Tower buddies: chapter one
Anne got up and groaned.
Where was she? She wiped the mud and muck off herself. (there was a lot).
Last thing she remembered was opening a box with sasha and marcy… wait!
"Sasha? Marcy?"
From the left was a groan. "Present." This turned out to be none other than sasha waybright. "Where are we?"
Anne shrugged. "I dunno. Looks like we're near civilisation, though. Look, there's a path."
Anne looked around and spotted a certain black haired girl, half submerged in some sort of quicksand. "Um, little help here guys?"
After some tugging, all three girls were together. "So. Anybody know where on earth we are?" Asked sasha.
"Nope. You know i was never the best at geography," replied anne.
Marcy ran towards a plant. "Fascinating! This plant is completely different to any i've ever seen! Girls… maybe we don't know where on earth we are because we're not ON earth."
They paused. And laughed. "Marcy, i've heard some pretty insane things in my day, but that is by far one of the funniest," said sasha.
They heard a trundling in the distance.
"Look guys!" Said anne. She was pointing at a cart pulled by some sort of creature. "People!" She waved. "Over here! Help-"
Marcy went up to anne and put her hand down. "No! Look!" She pointed at the cart again. "That cart is being pulled by a MASSIVE SPIDER!" She squealed. "Girls, i think i was right! This is some sort of other world! Hey, can you give us a ride?" She shouted. The cart stopped next to them.
And a bunch of humanoid toads stepped off.
"Well, well, well," the one in charge said. "What are you?"
"I dunno, humans?" Anne said. "What are YOU?" She continued.
The toad was clearly offended. "I'm Bog, 3rd in command to captain grime! And you should treat a toad soldier with respect!" He punched anne in the stomach.
Anne fell to the ground. Bog picked her up and took out a knife. "Now, you two are coming with us, or the bushy one dies. How about it?"
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Sasha was clearly bored. Marcy was taking notes of the different plants growing in the walls, and Anne was still clutching her stomach.
After they had been captured by the toads, they had been brought to toad tower, and kept in a cell, where they were waiting for whatever was coming next.
Out of nowhere, a dark green toad walked in. He was bigger than the others, and had a scar over his right eye.
"I have been told that you refer to yourselves as humans. How surprising. The creatures can talk." He gave them a glare. "I am captain grime, and around here, I am the law. So don't try anything funny. Names?"
"Sasha waybright."
"Marcy wu. Mind if i ask where we are? The flora i've seen seem so similar and yet so-"
"Shut up. And you?"
Anne mumbled something.
"Speak up, creature."
"Well, she can't really do that, now that one of your soldiers punched her in the stomach a little too hard. She hasn't done anything for hours," sasha grumbled.
"Bog? Well, he should've known not to do so. What's the point of an injured specimen? Well. I'll put him in his place."
And he smiled. A disturbing, twisted smile.
"Anyhow," he gestured to the three, "we are going to be testing your physical strength. We need to see if you are useful, and how much we can sell you for."
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Once anne had recovered and was feeling better, they brought them to a large empty room under the tower, clearly used for training. He gestured to another toad. "You first, blond one."
Sasha grumbled. And then proceeded to completely body the toad.
"The creature can fight!" He said, surprised. "Well, you seem intelligent enough. How about i strike a deal?"
Sasha raised her brow. "I'm listening."
"If you continue to impress me, without showing any funny buisness," grime began, "i would be happy to offer you a job as my second in command."
"And my friends?" Sasha asked.
"Oh, them," grime remembered. "They don't seem like the fighting type to me, so unless they have a use, they stay in the cell. Clearly killing them would sour our current arrangement."
Sasha stared. "Deal."
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As expected, sasha completely nailed the test. Marcy and anne… not so much. Anne did better, but not to an astounding degree. Marcy was… not good.
"Well, as I expected, these two are runts," grime said. "Take them to their cells," he gestured to the door.
"Wait!" Sasha shouted.
Grime turned around. "Yes… lieutenant?"
Sasha sighed. "They both have skills i believe would invaluable!"
"And those would be?"
"Well," sasha began, "marcy here is a living genius! She excels at all subjects and could probably cause an entire technological revolution on her own!"
Grime thought. "Well, i'll look into it. And the other one?"
"Anne?" Sasha hesitated. "Anne… is amazing at cheering people on. She can boost anyone's confidence!"
Grime stared at her, and then laughed.
"Oh, good one! Ill look into the smart one… but if self esteem is all this anne can offer, i'm afraid she's going back to the dungeons."
Sasha did nothing as anne was pulled away. Some birthday this was…
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Two weeks later….
After grime had given marcy a newtopian intelligence test, he was astounded to see her 100% score. He immediately set up comfortable quarters in the basement, and a frogton of blueprint paper, giving her instructions. She was banned from leaving the premises, except once a day for 15 minutes for some fresh air.
Sasha had been training, and was at a level where she was probably the fiercest fighter in the valley, even more so than grime. She had tried train a lot to keep her mind off of what had happened… anne was still in the cells. She visited her a lot, and anne would keep a smile on… but she was clearly quite sour about the fact that sasha had refused to plead her case.
"Sasha?"
"Yeah… it's me.So… how are you?"
"Good," anne said, smiling. It didn't reach her eyes. "Just losing my mind in here. You?"
Sasha knew anne was trying to be nice still, but she was failing horribly. "Look, anne, I don't want you to be here as well. I want you to be free. But sadly, that's not my call."
"Then why didn't you try?" Anne said passively.
"I did," sasha lied through her teeth.
Anne sat there, shocked. "You… you did?"
Sasha sighed. "Yes." She was feeling increasingly guilty. "I tried to ask grime and he lost it. He said that if you're freed, the deal is gone."
"Well," sasha said, "better be going."
Anne smiled slightly more than before. "See ya, sash. Good to know that i cam still trust you in another world."
And sasha left.
Boy, she hated lying.