Once the business of armor and weaponry were dealt with, the group headed off to get to the third temple and charge the final stone of the calamity box.
'This is it.' Anne thought, 'The final temple.'
Once they reached the temple, everyone saw it was built near an active volcano! Lava and intense heat filled the air as they stood before it.
"They built it here of all place? Why?" Anne asked, pulling her collar.
"The scrolls said the toads wanted this temple to be a challenge." Marcy said.
"Mission accomplished."
"Finding it was the easy part, beating it is the hard part." Polly commented.
"Don't remind me." Hop Pop said, sweating from the heat and from worry.
"Well the sooner we start, the sooner we finish." Anne said.
"Exactly, so let's do this." Marcy said, walking to the door as a message appeared. "And here's our first riddle on how to get in."
She looked at her notes and her mood changed.
"What the- Lift to enter, Bruh?" Marcy said, "That can't be... what!?"
Marcy looked back over her notes to see if she read that right and she was, but that's what confused her! It's too simple!
"This has to be some sort of mistake." Marcy said, scratching her head. "Or a trick or something."
Frobo walked up and lifted the door.
"Told you it was a good idea to bring him!" Polly said.
Frobo smiled at them as everyone walked into the temple, the heat being even more intense as the Plantars instantly shriveled up into dehydrated forms!
"Oh man, I knew it would be hot, but not this hot!" Anne said.
"I'm sweating like crazy." Marcy said, waving a hand in her face.
"Let's get this stone charged and get out of here." Anne said.
They walked through the hot temple, with Frobo being the least effected but his metal shell was getting hotter. Too hot to touch as Polly couldn't ride on his shoulders. They found themselves next to across from a bridge. A message revealed.
"Whoa there boss. Think you're strong enough to get across?" Marcy read.
"Across what?" Sprig asked.
"It looks like a simple path over lava." Anne said, "Easy."
A chest opened and revealed Hammers.
"Hammers?" Polly asked.
"I detect life inside of the lava." Frobo said, scanning the lava river.
"Life?"
Pointing to the lava river, Frobo's warning was proved to be right as giant monster worms jumped over the bridge!
"Roooooah!" They roared!
"Don't worry, I got this!" Anne said, grabbing a hammer, "Holy shit, this is heavy."
Anne lifted it with a loud groan.
"Anne, you know Frobo could just lift it for you." Polly suggested, her voice hoarse and dry.
"No, I got it." Anne said, still struggling.
Anne ran and swung the hammer, hitting the worm... thing. It didn't do much. Anne got in front of the Plantars until a hammer hit the worm, this time, they all looked. Another worm rose from the lava rose, and was cut through the middle... by Sasha. In one arm, her typical sword, her other arm... completely covered by some kind of cape.
"Sasha?!" Marcy said in shock.
"SASHA!?" The Plantars shouted in shock.
"YOU…." Anne said, glaring at the girl.
The two scared girls stared at each other for a minute before Sasha ran and grabbed Marcy by the wrist.
"Let's go!" She said, pulling them through the path.
"Hey!" Anne shouted, quickly grabbing Marcy's other wrist! "She's not going ANYWHERE with YOU!"
"It's either that or death Anne!" Sasha said.
"Don't say my name, you don't deserve to say it after everything you've done!"
"Guys, this isn't really the best time!" Marcy shouted to them.
"Exactly! Now come on!" Sasha said.
"Let her go and we'll go!" Anne said, glaring at Sasha!
"RAAAAAH!" A worm monster screamed, coming at them from the lava!
"Frobo, save them!" Polly screamed for her robot friend!
Frobo did so. Jumping up and rolling into a ball, Frobo knocked the worm into the lava before he landed in the bridge.
"Must save everyone." Frobo said, picking up all three humans before stretching his arm to grab the Plantars!
His metal skin was hot to the touch but they didn't complain as Frobo super jumped to get them to the other side of the bridge. They ran to through the door into the next room, where Anne went over to Sasha, murder evident in her eye. Marcy had to get between them.
"Okay, how about we just calm down and try not to kill each other." Marcy said, "We're all friends here, right?"
"No, we aren't." Anne said, "I will never be her friend, not as long as I remember what she tried to do, and I will... because she left a permanent reminder."
Anne pointed to her eye.
"Yeah?" Sasha let her cape drop revealing her arm, "So did you."
Marcy looked at the metal arm that Sasha had, which had sharp claws at the end of the fingers.
"Your bite damaged my nerves, and the wound got infected, and I had to get my arm amputated." Sasha said.
"You deserve worse." Anne growled.
"Worse than this?" Sasha asked, gesturing to her arm.
"You tried to feed Hop Pop to a giant fly trap! Yes, you deserve me worse!" Anne shouted!
"THAT'S ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU!" Marcy shouted, "WE ARE ALMOST DONE! CAN YOU TWO JUST STOP ARGUING FOR FIVE MINUTES SO WE CAN CHARGE THE FUCKING STONE!? YOU CAN KILL EACH OTHER AFTER!"
Anne and Sasha jumped back at this, never EVER hearing Marcy just explode like that on them before. Heck, they had never even heard her yell out of anything but excitement before.
"She…..does have a point, we do need to charge the stone." Sprig said, poking his fingers.
Anne growled.
"Fine, but I'm watching you." Anne said, glaring at Sasha.
"Then I guess it's a good thing you have a blind spot." Sasha said.
"Grrrr!" Anne growled, reaching for her sword before Marcy stopped!
"No swords! No fighting! You don't even have to talk to each other!" Marcy said, getting in between the two. "Until we are out of here, I am going to act as a barrier between you two!"
The two glare at each other.
"Fine." Anne and Sasha said to Marcy, turning away.
"This just got real." Sprig whispered in fear.
Sasha looked over at the door.
"Grime, you coming or not!?" Sasha yelled.
"He's here too?!" Hop Pop said in fear, hiding behind Frobo.
"Coming, lieutenant!" Grime shouted but sounded as hoarse as the other Amphibians.
And he was just as shriveled.
"Sorry, this thing is a lot heavier to carry shriveled muscles." Grime said, carrying a large hammer with jet thrusters at the end.
"You didn't need to bring that, you know. You could've left it outside." Sasha said to him.
"Are you kidding me? This is a legendary weapon, why would I do such a thing?"
"Because you shriveled and dehydrated." Sasha said to him.
"I am fine, truly." Grime said, even though he was shaking out of effort to hold the hammer up.
With a sigh, Sasha walked to the toad and took the hammer as everyone just watched.
"Come on, let's go." Sasha said.
Not saying anything, Marcy and Anne walked away with the Plantars and Frobo following along with Grime and Sasha walking from behind. Silent as they could be aside from their footsteps, while the Plantars were taking small glances at Sasha's robotic arm.
'Did she go to the same factory?' Sprig thought, remembering the ancient robot factory.
That could explain where Frobo came from.
But that just raised more questions. Like if Sasha has an arm like that, does that mean the toads somehow took over the factory and made more?
'We gotta talk about this when we're away from Sasha.' Sprig thought.
He wasn't the only one thinking about Sasha… but he wasn't thinking about gutting her and devouring her heart like Anne.
'You must confront this person who put that hole in your heart. Not with violence but with words.' Valeriana's advice echoed in Anne's mind.
'I'm meeting with her but all I want is to kill her.' Anne thought.
The only thing she wants from Sasha is to use her bones as a chew toy. Hopefully she wouldn't taste like crap. Eventually, they reached the second trial of the toad temple.
"A barbell and bench?" Anne asked, raising a brow.
"I'm sensing a theme here." Polly said.
Marcy did too as she read the riddle on the exit door.
"Sup, brosef? Do you even lift?" Marcy read.
"Okay, move out of the way, let the girl with the metal arm do this." Sasha said, walking over to it.
"Careful. This might be a trap." Hop Pop warned.
"Don't be ridiculous. This temple was built by toads, was it not? If so then all these trials are strength based since we are the physically strongest of all species." Grime said, bragging and explaining.
"The same could be said for Bears being among of the strongest animals in Earth." Sasha said with a smirk.
'In your delusional dream.' Anne thought, rolling her eyes, 'Everyone knows a pack of wolves can take a bear.'
With that in mind, Sasha lanes back in the bench and grabbed the barbell before easily pushing it up.
"Boom." She said confidently as the door opened. "Told ya."
Anne looked at Sasha, not trusting her.
"This should be the final room. Everyone be on your toes." Marcy said as Anne pulled out her sword. "And NO backstabbing, Anne."
"Fine." Anne said, promising not to stab Sasha in the back….FOR NOW.
'She did the same to me, I AM going to return the favor.' Anne thought as she still remembers Sasha literally stabbing her in the back.
"So, what is this one meant to be?"
The last room of the temple appeared to be some sort of arena with lava flowing from the walls and stalagmites/stalactites all over. Glowing appeared on the wall.
"You've got skill, there's not doubt. But it's time to learn what true strength is about." Marcy reads.
"So it's a fight for the final trial? Easy." Sasha said with a smirk.
She said that, and the gravity got heavy.
Everyone dropped to the floor, shouting from the pain of the sudden gravity.
"What the fuck?!" Anne screamed!
Sasha struggled the most, as her arm weighed her down more. "I guess the gravity is part of the trial." Marcy said, grunting as she tried to stand.
"Then what's the main part?!" Sprig asked.
Suddenly, a giant horn toad made of stone jumped to the ground, clad in nothing but wrestling spandex as it roared to the ceiling.
"That."
The stone toad began to flex his muscles, mocking them as he awaited someone to challenge him,
"Lieutenant, Plantars, any suggestions?!" Grime shouted, too weak.
"Maybe Frobo could do something, he's not effected!" Polly said, noticing her robot friend was still standing.
"That won't work, he's not designed for combat." Marcy said.
"That would explain the gardening tools in him." Hop Pop muttered.
"Doesn't matter! Frobo is wicked strong, he can take that stone creep!" Polly said before pointing to the stone toad. "Go get him, buddy!"
Frobo walked towards it.
"Frobo will win." Frobo said as the stone toad looked at him.
"Grrr!" It growled before flexing some more and putting his fists up! "Come at me, bro!"
Frobo threw a punch, with all the strength of a baby. The stone toad looked at him, laughing a bit before pulling his arm back.
"You can't dish it out but let's see if you can take it, bro!" The stone toad shouted!
With a flick of the finger, Frobo was sent to the other side of the room.
"UGH!" Frobo let out, being left in a crater in the wall.
"Frobo!" Polly shouted at her friend.
"I'm sorry, Polly, but I told you he's not a fighting model." Marcy groaned.
"So it's up to us." Anne said, pushing herself up with the help of her sword.
Marcy tried to get up, but her hollow bones made this near impossible for her.
'Aaaah! Curse you gravity!' Marcy thought as Sasha slowly got up as well.
"I'm gonna smash this fucking statue!" Sasha said, not letting her metal arm weigh her down.
Anne and Sasha slowly began walking towards the statue, neither liking this.
"Hehehe, come at me bras!" The stone toad said, flexing some more.
"Ugh, enough with the bro talk!" Anne shouted.
The two went to attack only for the gravity to get heavier.
"Aaaah!" They screamed, hitting the ground again!
"Hehehehehehe!" The stone toad chuckled.
"We can't get close!" Sasha said.
"We need to lose some weight!" Anne shouted, dropping her sword as it formed a small crater.
The gravity forced them to the ground.
"Aaaaah!" They screamed from the gravity once again.
"We can't do this!" Sasha said.
Anne thought about it for a second.
'You still must look in yourself and learn to forgive those that have wronged you.'
"S-Sasha!" Anne called out, gaining her attention.
"W-What?!" Sasha asked, trying to turn to her.
"You... are the strongest one here... you can do this." Anne said.
"Go grizzly girl and show that toad what's what!" Marcy shouted in agreement.
"Yeah? And why are you trying to give me encouragement?" Sasha asked Anne.
"Because, someone told me I need to let go of my anger." Anne said, "And I've been nothing but angry with you, I have forgotten about some of the good times we had together. I had forgotten that... we're friends."
Even if Sasha could be controlling and stubborn, that didn't change all the good times they had to go along with the bad times. A fifty-fifty split but the good outweighed the bad JUST a smidge.
"We all want to go home, return to our families, so get up and finish this!" Anne said.
Sasha looked at the stone toad and began to stand back up.
"You want a fight?" She threw her cape off, "You got one."
The cape slammed on the ground, creating a crater. She took the armor on her boots off and threw them behind her. They dented the wall.
"How heavy is that armor!?" Sprig said.
She unlatched her arm and it dropped. It formed the biggest crater of all as Sasha stood up fully, her arm numb for all to see.
"Aaaah, now that's better!" Sasha said before grabbing her sword, "Now then... let me show you why the Bear is the most dangerous predator in North America!"
Sasha charged at the stone toad as it grabbed a spike from the ceiling and ripped it over!
"Let's go, bro!" He shouted, swinging at Sasha!
Sasha's sword dragged behind her as she ran. She ducked under the swing as she slashed at one leg, making the toad groan in pain!
'That's one leg!' Sasha thought as she got back up and charged again.
She sliced at the second one, making it fall to its knees.
'That's two.'
Sasha ran up the toads arm and held her sword tightly, before jumping in the air and using the increased gravity to her advantage. The stone toad raised his arm to block but ended up getting cut through!
"Aaaaaah!" It roared!
'That's three!' She thought, landing on a crater.
The toad fell.
"Any last words, bro?" Sasha mocked the fallen stone toad.
"RAAAAAH!" It just roared, crawling towards Sasha with his remaining arm.
"You're determined, I admire that. But this ends now." Sasha said, preparing for a final slash.
With that slice, the Toad was "dead". Sasha put her sword in the shealth as the gravity greatly lightened and allowed everyone to stand up again.
"I can breath easy again!" Hop Pop said happily.
"Oh, thank frog, my hollow bones weren't going to last much longer."
"I expected nothing less, Lieutenant." Grime said as Sasha walked back to her arm.
"Thanks." She said, picking it up and reattaching it before seeing Anne standing before her.
"Hey... thanks for that."
"Yeah, well... I'm not someone that likes to lie." Anne said.
"Yeah…..you were always the most honest one of the bunch." Sasha commented.
"Hey, as much as I enjoy this, we do have the stone to charge." Marcy said.
The two turned to Marcy as she approached with the music box in hand.
"Marcy's right." Anne said, pulling the single gray gem out, offering it to Sasha. "You do the honors."
Sasha took the gem and smiled a bit, before placing it in the pedestal that rose from the ground. The symbols around the arena glow as a flash of pink light blinded them all, making everyone turn away as the gem was filling with the same pink light. Sasha picked the fully charged stone. A new phrase revealed itself as Marcy looked up to it.
"Congrats, brah. You finally know what it takes to go the distance. For what is true strength without persistence." Marcy read with a smile.
"Strength and persistence, huh?" Sasha said, gazing at the gem.
Marcy took the gem and placed it in the music box.
"It's finally done. Now we just need Andrias's help to find out how to work it so we can get home." Marcy said, putting the music box in her satchel.
"Actually, I've been gone from Wartwood for a while." Anne said, "Can we stop by there for a few days, besides, who's to say someone hasn't been following us to steal the box? After all, we didn't know Valeriana was following us."
"Who?" Sasha asked.
"Tell you later." Marcy said.
"Anne has a point, I think we could all use a bit of a rest after this." Hop Pop said.
"I guess so." Marcy said, putting the box in her bag. "We can just send a message to the king instead. I'm sure he can wait. Now, let's go get these frogs some water."
"First, we get Frobo." Polly said, reminding them of her friend still in the side wall.
"Don't worry. We're not gonna forget him." Anne said as she walked towards the robot. "Give me a hand, will you Sash?"
"…Sure." Sasha said, smiling at hearing her nickname once again, "So, where did this thing even come from?"
"Well, there was a factory-"
"Was it... frog shaped?"
"Yeah, why?"
"GRIME! YOU SAID THE THING WAS TURNED OFF AFTER WE MADE MY ARM!" Sasha said.
"I did! I'm positive!" Grime shouted at her!
"Then explain him!" Sasha shouted, pointing to Frobo.
"I... well... I destroy things, I don't do the whole, factory thing."
"So you guys did make Frobo?" Sprig asked.
"We never made robots! We just needed to make Sasha a new arm! We were lucky enough to figure it out with in creating one robot by accident!" Grime said as he managed to reclaim Sasha's armor and cape.
"Might want to take a pit stop and see if the factory is actually shut down." Anne said.
"Agreed, we don't need more of these." Sasha said.
Polly imagined it, finding the through of more Frobos to be really cool! Plus, he could have more robot buddies!
"Are we sure shutting down the factory is a must?" Polly asked.
"Yes!" The entire group said.
"We don't need an army of robots on our hands Polly. You remember what happened when Frobo arrived in Wartwood." Anne said.
"You panicked horribly?" Polly asked.
"You destroyed part of the house."
"That was not my fault!" Polly said.
"He was copying you!" Anne said as she grabbed Frobo's left arm before recoiling! "Ow! Hot! Damn I forgot the heat!"
"I got this." Sasha said, using her robot arm to grab Frobo.
Sasha pulled him out of the wall.
"Frobo is thankful." He said to Sasha.
"It's the least I could do after you at least tried against the stone toad." Sasha said, putting Frobo down, "Now, can we leave before something else happens?"
"Gladly." Anne said with a nod.
"I can't wait for have a tall glass of water." Sprig said as they began walking out of the temple.
As they did, Sasha and Grime stayed in the room.
"Don't forget the plan." Grime said.
"Don't worry, I haven't. We get to Newtopia and then we can lead our rebellion." Sasha said, "Just have to wait a little longer so they don't get suspicious."
"And be wary of the wolf. No telling how much stronger she's gotten." Grime whispered.
"Trust me, I know." Sasha said as she put back in her armor and cape before grabbing the legendary hammer. "I guess being here brought out the true wolf in her."
"Come on, we should hurry up so they don't get suspicious."
Sasha placed the hammer on her shoulder before she and Grime made their way to the exit, the lava river actually being calm this time as no worm monsters tried to eat them.
'Everything is going to plan.' Sasha thought.
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