Sasha looked at her wet face in the mirror, she looked at the droplets covering her face, like hundreds of miniature tears.

Patties' washroom was clean enough for a small restaurant.

Right now her father and Tracey were outside waiting for her to come out, so they could go to the mall.

It had been a good day so far, to celebrate her third day of being back on earth her father had insisted they spend the day together.

Firstly they would go for a meal, then shopping and then take in a show.

Patties had always been a special place to Sasha, a small fifties themed restaurant, one she always enjoyed coming to for years, back when her parents were married they always came here.

After the divorce that stopped.

She tried to stop thinking of the past, all that mattered now was that apple pie that was waiting for back at the table.

"Sasha Waybright?"

Sasha turned to see a woman in a nice business suit standing there, she had a friend smile on her face.

"Yes?" said Sasha with a yawn.

"Sandra Venon, I wanted to talk to you about your experience?"

The blonde girl sighed, she had known from the moment the idea of returning to earth was even possible that there would be people who would want answers. She had told everything that she knew to the government and that was only because she trusted Mr. X, She wouldn't talk to any reporters.

"No, thanks, My dad's waiting for me." Sasha tried to walk past the woman, Venon didn't move.

"Ms. Waybright, You should think this over, my blog has thousands of readers, and they would love to hear about your time in a different world."

"You didn't hear me" said Sasha her patience quickly running out, her fists clenched, "I'm going to my dad, get out of my way."

"Just a quick comment, Ms. Waybright." said the women, still not moving, "Just one thing, and then you can go."

Sasha scowled "Get out of my way!"

She stepped forward and pushed the woman, Venon fell through the door and landed on her side.

Panic overtook Sasha instantly, she hadn't meant to knock her over, she jumped over Venon, and ran to the table where her father and Tracy were sitting there talking.

"We've got to leave," said Sasha worried.

"What? Why?"

"YOU ASSAULTED ME." shouted an angry Venon.

Her dad and Tracy saw the woman come stomping up.

"Sasha what happened?" her father asked confused

"Your daughter assaulted me when I asked her a few questions."

"Is this true?" asked her father concerned, somehow it made Sasha feel like a stupid little girl.

"No," said Sasha annoyed that she had to explain herself to her father, she wouldn't' let me out of the bathroom."

"That's a lie," said the woman offended.

"So let me get this straight?" asked Tracy, "You decided that a girl who has gone through a traumatic even should be asked questions but…what do you do again?"

"I'm a journalist and my blog-"

"Conspiracy theorist, gotcha, ask her questions about her trauma… and you're surprised to get your ass kicked?"

Venon looked shocked

"Now I have a better question," Said Tracey refusing to left Venon get another word in., looking at the woman with contempt, "Do you think that if you go through with your story do you think people will agree with your story?"

"They will …

"You tried to intimidate a minor into telling you a story, and then when they attacked you back, you decided to try and threaten her with legal action."

"I…"

"You won't stand a chance if this goes to court, just go home and forget this ever happened."

Venom looked terrified for a second before turning away and grumbling away.

Sasha looked at Tracy, her eyes wide in wonder, "That was amazing!"

Tracy laughed, "Usually I try not to bully a woman into submission, but really there's some people who need to be told off."

Sasha smiled, however she did notice the look of worry on her father's face.

A few minutes later after leaving the restaurant, the three were at the mall, Sasha's old home away from home,

Sasha father hadn't said anything since they left and Sasha swore he kept trying to keep an eye on her in the rearview mirror, that's when she was dozing off.

She was woken her the sound of her door opening, "Come on Sasha, We've got shopping to do," said the bubbly voice of Tracey.

As she and Tracey exited the car, her father turned to them briefly, "Sorry girls, but I just need to call someone for work, I won't be a minute."

Sasha was about to say something when Tracy took her hand, "Just ignore him, he's just using it as an excuse to not go shopping."

Sasha father chuckled, "I'll be there in a second, Go ahead without me."

The two made their way into the mall, Sasha looked around, Anne had told her about how she took the Plantars to the mall, she figured she should text Anne and tell her, reaching into her pocket she finished around for her phone only to discover it wasn't there.

"Tracy I need to go back, I left my phone in the car, I just need to go back for a second"

Tracy rolled her eyes, "Go, I'll meet you by the boutique."

Sasha shot her a thumbs up and ran back to the car park.

In only took her a few minutes however when she got there she saw her father standing by the car on his phone, back was to her.

"Yes, I know we talked last night, but we had a problem, It's Sasha she pushed someone."

Sasha stopped who was he talking to?

"I know it was harsh but… A therapist might be the best idea."

Sash froze, he was talking to her mother, they both thought she was crazy, she ducked behind a pillar.

"Listen, I feel bad about this already but… I think she needs to see someone who can help her."

They were working together, to send her to a place to be poked and prodded, so they could call her inside and messed up. It was at that moment she knew she needed to get away from these people.

"Okay, we'll talk later."

She heard her father hung up his phone and exhale, Sasha stepped out from behind the pillar, and started to walk to the car, "Dad?"

Her father turned around, "Sasha, how long have you been there for?"

"Just a few seconds, Is everything okay?"

"Yes," he said relived, nodding his head, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," said Sasha, "Is my phone in the back?"

He turned and looked in the back seat and picked up her phone, "Yeah here, Let's go."

He walked towards her and handed her the phone, she walked behind him a plan forming in her head, Grime had taught her that no matter what situation she was in she needed an escape plan, she needed to escape this trap her parents put her in, and now she needed a way to get out.

She took a breath and followed her father, she just needed to wait till tonight.

…

It had been years since Sasha had worn armor.

To his credit Grime had gotten her measurements correct, taking her original armor from the time she led the resistance, only difference was that its coloring was lighter

She was surprised the looks she was getting now were the opposite of the looks she had received thirty minutes prior, Now everyone saw her as the commander that had helped them survive ten years ago, and more importantly their friend, Loggle looked at her and thought about working out again, Old Lady Croaker thought about her sword skills and thought about going back to her old sword cane, Wally remembered just how many boom shrooms he had been holding on to.

"Enjoying the respect?" said Grime.

Sasha nodded, "Yeah, it's been a while since anyone looked at me like this," the feeling of respect not born of fear was something she missed, though there were some patients who came to see her as someone who understood them, the one who accepted her help.

"Humph, seems your troops back on earth need a lesson in respect."

"Oh," said Sasha suddenly remembering her lie, "Yeah, They don't It's just I…"

"I'm joking," laughed Grime you're probably doing a better job of leading when I was your age."

Sasha fought off the guilt, "Yeah, Grime listen I need to talk to you about something see."

"CAPTAIN GRIME." shouted a shrill voice, Sasha froze, she heard that voice last night and turned to see Percy running up with Braddock following him, they stopped the moment he saw her.

They stood there looking at each other for a few seconds each afraid to make the first move.

"Percy," said Grime breaking the deadlock, "What's happened?"

"Lucian," Said Braddock trying to fight back a salute, "he's gone missing."

Sasha stepped forward, "What happened to him?"

Percy and Braddock looked at each other confused with what to do, the wound clearly hadn't healed, Sasha sighed "Guys, Listen I know we've got things to talk about but let's find your son first."

Whatever fear the two toads had was still there, but it abated slightly.

"We think he ran off," said Braddock.

"Is there anyone else who would know where he's gone?" asked Grime.

"Marcy might know, she and this Max person he told us about, they usually hang out at the fountain" replied Percy.

"Let's go" said Sasha, running towards the fountain, with the three toads in pursuit.

…

It had been an hour since Bog and co left the town, Lucian had mostly been sitting in the back while Bog and the other cracked jokes, Lucian joined in trying to seem cool, even if they seemed rather horrible to frogs.

They had left the usual forest and had come to the part of the forest Cannibal creek was located.

From the Glowing mushrooms the place wasn't dark but covered in shadows, the trees were closer together, he could hear weird sounds in the shadows

It wasn't fun.

"So…" asked the curious Lucian trying to keep his fear away from this situation, "What are we hunting for?"

"A monster."

"What?" said Lucian a little bit more worried.

"There's been some disappearances from cannibal creek recently, and we've decided to put a stop to it." said Mire.

"Do we have any idea what it is?"

"Nope," said Bog, "But whatever the town will praise us when we catch it."

"Okay," said Lucian starting to think that maybe being with these toads was not such a good idea, "So how are we going to capture it?"

"Simple you're going to stand in a clearing and wait for whatever it is to come."

"Oh, said Lucian casually before processing what they said, "Wait what?"

"That's right kid your bait, Don't worry we'll get whatever it is before it gets you.

…

Ten minutes later Lucian found himself standing in the middle of the dark forest, Lucian had heard many stories of this forest, once a small group known as the mud cannibals use to gather here and ate any frog that interred into their domain, he swallowed, his fear, but it just came back.

Every bit of wind just gave him the feeling that something was there around him, he knew that there was something there already, three toads armed with crossbows.

That did not clam him.

"Um do you see anything yet?" said Lucian.

"Kid keep quiet," said Bog, annoyed.

"It's just… I've been here a while and nothing's happened." said Lucian realizing that this was not a bad outcome.

"Well give it time."

Lucian swallowed, "Umm, can I go to the bathroom?"

"Oh for the love of-," said Bog, "Fine, go."

Lucian ran off to the nearby lake.

Bog and Fen came out of their hiding place, both annoyed.

"The kid's going to cost us our hunt."

"Agreed, but he's the only bait we have."

"Can't we just use Mire again?"

"No," said Bog shaking his head, "his eloquent argument really got to me last time… Where is he anyway?"

"I have no idea, HEY MIRE YOU SON OF A SLUG, GET OUT HERE!"

There was no response.

"Stay there I'll go have a look." said Bog.

Bog walked over to the tree Mire had sequestered himself in, he jumped up and landed on a tree branch. Mire was not there, his broken crossbow however was.

"Mire, where-"

AAAAHGHHHHHHHHHHH"

Bog turned to see where Fen's blood-curdling scream had come from, he couldn't see her.

Landing he looked around and tried to spot her, but there was nothing.

"Fens, Mire where are you? Come out you idiots."

He took a step, only to feel something holding on to his leg, he looked down to see if his foot was caught on a tree branch or something.

It was not a tree branch,

A hand, rising from the earth was holding onto his foot.

Before Bog could do anything else, another hand burst from the ground and grabbed on to his other leg, terrified he grabbed his sword from his belt and swung.

Another hand erupted from the ground and grabbed his wrist just before it connected with his target.

More and more hands rose from the ground each gabbing on to his legs, slowly he felt himself sink deeper into the ground, he struggled, in seconds he had sunk up to his neck.

He tried to scream, but earth filled his mouth, In seconds his sight was replaced with darkness.

The last thing to sink was his free hand.

With that the last of the adult toads was gone, like they had never been there.

A few seconds later Lucian came running back and stood in his previous spot.

I'm back," he said.

Only silence.

"Umm, is anyone still out there?"

Still nothing.

Lucian sighed, Max was right. He these guys didn't care, he could be with them at the moment, heck staying in his room might be better, he sighed

All of a sudden there was rustling from behind him, Lucian turned expecting to see a monster.

From the bush stepped out an old frog lady, she was wearing a dress and looked like a grandmother.

"Oh goodness, Teddy come out here!"

An old frog man stepped out, he was wearing farm clothes was just as tall as the frog lady, Lucian was shocked to see they were taller than most frogs.

Both of them had friendly smiles on their faces.

"Well hey there young fella what are you doing here?"

Lucian was surprised to see these two nice frogs being here acting nice towards him, so he decided to answer their questions.

"Oh I'm just here being bait, just waiting for a monster to attack me."

"What, why would you do that?" said the female frog.

"Well it's a long story, but I need to prove to everyone I'm brave, because my parents weren't."

The two frogs looked at each other, "and this proves it how?"

Lucian shrugged, "Honestly, it doesn't, I just listened to a bunch of jerks, and now I'm regretting it, I think they've left me"

"Well that sounds terrible," said Teddy," a young toad like you out here on your own."

"It's not right, how about you come with us for dinner."

Lucian thought about it, he knew maybe he would go back, but another part knew he couldn't go back not to those cowards.

He started to walk towards the old couple, "Sure, What are we having,"

"Oh we caught three wild animals, don't worry they're delicious." said Martha casually.

…

Marcy Yunan was not in a good mood, she sat next to the town's fountain, the red dye had been removed by now, but some people swore they could see the trace amounts of red in it, she still felt a little guilty about that, but mostly she was angry at Lucian, he had threatened to reveal that she had been planning on dying her hair.

It had been something Marcy had wanted to do for a while now, she didn't hate her green hair, but she had wanted to dye it to something like her mothers, she had gathered the ingredients to change her hair to a navy blue or a blonde, all she needed was someone's help, it couldn't be Lucian because, the last attempt had almost ended in disaster.

She remembered telling him about the dye and how it had been made of berries that would change her hair color, he had jumped on board to help her instantly.

She was about to wash her hair in the dye when he accidentally split it on the floor, her mother's had cone into wonder what the noise was, Lucian then got on all fours and started to lick up the remains.

Her mom's opened the door, and Lucian turned to them saying that his drink had spilled, and he was trying to clean up.

Something about this insane display must have confused her mothers because they just closed the door and walked away.

She couldn't help but smile, Lucian maybe a weirdo obsessed with being a hero and was an idiot but deep down she was glad to have him as her best friend, he actually tried to live up to being a hero, he never thought anything strange about her having two moms that were difference spices and even when they fought he always stood by her.

At least he used to, A part of her wanted to blame Max, the human had some control over him, but even she had to admit the human had been silent yesterday.

Maybe Lucian was changing for the worse.

"So…is this where the Lucian sucks club meets up?"

She looked up to see Max standing about her, he had a frown on his face.

"No, it's a part of the boys are stupid club." said Marcy bitterly.

"Well can I join anyway? I'm annoyed at him too."

She just looked at him and nodded, if she was going to be miserable she might as well do it in company, the human sat next to her.

"So what did he do to annoy you then?" She asked.

"Eh, I wasn't going to go with those jerks, They're probably using him as bait or something."

"Well he is delicious."

Max looked at confused.

Marcy shrugged, "We got into a fight one, I bit him."

The human laughed "You fight with him a lot, why are you even friends?"

Marcy shuffled for a second "Because beside my mom and King Andrias he's the best person I know."

"Really?"

Marcy nodded, "Yeah, When I was three, there was a group of bullies who were pickling on me, and he hopped over and charged to defend my like a knight in shining armor."

"Wow, he fought them off?"

"No," said Marcy casually, "they beat him up, I grabbed a stick and had to save him."

"Oh,"

"Yeah. After that we kind of stuck together."

Max sat there quietly for a second, "It must be nice."

"Eh, he can be a bit annoying, and we fight all the time."

"Yeah but you have a friend who stayed by your side."

"Not anymore." said Marcy bitterly.

Max looked at the frog girl sitting down looking at the ground, He felt sorry for her, he couldn't deny he had been a bit of a jerk to her, But he still remembered how things were back at the tea shop two days ago, he was about to reach out and say something to comfort her.

"MAX! MARCY!" called out a voice

Max turned to see four figures running up to him, of the three toads he only recognized Grime, the other two however well they looked familiar.

The one human however made him widen his eyes. No one really expects to see their therapist running towards them wearing the latest in barbarian wear. Fur lined boots, A plated skirt, armor around her chest and a tiara.

Her arms were uncovered showing off a tattoo of two blades, she remembered her showing them to him once, it had convinced him that she was pretty cool.

The newly attired Sasha stopped in front of him.

"Have you either of you seen Percy?" asked Sasha

Max turned to Marcy, she was keeping quiet, "Yeah, why?" said Max.

"He's gone missing, We have no idea where he could have possibly gone." said the female toad, he could see her pinkish skin was similar to Lucian's, she must be his mom.

"He went with Bog and his idiots to some place called Cannibal Creek."

"Cannibal Creek, that place was off limits since the disappearances."

Marcy disinterested face turned to worry quickly.

"They must be using my son as bait" said the male toad.

"Not if we have something to say." said Sasha, "Grime do you have a snail or spider?"

"I have Destroyer in the stables let's go."

The three toads ran off, Sasha turned around to the kids, "Thanks Max, I owe you," she turned and run off after the group.

Max watched as Sasha ran off to help his friend, he didn't notice a small mucus covered hand grab his, he looked down and saw it was Marcy's small tears appearing in her eyes, he squeezed back.

…

"Then I discovered that they always knew about Sasha, but they abandoned her, that's when I knew I had to run."

Lucian had explained everything that had happened to him this morning to the old couple, they had listened to his every word, and were sympathetic to him.

"Well, I can't lie what they did was wrong but…"

"But what? They gave up on helping Sasha, who knows what else they'd lie about."

Martha nodded, "I can see that, but they may have good reasons to not do it, sometimes it's hard to tell someone you love about something about your past."

"Yeah but they're cowards, how can I…"

"Kid, are you telling me you've never been scared before.

"No." said Lucian lying.

"Oh to be young," said Martha shaking her head, "We all have moments when we're scared and act shamefully, all we have to do is to try and be better, heck maybe your parents had a good reason to leave her.

Lucian kept walking, he kept quiet trying to avoid thinking about what the two older frog had said, nothing would change his mind on this, nothing at all.

"Oh we're almost home, It's just through those bushes.

Lucian saw where he was pointing and walked through them.

On the other side there was a clearing, in the center was a large pot, inside the pot was Bog, on the outside of the pot was nothing by trees.

In the branches clinging onto them were large clumps of the mud, the only thing betraying their real nature was the yellow eyes.

Lucian turned to the old couple and saw that the friend smile were still on their faces but now held a more sinister nature.

They were the cannibals of the creek.

He should have seen it coming, from when they said, "Why don't you come with us for dinner," "I could eat you all up," and "What's your favorite spice?"

Why did he answer paprika?

He swallowed and tried to run only for Teddy to grab him and carry him to the pot.