Tower buddies: chapter 2

Sasha went down to visit marcy. They had been there for about 3 months.

"Hey marce," she said casually. And then gasped.

Marcy looked horrible. Her hair was a mess, her eyes were bloodshot, and she was hunched over a stack of blueprints for trebuches, engines, mortorbikes, hot air balloons, and other things.

"Oh, hey sasha!" She said cheerily. She chugged a weird looking potion.

"Marcy, are you ok?" Sasha said, already knowing the answer"Yeah, i'm fine! Thanks to marcy industries (copyright) coffeebug potion!"

Sasha stared. "I'm sorry, what?"

Marcy stared for a second, then went, "oh yeah. When we- i mean, if we get out of this place, i was thinking of starting a buisness to sell all my inventions! Recently some toads came back from a small town with a buncha stuff, including this grimoire previously owned by a certain 'maddie flour'! I've been self teaching myself alchemy ever since."

And she blacked out for a second, and got back up. "I'm fine!"

Sasha stared. "Mar mar, how long have you been awake?"

Marcy looked at her watch. "Approximately… 41 hours and 26 minutes!" She said like it was an achievement.

"Marcy," sasha said, "it's ok to sleep. You don't need to pour yourself into this."

"But-"

"Marcy."

"But what use am i if i don't help?"

Sasha stared. "Marcy, we're alone in here, right?"

"Yup."

"Okay," sasha began, "marcy, if i'm going to be honest, the toads are not good people. That grimoire? Most likely stolen in the name of 'law'. The toads are supposed to be protectors, but i've seen them in action. They go out of their way to bully these frogs, and they don't protect anything that doesn't affect them."

Marcy stared. "So… all this time… i've been making machines for tyrants?"

"I mean, yeah, basically-" and then sasha caught a sight of marcy's face.

Boy had this backfired.

"Oh no,no,nonono. I've messed up again! Stupid marcy!"

"Marcy! No!"

March turned around.

"Marcy, this is my fault. I practically forced you into this. We didn't know what we were getting into. Marcy, my point was that you can sleep."

Marcy stared at sasha. She then proceeded to walk up to a small bed and fell onto it.

Sasha smiled. Well, at least she helped marcy.

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Sasha visited anne again, and she was clearly on the brink of madness.

She had to do something.

"Please grime. What if we bring her to the next tax collection? She gets some social interaction, some excersise, some fresh air!"

"Lieutenant-"

"Ill keep her on a chain at all times!"

Wow, sasha thought. She sounded like a child begging to keep a pet.

Grime sighed. "Alright. But if she escapes, i'm demoting you."

Grime, of course, would do no such thing. He would be angry, but sasha was his most capable lieutenant. To demote her would be an injustice to the crown.

"Yass!" Sasha said. "Slay, girlie!" She said to nobody in particular.

"…what?"

"Sorry, force of habit."

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Sasha and anne were in the back of the cart, anne chained by the arm, sasha… not chained by the arm.

"Thanks, sash.." anne said in a hoarse voice.

"No problemo, anna banana," said sasha. "You were clearly going mad in there. I only just about convinced grime."

They trundled up to wartwood, to be met with gasps from frogs and a nervous looking fat toad.

"Who's that?" Asked anne.

Sasha shrugged. "No idea. Never been to wartwood before."

The fat toad then said, "here's the list of frogs who didn't pay! Byeee!" And then ran back into the town hall.

One of the toads, bog, took anne out of the cart. "Now, bush, i was demoted from lieutenant to tax collector because of you."

"You punched me in the gut!"

"And i would again. But i'm under strict orders by grime to not attack you unless provoked." He let out a growl. "Just give me a reason to."

Anne growled back, as they secured her to a bench near the town fountain. Sasha came up to her and said, "we'll only be a while. Stay safe."

Anne sat there for about an hour, getting weird stares until…

"So, what are you?"

Anne turned to see a little pink frog. "My name's sprig. I heard you speak, i think that's pretty cool. What are you?"

"I'm a human, little man," anne chuckled. "My name's anne, and yeah, i'm not from around here."

Sprig stared. "…so, like bog bottom, or…?"

Anne laughed, for the first time in weeks. "Nah, a little further than that. I come from…" and she waved her free hand, "ANOTHER WORLD!"

Sprig gasped. "Awesome! And what did you do to get in trouble with the toads? I saw them tie you up!"

Anne let out a bitter chuckle. "Do i look scary to you?"

"Kind of…"

"Well, we didn't really do anything. We ended up in this world and were captured by some toads. They only let me out here because i was going mad in a little cell, and they couldn't be bothered to deal with a mad prisoner."

"I'm sorry, we-?"

"Oh yeah, i'm with my two friends, Sasha and marcy. I haven't seen marcy for a while, because she's kept in the basement, but Sasha visits me in the cell sometimes. In fact, sasha's here! She works for the toads."

"Boy, am i lucky hop-pop pays his taxes," said sprig, before repeating, "Boy am i lucky-"

And a little pollywog hopped into the town centre. "SPRIG! THE TOADS AND A WEIRD CREATURE ARE TRYING TO TAKE OUR STUFF!"

"Oh, frog! Welp, i jinxed it. Sorry, Anne, i need to help my family!"

Anne wanted to help. "Hang on, i'm com-" and then was stopped by the chain she was held by. "Ah, darn."

About 2 minutes later, when the centre was empty, the large toad along with a little one returned. "Now, toadie! While the townsfolk are distracted-" and he noticed Anne. "Ah, the creature gave me a fright. Good thing it's a creature and is dumb-"

"You were hiding the taxes!" Anne shouted. "Why you little-"

"Oh yeah? And what you gonna do about it?" Said toadstool.

"Well," Anne begun. "I'm gonna tell this to my good friend, THE SECOND IN COMMAND AT TOAD TOWER."

At that he gulped. Anne wrenched at the cuff and it broke loose. "Wow, bad quality," she said, before racing away to where she saw the sprig go.

———————————————

"I'm telling yeh, i paid my taxes!" Said the old orange frog.

"That's what they all say, mr. Plantar," said Sasha. "Sorry sir, but the law's the law. Now step aside, or i'll have to call in bog, fens and mire."

"Sasha, the frog is innocent!"

Sasha turned around to see Anne.

"Anne, how'd you-"

"Doesn't matter. A combination of panic and bad metalwork. Anyway, the mayor was hiding the taxes!" She held out a massive sack.

Bog growled. "Toadstool, the menace. He's always been a bit irritating but he's never gone this low."

"I thought he looked suspicious at the start," said Sasha. "…thanks, Anne."

"No problem!" Said Anne. "But it wasn't for you, it was for the little man."

The pink frog smiled from the door. "Hey, Anne!"

The old orange frog looked at Anne. "So you're the new friend my sprig made? Well, you seem like a nice young lady. You're always welcome at the plantar household." He smiled.

"She's not."

They turned around to bog, gesturing them all to leave. "She's a prisoner of toad tower. She's coming with us, and staying with us."

Anne gave a little sad wave to the frog family, before the cart trundled away and back to toad tower.

"Well, that's a shame. I just made a new friend and now she's gone," sprig said in a deadpan voice.

He paused for about 5 seconds.

"You're gonna break her out, aren't you?"

"Oh, totally."

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They returned to toad tower, where Anne was put back into her cell.

Sasha was just about to visit her, when she was stopped by grime.

"Yes, lieutenant?" She asked.

"About anne," he said, "she's holding you back. I think you shouldn't visit her anymore."

Sasha wanted to argue, but couldn't. Oh, the irony. From one world where she was pushing people around to another, where she had all the authority in the world but was being pushed around by someone with slightly more.

"Oh-okay…"

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Anne was heartbroken.

She heard the whole thing from her cell. Looks like she was going to go mad after all.

Until she heard a crackle from her phone.

"Anne?"

It was marcy's voice.

"Marcy?!"

"Hey anne! I discovered a way to connect our phones without any internet."

"Awesome! Any news?"

"Good news: i have an escape plan."

"Awesome! Bad news?"

Marcy paused. "It'll take 6 months."