"Come on Anne, it won't even be that bad," Sasha coerced, now nudging her 'friend' a tad more aggressively, her patience thinning.
Still unsure, Anne denied, some of the things she'd been led into was bad, but it had all been contained with just the three of them.
Now they were getting someone else involved.
A student in the year below them, it was now or never and they'd already come this far, all she got was a cold stare from the blonde and there was a begrudging agreement between the two.
"Let's do it!"
Pacing down the hall with an odd pep in her step despite what was about to happen, Sasha dozily reverted to her fake state, "Hey freshman! We were wondering if you could do a little something for us?"
Her tone of voice was a stark difference to how she could and would speak, "M-Me, what is it?" He was vividly nervous, Sasha held back the urge to smile, she could work perfectly with these subjects. Anne had been off to the side during the whole confrontation, avoiding any eye contact with the boy, her conscious was wrecked enough at the moment.
"Oh, we're just short on players you see. Just need you to fill in for the other team," Sasha reasoned, speaking into her phone that had been placed in her jacket pocket, making it appliable for Marcy to hear on the field outside.
Whilst they walked, as calmly and casually as a freshman and sophomore could, they weren't suspicious, no one was, the plan wasn't going to fail...it was Sasha's after all.
All that was left was Anne, shakily removing the Ziplock bag of spray cans and gently placing it inside of the freshman, him being none the wiser about the whole ordeal.
An immense wave of guilt washed over her as she did, almost tempted to reach back in and pull them out. Sasha's smug face warped her back to reality once more, she could practically hear what the girl was going to say, "I told you it would all work out, you worry too much. No sweat off our shoulders."
Why? Why had she gone through with it? Who was she kidding, she knew why... and now someone else was paying the consequences.
Anne Boonchuy stopped halfway, like she always had. Watching her own actions sink someone else in trouble, there was nothing she could to, she had no power at all.
Back to the present, Anne molded back to reality. Why was she thinking of such an obscure event now? She was finally reunited with Sasha, her best friend, yet she was filled with a sunken emptiness all of a sudden.
'No, that was ages ago, it doesn't matter. We did what we thought was right...what Sasha thought was best.'
"Anne? You there?" A solemn, loose voice managed to bring Anne from the deep well of her own thoughts she'd tripped into; turning to Leo's remarkably pleasant looking face, she was sure it had looked different otherwise.
He repeated his question, "Anne? Are you alright?" This time, he was a little more forceful with his shoulders shaking her out of it.
"Leo," She said, almost having to accept the fact that he was in front of her, "Yeah, I'm good."
Not a moment into their own conversation, did Sasha cut it short very deliberately swiping an arm through the two of them, "SO! Anne, who's this? Wait you're not a frog, or toad or any other kind of slimy creature!"
Once again, Sasha let out a slight squeal at the fact, more or less studying him, "..If you're here, then that must mean Marcy is to...but who is this nobody.
"That hurt.."
"Well, we don't know either. Leo lost his memory at some point and we're trying to get it back, but without much luck so far...he's a good guy though, trust me," Anne reassured, constantly tripping over her own words, acting skittish as anything.
Leo, for one. Wasn't liking it one bit.
With a wary glint in her blue eyes, Sasha stopped for a short time, meeting sights with Leo for what felt like eternity; growing darker and darker as they stared back at him, he was actually getting claustrophobic.
"Okay!" Like it had never happened, Sasha's expression went from gloomy to cheery shaking him vigorously by the shoulders, "If Anne's cool with you than so am I!"
"Cool? That's fine, I guess," Leo said in a buzz, not sure what he was even saying.
From the entrance of Wartwood, Sprig, Polly and Hop Pop all rushed over in a fritz of their own, "Anne, Leo! It's a mess, the toads just started attacking all of a sudden," Sprig blurted out, barely able to stand in one place.
"It was hard enough to scathe past all of those toads," Hop Pop jittered, still a little shaken up.
Polly was the first the call out the now other twig-limbed human stand before them, "Hey, it's another Anne. She looks a lot more normal than you though Leo."
"Why am I being dug at today?"
Anne pepped up, as if she hadn't just forgotten a crucial piece of information, "Right! Leo's already met her, but this is my bestie from back home, Sasha!"
"Heyyy," She responded cheerily upon her introduction.
Her real thoughts were on full display as Anne introduced the Plantar's, seeming completely uninterested.
Sprig was oblivious to this fact however, marching over to the girl with a giving smile on his face, "Hey! I'm Anne's bestie too! I guess that makes us besties in law huh?" He joked, earning nothing from her in reply.
"Does it?"
A cold, demeaning silence swallowed Sprig whole, two simple words and killed the conversation from going any further, "Did ya'll feel that?" Leo pat him on the back, dragging him away, less he face any further emotional torment.
Hop Pop was having none of it though, "Look, it's nice to meetcha and all but can you tell us why there are a bunch of flippin' toads attacking Wartwood!"
Actually, accepting the frog's presence, Sasha brushed it off, "Oh, you're Hop Pop? Thought you'd be taller. Anyway, follow me and I can explain everything," The armored girl spoke casually, slapping the back of Hop Pop's head a fair bit too much.
"Come on frogs.."
Staring daggers at her back, Leo followed behind. He had no reason to feel any distrust towards Sasha, but Anne's reaction and behavior around her and the double-edged demeanor she gave off was one too many signs to set him off.
"No. There's more to people under the surface, she's Anne's friend. She can't be that bad."
Upon Leo and Anne's arrival, the two of them were able to calm down the rest of the putridly terrified townsfolk – granted they had every right to be, toads had circled around the entire town and it almost seemed like they'd been boxed in.
There was also the distinctive detail of the harshest and cruelest known toad general in the entire valley, Captain Grime. They could see what Sprig was talking about now, with teeth sharper than any they'd seen, even counting the monsters they'd faced, with one eye grey, faded and scarred; the other splinted and with an intruding yellow hue.
Sasha had managed to quell any troubles with her soothing and persuasive words, stepping over Anne whenever she attempted to say something.
"When we learned that Anne was here, we rushed over to reunite these two friends as soon as possible," Grime said, sounding as if he was reading off a speech, it worked well enough to resonate with all of the frogs.
When a few of them were still a little skeptical, Grime smiled at them all, only serving to get a nearby tadpole to burst out in tears.
"What does Anne think?" Mrs. Croaker shouted from the sea of frogs.
Freezing up, Anne contemplated her answer for a second, she trusted Sasha really, she did... but on the hand, could she risk putting all of the people of Wartwood in possible danger, "Uh...Sasha's been my friend for a long time, if she says their cool then I trust her."
With that, the residents boarded inside of the party barge, dancing alongside to the blaring music, unaware to the real reason they were being brought to Toad Tower.
Leo, Anne and the Plantars all huddled in the carriage that Sasha had road in on, "This is really impressive Sash, I don't think I've ridden in anything this fancy in Wartwood at all..." She was too busy gawking to realize the insult she'd said.
"When would you even ride around in this?" Leo asked out loud, cursing himself internally for saying it.
"Don't worry~! I'm totally not fussed, you're the kind of guy who says whatever's on his mind, right? Definitely my type!" There was an odd emphasis on her words, promptly creeping out Leo enough to back away.
"Your...type?"
"Sasha! You can't say that, Leo won't understand it and you just met!" Anne flailed about, sounding a lot more standoffish than she wanted.
Of course, her childhood friend took notice of it, "Don't worry girl, just teasing him. He's the kind of guy where I can find it funny," Sasha made a low 'psh' sound, treating it as if Leo was a little kid.
Sprig and Leo exchanged a glance, both extremely aware of the tension building in the wagon the longer each of them exchanged small talk with one another.
"Commander, we've arrived," The toad at the front of the carriage spoke up, Leo glanced outside the window, in which the ominously observing them all. In fact, he could even swear that red lightning crackled against the crimson moon the moment he looked up to it.
"You've been living here? Didn't you mention that you've been staying in some kind of palace," Leo said brazenly, not seeing it any more than a building only a few days away from collapsing.
Keeping her cool, Sasha lightly laughed it off and ordered for her entourage, honestly Leo was shocked to see so many people following after just one person, it was a little scary, "Percy, if you would. Escort these frogs into the banquet hall, I want to personally show Leo and Anne around my room..."
"Eh...me!?" Leo shrieked, actually managing to sound surprised. He was sure that Sasha would want to spend some with Anne, even with how dense he was, he got how two friends would want to spend time with each other after being separated for so long.
"Yeah, why Leo!? I wanna see it to!" Sprig screamed in outrage, continuing to do so as Hop Pop and Polly boredly dragged him into the tower.
"Don't worry Sprig, I'll find you guys in there," Anne reassured watched the drift from her eyeline. Sasha just smirked not scathing on the opportunity to tease her friend, "But what ever happened to the Anne who always went, 'Noooo frogs!'"
Leo frowned, there wasn't any need to bring something like that up. Still, he held no objections, he didn't know how human girls interacted, this could've been normal.
Still didn't feel right though.
Leo now felt stupid about his earlier comment on Sasha's living space, considering not only the swampy and filthy enviroment that could be found throughout the entire world of Amphibia, so it only made sense that a tower as dingy as this would house the absolute worst living arrangement possible.
The room seemed larger than the entire first floor of the Plantar household, including the basement. A bed that was around three times as soft as the hay stack Leo had slept on and the makeshift bed Anne had curated.
Everything in the room was just a better version of what they had, a silk couch that was smooth to the touch and stretched out in the middle of the room, a statue of the girl performing some kind of trick on a skateboard; Leo was the most fascinated on whatever she was riding.
A squashed toad appeared from the darkness, bowing to Sasha, "Commander.." He said, ready to receive any orders.
"Just the usual please."
Feeling newly invigorated at the grandness of the room, Anne made herself at home, spreading her whole body across the couch, letting it take her in. Sasha had other plans however, "Hey Anne, I just want to have a private chat with Leo, nothing serious though, don't worryyy!" She chirped; the Thai girl too distracted to care.
Not knowing any better, Leo ignorantly stepped out with the girl, "So. What did you want to talk abo-"
"Shut it. Stop trying to convince me with this act of yours, I'm the one who invented the double-persona act so don't even try it," In just the span of a few seconds, a rose-tinted sword was now making contact with his throat, dangerously close to cutting it.
A sweltering surge of fear overwhelmed Leo, feeling as if his heart was about to burst, he'd been scared whenever some kind of monster or danger befell on them, but now death was a viable option, "Seriously. I'm not sure what you mean."
His deadpan voice really wasn't helping his case right now.
"Who are you? Cause, as far as I'm concerned it, was me, Anne and Marcy sat at the park, until there was that white flash, so tell me how the hell you got here!" She snarled, the blade at his throat forcing her point through.
There wasn't really definitive way to answer that question, Leo knew that much. How was he supposed to get himself out of such a drastically dangerous circumstance.
He didn't know who he was right now, but he was going to make sure he found out, "Look, Sasha really, it's the truth, I'm completely unsure of how I'm here, I want to know as well, I don't know how I got here or why I know what I know, really."
Gently nudging the blade away from his neck, Leo swore he caught sight of something else under the layers of distrust and anger in Sasha's eyes, it looked like sympathy
"...Fine, I don't believe you but I...I'm not just gonna kill someone, not for no reason, just get down to the banquet hall, I'm spending some time with Anne, this is why I brought you up here, someone who looks like you...can't be trusted," Sasha may as well have spat at his feet, her tone was so harsh.
Without a response, Leo backed away from the still defensive girl, trudging down the numerous steps awaiting him. He'd gotten so used to everyone around him being somewhat accustomed to his terrifying eyes and off-putting hair.
At the end of the day, he couldn't change how others saw him.
"So. Do you experiment with any other kind of weaponry or are you just a spear guy?" Polly inquired curiously, not getting any kind of reaction from the toad.
Mrs. Croaker was helping herself to every drink on the table, enjoying the banquet. Didn't feel like on though; sure, there was some light music playing from, somewhere in the room, food and pleasantries displayed across the tables.
All in all, there wasn't anything interesting about it, Sprig was lazily staring at the weird number of toads armed up wherever he looked, so nervous that anything would set them off.
Trailing over to Hop Pop, he found him snatching away at the crabs' legs, pouring more and more onto his plate, the bottom of the platter no longer in view, Sprig relayed his worries to his grandparent, "Hey, Hop Pop. Something's not right here.."
"What did you say boy? Focus on grabbing those crab legs, these babies go out like hot cakes!"
"Come on, I mean it. Just look, don't the toads seem a little...on edge?" Sprig noted, taken a second spin around the room.
Hop Pop didn't find anything wrong with their behavior, either not interested or just not seeing what he was, "This is a party Sprig, judging by how the toads usually are, they aren't used to letting loose once in a while."
Sprig dropped the plate in his hands with a disgruntled look on his face, "Uh, forget this. Anne or Leo must be around here somewhere."
Plodding to the entrance of the party hall, Sprig casually approached the toad guarding the front of it, "Hey there buddy, just gonna go out a take a walk, get some fresh air."
"I can't allow that! Sorry, but you frogs aren't allowed to leave this room," He blurted it out in the heat of the moment, clearly not able to handle any heavy-hitting questions.
A devious smile creaked up Sprig's face, he could work with this, "We're not allowed to leave, hm. Why's that?" He asked, faking innocence.
Now to caught in his own words, the toad caved in, "I-I've said too much. Please just return to the party and remain calm." An even worse plan, planted itself within the frog's brain, snuffing out any of the toads worries, "Keep calm. You got it."
Hopeful that he hadn't ruined the scheme that Sasha had created, so the toad took his word for it. They shared a thumbs up with each other, the stressful affair had seemingly ceased.
"HEY EVERYONE! THIS IS A SHAM! WE'RE NOT GUESTS, WE'RE PRISONERS!"
The toad watched with sorrowful eyes as the room descended into chaos, tables been flung up as high as the eye could see, small spats being broken out, all because of Sprig.
He watched it devolve with a spark in his eyes.
Anne arrived from the long soak she'd taken in the shower, after 3 months without one, it was very much needed, "Hey Sash. Where'd Leo go? I get it might've been weird to have a guy in here when we shower, but I don't really think he had the perspective on what peeping is.."
"Pfff, that's not the reason...he just wanted to head down to the party, that's all," Sasha lied as easily as she breathed, slurping at the hot chocolate she'd had prepared, "How long have you known him, Leo I mean."
"I met him after I'd spent around a month in Wartwood, why?"
"No reason, you just seem a little close to him is all," Sasha remarked, the girl beside her knowing what she referring to instantly.
"Woah, woah it isn't like that. Me and Leo are just good friends," Anne frantically denied, spilling some of drink as she did.
Not responding immediately, Sasha placed the mug down and snuck a quick glance out the window, "That's good, I can deal with him when this is all over.."
That certainly caught her attention, "...When what is all over?" Anne asked meekly, not liking where this conversation might've been going.
"Oh...nothing much, just the rebellion."
There was another pause.
"Look I'll explain, but you've gotta promise not to freak out, okay?" With a swish of her blond ponytail, a map of the valley was suddenly displayed out in front of her, "You've probably noticed that the toads have a totalitarian hold over the frogs of this valley...however."
Swirling a slew of posters that were hung up along the wall, Sasha showed off each and every possible image of Hop Pop, masked in red and blue coloring, "..Some of the frogs have been stepping out of line. Our main problem is this one. Hop Pop, he's been causing some controversy across towns."
All of the cocoa Anne had been sipping was spat out all across the floor of the room, "WHAT!" She shrieked in blasphemy, "Hop Pop!? He can't be a revolutionary, he hardly knows how to cook!"
Sasha responded by promptly chucking a stack of papers and articles onto the table, "Well, the news doesn't lie Anne. He stood up to some tax collectors and even ran against the local toad," She laid out even more evidence in her favor.
"Look. It doesn't matter really; I couldn't care less as long as we get it over with. But I struck a deal with Grime and if we feed him to whatever is outside, him and his whole army will help us get home," Sasha rationalized, with a rather unsettling smile on her face.
Anne spoke before she could think, "No, no Sasha you can't do this. Hop Pop isn't some kind of monarch for the people, he's just a frog who stood up for his town that's all!" She spoke erringly, putting her foot down for once only now just realizing what she'd said.
With an empty, yet stunned glare present all over her face. Throughout the years they'd been friends, Anne had never once spoken to her like that, not once.
Now she was like an entirely different person, who told her that she could tell her what do? Why was she so different after just a couple of months, "...Fine. I'll have Grime sort this out and we'll get everybody out of here, alright," Sasha decided, neatly placing her hands together and accepting the request.
"Really!? I mean thank you; I didn't think you'd go for this but seriously, thank you!" Feeling more high-spirited than ever, Anne collected herself and prepared to head down the party, "I'll be back, just gotta let the other's-"
The whole world grew dull, a blurry darkness closing in around her. In just a few seconds, she was slumped unconscious on the ground, "Sorry Anne, but you're just going to get in the way, and I figured you'd end freaking out over those dumb frogs," The sound of Sasha's voice droned out as she fell into slumber.
From the staircase, Sasha heard footsteps quickly approaching, "Uh...he's back, thought I told him to leave."
The door slammed upon, with Leo barging in, now with his katana brandished, "Anne you in here!?"
He was only able to glance at her knocked over self, before a heavy blunt object rammed right into the back of his neck, kicking his legs inwards and to the ground, "Shouldn't have come back. Guards! Take these two to the dungeon, they'll get in the way otherwise."
"Yes, commander!" They chanted back in an instant, calling over some of the others and transporting the two humans out of the room.
Sasha watched them leave, she'd had enough kinks in her plan. It was time to finish what she'd started.
Toad Tower's mossy, grimy floor was home to many criminals. Some frogs that had been wrongfully accused for a plethora of things that the bigoted toads had decided on that day. Others who were guilty, and were simply hunkering down there for holding and even some that Grime had personally imprisoned.
Now, Anne found herself there, her dirty, old-school clothes wet against the seeping walls and cobble flooring that hadn't seen what it was like to be washed.
Her head was in her knees, tears streaming down her face. She wasn't sad, not in the slightest; more frustrated than anything, wanting to rip out every strand of hair she had, because of what she'd done they were now stuck in this crummy situation.
The fact that she'd changed, it was all a lie, something she'd tried to convince herself of, that she'd changed in Wartwood and become a better person than she was before, what a lie that was.
Not even a day had passed since being reunited with Sasha and everything had crumbled, her confidence, willpower and more importantly her self-worth, there was nothing she could do, like a sledgehammer had smashed through the wall that had built during her time in Wartwood.
Why was it all so pointless?
Beside her, Leo dusted off his snow-white hair and sat up, now also just figuring out what had happened, scowling upon the realization, "We got duped, how do we get out now?"
"What's the point Leo, we can't do anything stuck in here..." Anne said dryly, now trying to cover up that fact that she was crying, clenching her fists to do so.
As ignorant as he was though, Leo wasn't deaf and could blatantly see that she was shuddering where she sat, he just had to make sure he didn't put is as bluntly as he usually would, it made sense to him, why she was upset, he just didn't properly understand it.
"...Sasha, you two have been friends since you were kids, right? Must be nice, with someone knowing you your whole life," Leo started, albeit a little sheepishly doing his best not to sound emotionless.
Anne peaked up, spacing out on what he was trying to say, "...My whole life Leo, me and Marcy followed behind her, at first it was because she was the strong-willed leader and sent us down the right path. But as we got older, she kept straying into more and more dangerous situations, getting not just us in trouble but other people."
"It's just, since I got to Amphibia, I've felt different. I met Sprig, Polly, Hop Pop and you, and it felt like I was better, what you said back at the party, that I'd changed; I really appreciated it and actually made me feel like I actually had! But when it comes down to it, Sasha still has that hold over me, she always has.."
"Then say that to her, I know that you can," Leo said confidently, he knew that there wasn't some kind of easy fix to a friendship like that, but more importantly he knew that Anne was the type of person who could do it.
Leo had faith in her. "What...I can't. Sasha...she just, I don't have it in me to stand up to her," Anne argued, still with a downcast expression.
"Why not? The Anne I know wouldn't give in so easily," Leo persisted once more, incidentally holding onto her wrist; not seeing the problem with doing so.
"I gave in back at school all the time...I gave in when Sasha wanted to steal the music box, the whole reason we're here!" She bit back, how could she just admit that she could stand up to Sasha after all these years.
Without freezing up, without backing down by just a single stare.
Having heard enough, Leo let a groan escape him, "Then don't give in, stop saying that you haven't done it all these times and actually stand up to her!"
Anne felt the warmth run up her face again, she understood that Leo was right, utterly and completely. A lot of the time he wasn't, having no idea on most conversations, either pretending he did or asking way too many questions.
"Fine, fine. You're right! We can't let Hop Pop get executed," Anne remarked nonchalantly.
"Exactly. Wait! Hop Pop's getting what!?" Leo exclaimed, rattling up the guards, banging their swords against the bars in an attempt to keep them quiet, they both turned to one another, thinking the exact same thing.
Getting up from the ground, Leo yanked one of the toads back into the metal quickly incapacitating him, when the only other one came charging at them, and held her spindly leg out from the cell tripping him up and skidding across the ground.
Swiping the rusted keys straight out of their pockets and unlocking their cells, "They really left the sword in the dungeon?" Leo observed, baffled by the stupidity.
"Doesn't matter, grab it we need to found out where they are!"
Leo and Anne shared a gaze, before storming down to the middle of the tower, right in the midst of the chaos, not prepared for the fight awaiting them.
...
I hope you enjoyed, there is no way I would fit everything I wanted in just one chapter, I hope you like my divergences with the episode. Next chapter will mainly be the confrontation at the top of the tower, with my own additions and fight scene of course; also do want to mention that I don't feel that Sasha would kill Leo, the frogs and certain toads then yes, she even tries to off Sprig in the original version of this episode, but even if he looks off to her she still views him as human, I personally don't feel like she'd purposely kill him.
Anyway that's all I wanted to say, the next chapter will be the big conclusion to the season so, until then, see yah! Would appreciate some reviews to know our thoughts on the chapter!
