?’ Sasha wondered as she found her binoculars to get a better look. “Whoa,” was all Sasha could say at what she found.

At the entrance was a line of frogs being let in by a tadpole, of all things. Sasha didn't get that, but since none of the frogs seemed perturbed she just shrugged it off. In the party itself were several tables scattered around with lots of fancy dinner ware, shiny decorations both on the tables and hanging from lines that ran overhead, and a dance floor with an actual DJ. Sasha had to take a moment to get the flashing lights out of her eyes before resuming her spying.

The central piece of the square, a larger statue of Anne holding a tennis racket aloft like a sword, drew Sasha's eyes and from there the subject of the statue herself at the base.

Anne had changed into a sharp white suit with a sash that said ‘Frog of the Year’ across her chest complete with dress shoes and a cane. She had also managed to get her hair under control and cleaned for once so it was slicked back in a classy way. The sight of her friend standing in front of a crowd making sweeping gestures of welcoming with a glass in her hand just as fireworks were going off in the sky behind her left Sasha stunned. She then let out a slow whistle before lowering the binoculars for a moment.

“Okay Boonchuy, color me impressed,” Sasha said and went back to watching the party.

With the party in full swing, the frogs scattered around to see what the party had to offer. Some went to the dance floor to hear the human music known vaguely as “EDM”, some naturally to the punch bowl and food table. That second group got some impromptu entertainment when Mayor Toadstool went to get some ‘sashimi’, which turned out to be very dangerous when it was still alive. It was certainly better than the party's ‘official’ entertainment.

Hop Pop was standing shivering and dripping mucus as he looked out at a small crowd in front of him, staring. Expecting . Improv was a lot harder than he ever thought it could be, but he made a promise to at least try. He tugged on his collar and began. “So… heh heh, what’s the deal with… Newtopian… food?”

“...None of us have been to Newtopia,” one of the frogs said.

“I know, but I’m trying here. At least pretend to be entertained.” The frogs all looked at each other, then back at Hop Pop, and started giving very slow, very measured claps. “Oh no, that’s worse than nothing actually. Please stop.”

“Oof. Maybe improv was the bad call to make,” Anne commented as she watched Hop Pop crash and burn. She then drained her glass of punch and threw it over her shoulder. “Welp, too late to back out of that now. He’ll just have to roll with it.” Sympathy properly conveyed, Anne moved on to inspecting the rest of the party. So far so good, even if Wally was there. ‘Everybody has to attend, Anne, even if you don’t want them to,’ Hop Pop said at the time, much to Anne’s ire.

That aside, Anne was glad that everything was coming together nicely, Hop Pop notwithstanding. Soon enough, she found Sprig wandering around the party with his hands in his pockets looking around nervously. “Hey Sprig!” she called out and walked over to him. “How’s your task coming along?”

“Not good,” he replied with a sigh. “I haven’t even seen Ivy tonight. Maybe that’s a good thing though, I still don’t know what to say to her. That’s fine, right?”

“I'll just make you do it tomorrow,” Anne replied and leaned in toward a much more anxious Sprig. “You will be happy, so help me…”

“Okay, I get it!” Sprig said and stepped away from Anne. After taking a moment to calm himself, he said, “I still need to think of what to tell her though. Which is good, the longer it takes for me to find her, the more time I'll have to think of something.”

“Hi Sprig,” Ivy said as she and Maddie walked up from behind Sprig. In response to this blatant curve ball from fate, Sprig screamed in fear and ran as fast as he could away from her. “Oh, okay. I'll see you later?”  Ivy added while Maddie shook her head at the frog boy and took a drink of punch.

“You got all night buddy! You got this!” Anne called after Sprig before turning to the frog girls. “Head there Ivy, Maddie. Enjoying the party?”

“It's alright,” Maddie answered.

“It's a little too bright and loud, but it's fine,” Ivy answered while looking around. She adjusted her hat and little before she waved at Anne and started walking away. “Well, I'll get back to it. See you Anne.” With Ivy gone, Maddie once again shook her head with a sigh.

“Some people,” she said aloud.

“Tell me about it,” Anne agreed and looked down at Maddie. “So what are you doing with Ivy? The two of you on a date or something?” Anne meant that as a joke, but the glare Maddie gave her showed it came off as anything but.

“Oh, you'd like that wouldn't you?” Maddie asked before taking a long, slow sip of punch before walking away toward Ivy, her eye never leaving Anne until the crowd concealed her.

“Sheesh, you take one goof picture and they never let you forget it,” Anne whispered with a roll of her eyes. “Well whatever, I have more important stuff to do.” Anne kicked her cane into a spin and walked off to look at the rest of the party.

Back on the hill, Sasha watched on with intrigue. “Huh, it’s actually doing alright. Not bad for a first attempt, Boonchuy.” Sasha couldn’t help the twinge of competitiveness at that moment, that her friend managed something like this on her first try when she had to have a couple of attempts to get it right. It felt… wrong, deep in her soul. “Times like these are when something usually goes catastrophically wrong. It happened to me, so when is it-?” Suddenly there was an uproar in the town and Sasha resumed her watch with a smile. “There it is.”

Anne was on the commotion the near instant it happened. “What is it? What’s wrong?” she asked.

“I don’t understand this music!” one of the frogs shouted and pointed at the DJ, who looked like he also wasn’t enjoying himself. “It’s too fast!”

“I don’t know how to dance to it!”

“The lights are too bright!”

“I know what’ll help!” Wally shouted before he hopped over to a table, grabbed a chair, and threw it at the dance floor. While it didn’t hit anyone, the frogs on the dance floor stared at it for a moment before they all descended into a big dust cloud of violence.

“Wally! How would that help?!” Anne shouted angrily. When Wally just smiled and shrugged at her, Anne picked him up and threw him into the chaos. While his screams of fear gave her momentary happiness, she still had to think of a way to quell this sudden problem.

And then another came in the form of a screaming Hop Pop. “Anne! I can’t do it! The stares, the pity! It just won’t stop! Improv just isn’t working!”

“Hop Pop, calm down!” Anne said. Hop Pop did not calm down, as Sprig found when he chose that moment to walk by and was grabbed by his grandfather.

“It’s all over Sprig! It’s nothing but swamp bottom for us from here!”

Sprig screamed in response. “AAAH! You’re right! What was I thinking?! I CAN’T DO THIS ANNE!” Sprig and Hop Pop then ran in opposite directions screaming, leaving Anne to groan and put her face in her hands.

“How could this possibly get-”

Before she could even finish, things got worse. Polly decided to play with the velvet ropes again and, thanks to Sprig bumping into her, she lost her grip on them and sent them flying. All she could say in response to this is “Oops.” The ropes flew through the air and hit the Sashimi right in the eye, causing the giant fish to go into a rage and start thrashing around at whatever it could.

“Everybody look out, the Sashimi is loose!” Stumpy shouted as he backed away.

“You didn’t kill it?!” Anne shouted in response.

“I was supposed to?”

“Argh, you idiot!” The Sashimi turned to Anne and roared at her before charging. Anne dodged out of the way and watched the Sashimi crash into the fire jugglers who had definitely been there the whole time, even if they themselves didn't want to. Their torches went flying, and in a place like Wartwood that meant a lot of fires started all at once.

As the town burst into flame, Sasha couldn’t help but chuckle nostalgically. “Yeah, just like my second party. Dad was not happy about that.” Sasha cringed a little at that and leaned back into her binoculars. “I probably could rescue Anne now, but how would I…?” she trailed off when she saw Anne again.

Standing in the middle of the chaos, among screaming frogs and (summarily ignored) burning Minions, Anne looked around before closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. She then took off her sash, pulled it between her hands, and charged at the still rampaging Sashimi. The fish turned to roar at Anne, giving her the opening to jump and loop her sash around its upper jaw before landing on top of it.

“Obey!” Anne shouted and pulled on her sash like reins. The fish fought against it momentarily before it started charging with Anne steering where it went. She scanned the crowd for someone and turned toward him.

“I knew this would happen! Some Frogs of the Year!” Mayor Toadstool shouted as he took in the devastation. A second later the fish passed by and Toadstool was pulled on top of it by Anne. “Wha?”

“Toadstool! I need your help to get this under control!” Anne shouted while looking over her shoulder at Toadstool.

“My help?! After you caused this in the first place?!” Toadstool returned.

“I screwed up, I know, but I'm trying to fix it!” Anne turned around, put a hand on Toadstool's shoulder, and looked right into his eyes. “Do you want people to actually like you for once?”

“...Well, when you put it that way.”

“Good. You grab, I steer.” She turned back to the front, steered hard left, and the two got to work. As they passed by any frogs still in the square, Toadstool reached down and scooped them up. It took a few passes and several big arm grabs, but soon everyone was huddled atop the fish and holding on for dear life, like the Plantars were to Anne.

“Looks like that's everyone, now for the fire!” Anne said as she pulled the fish to a stop.

“And how do you plan to do that?” Toadstool asked. Anne looked around the square before turning to Toadstool with a smirk.

“You know how to use a chocolate fountain?” she asked. Toadstool looked her dead in the eye and solemnly cracked his knuckles.

“Who do you think I am?”

With another crack of the makeshift reins, they launched forward toward the chocolate fountain where Toadstool snatched it up and dragged it along as they went. As is well known, chocolate is fire's second natural enemy in nature, so it didn't take Toadstool long to cover the town (along with a few frog bystanders) in a generous helping of melted chocolate to douse the flames.

Back up on the hill, Sasha could only mutter, “...Touche, Boonchuy,” as she watched everyone get off the exhausted fish. Most of them seemed excited about being alive except for Anne, who tugged her sash free of the Fish’s jaws only to throw it on the ground and stalk over to the fountain.

“Whew. Well that was another crisis to add to the pile. Good save, Anne!” Sprig said once the nerves were shaken away. While plenty of voices were heard, Anne’s wasn’t one of them. After a second, Sprig looked around and saw Anne sitting on the fountain’s edge, curled up into a ball.

“Uh oh…” he muttered as he hopped over to Anne, with more frogs noticing Anne and cautiously approaching. Sprig hopped onto the fountain next to Anne and started rubbing her back. “Are you okay, Anne?”

“Oh, I’m doing great! Thanks for noticing!” Anne replied overly sarcastically before curling up further.

“I don’t know, I don’t think you’re doing great.”

“That’s because I was being sarcastic.” Anne sighed and uncurled enough to sit properly on the fountain edge. “It’s just disheartening to put all this work into something like this just for it all to be ruined by dumb stuff I didn’t see coming! This was supposed to be the perfect party, and it just… wasn’t. Some Frog of the Year I am.”

“Anne, you know it didn’t need to be perfect right?” Hop Pop asked and gestured broadly around the square. “Everything you were putting together was fine before you lost it with all the fancy. You didn’t have to do all of this just to impress us.”

“I did! ‘Fine’ is never good enough!” Anne said and grabbed Hop Pop by his shirt to pull him closer. “If everything wasn’t perfect, what exactly would keep all of them from running me out again?!” There were gasps all around. Anne remembered where they were and looked around at the crowd of suddenly cringing and worried looking frogs. “And I just said that out loud. Great.” Anne dropped Hop Pop and curled up in a ball again.

“...Still a bit of a sore spot, isn’t it?” Hop Pop asked with only the barest movement of a nod from Anne responding. “Anne, you know that isn’t going to happen again, for many reasons, right?”

“I know, but… it still hurts…”

“I know it does… but I think it shows just how much you’ve grown.” Anne lifted her head up to give Hop Pop a confused look. “Like I was saying earlier, Frog of the Year is a show of appreciation for and from the community. While it’s true you got off to a… very bad start with all of us-” thought he didn’t mean to, Hop Pop’s words caused a round of flinches and apologies from the crowd- “once everything settled that changed. You have to admit that you’ve come to love this town after everything, right?”

Anne glanced away from him, but ultimately nodded in agreement.

“Well, we all noticed too. You didn’t have to protect us on Hiberday, help Stumpy’s restaurant, man our family stand or tend crops. Even whatever you did with Wally last week!”

“I did what now?”

“Look, what I’m trying to say is we noticed. That's why we all voted you for Frog of the Year, to show that appreciation. The party was your way to return it. And yes, you did go crazy…”

“Very crazy,” Polly added.

“But you did still want to give everyone a great night to remember! The intent’s what matters in the end, even if it went off the rails.” Anne, who had moved back to sitting normally through Hop Pop’s speech, watched him walk over and hop onto the edge to put a hand on her arm. “Even without all the party and award stuff, I’d still say you’re the best thing that happened to our little town Anne.”

Anne again gave Hop Pop a confused look that he waved away.

“Yes, I know, it's still ironic. That doesn’t make it any less true.” Anne’s eyes widened and shined with joyous tears as she pulled the old frog into a hug, one that Sprig and Polly joined instantly. The crowd couldn’t help but give ‘awws’ at the sight right up until Toadstool gave a frustrated shout.

“Okay fine! I admit it! Even with the disaster, this was still one of the best Frog of the Year parties we’ve had!” Toadstool shouted and then, with a sigh, moved to grab Anne’s sash and walked over to her with it. “For the record, I still think you’re one of the most selfish people I’ve ever met, but in a… selfless way? Does that make sense?” A lot of frogs, and Anne herself, shrugged at that, which Toadstool returned and put the sash over Anne’s head. “Whatever, you saved the town again. That’s all that matters.”

“Selfishly selfless. Yeah, I guess that describes me,” Anne said and let go of Hop Pop before standing up with Sprig hanging off of her shoulders. “I still feel bad about the fire, so can I at least make up for that?”

“It’s your party.” Anne shook her head at the feigned indifference before scanning the crowd for two Amphibians.

“Stumpy, Loggle! Please tell me you guys didn’t actually throw away the things I told you to throw away.”

“No, it’s in me restaurant,” Stumpy replied.

“I did!” Loggle said while holding a finger up. A second later, he finished, “...nt. I didn’t. I did want to turn it into a bird house though.”

“Hold off on that. We might just be able to turn this party around,” Anne said as she took out Hop Pop’s joke cards and handed them back to him, the old frog taking them reverently. “Walk with me, I got some ideas.” Stumpy and Loggle did as told and followed Anne out of the square while everyone else separated to see where this would go.

“She bounces back easily,” Polly noticed.

“It is a Plantar family trait,” Hop Pop replied proudly.

After a bit of time and prep work, the party was back in a much smaller swing than before. Stumpy was serving the stew he had made earlier to much joy while making sure the Sashimi stayed pacified with plenty of scratches. Gentler music from a local jug band filled the air with plenty of frogs either dancing along or simply listening. And Wally, somehow, put together a popular side game about throwing chairs.  This was a party the town appreciated after the excitement and fire.

Anne, after making sure any unnecessary Minions were dismissed, had changed back into her school uniform (hair detritus included) and watched everything from a log on the sidelines. She took a drink from her stew bowl and waved at the Plantars approaching.

“How are you feeling, girl?” Polly asked as she and Sprig hopped onto the log on either side of Anne.

“Better. I'm glad everyone's enjoying themselves after everything. I really went crazy earlier, man.” Anne answered.

“Better that than the murderous crazy you used to do,” Sprig added, earning a playful shove from Anne.

“So, did we learn anything Anne?” Hop Pop asked.

“Yup. Don't let anyone's negative opinion influence me, because I'm always right and anyone who disagrees with me will feel the taste of my heel before their demise.” Polly nodded in agreement while Hop Pop gave her a concerned look.

“Eh… close enough. Just make sure you enjoy yourself Anne.”

“You don't have to worry about that, HP. And speaking of enjoying yourself,” Anne leaned forward and gently turned Hop Pop's head until he saw Sylvia waving at him. The old frog brightened up and started making his way over to her with a wave to the kids. “They're really cute, as long as they don’t dance again.”

“The reactions are funny,” Polly countered, which Anne nodded to. She downed the rest of her stew and set the bowl aside before turning to Sprig.

“Hey, sorry for putting so much pressure on you tonight Buddy. That wasn't cool of me. You can forget about confessing to Ivy tonight.”

“Thanks Anne. I won't worry about it. When the time finally comes, I'll be ready. I know it,” Sprig replied with a relieved smile.

“Hi Sprig!” Sprig jumped and turned to Ivy and Maddie as they walked to him again. Anne raised an eyebrow at Ivy's strangely nervous behavior.

“Oh, hi Ivy. Is something wrong?” Sprig asked.

“Huh? Oh, no… I just…” Ivy trailed off again, which caused Maddie to roll her eyes and poke Ivy.

“You're stalling again. Ask him, or I will for you,” the witch said.

“What?! No!” Ivy said forcefully as she turned to Maddie. “Don't do that! I swear I'm doing it!” Maddie responded with a blink as Ivy let her go and turned back to Sprig with a blush on her face.

‘Wait, blush?!’ Anne thought, her eyes widening in realization, and then bit down on her fingers to keep any joyful squeals at bay. It wouldn't do if she ruined this moment after everything.

“Ask me what?” Sprig asked.

“Well, you know…” Ivy said started to pull her hat down over her eyes, “I was wondering… ifyouwantedtogooutwithmesometime!”

Sprig's eyes widened when he realized what Ivy asked and Anne couldn't contain the squeal of joy that this was happening! A moment passed, Ivy's blush doubled, and she pulled her hat down over her eyes.

“Never mind, that was a stupid question to ask! Just forget I said anything!” Ivy all but screamed and tried to run away, though Sprig caught her hand before she could get away.

“Wait! Ivy, I'd love to,” Sprig said. Ivy lifted her hat over her eyes to see Sprig's sheepish smile and matching blush. “Guess what I was trying to do all night too?”

Ivy blinked a couple of times before laughing, Sprig joining in halfway through. “Well too bad, I beat you to it! So…”

“I'd like to hang out and see the party with you too,” Sprig said. The two of them smiled at each other before running off toward the party together.

“About time. She was going on about this all night,” Maddie said as she sat down on the log.

“Anne was even worse about that. It was one of the three main things she was planning this party around!” Polly said with an eye roll before she nudged Anne with a flipper. “But hey, mission complete right?” Anne, barely able to keep a semblance of composure, stood up and-

“YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!”

-screamed to the heavens. Everyone heard it; Sprig and Ivy nearly tripped in surprise, partygoers turned at the shout, and even Sasha got startled by the shout enough that a drink of soda went down the wrong way and left her coughing. For a solid ten seconds Anne shouted before stopping and falling back onto the log out of breath.

“Yeah, mission accomplished,” Anne said once she got her breath back.

“...Ow,” was all Polly could say with a pained expression.

“You have really good lungs,” Maddie complimented.

“Thanks. So is that what you've been doing all night? Being Ivy's wingman? Wingfrog?” Anne paused and looked very thoughtful. “What is a female frog called?”

“Don't over complicate a turn of phrase. Yeah, I was helping Ivy. She decided the Frog of the Year party was a good time to ask Sprig out and, somehow, I was the best girl to help with that.” Maddie shrugged and hopped off the log. “Not that I mind. It was a better way of spending the night than locking myself in my room working on my curses.”

“Thank you for your sacrifice,” Anne said and looked over at Sprig and Ivy. She smiled at them and leaned forward to rest her chin in her hands. “I'm happy for them. They're lucky to have each other.”

“Sure. Sprig's the real lucky one though.” Anne blinked and turned to watch Maddie leave. It took her a second to understand what she said and narrowed her eyes at the witch.

‘Was Sprig 2 right? I thought that was just drama, but could Maddie really have feelings for Ivy? They would be cute together, but I'd need to test it to-’

Anne’s ears started burning and she looked around until her eyes met Sprig's, standing totally still and staring at her blankly. Whether he felt a shift in the air or just knew Anne well enough, she knew he knew what she was thinking just from that look.

‘Right, I did promise.’ And so, Anne moved her hands in front of her, took a deep breath, and gave Sprig double thumbs up. Sprig smiled and returned the thumbs up before hopping after Ivy. “He's right. They'll figure it out.”

“...Were you planning to do something with Maddie just now?” Polly asked, squinting her eyes at Anne.

“Yes, but that's not important.” Anne pushed herself up to her feet and stretched her arms over her head. “Enjoy the party Polly, I have work to do.”

“What kind of work?”

“The Evil kind. This was a good omen Polly, and I intend to act on it. By dinner tomorrow, Toad Tower will have fallen, Captain Grime will be dead, and I will reign supreme!” Anne managed to rein in any Evil Laughter, but still waved cheerily at Polly. “See you at dinner tomorrow!”

“Bye!” Polly returned and watched as Anne jogged away and teleported back to the Dark Tower mid stride. “Teleporting is so cool. Though, anything but hopping is cool. I wish these stupid legs will come out soon.” Alas, they didn't at that moment, leaving Polly to hop over to try and swim in the surviving chocolate fountain.

The only one who didn't think teleporting was cool was Sasha, who was aghast at seeing Anne vanish in a flash of light. Like every other time something like that happened, she knew what had happened.

“The Overlord can teleport Anne whenever he wants?! HE CAN JUST DO THAT!?” Sasha pushed to her feet and tried to wrap her mind around the new information, and eventually when it settled Sasha threw her binoculars on the ground and growled angrily. “So rescuing Anne wouldn’t matter at all as long as The Overlord is still alive! He’ll just undo it like that!”

Sasha clenched her hands tightly and glared down at the town of Wartwood. “Fine then. If he wants to push that issue to the forefront now, I’m game. I’ve been looking forward to killing him anyway.” Sasha heard the sound of heavy marching and looked around until she saw a large horde of Toad soldiers coming her way. Sasha smirked and started walking toward them. She’d have to run her newest idea past Grime before they moved in on the town.

Most of the Minions were gone. They could be overpowered, especially without The Overlord around. And without the risk of Anne getting in the way, Sasha could go all out. And the town's frogs might still be useful, in their own way.

Sasha's smirk widened, her eyes started to glow, and a laugh slipped out. This could work.

The Overlord dies tonight. She'll make sure of it.

Chapter Text

Ten minutes. For whatever reason, Gnarl had to suffer The Overlord’s affection for ten minutes when she returned to the Dark Tower. He had stopped paying attention to whatever the Master was doing at the hour mark and moved on to more important things, like making the Minions clean the floors or trying his hand at this ‘K-pop’ again. So when The Overlord came back screaming joyfully about her success, Gnarl knew something was wrong before she pulled him into a hug and babbled about what had happened while twirling around.

He would almost rather be thrown to rabid wolves.

“And they just looked so cute together, you wouldn’t believe it!” Anne said for almost the tenth time since she started. Thankfully for Gnarl, that was when Anne put him down and she wandered over to her throne while he straightened out his shawl. “This is the biggest sign of impending victory I’ve seen yet! Tomorrow is the day, Gnarl! Frog Valley will be mine and Amphibia will be one step closer to being dominated!”

“It has been a long time coming, Sire,” Gnarl said, now back to a neat kind of scraggly.

“It has. I'm gonna sleep well tonight. Nothing's going to bring me down!”

“Master!” Anne's eye twitched at the Minion’s voice, but didn't let it show as Snot ran into the throne room.

“Snot, what's gone wrong this time?” Gnarl asked, already sure of what had happened. Snot took a moment to form a thought before speaking.

“Toads kidnapped whole town!”

“They WHAT?!” Anne shouted, her eyes instantly glowing blue in rage.

Ten minutes earlier

They had come out of nowhere. One moment it was just the peaceful goings on of a winding down party, the next Toad soldiers were leaping out of nowhere. The frogs that were close to where they suddenly appeared tried to run, but were soon being corralled in the middle of the square. It was also sudden enough that the Minion guards were caught by surprise and, lacking both a proper horde size and their Overlord to guide them, were all brought down in the ambush.

All except Snot, who nearly got his head caved in by a female toad missing an arm, but was saved by a string bean soldier that stopped the toad.

“We need one of these things alive to tell The Overlord what happened,” the string bean said and waved the toad off, who very reluctantly did as told. The string bean then grabbed and pulled Snot up and said, “You're going to watch and tell The Overlord we'll be waiting. Got it?” Snot blinked slowly at her, which caused her to roll her eyes and throw the Minion on the ground. “Whatever, he’ll find out eventually.” The string bean raised the hood of her cloak over her head and then walked away to the center of town with the toad, leaving Snot to watch what was happening from afar.

Because she was right. The Master would like to know about this.

It didn’t take long for the frogs to all be rounded up and grouped up in the town. Most of them huddled close to one another as they watched the toads surrounding them.

“Dang it, not this whole thing again!”

And then there was Polly. Nobody paid the pollywog any attention as the toads parted to let through a particularly nasty looking toad who jumped onto the food table to look down on them.

“Uh oh, that’s Captain Grime! The meanest gladiator to come out of the Colosseum!” Hop Pop said, sparking a wave of hushed discussions among the gathered frogs.

“About time…” Toadstool muttered.

“Wait, so that is who Anne…?” Sprig whispered to Hop Pop, getting a nod in response.

“She can take him,” Polly said and squinted her eyes at Grime.

“So are these all of them?” Grime asked and a toad soldier nodded. “Excellent. Now, as I’m sure you already know, I am Captain Grime of Toad Tower. While I’ve been busy for some time, tonight is a very important night that requires my personal attention .” Grime stepped forward so he was on the edge of the table, his face shadowed save for his glowing eyes that made the frogs shiver. “That’s right. Tonight, you…”

The frogs gasped and watched as some toads approached.

“...are invited to a banquet!”

“Huh?” The frogs were confused, especially since the approaching toad soldiers revealed party hats under their helmets and shot confetti over them.

“I don’t get it,” Polly said flatly.

“You see, my Lieutenant has been looking for her friend for quite some time, to no avail. To be honest, it’s been kind of depressing seeing her slump around the tower lately,” Grime explained, with Percy nodding in agreement. “Today however, she found her friend and made a very compelling case to thank this town for looking after her.”

“Her friend?” Toadstool asked, and was answered by a loud thump of an armored boot slamming down. They turned to look at the tall Lieutenant walking toward them before she stopped next to Grime and lowered her hood, making the town frogs gasp. Long blonde hair, visible ears, and a nose! It could only be one thing.

“Hey, another Anne!” Polly shouted and pointed at Sasha, while other frogs gasped. Sasha raised an eyebrow at the reaction, but ultimately shrugged it off as she walked over to the Plantars.

“‘Another’ Anne, huh? So I was right that you knew her. She did seem to talk with you more than anyone else here while I was watching you.”

“Wait, you were watching us?” Sprig asked nervously.

“Oh yeah, basically all day. So how well do you know her?”

“She's super cool!” Polly said.

“She lives in my basement!” Hop Pop added.

“She's my best friend! So, I guess that makes us co-best friends, right?” Sprig said.

“Does it?” Sasha asked and gave the frog boy a frosty glare.

“Whoa-ho-ho! She really is Anne's friend! I get the same slimy feeling of dread from her that Anne sometimes gives me!” That and some of the agreements from the other frogs threw Sasha off and she gave a confused look at Grime, who silently motioned for her to continue.

“I think you're right, Sprig. She's one of the two girls from Anne's picture.” Sasha looked back at Hop Pop as he approached with a welcoming smile. “Well, Anne will be happy as a well fed snail when she hears you're alright. It's nice to meet you… Maaaaaarccc-”

“Sasha,” Sasha interrupted impatiently.

“Sasha, right! I was gonna say that.”

“Uh huh, and you are?”

“Hopediah Plantar, but you can call me Hop Pop.”

“Wait, you're Hop Pop? I thought you'd be taller.”

“Huh?” Hop Pop gave Sprig and Polly a confused look, not noticing the sudden interest that Grime was giving him.

“Well, whatever. What's important is what you've done for Anne, giving her a place to stay when she escapes from The Overlord. I'm super mad that she was zapped away before I could get her, but I'm sure she'll escape again.” Sasha turned around to walk over to Grime’s side, not noticing the look the Plantars gave each other, and turned to address the frog crowd. “And as thanks for doing that, we’re throwing a thank you banquet at Toad Tower. It really didn’t take much to convince Captain Grime. Right, Captain?”

Sasha leaned over and Grime glanced at her before sighing and saying, with appropriate finger quotes, “Yes. Despite my horrifying looks, I'm actually a ‘big softie’ at the center.”

“Smile to sell it,” Sasha whispered to him. That proved to be a mistake, as Grime's ‘friendly smile’ could best be described as utterly horrifying and left the frogs stunned and one tadpole crying. Sasha quickly jumped in front of Grime to distract the frogs and said, “So who wants to get on the party barges to Toad Tower?!”

Almost as one, the town turned to look at Hop Pop, who felt the eyes on him and looked back into confusion. “What? Just because I shelter Anne doesn't mean I know everything about her friends. Though odds are she's not anywhere near as bad as Anne can get.”

“Hopediah does have a point,” Toadstool said with a shrug, “Anne did just set fire to the town.”

“Good enough for me!” One Eyed Wally said with a cheerful hop. “Two parties in one night!” The frogs all said their own agreements and started following the toads to some spider pulled barges. The Plantars made to follow, but were stopped by Sasha stepping in front of them.

“Not so fast,” she said and pointed at the family in turn. “You are riding with me. I want to hear what Anne has been up to while I've been gone.”

“Oh… okay,” Hop Pop said and held and Sprig made to follow Sasha. Polly, who was sitting on Hop Pop's head, lightly pulled at her grandfather's skin to get his attention.

“Is it me, or does this whole thing feel like a trap?” she asked in a whisper.

“Maybe. Anne has been pretty open about fighting Toad Tower,” Hop Pop replied.

“So what do we do? Anne is not going to be happy when she finds out,” Sprig said.

“Not much, I don't think. If they're telling the truth about the banquet, we'll at least have some food for when Anne does come for us.”

“Oh, I'm gonna eat them out of house,” Polly said with a chuckle.

“Atta girl!” Soon they got to what had to be Sasha's personal carriage, colored gold and with plenty of heart decorations. Sasha had barely opened the doors for the Plantars and they immediately jumped in to look at the fancy interior. Sasha barely held in an annoyed twitch and climbed in as well, barely sparing a glance at the darkness outside the village to see if any Minions were still around before she shut the door and sat down as the carriage took off.

(Around that point, Snot decided he had seen enough to report to the Master and started heading back.)

“So,” Sasha said, getting the Plantar’s attention and making them sit down. “How has Anne been doing? I want to hear everything she’s done.”

“Uh, okay. Where should we start?” Hop Pop asked.

“The beginning, duh.”

“Oh, I know where that is!” Sprig said before standing up and posing dramatically. “This story starts when frogs started seeing a hideous, grotesque monster in the swamp around Wartwood. The monster is Anne, by the way.”

“DON’T SPOIL THE ENDING, SPRIG!” Polly shouted, which started an argument between the siblings that Hop Pop was caught in trying to stop. Despite this, and pushing her annoyance down, Sasha leaned in to listen intently.

Granted, as a Minion, Snot didn't have the best means of telling what he saw. By the time he reached the Dark Tower he had flatly forgotten the ‘string bean’ was the same species as The Overlord. Thankfully Gnarl was able to parse and translate for Anne's benefit. By the time Snot was done, Anne could only seethe on her throne at this turn of events.

“I barely leave town and they all get abducted by Grime. The nerve, especially after everything I went through tonight!” Anne slammed a fist on an arm rest and stood up. “Well fine! If Grime wants to die tonight, I'll happily oblige! Get the Minions ready Gnarl, I need to figure out what I want to kill him with.” Anne walked down into the forge and Gnarl scratched his chin as he turned back to Snot.

“A string bean, huh?” Gnarl wondered, which Snot nodded to. Gnarl thought for a moment before a wicked grin came upon him and he started walking down to the Heart with Snot trailing behind him. “How very interesting.”

The ride to Toad Tower was enlightening for Sasha, as the Plantars were very energetic in telling her about Anne and the adventures she went on with them, with everything from simple ‘sharing a room’ stories to full on monster fighting. The two were also not mutually exclusive and, in fact, mixed a lot. Sasha felt a twinge in her chest at not being there for Anne, but felt better knowing she emerged unscathed after all of them, no matter how absurd and dangerous they were. Like she'd believe the part about electric centipedes.

“Let me tell you, it took a while to get Polly out of that pickle jar,” Hop Pop finished with a chuckle, not noticing how red Polly was from embarrassment. “Anyway, the day after, we went to vote for Frog of the Year. That was a week ago and Anne won by a landslide.”

“Which is when I came in tonight,” Sasha finished with a nod of understanding. “So… did an acne breakout really get Anne a luxury apartment with a jacuzzi?”

“For a while, yeah. Anne snuck us in for a dip before the locks were changed.”

“Those bubbles were so good,” Polly said, prompting her family to also sigh in joy at the memory. For the briefest of moments, Sasha pondered the idea of following in Anne's footsteps there before shaking it off.

‘Not worth it.’

“We're coming up on Toad Tower!” the driver of the carriage shouted. Sasha straightened up as the carriage rattled over the stone bridge before coming to a stop. Sprig took the initiative and leapt to open the carriage door and tumble outside.

“Whoa!” He said as he looked up at the Tower, the black stone highlighted by torches and red banners with Grime's sigil on them. He looked up so much he ended up falling onto his back. Hop Pop, carrying Polly, stepped out of the carriage and shared similar sentiments.

Polly, not so much and gave a simple, bored, “Eh.” Most evil towers just couldn't compare to Anne's once you saw it.

By now, the rest of the Wartwood residents were being led into the tower by the toad soldiers while talking among themselves. Sasha had come out, pulled Sprig to his feet, and gave them both a small push to the crowd.

“Just follow them and you'll be at the banquet hall in no time,” Sasda said with polite cheeriness.

“There's not going to be a lot of stairs on the way, is there?” Hop Pop asked.

“What, you guys have elevators here?”

“What's an elevator?” Polly asked, sharing her family's confused looks.

“There's your answer.” Hop Pop sighed and he led his family to the Tower. Sasha stayed behind until most of the frogs had entered and moved to the rear guard soldiers, tapping Percy and Braddock’s shoulders to get their attention.

“What’s up Sasha?” Braddock asked.

“If I'm right, The Overlord will be here soon for this town. It's very important that he gets to where Grime and I will be for this to work. I need you two to stay here and lead him to the banquet hall when he does show up.”

“U-us? Are you sure?” Percy asked nervously.

“Percy,” Sasha started and clasped her hands on Percy's shoulders, “I say this with no jokes, you are the perfect toad to get The Overlord's guard down before he get to us.” Sasha glanced up at Percy's jester hat and back down in time to see Percy crying.

“You really think so?”

“Percy, I know so.” Percy managed to cry harder before he gained a determined look and took a step back to salute Sasha.

“We won’t let you down, Sasha! You can count on us!” he said while Braddock saluted as well.

“Thanks so much! I love you guys, I know you’ll do well!” Sasha said cheerfully before she walked into Toad Tower and shut the doors behind her, leaving Percy and Braddock to take up sentry posts on either side of the door. Once they were settled in for the wait, Percy looked around and noticed something new in the courtyard.

“Was that always there?” he asked and pointed at a large carnivorous plant that was writhing around, roaring, and snapping at the air. Braddock blinked at the plant before turning to Percy.

“I think the Captain put it in last week,” she said.

“...I didn’t know the Captain liked to garden.”

While they were pondering this new side of Captain Grime, the Wartwood citizens were led into a room serving as a banquet hall and all of them gasped when they saw what awaited them. One one side was a drink table topped with all kinds of beverages, including at least three types of punch, and two tables on the opposite side had many different kinds of dishes. Bugs, fruits, mushrooms, and crab legs that Hop Pop in particular focused on.

“Go ahead, enjoy yourselves,” Grime said with a wide gesture and stepped to the side to let the frogs go at it. And go at it they did, rushing in and showing manners only barely better than the average Toad soldier.

Mrs. Croaker downed cup after cup of punch, each time saying she’d have ‘just one more’. Stumpy found some beetle sliders and went to get one, only for it to slide off of his spatula hand onto the floor. He continued to attempt (and fail) to get one while next to him Felicia marveled at how well put together everything was.

“Do you see this Ivy? This is how you set a table cloth!” Felicia said as she leaned in to inspect the cloth closer. Ivy rolled her eyes with a groan and looked around the room. Among the crowd enjoying the food and talking among themselves, along with a couple of anxious toads, Ivy soon found who she was looking for and started walking over to Sprig.

That is, after a moment where she and many others stopped to stare at Wally as he bathed in a beer fountain, to the disgust of some toad soldiers.

“...Thank Frog I'm not old enough to drink.” Moving on from that, Ivy continued walking over to Sprig, who was standing next to Hop Pop. She stopped next to her boyfriend, who was watching that Sasha girl talk to Captain Grime. “So, two parties in one night? Kind of exciting huh?”

“Uh, yeah. Definitely… something,” Sprig replied. “Hopefully this one doesn't catch fire.”

“Eh, it was kind of exciting in hindsight.” It really wasn't, but this is just how small talk went.

“Sprig, no small talk!” Hop Pop chided as he stacked a plate full of crab legs, “these crab legs go fast if you're not watching them.”

“Hop Pop, they're not going anywhere,” Sprig said.

“Says you,” Maddie said as she came in to snatch a crab leg. Hop Pop gave an affronted gasp as Maddie added it to a plate full of food. “This is getting to be a nice spread.” Once she was done, Maddie moved to stand next to Ivy and started eating her food. “So, we’re just waiting for The Overlord to come get us, right?”

Ivy looked at Maddie utterly shocked and then at Sprig when he replied, “We were thinking that too. We just don’t know when that’ll happen.”

“I’ll give them half an hour. Those Minions can be fast when they want to be. Is there any pepper over there?” Sprig did find a pepper shaker and gave it to Maddie, who put a log of pepper on her plate, all while Ivy looked between the two in concern.

“I don’t know how to feel about The Overlord coming to rescue us,” she eventually said.

“Eh, they’re not that bad on good days. They really like you, you know,” Maddie said, missing the horrified look Ivy gave her in response.

Sasha watched over the room, making sure none of the frogs were close to suspecting anything, and took bites from something she grabbed from the food table. To her left, Grime laughed as he took the room in as well. “It shouldn’t be too long now. And even if The Overlord doesn’t appear, we still got a nice boon by accident.” Grime looked at Hop Pop, now being very protective of the crab legs, and chuckled again. “This will be an interesting night.”

“If you say so. I just want The Overlord,” Sasha said and took another bite of whatever she had in her hand. It tasted good, even if a little crunchy. “I just hope he gets here soon.”

“Patience, Lieutenant. Also, good to see you eating toad food now.”

“I don’t even know what I grabbed,” Sasha said and looked down at her hand. In it was some abomination lump that looked like a cookie with beetles sticking out of it and some kind of black sludge dripping from where she had bitten. Sasha could only stare at it as bits of crumbs fell from the corner of her mouth.

“I think David made those. One of his better attempts, if you ask me,” Grime said, unaware of Sasha’s plight.

“You can have it,” She said as she slowly moved to drop the… food into his hand and then walk to the hall doors.

“Oh come on, it’s not that bad!” he shouted and ate the ball as Sasha reached the doors, and only then ran down the hall holding her mouth, hoping to find a bathroom before it was too late.

“Do you think it’s hard to take care of?” Percy wondered as he and Braddock studied the plant in the courtyard. It was starting to snap at the air a lot more, so they made sure to keep a good distance from it in case it decided they were food.

“I think as long as you feed it and keep it watered, it should be fine,” Braddock answered.

“I suppose. But how much does it eat? That just feels like too much work for little return to me.”

“I agree. Simple plants with little upkeep are better to start with. The Captain is going a little too high with this.”

“...Or maybe he likes the challenge?”

“Yeah, I guess that’s true. You might have to have that kind of drive to be a Toad Captain. Not sure if that translates well to good gardening though.”

“Maybe we could get Sasha to ask for us?”

Before Braddock could answer, the gates clanged loudly and shook on their hinges, spooking both toads into looking at the gate. It shook again as something on the other side crashed against it. Soon, the wood of the doors started splintering and, once enough holes formed, hands reached through to grab the wood and pull the gates open.

“Uh oh…” Percy said just as the gates were open enough for a stream of Minions to surge in and surround him and Braddock. They laughed and babbled among themselves as they brandished weapons (and a rake) at the toads. And then the sound of clanking armor approaching got their attention and their eyes widened at the approaching Overlord, their sword out and their glowing eyes bearing down on the toads.

They stepped through the Minions, stopped in front of the toads, and said, “Grime is expecting me.”

“Er…” Braddock said and looked at Percy, just as sweaty as she was, and gave The Overlord a nervous smile. “Yeah! Um… we were expecting you and… were told to let you through?”

“Well that’s nice and convenient of Grime. Makes it easier for me to kill him.” The Overlord pointed at Percy and added, “The jester will lead the way.” Percy started sweating harder as the Minions started closing in on him and, with a quick look at Braddock and a nod from her, turned and stiffly walked to the door to Toad Tower proper. The Overlord and their Minions followed Percy inside and Braddock shut the doors behind them once they were all through. She sighed once that was done and then had a realization.

“Oh, that’s what the plant is for!”

There were a lot of stairs to go through on the way through Toad Tower, which normally would have annoyed Anne, but she was able to stave off the annoyance by critiquing the look of Toad Tower and watching the way the stiff toad walked up the stairs. It took a lot of willpower to not laugh at him and break her mystique. Soon enough, they reached a set of doors that had excited shouts and chatter coming from behind it.

“Ah, the sound of content party goers. It’s the second sweetest sound to hear right after those same people screaming and pleading for mercy.” Gnarl commented. Anne nodded in agreement as Percy stopped and turned to her.

“The Captain is right in here. Give me a second to let him know,” Percy said and carefully cracked open the doors. Anne looked down at Sprig 2, who nodded with a chuckle, and Anne laughed as well as she slowly moved behind Percy.

“Uh, Captain?” Percy said through the door, “Your… uh, special guest is here to-”

Percy was suddenly kicked from behind through the doors, both of them slamming into the walls. Frogs and toads gasped at the sudden noise and especially the sight of The Overlord and their Minions coming through. Percy barely got out of the way as the horde of monsters took up space in the middle of the room, pointing weapons at anyone close by. Everyone watched the armored tyrant slowly walk through the center of the room. There they stopped and swept their gaze all around the room.

“Now, which one of you is Grime?”

Grime laughed as he downed a can of bog grog, threw it on the ground, and crushed it under foot as he stepped forward. “That would be me, and you must be The Overlord of the Dark Tower. I’ve heard enough about you over the last month. I’m glad to finally meet face to face.”

“...I thought you’d be taller.”

“Oh, I make up for it. How do you think I became a Captain?” Grime walked forward a few steps. The double doors leading out of the hall were closed by a couple of toad soldiers while Grime spread his arms around the room, gesturing at all the gathered frogs. “I’m also glad you accepted my invitation to my tower. I was worried you’d miss it.”

“Hard to miss when you kidnap one of my towns just to lure me here. I am not happy about that, you should know.”

“Oh, okay,” Toadstool said suddenly, “That makes more sense than what we were all thinking.” The Overlord looked over at him, their glowing eyes burning into the mayor, before they sighed and rubbed their eyes.

“Don’t tell me you all came here willingly, or with little prodding.”

“Okay, we won’t tell you that,” Sprig called out, which caused The Overlord to groan.

“I’ll punish you all later,” They said, causing the frogs to look at each other worriedly, and lifted their gaze back up at Grime. “There are priorities first though. Your life and reign end tonight, Grime of Toad Tower. I’ve been looking forward to this.” The Overlord grasped their sword tightly in their hand and pointed it at Grime, the Minions around them roaring in approval.

“The feeling is mutual,” Grime replied and grabbed his own sword. The Toad Soldiers that had been standing along the walls of the hall readied their weapons and moved forward, each one being faced by a Minion of some kind. The frogs of Wartwood started backing away and hiding behind what they could to get away from the oncoming fight.

Except for the Plantars, Maddie, and a confused Ivy. Hop Pop hadn’t even been watching besides one curious glance at first before going back to the crab legs.

Neither Grime nor The Overlord paid attention to any of this though, both looking dead in the other’s eyes. Weeks of hard work and planning on both sides finally paid off in this moment, the one final turn of this war’s wheel. Both of them gripped their weapons tighter, each waiting for the other to make a move.

Which was when the doors were kicked open by Sasha, to another round of shocked screams.

“Whew, sorry about that Captain!” Sasha shouted as she stepped into the room. “I didn’t think I was going to make it to-” right then, Sasha noticed just what was going on in the hall, especially the large armored Overlord standing stock still in the middle of it all. She stopped right in front of the Minion horde and glared at the Overlord’s back. “Oh. I see the real party got started without me.”

“Only slightly, Lieutenant,” Grime answered and jerked his head at The Overlord. “I believe you’re familiar with this one?”

“Yeah, we’ve met.” Sasha said it as coldly as possible, remembering all of the things this punk probably put Anne through. He just started turning slowly to stare at Sasha with wide, glowing eyes.

“Hop Pop! It’s happening!” Polly said and tapped Hop Pop’s head. For once, he perked up and looked around before seeing what was happening and gave it his full attention.

“Wait, what’s happening?” Maddie asked. Sprig leaned over and pointed at both Sasha and The Overlord.

“They’re best friends,” he replied.

“Oh. Oh! This is going to be good!” Maddie grinned excitedly and took a bite out of a fried turnip.

“Wait, they’re what?” Ivy asked, alarmed. Sprig, in turn, could only give a small ‘uh…’ in response.

Sasha had been watching The Overlord the whole time, matching his stare the whole time, and stepped further into the room. “What, surprised to see someone like me? Guess what, there’s more than just that one girl you-”

“Sasha?” The Overlord said suddenly and let their sword slip out of their hands, the clanging of metal deafening in the sudden silence. Grime gave Sasha a confused look, and the girl herself blinked at the interruption and squinted as the Overlord faced her fully.

“How do you know my name?” she asked as The Overlord reached up to their helmet. “Wait, I have an idea. I swear, if you did something to-” and took it off, “- ANNE?!”

Every frog who didn't already know about The Overlord's identity gaped with open jaws. The toads were more confused than before. Sasha herself was dumbstruck at seeing Anne freaking Boonchuy staring at her in The Overlord’s armor. Anne herself didn't say anything, too busy staring at Sasha to really notice anything else.

If the silence was deafening before, this was something else. Eventually, the silence was broken by One-Eyed Wally asking a single question. “What?”

And then…

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAA-”

“Oooo HA HAHAHA!”

Anne and Sasha both started screaming, the former throwing her helmet in the excitement for a Minion to catch. After a few more screams both girls ran at each other and Sasha jumped up so they could hug. Anne spun her friend around and couldn't help but laugh happily.

“Holy crud, it really is you! I've been looking everywhere for you Sasha!”

“Same! You always seem to come out of nowhere girl!” Sasha replied and squeezed Anne tighter before Anne set Sasha back on the ground and gestured at her.

“Just look at you! And that armor! Have you been here this whole time?!”

“Oh yeah! And my armor? Anne, look at what you're… wearing…” Sasha trailed off as she looked over Anne, and then at the Minions gathered behind her, and backed up a step. She massaged her temples and said, “Wait wait, hold on a second. YOU'RE the Overlord of the Dark Tower?”

“Oh, yeah. Weird right?” Anne replied like she was sharing an interesting fact. All around, frogs were gaping and looking at each other, and especially at the Plantar family who were not reacting at all to this.

“...The same Overlord I've been running after for weeks because I thought they kidnapped you?”

“You heard that rumor?” Anne rubbed the back of her head and looked to the side sheepishly. “Sorry about that, that was something I let happen to get some space when I'm out of my armor. I didn't think it'd reach you.”

Ivy snapped her mouth shut and very slowly turned to Sprig, who saw how she was looking at him and laughed nervously.

“Uh, yeah… I heard that.” Sasha blushed a little nine embarrassment and rubbed her temples again. “So much stuff is making sense now. Everything about your party tonight, the Mud Man cave…”

“Mud Man cave? Wait a minute!” Anne turned to her Minions and pointed at the Greens specifically. “Every time you guys talked about a ‘string bean’ you were talking about Sasha?! Why didn’t you say anything else about her?!”

Aside from blank stares, the most coherent responses were laughs, a blown raspberry, and one picking his nose and eating what he pulled out.

“Right, you're stupid. That's my fault for expecting more, I guess.” Anne's eyes widened and she turned back to Sasha. “Wait a minute, you were the one who threw that bath bomb at me! That explosion really hurt you know!”

“Uh…”

The two of them were interrupted by Grime loudly clearing his throat, causing them both to look at him. “Lieutenant, can I speak with you about this?”

“Lieutenant? Wait, does he mean you?” Anne asked and glanced at Sasha.

“Uh, yeah. I’m also kind of second in command here,” Sasha replied with a shrug.

“...I should have known you’d climb the social ladder wherever you’d end up.” Sasha smiled at the praise while Anne rubbed her neck. “This is kind of awkward though. I’m here to kill him and destroy this tower, you know?”

“Well, I don’t suppose you can hold off on that for a few minutes?”

“Eh, I don’t know. I mean it’s late, I came here hungry…”

“Ah, let them talk, Anne! They got crab legs over here!” Hop Pop shouted before going back to scouring the table.

“You got crab legs?! ” Anne’s eyes widened and her mouth started watering before she pointed at the Minions. “Five minute break guys. Take what you want, don’t kill anybody!” Then Anne ran to get her some delicious grab legs, even if she had to fight Hop Pop for them.

The Minions, after a moment, all cheered and scattered around the room to dive into the food and drink tables. Wally barely managed to dive out of the way when the Minions found the beer fountain and commandeered it for themselves. While the chaos unfolded, Sasha walked up to Grime with a smile.

“What's up, Captain?” she asked.

“What do you mean ‘what's up’? Do you see what's happening?!”

“Yeah, Anne is The Overlord. Hard to believe, but it's there.” Sasha looked over at Anne as she wrestled a leg from Hop Pop and sucked the meat out with a star struck look.

“Actually, I figured that was the truth when Bog first told us,” Grime stated and folded his arms.

Sasha blinked and looked at the toad captain. “You did? And you didn't share that with me?”

“You were motivated to rescue your friend. That kind of thing is very useful for, let's say, getting them trained and out doing missions.”

“...You tricky devil. I love it.”

“Thank you. So, what are we going to do about this?”

“I think this is perfect. We get to kill two birds with one stone.” Sasha moved to fully face Grime and rubbed her hands together. “Anne is my girl. I know her better than anyone else. Let me talk with her for a bit and I'll get her off of this Overlord nonsense, and you won't have to deal with it anymore.”

“That works for now, but Newtopia has already heard about the disruptions here. I need to give them something, and if it isn't the Overlord…”

“That's alright, we have the next best thing. You heard his name too.” She and Grime glanced at Hop Pop for a second before nodding. “So, my idea…”

“I still can't believe this.” It took a while for Ivy to find her words, but once she had she was mad. “You knew about this all this time and you've been lying to us?!”

“Well, yes,” Sprig admitted nervously, “but we had good reasons for it.”

“Oh really?”

“I got to agree with Sprig,” Maddie said as she stirred some of the food on her plate, “we all saw what she was like when she first started. She was literally one inconvenience away from killing us all. No offense, Master.”

“None taken,” Anne said with a wave of her hand, “especially since you are right. Hey Polly, hand me whatever that meat next to you is!”

“On it!”

“Wait a minute,” Ivy said and turned to Maddie, “ You knew about this too?!”

“Knew about it? I work for her,” Maddie said with a shrug, “There’s a lot of magic knowledge in that Tower that can help a lot of frogs once I figure it out. You know, after I help Anne with it first.”

“And helping someone evil get better magic doesn't concern you at all?!”

“I like to think the good will ultimately offset any bad that comes.”

“That reminds me, how is that thing you were working on?” Anne asked.

“I think I made a breakthrough, but I’ll need to test it a bit more before I show you. I think you’ll like what I found though.”

“I can’t wait. Let me have some more crab legs, HP.”

“No, they’re mine!” Hop Pop said while moving his plate away from Anne.

“Hop Pop!”

Ivy looked at Anne and Hop Pop struggling over the plate, Polly happily watching their struggle, Sprig still looking nervously at her, and Maddie returning to her food plate, she reached a natural conclusion. “I can’t be here right now,” she said and walked away to where her mother and grandmother were. Sprig nearly went after her, only to stop when Maddie shook her head at him.

“Just give her time for this to settle. I think everyone needs that anyway. Mrs. Croaker is the only one who’s actually moving after that.” Sprig glanced and saw that Mrs. Croaker had moved back to drinking punch, though Sprig also saw that Slyvia had recovered and was comforting Ivy.

Sprig groaned and rubbed his eyes. “What a mess. Did you really have to take off your helmet in front of the whole town, Anne?” Anne looked down at him with her mouth full of crab meat, swallowed, and blinked.

“Huh, I did, didn’t I?” After a moment she shrugged. “Oh well, what'cha gonna do? It was gonna come out sooner or later anyway, and I do own the valley now, so what do I care?”

Sprig stared blankly at Anne, having once again missed his main point. Before he could say anything else, Sasha walked back over to them saying, “Hey, I'm back.”

“Oh, hey. So what's the verdict? We fighting for real?”

“Actually, Grimesie is so overjoyed about us meeting again that we can take an hour to just catch up!” Sasha said cheerily. Anne looked over at the glowering toad captain for a moment before looking back at Sasha.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive! He just smiles better on the inside.” Anne stared for a moment before she shrugged, finished her last crab leg, and just threw it on the ground.

“Ah whatever. I did want to catch up with you, cause I have so many questions! How did you end up here?” Anne then gasped and shouted, “Marcy! Did you find Marcy?!”

“She's not with you?” Sasha asked in return. Both girls stared for a moment before Sasha coughed into her hand and walked to the doors. “Let's continue this in private. Follow me, I'll show you where I've been staying.”

“Oh, okay. Uh, one second.” Anne rushed over to the Minions crowded around the beer fountain, pulled her helmet from the Minion holding it, and pointed at all of them. “Good news, your five minutes turned into an hour. Remember, don't kill anyone!”

“Got it!” The Minions cheered while Sprig 2, laying open mouthed under a stream of beer, simply gave a thumbs up. Anne nodded and walked back over to Sasha.

“Sorry. I gotta micromanage the crap out of them or else they'll just run wild.”

“I know the feeling,” Sasha said, sparing a glance at Percy, and led her friend out into the hall. Once out of sight, the hall was mostly quiet until Percy spoke up.

“Well, that was certainly interesting!”

“I… have to say,” Toadstool said and scratched his head, “I've said a lot about Boonchuy, but that was something I didn't see coming.”

“You know, looking back, we probably should have,” Wally said.

It was the night of the dance and Hop Pop was nervous. It wasn’t much of a surprise why, since Sylvia had come back to town and this may be his one real chance to really impress her. He wasn’t that great of a dancer though, but Anne had come out of nowhere to offer her assistance. She was a good dancer, even if it was unconventional, and she was interested in helping him out.

Invested even.

To a point that, given who she was, immediately put Hop Pop on guard for any kind of scheme she may have been planning. He didn’t have much of a choice however, not if he wanted to best Monroe, so Hop Pop accepted Anne’s help.

It took a few days of lessons, and some promises to Anne that he wouldn’t ‘freestyle’ again despite him liking it, but Hop Pop was as ready as he could be. Music was already playing and frogs were dancing along, but Sylvia hadn’t shown up yet. No point in dancing without her, so the Plantars stood off to the side.

“Don’t be so nervous HP, you got this!” Anne said while giving Hop Pop a confident smile.

“Am I that obvious?” Hop Pop asked.

“A little,” Polly answered. Sprig wasn't really paying attention, more focused on swinging the long sleeves of the jacket he was wearing.

“I have to say, when you're not forced to date anyone, dances are pretty fun,” Sprig said looking out at the dance floor.

“Pfft, for some people,” Anne said and took a drink from her cup. Hop Pop gave her a concerned look, especially since she was looking a little red in the face now.

“You've been drinking a lot of that tonight. Are you alright, Anne?” Hop Pop asked and got a rapid hand wave from Anne.

“I'm fine! Besides, this is really good punch. We don't have anything like this back home.”

“I'm just worried. The last time you drank special drinks here, it didn't end well.”

“Pfft, you worry too much!” This time, Anne waved her hand with her drink in it, causing punch to go flying onto some poor woman. “Aw crud, I drank it all already? I'm getting more.”

“Uh, is that a good idea?” Sprig asked. Anne looked a little too intensely at Sprig before she dropped her cup, picked him up, and hugged him.

“Did anyone ever tell you your skin feels nice when hugged?” Anne asked while rubbing her face on Sprig's.

“Uh… no?” Sprig answered and looked down at Hop Pop and Polly for help. Thankfully it didn't go further than that as Anne set him down, pet him on the head, and shakily walked to the punch table.

“So-” Polly started to say.

“Yes, please,” only for Hop Pop to interrupt her and nod at Anne. Polly returned the nod and hopped after the human while he and Sprig resumed the wait, which didn't last long.

“Hey, is that Sylvia?” Sprig asked and pointed at the dance floor. Hop Pop looked and saw Sylvia was there and looking even more stunning than the last time he saw her. Hop Pop took a breath and moved towards her while Sprig gave encouragement from behind him.

Unfortunately he saw Monroe come out of the crowd and ask Sylvia to dance. Hop Pop gasped and ran forward to Sylvia. “Wait, Sylvia!” he shouted, getting her attention along with everyone else nearby, “I was hoping you’d dance with me.”

“Oh?” Sylvia said, curious but definitely not against it.

“You, Hopediah?” Monroe asked in that horribly smug tone Hop Pop despised, “I’m surprised you’d even ask, since you can’t dance.”

“I can! I was trained by the best!” Hop Pop countered. “In fact, I challenge you to a dance off, Monroe!”

“Oh really? That’s fine. Easiest win I’ll ever have.”

“HOW DARE YOU?!”

Hop Pop didn’t want to look like everyone else was, he knew what he’d see, but he looked anyway. And like he thought there was Anne, standing on the table next to the punch bowl with a new drink in hand, staring murder at Monroe.

‘Oh Frog, no.’

“I did… I didn’t spend a week teaching Hop Pop how to dance, seeing horrors you couldn’t dream of, just for some… pus filled pimple like you to get in his way!” Anne shouted while gesturing wildly, the table shaking under her feet.

“Anne, I can handle this, please calm down,” Hop Pop said, hoping that would calm her down. It didn’t.

“You listen here, Hip Pop!” Anne shouted and pointed at Hop Pop, “any enemy of yours is mine too, you get me? You just say the word and I’ll have him thrown in the deepest dungeons of my Tower! We’ll see how smug he is after being forced to cut the Greens awful, AWFUL toenails! That’s how Overlords roll, baby!” Everyone gasped and stared at Anne as she went back to drinking her punch.

Hop Pop felt the slime building up as frogs around him whispered things like ‘Did you hear that?’ and ‘Is she telling the truth? Is she…?’. He had to figure out a way to calm this down before it got worse and they really figured out who Anne was.

And then Anne finished her current cup and let out a big cheer. “Whooo! This punch is AMAZING! Hey, hey, Hop Pip, is it like a… special frog thingie that this gets sweeter the more you drink it? PURE SUGAR doesn’t taste this sweet and it’s GREAT!”

“I… don’t think so?” Hop Pop said, worried for a different reason now, “How much have you drunk now?”

“Like half the punch bowl,” Polly called near Anne.

“SAY WHAT?! Just now?”

“No, all night. I don’t think she’s gonna stop either.” Anne let out a loud belch just then.

“Man… you know, sweet stuff usually doesn’t make me feel this good. It’s like my face is covered in warm bread dough… that make sense?” It didn’t, but that didn’t stop Anne from saying it. Thankfully, everyone seemed to realize what was happening and looked a little sympathetic at her and Hop Pop. “Hey, hey Polly, you should try this punch.”

Anne took a step toward Polly and stepped on the edge of the table just right so that the whole thing tipped over and sent Anne to the ground along with everything else on the table. Everyone cringed at the heap Anne ended up in, though she was still moving around on the ground and twitched when Toadstool walked over and poked her with his foot.

“I’m okay…”

“Lightweight,” Toadstool said while shaking his head.

“How did she get like this?” Toadie asked as he picked up Anne’s cup, “There isn’t anything in the punch, is there?”

“I think it’s a biology thing. She got the same way drinking my mother’s gourd tea a while back,” Hop Pop explained. That seemed to be the end of it since all the frogs nodded and commented how that made sense.

“Figures,” Toadstool commented while Sprig came to drag Anne away. “Alright, enough about Boonchuy and her nonsense, we need to get back to watching Hopediah make a fool out of himself.”

“Well, hey now…” Hop Pop said before he glanced at Sylvia who waved at him. With that reassurance, Hop Pop took a breath and vowed to wow her and prove himself.

“You know, just in hindsight,” Wally finished.

“I guess,” Toadstool said warily, “But why did you tell the story from Hopediah’s perspective?”

“And why remind us of his dancing?” Toadie asked, cringing.

“Oh, phooey on all of you!” Hop Pop shouted indignantly.

“Were you even at that dance?” another frog asked.

“Of course I was. How else would I remember it?” Wally answered. Right then Mrs. Croaker, mid drink of another cup of punch, widened her eyes.

“Wait a minute, I remembered something else! Wally, Toadstool, you salty sons of sea slugs!” she yelled and threw her current cup of punch to the ground as she turned to the offending two.

“Eh?”

“What did I do?” Toadstool asked.

“Because of you two, Anne got run out of town and then she came back as the Overlord terrorizing the whole Valley!” Every frog perked up at that and all of them turned to Toadstool and Wally.

“Now that you say it…”

“Yeah, she did.”

“H-hey now,” Toadstool said and held his hands up as everyone started closing in, “I couldn't have known that would happen.”

“It was an honest mistake,” Wally added.

“A mistake?!” Felicia shouted, “it took a solid week of cleaning to rid my house of the horrors those Minions left behind!” Ivy shook at the memories.

“She played with our frozen bodies during Hiberday!” Another frog shouted.

“Nobody's even seen Gunther after he chased Anne and Sprig that one time!”

“She revitalized me restaurant!” Stumpy shouted, which got him a lot of confused looks. “What? Were we only shouting bad things she's done?”

“I mean… she did protect us on Hiberday…”

“And she's done a lot more good besides,” Mr. Flour said.

“Well, I think she's nice,” Sylvia said, which got a look from Ivy.

“The principle is still there. All in favor of turning the two of them into pinatas for half an hour to bleed out some anger and call it even?” Mrs. Croaker said. Everyone, some toads included, held up a hand and continued their advance.

As amusing as this turn of events was, Grime chose that moment to leave and see to his end of the plan. He walked past the frogs and motioned at Percy to follow him. At the door, he stopped and poked Simon in the chest.

“Do. Not. Let them out,” Grime growled and waited for Simon to salute before leaving with Percy behind him. Simon shut the door behind them and went back to watch the pinata making, much more nervous than before.

Anne and Sasha walked through Toad Tower, the latter pointing out interesting bits if they happened to pass them, until they finally got to the door to Sasha's room.

“And here is my room,” Sasha said as she opened the door and revealed her room with a flourish.

“Hoopah da boopah!” Anne said at the sight. After she squeezed through the door, Anne walked around to get a better look at everything: a comfortable looking couch covered with pillows and stuffed animals, a statue of Sasha skateboarding, plenty of room for whatever Sasha needed, and a quaint little bed for Sasha. “Dang girl, you’ve been living it up. That makes two of us, it seems.”

“Eh, it’s not that big, but I’ve been making do,” Sasha said feigning disinterest.

“You don’t have to sell it short to me. This room is great, even if my bed can easily take up half of it.” Sasha twitched a little at that, but Anne didn’t notice since she was busy really inspecting the statue. “So, did you have a skateboard, or did you tell them about skateboards to make this?”

“...Yes. Anyway, I know you ate a ton of crab earlier, but if you’re still hungry I can get us something to eat.”

“Well, I think I have a second stomach for crab,” Anne said with a nod as she set her helmet on top of the statue’s head. “So what do you have to eat?”

“Oh, just wait. Brunton!” Sasha called out with a snap of her fingers. The door opened and a burly toad with a chef's hat walked in.

“Aye?” he asked.

“Bring us the usual. A whole bunch.” Brunton nodded and left, leaving Anne slightly confused.

“The usual?” she asked.

“You’ll see. So, are you going to get out of that armor? I’m pretty sure you’ll break my couch if you try to sit on it.”

“Oh, yeah.” Anne looked down at her gauntlets and then back at Sasha. “I need help. It takes like ten minutes to get in and out of this with help.”

“Oh, uh, okay.” Sasha walked over and grabbed Anne’s left gauntlet, getting temporarily distracted by the glowing magic thingamabob in it, before she looked up at Anne. “So… how does this work?”

“I’ll walk you through it. Really, the chainmail is the hardest part.”

It took slightly over ten minutes for the two girls to get Anne out of her armor, but soon she was free and looking around in her normal clothes while Sasha gave into her curiosity. She couldn’t help but be amazed when she stuck her arm in one of the gauntlets and flexed her fingers in it. “Dang, it’s like I just put on a glove. No wonder you like this armor.”

“Yup. Magic is totally real and it’s done nothing but help me. The helmet is my favorite part,” Anne said and picked up her helmet from the statue and put it on. Once it was on, she struck a menacing pose and pointed at Sasha. “No, Sasha. I am your father!” Anne giggled and crossed her arms, “What do you think?”

“That voice thing works really well, I can’t even tell it’s you. How does it do that thing with your face and eyes?”

“No idea.” Anne took the helmet off and set it where the rest of her armor lay, with Sasha adding the gauntlet right after. The doors opened again and Brunton came in with a cart full of covered dishes. “Is that ‘the usual’?”

“Oh yeah. You’ll love this,” Sasha answered and pulled Anne over to the couch where Brunton was putting dish after dish onto the table in front of it. Anne had barely sat down when Brunton lifted the first cover off. Just as Sasha said, Anne loved what she saw.

“WHOA! Are those hamburgers?” Anne shouted and leaned forward at the plate of hamburgers. And with each dish Branton revealed, the more Anne was gobsmacked. “Tacos? Fries? Pizza?”

And then, one last little dish was placed that finalized the glory of the spread in front of her. “No way! YOU’VE GOT KETCHUP?!” Sasha couldn’t help but dip a few fries into the ketchup right then. “I’ve been eating bugs for a month, and worse before that.”

“Go ahead. It was not easy getting this ketchup, but it was worth it,” Sasha said as Anne started helping herself to the spread.

“Oh, I hear that. Tomatoes suck here, like a lot of other things,” Anne agreed before shoving a taco into her mouth. After chewing and swallowing it whole, she pointed at her armor and added, “It’s why I love that armor so much, I can stand up to a lot with it. Tomatoes, Toads, Mud Men, Unicorns.”

“Unicorns?” Even Brunton did a double take at that.

“Oh yeah, there’s a herd of actual unicorns south of one of the towns in the Valley. And you know what, forget all the cartoons we’ve seen when we were little, real unicorns suck. They’re carnivores for some reason, they’re vicious, and they’re breath stinks really bad. But you know, I still want to try eating one, just to see if it really tastes like corn syrup.”

Sasha could only stare at her friend as she picked up a slice of pizza and slowly dipped some fries in the ketchup. ‘Oh boy, I’ve got my work cut out for me,’ she thought as she ate the fries and turned to Brunton. “While you’re here, would you mind heating up the water for the shower?”

“SHOWER?!” Anne shouted while Brunton nodded and left the room. Sasha turned back to Anne and was about to say something when she was tackled to the floor and found Anne hugging her around the waist and pressing her face into her stomach. “You’re an angel, Sasha! A beautiful angel who came down to deliver greatness to us undeserving mortals!”

“Uh, okay? No need to lay it on that thick, it’s just a shower,” Sasha replied, a blush already spreading from the praise. Trying to ignore that, Sasha cleared her throat and asked, “So, did you want to take one first? Or did you want to stay here and eat a bit more first?” Anne moved her head to look right at Sasha with, while not the biggest puppy dog eyes she’d ever seen, but definitely the most intense. “Heh. Well, there’s my answer.”

The impromptu pinata party was winding down and all the frogs were returning to what they were doing before one way or another. All except for Ivy, who was standing as far out of the way of the crowd that she could while she thought about what happened earlier in the night. Anne turning out to be The Overlord was a kick to the teeth and, if Ivy was being honest with herself, it really made her look at everything that has happened with her in a more negative light.

And yet, she couldn’t bring herself to really hate Anne either. It was so much easier to hate a faceless mass of armor than knowing the girl underneath she first met trying not to die from a Pain Pepper could ever think to take over the world. And despite knowing that now, it came with the opposite problem of knowing an unstoppable force of evil went out of her way to make sure she and Sprig could be happy together. Sprig was a whole other swamp to swim at that.

“Lost in thought?” Ivy perked up and looked as her grandmother walked over to her, done with her turn on the pinatas. “I can understand why, it’s been quite the busy night.”

“More than most…” Ivy replied with a sigh. “I just don’t get it. Why is everybody acting so calm about an Evil Overlord living with us? That she’s been tricking us the whole time?”

“I suppose that depends on how you look at it. I'm sure this night will only get crazier before it's over,” Sylvia said and put a hand on Ivy’s head and knelt down. “How about you look at it this way? I remember when I was your age when Grime's predecessor ran Toad Tower. If you thought Grime or Anne's way of doing things was bad, he blows them all away.”

“Huh? Really?” That was a wild thought for Ivy to think.

“Oh yes. Felicia told me about when those tax collectors came, but that was normal under him.” Ivy blanched at the thought. “When Grime took power, it was definitely an improvement. And don't tell the toads I said it, but Anne is even better despite everything. Why, Pondstone's unicorn problem is nearly fixed thanks to those Minion guards of hers.”

“Oh… what's a unicorn?”

“Let's hope you never find out,” Sylvia said with very rare disdain before standing up. “This is a chaotic time, but I know we'll get through this fine if we just dig in like we always do. And yes, it's perfectly alright to be angry about someone you care for lying to you as long as you talk with them about it.”

Ivy blushed and pulled her hat down a little. “Well, that’s good to know. I just needed to clear my head a little. I’ll have to worry about Anne later, but I can talk to Sprig now.” Sylvia nodded and pushed Ivy forward. She walked across the room to where Sprig was still watching his grandfather monopolize the crab legs and cleared her throat when she was close enough.

“Oh, hey Ivy,” Sprig said and turned to Ivy. He wringed his hands for a moment before saying, “Ivy, I'm sorry about lying about Anne. I was just trying to keep Anne from being seen as just a monster like before. She's really nice despite everything and-”

“Yeah, she is,” Ivy interrupted and sighed. “I guess it’s just hard for me to think of Anne as both the really nice girl and the Evil Overlord. I'm going to have to talk to Anne herself about that, but I guess that will have to wait.”

“She has been getting better. I think I'll have gotten her off the whole Evil thing soon enough. Then everything will be better than ever!”

“Your optimism is inspiring,” Maddie commented.

“If misplaced,” Polly added, which Sprig rolled his eyes at. Ivy at least laughed good naturedly and pat Sprig on the shoulder.

“I couldn't help but notice,” Maddie said as she tossed her empty plate away, “that Anne didn't seem to have a plan to get out of here. Should we be worried about that?”

“Yeah, and there was something else,” Sprig said and looked around at the toad soldiers along the walls of the hall. “Don't the toads all seem on edge?”

“They’re a militarized culture, Sprig,” Hop Po answered, “they probably don’t know how to relax. Plus, Anne is here and is about a few minutes away from trying to wipe them out. That'll put anyone on edge.” To demonstrate his point Hop Pop gestured to the Minion horde, who had managed to get their hands on a toad guard and were forcing a keg of bog grog down his throat with wild laughter.

“Shouldn’t that mean we should leave as fast as we can?” Ivy asked.

“Anne wouldn't hurt us like that. As a matter of fact, I'll go ask her myself.” Sprig started walking to the door and muttered one more thing to himself. “And get away from the toads for a bit.” Sprig got to the door out, and the toad guarding it, and said, “Hey, I need to use the bathroom. Is it out there?”

He took a step toward the door and the guard quickly moved in front of it. “No, no frogs can leave the room!” He said, nervous and sweaty.

“What? We can't leave this room, really?”

“No, the party is here. Why go out there? That's boring! Please just go back to the party, please?”

‘Welp, that answers that question. Totally a trap. Well, I know what to do.’ “You got it.” Sprig made sure to smile extra wide as he casually walked back to the food table. He ignored whatever Ivy asked him as he climbed on top of it, gave the toad guard a thumbs up that was returned, and picked up a good looking spoon and food cover.

“Uh, Sprig?” Ivy asked just as Sprig started smacking the two implements together.

“EVERYONE, THIS PARTY’S A SHAM! WE’RE NOT GUESTS, WE’RE PRISONERS!” The effect was immediate, as many frogs started shouting outrage, screaming in fear, and all that before the Minions decided to join in by throwing whatever they could get their hands on at whatever they could see.

“Oh, guess we’re done pretending otherwise. I’m down to riot,” Maddie said and pulled out a couple of curse pouches. She looked at Ivy and asked, “You want one of these?”

“...No thanks, I’m good,” Ivy replied.

“Your loss.”

As the room descended into chaos, Simon continued to sweat as he was certain his future, or at least his resume, was starting to look very grim.

Anne enjoyed the shower. The baths at the Dark Tower and the Plantar farm were fine, but a hot shower just couldn’t be beat. And actually being able to thoroughly clean out her hair and wear an actual comfy robe? Priceless. Eventually Anne finished and let Sasha have her turn in the shower, during which she ate more food and rolled her hair up with some curlers Sasha had lying around.

Sasha came back with another robe and they finally got down to what they had been waiting for: Hot Gos. Specifically, what the two of them had been up to up to meeting tonight, though Sasha was far more interested in what Anne had to say over her own exploits. The more she heard, the more things made sense and the more she wanted to kick herself for her assumptions.

Anne had a good laugh when Sasha mentioned the bath bomb. “What would some ancient medieval Overlord want with a bath bomb? It makes more sense for it to have always been mine!” she said. Sasha simply stuffed a taco in her mouth to keep from answering.

Of course, Sasha did talk about some of the bigger things she had done. The training brawl, the Horned Bullfrog she had found (which Anne was surprised about and thanked Sasha for dealing with), and the Order of the Olms.

“Wait, a cult?” Anne asked. By then both of them had finished the food and were having an after dinner tea.

“So you really had no idea about them? I thought they were working for you at first,” Sasha replied and took a drink of her tea.

“Nope. This is the first I've heard of them, and if they were working for me I can think of a hundred better things for them to do besides burning books. You said you first saw them at the Wartwood Archives right? Did you see what they took?”

“Nope, they all got burned before I could see them. One of them had a little picture, but I don't know for sure if it was related to the books.”

“Huh. Maybe that was why I couldn't find anything.” As if. If Anne had learned anything, simple explanations like that didn't exist. And speaking of not finding anything, Anne finally worked up the courage to ask the obvious question. “So… you haven't found Marcy either?”

“No. I've been keeping an eye open, but I was more worried about you. Unnecessarily.” Anne at least looked sheepish at that and shrugged. “And I think between us both we have scoured the whole valley by now. So…”

“She's not in the valley, if she’s here at all. I’m worried about her, Sasha, you know what she’s like.”

“Yup, but that’s all the more reason to find her.” Sasha set her cup on the table and grabbed Anne’s hands around her own cup. “But that’s what I’ve been working on, aside from trying to find you. Captain Grime said that he’d be more than happy to lend his army’s help to help us find a way home. You know, once things in the Valley settle down.”

“Really, that’s nice of him. Too bad I’m still going to kill him.” Sasha’s eye twitched in frustration, but also because she didn’t like the way Anne said that. Like she was looking forward to it.

‘This definitely will be harder to break than I thought,’ Sasha thought before saying, “Well, maybe you don’t have to?”

“I mean, I guess I can accept a surrender if he gives me Bog. I still owe him for breaking my knee back during the tax thing.”

“...Well, now I want to break Bog’s leg, but that wasn’t what I meant. You said yourself you started this whole Evil Overlord thing because you needed a way to survive. Well you don’t have to do that anymore, nobody outside of this tower knows who you are and nobody outside of this valley has even heard of The Overlord. You can just… stop this and slip away into obscurity and nobody would ever know. I even have the perfect way to do it so nobody outside of the valley will ask questions.”

“Well, that all sounds nice Sasha, but-”

“Great, so we can-”

“BUT!” Anne forcefully said and threw Sasha’s hands off of her own, to the latter’s surprise. “I actually like being The Overlord. Having power over other people is amazing! No wonder you love that so much. Plus I can throw fireballs from my hands. Can you do that?”

“That’s besides the point, Anne. I’m just trying to get us all home as smoothly as possible,” Sasha replied, frustration starting to edge into her tone.

“I fail to see how your plan is any better than mine,” Anne said and idly dunked her tea bag in her cup a couple of times. “Plus I have a bigger army. Minions are easy to make; I started with twenty and had 150 by the end of my first week, and that was just one type. Can you make toads that fast?”

“Well, no, but-”

“Don’t get me wrong Sash, I’ll still hear you out. But what exactly are you going to use to hide my deeds that would be as big as the rise of an Evil Master of Darkness?”

“The frog rebellion, natch,” Sasha said. Anne froze and slowly looked at Sasha, her expression dead serious. ‘Huh, her eyes glow too?’

“The what?”

“You haven’t heard of that either? Actually, that makes sense. You’d probably crush it yourself if you had heard of it.” Sasha set her cup on the table and stood up, “Okay, this is going to take a bit to explain, so hear me out.” Anne slowly nodded and set her cup down so she could start removing the curlers from her hair. Sasha walked over to a large map of Frog Valley she had put up on the wall, covered with lines and notes from previous excursions. She gestured broadly to it as she started explaining.

“You see Anne, the toads have one basic job here: keeping the frogs in line. Lately though, they’ve been actively rebelling against toad rule.” Sasha turned back to Anne with a flat look as she added, “Not naming names, but someone has been giving them ideas and making it harder for the toads to do that by taking over the valley.”

Anne smiled brightly at that and got the last curler out of her hair and started fluffing it up.

Sasha rolled her eyes and looked back at the map before she continued. “Thankfully, most people only see the rebellion itself. So if you stop being The Overlord and let us put down the rebellion by, you know, making an example out of some figureheads, then we’ll all be golden! Pretty sweet huh?” Sasha turned back and stopped short when she saw Anne.

“What?” Anne asked, utterly unaware that her hair had collected a couple of leaves and a twig in the time Sasha had looked away.

“How did…?” Sasha began to ask and point at Anne’s hair before stopping herself and pinching the bridge of her nose. “Never mind, not important. So?” Anne leaned forward and gave it some serious thought, which Sasha smiled at. ‘Everything’s working out! I knew it would.’

‘This could work out,’ Anne thought at the same time, ‘I mean, I don’t have to actually quit when I say I’m quitting. And after going along with it for a while, I kill Grime, take Sasha to the Dark Tower, and get right back to the conquering. Flawless, good job brain!’ Anne let out a small chuckle rather than the full blown evil laugh she wanted to do and picked up her tea as she looked at Sasha. “So what do you need me to do? Dig up a few randos for you to execute? That will be easy.”

“Uh… no. We already know who we need,” Sasha answered and took a rolled up paper from under the map. “One frog that inspired these ‘rebels’. Stood up to tax toads, ran for mayor, you probably heard of him.” Sasha unrolled the paper to show a poster featuring none other than Hopediah “Hop Pop” Plantar. Anne, having chosen then to take a drink of tea, spat it out on the table.

“What?!” Anne shouted as yet another obstacle she hadn’t expected reared its head. She set her cup down again and stood up, “No no, that’s gotta be wrong! Hop Pop is not a revolutionary! He’s, like, one of the most traditional people I know!”

“That doesn’t matter,” Sasha stated as she threw a bunch of saved newspapers onto the table as well, each one showing Hop Pop’s exploits. Anne stared at them as Sasha said, “Word has already spread and he’s become an icon of sorts. Which is why we need to make an example of him.”

“I don’t believe it…” Anne said as she picked up a newspaper talking about Hop Pop’s bid for mayor.

“It’s all true. But it’s fine, because-”

“WHAT IS THIS GARBAGE?!” Anne shouted as she slapped the back of her hand against the newspaper. “I made my Overlord debut at this election! I ran against both of these guys and subjugated the town right after, and I don’t even get a mention?! Oh, but HOP POP gets front page just for participating. What a load.” Anne tore the paper in half and dropped it to the ground as she picked up the newspaper about the tax incident. 

“Uh…”

“And I flat killed a toad when this happened. Like, torn to pieces and probably eaten, and ran the toads out then too. Again, no mention and it focuses on HP.” Anne looked closer at the newspaper to scrutinize it. “Who wrote this? I’m gonna drown them in salt.”

“Anne, not the point!” Sasha said as she tore the newspaper from Anne’s grip and threw it away. "That lack of coverage means nobody knows about you, so you can just slip away with none the wiser.”

“Just because you keep saying that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen. And what exactly do you mean by ‘make an example’ of Hop Pop? You gonna banish him or something?”

“No, that’s not good enough,” Sasha answered as she grabbed Anne’s hand and led her to a window. “We were going to feed him to that.”

Outside, Captain Grime and a few toads were in the courtyard tying down the giant carnivorous plant to keep it from thrashing around too much, though the screams were getting worse as it went.

“What the heck? Was that thing there the whole time?” Anne asked.

“We put it in last week,” Sasha explained, “and boy was that an ordeal. We originally put it in to feed you to it, but plans change, you know?”

“How the heck did I walk past that thing and not see it?”

“It’s surprisingly easy to miss when it’s not screaming it’s head off.” Which it was still doing now, right before it chomped down on Percy and started swinging him around.

“PRIVATE! Get out of that thing’s mouth! You’ll ruin its taste palate!” Grime shouted.

“Sorry Sir!” Percy shouted back before the plant threw him into the stables. Sasha and Anne pulled themselves back inside and Anne rubbed her forehead.

“Not gonna lie, this is a lot to take in.” Anne’s eyes widened and she looked at Sasha angrily. “Wait, you were gonna feed me to that?!”

“Like I said, plans change Anne. Like how your plans can change so you won’t be sent to Grime’s bosses in chains, you know?”

“I’d like to see them try.”

“And they will.” Sasha wrapped an arm around Anne’s shoulders and led her back toward the table with their tea on it. “I’m just trying to look out for you Anne. Who are you going to stick with: your best friend who’s had your back for years, or a bunch of frogs who you admitted yourself they had to be forced into even liking you? What have they done for you?”

“A lot, actually.” Still, Sasha had a point. The Plantars are simple farm frogs, and she was planning on taking on the whole world. Could she really drag them into something like that? They probably would follow her if she decided on that, but would that be right? Maybe it’d be better to cut them loose now, as much as it’d hurt, and if she had to condemn Hop Pop to death for that to happen…

Even if it made her the same kind of monster that took the Plantar parents, these were the kinds of choices she had to make in this position of power.

Still, she had to have some standards.

“You should let me do it.”

“Excuse me?” Sasha asked.

“You have to admit, throwing an old man at a giant plant is a bit excessive. And he already told me he trusts me the most to finish him if it ever came to that… in a daydream granted, but still. It’ll probably be easier all around if I’m the one to do it.”

“Anne, no. The whole point of this is for the toads to set an example, and you're not with us. If you do it, there’s no point. Just let this happen and we can move on with our lives.”

“Let it happen? No, if there’s anything I learned doing all of this, it’s that dirty work is best done yourself. I at least owe Hop Pop that much, don’t you think?”

“Anne,” Sasha put her hands on Anne’s shoulders, “stop making this harder than it needs to be. We’ve already got everything ready to go, so stop trying to complicate things.”

“I'm not. I just-”

“Stop. You're not thinking right, don’t you want to get home and see your parents again? This is the best way to do it, so we're doing it.”

“End. Of. Discussion.”

Anne's eyes widened once those words registered. Sasha took the silence as acceptance and went to get her tea, but accepting was far from where Anne was. It was like a fire storm just sprang up deep in her, blowing away any barrier before it, and left Anne shaking. It was the same kind of rush she felt when she first accepted her mantle as Overlord.

‘How dare she try to tell her what to do!’

She was furious, and this time the girl who pissed her off so much was right there.

Plans be damned, she would not let that stand. And so, with fists clenched tightly and her gaze hardened, she turned to Sasha and said one word.

“No.”

Sasha stopped short and turned to Anne, her own expression set to broker no argument. “What?” She asked.

“I said no. We're not done talking, the discussion is not over, and I have plenty of concerns,” Anne walked over to the table, her eyes never leaving Sasha's, and picked up her cup of tea. “For example, the fact you have a plan at all.”

“Watch your mouth, Anne. I’m just-”

“Looking out for me?” Anne interrupted and rolled her eyes, “so I keep hearing. But you know what I remember a lot? How you always end up on top and I get saddled with the consequences for listening to you. Never mind all the detentions from spur of the moment dance parties, how about the last time I listened to you we got trapped in another world and I had to spend two weeks dodging predators the size of my parent’s car?”

“Hey, I didn't see that coming! How could I?” Sasha replied, really not liking Anne's speech at all.

“Well, I know for a fact that going to the party my parents planned wouldn't have ended that way. I don't know, maybe you should start listening and stop planning Sasha. It might work out better for you.”

Sasha's eye twitched again and she stepped closer to Anne to poke a finger into her chest. “Watch it, Boonchuy. I really don’t like your tone.”

“What, you mad that I’m not your perfect little yes girl anymore? I learned how to not do that a while ago, so maybe you should learn how to not do something too.”

“That’s enough! Nothing you say is going to change things. We’re going with my plan, no buts. End-”

Two things shattered then. The first was Anne’s cup as she threw it hard on the ground, sending shards and tea everywhere, which Sasha flinched away from. The second was Anne’s temper, which broke even more than the cup.

“SAY THAT AGAIN!” Anne shouted as she slapped Sasha’s hand away, who was naturally shocked at the outburst and Anne’s glowing eyes. She backed away as Anne continued, “Say that one more time Sasha! I double dare you! SEE WHAT FUCKING HAPPENS!”

“Anne-” Sasha started to say before Anne grabbed her by her robe’s collar and pulled her closer and started shaking Sasha.

“NO! I'm not going to even give you the chance to say it! It's my turn to talk! And Frog help me if you say another word without my explicit permission Sasha, I'll rip your tongue out of your mouth! Do you understand me?!”

Sasha didn't know how to respond. Anne had never gotten this angry before, let alone swearing like that. Everything about Anne was screaming ‘danger’ to Sasha, so he made a show of closing her mouth and nodding. Anne squinted at Sasha before tossing her onto the couch and taking a deep breath once Sasha settled. Her eyes stopped glowing as she crossed her arms and walked over to the map of Frog Valley.

“Your problem, Sasha, is that you're thinking too small. Because let's face it, this whole thing happening tonight is about conquest. You're throwing your lot in with a bunch of toads and helping them out, and for what? This?” Anne gestured at the map before grabbing it and ripping it off the wall. “One valley in a continent that is isolated for part of the year because of one nasty feature of the surrounding mountains? This valley means nothing to me; it's just a stepping stone.”

To prove her point, Anne clenched her hands around the map and tore it in half, both halves igniting and burning away a second after.

“In a few days, the way out of this valley will finally be safe to travel and that's when the real conquest begins. A whole continent full of land, subjects, resources, and maybe even Marcy somewhere out there, all laid out for the taking! And I will take it and nobody will stand in my way.”

Involuntarily, Sasha backed up into her couch as Anne marched over to her and effortlessly flipped the table to the side. She was starting to see it was more than the armor that had turned Anne into an Overlord.

Anne leaned down so she was even with Sasha's face, her eyes glowing just enough blue to be noticeable, and said, “This tower will fall tonight. Grime and the toads will die, and nothing will stop me. But you, Sasha,” Anne poked Sasha's chest, "don't have to. I offer you a choice: either you stay with the toads and get crushed with them. I won't kill you though, just beat you within an inch of your life and then throw you in my dungeons for the rest of our time here.

“Or, better, you join me and help me with my conquest. Sure, you won't be above me because nobody is above me, but no doubt it'll be better than the dungeons. Do a good enough job, and I might even forgive you for everything you've done. Maybe.

“That's my offer Sasha. There will be no better deal or negotiations. Take it or leave it.

“End. Of. Discussion."

Anne punctuated each word with a poke to Sasha's chest, and it did nothing but irritate Sasha more. Anne daring to make demands of her was just not right. After everything Sasha had done for Anne, to hear her throw it all away and despise her for it hit every possible nerve it could. So Sasha glared at Anne, not saying anything yet in case the threat she had made was (more than likely) real. She didn't have to wait long as Anne stood up straight, brushed off her robe, and made a grand gesture at Sasha.

“You may now speak,” she said with a smirk. Sasha took a breath and stood up, her arms crossed as she took a few steps away from the couch.

“And what exactly do you want me to say? Are you expecting me to thank you for that crappy choice? Because I won't and you even saying that really ticks me off.”

“Well that's up to you Sasha,” Anne replied, inspecting her nails, “I just assumed you were used to dealing with things beyond your control. Good at it, in fact.”

Sasha's eyes widened in disbelief. “Did you just…?”

“Yup.”

“OH, THATS IT!” Sasha screamed and pushed her face against Anne's, hot fury meeting cold indifference. “I would have forgiven everything before, but that?! You can take your offer and shove it, Boonchuy! I choose C: beating your butt and bringing you to my side kicking and screaming! How do you like that?!”

“Your funeral, Waybright. I hope you don’t regret it,” Anne replied and pushed her face against Sasha’s.

“I won't.”

“Fine.”

“Fine!”

So, with that total breakdown of negotiations, both girls glared at each other densely, both ready for a fight to start any second.

…

…

…any second now.

…

…

…

…They had been staring for far too long and were starting to feel awkward. Slowly, they pulled away from each other and glanced away. Sasha crossed her arms and Anne started rocking back and forth on her feet before coughing into a fist.

“...We should have had that when we're actually ready to fight, huh?” Anne asked.

“Yeah… I mean, you remember the sleepover rules. No rough housing in our rooms in case we break something,” Sasha said and rubbed her arm.

“Yeah, I remember. Plus I'd rather fight in my armor which, again, takes a while to get into. And I don't want to ruin these robes. These look like nice robes.”

“Thanks. They are nice though, especially after getting the wool for them.”

“This is wool?” Anne started rubbing the material between her fingers, amazed at the feel. “No wonder they feel nice. Where'd you get it?"

“Moths, believe it or not,” Sasha answered with a shrug, “Real big moths that we had to hold down and shave.”

“I had a giant moth once. She was really cute.” Anne started to tear up at the memory of Domino 2.

“I don't know what kind of moths you dealt with, but the ones I fought were nasty. And had some kind of poison barbs that paralyzed Braddock for, like, three days. Worth getting the wool though."

“Braddock?”

“One of the two toads I left in the courtyard to wait for you.”

“The jester?”

“That's Percy. Braddock is the other one.”

“Oh yeah, her. Hey, are they like… a thing? Because when I got here I could hear them chatting about gardening and junk. They just went on for five minutes before I got bored and broke the door down.”

“Weird. And yeah, they are a thing. They actually got together the same night I got this job.”

“Huh.” Anne rubbed her chin in thought before nodding with a smile. “They're cute together. Good for them.”

“That's what I keep saying! But every time I bring that up to the others, all I get is-” Sasha paused mid gesture as she realized what she was doing and rubbed her hair furiously. “Wait a minute, why are we just standing here chatting?! I thought we were going to fight?!”

“You started it,” Anne said unamusedly and pointed at Sasha while giving her an unimpressed look.

“AND I’LL F-” Sasha shouted before catching herself and taking a deep breath. “I’m not falling for that. Tell you what, your big problem is getting dressed, right?” Anne nodded and Sasha put her hands together as finger guns and pointed at Anne. “Well, it doesn’t take me that long to get armored up. So, after I get dressed, you get started on what you can while I go get your stupid Minion things to help you. Then we’ll settle this some way when you’re done. I’ll ask Grime, he’s big into this warrior thing and might know what to do.”

“Can’t face me without any back up, huh?” Anne asked with a smirk. Sasha glared at Anne before forcing herself to take another deep breath and walk past her toward the bathroom.

“I really don’t like this attitude of yours Anne, but I won’t let you get to me. I’m going to get dressed now.”

“Don’t let the door hit you on your way in,” Anne said as she turned to watch Sasha.

“I won’t.” Sasha grabbed the bathroom door handle.

“Fine.”

“Fine.” She opened the door.

“Fine!”

“Fine!” Sasha slammed the door, leaving Anne alone in the room. After a moment, Anne smiled and nodded to herself.

“I think that talk went well. At least nobody is freaking out about anything.”

“I’M TOTALLY FREAKING OUT!”

Meanwhile, the situation in the banquet hall had devolved severely. The frogs and Minions had forced the toads to gather around the door while under assault by food and cutlery. At least from the frogs; the Minions didn’t seem to care who they threw things at, though the toads were bigger targets.

“Now this is the kind of carnage I’ve been waiting for!” Polly shouted excitedly. “I wanna throw stuff too!” Polly then reached down to take a crab leg off Hop Pop's plate.

“Polly, no! Don't throw that crab leg!” Hop Pop said as he took the leg back before giving Polly a potato. “Throw this instead. It hits harder.”

“Oh, heck yeah!” Polly took and threw the potato. She managed to nail a toad in the helmet as he cowered behind his spear.

"What are we going to do?” He asked the toad next to him as more produce pelted them.

“Just hold the line! It's not like they can actually hurt us,” another toad shouted.

“Doesn’t mean we won’t try!” Wally shouted as Ivy jumped over the crowd and threw a plate across the room and hit a toad right in the face, knocking him out instantly.

“Alright, that’s it!” The lead toad shouted and he and then other toads brandished their weapons. All the frogs stopped nervously, having indeed forgotten that the toads were all armed, and the Minions roared at the challenge.. Thankfully, that was as far as it escalated as the door was kicked in for the third time that night and Sasha (freshly armored) came in.

“Okay, I-” Sasha started to say when she noticed just what was happening in the banquet hall, which her response was an angry, “-What the heck is going on in here?!”

“Commander?” the lead toad said before smiling viciously at the frogs, “Oh, you’re all in trouble now!” It wasn’t just the frogs either, as that toad in particular soon had Sasha looming over him.

“And why are they in trouble?” she asked, causing the toad to turn to her nervously.

“Um… well… they kind of found out we were keeping them prisoner?” he responded. 

“It was nobody’s fault,” Henry said suddenly, “and nobody tipped them off by accident, in case the Captain asks.” Sasha glared at him, and then at the collected frogs before groaning and putting her face in her hands.

“I am not in the mood for this!” she moaned out, her fingers practically clawing her skin as she dragged her hands down. Once she was done, she turned to the Minions on the food table and pointed at them. “You freaks! You know how to find your way to Anne, right?” The Minions looked at each other before nodding at Anne. “Good, because she needs you now. Get going.” The Minions stared at her, causing Sasha to angrily stomp her foot and point at the door. “NOW!” That got the Minions moving, though they also made a point to mess up the room as they left.

“Okay.”

“No need to be rude.”

“This ours now,” A Minion said as he and a group of them carried the beer fountain out.

“Whatever, I don’t care!” Sasha exclaimed and rubbed her eyes. While the fountain Minions turned to leave the tower entirely, the rest were going the way to Sasha’s room. “At least something is going right tonight. I just want this to end,” she muttered and turned back to the toads, “I need you guys somewhere else now. Things are moving fast now.”

“But what about the frogs?” a toad asked.

“What about them?! They can’t even leave if you lock the door! Just do that until we’re ready for them.” The toads stared at Sasha before muttering among themselves about how much that made sense and started leaving the room. Once they were out, Sasha left and started closing the doors behind her.

“I can’t believe you!” Sprig shouted and pointed at Sasha. “You lied to us about this party and held us prisoner to catch Anne!”

“...Yeah, I did. Guess what, I’m still going to,” Sasha said and shut the door, loud clanks on the other side indicating the door was being locked. That was confirmed a second later when Sprig hopped over to it and failed to open it.

“Yeah, we’re locked in.”

“This is awful!” Felicia screamed, “What are we going to do?” Mayor Toadstool, who had been busy scraping bits of paper mache off of his suit since the minor riot had started, walked in the center of the room holding his hands up.

“Well, I think I speak for all of us when I say I don’t want to spend another minute here. It won’t end well for anyone,” he said and gestured to the unfortunate toad guard who had been the Minion’s plaything.

“Well, does anybody have any ideas on how to get out?” a frog asked.

“I do,” Loggle shouted, “...n’t. I don’t have any ideas.”

The frogs groaned and Mrs. Croaker swiped at the Axolotl with her cane. “How about we let people with actual ideas speak up, hm?” she said.

“Oh, I got one!” Wally shouted and hopped into the middle of the group. “To leave, Toad Tower has to not be there! So let’s blow it to smithereens!” Wally then opened his vest to reveal an array of Boom Shrooms inside it. “I got plenty to level the tower right here!”

“With us still inside it?” Toadie pointed out nervously.

“...What's your point?”

“Put those away, we're not blowing up the tower,” Hop Pop said.

“...Right, I understand,” Wally said and closed his vest and made an odd motion with his closed eye, “We're not doing that.”

“Yes, that's what I said. Any other ideas?”

“Hey, Sprig,” Polly said and hopped off of Hop Pop's head over to her brother. “Didn't Anne show us a movie with something like this once? You think that might help?”

“You mean Jail Escape? Oh, that was great!” Sprig agreed. “I really liked the end where they got out through the…” Sprig's eyes widened and he met Polly's eyes for a second before they both looked at a conspicuous grate with a sickly green glow coming out of it.

“The sewer system!” they shouted and Sprig hopped over to the grate and, after some effort, pulled it off. “We can get out this way!”

“Um, are you sure Sprig?” Hop Pop asked as he walked over and looked down the hole skeptically.

“Of course. It worked in Anne's movie, and she always says movies are just like real life.”

“Well, I can't argue against that.”

“But does it have to be somewhere so dirty?” Felicia asked uncomfortably.

“Suck it up, buttercup! It's time to get dirty!” Polly yelled and was the first to jump down the drain, with the others slowly following.

While that was happening, Sasha was making her way down the Tower toward the courtyard to talk to Grime. She was taking her time, trying to think of the right way to word the bad news so it didn't seem so bad for her. By the time she was at the door to the courtyard, she was sure she had it. So she gently opened the door, slipped through, closed it gently, and walked over to Grime admiring the giant plant.

“It really is a thing of beauty, isn't it?” Grime asked aloud, getting nods of agreement from Braddock and a heavily bandaged Percy. Sasha cleared her throat once she was behind them to get their attention and make them turn around. “Ah, Lieutenant. How are the negotiations going?”

And just like that, Sasha's planned statement was gone. To buy time, she clasped her hands together, extended her index fingers to her lips, and took a deep breath. That seemed to get the main point across if Grime's fallen expression meant anything.

“They fell through, didn't they?”

“Yyyyyeah…” Sasha replied and glanced away from Grime. “I… underestimated how much she enjoyed her new position, and we got into a little fight, and now we're going to duel to the death now with the fate of the whole valley on the line. I guess.”

“Oh!” Grime, along with Percy and Braddock weirdly enough, perked up at that. “You're going the Toad-fashioned way? That's a wonderful idea! It works far better than ‘diplomacy’ ever did in my opinion.”

“Wait, that's really a thing?”

“Oh yes, trial by combat. Two warriors enter the ring, the winner gets everything they desire. It's one of the oldest Toad traditions.”

“It's how my parents got together,” Percy said.

“Really?” Braddock asked, astonished, “I didn't know they were such romantics.”

“...Right,” Sasha said, letting that thread go as she pointed at Grime. “So, is there anything I need to do to set this up, or…?”

“I'll take care of it,” Grime answered and pinned at the top of the Tower, “You'll fight on the roof and hopefully we'll both put down a rebellion tonight.” The plant behind Grime roared in hunger and the captain chuckled to himself.

“Alright, cool. If you need to tell Anne about this, she's getting ready in my room. I'll head up there soon.” Grime left and entered the tower, leaving his subordinates alone. After a moment, Sasha turned to Percy. “Really though? About your parents?”

“Oh yeah, it's actually a really interesting story.”

One he wouldn't tell, as another toad ran out of the tower toward Sasha, saluted, and said, “Uh, Commander? Bad news.”

“Did the frogs escape?” Sasha asked, flatly and unimpressed.

“Uh, yeah. Down the sewer grate in the hall.”

“WHY DO WE-?” Sasha caught herself from yelling, took a breath, and then asked, “Where does it lead out?”

“Right over there. We use it to fish out soldiers that fall down there,” Braddock answered and pointed over to a metal grate close to the stables. Sasha and the gathered toads walked over to it just as they heard voices echoing up from it.

“See? I told you we’d find a way out eventually!” Sprig’s voice echoed from the passage. A second later he pushed the grate up and climbed out of the hole, “And all without dealing with any more smelly toads!”

That’s when he noticed the toads nearby, who all pointed their weapons at him or the hole in general, and especially Sasha looking at him unimpressed.

“Uh… I mean, you don’t smell that bad?” Sprig corrected with a nervous chuckle as Hop Pop stuck his head out of the hole.

“Ah, swamp gas.”

Some time later, on the roof of Toad Tower, preparations were being made. The Minions of The Overlord were scattered around the edge of the roof watching the nervous toad soldiers. The Overlord herself was waiting patiently and switching between watching the hatch to the roof, making small adjustments to her armor, and watching Captain Grime as he impatiently waited.

“It won't be much longer,” Grime said as he looked over the edge of the tower, probably down at that plant again. “It's getting quite hungry, you know.”

“It'll be fine. I'm sure it'll like the taste of Toad,” Anne replied. The toad soldiers bristled at the comment, which caused the Minions to shuffle and rattle their weapons warningly. At least, the visible ones did; nobody saw where the Greens had disappeared to, but knew they were still around.

“Charming,” Grime said and motioned for the soldiers to wait. The hatch opened and a thoroughly annoyed Sasha walked up. “Ah, there you are, Lieutenant.” Grime nearly continued, only to be stopped short by a steady stream of Frogs coming after Sasha.

“Sorry for the wait. I had to deal with a small escape attempt,” Sasha said and walked over to Grime as all of Wartwood gathered on the roof. Sprig gave Anne a small shrug while she simply rubbed her eyes in annoyance.

“Oh, good job Lieutenant. Look at you, playing Flipwart while everyone else is playing Bog Jump.”

“Excuse me?”

“What?” Both humans gave Grime utterly confused looks as the phrase went right over their heads.

“Uh, well you see, Flipwart is considered harder and for more skilled players while Bog Jump is simpler and-,” Grime paused and growled in frustration, “I'm trying to say you're smart!”

Now that Sasha understood. “Oh, absolutely. You know me. Up top, big guy!” Sasha said and held her hand up for a high fives, which Grime struggled to remember for a moment before uneasily giving Sasha one. “Yeah! You got it.”

“Kiss ass,” Anne said bluntly.

“You want to throw down, Boonchuy?!” Sasha shouted angrily and stomped her foot down. “Because those sound like fighting words to me!”

“Well pardon me , Waybright! I thought that's why we came up here in the first place. You know, to fight with swords.” Anne waved her sword in the air to illustrate her point before she lowered it and pointed at Sasha and Grime. “Instead all I've done is stand around while he feeds his knock-off Audrey II and watch you flirt with your sugar daddy. So I'm sorry that hair dye is finally messing with your brain, Sasha.”

“I DON’T DYE MY HAIR!” Sasha roared and took a step toward Anne, her foot cracking the stone work and her eyes started glowing from anger.

While Grime held Sasha back, Sprig scratched his head. “Huh, I guess they aren't friends? Weird, Anne seemed to like her when she talked about her.”

“Maybe it's a human thing,” Polly posited before tapping the top of Hop Pop's head. “Hey Hop Pop, what's a sugar daddy?”

“You're too young to know that. Just like me,” Hop Pop replied while trying very hard to ignore the snickers around him.

“Enough! You can settle your differences in the duel!” Grime shouted to get back some control. Sasha nodded roughly and backed up a step. Grime then pointed at Anne and added, “And for your information, I detest sugar!”

Anne could only roll her eyes at that before Grime hopped onto the Tower's parapet and held a fist up.

“Well, since we have a decent audience now, let's get this challenge started. Lieutenant, as the challenger, you may state your win conditions first.”

“Oh, that's easy,” Sasha started and grabbed the handle of her sheathed sword, “Anne has to put this Overlord thing behind her and come with me so we can get home. Unless you want to drop this whole thing now, Anne?”

The glowing eyes under Anne's helmet simply narrowed at the challenge.

“And as her superior, I'll add my own condition to her victory,” Grime added with a chuckle. “And that is I will proceed with the execution of Hopediah Plantar.”

“SAY WHAT?!” Hop Pop shouted along with plenty of shocked gasps from the Wartwood residents. “Now hold on, why am I being dragged into this?!”

Anne lifted her helmet up so her sympathetic look was visible. “Yeah, turns out you've been inspiring frog rebellions across the valley. You know, the mayoral election and standing up to the tax toads, people noticed. And I'm still mad that you got the front page in the paper while I took over the town and didn't get a mention at all!”

“Get over it, Boonchuy,” Sasha said as she took a rolled up paper from behind her back and walked over to Hop Pop.

“No, I will not!” Anne shouted and slammed her helmet back down on her head. "For the record, I don't care about the rebellion since they're not rebelling against me. The Toads absolutely do care though.” By then, Sasha had made it to Hop Pop and flatly threw the poster of him into his face before walking back over to Grime. Hop Pop scrambled to peel the paper off his face and looked it over with everyone else looking over his shoulder.

“Huh, they got my good side,” Hop Pop commented, with plenty of frogs around him nodding in agreement. Then the much more pressing concern of this revelation hit him and he started panicking. “OH FROG, I’M GOING TO BE KILLED!”

“Not if we have anything to say about it!” Sprig shouted and took out his slingshot. Polly growled at the nearest toad soldier, an act that was soon joined by angry shouts all around from the Wartwood citizens. It was raucous enough for the nearby soldiers to back up and point their spears at the frogs.

“In hindsight, we probably should have tied them up,” one of them said aloud.

“Oh, knock that off!” Anne shouted and shook her head. When the frogs did all quiet down, she continued, “In case you all didn't notice, we're already in the middle of something that will decide if Hop Pop dies or not anyway. Just chill.”

“What she said,” Grime said, squinting his eyes at the toad soldiers until they stood down and then turned to Anne. “I know what you want, but officially I still have to ask.”

“Easy: I want you and the rest of the toads dead, this tower destroyed, and Sasha comes with me. Whether that is willingly or in chains will have to be decided after I win.” Sasha growled and clenched her fists tighter, which only made Anne laugh and made Sasha even angrier.

“Charming. Now are both combatants ready?”

“Always!” Sasha said and drew her sword. Anne simply moved her sword into a ready position and started slowly circling around with Sasha mirroring her. Neither of them looked away from the other’s eyes as they waited for the signal to start. It was an agonizingly slow wait, until…

“Begin!”

On Grime’s shout, Sasha gripped her sword tightly in both hands and charged at Anne with a shout, intent on landing a decisive first blow for the fight. She swung it as hard as she could… and watched as Anne caught it in her free gauntlet and held it tight when Sasha tried to free it with a tug.

“Crud,” Sasha said.

“Yeah, forgot about the armor, did you? That’s easy, I’m sure,” Anne said condescendingly before she raised her sword and struck Sasha on the forehead with the bottom of the handle. Sasha was floored from the force of the blow and tried to get up before she was kicked in the stomach by an armored boot, knocking the air out of her lungs and causing her to skid across the stone until she came to a stop.

“Oh, I guess I am safe after all,” Hop Pop commented with a nod.

“Lieutenant, when I agreed to this, it was with the idea that you could win!” Grime growled angrily.

“So she's strong! That doesn't mean anything!” Sasha yelled and rolled to the side just as Anne swung her sword and struck where Sasha had been. Sasha got to her feet and charged again, her sword clashing with Anne’s, only to once again be stopped dead in her tracks and knocked back with another punch and kick. By then the clear blows were having an effect and Sasha found she had to lean on her sword just to stay standing.

“Honestly…” Anne said and shook her head, “This is disappointing. Flat out pathetic, even. If I had known this would be how this went, I wouldn’t have even bothered.” That hurt in a way deep way Sasha hadn’t expected. She grit her teeth and gripped her sword tighter as the reality of what was happening overcame her.

‘I’m being overpowered? Left behind? I don’t… how can?’ Lost in thought as she were, Sasha could only barely notice Anne roll her shoulders and start walking to her.

“What a waste of time. Let’s just finish this, Sasha,” Anne said as she raised her sword over her head. Sasha bit her lip and the world slow to a crawl around her as a pressure built in her head.

CLANG

“Your time at the crossroad about over. Time to make a choice.”

‘Is this what he meant? Was I just being indecisive, staying my hand like this, waiting and letting myself ride on the waves to wherever it takes me?’ Sasha grit her teeth at the thought, ‘I suppose, and look where it got me. Anne, ANNE of all people is stronger than me and about to come on top? That’s unacceptable! I can’t stand it!’

CLANG

‘Good or Evil, right? Those were the choices that guy said I had? Well, I’m not an idiot. Good doesn’t suit me, and who was I kidding with that? I haven’t been good at all since I got here. And if Anne got this far with this Evil change…’

CLANG

‘Then why not me?’

Anne finally reached Sasha and quickly raised her sword and brought it down. Everyone on the roof watched in worry until the sword clanged against something. Sasha’s sword, to be exact. However, unlike what happened earlier, Sasha didn’t struggle at all and actually managed to start pushing it up. Anne gave a small hum of curiosity before her sword was pushed up enough that Sasha was able to rear her free fist back and slam it into Anne’s torso, sending her skidding backwards across the rooftop at a force she nearly fell over from. Everyone gasped at the sudden show and watched as Sasha straightened up and held up her shaking fist.

“You think you’re so damn tough now that you’re Evil, huh Anne?” Sasha asked. Her hair had fallen in front of her eyes and she uncurled her fist to sweep it out from her eyes to reveal glowing pink eyes. “Well, I can be just as Evil too!” As she clenched her fist again everyone could see swirls of some kind of black energy appear in the air around Sasha, who couldn’t help but laugh maniacally and claw at her face. “Oh wow! Getting that off my chest feels great! I can feel power surging through me. I feel like I can do anything!”

“No, I think I’m still in danger!” Hop Pop shouted and backed up in panic along with the rest of the frog crowd.

“Now that’s interesting,” Grime muttered with a wide, toothy grin and rubbed his hands together.

The Minions had grown quiet, each of them watching in rapt attention at this turn of events.

And then there was Anne, who simply chuckled and said, “There she is.” Anne straightened up and started walking back to Sasha, who heard the clanking of armor and focused on the Overlord. Sasha then dragged her hands down her face, twirled her sword in her hand, and charged at Anne again. Anne met her strike with her own, the sheer force causing a small shockwave to expand around them, and they stood hardly budging against each other.

“Is this how you feel all the time now?” Sasha asked with a large grin as more of black energy came off of her. “I should have stopped pretending about this a long time ago!”

“Yeah, it feels great,” Anne said as she started emitting the same dark energy. She pushed back against Sasha and knocked her sword away, the two girls exchanging a few blows before locking blades again. “Gotta say, you really had me worried there Sasha. It’s not like you to give up without a fight, so I’m glad you’re back to it. It wouldn’t be nearly as fun otherwise!”

“Oh, that fun’s just getting started!” Both girls pushed against each other, sparks flying from their swords at the point of contact, until Anne managed to push Sasha across the roof. When she came to a stop she grinned widely and raised her sword, which Anne met.

Then, there was a beat. Slow, even, steady that seemed to come from everywhere on the rooftop. It didn't take long for everyone to realize the Minions were causing it. Each one was pounding their fists or weapons against the stone rhymically as they watched the duel. And then there was the chanting.

“Sa-sha! Sa-sha! Sa-sha!”

“Anne! Anne! Anne!”

“Heh, look at that,” Sasha said and smirked at Anne, “looks like some of your little freaks like me more.”

“Let them talk. I’ll just beat the ones who didn’t cheer for me to death,” Anne replied, which got a laugh from Sasha.

“Honestly, I don’t even care about that,” Sasha said as she and Anne started circling each other again. Sasha made a point of dragging her sword along the ground to create a trail of sparks. “Not the frogs, not the toads. All I care about right now is beating you. Not like you ever could beat me before, so why change that now?”

“Can you care a little?” Percy called out.

“Please,” Grime added angrily.

“Sure, whatever.”

“Try it, Waybright.”

And Sasha did. She ripped her cloak off and rushed at Anne, ducking a sword swipe and sliding between Anne's legs intently to get at her back. Turned out Anne was surprisingly fast in that armor, since Sasha was barely on her feet when Anne turned around and struck again. Sasha blocked, the clang of swords joining the chants of the Minions in the rush of the moment.

Suddenly, the ‘boom’ of an explosion sounded out, shaking the tower knocking everyone off balance. Sasha actually fell backwards onto her butt while Anne was forced to kneel from the tremors.

“What the heck was that?!” Anne shouted as another explosion rocked the tower.

“Oh, my Boom Shrooms are going off,” Wally said cheerfully.

“What Boom Shrooms?!” Plenty of the surrounding frogs and toads shouted.

“The Boom Shrooms that I set to cover our escape. I even put more on our way up here.”

“Oh, that's what he was doing,” a toad said and was immediately slapped by another.

“Are you serious?!" Sasha screamed.

“We agreed we weren't going to do that plan, Wally!” Hop Pop said.

“I thought we did! You know, saying we won’t but secretly will. I winked and everything!” Even demonstrated said wink again, which only caused his bad eye to wiggle slightly. That's when it hit him. “Wait, did I wink with the wrong eye? Curse you, one eye!”

“WALLY, YOU IDIOT!” Anne shouted just before another explosion went off, causing the floor under her and Sasha to bulge up and then sink down. The girls looked down at the floor as it cracked, and then each other before it gave in completely and caused them to fall through screaming.

“Anne!” Sprig shouted and hopped over the toad soldiers. He ignored the shouts from his family and rushed to jump into the hole Anne had fallen down. More explosions went off and more holes started opening up, either too close or right under some unlucky toad soldier.

“Forget this, I’m outta here!” a soldier shouted and ripped open the hatch to the stairs and ran down it. Several other soldiers followed after him as more explosions went off along the tower.

“Where are you going?!” Grime shouted angrily as more soldiers broke rank and ran. “Get back here and hold the-” he was cut off by another explosion that collapsed the section of wall he was standing on and sent him falling off the roof. While most of the Minions were focused on their chanting, some noticed this and laughed at Grime’s plight.

Right before they too were sent tumbling off the tower.

“Uh, that was good, right?” Polly asked.

“Sure. I never liked that guy anyway,” Hop Pop answered with a dismissive wave of his hand. “I'm more worried about Sprig.”

“Worry on your own time!” Mrs. Croaker shouted from the hatch, where many frogs were already heading down. “It's time to git before we all end up buried!” While she tripped Toadie with her cane so she could head down first, Hop Pop looked up at Polly and shrugged.

“We'll find him on the way down.”

Anne and Sasha were sprawled on the floor of the room under where they fell, a good 15 feet drop. Sasha pushed herself up and rubbed the back of her head while Anne stood up fully, her eyes burning brightly from anger.

“I'm going to kill that little freak!” She shouted and stomped her foot on the ground.

“Get in line,” Sasha replied darkly. And then she noticed the floor was sinking under their weight. “Uh…”

“Anne!” Sprig shouted as he fell from the hole in the ceiling and landed between the two girls. The extra weight and force from his landing was more than the floor could handle and, with one final warning groan, the floor collapsed under the group. They screamed as they fell and crashed onto the floor in the middle of what looked like a barracks. Sprig got up in a hop-ready crouch and looked around, seeing Sasha lying face down with her legs hanging over her head, and more importantly Anne lying on her front not too far from him.

“Anne, are you okay?” Sprig asked as he carefully hopped over to Anne. The Overlord slowly craned her head up until she was staring right at Sprig.

“Sprig… why?” she asked.

“I… just wanted to help,” Sprig replied.

“I have it under control. Don’t get in the way.”

“What she said. Also, ow,” Sasha agreed, though heavily muffled as her face was still set roughly into the floor. Slowly, her legs started curling back before roughly landing on the floor so she was laying normally.

And then the floor broke, sending the three of them falling down another floor again. They couldn’t even scream that time, only give surprised yelps as they fell and crashed into another stone floor. All three of them lay on their backs, worried that some other sudden motion would send them plummeting down another floor. After a long while, Anne slowly raised a fist and slammed it hard onto the floor.

After a long, anxious moment, nothing happened and all three let out a relieved breath.

“Okay, I think the floor is stable. We can actually get up.”

“Thank Frog,” Sprig said as they all got up, Anne and Sasha groaning in pain as they did so.

“I’m really going to hurt Wally for this. Are you feeling alright Sasha?”

“Battered, but fine,” Sasha answered as she stretched out her arms before feeling her face. “Good, I thought I got a bloody nose from the fall.”

“That can be changed.” Sasha’s eyes widened and she quickly leaned backwards in time to avoid the strike from Anne. She immediately locked eyes with Anne, grit her teeth, and jumped away from the armored girl. Once she landed a fair distance away, Sasha drew her sword and pointed it at Anne.

“Cheap shot, Boonchuy!”

“No, that was fair game. Now this-” Anne raised a hand with her palm toward Sasha, who flinched when she saw flames gathering in the palm, “is a cheap shot!”

Or it would have if the flames hadn’t fizzled out right then. While Sasha was relieved, Anne looked confused at her palm. It wasn’t that the spell failed to be cast, it was that the flow of her magic was cut off right then. The magic of the Dark Tower wouldn’t respond to her will.

“Sorry Master, but a change in the duel’s circumstances forced my hand. I can’t let you use magic for this fight,” Gnarl spoke to her through her helmet. Anne growled and clenched her free hand into a fist before looking back at Sasha.

‘That’s fine, I don’t need magic to beat her.’ With that, and goaded by a smirk from Sasha along with the echoing beats and chants from the Minions, Anne and Sasha charged at each other and locked blades again. Sasha managed to push Anne back slightly, with both of them chuckling at it.

“Come on, this whole thing is about to come down!” Sprig shouted as he hopped onto a nearby wall, “Can’t you stop and maybe do this later?!”

“NO!”

“BUTT OUT!”

Sprig really should have expected that response. Just like how he should have expected another explosion to rock the tower and bring down a nearby wall. The girls flinched as well and Anne recovered faster, letting her knock Sasha’s sword away, grab her by the arm, and throw her through the hole in the wall before following after her with Sprig jumping through after them into the hall outside. Sasha shook the shock away in time to dodge a stab from Anne, leaving the Overlord’s sword stuck in the wall and Sasha free to land a strong slash across her chestpiece.

Anne was knocked back into the opposite wall and one of her pauldrons was knocked off by the sheer force. Sasha jumped onto her and lashed out on Anne’s helmet with the pommel of her sword until Anne got a hand on between them and pushed Sasha back across the hall. Sasha had enough time to see Anne lunge at her before she grabbed both sides of her head and slammed it against the sword stuck in the wall. Sasha fell backwards and used the momentum to roll back onto her feet and dodge another slash from Anne that she ripped along the wall to attack.

“Oh wow!” Sprig said as he eyed the gash in the wall and carefully followed after the two duelists. Doing his best to stay a reasonable distance away as they fought down the hallway until they hit a turn in the hallway.

“Gangway! Out of our way!” a voice shouted from down the hallway and, on looking, both Anne and Sasha jumped in shock and dashed to press against the walls on opposite sides of the hallway to let a torrent of running toads and frogs by.

“Oh, come on guys! It’s just a few explosions, what’s wrong with you?!” Sasha shouted just as another large explosion rocked the area just on the other side of the wall she was pressed against. She was appropriately nervous about that.

“These things should have died out by now. What gives?” Anne wondered before looking at the crowd in front of her. After a moment, she reached in and pulled out Wally by his vest. “Seriously, how many of those stupid mushrooms did you set?”

“Oh, I lost count at fifty. There's probably way more than that around now,” Wally replied cheerily.

“Seriously?” Sprig asked as he slowly siddled next to Anne.

“Hi Sprig.”

“Hi Ivy.”

“I dunno, I wasn't actually counting.” Wally said with a shrug.

“Oh for- we'll talk about this later. Away with you.” Anne then placed Wally back into the river of frogs to be carried away. Thankfully the current started petering out and they could stand properly again. “Now, where-”

“Sasha-uken!” Sasha cried out suddenly as she rushed up to Anne, ducked quickly, and hit her with a rising uppercut to the chest that sent her flying up and through the ceiling. Sasha's eyes glowed brighter as she raised her arms in victory. “That was awesome! Did you see that?”

Sprig looked up at the hole and then back at Sasha. “I'm not on your side,” was his response.

“Ah, whatever, that was cool.” Sasha then drew her sword and jumped up, stabbed it into the wall, and used that to jump up into the hole. Sprig blinked at that before shrugging and following after her. Sprig had barely pulled himself up into the bathroom when he saw Sasha and Anne struggling in another blade lock, which lasted until Sasha looked around in surprise.

“Hey, what a minute.” Anne took advantage of this lapse by knocking Sasha's sword away, picking her up, and charging to slam her through the door onto the room next door. Sasha was sent rolling while Anne tripped on something, though she got up quickly enough to continue fighting.

“Whoa whoa, time out!” Sasha shouted while making a T with her hands, “no fighting here! You remember the rules.”

Mildly taken aback, Anne looked around to find they had worked their way back to Sasha's room. After realizing that, Anne gave Sasha a flat look as the blonde picked up and sheathed her sword.

“Really?” Anne asked. Sasha simply crossed her arms and stared back at Anne until The Overlord rolled her eyes. “Whatever, Sasha. Sprig, don't touch that.”

Sprig, caught about to touch the Skater Sash statue, quickly put his hands behind his back and walked back over to Anne. “Sorry. It looked cool.”

“Thanks, I think it really ties the room together,” Sasha said, looking proud while also glaring at Sprig. When she had her fill, she walked over to open the door out and gestured for them to leave. Once both Anne and Sprig were out, Sasha followed and shut the door behind her before taking advantage of the lull to work out some soreness from the fight.

“Stupid sleepover rules, we're not even having one,” Anne complained as she flexed out her sword hand. “You got good at sword fighting though, Sasha.”

“Thanks. You're not bad yourself, Boonchuy. Tennis, right?”

“And a good teacher.”

“Same.”

"We robbed a train with our teacher,” Sprig said.

“Ugh, of course you had something to do with that too. Pain in my butt.”

“Well, it is part of my job.” Sasha didn’t bother arguing that and started stretching out her legs instead. A few more explosions went off somewhere below them and Anne looked around for a moment until she saw Hop Pop and Polly come toward them from around a corner. “Hey HP, Polly.”

“There you two are! I’ve been worried and looking for you!” Hop Pop said.

“Are you doing stretches? I thought you were fighting?” Polly asked.

“We are.”

“We are.”

“Well, I don’t mean to rush you two,” Hop Pop said while making a ‘hurry up’ motion with his hands, “but can you hurry up and finish this? The tower is still exploding.” To punctuate his point, the hallway behind him exploded and blue smoke started pouring out.

“I need to get pointers from Wally. Those are taking a long time to blow up,” Polly said with a smile. “Anne, can you imagine what we could do with such knowledge?!”

“That’s why you’re my Battlemaster, Polly. You get what I want. Let's get to figuring that out after I'm finished breaking every bone in Sasha's body.”

“Good luck with that,” Sasha said as she finished her stretches and drew her sword. “Okay, time in!” Sasha jumped and tried to slash downwards on Anne's helmet, although The Overlord blocked it and sent Sasha back before pressing her advantage.

“I'm confused, are they friends or enemies? Or something else entirely?” Hop Pop wondered as he and Sprig cautiously followed the fighters.

“I dunno. They've kinda been going back and forth,” Sprig answered.

“Human friendships are weird,” Polly concluded, “and I want to see how this goes. Hurry, catch up!”

“In due time,” Hop Pop responded just as another explosion nearby got him to pick up the pace.

The roof of Toad Tower was empty save for the Minions lazing around until Sasha was launched through the hatch. Sasha landed and rolled to her feet, where she had the unique opportunity of seeing Minions rush back into position to get back to beating the stone and chanting names.

“No, don't mind me. Didn't mean to interrupt your smoke break, guys,” Sasha said, rolling her eyes at the situation.

“You can kill the first one you saw, if you want,” Anne said as she walked onto the roof. “It's the only way they learn.”

“Don't patronize me!” Sasha charged at Anne again and tried to aim her slashes at her legs, only to get parried effortlessly and pushed back across the rooftop. She managed to stop herself just before she fell into a hole and rolled to the side just before Anne stomped on her.

The Plantars came up and stayed near the hatch as they watched. Polly, with a flat expression, asked a simple question. “Do we still have to be in a building that's coming down? When Anne wins, she can just teleport out while we can’t!”

“Don't be like that Polly. Anne might end up needing our help,” Sprig answered.

“I don't see how-”

Hop Pop was interrupted by a particularly loud shout from Sasha as she dodged a slash from Anne and brought her sword down hard on one of Anne’s gauntlets. Anne grunted in surprise and Sasha followed up by rearing a fist back and slamming it into the dead center of Anne’s chest plate hard enough to dent the metal and send Anne flying backwards. The Plantars ducked as Anne flew over them and slammed into a parapet that sent a few unlucky Minions flying over the side of the tower and left Anne slumped and groaning from the pain.

“Anne! Are you okay?!” Sprig shouted as he and his family rushed over to Anne’s side, the Overlord already pushing herself back onto her knees.

“Are you finally done Anne?” Sasha asked, more annoyed than anything, as she walked over to Anne with her sword dragging on the ground next to her. “All of this work and violence just to lord over a few slimy frogs? That’s not worth it Anne, not if you burn every other bridge to get there. You can’t even do anything without that armor of yours! Just give this up and-”

“SHUT UP!” Anne yelled suddenly and started grasping at her helmet to tear it off. “Don’t you ever STOP TALKING?!” Once Anne got her helmet off, she threw it hard on the ground next to her. The Plantars screamed at the action and backed off, the Minions stopped their beats and chants to watch, and Sasha paused at the look of sheer fury on Anne’s face as she got to her feet. “All you do is talk and talk and TALK! You must love the sound of your own voice, but I’m really starting to hate it!”

All the while Anne was shaking in anger. Almost manically, she started grasping at whatever parts of her armor she could to get it off. After a moment she grabbed the collar of her chest piece and started pulling, the energy around her darkening to an almost pure black.

“JUST SHUT UP!” She yelled before letting out a horrid scream as she pulled harder and sheared the front half of the chest piece off. The chest piece was thrown to the floor and Anne found it easier to take off the armor now: the gauntlets came off easily enough, and a few loosened belts and torn metal sheets got the lower torso pieces and greaves off. As the girl stepped out of the boots and threw whatever leftover chainmail off of her, she was left standing on the roof in her school uniform.

Honestly, Sasha wished she had stayed in the armor. Anne’s eyes were glowing even more than ever and were one of the clearer things that could be made out from the Evil energy surrounding Anne, the very air around her colored black from it.

“Well, that was very stu-” Sasha started to say.

“Stop. Talking,” Anne interrupted as she moved to pick up her sword, now slightly too big for her without her armor. Though she had to use both her hands to wield it, she was able to lift it easily and face Sasha. “Every word you say just makes me angrier. If you won’t shut up willingly, then I’ll make you stop permanently!”

“Oh really? Just try it!” Sasha shouted and readied her sword. Anne did the same and, after a moment of the two girls eyeing each other, they both charged.

It’s in times like this, moments that seem to stretch for eternity, that history can suddenly shift. A single decision that someone might not even think about can change everything. All boiled down to a single game of chicken.

Both girls continued their charge, glowing eyes locked on their opponent. Their grips tightened, their hearts pounded in their chests. Each focused on striking down their target.

And then Sasha saw something. Something about Anne’s eyes that struck something deep in her. She fought it as best she could until right up to the end, at the last possible moment she could have been able to stop, Sasha balked. She braced her feet to slow herself down, leaned back slightly, and raised her sword defensively as much as she could.

Anne didn’t.

With a loud yell, Anne swung her sword far stronger than Sasha was ready for. Her sword was knocked out of her hand, the tip of the sword cut into Sasha's cheek, and the force from the initial blow sent Sasha flying back. She landed flat on her back, her sword clattered next to her, and her hand shot to her cheek once she registered the stinging. She tried to push herself up when the tip of Anne's sword was pointed right at her throat.

“Don't. You're done, Sasha,” Anne said, her tone hard as stone. Breathing heavily, Sasha looked down at the sword and back up into Anne's glowing eyes. She tried to think of a way out of this situation, a way to get up and continue the fight, but she also knew she couldn't feasibly get up with Anne's sword right at her throat. That small admittance to herself was enough for the glow in Sasha's eyes to die out and she felt all the fatigue and exhaustion hit at once. She let out a small groan and collapsed back onto the floor.

Anne moved her sword away from Sasha and took a deep breath, the dark aura around her disappearing when she let it out. In the moment of stillness, the Minions all began cheering their Overlord that she soaked in for a moment before throwing her sword over her shoulder with a smile. “Well, that was fun. Good try, Sash.”

“Anne!” Hop Pop shouted as he and Sprig ran up to Anne, who turned to look at them with the same smile.

“Hey guys, what’s up?” she asked with a wave.

“What’s up?! Have you not been paying attention to what's happening?!” Polly shouted while wildly waving her flippers around. An explosion went off behind the Plantars and Anne watched the blue smoke rise into the sky.

“Oh right, the explosives,” Anne commented with a small nod. Behind her, Sasha found the strength to push herself up and started rubbing the back of her head, which was around the time Anne remembered where exactly they were. “Oh, wait a minute…”

A series of explosions wrapped around the base of Toad Tower, damaging the foundation and causing the tower to suddenly start tilting. Anne nearly fell over if not for Sprig's fast tongue work pulling her back. The Minions grabbed hold of what they could, though a few did still end up falling off the tower. One particularly unlucky Brown went tumbling along the roof past Anne and the Plantars.

And right into Sasha, who had barely found her feet when the Brown crashed into her and sent her backwards. Anne screamed and ran after them, though another explosion brought her to a stop while Sasha managed to bring herself to a slow roll while the Minion went flying over the far side of the tower.

The tower shifted and both girls looked at a large crack running across the rooftop, separating the section of roof Sasha was on from the rest of it. The crack of stones snapping in half filled the air as Sasha got to her feet and tried to run, just a little too late as her section crumbled on itself.

“Sasha!”

Sasha screamed and Anne dove, managing to grab the girl's hand with both of hers before it was too late. The entirety of Sasha's weight hit her and Anne found it was all she could do to just to fight against gravity and the tilt of the tower.