CHAPTER IX: ANOTHER CHANCE
"Anne! Watch out!"
It all happened in mere seconds. Grime jumped in the air and knocked away one of the missiles… but the second followed its course. Then… just as Anne believed the missile would hit her, she heard Sasha calling out her name, and a moment after she felt a pair of arms locking around her. The blonde had jumped in front of her and had pushed both of them to the ground, shielding Anne's body with her own.
And then…
The explosion came.
And everything went black.
…
…
…
When Anne opened her eyes, she groaned as she brought a hand to her head. Her vision was blurred and her hearing muffled, then, after a few moments, everything began to get clearer until she finally managed to notice Sprig asleep on a chair next to her, holding her hand, while Hop Pop and Polly were sleeping on a couch near her bed. As she sat up, Sprig stirred and slowly opened his eyes.
"Anne! You're awake!" Sprig cried joyfully before hugging the young girl.
"Ouch! Sprig, I'm happy you're alright but-" Anne said, chuckling and at the same time wincing in pain.
"Oh, sorry! Hehe, sorry." Sprig said scratching the back of his neck before pulling away and giving the messy haired girl some space.
"W-what happened? Ugh… my head…" Anne groaned as she put a hand to her forehead.
"We… won… but when the battle turned to our favor… a giant robot attacked you and Sasha. One of its missles was going to hit you but she… she…" Hop Pop tried to explain.
"W-where is she?" Anne asked in a trembling voice, her terror clear in it.
"Anne… I think you should-" Hop Pop tried to reason with the young girl, but Anne was already out of bed before he could finish.
Sighing, the old frog pointed towards a door. When Anne exited the room, she found herself in a corridor, face to face with Ivy's mother.
"M-Ms Sundew…" Anne muttered.
"Oh Anne…" Felicia sighed heavily, "This way…"
Anne followed Ivy's mother, holding her breath for the entire time until she stopped in front of a door at the end of the corridor. Quiet, muffled murmurs could be heard through the door. When Felicia knocked, the murmuring stopped, and Anne heard someone shuffle through the room. The door opened, and Anne found herself face to face with Grime. There wasn't any anger or hate on the toad's face, just a deep sadness.
"I'll leave the two of you alone." Grime murmured in a low voice before stepping out of the room.
Anne entered the room and immediately covered her mouth, trying to suppress a scream of pure horror. Sasha was laying in bed, her torso was wrapped up in bandages that were slightly stained in blood, but what made Anne feel the urge to vomit were the bandages wrapped around a portion of Sasha's head, covering her right eye. Suddenly, Sasha turned towards her and coughed before giving her a small smirk.
"I think I still look pretty good, still more handsome than you and Mar Mar at least…" Sasha muttered weakly before another fit of coughing came.
Anne was immediately to her side, kneeled next to the bed, her hands holding Sasha's left one tightly.
"Y-you idiot! You think this is a good time for jokes?!"
"Best time for jokes actually…" Sasha chuckled before tightening her grip on Anne's hands.
Anne remained silent for a few moments, trying her best not to cry. Despite her best efforts however, she couldn't hold back her tears.
"Why… why did you do it?!" Anne almost shouted in rage.
"Anne… listen…" Sasha tried to explain, but the messy haired girl wasn't finished.
"First you try to kill the Plantars, then you come back and say you want to try being friends again, then you betray us, and now… now you almost die trying to save me?! How am I supposed to feel?! Why did you do it?!"
"I couldn't let my best friend die now, could I?" Sasha smiled weakly, and Anne's eyes went wide as she heard nothing but honesty in the blonde's voice.
"Sasha…" Anne shook her head.
"You've always been a better person than me Anne…" Sasha murmured, and the girl next to her could only stare at her, dumbfounded. "You've always been there for Marcy… and for me, even after everything I did during all these years… the way I treated you… you never left me."
"Oh… Sasha… I…" Anne bit her lip, she didn't really know what to say, she didn't expect Sasha to admit that.
"The truth is that I always wanted to control you… to control you and Marcy both. I thought that by doing that, you'd never leave me like my… like my dad did… but in the end I only pushed you away. I realized that… and I wanted to be a better person Anne, for you, for Marcy, for everyone. I-I thought that saving you might have been a good start."
Anne remained silent for a few moments and then… she exploded into a fit of teary giggles before carefully wrapping her arms around Sasha.
"Yeah… one hell of a start." Anne said, laying her head on the blonde's chest.
Sasha's eyes went wide before tears started to well up in them. She hugged Anne back, lightly at first, as if she was afraid to hurt her… again.
"Y-you think I can get… another chance?" Sasha asked, almost timidly, her tone taking Anne by surprise. She had never heard the blonde talk like that.
After a few moments of shock, Anne looked up and simply smiled, chuckling lightly as she wiped her cheeks.
"Yeah, of course you can get another chance… I love you Sash." The messy haired girl said.
"I love you too, Anne." Sasha said, trying to suppress a sniff as a few tears rolled down her cheeks.
"I'm so sorry about… about…" Anne whispered after a few moments of silence, letting her fingers hover over the bandages wrapped around Sasha's head that covered her eye.
"Eh, just an eye, if I lost you instead it would have been much, much worse." Sasha replied calmly.
"Sash…"
Sasha had tightened her grip on Anne's hand, and her expression had become more serious.
"You gotta talk with Grime, he's putting together a plan with Yunnan, Olivia and the rest of the toads."
"Okay, you just stay here and rest, okay?" Anne smiled encouragingly.
"Oooookay…" Sasha said, trying to act casual.
"Sasha…" The messy-haired girl pinched the bridge of her nose. "Listen, I know you'd like to help, but you can't in these conditions, okay?!"
"Anne, I-" Sasha tried to rebut but fell silent as Anne took her hand into hers, a pleading look appearing on her face.
"Sash, please… please…"
Sasha looked away for a moment before turning towards Anne and giving her a smile.
"Okay." She said, this time much more convincingly. "Now go, they're waiting for you."
"I'll come back later, okay?" Anne said, approaching the room's door.
Sasha simply nodded, the messy-haired girl exited the room. Ivy's mother was still in the corridor, she gestured Anne to follow her, guiding her through the house, down the stairs, until they reached the living room. There, she found Grime, Beatrix, Bufo, Yunnan, Olivia and the Plantars waiting for her. And… wait… was that… Frobo?!
"Frobo?" Anne whispered, incredulous.
"Yep! I fixed him!" Polly said before jumping in the air and landing on the machine's shoulder, hugging its head a second after.
"How?!"
"Let's just say that I got a couple of good teachers."
"And we weren't short on the raw material." Grime said smugly.
"Yeah, the whole town and a big part of the forest is basically littered with destroyed robots! Finding one without the head hasn't been hard." Sprig explained.
"That's great!"
"And we didn't just get a friend back, but also the key to our plan." Hop Pop said, determination clear in his voice.
͠
Andrias kept pacing back and forth inside his throne room. The Night and Marcy had been… "conversing"… for a long time now, and they still hadn't come back from the secret chamber. He didn't like being left aside, not when the discussion was about Amphibia's future, about the conquer he spent so, so many years planning. He had always been loyal, a great asset to The Night. Now… Andrias was starting to be afraid. What if his lord decided to replace him? No… no. He had faith in The Night, his lord would have brought him to countless worlds, to conquer them all for themselves. This was their plan, and Andrias was crucial to it, he was sure. Letting out a loud sigh, the giant newt decided to take a breather, and walked towards one of the throne's room windows.
A moment after he looked out, Andrias found himself laying on the ground, his crown knocked aside. He brought a hand to his jaw, massaging almost incredulously the sore spot where something heavy had just struck him. Then, as he raised his gaze, he finally noticed it. A translucent shape entering the castle, landing on the ground and finally… revealing itself. One of his old robots, carrying on its shoulders and under its arms a small group of people he recognized immediately. The Plantars, Captain Grime and… no… it couldn't be… Anne Boonchuy.
"Greetings King Andrias." Grime saluted the tyrant, bowing mockingly, Barrel's Warhammer resting on his shoulder.
"How?! How did you get in?!" Andrias yelled as he scrambled to his feet.
"We found your stupid robot in the woods, taking the part that allowed it to become invisible and installing it into Frobo was a child's play." Polly explained smugly.
"No matter! Robots! To me!" The tyrant cried, raising his fist in the air.
A few moments passed, and then… Yunnan and Olivia jumped inside the throne room, claws and fists stained with black oil.
"I believe your personal robot guard is… out of commission." The newt general smirked deviously, raising her claws in front of the giant newt.
"Damn you all! You think this makes any difference?! You destroyed a few robots, oh, bravo!" Andrias mocked the small group of rebels, "But guess what? I have dozens of factories that are already mass producing my robots!"
Andrias confident smirk faltered when several loud explosions could be heard in the distance.
"What was that…"
"I think you underestimated Frobo, not only he's on our side, but he managed to reprogram a few of your precious machines. They just sabotaged your factories." Polly crossed her arms, taking pride in seeing how Andrias' cocky demeanor had just vanished, replaced by an increasingly worried expression.
"You can't have destroyed them all, and part of my army has already been assembled."
"That's true, but a few are gone, and we'll see what good your robot army is after being ambushed by mine, and that will give us just the time we need to take care of you." Grime said, stepping forwards as he gripped Barrel Warhammer's pole tightly.
"Fools, you're nothing but a bunch of fools!" Andrias screamed in rage before taking out his flaming sword, although, his rage came to a halt as he saw a figure engulfed in a familiar blue glow emerge from the group.
"No Andrias, you're the fool. You still haven't figured it out, haven't you?" Anne spoke in a grave tone of voice, devoid of all the joy, hope or excitement that usually characterized her. It was as if in that exact moment, a totally different person was talking, and even though the Plantars knew she was Anne, as she began talking, they all felt chills running down their spines. "There isn't a version of this where you get out of this room alive. You'll pay… you'll pay for what you've done to her."
"Please, we all know you won't last a minute while using your po-" Andrias didn't manage to finish the sentence.
Anne jumped towards the giant newt, a light blue aura surrounding her as she flew through the air. Andrias couldn't quite figure it out, but when the girl's punch collided with his jaw, he felt like the previous hit she landed on him had been some kind of caress in comparison. The tyrant was thrown back by the force of the punch and landed directly on his throne, shattering it to pieces. Andrias got to his feet pretty quickly despite the tremendous hit, descended the stairs leading to his throne and raised his sword above Anne, who vanished a second before the blade of fire could cut her in two. Just before he could manage to raise his sword again, a stinging pain shot through his knee. The giant newt gritted his teeth, noticing how in the midst of his fight with Anne, the small group of rebels had surrounded him. Grime had just hit him in the knee with his Warhammer, making him fall to the ground. Yunnan tried to attack him from behind, but he managed to bat her away with a swipe of his tail. He tried to do the same with Lady Olivia but the Plantars jumped on it all at the same time, pining down to the ground the massive appendage. Grime managed to land another hit with his hammer, this time hitting Andrias' cheek. The giant newt howled in pain before swinging his sword, hitting the hammer's pole and sending the toad flying towards one of the throne's room columns. A moment after, he swung his tail as hard as he could, finally freeing it from the Plantars' grasp. Limping, the tyrant stood up.
"Is this… is this all you've g-"
Before Andrias could finish stuttering, a loud, cracking noise was heard reverberating through the vast room as Anne came down from the ceiling where she had landed after avoiding the giant newt's attack, hitting the back of his head at full force. Andrias fell forwards, landing on his face, his crown clanking to the ground alongside his sword, which Yunnan pushed away before he could reach for it. As he slowly came back to his senses, the tyrant noticed Anne walking slowly towards him. There was no mercy in her eyes, no pity, nothing but a screaming abyss of blue fire.
"N-no… stay back! You can't still be using your powers! You should have run out by now!" Andrias stuttered as he crawled backwards.
"Guess I'm running on fumes, but it'll be enough… now I'll make you pay for what you've done to-"
"Marcy?"
The whole room fell silent, as a deep cold invaded it. The massive doors swung open, and everyone gasped in horror as the one who had just spoken made their appearance.
"M-my lord! You've finally come!"