Chapter Text
~~⚔️~~
If Sasha didn’t die from her head being split open from sitting on this rickety chariot first, she would have some choice words to say to the warrior toad who claimed to be oh so mighty but couldn’t even manage his own troops. Pathetic, she thought while she sat next to the silent helmetted toad, Mire. She knew there was something going on with him. No one spoke so little without a good reason. But Mire was the least of the human’s concerns.
No, the thoughts bouncing around in her brain were mostly concerned with her so-called leader Fens: the teal frog driving the horrible ride, and said warrior toad, Grime… oh, Grime. How wrong Sasha had been. At one point she had fooled herself into thinking he might have liked her in his weird toad way. Turns out, she couldn’t have been more wrong. As soon as he found out she was “only thirteen”, he demoted her and took away her well earned bog grog from after she defeated the herons and rallied the troops. And now he’d sent her here to collect taxes as if she was some dusty old woman who had nothing better to do with her time! She should have stuck to what she knew: if you give an adult a knife, they’ll find a way to stick it in you and twist till you bleed dry. The only exception had been the Boonchuys. They were nice. What Sasha wouldn’t give to have one of their fresh homemade meals…. She shook the thought out of her head. There was no time to reminisce about that now. She had a more pressing matter: spite. She didn’t need these slime balls to find her girls anyways. She’d do it herself. The first chance she got, she’d get away from these slime balls.
Really, could you blame Sasha for her blunder? She was in shock. The toads hardly looked like humans, let alone adults. Then there was the whole, being dropped face first into mud by some magic doohickie box, which she promptly passed out from the stench and horrifically slimy feeling, and then waking up in some sort of medieval dungeon cell, straight out of one of Marcy’s fantasy books. It was enough to rattle anyone, let alone a thirteen year old teen. Although, Marcy would probably love this. Yes, she’d be having the time of her life right about now, living it up in one of her nerd worlds, probably gushing about the foliage or something like that. Marcy’s face glowed in Sasha’s memory, beckoning her away from the despair she was in. And this time she couldn’t bring herself to shake it off: her cute, juvenile smile, the way she’d crack up over Sasha’s worst jokes, that silky smooth black hair and adorably innocent green hair clip, it all helped Sasha slip away—
“Kid! You’re not falling asleep are you? Or do I have to go back there and slap you awake?” The gruff, smug, irritating voice of Fens snapped Sasha out of her brief bliss. “If you wanna be a toad, you better start acting like one.”
Sasha pursed her lips and bit her tongue, which wasn’t difficult because she’d already nearly mutilated it with how her teeth chattered from the choppy ride. The last time she’d complained about the ride, Fens had stopped the tarantula which pulled the chariot, and put Sasha into a headlock which nearly suffocated her to death. She wanted to protest, not just the part of her falling asleep, but the lie of her wanting to be a toad. She did not want to be one of those warty, incredibly ugly “people”. What she wanted was what she’d been promised: to be in charge. That was the only thing that mattered, and the only reason she’d agreed to join the army in the first place. At least the toads had one quality she could admire, or some of them did anyways, which was being unyieldingly tough. It was something Sasha had strived for since her parents had divorced when she was six. She knew her parents weren’t reliable, and that she had to fight her own battles.
“You know, girlie, you should be honoured. Not many kids your age get to be a tax collector.”
Sasha stayed silent, not letting this toad get a reaction out of her by calling her “girlie”, lest she be laughed at—again. So she sat there, keeping her head low and fists tight. Minutes turned into hours, and when she realized they were nearly there, it hit her that the quality of the roads had not only stayed the same, but appeared to get worse the closer they got to frog civilization.
Okay, seriously, how the hell were there so many pot holes? How the hell did anyone think this was okay?! Isn’t this the entire point of having taxes in the first place?
Based on what she’d heard, the mayor of the entire frog damn valley was a plump, greasy toad who had gone completely unopposed because there weren’t any other toads to run for Mayor in Frog Valley. Grime really wasn’t kidding when he said that it’s the toad’s job to rule over the frogs.
At first she didn’t question it. The frogs seemed like they’d be fun playthings for her, infinitely better than dissecting one at the very least. But now that she was at the bottom of the toadem pole, (okay technically not at the bottom but she didn’t want to imagine those people) she realized just how malarchy it all was.
Really? How could the frogs just take that? If Sasha were the one being shoved in the dirt, even if she couldn’t win, she’d still go out kicking and screaming. How can anyone stand being told what to do when they don’t even have a say in it?!
… Okay, so maybe she wasn’t kicking and screaming… yet. But mark the inaudible thoughts raging in her head, she’d be back for revenge… as soon as she could figure out how to do that. Dangit, why couldn’t Marcy be here? That girl could craft the meanest most dastardly revenge, with Sasha’s help of course.
Sasha sighed as the sweat from her sweltering forehead, hot from the boiling sun, fell onto the back of her wrist. She was positive both her girls had been zapped, or whatever nerdy thing that happened to them, along with Sasha. There was nothing she wouldn’t give to have them here with her. Although anywhere else would be preferable. Just being around these toads was hurting her head. Them with their stupid warts, and their little wide bodies.
Somehow, despite her rage, Sasha did find something she could at least pretend to find interesting about this job. Apparently not a single frog paid their taxes, which if they were anything like the trembling morons she pictured in her head, it would be fine. But she and her big mouth had to ask if this was anything new for the town. Well, would you look at that, this was completely unprecedented for a frog town. Sure they weren’t always perfect with their taxes, not that Sasha could blame them, she wouldn’t give up her money to the toads either, but they had always done well enough that the toads didn’t have to intervene like this.
So now they were going to smash and grab any objects they’d like from the townspeople. They weren’t even going to question the toad in charge of collecting all of the money. These toads were as stupid as they were ugly!
“Sasha, you okay back there?” The high gruff voice of Fens broke her out of her trance. “You’ve turned red. Can humans normally do that, or am I gonna have to kick you off? I ain’t catchin some human disease.”
Sasha glared twin heron swords at the toad woman. Through gritted chattering teeth she growled, “I. am. not. ill. Now, how long till we get there?”
Fens barked a laugh. “Woah! Watch your tone there girly. Wouldn’t want to lose your breath again, now would you?” She said with a sick toothy grin plastered across her face while giving an ugly laugh. Sasha winced from the throbbing of her poor tormented head.
Finally, Sasha slumped back into her seat with her arms crossed, resigned to her fate of torment and misery for the time being. Fortunately, it wasn’t too much longer before they came across a stone arch etched with the words “Welcome to Wartwood.” Beneath it hung a wooden sign on chains which read “Slow to Accept, even Slower to Respect.”
Yeesh, Sasha had relatives in the countryside of Texas, and even they weren’t as blatant with their bigotry. Well, if any frog dared insult her, she’d make sure they knew who was boss.
~~💙~~
Today had been a worse day than usual, which was impressive considering how often Anne’d nearly been digested whole while living in Amphibia. Who knew that being stigmatized by your own community and being made to feel less than a person was worse than the wrath of nature itself?
Huh, that thought was oddly poetic. She should write it down. Who was she kidding? Compared to something that Marcy or Sasha could come up with, it was probably garbage. Anne could never compare to those two. No matter how athletic she was, Sasha was always stronger and more talented. And compared to Marcy, Anne’s consistent C’s would tell you all you need to know about how she stacked up against the prodigy. Really, how did they even go to the same school?!
So maybe she deserved this constant being talked down to. What did she expect? Sasha was always the one who protected her from bullies. Without her and Marcy, Anne was just plain useless when it came to pretty much everything.
“Hey, Anne. You okay?” the concerned voice of the one frog (and person) who didn’t make her feel like she had something to prove broke her out of her melancholy.
The Plantar family all stood (except for Polly who didn’t have legs) outside the Grub N’ Go, the place of today’s incident. Hop Pop’s and Sprig’s faces looked sad, the latter’s even looking regretful. Which, what could he have even done? His reputation wasn’t much better than hers, although at least he was a frog. Her heart warmed to see their empathy for her, but also pained from the knowledge that she was degrading their already muddy reputation.
“I don’t know Sprig. I’m sorry you guys for making things worse for this family.”
Sprig gasped as if he was offended, “Don’t say that, Anne! You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to us.”
“Sprigs right, Anne,” Hop Pop agreed. “You’ve done a lot for this family. And for being as young as you are and for being in a completely different world than your own, you’ve mighty impressed me with some of the things you’ve done here.”
Anne’s heart warmed at the compliments. Thinking about it, she had done some cool things in Amphibia. She’d fixed up Stumpy’s which was a heck of a lot of work, but was totally worth it. And she even learned how to ride Bessie in less than a day, which not even Sprig could do.
“Heya scarecrow,” said some random passerby hillbilly frog she’d never seen before.
The smile that’d been working its way up Anne’s face fell. No matter what she did, the townspeople would always just think of her as an outsider.
Hop Pop gave a sympathetic sigh. “I’m sorry Anne, but this town just ain’t built for outsiders. Frogs here are narrow minded and difficult to persuade. It’s even in our town motto.”
Anne’s face fell, being reminded of that stupid slogan she’d seen anytime they’d left Wartwood.
Suddenly, Anne could feel a thick tension in the air. The normal chit-chat of frogs had gone silent save for a few quiet whispers. The sound of a heavy wagon began to cut through the quiet, and Anne turned to see what everyone else was looking at: a massive brown tarantula pulled a wide wagon with two mean looking toads and…
Sasha?! Anne rubbed her eyes. Nothing changed. She still sat there, her head resting on the back of her hand, and her hair pulled up into a perfect pony tail as if nothing had ever changed… well, besides the brown leather armour that she wore. That was new.
“Sasha?” Anne couldn’t hide her disbelief.
“Anne?!” Sasha turned towards the Wartwoodian, her wide eyes burning a hole into Anne’s soul.
“Sasha!!!” Anne cheered. It seemed too good to be true, but she wasn’t about to question it now. Not with one of the girls of her life nearly in her reach!
Sasha took no time to hop off the wagon and begin sprinting towards Anne who was bracing herself for the inevitable bowling ball that was about to strike her in a hug. The golden haired girl’s arms wrapped around Anne’s back, squeezing her tight, and she returned it with a hug of her own.
They stood like that for what felt like an uncountable amount of time, every second turning into days, weeks, years. The smell of Sasha’s shampoo filled her with a joy she thought she’d never experience again. The coarse leather against the brown haired girl’s arms couldn’t put a dent in the bliss she felt at that moment.
Wait… how did Sasha have shampoo? Anne hadn’t even had a shower since she got to Amphibia… which had been two months now? Man, time sure flies when you’re a world that wants you dead.
“Anne-Anne-Anne-Anne, I am so glad you're here! And on my first assignment outside the tower, too. What are the chances?”
“Tower…” Anne said wearily. “Do you mean toad tower?”
“Yeah,” Sasha frowned, “it’s not the best place, but it beats being dead.”
Anne’s eyes widened as an image popped into her head of one of the beasts she’d encountered swallowing Marcy whole. She shook the thought out. Marcy wasn’t dead, she’d probably found a way to be sustainable all on her own… she just couldn’t be…
“Anne, you okay?” Sasha gave her a concerned frown, again snapping Anne out of her increasingly negative thoughts.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she answered with a hasty smile.
“Okay.” Sasha didn’t sound convinced, which didn’t surprise Anne. She knew that Sasha could read her like a book. The Thai girl always had the worst Poker face, and Sasha knew her better than anyone, except for Marcy… and her parents, but she really didn’t want to think about them because she’d go into a spiral and it’d probably take her a week to recover if she even could. “Well, anyways I’m glad you’re here. I needed someone here that I could rely on and trust to tell me the truth. And I really didn’t want to ask some slimy frog.”
Anne gleamed at the praise. The blonde Californian always knew how to make her feel better about herself. Not even her family back home did that very often. They were too busy being like “bla bla responsibility bla homework bla bla bla”. Actually, they were sort of like the Plantars except saying no to them didn’t typically result in almost being eaten by some bug twice her size. She also grimaced at the slight towards frogs. Sasha’d always been a clean freak. Even the slightest stain on her outfit was enough to give her a mental breakdown.
“Hey!” Hop Pop protested, crossing his arms defiantly. “We’re not just slimy, I’ll have you know. But how is my skin? Is it producing enough? Am I still young!?”
Sasha’s face was scrunched up like she’d just sucked on a lemon, and Anne could tell she was trying not to gag. It reminded her of when she and Sprig shook hands for the first time. It took some time, but now she was used to it. Polly gave a disappointed head shake (or body shake? Polly didn’t really have a difference between the two) in Hop Pop’s direction who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly.
“So, what did you need me for?” Anne asked, trying to get back to the part where she was wanted.
“Yeah, so the thing is: apparently no one in this town paid their taxes, and records say that they usually did in the past.”
“Haven’t paid our taxes?! I’ll have you know-”
Anne cut off Hop Pop who she could tell was about to go into a very long rant about taxes, and she really didn’t want to hear it. “Hop Pop paid his taxes. He made me watch,” she stated gravely, as if she’d watched a murder.
“Hey, Sasha,” the scary sounding toad woman spoke as she entered the fray, “get back to work! I don’t care if you’ve found one of those creatures of yours.”
Sasha bore her eyes towards the toad in a way which Anne knew would have been lethal if looks really could kill like she’d heard. Or maybe that classmate had been exaggerating. It was hard for her to tell the difference sometimes.
“Fens, our job has changed-“ Sasha stopped talking when her eyes locked on to Mayor Toadstool who she looked at with a scowl.
“Hey Sash, what’s going on?” Anne asked, concerned and confused.
Sasha stayed perfectly still, her lips pursed and eyes stark with a glistening contemplation. Then, as if she hadn’t just looked like one of those military veterans who’d come to Saint James and speak about things like the military and duty, Sasha’s posture relaxed, her mouth growing a sweet, gentle smile that Anne could never say no to.
“Hello, you fine toads,” the Mayor said looking at Fens and the other one who Anne had failed to notice leaving the wagon and joining the other toad’s side. “And I presume this is another Anne-creature which you all must have captured. Mighty impressive.”
No one else seemed to notice besides Anne who saw the pale skinned girl clench her fist tight for a second, and released it casually. The Thai girl wished she had even a slice of that level of composure when it came to jerks.
“Anne-creature? I thought it was a humus?”
Sasha’s jaw tightened and her lips pursed. Her left eye slightly twitched. But, again, she regained composure and narrowed her eyes on the toad. Anne couldn’t help but be insanely jealous of her awesome friend. But she shouldn’t be, right? Sasha was, well… Sasha. And Anne was just that… Anne. Comparing herself to any of her two best friends was like comparing a jogger to a racecar.
“Well, that’s enough pleasantries,” Sasha said with a sweetness but also a deadly venom that anyone besides Anne or Marcy would have missed easily as it was held delicately on the underside of the human girl’s tongue. But Anne knew where to look. “Mayor!” She clasped her hands together with faux enthusiasm. “How about you show us around the Town Hall? I’m sure you have all kinds of cool things to see in there.”
“We don’t have time-”
Why, that’s a lovely idea! ” The Mayor cut off Fens with delight. “You do mean the City Hallow, right?”
Sasha nodded unenthusiastically.
‘I’ll show you three around the mansion. And then you two toads and whatever that thing is can go back to your jobs. Sound good?”
The teal toad looked like she was about to complain but was cut off yet again.
“Sounds good! But would you mind if I brought Anne along? She’s my best friend in any world and I haven’t seen her in months!” Sasha gave her best sad puppy eyes and despite his initial hesitancy, the Mayor eventually cracked.
“Well, alright. Just this once. As long as you don’t touch anything.”
“I’ve literally been inside your house before,” Anne deadpanned.
“Not without those red ruby warts, you haven’t.”
“We’re coming too,” Hop Pop declared. “I ain’t letting Anne go in that crooked place alone this time.”
“Crooked!?” The mayor protested. “I’ll have you know, that’s a perfectly legal establishment.”
“Then prove it,” The old frog shot back.
“Maybe I will,” Toadstool glared back.
“Can we get this over with already?” Fens barked impatiently.
Sasha sighed, “For once, I agree with Fens.”
~~⚔️~~
The Town Hall, or whatever it was called, was exactly what Sasha had expected it to be: incredibly tacky, overly self-serving, and a waste of tax money. It was almost impressive how blatant the Mayor could make his corruption.
“And this is a picture of my Great Great Great Grandfather,” Toadstool rambled as he pointed to various gold framed paintings and white marble statues.
Sasha smiled and said, “that’s cool,” a lot. She made sure to compliment his weird toad skin, and those stupid gold rings on his big fat fingers. It was horrible, but a necessary evil to get to her prize. A big double, presumably mahogany door, stood tall before the group. And as Sasha had expected, the Mayor started to sweat.
“Hey, Mayor, could I check out your office?” Sasha fixed her best smile, and sang her words.
“W-why of course,” his sweating grew heavier. “I just need a moment t-to tidy some things up. Isn’t that right Toadie?” he eyed the puntable toad with a desperate plea.
“Yes, of course, sir.
But Sasha stood between the tiny toad and the office, and when he tried to run past her, she grabbed him with one hand like she was playing one of those crane games clawing up plushies.
“W-what’s the meaning of this?!” Toadstool demanded.
Fens’ mouth sneered, “What kind of game are you playing, humus?”
“If you want to find out,” Sasha smugly grinned, “follow me.” And she opened the door to the Mayor’s office, tiny toad still in hand. A giant sack, full to the brim of shiny coins, sat untied on the Mayor’s desk. “Well, would you look at that? I found the money you guys.”
“What-?” The mayor sputtered, “that ain’t the tax money. That’s um… my retirement fund.”
“Sounds good enough to me. Let’s go back to collect from the town folk what we’re due,” Fens said.
“What?!” Sasha yelled in disbelief. “How can you possibly believe this toad? He’s clearly lying.”
“I agree with Sasha,” the older orange frog spoke. “Why would you take from us frogs when the money’s right there?”
“I knew it,” the leader toad's mouth grew wide into a self-satisfied toothy grin. “You act all tough, Sasha. But really, you’re a big softie, arencha?
Sasha stared, lips quivering with an indigent fury, one that this toad couldn’t comprehend. She’d figured it out. These big bad toads didn’t care about order. They didn’t care about ruling justly. They just wanted an excuse to push people into the mud. Well, Sasha was done. She was done being pushed around and she was being the punching bag of some group of ugly, warty toads.
“You think I’m weak,” the Californian sneered with delight. Finally, it took long enough for her to stop being a coward.
“Yeah,” Fens confidently snarked, “and what are you gonna do about it, you weak little-?”
The toad had a sword pointed right between her eyes before she could even blink. The human holding that sword stared her in the eyes, silently begging the warted bully to engage. Instead, the toad looked shocked, staring at the sharp metal tip that hung precariously a few inches from her eyes.
The blonde warrior took that as her queue, and began marching towards the bag of gold, her sword still hovering, pointed between Fens’ eyes.
Sasha grabbed the sack and Fens growled, “What do you think you’re doing?”
“I’m doing what needs to be done,” Sasha responded, the same in tone.
“Alright, that’s it! Mire, get her.”
But the silent masked toad didn’t budge. Maybe he was asleep, or maybe he wasn’t a fan of Fens either. Not that it mattered.
Sasha smirked, “looks like you toads aren’t all that loyal after all.”
“That’s enough!” Fens barked. “I won’t take this crap from a toadlet.” She held up her mace which looked more like half a rolling pin with spikes glued on. “We settle this the toad fashioned way.”
“And if I win?”
“Then you can be as soft as you want to these frogs. But if I win, you’re under my command; no talking back.”
Sasha's stomach lurched at the mention of those slimy creatures. But that was where Fens was wrong: this was never about them. This was so much bigger.
“I accept your challenge.” The weight behind these words seemed light, yet paradoxically struck with a weight that she couldn’t comprehend yet. Of course she’d say yes. Waybrights never back down. Yet, Sasha could feel it inside her: a demon laced with rage she’d been carrying well before she’d met the toads, a time too old for her memory. Her righteous fury swelled inside her, fighting to be released.
“Then get ready to be creamed you little punk,” Fens said, wearing a confident smile that Sasha knew would be short-lived.
“Then come at me. If you really are more than that loud mouth of yours,” Sasha taunted back.
Fens sneered. The crowd around them looked nervously towards the human warrior. Anne especially looked like she was going to pass out from holding her breath for too long.
The teal toad charged, her club held like a baseball bat, ready to smash Sasha’s head in.
Sasha braced herself, holding her sword out to signal that she would attempt to parry the blow, while wearing a smirk she’d calculated to be as irritating as possible. And just as the club was swung, the blond made her move by sideways somersaulting well over the short toad’s head. Landing behind her, Sasha thrust her heron sword clean through the toad’s back and out through the other side, a sickening squelch of liquid heard from around the blade. Righteous fury had come to pass.
A breathless gasp was heard from the stiffened toad who then fell to her knees with a satisfying thump as blood began to trickle out from around where the sword stuck out her back.
Sasha yanked the once pink, now crimson blade out, and the toad fell lifeless to the floor.
Sasha gazed at the fallen animal before her, mind blank as milky white. She turned her adrenaline quaking eyes to her now oozing sword, her reflection stained in crimson.
Sasha looked up to see the world moving like molasses, her heart beating loudly, all other sound muffled like cotton was stuck in her ears. The mayor stood stiff with terror. The frogs stood with clenched mouths and wavering eyes. It was hard to tell why they’d be upset. This was their bully. Why wouldn’t they want this? Then there was Anne, and for once in Sasha’s life, she couldn’t read her best friend. Because Anne looked concerned, afraid. The Thai-American’s mouth was open like she wanted to say something, but didn’t, couldn't. Sasha wanted to understand it. Part of her wanted to apologize but she couldn’t understand what for. She’d done the right thing.
This was just some person warty toad. She’d stopped the bully. She’d saved the day. She was the hero. She was the hero.
Reality snapped back in an instant. Anne would have to wait; Sasha had a job to do.
“Mire, carry Fens. Everyone, follow me,” Sasha ordered.
Mire didn’t hesitate to pick up Fens and carry her out of the room.
Toadstool stammered, “in-including me?”
“Especially you.”
~~💙~~
Anne would have described Amphibia up to that point as an adventure. A horrifically terrifying journey of constantly nearly getting eaten, yes. But also one of learning, real learning: not that fake baloney taught in school. But this– whatever this was: it was part of some twisted malicious journey that Anne wasn’t part of. This was something else. When Sasha stood there, face blank, pupils dilated, blood dripping from her sword onto the rug beneath her feet, Anne could feel a shift in reality. This wasn’t some stupid game they’d play when they were back in LA. This was real, this hurt.
Sasha shouted an order and the curly haired girl watched with dull eyes as everyone else did as they were told. But Anne’s legs wouldn’t budge. They were too busy threatening to collapse.
She watched with blurry tear stained eyes as her old childhood best friend made her way into focus.
“Anne?” The girl whose cheek had a splatter of red spoke. “You good?”
The question sucked out what little air had made its way into Anne’s strained lungs. She wanted so badly to say no, that this wasn’t okay, that the thirteen year old’s childhood had evaporated in an instant.
“Yeah… yeah, I’m fine.”
Sasha raised an eye brow, eyes locked deep into Anne’s for an uncountable length of time.
Finally the blonde’s eyes looked away from Anne completely, looking off into a distance that wasn’t there.
“Good. Meet me outside.”
Unsure if her concrete feet could make the demand, Anne watched as the sword dripped a crimson trail out through the door.
The silence which followed was broken by an unplaceable ringing in her ear. The muffled sound of Sasha’s voice shouting outside overpowered it. Anne stood for a moment, unsure of what to do. Her curiosity made the weights on her feet finally dissolve, and she walked over to the window on the opposite side of the mayor’s mahogany desk, which overlooked the town square.
~~⚔️~~
“Everyone, gather up!!!” Sasha commanded as loud as she could to the frogs that would listen. She dropped the bag of cash and stabbed her bloody sword into the dirt beneath her feet. As frogs began to gather, murmuring to each other, the warrior stared at the door, silently pleading for her best friend since the age of seven to come through and stand beside her. Seconds passed and Sasha knew she couldn’t delay. She thought about her righteousness and did her best to imagine these frogs as no different than helpless kids at school. Sasha would no longer be looked down upon, no longer would she be seen as less than who she truly was. No, Sasha was great, and this world would soon realize that it was a mistake to spit in her face and rub it in the mud.
“Alright, frogs. Listen up! My name is Sasha Waybright. These toads came here because they wanted to take everything from you and then some, all under the pretence that you hadn’t paid your taxes. Well here they are,” she gestured at the massive sack beside her. “The mayor thought he could keep it for himself, and these toads–” she glared at the cowardly helmet-covered Mire holding the now pale limp Fens, “didn’t give a shit about that when they found out. Well, no more! You didn’t know who I was, and now you do. I’m not going to let you take this any longer! It’s time to fight back.”
Her speech was received with blank stares and crickets, which were promptly tongued up.
“You're another Anne, right?” a grizzly toad with spatulas for hands asked.
Sasha stood jaw-dropped. She’d never been referred to only in reference to Anne, let alone anyone else. She bit her tongue because this wasn’t worth arguing over. And replied, “I’m a human, like Anne. We’ve been best friends since we were seven.”
“I trust Anne more than I trust you. From what it looks, you’re just a killer.”
A few murmurs of agreement could be seen from the gathered crowd.
Sasha’s face grew red with indignation. Were these frogs blind?! Why would the toads be here if not, at the very least, to toss a few frogs around?
“I agree with Stumpy,” spoke the annoying voice of a pink frog who was around Anne earlier. “Why should we listen to you? What you just did is going to haunt my nightmares!!”
The murmuring in the crowd grew louder and louder to a level that Sasha didn’t know what to do with. She’d never handled anything that didn’t take her word at face value, well besides her parents: the thought of which sent a shiver through her spine.
Suddenly the door opened behind Sasha, and there stood Anne looking pale and half-awake. The crowd went silent. She walked, eyes looking partially at Sasha but also somewhere else, towards the crowd and next to Sasha like the girl had hoped.
She stopped and waited a beat. “I support Sasha.”
The crowd gasped, the frog family loudest of all. The tiny pink one dashed over to Anne, a pleading look to his big eyes. “Anne, you can’t be serious!?”
The Thai-American eyed him sympathetically for a moment, before returning to address the crowd. The small frog looked like a knife had just been stuck in his back.
“You have no reason to believe me, or Sasha. But please, believe the people who believe in me when I say that Sasha is a good person. She didn’t do this without a reason.” Sasha could hear Anne’s voice begin to tremble. “The toads were here to hurt people. I read their list of people who didn’t pay. It had my Hop Pop on it, and he’s the most honest man I know. So please, try and hear any truth to what Sasha is saying. She’s trying to do the right thing. We all are.”
Silence fell similar to Sasha’s, but this was different. This was heavier. It struck deeper into one’s soul, and the Californian could feel her heart lay open on the floor as tears began to well in her eyes. Anne loved her, and nothing was going to change that.
Frogs began to look at each other and nod.
The old orange frog stepped forward, “I believe in Anne. Not because she’s perfect, but because she tries. If I can believe her, I can believe Sasha. It’s true that us frogs have been looked down upon. The toads and the newts have always been ungrateful towards us. They’ve hurt us. They’ve taken things that mean the world away from us.”
“Where were they during the heron attack!?” an axolotl yelled.
“Their taxes are too steep. I haven’t been able to make a copper more than breaking even from my shop,” a yellow frog with a drawl protested.
Many different frogs started sharing their reasons why the toads were terrible. Sasha glanced at Anne who gave a soft wavery one in return. To think this could have all been for nothing. Thank the stars– no, thank Anne.
The warrior narrowed in on her chance to land the final blow, and bring these frogs to her side. “How about you frogs rule yourself for a change, starting now?
A cheer rose from a crowd and the fire had properly been lit. There was no stopping it now, and Sasha was finally getting what she deserved.
“But first,” Sasha grinned, “how would you all like to learn how to fight?”