Let's get ready to rumbllllllllllllllllllle! DING-DING-DING

Both sides ran forward and clashed like it was the last thing they'd do. Of course, it really would be the last thing for some of them. That's how it is in Amphibia, after all.

"Try to keep the fight outside the town!" shouted Beatrix.

"Yeah!" Toadstool agreed. "Reduce the amount of money we'll have to pay for the damages!"

"Really, dude?" said Ivy.

"What, I don't have to like spending money just because I'm good," said the mayor honestly.

Loggle was the first to bridge the gap between the two sides, pummeling 5 enemy toads in a row with his fist and hitting a couple of others with a wooden sword. "I've never felt more alive!"

"That's the exact opposite of how I feel…" said a fallen toad weakly before collapsing lifelessly.

Nearby, Anne and Polly struck a couple of marauders with their weapons. A third marauder who was old and green attempted to slash them from behind but was stopped when Mrs. Croaker started choking him with her cane.

"Eat shit, Jonah!"

And that's basically how early parts of the battle went: the New Amphibia soldiers tried to rush the opposing side, but got fought off before they managed to inflict any serious injuries. Even the tactics that worked when taking the tower weren't as effective now. Perhaps conscripting the inexperienced South Tower soldiers into the army wasn't a good idea.

Meanwhile, one toad slapped Marcy to the ground and prepared to finish her off with a crossbow but Maddie hit them from behind with an explosion pouch.

"Oof." Marcy slowly came to her fest and decided to grab the fallen crossbow for good measure. "They really are acting like video game enemies, huh."

"What are you talking about?" asked Maddie, confused.

"They don't seem to have any strategy," the Taiwanese girl pointed out. "They're just attacking like mindless drones." She pointed towards where Mire and Mike were repeatedly headbonking their helmets without any progress.

"Huh, guess you're right. Oh yeah, we've never met— I'm Maddie."

"Lol yeah, I'm Marcy." She reached out for a handshake, which Maddie accepted. Everyone talked about you though. Your magic is so awesome!"

"Thanks!" Maddie then paused. "Should we be having this conversation right now?"

Maddie shrugged. "Probably not, but unless the bad guys unleash some powerful weapon then I think this'll be over quickly…

On the other side of the battlefield, things were going a little better for the New Amphibians. They weren't exactly winning, but they were putting up more of an even fight. One rose-colored toad even managed to get the drop on Sasha and Grime.

"End of the line, old man! Have fun in—" The lucky toad never got to finish her sentence not attack her enemies because Bog painfully caved her skull in with his hammer.

Bog didn't seem fazed in the slightest. "That was nearly a big mistake."

"Is that really how you treat your subordinates!?" shouted Grime, disgusted. "Don't claim you learned that from me, because I know you didn't."

"Oh, it's quite simple." Bog advanced on the father and daughter. "The top two rules of being in my army are: 1— always do what I say, and 2— don't piss me off. And that guy just did both."

"What? The people who fight for you aren't allowed to fight for you?" said Sasha. "You could at least try to make sense." She stifled a yawn, since she hadn't gotten a chance to fully rest after having her Calamity powers removed.

"It's 'cause I'm the one gonna murder you and your so-called daughter! No one else gets to touch you!" Bog lunged forward and swung his hammer at the duo, narrowly missing them. This process repeated a few more times until the hammer got lodged in some mud, forcing him to temporarily stop.

Seeing her chance, Sasha dashed toward Bog and slashed his arm. Enraged, he immediately punched her in the face hard, sending her flying backwards.

"Sasha!" Grime immediately came to his daughter's aid, noticing her left eye swollen shut and her nose broken and bleeding.

"Oh God…" Sasha said softly after a couple of coughs. "I forgot what not having powers is like."

Grime reacted automatically. First, he grabbed his sword and hurled it at Bog, impaling the red toad through the side. Then he quickly (yet carefully) scooped Sasha up and tried to get her back to Wartwood as soon as possible.

"That motherfucker!" Bog took a few deep breaths before addressing his army. "Ready the cannon! Destroy everyone! Burn them to the ground!"

"Aye-aye, master!"

Bog took some more deep breaths and decided to lay down for a while. This wasn't going as easily as he'd planned.

Fens and a few other toads wheeled over the cannon they stole from a weapons depot. They carefully placed an incendiary weapon in there, much more powerful than what they used in their tower takeover.

"This should put us back on top. Fire in the hole!" Fens lit the fuse and ran away from the fighting. Most of the other New Amphibians heard the signal and followed her. This would be their guarantee to victory.

"Ha, they're fleeing already!" exclaimed Polly. "This was too easy!"

"Yeah, too easy." said Anne. "They're probably up to something."

"Hey, something's coming from the sky!" shouted Wally. "It's round and black and metal—"

"It's a bomb!" shouted Marcy. "Everybody take cover!"

Everyone attempted to flee, but it was too late, the bomb landed and nearly everyone was burned and/or hit by little bits of shrapnel. Even Loggle was ever so slightly injured.

Grime managed to reach the area right after the bomb hit and ironically, Sasha's punched face actually looked not as bad in comparison.

Marcy coughed weakly. "I guess they did have a plan after all…"

"This is more intense than what we prepared for!" shouted one of the newts.

"Oh grow up! You'll live!" shouted Beatrix.

Additionally, the fallen Wartwoodians could hear the New Amphibians coming back.

"That was supposed to finish most of them off! I think none of them died at all!"

"Then we'll just use another one!"

"We don't have another one! We're low on resources!"

"Idiots!"

Maddie looked around the battlefield. There were far too many injuries for Wartwood to win this fight without stopping for healing. It would mean leaving the town vulnerable, but it'll be a necessary risk. "Temporary retreat!" She tossed a smoke bomb in between the Wartwoodians and New Amphibians, shielding them from the enemy's view.

"Where are we supposed to go!?" Fern cried out. "If we go back to Wartwood they'll find us."

"They won't find us underneath Wartwood," said Maddie confidently. "Ivy!"

"I'm on it!" replied the yellow frog. She (carefully considering her burns) walked to the back of the Plantar farm and uncovered a hole covered by some bushes. "Me and Maddie dug a hole to the secret tunnels from the outside while you were gone and also found where they connect to our houses. Now get in, everyone!"

Normally, the reveal of these tunnels, as well as the fact that Maddie and Ivy were actively adding to them, would've elicited a lot of questions. But today wasn't a normal day. Everyone fled into the tunnels as quickly as possible before Ivy fully concealed the entrance again.

The smoke cleared, and they were gone…

"And just how long exactly have you girls had this massive hiding spot?" asked Felicia with a raised eyebrow.

"I dunno," said Ivy. "Maybe a couple of months. But this place has been here for centuries."

All the injured Wartwoodians and friends had gathered in Emma's board game room. The ones who had relatively minor cuts already began nursing their wounds while everyone else was waiting for Maddie to come back with healing potions.

Speak of the devil…

"Alright, I'm back!" Maddie jumped down another hole into the hideout carrying a sack of potion supplies. "Good thing I already put a cauldron down here 'cause I wouldn't have been able to sneak one out of the bakery now."

"So the bad guys are in town, then," said Toadie.

Maddie nodded. "Yeah, they're rummaging through some of the buildings right now. They nearly caught me, but I'm too quick for those brain-dead marauders."

"Well, hurry up then!" shouted Mrs. Croaker. "The longer we stay down here the more damage they'll cause."

Maddie didn't need to be told twice. She poured all the ingredients in the cauldron and prepared a large batch of potion as quickly as she could, but not too quickly because then she would mess up.

Over in one corner, Grime held a cloth over Sasha's bloody nose to stop the bleeding. Through her one good eye she noticed Grime weeping.

"Don't blame yourself, dad."

"How can I not blame myself?" Grime muttered quietly. "All these injuries would've been prevented if I had acted differently."

"But it's not like they won't heal," Sasha pointed out. "And besides, now we have matching eyes!"

Grime couldn't help but smile a little. He'd feared that Sasha would be mad at him, but it seems those fears were unfounded.

"Alright, potions are ready! Come and get 'em!" Maddie shouted for everyone to hear. "And take the shrapnel out of your bodies before drinking it! Seriously, don't be idiots."

Everyone made their way over to the cauldron to get their glass of "healing juice". Well, almost everyone.

"C'mon, Soggy Joe. You too," said Maddie.

"Never!" shouted Joe. "I will wear these extreme scars proudly for the rest of my life!"

"Ugh, whatever."

Everyone besides Soggy Joe drank their potions. Their cuts sealed up, their burns faded, and the few people who had more serious injuries (like Sasha) saw them go to a more manageable condition. But Sasha didn't let her hazy vision and raw-feeling nose stop her. She stood up on top of a table so everyone could see and hear her.

"Alright people, listen up!" she yelled, catching everyone's attention. "We weren't at our A-game before— that was a solid B+ performance."

"Aren't you wasting time telling us this?" asked one Wartwoodian.

"Shut it! Let her talk!" yelled Polly.

"Thank you," said Sasha. "Now's our chance to win, people! Since they don't have another one of those bombs then we'll plow right through them. So let's do this!"

There was a brief pause before the entire room erupted in cheers.

"Dang girl," said Marcy. "You're like a cheerleader or a coach or something."

"Yeah, totally!" said Anne before suddenly freezing. "Wait, where's Hop Pop!? Is he still upstairs!? What if the New Amphibia guys got to him!?"

"He's probably fine," said Sprig. "I don't think anyone can interrupt him when he's cooking something big."

The New Amphibians were pretty disappointed with this whole venture. Not only did their finishing attack not finish anyone off, but then they all completely vanished! After all, having free reign to break into houses and destroy stuff is a lot less fun when the occupants are gone.

"Hey, what gives!?" complained a mohawked marauder. "This was supposed to be a fun day!"

"Pipe down!" shouted Fens. "These frogs are weak but they're not complete idiots. "They'll be back any minute n—"

"Ambush!"

The next phase of the battle kicked off with Ivy punching Fens in the face, and Felicia followed her, kicking the marauder she was arguing with.

"Ugh. Everyone get out of the damn buildings!" Fens shouted. "The fight's back on!"

Everyone rushed out toward the fight but it didn't make much of a difference. The Wartwoodians were at their best and the New Amphibians wouldn't stand a chance.

Sprig hit dozens of soldiers with rocks thanks to his slingshot, and Polly whacked most of them in their distracted state, knocking a lot of teeth out.

Meanwhile, Wally ran around violently flailing his accordion. "Bugger off, why dontcha?" The enemy soldiers were so stupefied by this manner of attack they didn't even try to fight back.

Loggle continued his streak of taking out enemies easily. This time, he grabbed a small marauder and rolled him toward some of the others, knocking them down like bowling pins. "Woohoo! Where have these muscles been all my life!?"

"I don't know, but they're scaring people," said Toadstool in between knocking out toads with brass knuckle punches.

At the same time, some burly toads tried to squash Chuck but he was too quick for them.

"I grow tulips."

One toad growled. "Is that supposed to be a threat?"

But Chuck was merely informing them of what would soon happen. He zipped around even faster, strategically planting insta-grow seeds all around the toads. After a few seconds, giant tulips erupted and tangled them in their thick stems, while leaving Chuck unscathed. "Tulips grown."

"This is crazy, this is crazy, this is crazy." Karina wasn't exactly fighting the enemies but did a good job creatively dodging their attacks. That was until she heard a loud pained squark. She gasped. "They better not be agitating my bird, because if they are I'll erase them from existence!"

She ran toward the commotion and saw that a couple of marauders tied Joe Sparrow down and were about to cut him up with axes.

"It's been a while since we had good meat."

"Darn right."

The marauders swung their axes back, and then their arms were instantly torn from their bodies. They screamed in anguish, but that did nothing stop Karina as she took the axes from the severed arms and violently cut them to pieces.

"No one messes with my bird and gets away with it," said Karina before she calmed down and freed Joe.

The three humans fought together, with Marcy quickly showing an affinity to the crossbow she found. "Woohoo! This is like a War of the Warlocks battle in real life!"

"I think I fell asleep before that part but I believe you!" said Anne.

She and Anne pushed Murphy the orange toad into a shed and Marcy fired her crossbow to shatter a shelf, making a bunch of cans collapse onto the toads.

"This is just like that joke I never get to tell!" says Murphy excitedly.

The three human girls glanced at each other awkwardly and shrugged.

Elsewhere on the battlefield, Hop Pop finally emerged from the Plantar house holding a giant vat. "Alright you ruffians, prepare to taste the devastation of last year's potluck!" He chucked the slop onto some toads and all of them, even the mighty Quanlo, passed out upon smelling or tasting it.

Hopediah chuckled. "That's the one good thing about the Shame Cage— it lets you know what food constitutes a biohazard."

Sprig suddenly ran over. "Hop Pop, that was genius!"

"Thanks, boy. I hope I didn't miss a lot."

"If everyone nearly getting blown up, forcing us to retreat into the hidden tunnels to heal counts as a lot, then you did."

"You mean I missed these hidden tunnels again!?" Hop Pop dropped the vat in frustration. "What's a guy gotta do to know about them!?"

"I'll tell you now!" said Sprig. "So basically— oh, nevermind. I'm about to be cut o—"

"Look at those two. They're like the main henchmen," said Ivy, pointing to Fens and Mire.

"Hmm," Polly smiled. "I bet we can take them out right now if we do the tossing move again!"

"Hell yeah!" Ivy picked Polly up and hurled her toward the toads.

"Take this, you metal lug!" Polly smashed Mire's helmet with her flail, and the disoriented masked toad tumbled and collapsed right onto Mire. "Yes! Two in one!"

And just as Bog's top lieutenants fell, Mrs. Croaker was there with her pet spider. "Go get 'em, Archie!"

Archie quickly spun webs that kept Fens and Mire stuck in place, unable to move. In fact, he had been doing that through this entire phase of the fight, tying up each and every (still living) New Amphibian as they were knocked down. Everyone except for the green marauder toad with a ponytail, that is. He had lied down pretending to be incapacitated, waiting for the chance to catch Archie by surprise. Unfortunately for him, Archie instantly saw through this facade and burped burning acid on the toad, melting him in seconds.

Anyway, it didn't take too long before everyone was tied up, with Fens and Mire being some of the last ones.

"Good boy!" cheered Mrs. Croaker. "Today is a victory for Wartwood!"

Cries of victory rang out through the town. "Woohoo! We won!" "This is awesome!" "Let's do this again so I can punch more people!

"You haven't won anything!"

Bog slowly limped into town, dragging his hammer and Grime's bloody sword behind him. He seemed even less stable than usual, thanks to all the blood he'd already lost and was continuing to lose at a steady rate.

"For Barrel's sake, it's over Bog!" shouted Grime "Just give up before you bleed to death!"

"Never!"

Bog tossed Grime's sword right back at him. The captain ducked out of the way and the sword hit Soggy Joe.

"Haha, yes! Another scar!"

Bog attempted to swing his hammer but couldn't before a dozen Wartwoodians dogpiled on top of him. But still, the red toad persisted. The young outcast Grime once rescued was gone completely and in its place was a rabid, wild animal hungry for fresh meat. Literally— he chomped down on Wally's hand.

"Owie!" shouted the blue frog. He jerked his hand back, destabilizing the dogpile enough for Bog to throw everyone else off.

Bog quickly lunged toward Grime and grabbed the captain in a chokehold. "Die!" The chokehold only lasted for a few seconds though, because Sasha stabbed him in the eye. Not only did she stab him, but she yanked her sword back in a way that tore Bog's eyeball out!

"Agh! Fuck! You savage!"

"Nah," said Sasha. "I'm just returning a favor. Now we both have bad eyes."

Bog collapsed, covering both wounds with his hands. "Ah, this is bullshit! All I wanted to do was bully and rule over lesser creatures to let my anger out on the world— is that too much to ask for!?"

"Yes! Obviously!" shouted Marcy.

Bog acted like he didn't hear her. "I used to be able to do that whenever I wanted. I'd freely beat people up while biding my time to make it to the top, and it felt great!. But now I've got this whole army I have to pretend to care about just so I can be dominant again!"

That got a lot of quiet reactions from the tied up New Amphibians:

"He doesn't actually care about us?" "That actually explains a lot…" "Why did we agree to this?"

"And now I'll have to start over from scratch!" Bog continued to rant.

"Yeah, you do that," said Toadstool, who seemed to nod to someone behind Bog. "Go on and skedaddle out of Wartwood and never come back."

Bog was ready to scream again but stopped as he processed the mayor's words. "That's it? No punishment, no prison time, none of that?"

"That's right," said Toadstool. "But you've gotta leave through the front gates.

"Shit, I knew you people were stupid but this is new. If Bog could see properly, then he would've noticed the Wartwoodians' smug grins, but right now he just got up and ran. "So long, you bastards! I'll be back! I'll always be back! Hahahaha! HahahaWAAAAUGH!"

You see, earlier Mayor Toadstool signaled Toadie and Maddie to get the enemy cannon ready. Bog's army may have been out of ammo, but the Wartwoodians certainly weren't. They filled it with boomshrooms and explosion pouches and set it just outside the gate, while Beatrix took some of the commandeered tripwire and placed it in a way that ensured Bog fell right in. He struggled to escape but couldn't— he was thoroughly sealed in.

"Who wants to do the honors?" asked Toadie.

"Why don't you do it?" said Ivy. "Embrace your new metal look."

"Well, shucks." Toadie aimed the cannon far away from Wartwood and lit the fuse. "Bombs away!"

Bog screamed as the explosives went off, firing him hundreds of miles away. Before long, he was just a twinkle in the sky.

"And it's out of the park!" yelled Sasha. "Fuck yeah!"

Grime sighed. He really did corrupt her with swearing…

Anyway, Polly got to work picking up the New Amphibians' discarded weapons and throwing them into a sack. "Don't mind me, it's just finders keepers."

"I really don't think a child should own so many sharp objects," said one of the visiting newts.

"Well I don't care what you think." Polly whipped out her Weapons Guild badge. "This badge means I can take these and you can't do anything about it!"

The newt shrugged. "Okay then."

Meanwhile, Ivy celebrated the occasion by kissing Sprig. "I missed you."

"I missed you too," Sprig replied. "Oh! I've got something for you!" He reached into his pocket and pulled out his gift. "It's a red sunshell! Now we both have shells!"

Ivy gasped and took the shell. "It's beautiful! Thank you so much!"

"You're welcome! But to be honest I'm surprised it didn't break when I got all banged up by Andark and the temples."

"I don't know what you're talking about but I'd love to hear this story."

Sprig smiled. He really missed Wartwood.

"Uhh… what happened? Why does it hurt everywhere…?"

And that's when it all came rushing back: the fight, the child, the cannon, all of it.

"This is just great…"

Bog painfully sat up and tried to get his bearings. He was burnt, bleeding, broken, half-blind, but not dead. Through his remaining eye, he noticed he was on a suspended pile of tree trunks.

"Alright, this isn't the end. I just need to get out of this giant bird nest. I do wonder how far I launched. I could be on the other side of—" His train of thought came to a screeching halt. "Giant… bird nest…?"

And then he heard a deafening screech, only confirming his shitty situation. He's in a heron nest, too injured to even attempt escaping.

And when he saw a big red eye staring back at him, all he could do was let out a scream of pure unrelenting terror as he became the heron's juicy snack.

And that's the end of Bog! Was it more violent than you expected because it sure was for me!

And yeah, I decided to throw in a little nod to how we all thought Sasha would lose an eye.

Next up will be a little coda to the Scourging of the Swamp and after that the fic will start to conclude.