Sasha was perplexed. So, Anne was able to communicate with me from the human world...if it has something to do with the box, does that mean I still have some power left?

However, Sasha had no time to dwell on this. She had gone to meet with Mayor Toadstool and the other townsfolk in the hideout in the middle of the woods to discuss their strategy on getting Grime back and storming the castle. In Grime's absence, Sasha became acting commander. But, even though Anne reassured her, Sasha was starting to feel doubts that she had the leadership skills she thought she did. This was an all out war, afterall. She was starting to feel that she has gone way over her head...but she had to do this...for Anne...and for Marcy...

She was still getting nasty looks from a few residents, but in light of what happened to Marcy and their determination to stop Andrias, most of the townsfolk have put their trust in Sasha, and this made her even more anxious. Do I really deserve their trust? What did I do to earn it?

"Hey, Sasha...you still with us?"

Sasha wasn't aware of how long she had spaced out. She turned her head to find Mayor Toadstool looking at her with a worried expression on his face.

"I'm sorry...there's a lot on my mind right now..."

"Do you need some time to figure things out? I could lay out the battle strategies for a bit..."

"No...no, I'm fine..." Sasha stood up and changed her tone to a more commanding one. "Listen up, everyone. We have Grime's location in the castle. We're gonna use Joe Sparrow to get all of us into the castle through the secret entrance. Yunan, you and Lady Olivia will be rescuing Grime. I will go after the box. Then, at my signal, we're gonna take back the castle. King Andrias can't do anything without the box, so we got one chance to stop him from going into the human world. Any questions?"

There was silence.

"If everything's settled, then we outta get a move on," Mayor Toadstool said. "There isn't much time before the invasion of Earth starts."

Sasha hopped onto Joe Sparrow and flew off. The citizens of Wartwood traveled in snail-drawn carriages down to Newtopia. After a few days, everyone had arrived. They left the carriages in a spot where they wouldn't be seen and Joe Sparrow brought everyone up a few at a time, dropping them off in a secret entrance to the side of the castle. Now that they were in the castle, it was time to set their plan into motion. But it would be much trickier this time. Sasha was sure that King Andrias was expecting them, but felt she had no other choice but to try and go through with the plan.

Yunan and Olivia had to sneak around the castle, since they were now considered traitors of the king. They snuck past the guards down into the dungeon. As they went further down the staircase, the smell of death filled their nostrils.

They arrived down in the dungeon. They saw prisoners in the cages. Most of them were alive, though some barely, and some were dead, rotting in the corner. It looked like some of them hadn't been checked on in years. Olivia couldn't believe that this was what was happening under the castle. She had never been down in the dungeon before. She found herself holding onto Yunan's arms as they traversed the dungeon.

They then spotted Grime in his cage, facing the window. Olivia tapped his shoulder to get his attention, and he turned his head.

"Grime..." Olivia whispered, "we're gonna get you out of here..."

"Listen to me...it's a trap...get out of here while you..."

Suddenly, robots emerged behind Olivia and Yunan and grabbed them. They struggled against their metal arms. Yunan got out her blades and stabbed one of the robots through the head. She freed herself and sliced the other one, grabbed Olivia and sliced the lock, freeing Grime.

"Quick, follow us!" Yunan said to Grime.

"On it...but we have to warn Sasha!"

Meanwhile, Sasha was going up to the top of the castle, sneaking past the guards. I can't believe I'm coming back here...but this needs to end today...

She peeked her head into the room and saw the box. It appeared to be unguarded. She quietly snuck into the room towards the box, looking around to see if anyone was there. Seems too...easy...something isn't right...

Sasha looked back at the doorway only to find Marcy with her sword drawn.

"Ah, Sasha...glad you could stop by..."

Sasha ran to grab the box, but Marcy blocked the way. Sasha had no choice but to draw her sword and block the swing from Marcy's blade.

"Marcy, please! I need to get that box! King Andrias is evil!"

"He's only taking what is already rightfully his to begin with!"

"Do you really believe that?"

Marcy paused. "What do you mean?"

"Marcy, he's gonna invade other worlds! People are gonna die! Do you really want to help him do this?"

"You're lying! He's just taking back the worlds that already belonged to him! He's the rightful king, and you should be bowing down to him!"

"I will never bow to a murderous psychopath like Andrias!"

"Murderous?"

"He...killed you..."

Marcy stopped. "W...what? No, you're lying! Stop trying to confuse me!"

"I'm not lying...the reason you don't remember anything is because Andrias did this to you...he must've erased your memories..."

"Shut up! I don't believe you!"

"Marcy...please...try to remember..."

"No! Andrias told me how terrible of a friend you and Anne were to me!"

"Yes...I was a terrible friend...and I'm sorry...but Anne was a great friend to you...and to me...but I didn't treat her that well either...I just wish she was here right now...but Marcy, you have the ability to make things right...help me...please..."

Marcy was shaken. She didn't know what to do. But she felt that...there was care and compassion in Sasha's voice. If Andrias was evil, then helping him would make her complicit in that evil. But it was confusing to her because for as long as she was aware, Andrias had been nothing but nice to her.

"Marcy...please..."

Marcy looked over at the box, and then looked back at Sasha, who started to tear up, and in that moment Marcy knew what she had to do.

"Okay, Sasha...I'll help you..."

Marcy grabbed the box and was about to hand it to Sasha, when suddenly her whole body started to fail her. Marcy fell on her knees, the box falling to the feet of King Andrias, who picked it up.

"Oh, Marcy...you chose the wrong path...I didn't want to resort to this, but...I'm afraid you left me no other option..."

"Andrias, what are you...aaah!"

Andrias pushed the button on the device he had in his hand. Marcy's whole body shot out in pain, and then she was silent. She slowly got back up and shot a look at Sasha, and held her sword with a sadistic smile on her face.

"No! Marcy!"