A/N: Alright time to answer some reviews!
Bia1230: Indeed she is.
Demon dark mezzo sangue: To answer your questions, yes, we will see Marcy as a Rider. See my DeviantArt page to see her Kamen Rider name. When we eventually see her, and we will also have a few chaps dedicated to her time in Newtopia and how much a fangirl she is for this.
WaterDragonMaverick: Yeah, it'll be funny when Marcy get in there. And as stated above, we will have a few chaps dedicated to Marcy's time in Newtopia.
Anne and the Plantar family had arrived in Ribbitvile, the most expensive and richest town in all of Amphibia. It was home to the wealthy elite of their world, and the architecture alone was enough to show that. They arrived here purely out of necessity to fix Bessie's reins, but while here, they did not expect to run into One-Eyed Wally, Wartwood's local vagabond.
Turns out that vagabond was in fact Walliem Ribbiton, heir to the Ribbiton fortune. After a little family drama, mostly due to Anne's interference, father and son were able to reconcile and Wally was allowed to be himself. As an apology for said drama, and as thanks, for helping Wally and his father work through their drama, they were invited to stay another night and enjoy the lap of luxury.
Anne was currently enjoying the hot tub, so much time spent on the road, washing in cold streams and rivers, and now she could just relax and in solitude. She was missing their home back in Wartwood, hell, she was missing her home back on Earth even more. As she soaked in the tub, her head bobbing above the warm water, she looked up towards the ceiling and the ornate artwork. This time alone allowed her to contemplate her current situation, with the Plantars, and her powers.
The last few times the Fallen had attacked, Anne remembered the monsters said something about "Calamity of Heart". They only said it whenever they were around her, was it regarding her powers? Was that what it was called, "Calamity"? Anne knew enough to know that word meant stuff like destruction and bad omens, but what did the "heart" part mean? Anne placed her hand over heart, wondering if this meant something was wrong with her heart, or perhaps this power was connected to her heart?
One thing was for sure, this power of hers was dangerous, her mantra was working, but for how long? Even when she fought, she was in autopilot, fighting as the power directed her body, using her Muay Thai knowledge to battle against the Fallen. Anne was worried that there might come a time when the power might take her over completely and her mantra would not be able to stop her from attacking innocent frogs, namely her adopted froggy family.
"UGH!" Anne splashed some water on her face. "I just gotta figure something out…somehow."
Anne grabbed the towels that were laid out for her and wrapped them around her hair and body. She walked down the hall and into her room, one of the great things after that family challenge was that instead of that one big room, they all got their own individual "small rooms". The inside was spacious, with a fireplace that was already lit for her, and a lavish, plush bed that was so soft that it was like lying on a cloud. Anne plopped herself onto the bed and enjoyed the fancy, which she was sure Hop Pop was as well.
Despite the relaxing luxury, it only managed to keep the thoughts of her situation at bay for a few moments before the gravity of it came down on her again. Anne decided to just shove it all aside and put on a movie while she dried up and got dressed for bed. After getting dressed and ready, Anne made the long trek through the mansion to say goodnight to Sprig and Polly, and finally to Hop Pop, who was completely knocked out by the time she got to him.
Anne chuckled when she saw that Hop Pop's eyes were wide open, but still very much asleep. "Nope, even with all the monster stuff, still the creepiest thing I've ever seen." She closed the door and made her way back to her room.
Along the way, Anne heard a noise coming from one of the rooms. Anne shrugged it off, after both seeing and hearing about what was behind some of these doors, Anne believed it was better just to chalk up to rich people stuff. Then she heard it again, but this time more clearly, it sounded as if glass was breaking. Anne raised an eyebrow and wondered if she should investigate.
Then she heard glass breaking.
Okay, I'm looking.
Anne opened the door and found that the room housed a few fancy, and priceless gemstones, each one protected under a glass box. The human girl entered the room and looked around, she looked down and saw some pieces of glasses. When she looked up, Anne spotted a figure hovering over one of the glass boxes and extracting a sapphire gemstone from the case.
"HEY!"
The figure jerked their head in her direction, the intruder quickly reached in, grabbed the gemstone, and ascended via a rope to the top of the open skylight.
"THIEVE! STOP! EVERYBODY, SOMEONE'S ROBBING YOU!" Anne shouted.
Anne could hear frogs moving about, but there was no way they were going to get to the thief in time. The Thai American girl gritted her teeth in frustration that the thief was going to get away, but that's when she felt something. A surge of energy flowing into her legs, acting on pure instinct, Anne crouched low like a frog would. Lightning arced off her legs and channeled through them and her feet.
Anne's eyes shifted to a blue color right before she leaped straight up. Lightning streaked behind her as Anne rose several feet in less than a second as she passed through the open skylight and landed on the roof flawlessly. Anne shook her head for a moment as she assessed what she just did.
"Holy crud! I just…did I just do that?!" Anne put that question aside for now as she watched the thief leap off the roof. "STOP!"
Anne chased after the thief, once again her body channeled her power and gave her a boost of speed, allowing her to make it to the edge of the roof and spot the thief running and making it over the gate to the Ribbiton property. Anne ran to the other side of the roof, this shouldn't work, this was crazy, but if she didn't do something the thief would get away.
The lightning surged through her legs again, and Anne dashed away. Once she got close to the edge of the roof, Anne channeled all that power and used it to jump as high as she could into the air. Anne flailed for a moment as she descended towards where the thief was, further and further the ground came into view, and right before she hit, Anne's legs were encased in her Amp armor. When she landed, she barely felt the impact as her armored legs and feet dug into the earth and slowed her down.
Anne looked around and realized what she just did. "HOLY CRAP! THAT WAS COOL!" Anne heard the rustling of leaves and remembered her original objective. "Oh, right, thief!"
The human girl ran towards the thief, she could still make out their silhouette, but the thief was getting further and further away. C'mon, just one more time! Anne felt the surge once again, and before she knew it, Anne was catapulted straight towards the thief in a matter of seconds. With arms outstretched, Anne tackled the thief, both of them rolled around on the forest floor for a minute before Anne managed to pin the thief to the ground.
"HA! Thought you could get away with stealing?! Sorry, not while I'm around!" Anne proclaimed.
"Anne?"
"Huh, you know my name?"
The clouds parted and bathed the area in moonlight, when the light shined on their position, Anne was shocked to see that the thief she had pinned was none other than Tritonio Espada.
"TRITONIO?!"
Tritonio blinked and then smiled up at her. "Ah! Anne, I knew it was you! My best student."
Anne glared down at the newt when he brought that up. "What the heck are you doing here?! I thought they threw you in prison or something!"
"Well, that's a bit of a long story, but look at you! How did you do all of that?! You've changed quite a bit since Wartwood I see," said Tritonio.
"It's also a long story," Anne replied. Anne reached towards the pouch that Tritonio placed the gemstone into and took it off his belt. "I'm taking this back to the Ribbitons, and you with it."
"GRAAAAAHHAHAAHHHH!"
Anne and Tritonio paused.
"Did you hear that?"
"I did."
A giant shadow flew over the forest, prompting the newt and human to look upwards. That's when they saw a huge bird fly down towards them. Anne got off Tritonio and grabbed him by the wrist as she bolted back into the forest. The giant bird smashed its talons into the spot where they once were, while snapping at them with its beak.
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING?!" Anne asked.
"A Roc! I never thought I'd live to see one," said Tritonio.
"A ROC?! I've one of those before, and it wasn't that big!"
"Perhaps it wasn't fully grown, that is a fully grown Roc. Scarier than any heron, that is for sure."
Anne and Tritonio kept running, the Roc snapped its giant beak at them as it tried to snap them up into its mouth. Tritonio suddenly pulled at Anne's wrist and started leading her in a different direction. With no other options, Anne followed Tritonio. In the distance, Anne could see a cave, when they got closer, Tritonio yelled, "DIVE!" The human and newt dove for the mouth of the cave, sliding inside and rolling to a stop. The Roc kept stamping towards them and smashed its beak into the mouth of the cave. It kept doing this over and over again, trying to get to Anne and Tritonio. Anne tried to summon the Driver to transform, but it seemed this situation wasn't dire enough to warrant a transformation.
That's when Tritonio grabbed a sling and flung two pouches at the beast. When they hit, the Roc made a horrible noise that made it back out of the cave, leaving the two of them safe, for the time being.
"What did you do?" Anne asked.
"Pepper bombs, I hit the Roc's nasal passages and it got a good whiff it. It'll be very irritated and unable to come after us for the time being, but we should get moving. Once a Roc knows what it wants, it will not stop until it has its prey," said Tritonio.
However, before either of them could make a move, the mouth of the cave collapsed, trapping both the human girl and newt inside.
"Great…"
Anne checked her cellphone and saw that a couple of hours had passed. She checked the cave entrance again to see if there was any way out, while there were gaps in the rubble, it wasn't enough to allow them escape, but it did allow for good airflow. Plus, Anne was able to check if the Roc had left, much to her dismay, the giant bird monster had not. Just as Tritonio said, the Roc wasn't about to give up on its prey so easily, it was going to stay there until it either found its own way of getting to them, or until they came out.
"Great…Just great…of all the people I could be stuck in a cave with, it just had to be you," said Anne.
"It could be worse, Anne, we could be–!"
"Don't, just don't! Every time someone says that bad situations turn out worse." Anne slumped next to the cave wall and sighed heavily. "I see you haven't stopped stealing. Surprised you aren't using kids to rob the place."
Tritonio sat across from Anne and chuckled, "Ah, I see you are still a bit sore about that."
"Why wouldn't I be?!" Anne retorted. "You trained us to fight, only so you could use us as pawns to rob the train and leave us to take the fall for you!"
Tritonio raised an eyebrow, the newt didn't get far in life if all he did was see only what was on the surface, he could tell that Anne was upset about something else. "I sense there is more to your anger than the train part, am I wrong?"
Anne shut down and looked away from the newt, only confirming his suspicions. Silence reigned in the cave for a good three minutes before Anne spoke up. "It's because I believed in you…"
Tritonio turned to the teenager.
"You were the first teacher that I clicked with…who saw me…and taught me useful things that I needed to survive, things that I still use today…"
"I see…" Tritonio at least looked remorseful.
"I just…I want to hate you, but what's messed up, is that I still want to trust you…" Anne confessed.
Tritonio stood up and walked over to Anne, the newt sat down against the same wall as Anne, while keeping a good five-foot gap between them. "Since we're trapped in here, perhaps you would like to tell me that long story?"
With little else to do while they were trapped, Anne told Tritonio about her and the Plantar's journey to Newtopia. Revealing that she had gained powers that allowed her to transform into a super powered, armored hero. She told him about the Fallen, the monsters that have attacked her and the Plantars on occasion, and how she was trying to control her new power in order to protect them.
"But so far, I've only been able to use it when a Fallen comes around. If I could control it, I could go out there and kick that giant feather duster's butt!"
Tritonio thought on what Anne had told him, working the information and breaking it down as a criminal mastermind could only do. "Listen to me, Anne, you say you still trust me?"
Anne groaned and answered, "For the life of me I don't know why, but a part of me wants to."
"Then, I believe it is time that we continue your training," said Tritonio as he stood up, resolute.
Anne looked at the newt with confusion. "Are you serious?"
"If you want to control these powers, I ask that you trust me one last time. What have you got to lose?" Tritonio asked.
Aside from my self-respect? "Answer one more question. That sword you gave me, was it really a family heirloom? Or was it someone else's family heirloom?"
Tritonio sighed heavily as he placed his hands behind his back. "I will be honest with you, Anne, truly. The life of a thief is not as glamorous as it appears. No honest woman will take a man such as myself, and the dishonest ones would sooner take all I have and leave me in the gutter."
That's about right.
"When I looked at you, and how much potential you have, I felt a kind of…paternal need to see you grow stronger," said Tritonio. "That sword was given to me by my father, and his father before him. And as I said, I don't see myself becoming a father anytime soon. So, you having it, was my way of showing you how much I believe in your growth."
Anne found it weird, but also kind of nice that he saw it that way. With a long exhale, Anne stood up and said, "Alright, Tritonio, teach me what you can. Also, how did you escape?"
"Oh, well, it was quite the harrowing event. I was taken to Toad Tower –s"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait! Toad Tower?! The one in the valley?!" Anne asked.
Tritonio nodded. "That very one, I was planning my escape, when in an act of serendipity, the tower began to explode! One of the explosions blew a hole in my cell wall, and I made my escape!"
Anne facepalmed. "Dang it, Wally and your freakin' boom-shrooms!"
"Anne, you were behind that?!"
Elsewhere, Grime was standing outside of the mill where they had taken shelter. It had been days since Sasha transformed into something called a "Kamen Rider", and ever since she had been silent about the whole ordeal. The girl hadn't even trained, or talked to Braddock, and she was the only other female amongst them that she could possibly confide in.
Finally, the toad general had had enough of this silence and walked off into the forest, he found Sasha sitting up against a tree, with her cellphone on. From what Grime could see it was some kind of TV show he hadn't seen before, well, in all honesty, there were a lot of shows Grime hadn't seen, but compared to "Suspicion Island", this looked really different. They even spoke a different language.
"Um, Sasha, what are you…?"
"You know what this is?" Sasha asked back.
"Uh…?"
"This show on my phone, I downloaded it because Marcy's a huge super fan of this stuff, and I promised I'd give it a watch. I did, it's corny as all get out, the monsters are just guys in suits, and the outfits are so over the top and the acting, oh god, the acting. But I watched it, and it was a'ight, but not my cup of tea. Heh, you know, I think Anne secretly watches this stuff when I'm not around."
Sasha turned the phone more towards Grime so that he could get a better look.
"This is Kamen Rider Atlas."
Grime looked at the paused video of Atlas, there were some obvious differences between Sasha's armor and Atlas', but there were also some similarities that Grime noticed. "I don't understand, you have warriors in your world who fight monsters as a form of entertainment?"
"No, just like 'Suspicion Island', it's all fake. Kamen Riders are fake, they don't exist, and yet, here I am! I'm a Kamen Rider! Somehow!" Sasha fumed.
Grime scratched the top of his head in confusion. "I don't understand, are you upset that they do exist or that you are one?"
"I don't know…I'm just…It's a lot to process, honestly. I mean, apparently the multiverse exists! So, I guess that also means that there's a universe where Kamen Riders exist, but what I don't get is how and why I have this power?"
Grime wished he had the answers to his young ward's questions, truly he would like an explanation as well. Sasha's powers were incredible, she bested not only a monster but also Newtopia's top general as if it was nothing. During the days that Sasha was sulking/processing, Grime wondered why she didn't use that power during the heron attack at the tower? Heck, going back further, why didn't she use that power to break out of Toad Tower or let them capture her at all? Had she transformed into that armored warrior, Grime knew that entirety of Toad Tower's forces wouldn't be able capture her.
The former gladiator needed to start thinking beyond what he should do and figure out what he should do for Sasha now. But what could he do? No one among them had any idea of what Sasha's powers were, and all those literal flare ups were a prelude to this event.
"I don't know what to tell you, Sasha, nothing like this has ever occurred – at least to my knowledge – in Amphibia's history. How do you think you may've come about this power?" Grime asked.
Sasha sighed heavily as she tried to think to what might've caused her to obtain the power she has. "I mean, the only thing that I think could've caused this was that weird light that shined from the music box Anne opened. The very thing that brought me, Anne, and Marcy here in the first place, could've – I dunno – infused us with some kind of magic or something? I'm not even sure if that's the cause, but right now it's as possible as a giant dragonfly zooming through the air." At that moment a dragonfly the size of a hawk flew overheard. "I rest my case."
"Well, we won't get answers by just standing around here. I talked to Percy and Braddock, and we're agreed that we should get moving. It's pure luck that that glory hound general what's-her-name hasn't come back. Either she's gone back to report on you and that monster, or she's planning on attacking us again, but this time with reinforcements. Before that happens, we need to vacate the area,' said Grime.
"That's fine, I'll stay here."
Grime paused when he heard Sasha say that and gave her an incredulous look. "Pardon me? Did you just say you'd stay here? Why?!"
"Look, I don't know what this whole deal is with me, but I'm a liability. I don't know how to control it, and if that general comes back, she might see me as a bigger threat than you, and if I stay here, it'll give you a chance to get as far as you can," Sasha explained.
Grime huffed. "That's not an option, Lieutenant."
Sasha scoffed. "Well, it's my decision."
"And I'm giving you an order, as your Captain, to get up and come with us. You're safer with us than you are on your own," said Grime.
Sasha stood up and stared Grime in the eyes. "That monster wanted me dead, if there's another, it'll go through you guys to get to me! At least on my own, I only have to worry about me!"
"And what about Anne?" Grime asked.
Sasha froze upon hearing her friend's name.
"You still haven't settled anything with her, are you just going to leave things as they are? Are you just going to sit here?"
"Oh, please, you are the last toad on Amphibia who has any right to say that to me! What have you been doing since the tower fell?! Sitting on your butt, growing a beard, and watching trash TV!"
Grime growled deeply as he struck the tree next to them with his fist as hard as he could. The strike managed to snap the truck of the tree in half and caused the tree to fall with a hard thud against the forest floor. Despite this display of strength, Sasha didn't flinch, fear was not anywhere in her eyes despite seeing what Grime did.
The former gladiator turned his back to her as he walked away, but stopped for a moment to say, "I have lived quite a while, Lieutenant, I've dragged myself from the bottom and rose to the top. And within a span of a night, I lost everything. With a long career, comes regrets and chances missed. You, on other hand, are young, and have all the time in the world. Think about that."
Sasha watched as Grime headed back to the mill, leaving her alone. The blonde teen kicked a tree, shaking it and causing some acorns to fall, some of which hit her on the head. Growling in frustration, Sasha drew her sword and began hacking away at the tree she just kicked, slashing the bark off until she got to the wood and kept going until there were multiple slash marks in a crosshatching pattern.
The cheerleading captain huffed from the effort and then fell onto her rear as she placed her sword down. Sasha brought her knees in and hugged her legs close to her. There was more to this than she was letting Grime in on, more than just the Kamen Rider stuff. The Magenta Spirit had made Sasha acknowledge something about herself that even she wasn't aware of until now. She cared about Anne, at first, she thought it was only as a friend, as her best friend, but after that battle, and the talk she had, Sasha was questioning how she really felt about Anne.
One part was angry at Anne, angry because she went against her, because she didn't listen to her when all she was trying to do was help her friend. Another part was, in a weird way, proud of Anne for finally showing a little backbone and standing up to her, that same part was afraid that Anne would never find the strength to do so. And the last part, the part that Sasha was trying to keep hidden from herself…liked Anne. These feelings of abandonment, of losing her friend, it stemmed from something deeper that Sasha hadn't fully allowed herself to understand or feel.
Anne's standing up to her changed their dynamic, drastically. In Sasha's mind, she believed she'd always have to look out for Anne, all the way into college, always trying to get her out of her shell and drag her along so that she wouldn't get left behind. But, in a strange way, Sasha liked that. She even saw herself and Anne one day moving into a house together as roommates, but Sasha knew that was just a front, for herself at least, because when she imagined that scenario, truly, they weren't roommates, they were something else.
"Stop it! I'm…It's not like that! It's…It's not like that…"
Suddenly, an explosion went off near the mill, causing Sasha to spring to her feet. A feeling came over her, she sensed something was over there, and it was the same feeling she got when the Fallen had attacked them. Sasha's eyes glowed magenta as she grabbed her sword and dashed towards the mill.
Hours had passed since Anne and Tritonio were trapped in the cave, during that time, the newt had brought to bear his full knowledge of hand-to-hand combat. Much to Tritonio's surprise, Anne was very proficient in the martial arts. Her fighting style was unlike anything he had seen, which threw him off more than once as he was not prepared to handle the unique fighting style of Muay Thai. After sparring and doing a few exercises, Tritonio decided that they should take a break.
They ventured further into the cave and found a spring where water had been collecting due to condensation. The two took a drink of water and relaxed for a moment. Tritonio looked to his trainee and said, "Well, Anne, your fighting technique could use some work, but you are well on your way."
"Heh, you looked like you were having a hard time back there," Anne commented.
"Your fighting style is unique, I have traveled to many regions of Amphibia, but I haven't come across a newt, frog, or toad who can fight like that," said Tritonio. "Overall, I don't think combat is the key for you to control yourself. You say you use a 'mantra' to help you keep your mind focused on not hurting others, yes?"
Anne nodded. "Yeah, after the first attack by the Fallen, I almost took Sprig's head off with a punch. I managed to stop myself, and after that I came up with a saying that would help me to keep from hurting them and only attack the Fallen. But…"
"As the dangers of your journey increase, you wish to become better able to defend your family with your strange power. You wish to be its master instead of the other way around, yes?"
"Exactly! I can access some of it outside of the transformation, but even then, it's not by command. I mean, just take what happened a few hours ago. I was only able to catch up to you because I was using the powers without thinking about it," said Anne.
Tritonio stood up and hummed as he paced the cave floor, he thought hard about Anne's dilemma, about what she could really need in order to get a handle on her powers. Then it hit him. "Then we've been going about our training all wrong."
"We have?"
"Physically, you're strong and capable, no amount of working out will grant you the ability to control it. It will make you stronger, but we need to focus inward more than outward."
Anne was confused by this and asked, "Okay, so, how do we go about doing that?"
"Simple really, we're in the best place for such a thing. Come, stand!" Tritonio had Anne stand up, Anne followed the newt's directions as she was sitting in front of the pool of water they had drank from. "You need to focus inward, clear your mind of distractions and listen what's inside of you. This cave is perfect for such a thing."
"You sure–?"
"Silencio!" Tritonio ordered. Anne clamped up. "Now, close your eyes, and turn your thoughts inward. Block out all that exists outside of this cave, and all that exists in this cave, all there is…is just…you…"
Anne had shut her eyes, she understood what Tritonio was talking about, meditation. While Muay Thai required patience, meditation wasn't one of Anne's strong suits. She was a physically active girl and needed to move about when she had the energy to, so just sitting – for other than playing video games or watching a show – was hard. But she had done a lot of hard things since coming to Amphibia, and right now, controlling these powers was her top priority.
The Thai American girl took in slow deep breathes and released them in slow exhales. Her senses were becoming more acute the longer she kept this up, she could hear the drips of water hitting the pool of water, Anne imagined the water, she focused on it, and then, something happened.
Anne opened her eyes and found herself staring at a blue sky up above and below she saw that same blue sky reflected under her. Anne panicked and jumped to her feet, finding that each step she took caused a ripple effect on the reflective surface.
"Wha…Where am I?"
"Your Inner World."
Anne turned around and yelped when she saw the Blue Spirit standing there. "YOU! You're that same ghost I saw in the ruins, the same one that helped me heal myself, and you pretended to be Sprig to help me find the Plantars! Seriously, what are you?!"
The Blue Spirit looked at itself and then back to Anne. "I think you have a more important question to ask other than what I am. Don't you?"
Anne furrowed her brow, she hated that the ghost was dodging her question, but it seemed as if the apparition knew of her deeper question. "You're somehow connected to the powers I have, so I'll ask you. How do I control them? Until now, I've fought the Fallen on instinct, my body goes into autopilot, and I just fight. I don't like it."
"And why is that? The power is simply assisting you in your survival and the elimination of the Fallen. Is that not satisfactory?"
"NO!" Anne argued. "Because I'm not in control! I don't know what's happening when I'm like that, and I don't want to come out of it finding out that I wiped out an entire town or something!"
The Blue Spirit's eyes fixed themselves on Anne and said, "You are weak."
"Excuse me?!"
"Your heart is weak, your emotions are unstable, and you lack the ability to control yourself at times."
Anne furrowed her brow and crossed her arms. "Yeah, dude, it's called being a teenager!"
"And yet, you wish to control these powers. Tell me, for what purpose?"
Anne rolled her eyes at the ghost as she said, "To protect the Plantars and find a way back home."
"Have you given any thought as to why you have these powers? Or why the Fallen pursue you?"
Anne opened her mouth to reply, but she couldn't, she had no idea why she had her powers, or why the Fallen want her dead.
The apparition waved its right hand and reflective surface below rippled. The surface under Anne's feet began to change, showing images of herself back on Earth, all the various times when Sasha had to stick up for her, and all the times when she had the chance stand up for herself, but failed to do so.
"You haven't shown that you have the strength of heart necessary to take on the burden of this power."
Anne looked down and saw all the times when she should've stood up for herself but failed to do so. "So what…I've changed since I came to Amphibia! I can fight for myself now!"
~~(***)~~
On the outside, Tritonio was wondering if having Anne meditate was the right thing to do. Because a minute after she went into her meditation, Anne's body was enveloped by a blue construct lotus flower. Tritonio didn't know what to do, or if he should even try to get her out of there.
Anne, I hope I did not bring you harm by suggesting this, he thought.
Just then, the entrance to the cave was struck, shaking the entire cave itself. Tritonio looked back and saw that the Roc had had enough with waiting for them to come out, and instead was going to dig them out.
Sasha rushed out of the woods and back to the mill, only to get tackled to the ground by Braddock. "Braddock what the he–?!" Suddenly, dozens of spines lodged themselves in the trees right where Sasha would've been. "Oh, okay."
"You okay, Sash?" Braddock asked as she got off her.
"I'm fine, but what did that?!" Sasha asked.
Braddock pointed over towards the mill, where Grime and Percy were currently engaged with another of the Fallen. This new Fallen was about the same height as Sasha, and about half as bulky as Grime. The Fallen had dark brown fur, and a short muzzle. Its back was littered with dozens upon dozens of sharp quills that ran all the way down to its long tail, there were even some quills that went along the sides of its arms. An armor chest plate that looked as if it was melded to it, and again, it sported the thirteen-eye mark as the last Fallen.
Grime brandished his broadsword and came in swinging at the Porcupine Fallen, however, the monster merely turned its back to the toad warrior and forced him to stop mid-strike and back away. The Porcupine Fallen took advantage of this hesitation and slashed the air with its tail, loosing several quills at the former captain of Toad Tower. Grime immediately hit the ground, lying as flat as he could as the quills sailed over him, however, that put him in striking distance as the Porcupine Fallen's tail rose and came down for a tail slam attack. Grime quickly rolled away, but the Porcupine Fallen wasn't bout to let him get away as it rolled itself into a ball and chased after him.
Grime released a few curses that Sasha hadn't heard before as he ran towards the mill and performed a wall run up the side of the mill, and then spring boarded off the wall just as the Fallen smashed itself into that very same wall. Grime landed a few feet away, but when he did, the former captain released an exhausted huff. "Okay, Sasha's right, I am way out of shape!"
"Ya think!"
Grime looked over his shoulder and spotted Sasha and Braddock heading towards him. The human teen drew her heron sword and entered an attack stance on Grime's right, while Braddock went to Percy's side. "Sasha, what are you doing here?!"
"It wants me, you and I know it does! I'm going to distract it while you three get the heck out of here!" Sasha stated.
"That is a negative, Lieutenant! We are a unit, we fight together!" Grime retorted.
"Out of the four of us, which of us has Kamen Rider powers?!" Sasha's point was emphasized when her eyes tinted a bright magenta color. "This is exactly why I said I'll stay behind! Now, get going!"
Sasha released a fierce battle cry as she charged for the Porcupine Fallen, the creature bashed its way out of the wall and spotted its true target. The monster aimed its arms towards Sasha and fired a barrage of the armor piercing quills. Sasha, fueled by the power within her, used her sword to deflect some of the quills away while dodging a few others, but this was a mistake as one of the quills slashed her right leg, causing the teen to cry out in pain as she fell to the ground.
The Porcupine Fallen made its way towards her, seeing Sasha as easy prey now that she was down, but the cheerleading captain wasn't down and out yet. She untied her ponytail and took up a hidden dagger, and with great precision, tossed the weapon straight at the Porcupine Fallen. The creature was surprised and moved to get away, but the dagger managed to lodge itself in the left arm of the creature, causing the Porcupine Fallen to screech in pain. Unbeknownst to the others, a small trace of magenta colored energy was coated onto the blade, allowing the simple weapon to cause damage to the monster.
Sasha got back to her feet, but the pain from her wound stung severely, causing her stagger as blood dripped from the wound. Time seemed to slow down again, and before her eyes the Magenta Spirit appeared once again. "Oh great, you again."
"Yep, it's me again! So, seems you're at a bit of a crossroads, aren't you?"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Sasha asked.
"You're denying the source of your strength, and this will lead to your downfall no matter what opponent you face."
"The source of my strength, what do you–?" It suddenly dawned on Sasha what the Magenta Spirit meant. "You…You mean Anne?"
Although the Magenta Spirit had no mouth, Sasha could feel that it was grinning at her. "I mean your feelings. Power comes from more than one source, for you, it is the feelings you hold for those dear to you. Even if you don't fully understand them."
Sasha growled at the Magenta Spirit and said, "I won't admit it! I'm not like that! I don't…I don't like Anne like that!"
The Magenta Spirit crossed her arms and replied, "Then you won't truly control yourself or your power. And you'll end up killing those around you due to your inaction."
Sasha's eyes burned with magenta colored light as she took her sword and pierced the ground with it. "You don't think I'm strong enough to control this power?!"
"I don't 'think', I know."
"THEN I'LL SHOW YOU! I'M SASHA WAYBRIGHT, AND I AM IN CONTROL, NOT YOU, OR ANYONE ELSE!"
Sasha released an even louder battle cry as time resumed its natural course, only this time the Porcupine Fallen backed away, trying to figure out what was going with its target. Through sheer force of will, Sasha made her Driver appear around her waist, with the center gemstone glowing bright white.
"Lieutenant…?"
"Sash?"
"Sasha?"
For a moment, not a word was spoken, but then Sasha looked to each of her comrades and said, "I got this. I am in control. And I can't believe I'm about to say this…" Sasha performed the same motions as before and cried out, "Henshin!"
Sasha pressed on the two devices on the sides of the Driver, causing her body to be enveloped in flames. When the flames died down, Sasha was transformed into her Kamen Rider form, she took up her sword, and upon gripping it, the heron sword transformed into the Phoenix Wing.
Grime carefully approached his second-in-command and asked, "Sasha, are you, can you hear me?"
"Like I said, Grimesy." The Rider turned her head and looked down at Grime. "I am in control. And the name is Bellona."
"Bell what now?" Grime asked.
"It's the name of a goddess of war back in my world," Bellona explained as she took a ready stance.
Grime showed a toothy grin and assumed his own attack stance. "Inspired, Lieutenant!"
"Calamity of Strength!" The Porcupine Fallen sneered.
Bellona dashed straight for the Fallen and slashed at the creature, the Fallen backed away and narrowly dodged the attack. The Rider of fire readied to attack again and pivoted on her right leg but faltered as a sharp pain ran up her leg and made her stumble. That moment of hesitation allowed the Porcupine Fallen to spin around and strike Bellona in the chest with its tail. The strike sent Bellona flying backwards as several sparks were released from the point of impact on her armor. Bellona managed to right herself as she pierced the earth with her sword and brought herself to a halt.
Now that distance was given to the Porcupine Fallen, the monster of darkness rolled itself into a ball form and began firing off its quills in rapid succession. Bellona ignited her sword and slashed the air in front of her, creating a small flame wall that burnt the incoming quills to cinders. "HA! That all you got?!" The Porcupine Fallen turned itself and now faced Braddock and Percy. "YOU SON OF A–!"
Bellona, ignoring the pain in her leg, dashed straight for Percy and Braddock. The Porcupine Fallen released another barrage of quills, and just before they reached the two toads, Bellona put herself between the quills and her comrades, allowing the quills to strike her in the back as her armor released sparks from each repeated impact.
"SASHA!" Braddock and Percy exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I got you!" Bellona assured.
Grime came up behind the monster, and slashed it with his sword, causing a minor distraction to the Porcupine Fallen, and granting Bellona breather. She fell to her knees as the impacts didn't exactly pierce her armor, but the drain it put on her to defend against that attack was a lot, not to mention, there was a noticeable red spot around her right thigh. Grime slashed at the Porcupine Fallen again and forced it out of its ball form so that it would chase him. The former captain made the monster chase it into the mill, he then proceeded to cut open a few of his full Bog Grog cans and let their contents spill onto the floor.
The Porcupine Fallen fired more quills from its arms, but Grime managed to find cover behind some old equipment. Which was where he found an old flint stone. Grime jumped high into the air and landed in the rafters, he then struck the flint stone against his sword and caused a few sparks to fly off from it. Those same sparks hit the spots where his Bog Grog soaked the floor and ignited into flames. The Porcupine Fallen screeched as it was standing right at the epicenter of the flames, with that distraction, Grime used his tongue to wrangle up their belongings and jumped straight out of the window and back outside.
"Captain, what did you do?!" Percy asked.
"I let it have a bit of my Bog Grog, apparently it couldn't handle it," said Grime.
The Porcupine Fallen bashed its way out of another wall as it rolled its body onto the ground to extinguish the flames. At the same time, the flames were already spreading inside the mill. Bellona looked to her comrades and then back to the Fallen, she was injured and couldn't move as well as she did during her fight with the last Fallen, but she was determined to not let Grime, Percy, or Braddock get killed by this thing. That's when the right hip device began to glow.
"Huh, okay, I know enough that that usually means something good," said Bellona.
Bellona placed her Phoenix Wing into her left hand and used her right to press down on the yellow hip device. As soon as she did this her armor began to change. Her right shoulder pauldron turned yellow and elongated, an image of a shield and sword painted in white appeared on the long side of the pauldron. Her right gauntlet became bulky and yellow colored, at the same time, yellow lines appeared on her armor, and along the sides of her helmet eyes. One word came to Bellona's mind when she entered this new form.
"Scutum (shield)."
The Porcupine Fallen had finally put out its flames and was looking none too pleased.
"Get behind me!" Bellona ordered.
Braddock, Percy, and Grime did as Bellona ordered. The Porcupine Fallen once again entered its ball form and unleashed yet another barrage of quills. Bellona brought up her right arm on pure instinct, and immediately materialized a large metal shield. The shield was yellow in color, and at the center was a magenta gemstone in the form of an upside-down triangle. The shield, Aegis, took on all the quills, not even one left a scratch on its surface. The Porcupine Fallen stopped its attack and growled in frustration when it noticed that none of its quills made it through. The Fallen seemed as if it was going to get serious now as all its sharp quills began to glow with violet light.
"That doesn't look good," said Braddock.
"It would appear that it's ready to deliver its final attack," said Grime.
Bellona looked to her sword and when she did the gemstone affixed to the guard glowed, at the same time, the gemstone on her shield glowed. The top half of the shield opened and showed that there was a slot for the sword to be sheathed. "Okay, if that's how it's going to be, then let's do this!" Bellona twirled her sword around and sheathed it into the slot.
The Porcupine Fallen rolled into a ball again and spun rapidly as it loosed all the quills it had in a beam barrage. Bellona braced herself as she held the shield out, the center gemstone glowed as construct versions of her shield formed in front of them, rows and rows of shields formed, totaling at least three hundred to create a dome shield around them. The energy barrage hit the dome from all sides, but no matter what angle the energy quills came at the dome, none of them managed to pierce or even crack the barrier. The barrage lasted for about a minute and a half before the Porcupine Fallen had left itself barren of all its quills.
However, that wasn't the end of Bellona's technique, every attack that was blocked by the shield was absorbed, funneling that potential damage into the gemstone and turning it into pure power. Bellona saw the bright glow of the Aegis' gemstone get transferred into the Phoenix Wing's gemstone. The Rider of fire gripped the Phoenix Wing, making the wing frills on her helmet fan into threes. When she drew the sword, it was completely engulfed in plasmatic flames.
"Say goodnight!"
Bellona thrust her sword forward and unleashed a powerful beam attack that roared towards the Porcupine Fallen and completely evaporated the monster in one hit, the beam kept going, forcing Bellona to angle the beam upwards into the sky until the absorbed energy had been expelled.
The Roc kept striking at the rocks that kept it from its prey, it would not be denied its meal, it was an apex predator and would not let its prey escape. The Roc suddenly stopped its attack, sensing something was wrong, a great, oppressive presence fell over its body, making the giant bird remain still. The Roc managed to tilt its head upwards and there it saw thirteen black feathers materialize out of nowhere and slowly fall towards it.
Sadness, formed from the deepest darkness~
Go, sleep now, in into the endless domain
Now come yee, to the throne of The Night
In His great keep, you shall repent
Angels lost, now banished from the heavens
Fallen, rise from shadows
Fly now, on raven's wings
So fearsome, with fury that touches the skies
Bring joy to the forgotten Night
Snuff out the light from their eyes~
The Roc could only whimper as all thirteen of the feathers fell on top of its head. In an instant its body was wrapped in a cocoon of darkness.
Inside the cave, Tritonio was slightly relieved, the Roc had stopped trying to get in, but his curiosity demanded to know what was happening. Thankfully there was enough space to see through the rock wall so he could see what the Roc was doing. However, what he saw surprised him, where the Roc should be, instead was a giant black cocoon.
"This can't be a good sign," Tritonio commented.
The cocoon suddenly started to open, as giant claws tore through it. In a matter of seconds, the cocoon was destroyed and revealed a new monster to Tritonio. The Roc had been completely transformed, its original gray coloration was now black as night, like a giant raven. It now sported four wings but attached to the arms were razor sharp claws at the ends. The armor chest plate with the thirteen-eye mark was present, along with two long tail feathers that had stingers at the ends.
"NOT GOOD!" Tritonio exclaimed. "ANNE, NOW WOULD BE A VERY GOOD TIME TO WAKE UP!"
~~(***)~~
"I was like that before, not anymore! I've grown since I've been here," Anne argued.
"But do you think you've grown enough to take on the responsibility of this power?"
Anne paused as she thought about her answer, after a long moment of thinking, Anne answered, "I honestly don't know. But everything that's happened to me here, all the things I've had to do since I got here, I've done them because I knew that I had to. I wasn't ready for any of this, but I became the girl I am because of those instances. So, is anybody really ready for anything that happens in their life?"
The Blue Spirit regarded Anne for a moment, she couldn't see any facial expressions, but Anne felt that the spirit was thinking hard on what she said. Finally, after what felt like minutes of waiting, the Blue Spirit said, "You are right, none of are ever ready when destiny calls on us. So, show me what you are capable of, human."
~~(***)~~
The lotus construct opened and Tritonio watched in awe as Anne emerged from it. The human teen took a deep breath and then exhaled slowly. "I feel…refreshed."
"That is good, Anne. Now…WE HAVE A SITUATION!"
Anne didn't need an explanation; she could already feel the presence of a Fallen outside the cave. "Don't worry, Tritonio, we're getting out of here, and I'll deal with that Fallen." Anne's eyes glowed blue as the Driver appeared around her waist, glowing bright white. Anne performed her motions and then said, "Henshin!"
Outside the cave, the Roc Fallen was preparing to smash the cave, however, before it could do anything, the entrance to the cave was melted down into nothing. Right after that, a streak of lightning bolted out of the cave and zipped to the other end of the clearing. The Roc Fallen tracked the object and saw that it was Kamen Rider Amp, carrying Tritonio to a safe place.
"So…this is the power you were speaking of," said Tritonio.
"Yeah, and thanks to you, I think I finally got a handle on it," said Amp.
The Roc Fallen released a horrible screech at them, drawing Amp's attention. Something was off about this Fallen, Amp could feel it. This thing was in pain, unlike Judro, this creature was forced to become a Fallen, and now it was stuck in a form that was painful and out of its control.
"I'm sorry this happened to you, but I won't let you suffer much longer. I promise!"
Anne raised both of her hands and pressed down on both of her hip devices. Blue, pink, and green light enveloped Amp's form, and in a flash of those three lights, Amp entered her Trinity Form. The armor had taken on shades of green from Spike Form, along with growing three spikes on the knee guards, a long spike on the tops of each hand, another couple of longer ones on the top of the shoulder pauldrons, which were surrounded by six smaller ones, and more spikes that ran from the middle of the helmet's forehead down to the back of the helmet. Each of the spikes glowed with the pink energy of the Poison Form. This was Kamen Rider Amp Trinity Form: Poison Dart.
The Roc Fallen opened its mouth and readied to fire a beam of violet light, but Amp quickly dashed away at the same lightning-like speed as she used while in her Lightning form. The Roc Fallen fired its beam where it thought Amp was but missed completely as the hero ran circles around the beast. The Fallen flapped its huge wings and ascended into the air, using its aerial advantage to try and pinpoint where Amp was and attack. However, its distance wasn't going to be an asset, as dozens of pink lights shot out from the forest below, each one struck the Roc Fallen and exploded on impact.
The Roc Fallen suddenly felt that its arms and body were becoming sluggish and heavy. From below, Amp fired off each of its spikes like mini missiles, each one flew to the Roc Fallen and hit the mark, and each of them were laced with a paralyzing poison that made the Roc Fallen's body grow heavy. The Roc Fallen focused its dark energy into all four of its hands and then released it in the form of four black tornados that roared down towards the ground. Amp saw this and immediately dashed for Tritonio, in a streak of lightning she grabbed the thief and took him even further away from the battle.
"Sorry, dude, I didn't think it could do that," said Amp before she returned to the battle.
Amp disengaged the four longest spikes of her armor and formed them into two Sting Strikers. The Rider of lightning channeled her electrical power through them and slashed at the black tornados, causing a disruption in their energy that cancelled them out. Amp knew that prolonging this fight would only put herself and Ribbtville in danger, also, it was only torture for the Roc.
"Let's end this!"
The crest horns on Amp's helmet fanned out into threes as it and the lines in her armor began to glow. The Sting Strikers began to float as Amp used her right hand to draw a circle in the air, this circle was made of lightning that formed a ring. The two Sting Strikers broke apart and stuck themselves onto the ring of lightning, forming a giant shuriken. That shuriken began to spin rapidly, faster and faster until it was a glowing blur of blue, green, and pink.
Amp channeled her lightning energy into her legs and jumped straight up into the air, climbing several feet above the Roc Fallen. The giant bird monster finally made landfall, as the paralytic poison finally took hold. The monster only had enough strength to look up as Amp spun in the air and hurled her shuriken straight down towards the Roc Fallen. There was a part of the Fallen that told it that it still had enough strength to dodge it, but the part of it that was the Roc, forced itself to stay put. The shuriken built up more and more energy as it spun, and when it finally made contact, the Roc Fallen was wrapped up in a vortex of energy that swiftly slashed it from every direction possible.
Amp flipped a few times in the air before landing gracefully on the ground below. With a swipe of her hand, the vortex erupted into a powerful explosion that left nothing of the Roc Fallen. From the flames the shuriken emerged, it flew towards Amp and right before it reached her, the electrical ring that kept it together dispersed. Strands of lightning linked to each of the spikes and returned them to their original places. Amp looked behind her and nodded solemnly at her work. "H̄lạb h̄ı̂ s̄bāy (Rest in peace)."
With the Roc Fallen laid to rest, Amp dashed through the forest again and returned to where Tritonio was. The newt jumped down from the tree that he used to watch the events transpire and asked, "Did you manage to defeat it?"
"Heh, of course, it was a piece of – whoa…" The transformation suddenly ended, and Anne felt extremely exhausted as she fell to her hands and knees.
"Anne!" Tritonio exclaimed. "Are you alright?"
Anne put her hand to her head, the world around her was spinning and her whole body ached. "Okay…new form was a little much for me…guess I went ham too soon after gaining control."
Tritonio smiled as he helped Anne rest up against a tree, "You were incredible Anne, with such power, there's no telling what you can do."
"Yeah…I just…need to…practice…more…"
The Thai American girl suddenly knocked out, falling asleep. Tritonio checked on the human girl to make sure that she was still alive, and thankfully she was. The notorious thief smiled and stood up; he opened his pouch to look at the blue gemstone he had stolen from the Ribbton manor and contemplated leaving Anne there while he made his escape. Well…he contemplated it anyway.
"ANNE!"
"ANNE!"
"ANNE! ANNE! ANNE!"
Anne awoke with a start, her eyes darting all over the place as she suddenly found herself at the gates of the Ribbton estate. The Plantars, along with Wally and Wigbert came rushing towards her from the road.
Sprig immediately got to her and looked over his adopted big sister. "Anne, oh thank frog, are you alright?!"
"Y-Yeah, w-where I am?" Anne asked.
"You're at the front gates, Anne," said Wally. "We've been lookin' all over town for you, but we couldn't find ya."
"Then we spotted that giant, dreadful looking beast in the forest, but then it was destroyed by something," said Wigbert Ribbton.
"We figured it might've been you, since it kind of looked like a Fallen," said Polly.
"But when we got there, there wasn't anyone there," said Hop Pop. "The last thing anyone heard was you yellin' 'thief'."
Anne suddenly remembered, Tritonio, the gem, and the battle. The human teen sprang to her feet and looked around, but she saw no trace of her thief of a teacher.
"Hey, Anne, what's this?" Sprig asked.
"Huh?" Anne looked down and saw that there was a piece of paper wrapped around what looked like a rock. Anne picked up the rock and unwrapped it, only to find that it was the gemstone. "Whoa!"
"Blimey!" Wally exclaimed.
"You managed to get the gem back after all," said Wigbert.
"But…how…?" Anne handed the gemstone to Wally, but upon further inspection of the paper, Anne saw that it was in fact a note.
"Dear, Anne
If you are reading this, it means I am far, far away by now. Do not think that giving back the gem is my way of saying I intend to stop my thieving ways. Because I don't intend to, ha-ha!
No, this is a reward. I have trained many a child to perform crimes, but none had as much raw talent as you do, sadly, you do not possess the necessary qualifications to be a master thief. But you more than possess the qualifications to become a hero. And one of barely a handful I can say have earned my respect.
I know not when our paths will cross again, but I know you'll continue to grow into not just a fine young lady, but a strong and powerful one. I hope you find what you are seeking in Newtopia, Anne.
Best Wishes
Master Thief Extraordinaire & Your Proud Teacher
Tritonio Espada"
Anne's eyes began to water after she read the note, that was the first time a teacher had said something like that to her. Perhaps this was how her teachers really felt about her back on Earth? All they really wanted was to see their students grow and become better people. One thing was for sure, Anne was definitely going to apologize to all her teachers for not paying attention and all the times she talked smack about them behind their backs.
"Anne, who's that from?" Polly asked.
"A teacher, who believes in his student." Anne looked further down and grimaced. "You've gotta be kidding me?"
"P. S.: I stole a different gem for compensation! Ha-ha!"
"TRITONIOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"
With the mill burned to cinders, Grime, Braddock, Percy, and Sasha were left with no other choice but to leave the area. After that battle, there was no way that Newtopia wouldn't have sent someone or a lot of someones to come and investigate it. Sasha had seemed to have abandoned her earlier promise of not going with her toad comrades, but after gaining control of her power, she felt that she could protect Grime and the others better like this.
Grime, Braddock, and Percy were sitting around a campfire, eating some of their rations. While Sasha was off in the woods, thinking about what happened. The Magenta Spirit appeared before her once again, and she could feel the spirit smirking at her.
"What?" Sasha asked.
"You still haven't acknowledged how you feel."
"What's it matter? I have control of myself, of this power, not you!" Sasha retorted.
"Oh, I'm not arguing that. Only someone like you could brute force their way into commanding this power to obey you. However, if you truly wish to tap into the full depths of it, you'll need to acknowledge your feelings and who you want to be, Sasha Waybright."
The Magenta Spirit disappeared without another word, and that was fine by Sasha. She would show the spirit, she didn't need to acknowledge anything, she just needed Anne back, she needed to fix their friendship, and find Marcy, that's all. Sasha heard some rustling over her shoulder, she looked and saw Grime walking towards her.
"Are you okay?" Grime asked.
"I'm getting there," said Sasha.
"That's good to hear, because I need you for what I'm planning next, Lieutenant."
Sasha raised an eyebrow at that. "What do you have planned?"
"All this fighting and action, it's gotten my warrior's blood pumping again! Forget retaking the valley, forget serving the kingdom at all," said Grime with a devious smirk.
Sasha smirked alongside him, she could see it clearly, the fire was back in his eyes. "You mean…?"
"Yes, Sasha, together, let's raise a frog dang army and storm the capital! It's high time a TOAD ruled this world for a change!" Grime proclaimed.
"Ah hell yeah! That's the Captain Grime I know and love!" Sasha happily exclaimed.
"Yes, but before we take over the world…there's a small matter that needs to be taken care of."
Sasha's fervor was snuffed as she knew what that matter was. "You totally want to binge watch the rest of 'Suspicion Island', don't you?"
"I really do!"
Sasha rolled her eyes and handed her phone to Grime.
"Percy, Braddock, gather 'round, it's time to get Suspicious!"
"YEAH!"
Sasha huffed as she facepalmed herself, but that was fine, Grime had regained his fighting spirit and that was good enough for her. The blonde teen took out a picture of herself, Marcy, and Anne. Unconsciously, her left index traced Anne's face for a moment before Sasha snapped herself out of it and took her hand away.
"Well, Anne, looks like I have my own path now. But it's not over between us…not even close."