The Cyberkinetic Witch of Amphibia (Updated)

by Madman777

The Core was the vilest creature in Amphibia. One of it's worst acts was painfully possessing Marcy Wu and using her as a host. In this timeline, it fails. Marcy gets more time to shine and the Core gets more of what it deserves and becomes more demonic in the process while they build up to an epic showdown. Update: Will be updated for minor changes and edits as new chapters come.

7. Chapter 7

Ch. 5 Conviction and Chaos

"All I am surrounded by is fear. And dead men."-Darth Vader

Sting like the Devil*

Andrias didn't worry about the Wartwoodians causing him problems. In fact, he realized that if nothing else, they made for a good testing ground for the newer models. He could antagonize and tire out the smallest rebel force and whittle them down them and wipe them out with just a few.

The Hornet drones proved the idea worked in just a day.

Grime and Croaker were leading a team for a sabotage mission while Sasha led some of their commandos on a raid.

Tuti,was good at hand to hand combat, skilled with nerve pinches and crippling punches. Sherrif Buck Leatherleaf was a good shot with his tongue and spare laser rifles on hand. His deputies, Larry and Troy, were a bit slow but dependable. John DiBoggio, a short chubby bearded green frog, was average on fighting but better than Duckweed, who was there after drawing straws and being forced to come along. Fern was the competent but ditzy hairstylist with deadly scissors.

The wires and pipelines to a refinery loomed ahead with only ten Frobots guarding it.

"Excellent, Fern cut the wires while we get the rest!"Grime directed.

They took down the Frobots and reinforcements with ease for the next three minutes.

Then the buzzing started.

"Are those … Hornets?"Grime said in disbelief as five Hornet drones flew over the trees.

The closest one swung its stinger back and then forward, firing a laser into John, who flew back screaming in pain.

"More robots, great!"Croaker got into a fighting stance.

"Take them down!"Grime yelled.

The Hornets swirled around at high speed and altitudes and fired at the rebels, forcing them to scatter.

Tuti managed an impressive flip to land on one's back and hit it in the eyes.

She jumped off, smiled proudly, then got hit by two painful shots to the back.

"Oh no you don't!"Croaker yelled. She tossed a pair of needles into their eyes, killing them at once.

Grime crushed the final two while Buck and his cops kept a cover fire to keep them occupied.

"Good job, now let's get out of here before-GAAAHHHH!"He howled in agony as six more came from behind and hit him.

He sank to the ground, slipping into painful unconsciousness.

All of the angry Resistance, except Buck, charged at them in rage. All of the charging rebels except Croaker, Fern and Duckweed got hit.

Fern used her scissors to cut the wings off of one, but got stung by another.

Duckweed ran screaming for cover when three came at him.

Buck shot one down and had to take cover when the rest and a battalion of Frobots coming up returned fire.

"Retreat! "He shouted.

"You heard him!"Croaker yelled. The five Resistance members capable of standing dragged the rest off back to Wartwood after she tossed a smokebomb to cover their escape.

Everyone was alright except Fern and Grime. Fern spent the next two days recovering from the poisonous sting after Maddie gave her an antidote. Grime was unconscious for 29 hours, much to Sasha's alarm.

"A few bugs hurt Grimesy that bad? We'll need to add them to our worst threats to watch out for!"

When he woke up, he declared,"I have a new favorite thing to hate!"

Andrias wasn't done. The Fireflyers dealt a grim blow.

A caravan was heading their way.

"Right on time!"Sasha said.

"What are those?"Stumpy asked.

They saw three Fireflyers in the sky.

"Payload drop!"One said. It dropped two bright spheres that fell in between the first two wagons and blew up with a bright flash.

The Resistance watched in horror as two more were dropped and destroyed the other three wagons. The survivors ran for it and got shot in the back. The Resistance had to run when another dropped more over them. Wally was blown to the ground by the blast.

A few Marines on patrol shot them down later, but Sasha wasn't satisfied until she took a laser gun and shot down two more who came by the next day.

The Water Striders were the living equivalent of jet skis in Amphibia and the perfect animal to combine Lyoko Tarantulas with. The yellow and orange-eyed robot versions of the Striders could zoom across fresh and saltwater surfaces, climb up and down walls, run at high speeds, and their front legs were tipped with laser cannons that fired rapidly with great accuracy and high damage. The middle legs could also go laser mode while they were stationery for extra firpower.

He tested them first on the coastal defenses near Snarlsburg.

Four of them began strafing the fortifications on the beach. Brigitte, the closest officer in charge, came to deal with it.

"Interesting … a challenging bug to fight! I like it!"Brigitte said. She and her team took 20 minutes to deal with them, but it was worth it. She sent a report.

"They are definitely getting ideas from our monsters!"Yumi said.

"Brilliant. The Water Striders fit with the Tarantula's aesthetic perfectly! Their extra cannons and ability to move across water make them a formidable threat!"Bomme said.

They all looked at Odd, who was a key member of the naming committee with Marcy, Smarcy and Bomme.

"Water Striders that shoot, eh? How about Strideshots?"

The newly named Strideshots were both a welcome challenge to the stronger Amphibians and robots, but they were a difficult nuisance.

The Resistance learned even harder later by the Triadoba River. This river circled most of Frog Valley around the South Tower. It started all the way up in Lily Paddington, down through Bog Bottom and ended at Wartwood Swamp.

Sasha had finished off the biggest refinery alongside the shore to the East before Bog Bottom. A single Strideshot zoomed by.

"Is that a Water Strider?"Felicia wondered.

Soggy Joe squinted at it,"No! Wrong exoskeleton and eye color, legs are too thick and the wings are all wrong!"

"It's another bug robot. Take it down!"Sasha ordered.

Croaker threw a small dagger at it.

The Strideshot looked at them when the blade missed its head. It got into a crouching position several yards away and starting firing at full speed. Croaker got out of the way just in time.

"Holy frog, duck!"Loggle yelled.

It took Sasha ten minutes to take it and eight Frobots that came to join it down. Maddie ended up being invaluable by using some Fire curses and a smoke potion.

More of them zoomed around the river and swamp waters around Wartwood repeatedly for the next two days, forcing them to stay underground. Maddie came through once again by using a curse on a large dead tree that came to life and chased after them.

The Giant Wasps found near Wartwood were larger than Anne and had sharp stings and bites. The Lyoko monster, the Trisekt, was roughly the same size, had three wings, three legs with scissor-like claws, and could lob mines and lasers. A new Wasp Drone with grey and yellow armor was produced to mimic both.

These Wasp Drones, dubbed Metaljackets by Odd, had metal hides immune to lasers and most blades. They flew with six wings and only needed two to keep going. They shot lasers out of their stingers and had small razor sharp claws on the tips of their legs and evasive flight patterns programmed into it. It could also plant explosives and use its eyes to fire a special laser with a knockout effect that lasted for 10 hours.

They secretly tested one on a few of Beatrix's soldiers on guard duty, allowing for a breach in her fortifications. Then he sent another to attack the Resistance.

It didn't matter that the signals and radio-waves of his machines suffered interference whenever they went inside the Valley. All he had to do was give them the general location and orders before sending them in.

The Metaljacket planted explosives on a bridge between Wartwood and the Valley.

"Hey ugly!"It turned and saw Sasha standing there with Croaker and most of her best commandos, "put your wings up and bombs away, and I'll go easy on you!"

The drone flew up and fired stinger lasers at her.

She deflected it.

It dodged all of Croaker and Ivy's attacks and shot Wally with its eyebeams after he tried grabbing it with his tongue.

He stumbled and nearly fell off the cliff before falling unconscious.

Croaker caught him, and then she was knocked out next.

"STOP IT!"Sasha screamed. She cut the head off.

They had to retreat and drag their unconscious friends away when a squad of Frobots flew over to attack them. The bridge exploded seconds later.

A Spacecraft design, the centipede creature called the Desecrator, gave Triple B the idea for a centipede design of their own.

The Scolodroid (named after Earth's largest centipede, the Scolopendra gigantea) was 6.5 ft long, had a silvery frame, and two crab claws at the end. It had laser eyes, could tunnel, fire electric shocks able to knock out or kill depending on the setting, crawl up and down trees, and had thick armor. They had swarms of nanites inside them designed to corrode buildings and other robots.

One of them eroded a dozen of Marcy's robots and went hunting for the Resistance's leaders.

Grime's continuing bad luck meant he was the first it found.

After getting back on his feet from the Hornet attack, he'd destroyed three factories, two dozen Frobots and eight Hornets by channeling his rage and strength to good use.

"Very good, that's great for today!"He praised his team.

A pair of red eyes scanned his team from a nearby tree trunk, and zeroed in on Croaker and Loggle as the biggest threats after him.

The ground cracked open behind Loggle. He was buried headfirst in the ground by a claw.

Croaker came at it with sharp knives. It coiled in a rapid twist and swatted her in midair with heavy force. She was slammed into a nearby tree hard enough to sprain her aged limbs and incapacitate her.

The ten frogs on hand charged in rage. It fired lasers at them and sent them scurrying.

Grime charged at it from the side with his hammer and leaped in the air, ready to crush it in one blow.

The Scolodroid responded by shocking him in midair.

He landed, caught by surprise but still standing.

"Nice try … you won't bring me down so easily!"He taunted it.

Unimpressed, it crawled toward him, fired lasers at him, and grabbed his right arm as he swung the Hammer at it. With a twist, his wrist snapped and dropped the Hammer.

"Garrgghh!"He howled. He was shocked more until he fell unconscious.

Chuck went for help. Soggy Joe was on duty at base. He tracked Grime and his abductor down as quick as he could. Wasting no time, he jumped on the bug's head with all his might and crushed it.

He dragged Grime back.

Sasha had her own problems that day. The Core stooped to a new low in tactics.

A new model of taller Soldier Frobots was made with orange eyes identical to its own. They stood at 6'11", had the usual lasers and missiles, buzz saws in their extendable arms, and coiled tentacle cables identical to the ones in the Castle they could unleash from compartments in their torso.

Worst of all, they didn't say a word. But if you taunted them or destroyed most of their fellow machines, they would start screaming. A hauntingly familiar shriek Marcy knew too well.

Odd called them 'Dread Bots' because of this, and the rest of her group approved the name at once.

Hordes of them were attacking Marcy's forces over the Northern Mountains now, but Sasha had to deal with six of them, a battalion of Frobots and three Centurions attacking her and Maddie, Loggle and Ivy and ten others on a patrol.

The Centurions engaged Sasha. She found them annoying since they put up a harder fight than most machines.

Her team handled the Frobots fine enough.

Loggle crushed the head of the first Dread Bot to come near him.

Maddie noticed the Dread Bots kept staring at Sasha.

"Hey, don't ignore us!"She yelled. She hit one with a curse bag, and a toy duck appeared in its place.

"Yeah, we're your enemies too!"Ivy yelled. She drop kicked another one in the jaw.

The other three unleashed their tentacles on her at once and held her in the air.

"What the frogging heck?!"She yelled.

Maddie and Loggle went to free her.

Sasha's rage spiked and so did her battle frenzy. The last two Centurions got cut through their backs.

"You're in for a world of hurt!"She hollered.

The trio of Dread Bots shrieked in response.

The Resistance stared in appalled silence for a moment.

"No, just no!"Sasha said. She cut Ivy free and went at them in a frenzy, dodging their tentacles for ten seconds until she got close enough. The last one got a glancing blow on her belly before she impaled it in the face.

"That's enough for today …"She decided.

"Lieutenant, you don't think … less of me, do you?"Grime asked Sasha while Maddie rubbed some healing balm on his arm.

She rubbed her bandaged torso,"Of course not …I spent an hour fighting some of those dorky ones with shield and glowing tridents and then some new screaming ones … it wasn't fun."

Toadie said,"Our neighboring rebels have their own problems. Large numbers have been swarming over the mountains at her territory up North, keeping them very busy. I counted a dozen large explosions on the cliffs in the distance while I was on lookout duty earlier."

Grime said nothing for a moment. Then he said,"In that case, perhaps I should pass on my congratulations to them."

The next day he had the chance to say so in person when they encountered a Frost Knight.

Thazarus was the first one they'd met before. Two days after they made havoc at the Bay, he was seen staring into the Wartwood Cemetery.

"That's one of those knights that attacked the Great Bay!"Croaker said.

"Is he gonna bring the dead back to life to serve his Queen?"Wally whispered as a crowd gathered to stare.

Maddie was curious to learn more about these rumored magic users.

She called over, "Hey Mister?"

Thazarus turned. The glowing blue eyes in his helmet made most of them shudder.

The doleful sounding man said,"Miss Flour, what a delight!"

"Why are they always so nice to Maddie?"Wally whispered.

Maddie walked up to him,"Are you one of those knights working for the Cyberkinetic Witch?"

He bowed politely to the young witch,"Indeed, Miss Flour. I am Lieutenant Thazarus of the Frost Knights!"

Sasha was skeptical,"Frost Knights? Why go for that name?"

Thazarus pulled one of his Endbringer blades out, pointed it towards the cemetery wall and unleashed a blast of blue energy. A thick layer of ice was left on the stone wall.

"Never mind …"Sasha said. The Amphibians backed away in fear.

Except Maddie and Ivy.

Ivy poked at the ice,"Is that magic? How does she get robots to do that?"

"We're not machines!"Thazarus said.

"Sir? If yer not a robot, what exactly is yer deal?"Toadstool said.

Thazarus replied solemnly,"We do what the living cannot, and suffer well!"

Most of them shuddered at what that implied. He was standing next to a graveyard after all.

Maddie was frustrated,"Oh, that makes more sense! But I still can't figure that kind of magic out at all! It's so out of my league!"

Thazarus offered her a bag of crushed spell powder,"Miss Flour, don't be discouraged. If anyone around here could understand such things some day, it's you!"

He walked off.

Maddie grinned and rubbed some of the powder in her fingers.

Thazarus had volunteered to do patrols around the edges of Wartwood after the attack on the Bay. While Koliath took command of the Northern Valley Mountain patrols and defense, he handled monitoring the Southern regions without intruding on Wartwood Swamp.

The Wartwoodians kept a wary eye on him as he paced around.

They watched him from the trees three days later by the Tridabo River West of town.

A force the size of the massive amount that destroyed their town came flying his way.

Thazarus drew his large Endbringers out and got into a well-practiced stance.

The Frobots shot at him. He didn't even move but stood there, taking the blasts into his blades for half a minute.

Then he reacted.

He swung his swords and a fire whirl of glowing blue flames emerged, torching over half of the robots. They exploded or froze (or both).

The last 20 landed on the ground to dodge it.

Thazarus ran forward and went to work with his swords with brutal efficiency, cutting their heads and torsos off with swift strokes.

Only two remained standing 20 seconds later.

"Retreat!"One said. They took off into the air.

Thazarus put his swords up and held his hands out.

Shadows rose from his hands. The Frobots froze in midair with the shadows on their bodies, and flew back to him.

He held their heads and started to decay their metal skulls with his touch. Their heads crumpled like cans.

The lingering blue flames froze into elaborate icicles on the ground and Frobot bodies.

Satisfied, Thazarus dusted his hands off and started walking upriver.

Grime landed in front of him.

"Yes, Captain Grime?"

Grime's teeth chattered as he forced himself to stand on the frigid ground, "Lieutenant …whatever you are, however you're doing this wizardry…do it away from here!"

Thazarus narrowed his eyes.

The Frost Knights hadn't been impressed to learn of Grime's ruined career or scheme for invading Newtopia. The toad soldiers were touched they said he'd failed them in his first duty as their commander.

Barrel's Warhammer didn't scare them. They'd faced many weapons of equal or greater power many times.

"Why?"

"It's …can't you see we have it hard enough fighting off robots while the land burns to ashes around us? Your leader may be some enigma with powers she stole or-"Grime shut up when Thazarus drew his left blade out.

"Don't be absurd. This is not in sight of Wartwood's borders. The Valley towns are all in ruins, you can't do a thing to stop the enemy from coming here, and this victory of mine bothers you? Your words are nothing but wind in the mountains to me. The wind can howl all it wants, but the mountains will not bow to it!"

Grime was indignant at the implication, "I'm not trying to make anyone bow to me!"

Thazarus wasn't impressed. "Then stop pouting like a child who can't have his way!"

Grime bristled,"I'm risking my neck defending this Valley, but I keep getting assaulted and mocked by your robot soldiers!"

"Yes, I know. A hazing tactic I do not care to indulge in. However, that wouldn't be a problem if you quit provoking them so foolishly."

Grime looked ready to attack him,"FOOLISH?! THERE'S A TYRANT BURNING AMPHIBIA AND YOU HAVE THE GALL TO CALL ME FOOLISH!"

Thazarus's eyes let off steam,"You and Commander Waybright tried to make everyone in the land bow to you before Andrias started this, remember?"

Grime and Sasha tensed.

Thazarus slowly stepped towards Grime. The toad backed up against a nearby rock.

"Oh yes, we heard tales of your selfish grab for power … your pride came before a great fall!"

The toad kept very still as the blade pointed towards his heart, "You may be a famed gladiator and the toad soldier who led the Toad armies wielding that famed Warhammer in your hands, but none of that changes the fact you made a fool of yourself and lost! Arrogant warriors who disgrace themselves like you are far too common. I've ended many stronger and smarter than you!"

"Do you or your queen have a grievance against us for that day?"Grime asked quietly.

Thazarus put his sword back,"No. But those were not the acts of a hero, but a deceitful villain who abandoned his army and fled here to survive. Quit pretending that you're a glorious hero of power and authority worth respecting! You lost your Tower, your army and any control over this Valley; and you know it!"

Grime frowned at the ground. Sasha had never seen him look so dejected.

Thazarus surprised her by saying,"However, when you came here, you started fighting for something better for once in your life, yes?"

Grime looked back up,"I did …"

"Good. This is how you can atone for your crimes and be part of the chain we're forging here. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. You, your commander, and myself are not that particular link. It's not even any of your soldiers standing there. But together,"Thazarus formed a chain of ice in his hands,"that chain holds firm and does not break. My Queen values you and your leader because you took it upon yourselves to protect that small town… one with no strategic value or significance to anyone outside this Valley. And you followed her all the way! That is not weakness nor taking the easy way out."

Grime smiled,"I know, I'm very proud of her for that!"

Sasha blushed.

Thazarus was amused,"I can see why … she's got a hidden heart of gold and a will of iron."

A few of the others would show up and they started seeing just how diverse they were.

Sasha's eyes bugged out when she saw Verona walking past the swamp the next day. Her armor was … unique. Shiny black armor that glistened in the sun, tentacles and fins designs, a faceless helmet, and purple slit eyes on her shoulders. The watching Resistance shivered when the eyes blinked.

Verona had peerless Shadow powers thanks to her Shadow Elf nature, so she wasn't bothered when her extended vision saw a Cloak-Bot in cloak mode over a mile away. She raised her left hand and used Death-Grip to pull it to her.

She bisected it with one swing.

"Whoa!"

Ivy squeaked in alarm when Verona turned in their direction after she said that.

"Don't look so grim … I thought you were fighting for a better future!"

Her voice echoed with extra layers thanks to her powers and armor.

Sasha came up to her. "Hi …thanks for that!"

"You're welcome … you'd be having an even harder time staying alive with these around, wouldn't you?"

Sasha rolled her eyes,"Lady, I've survived everything Andrias has thrown at us so far. I think I could manage."

"Is that so? Captain Grime has already proven he's anything but invincible,"Grime sulked,"and you've lost twice to a vanished friend and once to Andrias himself in his own halls,"Sasha paled,"so perhaps …"Verona pointed her sword at her,"I should test your skills with a blade, Sasha Waybright, so I can judge what you can manage for myself!"

"Oh come on, I'm not trying to pick a fight, Miss!"Sasha protested.

"I am Lieutenant Verona. You didn't. Consider this free practice! Being overconfident and unprepared before has already cost you dearly … don't you want to avoid a worse mistake?"

Sasha drew her Heron blades out and got into a practiced stance. Verona stood still and lazily drew a line in the sand with her sword.

She waxed poetically,"Lines get drawn to set boundaries, but they're so easily crossed,"she raised her sword up to block Sasha striking at her,"for better -"she made Sasha back up with jabs,"and worse!"

Verona chuckled as Sasha did a backflip to land a yard away from her"Very quick … you are formidable indeed!"

She moved so fast no one could track her as she disarmed Sasha with two strokes that sent her swords flying into the air and knocked her on her back.

The Shadow elf pointed her sword at her chest,"But you're not invincible! Understood?"

Sasha nodded and let Verona pull her on her feet. Verona handed Sasha's swords back to her and said,"If you wish to keep advancing your swordplay someday, ask us. You have more skill than any of the war machines or soldiers I've defeated around here … it would be a waste to not improve on that."

Sasha said,"Maybe later."

Arabella's armor caught her eye at once. The glowing feathers, the Valkyrie-like helmet and scale-like patterns were regal and intimidating, and so was her sword.

Sorrowbane was massive, bound with straps across it in sections. Green gems were embedded in the hiltless handle and two spots further down the blade.

The Resistance watched as she went to the Valley entrance one day to face a force of invading robots. Ten Tank Bots and every kind of basic Frobot soldier model surrounded her.

Arabella grasped Sorrowbane, lit it up with fire and pointed it to the sky. A fireball flew miles high into the air.

Amphibians and robots for miles around saw it rise higher and higher, and grow into a huge meteor of flames. It crashed into an entrenchment of Andrias's troops above the North side of the Valley.

Back in the Valley, Arabella waited until several Froglets tried to dogpile her and spun in a circle, blowing them back with a force of cutting air and heat.

She dashed forward and cut through the shields and torsos of 24 Lancer Bots with speed that defied her sword's size.

Several Flame Bots sent blasts of heat at her.

Arabella conjured a protective glacier in front of herself and pointed her sword at the sky.

Whisps of blue energy rose to soar up into the sky. Up there they started forming an icy dragon

Arabella pointed at the robots with her left hand.

Winds of ice swirled out her fingers and covered the eight Tank Bots heads with blocks of ice. Their processors malfunctioned and they collapsed.

The Frostdrake's Fury attack finished forming. The elemental Frostdrake flew down and blew frosty breath out of its mouth that covered the robots with a blanket of frost that froze them inside and out.

The ice dragon faded into icy flurries that floated to the ground.

Arabella noticed the Resistance staring

"Like what you see?"Arabella called.

She sounded quite cheerful.

Sasha walked closer and asked,"How does your queen … make those?"

Arabella giggled,"You want one, don't you?"

"Ehhhh … I don't know. It's hard enough doing my own swords properly, and the only magic weapon I know-is that magic?"She glanced at Grime. He eyed the Hammer in his hand and shrugged.

"It's cool and all, but it wasn't really my style to hold!"

Arabella walked closer and held her hands out. "Let me see those bird blades of yours!"

Sasha slowly handed her Heron blades over. The elf examined the hilts, whirled them in circles, and ran her fingers down the blades with ethereal blue flames coating them. The two swords weren't harmed but glowed for a second.

"Curious … I shall have to ask our local armorer what the strongest ores around here are used for swords. I'd wager these were made with them."

"Which armorer is that?"Grime called over.

Arabella answered,"The best one in Amphibia!"

She resumed patrolling.

"Do you know who that is?"Sasha pressed Grime.

Grime shook his head,"Sadly no. The best armorers all worked for Newtopia. I wouldn't be surprised if she found the best they had and recruited them!"

The question remained on their minds when they saw Septimus next.

"I love that armor design!"Grime said at once.

"What's so-ok, yeah, that is pretty sick!"Sasha said.

Septimus noticed Felicia shaking nervously, and he promptly went out of his way to say,"Lady Sundew, I apologize if my presence is disturbing your limited tranquility!"

"Oh my …that's very kind of you, Mister!"Felicia said. She'd never been called a lady before.

"Call me Lord Septimus!"He bowed politely to her.

"Aren't you a real gentleman! I wouldn't have pegged you for one that with that getup!"Sasha teased him.

"Lady Sasha, armor can look as fancy as a diamond or gold ring, but it is useless if it can't do its job and ensure the warrior can take it off after a battle!"

"Well said! I'd wager that armor of yours can take many blows!"Grime said.

"Since you bring that up …"Septimus spread his arms invitingly,"I invite you to take one free swing! Rest assured, I can take it!"

Grime stared in surprise for a long moment, but decided to try. He picked up Barrel's Warhammer and gave one good swing at Septimus's torso. It knocked the knight off his feet, but it didn't make a scratch on the Terrorwyrm armor.

Septimus got back up,"Impressive, that is a quality hammer."

"What is that armor made of?"Grime mumbled as Septimus walked off.

Then they met Filmore.

He was … colorful.

His bulky bronze/green armor had green energy glowing out of every hole. His sword's vivid patterns made Sasha think of blood vessel diagrams. And his Irish accent was very colorful

"Come 'ere, you wretched iron lunk!"He hollered at a Hectabot when it was walking towards Wartwood.

It focused all 100 eyes on him and fired nearly half of them at him.

To their disbelief, the beams had no effect kept running until he got close and sliced down and a shadow tendril went right at its head. He clenched his fist and squeezed. The Hectabot's head crumpled up.

He cackled as several nearby Frobots came running and starting carving them up.

Grime asked him moments later,"Where does your queen get such durable armor?"

Filmore huffed and said,"Oh, the wee toad is jealous, ain't he? Wot, ye want some, eh?"

"Just curious, I-"

He jumped when Filmore interjected,"I know ye been having a hard life! But that's wot ye get for-"

He swore the air blue for half a minute.

"Sir, there are children present!"Toadie protested.

Filmore rubbed his neck,"Right, my bad! Tell you wot, come here!"

He helped them gather some fresh battle gear from his foes.

They met Ravyn not long after that. The elf's spiky armor and her large sword made quite the impression.

Sasha's interest was intrigued when she first saw her. She looked at her closely and noted the hints of a feminine body and long amethyst hair pouring down her back.

"That armor she's packing is cool!"Sasha said.

"No argument! "Grime said at once.

"Is that knight a girl? That armor's very …intense!"Wally questioned.

"Trust me on this!"Sasha insisted.

Ravyn glanced up at four Fireflyers flying by overhead. Instead of ducking for cover like they would, she raised her left hand.

Using Death-Grip, she pulled them towards her.

She beheaded two of them in one stroke, froze another one solid with her free hand, and pinned the last one down under her boot.

"Signal for reinforcements"The Frobot said. She let it do that for five seconds, then pressed her boot down harder. The Frobot's chassis cracked and it shut down.

She waited until 40 Frobots and a Platinumb came flying up next.

Ravyn was pleased to see the harder target coming her way.

"Good, very good …"

Ravyn's voice was a sultry contralto.

"Told you she was a girl!"Sasha said triumphantly to Wally.

Gravewhisper glowed white on the runes.

She swung it and all but the Platinumb were cut in two and/or frozen and fell with a shattering crash to the ground.

The Platinumb fired a dozen rockets at her. They failed to hit due to lack of heat and her running towards it.

She jumped toward its face and impaled it right in the 'mouth'.

The Resistance grimaced as she drew her blade out slowly from its twitching head on the ground and wiped the oil stains off on a nearby log.

Two White Tank Bots came from the North. They deployed their Froglets in the air and crouched down to deploy their back-mounted missile banks.

Ravyn chuckled as the mass of Froglets landed to surround her.

She stomped her foot and unleashed Glacier Advance to send a wave of ice spikes to impale the Froglets in front of her. She swung her sword to freeze the rest behind her as they leaped at her. The three who avoided it got bisected immediately.

The two Tank Bots unleashed another row of Frobots and fired dozens of missiles at her. She used Gorelord's Grip to send shadowy tendrils out from her body and seize every robot and pull them towards her. She swung her sword to obliterate and consume the missiles.

The Froglets and Tank Bots were crushed by the shadows and dropped in pieces.

"Wow …"Sasha said. This chick had beaten over 100 robots in less than a minute.

The knight looked their way. "Come out. I can smell the stench of swamp on you."

A few of them sniffed their clothes and skin . Sasha held her hands up and came out,"Just keeping an eye out around here, miss, uh …?"

Ravyn's mouth and skin were practically invisible even with no lower mouthguard on her modified helmet, but that didn't matter since her smile practically glowed.

"I am Ravyn Sorrowblade!"

Grime and the rest went,"Oooo!"

Sasha fought the urge to groan. "You go girl! You certainly made them sad! I love that sword!"

Gravewhisper looked taller than Jada herself, who stood at 5'10" without the helmet.

Ravyn's smile grew and she held the blade out to Sasha,"Yes, it's two handed for most to be able to just hold it … give it a try!"

"Why?"Sasha asked. She feared what might happen.

The knight said with glee,"My friend Arabella tells me you're curious about our weapons, and I heard you're a strong little girl who likes to look tough …I want you to show me!"

Sasha took the large blade and was able to lift it with both hands and then one. Her body felt a charge go down it, but it didn't hurt. She swore she heard faint whispers from the blade.

Ravyn was pleased. " You could make a great war queen someday!"

"I'm not a war queen! I didn't ask to be called one like your leader!"Sasha protested.

Ravyn took her sword back,"Neither did she … the people she liberated called her that first!"

Sasha shook head,"That's cool and all, but …I don't have powers like her!"

"Not like Anne …"

Ravyn wanted to groan out loud. Sasha had felt the same kind of power before, and still didn't see the connection?

She pointed a spiny armored finger at Sasha's heart,"Sasha Waybright …you may not understand what it means to hold real power at your fingertips … but that doesn't mean you aren't capable of it!"

She left Sasha to chew on that.

Grime admired the way these warriors challenged him and Sasha in ways that dared them to step up and be stronger. It was … refreshingly serious to him.

So when he saw Lady Grenda fighting some invaders, he headed over to watch at once.

Lady Grenda was tearing up a bunch of Dread Bots in a vicious frenzy. They didn't slow her down even when attacking her three to four at a time.

She impaled 20 at once with a hail of ice shards to the head and chest.

The only one to get close wrapped its tentacles around her torso. She gripped its limbs and froze solid in one second.

The last two Dread Bots shrieked and fired missiles at her from the air. Grenda deflected the missiles with ease, held her right hand in the air and seized them with her Asphyxiate power. The machines looked like they were choking as they hovered and flailed, unable to make another sound.

"Your vile master earns more pain for itself day by day for such acts!"She said venomously. She swung her Bladespear and beheaded them.

"Ahem!"Grime said when she was done.

She turned to face him. He put his hands together,"Pardon me, miss … what's your name?"

Grenda's purple eyes narrowed,"I am Lady Grenda. What do you want, Captain Grime?"

With Sasha and the rest watching, he said,"Lady Grenda, you may be aware of how dangerous it's been for us this week, but I've heard that your armies have been doing glorious battle on the North Valley and fighting them off hard. I'd like to pass on my thanks and congratulations. It's only fair of me to say so since you've been dealing with the same new monstrous machines Andrias has been unleashing in greater numbers!"

Grenda stared at him for a long moment. She started cleaning the curved top of her Bladespear with a cloth,"We certainly have been dealing with the new threats from the mad king. I appreciate this courteous gesture of yours and will pass it along. But since when is war ever fair, Captain?"

He sputtered,"It's not … I'm just trying to be nice!"

The knight looked behind him and said,"Wartwood Resistance, this is a glorious day to be remembered in history! This is the day Captain Grime performed a miracle!"

Sasha rolled her eyes as the villagers laughed.

"I'm never going to get respect from any of you, am I?!"Grime yelled.

Grenda leaned on her spear,"You seek respect a lot, Captain Grime. What DO you want to be respected for? Being an infamously cruel toad captain who lost his army twice, a greedy traitor who tried to seize power, or a rebel fighting to protect a village he once cared nothing for?"

Grime said nothing, but he looked behind him.

Grenda chuckled, "I see. Tell me, does that Warhammer mean a lot to you?"

He was surprised she had to ask since they were so well-informed,"Of course it does. Barrel's Warhammer is a legend to all toads and the best one around here."

The knight pointed at it,"A weapon's legend and prestige is tied to its quality and feats of battle its wielder does. The Legend of Barrel's Warhammer, as I've been told by former soldiers of the toad armies, is an old one. Barrel the Brave was the most renowned of ancient toad warriors who once carried that weapon in the early days of Andrias's reign. He crushed many enemies with it until he died in battle facing a monster that threatened a helpless village . Whoever wields this weapon is said to be the true leader of all toads."

Grime liked where she was going with this,"Yes, all true! You respect that sort of thing, Lady Grenda?"

Grenda smirked under her mask,"I certainly do, but I'm more interested in the story of your quest to retrieve it … a quest that succeeded when Commander Waybright went wild pulling it out of the live Narwhal worm's skull it was lodged in!"

The Frost Knights had found that very amusing.

"That's where you got that thing? From a giant worm's head?"Ivy asked. The Wartwoodians snickered.

Grime himself started to laugh,"It wasn't the most glorious of places to find it, Ivy, but it was a hard battle getting it out! The commander knocked the beast out with a blow to the head after she finally got it free and sent it crashing into the North Tower!"

Grenda asked sardonically,"Is that its true nature? This Warhammer grants great prestige and power as long as you survive wielding it and constantly use it to pulverize the skulls of your enemies and demolish buildings?"

The Wartwoodians laughed.

Grime chuckled and slapped his side,"Maybe so!"

Barrel groaned in the afterlife as Leif cackled.

Sasha's face went red,"That is NOT how it works! And it's not our fault that's where it was!"

"It was your idea to get it, Waybright!"Grenda said.

"She insisted!"Grime confirmed.

"Grimesy!"Sasha moaned.

Grenda snickered,"A glorious leader of all toads you are not, but perhaps what you need is to earn this weapon some new renown by taking down more monsters! Would a hundred-eyed giant be a good start?"

Grime raised an eyebrow,"I'd like that, but why?"

Grenda pointed her spear at the sky and fired a blast of blue energy into the air. A Hectabot in the area came zooming towards her.

Grenda pointed at it,"There's one!"

Grime ran at it and took it on single-handedly, dodging the many eye blasts and jumping into position until he was able to attack it from the right angle and deliver a great smack to the Hectabot's head. He was in such a good mood he whooped when four squad of Frobots came over the hill rise and went at them next. Most of the Resistance joined in, except Sasha and Toadie.

"Do I need to do that to make my blades be legendary?"Sasha asked moodily.

"Do you? You've done quite a lot with those Heron blades, yes? The first warrior to wield them?"

Sasha smiled and pulled out her pink one,"Yes … I was given this one first after I saved the South Tower from some Herons ..."

*The Star rests *

Marcy lay down in bed.

After they recruited the Night Guards, Zel had convinced her to get needed medical treatment to remove the remnants of the suit and implants the Core had put on her and heal the worst of the internal damage.

"If you're going to rescue Olivia and Yoohoo from the Castle … you don't want them to have an advantage like that … or to be injured when Anne gets back, do you?"She asked when Marcy looked terrified at the idea.

"We've got more than enough medical supplies, peerless healers and more to manage it, and plenty of security!"Smarcy added.

"Ok … fine!"Marcy said.

It would take five days to get her back on her feet, but worth it. However, the sight of the ghastly festering wound on her chest, the bloodstains (green mixed with red) and circular plug marks and more had made every witness appalled, angry, or both. A few threw up.

Zel's rage towards the Leviathans was inflamed many times hotter. She stood guard by Marcy's room every day while the rest directed the war efforts.

Her inner wounds, the green 'blood' still in her, and lingering 'internal additions' were dealt with, but over half of the scars on her skin (including her facial ones) lingered. Sally theorized that they were connected to her initial rebirth as a Calamity Star since they glowed whenever her powers were active.

Zel went inside her room after the first night was done. Marcy was shaking and her eyes were wide open and strained, one sign she'd had a nightmare.

She didn't notice Zel since she was playing her game systems to keep her mind occupied.

"I'm not that good with words, Zelly … sometimes it helps to have someone else say it, or use something else, like music, to express how you feel! For example,"Marcy pointed at her tail,"I'm 75.8% certain your tail is more expressive than your face for when you get angry or excited!"

Zel flushed but said,"Fine, so my tail is expressive and you're shy, but you're still coming with me!"She led Marcy back out to eat dinner with her gang.

Zel had Marcy pegged by now. She really couldn't be alone. For both motivation and safety, she was better off with people she could trust and believed in her.

"Marcy!"Marcy jumped at the sound of her voice. Zel hit herself hard for startling her and came up delicately and held her gently by the hands,"Sorry. I've got to stop startling you like that … are you ok?"

"Do I have to be?"Marcy asked hollowly.

Zel frowned,"No! You need to rest, not play games!"

Marcy started to curl up in fear. Zel crouched down and said gently,"Marcy …come on, I thought you wanted to be honest with me …" she gently took her hands,"you can trust me!"

Marcy sat up,"I do … I'm … not ok. I can't sleep. Those new Dreadbots were making a lot of noise before you asked me about this."

Zel grit her teeth. That attack had been utterly pointless for Andrias and the Core to try to win anything (they'd crushed the robots in less than ten minutes) but the Dreadbots had spooked Marcy a lot and enraged them all so much they ground the robots to pieces to be melted down entirely.

And now, robots were coming in waves around the mountains, keeping them busy. The Core's army hadn't gone down in size but was fielding fresh troops at an alarmingly fast rate.

"I want to end this, but we have to be cautious and not get too greedy … that's always a problem with me. I get into winning a battle of wits or a challenge and … sometimes it's good to be willing to accept winning isn't everything. That's how I passed the test at my Temple, but …"her breath hitched,"I can't lose now. It's not …"

Zel hugged her tight with her tail and gently put her console to the side,"Hush. You think too much. You don't have to win everything here! This isn't just you fighting to win and survive, but everyone living here! That's not just your burden to bear!"

"I'm so sick of life having to get so twisted!"Marcy said.

Zel rubbed her head,"I know Marcy …so am I! I don't blame you for having nightmares."

"Why are you so nice to me?"Marcy asked.

"You're nice to me, and you're funny and adorable. What's not to like?"

"Some people don't see it that way. You thought I was weird, clumsy and silly before meeting me!"

Zel snorteed"You are, but that's not unlikable! You earned that dorky statue fair and square because you did things that helped people!"

The statue was now sitting outside the Nerve Center after they retrieved it from Newtopia.

"I didn't demand that statue get put up, you know! I was… trying to help …"Marcy said.

"Of course you were, and you did! That's not a bad thing! Every other statue or monument in the city's wrecked now, so who cares?"Zel said.

Marcy frowned," Andrias didn't have to let the city get overgrown with waste and go toxic just because he lifted his Castle out of it."

"He's stupid. Do you want me to stay here so you'll rest better?"Zel asked.

Marcy said,"Stay, please …"

Zel would've groaned if any of her old classmates or anyone from her hometown could've seen Marcy curled up against her with Zel's tail still wrapped around her waist like a blanket. But she didn't let go of her either.

"You softie!"Halley teased her half an hour later when she walked out and saw Marcy holding on tight to Zel in her sleep.

"Oh hush!"Zel snapped.

"Make me! Don't hurt your baby sister in the process!"Halley taunted.

"She is NOT my baby sister!"Zel snapped.

Halley sat across from her and said,"You treat her like one though!"

Zel lost her anger,"She's so weak and … hurt under all that power and spunk, it's hard not to be …"she faltered,"I thought she was some kind of wild freak of nature when I first saw her. Humans look so weird …but she never ever said we're ugly to her. I asked her …"

Marcy was offended,"Of course not. Did I ever say that?"

Zel waved her hand,"I'm just asking … Looking at our so-called Earth 'brethren' raises so many questions. It creeps me out that you have smaller Amphibians on Earth that are just dumb animals. Frogs get used for dissection and food dishes, toads and news get used for witch's potions as ingredients in stories, and all these little Amphibians get kept as pets or lab rats …"

"That's common to many animals on Earth! Don't worry about it! "Marcy passed her some cookies.

"Would that be a problem for me or the rest of us if we ever went to Earth? Would they think I'm a stupid animal or there to eat them?"Zel asked.

"Probably not too much! Amphibians here are smart, wear clothes, communicate, and familiar enough to Earth ideas of life. An alien species that doesn't look like anything familiar, for example, would get a stronger negative reaction. Besides, Amphibia had an advanced society and technology before we did. Granted, the Music Box was cheating on that a bit,"Zel laughed,"but your ancestors understood what they were doing and you guys learn fast enough. All that's common ground. The big problem, I think, would be treating each other with respect."

Marcy frowned as Zel raised an eyebrow,"Look at me, I've been called ugly, deformed, a monster with a bump in my face, and more before someone even gets to know me. I get it, I don't fit this world's mold. But the reverse applies for your kind on Earth. To humans, Amphibians are going to look just as ugly and unnatural. I look perfectly normal on Earth, but Amphibians will make them think ' big creepy eyes, slimy skin, warts, sticky toes and fingers, long tongues, sharp teeth in big mouths, and an appetite for gross things like live bugs, ewwww!'."

"That's harsh,"Zel said.

"I know, Zelly. But if you complained about that or other insults, humans could easily deflect by pointing out that your world has invaded and destroyed other worlds for ages and prepared to do so to Earth. Many would say you deserve to be insulted. Invading other worlds and wiping out the population never brings out the best in people."

Zel had no response. Marcy hugged her and said,"Oh cheer up. I know better than that! You look good to me. Blue skin, the prettiest tail around,"Zel blushed,"and great hair. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and it's what's on the inside that counts!"

Halley smiled,"Yeah, she's not wrong, people do get nasty about that sort of thing easily. We already have problems insulting each other! One time I asked her why humans don't have slimy skin …"

"I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just sayin', it sounds uncomfortable to be a mammal!"Halley said.

Marcy did a 'Pros and Cons' chart for her.

"Thanks for that, sweetie, but you're still missing out!"

"Maybe I am … I'm very curious what having a tail feels like,"Halley snickered and picked her up with hers to ride on her shoulders,"thanks, but still, mammals do better in some things. Cold weather is easier for us, for example."

"Yeah, yeah, you and your knights make that painfully clear!"She high-fived a passing Marcus,"but you'd love to be a slimy acrobat, I can tell!"

"Sure, Hal, but … on Earth, being called slimy isn't a compliment. It can mean you're filthy, dishonest or only pretending to be friendly … and we both know I have bad experience here with that."

"Hey hey, don't let Andy boy ruin a cool word for ya!"Halley scolded her.

"Fine, let's make a new slogan: go good on slime or don't waste our time!"

"I admire that positivity of hers!"Halley said. She held Marcy's left hand and stroked it.

Zel rubbed Marcy's head fondly,"So do I!"

Marcy stirred and mumbled,"It's hard being positive and a genius …"

"Why's that? You do great at it!"Halley asked.

"Do you know just how many negative things I observe all the time?! If I bothered dwelling on every obvious problem or bad character trait I can observe in the people around me, the list would never end and I'd never want to socialize again! People judge others for the dumbest of reasons … and I'm dealing with people being very dumb a lot these days!"

"Trust me, we know! But you can't cure stupidity!" Zel said.

"I wish we could focus on common ground more …you know, we have enough in common. Humans are at the top of the food chain because we are persistence hunters. We can outthink, outwait and even outrun a lot of the bigger or deadly animals on our world. It used to be a lot more dangerous, but we survived. Adapting to new areas and challenges helps us overcome the odds. Take you guys! Amphibians back home are much smaller and wild, but to be called an amphibious creature means you could live on land and water, the key parts of life. You guys are just as smart, tall and capable as we are! Amphibia was at a high-tech level of progress before we were! When Andrias said his family were great explorers, that excited me. It's a classic idea to explore other places, meet new kinds of people and learn all kinds of new things … some sci-fi shows have ships with crews of all kinds of aliens and humans serving side by side,"She trailed off …"shame he was lying. Just imagine how much more creative and beneficial Amphibia could've been if they tried more exploring and less conquering?"

"In my experience, exploring often happens before a fight starts. It's another way to find out what's ripe for the taking! Didn't you say humans do that too?"Zel asked critically.

Marcy moaned in despair. Zel snickered,"That's fine, Mars. I'd have believed Andrias if he told me that. That's the sort of thing he's encouraged for years! What his family and other conquerors do is stupid and greedy, but it's just how people are!"

"I'm not strong enough or smart enough to deal with any of this … why'd I'd ever have to find that stupid Box?"

Zel wasn't going to let her start sulking again,"Marcy, that Box was begging to be found by someone. From what you told me, if you'd just seen it and been interested because it was the same Box you saw in that book, you'd have looked at it and showed your friends anyway. Same result. Sasha was interested in stealing and selling it. If not you, someone else. I doubt anyone around was as smart as you …"

She cupped Marcy's face,"And you are not weak! You fell down 200 flights of stairs in Newtopia with just a broken leg- something plenty of newts your size wouldn't have walked off,"Marcy giggled,"and you went to the Night Guard and learned how to fight and levelled up. You survived being impaled by a sword that's hotter than fire,"she put her fingers on Marcy's chest,"and recovered quickly enough when you woke up to move about. These new powers only make you more awesome."

Marcy sniffed,"Thanks Zelly. I wish we could've met sooner …maybe I would've had more fun with you outside of the Castle."

Zel shook her head,"I don't know about that. You got close to Lady Olivia and Yoohoo quick enough."

"Yeah …,"Marcy held up a picture of Olivia,"she said everyone was counting on me here when I promised to help her out on protecting Amphibia. I'm gonna keep that promise. I want so bad to make this place green and growing again, just how she likes it. She put up with so much for my sake and had to deal with a king who sucked at behaving himself and now sucks at being a king,"Zel and Halley laughed,"and all the messes and problems when Anne and her new fam came … she never once stayed angry with me or them for long."

"So, she's your found family mom here?"Halley teased her.

Marcy blushed,"I doubt she'd want to put it that way … but she's certainly got the patience of a mother."

"She'll be proud of you, I know it! We all are!"Zel said.

"Thanks, Zelly … you're the big sister I never had!"Marcy said.

"I am NOT your big sister!"Zel growled.

"That's not an insult …maybe I needed one!"Marcy looked at her family photos,"I spent so many years alone at home. My parents are always busy, and a lot of our talks are about things I'm good at it … school, success, and every bright option I could do as a genius in college …'everyone would take you, Marcy' …"Marcy groaned,"Sasha's got several siblings. She doesn't hate them. In fact, it helped her master taking control in chaotic situations easier! Even Anne got two new ones with the Plantars! Me … I missed out on all that."

Zel plucked Marcy out of bed with her tail into her arms,"Let's do some physical therapy!"

Halley grinned as they led her off. In her gut, she knew … Zel saw Marcy as family. Marcy already did. In her sleep, she unconsciously relaxed every time Zel touched her.

Two days later, the three got even closer in a dream experiment.

"I don't want you having nightmares, and that charm can't go on again until tomorrow, so do something else!"Zel said.

"Hmm, we could do a support group dream! You two could help me relax …"Marcy held their hands and her mind opened.

They sat in a bar in her mind.

"Neat! It worked … we could just hang out in dreamland and do things!"Marcy said.

"Wow …"Halley whistled.

An hour later, Marcy tried an idea and let their dream forms go 'human mode' while she tried an adult 'newt Marcy' mode.

"This is what you feel like?"Zel said in disbelief. She looked at her face with brown skin, green eyes, and a nose. Her tail was gone and it left a huge void in her mind as she looked behind her. Halley made all sorts of faces with her human look and tried some acrobatics. The two tried human food and their food and agreed the taste sensation was different.

Marcy enjoyed feeling what being an Amphibian felt like temporarily, and she agreed with them that having a tail was awesome.

"I told you the other Amphibians are just jealous! Those tadpole knockoffs don't do squat and they never use them for anything!"Zel said as she felt Marcy's 3 ft green limb.

"I'm just glad we can try it safely in here!"Marcy frowned,"Whatever 'merging' plans the Core had in mind, it's-"

Zel started shifting back into her usual look,"No no, don't go there. The Core ceased to be a real Amphibian a long time ago. Those fools joined their minds together inside of some creepy shell with tentacles, stopped speaking out loud, hide in the dark and are just interested in eating worlds."

"Yeah!"Halley said firmly.

Marcy reverted back to herself too,"Welp! The three of us, for all we know, are the first from both worlds to know what it feels like to be each other's species even just a little bit!"

*Next moves*

Marcy called a meeting after she got back on her feet. "Our first order of business is to resolve the objectives of Newtopian residents and valuables to acquire. Newtopia itself is abandoned and our scouts report Andrias is starting to fortify it."

Zel touched the map,"After their recent humiliating defeats, the Castle has been moved farther North and the empty city is a place the Leviathans do not want to be embarrassed at again. So rather than let recent rumors persist that we have the run of the place, they'll make the empty city into a fortress capable of holding hundreds of thousands of soldiers."

Alastor took over,"That won't be a focus of ours for now, since the people are scattered. Our Wit Wraith Squad just took the Cragspur Isles and the forts there at the top of Cragmarrow Cove's entrance to the Great Bay. We can move across the Bay easily from the West, head straight to the city areas from right below the Valley foothills up above, or from the desert in the East. In less than a week tops, we can organize an offensive to strike at the Castle to retrieve her ladyship and General Yunan, removing any major leverage the Core has and regaining Newtopia's most respectable top leaders, and go to major camps and work areas to convince willing citizens to join our cause."

Zel smiled,"Luckily, we already have several thousand soldiers and residents from other areas to back us up on this, and these new living conditions and forced labor isn't making Andrias look any better."

Vivi asked Marcy,"Any reason you don't want or need Sasha or Anne for this?"

Marcy rubbed her hand along her forehead as they all waited ."My issues with them are one thing, but let's talk about why it's not practical. Anne probably would be useful for this if she was here. However, her first impression to Newtopia wasn't stellar. She made a few friends here and there, sure, that's Anne for you, but …"Marcy sighed with fond exasperation,"I've found reports that she and the Plantars disrupted and disrespected the parade of Igor the Brave, caused a panic with a fire and assaulted city guards and civilians for some reason,"Vivi's jaw dropped,"and they were banned from the aquarium for causing panic with an incident with their Stingrays, and more. She's not as popular as me there, but she did try and help stop the toad invasion for them. If she were here, I'd have her along. But she's not here."

She frowned while looking at Sasha's picture,"Now as for Sasha, let's be real. She's actively avoided taking charge of an army again because she doesn't think she merits it. In this case, it's certainly true. The last thing the people of Newtopia know about her is that she and Grime lead the Toad armies to do an unprovoked invasion of their city right before the Castle rose up and the robots started coming out. Over half of the people believe this was a response of retaliation to such an offense, which is partially true, and for all they knew they died. She and Grime left their defeated and captured army with no apparent plans to save them, and …"she turned slowly to a few of their toad soldiers present,"forget Newtopia. How did that make you guys feel?"

April scowled,"Pretty mad … that whole thing was their idea, and we went for it. Thought it would be epic and all, but then the robots came out and we got surrounded. Most of us got locked up and made to do hard labor. The unlucky guys died that day or later. A few times I wondered if those two died in the Castle, and then you tell us they flew away on your bird that saved their lives and have been living free down South? Hard not to be mad at them."

Andre said,"Our captain lost everything but his life, and we owe Grime nothing for now."

"In other words, Sasha and Grime are liabilities,"Zel concluded,"Their Resistance is surprisingly capable and the towns of Bittyburg and a few residents of Swamp Shiro and Bog Bottom found sanctuary there before we came along. But their reputation outside the Valley carries little weight. They can't do a third of what we or Beatrix can with our supplies, defenses, troops and ability to travel."

"But the final attack requires them both, yes?"Betty said.

"Do I have to keep explaining this?!"Marcy grumbled.

"Easy, Marcy, we've got new faces and it helps to review!"Aelita said encouragingly.

Nicky smiled and gave her a teacake to cheer up,"Not to worry, Miss Wu, we all understand very well that you need back up facing the Night!"

She sighed miserably"Ugh, yes, thank you. For one thing, I am never, EVER going to feel confident going into that wretched rock again. I may be more powerful than ever, but I cannot face the Core alone. It makes me shake just thinking about being anywhere near it again, and … some of my psychic visions or touching its mind recently, reinforced to me how horrible the Core really is. That thing doesn't just fear death but losing everything its ever had. It will do whatever it takes to beat us and hold onto the Stones … even Anne alone couldn't beat it. I'm positive. She would give it all she's got, but her control and skill over her powers is amateur-level and untrained. I have a good grasp of mine, but that's not enough to guarantee a win. Sasha's powerless for now. Thankfully, my research indicates that a Star with powers can restore it to the other two. When Anne gets back, we'll try. Together, can plan on killing the Core for good."

Pleased, Nicky circled the Castle on the map,"Excellent. This won't end their threat, but it will cause great delays to their operations."

"Speaking of delays, I had a target in mind …"Zel pointed at the largest bridge in Amphibia,"Saint's Lake and its bridge is on the direct road from the Valley all along the route to Newtopia. We could slow their advancements to the Valley down a lot by getting rid of it."

Nicky clapped,"Excellent idea, Miss Brooks! They're already they're dropping like flies anyway trying to fly here as it is!"

"We can expand on our newly improved transportation services to offer others at the same time,"Dawn said.

Marcy stroked her chin,"Let's not just destroy it … we could hold the bridge with some of our best and draw some of his armies there to bleed them out a bit."

She tapped Mt. Mufu," Also, I'd like to ensure Andrias isn't able to claim the Arctic and Second Temple for himself."

Darius cleared his throat,"Leave both of these tasks to us, Lady Marcy."

Marcy gave a thumbs up,"Of course. Mystical arctic lands and wrecking armies is your area of expertise!"

Battle of the Bridge*

Saint's Lake was a large lake and the bridge that crossed it was nearly two miles wide. Villages and fishing docks surrounded it, and still did (albeit repurposed).

Traffic across it hadn't ceased or diminished since the war started, not even with the lake getting contaminated by pollution. Frobots and other soldiers crossed over it all the time.

One day, two strange beings walked to the edge of the lake.

Marcus and Minerva had volunteered to blockade the bridge.

The two knights walked into the lake, unbothered by the toxic water, and reached the bridge pillars. With their hands, they climbed up to the East-facing side and clung to the side.

They waited until there was a lull in activity and climbed over.

Minerva and Marcus nodded at each other and started walking towards the North and South ends of the bridge

A nearby Frobot standing along the side turned and saw Minerva first. It's radio dish popped out.

"Signalling all units!"

She grinned and waited ten seconds before beheading it.

Heads turned as the Frobots on the bridge reacted and started shooting. Minerva mowed down the sentries with ease. Marcus quietly dispatched the few who attacked him.

Scores of Frobots approached Minerva by air and on foot. They got cautious as they got closer.

"Come on, don't be shy …"Minerva mocked them.

She let her axe do the talking when they started shooting.

Marcus made a sport of whacking their own lasers back at them like a baseball or levitating them over the lake and dropping them in.

Lieutenant Mojo, a green-bearded toad in charge of the nearby garrison, directed the Frobots in the area to go attack while he led his 50 troops to go towards the boats.

Andrias caught wind of this and pulled up video feed for himself and officers in the Castle (including Nolan and Triple B) to watch.

"They must be holding it to prepare for a force to head North by land!"He said.

Nolan turned to a robot and said,"Send all nearest units to that area at once!"

In Ribbitvale, the Gilded Bots and Lancer Bots assigned to patrol the streets got called to go there. The larger number of Judge Bots and their Hood guards joined in after 100 Frobots were reported destroyed.

The curious Amphibians of Ribbitvale and the surrounding areas came to the shore and hillside to watch.

"What are they going to do?"Wigbert wondered. He pulled out his binoculars and set up a chair.

Sasha was out scouting in the air on Joe Sparrow along with Felicia and Ivy, and she saw the distant flashes of lasers and flew him over to watch just in time for the real fight to begin.

"We haven't seen those two Frost Knights yet …"She said.

Minerva had a brief moment of respite after she bisected the last two Frobots near her.

Marcus had a large number of Sentinels, Hoods, Dreads, Lancers and Grands coming towards him.

Marcus's Migraine mace was nearly five feet long and the head's flanges looked ornate and sharp. But that was far from the most dangerous part of it. This mace wielded double the amount of strength of its wielder, was good at fire and energy attacks, and immune to heat.

He held it ready in his left hand.

The Lancers formed a shield wall and the Gilds and Sentinels charged at him.

Marcus swung his mace to the left and sent fifteen attackers flying off the bridge. He swung to the right and knocked over seventeen more. Twice more he swung as Sentinels and Grands came at him. Same results.

Finally he swung it forward and broke down the shield wall and 25 Lancers with it.

Ribbitvale's elegant Chief Judge Bot came flying over to land in front of him.

Marcus wasn't impressed as it swung its extra-large spiked mallet at him. He broke its legs with one swing of Migraine and dropped it on its back.

"YOU'RE OUT OF OR-"

He swung the mace into its face.

Two of his lesser Judge subordinates charged in fury and swung at his head. He broke their mallets and their torsos with a mighty pivot swing.

"Destroy unnatural knight!"

Marcus eyed the two dozen Fireflyers surrounding him with annoyance. They started firing at him. He was knocked on his knees.

"Time for Dragon's Breath!"He thought. He swung Migraine and a flaming image of a dragon appeared. It swirled above him and sent out a breath of fire that scorched the Fireflyers and three dozen Soldiers.

He stood up to see a Gild coming at him. He reared a fist back and broke the Frobot's skull. He picked up its sword in his right hand and did rapid dual wielding moves against a group of charging Frobots.

Slicing a Lancer's head open with the sword. A sideswipe with Migraine to the head of a Sentinel. Slicing through a Lancer in mace mode in midair. Slicing off a Dreadbot's tentacles before they made contact. Migraine crushing a Soldier's chest. Cutting a Gild's legs off. Swinging both weapons left and right to dispatch a Lancer apiece. Carving two Hood's necks open and impaling a third Hood through its Core chest symbol in less than five seconds. Smacking a Soldier to the left with Migraine. Bisecting a Hood with the sword. Breaking a Lancer's shield with Migraine and knocking it backwards into three others. Cutting the head off a Hood's axe with the sword and swinging Migraine to hit it and a Dread in the face. Thrusting Migraine into the face of a Lancer after dodging its mace hands. Cutting the arms off a Hood and beheading a Dread in two swift sword strokes. Cutting a lance in half and slamming his mace into the Lancer's torso. Swinging Migraine down onto the top of a Sentinel's head. Kicking a Sentinel over the side and throwing the sword into a Dread's 'neck'. Cracking a charging Dread's head with Migraine, followed by a Gild.

Marcus had a brief pause after that. He looked winded as three Centurions ran extra fast at him but he swung Migraine back and then left to smash all three all the way into a rock on the far shore.

He picked up a stray Gild's trident and ducked as three Hoods and a Dread encircled him and simultaneously swung at his head. He spun the trident around to strike them in their faces with a loud whack that made the spectators wince.

A smarter Hood swung its axe down to cut the trident in half. He impaled the jagged half in his hand into its face and seized its axe. He used the axe to cut through three more Hood's heads and then threw it into the chest of an airborne Soldier to his right.

Marcus picked up one more trident and hurled it into the head of another Centurion running towards him and cleared the area by swinging Migraine to unleash fire on 50 Frobots in his path.

A Silver Tank Bot landed in front of him with a loud thud. Marcus waited until it swung its left mace at him and stepped to his right. He reared Migraine back and swung it into the torso of the heavy robot. It went flying several hundred feet into the air and crashed through a refinery's roof. The building crumpled like a paper cup and started to burn.

"Oh my frog …"Henry whispered.

Sasha whistled in awe. "Dang, dude!"

Mojo and his troops reached the bridge pillars by boat and started climbing up.

He focused on Marcus and signaled some Frobots to land and back them up. He was wearing some bolt gauntlets that fired barbed bolts tipped with acidic poison.

He fired the first six into Marcus and then yelled,"FIRE!"

Annoyed, Marcus turned around and faced them. He pulled one spike out and then threw it into the nearest corporal's gut.

Mojo snarled and fired three times as many bolts. Marcus activated a forcefield gem in his armor and deflected them. The barbs deflected back into six Frobots, two newts and Moro's gut.

He fell gasping in pain. Marcus ran forward at high speed and smashed the rest. He pulled the bolts out and stood atop Moro's bulky corpse.

A large number of robots circled the lake to attack the other terror on the bridge while this went down.

Before they got there, some Dreadbots arrived, followed closely by some Megawatts and Fire Bots.

The closest Dreadbot screamed.

Minerva snarled and used Death-Grip to pull it to her. The orange eyes widened as she charged her fingers with Frostflames and sent the fire into its body.

The Ribbitvalians shuddered as the robot started to squeal like a dying pig as it glowed like a lantern and exploded.

The rest growled and tried to surround her.

Six of them wrapped tentacles on her body. Minerva's eyes flashed and they froze solid.

Another swiped its saws at her and leaned back as she swung her axe at its chest. When it swung a second time, she leaped in the air and did a dropkick to its face and send the machine falling over the side.

Minerva used Strangulation on the rest of the Dreadbots, crushing their heads in the air.

"Sheesh. I'd feel bad for them I didn't hate those things!"Sasha mumbled.

The large number of Megawatts charging up their hands didn't worry Minerva. Instead, she had an idea.

Shademourne absorbed the voltage from the first attacks. After seven seconds of this, she fired a Chaotic Bane blast not at the nearby electric wielding robots, but a cluster of Fire Frobots behind them. They exploded with a loud bang that shook the bridge and destroyed all but ten of her closest attackers.

Marcus turned around and fired another fire blast at a group of Frobots landing to form an attack wave in the middle of the bridge behind them. At least six Fire Frobots were among them. The resulting explosion rose several meters high

Miles away, Andrias ordered, "Remove all Fire Frobots from the field."

Four Judgebots landed to encircle her and fired wig missiles.

Minerva spun Shademourne in a circle to deflect the missiles. Two hit the Judges and made them explode.

She faced the other two as they swung their hammers at her from the left and right. She moved forward minutely and cut their hammers off below the head, then she tripped them with ice under their feet. She cut off their arms and then their terrified heads.

A single Platinumb robot and a Hectabot landed 30 yards from her and fired. She took them down one after the other.

She froze the Hectabot inside a glacier with Shademourne and pointed her free hand at the Platinumb and fired a Death Uncoiled attack.

Green and dark shadowy energy flew from her hand and made its head and torso explode.

"I was saaaavvviiing that one!"Minerva sang.

Some Sentinels, Lancers and Gilds came charging en masse to overwhelm her. To the audience's shock, she started moving at superhuman speed to carve their arms, heads, weapons and whatever else they had into pieces. In less than half a minute, they all lay destroyed at her feet.

"Come on, put your backs into it!"She taunted the closest robots.

A squad of Solarites landed. They melted the frozen Hectabot and a dozen frozen Frobots before firing a wave of fire at her.

Minerva rolled her eyes, ignored the flames completely, and sent another Chaotic Bane flying forward that left the robots in flaming pieces.

She picked up a trident and waited until a Silver Tank Bot arrived and released its Froglet units. She set the trident on fire with blue flames and hurled it into the Tank Bot's face. It exploded. The Froglets got squashed or treated like soccer balls to kick around.

After several hundred robots had been wrecked, Andrias's living response teams arrived.

The Leviathan Zealots had been put together in the aftermath of the attacks on Newtopia and Loggington. Several hundred Amphibians had been calling for blood against Marcy and had jumped at the chance to get even when Andrias offered it. They wore red and gold hoods and armor with the Amphibian symbol on the torso and the Core's symbol (a black crown with an orange diamond) on their gauntlets and carried a variety of weapons.

Andrias had sicced them on a few villages around the Boiling Bastions that had revolted and a group travelling towards Snarlsburg by Lichen Pond below Mold Rot Forest already. The Zealots took the strongest ones captive and wiped the rest out.

A force of Leviathan Zealot soldiers (200 total) and several Centurions were led by Captain Xochi, a 16 ft tall axolotl with blue skin, a kanabo club, and a Fu Manchu mustache.

"Get off our bridge, freak!"He yelled at Minerva.

"What does that fool think he's going to accomplish?"Colonel Bogdon asked.

"The chap doesn't know what he's facing … yet!"Bingam suggested dolefully.

"Make me, lardball!"Minerva taunted Xochi.

Xochi flicked his wrist and the Zealots fired explosive crossbows at her.

She tanked them and slammed her axe down. The blow rocked the bridge for 100 yards.

The Zealots kept steady on their feet.

The closest ones looked up in time to see her leaping towards them. She cut through a dozen in four seconds.

A toad shot his tongue out to grab her wrist. She responded by swinging him with it into his buddies.

Over 20 tried to dogpile her. Over the next ten seconds, she spun Shademourne in a circle, carving through them faster than they could react.

The closest Centurions charged their spears and fired.

She swung her charged axe and decimated 30 of them with a Chaotic Bane shockwave. Twelve came at her and engaged in close combat. She took them down two to three at a time.

Xochi lost patience when his troops began to start edging back.

"No one leaves or else! You two,"He pointed at two toads named Hilda and Heath,"use your chains!"

The two siblings in studded armor complied. They swung their chains around Minerva's arms while she was disemboweling three Centurions.

"Really, chains? That's so weak!"

"SILENCE!"Xochi screamed. He struck her in the head with his club.

Shademourne fell out of Minerva's hands and her head lowered as the toads held her in place.

Grinning, Xochi directed two soldiers to go pick up Shademourne.

Minerva suddenly yanked her arms around with great force. The two toads screamed as they were swung around in a circle and swung into Xochi's head.

The axolotl screamed in rage as he was knocked onto his face.

Minerva lashed the chains around a large tiger salamander lady (10 ft tall) holding a spear and threw her over the side. Hilda and Heath struggled to their feet and got a fist to their faces that broke their skulls.

The Champion held her right hand out and Shademourne flew back to her.

She walked towards Xochi as he started to get back on his feet.

Minerva swung her axe at his neck as his eyes filled with fear.

There was a blue flash and slicing sound. Xochi's head flew off his neck and into the water. His body collapsed at Minerva's feet.

Ivy covered her mouth to keep from screaming.

Minerva stepped over his body and spun her axe in front of his horrified troops.

She cracked her neck,"You want silence? I'll make it silent as the grave …"

Captain Oophaga, a poison dart frog, narrowed her black orb-like eyes and held her hand up to the rest,"Hold …the Imperial Guard approaches!"

Minerva was delighted to see the Plasmoid coming. It was her first chance to use one of her axe's deadliest upgrades.

Shademourne's shield abilities deflected the plasma olms into the air as she spun it. They exploded and took out many Frobots in the air.

Minerva pointed her axe at the Plasmoid's head as it landed on the bridge with its Laser sword drawn and unleashed a Corroding blast.

The acidic energy melted a third of its head. It fell over the edge and sank to the bottom of the lake.

Minerva looked at the terrified Oophaga and unleashed a Swarming Fog attack.

A shadowy red mist flew out from her body in a 30-yard radius. Oophaga and every enemy within that radius fell dead to the ground within seconds.

"Holy crap …"Sasha whispered.

The remaining Zealots backed up slowly.

Sir Grekk, a gecko-like knight, arrived and directed a Green Tank Bot to fire at her.

She formed a shadowy green limb from her shoulder to swat one Polywog missile away and catch the other. It threw the missile towards the Zealots. It exploded and took many of them with it.

Grekk directed the Salient squad, a group of twelve toads wearing sallet helmets and full body brown armor, to lead the next chage. This group of elite toad warriors from the coasts were notorious for numbing themselves to pain, going through any obstacle to eliminate a target and carrying acid-laced mattocks, one reason they were valued bodyguards for city officials travelling in dangerous areas.

Minerva grinned when they charged at her. They cut the Frobots out of their way.

She stomped her foot and a floor of Glacier Advance spikes rose up to impale them and twice as many Frobots and Zealots. The toads growled under their helmets but shrugged it off.

The leader jumped at her while his three closest followers charged at her.

Minerva threw subtlety to the wind and spun around like an icy buzz saw. Shademourne cut through the three on the ground in two seconds, and she swung it up at fast speed to send a ripple of shadowy blue energy to hit the leader in midair and send him flying a mile high.

The remaining eight went down just as quick. She put a blanket of shadows out and drew the Salients and last six Zealots towards her in the dark grip. She cut them down with slashes to the necks and torso.

Marcus watched the screaming Salient toad squad leader as he soared screaming and landed 40 yards behind him with a loud crack.

Grekk threw four explosive vials at Minerva. She shrugged off three and deflected the last one back at him. He jumped to avoid it and landed right in her path.

She cut him down the second he met her eyes.

"Why is that other one just standing there?"Ivy asked Sasha.

"She's doing just fine without help,"Sasha replied.

"Sasha!"Felicia tugged her sleeve. A squad of newts were flying in … wearing Heron themed armor with functional. The Heronites used the Heron bird and Heroness flipwart piece theme to fly and use powerful wristbows to harass their enemies from the sky and sharp claws tipping their guantlets.

Sasha frowned as three of them headed their way. "Go up Joe! You two, get ready!"

Joe moved too fast for them to target, so they tried flying closer. Sasha was counting on that and had him swoop towards them. She drew her blades and cut through the wings of the first while the Sundews dealt punches to his cohorts. They fell to the ground.

The other Heronites fared no better against the knights. Marcus parried arrows from six of them with ease and let out a ring of fire that scorched their gear as they got close. They fell screaming into the lake, which made it burn even worse. Two others landed near him and tried to take him down with their claws. He crushed them beneath his mace in seconds. Minerva was annoyed when the leader fired a toxic gas arrow that irritated her eyes. She used Deathgrip to pull him down towards her and cut him down.

General Broly (newly promoted) led the Wetland Legions up the road towards the bridge from the South after a successful campaign against the Scumslinger Pirates attacking Kaeru's coast. The pirates had been wiped out and his legion had destroyed over 500 of the Cyberkinetic Witch's rogue robots thanks to some new gear.

They heard the screams and sounds of battle from the other end before they got there, but they had their own problems seeing Marcus standing 700 yards away on the bridge with destroyed robots and dead Amphibians lying around him.

"You will not pass,"He said.

"You can't hold this bridge forever!"Broly yelled.

Marcus said,"I'll hold it until it's gone!"

"Bring it down!"Broly ordered. His troops charged.

Marcus swung five times and sent dozens of screaming newts flying into the toxified lake.

Broly shook but grit his teeth and threw an explosive potion in his jacket at Marcus. The knight made no effort to dodge and it exploded on his chest.

The troops behind Broly cheered but stopped when the smoke cleared.

Marcus was still standing.

"Is that the best you can do? I'm not impressed."

"Shoot it down!"Broly ordered.

Marcus deflected every shot and swung Migraine in a sideways slash to unleash a Pyreblast.

The large fireball landed ten yards behind Broly and exploded, sending 30 newts and 50 robots flying with burns and knocking the general to his knees.

While his troops pulled him to safety, a burly axolotl warrior leaped at Marcus from the bridge wall with a club. Marcus swung to his left and sent him flying. A cloaked purple female newt with poisoned daggers got the same treatment trying from his right.

A dozen archers with crossbows fired poison-tipped bolts at him. Marcus didn't even slow down but swung Migraine to the ground and sent out a circular shockwave that sent everyone for 40 yards flying through the air. None of them got up from wherever they landed.

Broly was relieved when he saw a dozen units of a new robot class, the Bailifters, coming from the West. He waved his troops back to hold a defensive position so the robots could advance.

Six apiece headed towards both sides of the bridge. Their Judge stood guard at the North entrance and directed attackers forward.

These 12-foot robots had grey skin, yellow pupilless eyes, and wore black executioner hoods, vests and gloves on their hands. For weapons, they had huge length chains with 7,000 1b iron balls attached at the ends inside their arms they could let out and swing out.

Andrias had gotten tired of the insults directed at his 'officers of justice' and decided they needed better security. The Bailifters had protected four 'trials' uninterrupted in trial runs.

The Bailifters split up to take on both knights. Their Judge stood guard at the North entrance and directed attackers forward.

Minerva had just frozen a Platinumb on the head and saw six of them approaching. She smiled when they started swinging their chain balls in the air.

"Interesting!"

"I wish I could feel that way! We're gonna be dealing with those later!"Sasha griped.

"Yeah, she makes it look too easy!"Ivy said moodily.

Minerva ducked under the first two swings at her head, retaliated with a Frostflame blast to the face of the closet one that made it explode, dodged the three giant balls coming down to crush the spot where she was standing, and reacted with high speed to cut the chain coming at her from another.

She picked up the severed chain with her left hand and swung it around. Several Hood Bots got crushed and four of the Bailifters got knocked over. Several Froglets in waiting leaped up and got demolished in midair.

The Platinumb melted the ice off its head with laser vision, turned to target Minerva and got hit with a 7-ton ball to the face. It fell backwards on top of four Lancers.

"ALERT! ENEMY HAS DEPLOYED WRECKING BALLS!"The dazed machine groaned.

The Resistance and Ribbitvalians snickered.

Andrias almost laughed.

Minerva flung the sphere at the head of the sixth Bailifter. It dodged. However, the chain ball went soaring several feet down the bridge and bulldozed through several Frobots.

The newly arrived Marshall Mavor jumped off the Green Tank Frobot he was flying on to land on the side.

He shouted,"Your end is nighhAAYYYEEE!"

He screamed like a little girl as the wrecking ball sent him crashing into the lake.

"Other way around, loser!"Sasha drawled.

A dozen Hood Bots went forward to distract Minerva so the Bailifter could target her unmolested.

She pointed her hand down and froze the ground for several yards.

The Hood Bots slid forward. She ducked as the chain ball swung at her head. Ten Hoods got crushed and the other two got bisected after they slid too close to Minerva.

The Platinumb recovered and stood up. It armed its laser fingers and stepped forward. It spun around on the ice, fired its lasers into the face of the Green Tank Bot and two Lancers, and fell backwards onto a Soldier.

"ARMOR SYSTEMS INTACT!"

The Ribbitvalians chuckled quietly.

Minerva dodged three more swings from the chain ball (30 Froglets and 20 Frobots did not) then she tried something crazy.

Instead of pulling the Bailifter towards her, she used a Reverse Death-Grip to pull herself towards the giant robot.

Its yellow eyes widened in disbelief as the Frost Knight came zooming at its head. In a panic it swung wildly and hit a flying White Tank Bot to the far left as it approached.

Minerva punched it in the face and knocked it over. She stood on its chest and hollered," Try and hit me!"

The confused Hood Bots and some newly arrived Centurions did so.

The Centurions took spots on the walls and leaped at her one at a time. She swung her axe into all six of them in the air. She stepped aside as the damaged Bailifter got up and swung wildly as its glitching eyes made it see a blurry image of ally and enemies (?) in a circle.

The Hood Bots and several Lancers near it were sent flying in pieces. The Platinumb got hit in the face (again) and fell backwards (again).

Sasha smiled viciously,"It is so not the golden boy's day!"

A Hectabot landed and charged a dozen eye beams. Minerva got a deviously clever idea as the angry Platinumb shoved itself back upright. She used a low level Deathgrip to pull it forward just a bit right into the path of the Hectabot's attack. The beams bounced off the reflective golden surface in many directions: back into the Hectabot's torso, into the Judge Bot's head, through six Hornets in the sky, tearing a hole in an airborne Black Tank Bot's gut, and through an entire battalion of Lancers running forward in mace mode. The very (un)lucky Platinumb toppled forward onto its face.

"LOST BALANCE DOES NOT COMPUTE!"It rumbled.

Andrias facepalmed.

Minerva cut off the Bailifter's left arm when it was swinging upwards. The weapon went soaring into the sky.

After she cut off its head, she looked to the sky. So did everyone else.

The frustrated Platinumb propped itself back up on its hands and focused its shoulder cannons on the distracted Frost Knight.

It was still trying to get a lock on her when the large metal ball landed on its head with a very loud clang. This time it didn't get back up.

Sasha and the Sundews broke down laughing.

Marcus didn't bother taking his time with the other six. They came towards him with their flails spinning. Scores of Dreadbots, Soldiers and drones flew in the air and started firing at him.

Marcus held his mace in the air and released a Firebolt Barrage.

Fireballs flew out in a circle around him and incinerated the Bailifters and airborne robots. The flames kept going and torched scores of Lancers and a few Cicadrones in the air above the closest Wetland troops. The Cicadrones exploded and took out 43 of them.

Fed up, Broly signaled a waiting Tank Frobot to deploy its Froglets and took his new spear, tipped with a chemical guaranteed to terminate robot. He'd already tested it on several Phalangites, Geisters and a Flayer already.

He waited until Marcus was distracted by the Froglets and then threw the spear into his gut.

Marcus glanced down and stared … then he started to laugh.

"So, this is your new toy that's been troubling my Queen's machines lately …"He pulled it out and glanced at a second Plasmoid flying towards his position,"thank you for that!"

He hurled the spear at high speed into the Plasmoid's face. The Imperial Guard crashed into the lake.

Broly was aware that there was a severe penalty (usually death or imprisonment) assigned to those who cost Andrias his top robots. He lost his composure and screamed in fury as he charged at Marcus.

The remaining Wetlands Legion's jaws dropped in horror as their commander flew back dead after getting hit in the face.

Marcus froze the Tank Bot's head solid next.

The furious soldiers charged him. They got hit off the side, into the walls, or onto the ground in the face of the Tireless Knight's wrath.

A Captain named Monica screamed,"How dare you!?"

Marcus ignored her and caught the arm of a 10 ft axolotl with his left hand and shoved him over the side of the bridge.

He ducked from a swing of an axe arm from a Frobot and swung back, crumpling its chest like tinfoil.

He staggered back an inch when something impaled him. Marcus looked down and saw Monica's high quality longsword impaled in his chest.

"DIE ALREADY!"She screamed.

Marcus lifted her up with Strangulate and dangled her over the water. In front of her and the rest of the stunned witnesses, he pulled the sword out with one hand, dripping with green glowing ichor of some kind that was melting the blade.

"Do tell. If that didn't kill me, what were ya gonna try next?"

She had no answer, so he just dropped her in the lake and kept swinging. Most of the lingering newts fled at this point.

Ten minutes later, the bridge was littered with dead or injured/damaged bodies of over 5,000 of Andrias's living and artificial forces. Many others floated in the water, sank to the bottom of the lake or washed up on shore. The toxified water left many of the still living soldiers in need of medical attention. Those still alive made their way towards Ribbitvale.

The two Frost Knights weren't even breaking a sweat. After a moment of grim silence, they headed towards the middle of the bridge.

Marcus picked the dozen bolts in his armor out with bored indifference. Minerva whistled and carried her axe over her shoulders.

They reached the middle of the bridge and leaned on their weapons. They kept that pose even as six Skyhoppers came from the West and launched fresh swarms of Frobots and drones to attack them.

A sudden wave of fire hit them, and the airborne forts and robots exploded.

The two knights looked to the South. Everyone followed their gaze to see a third knight approaching the bridge.

Darius's sword was still glowing with fire. A massive trail of destroyed robots littered the road to the Valley behind him.

"That's gotta be their leader!"Sasha said. It unnerved Felicia to see her smile.

"Sasha, you shouldn't enjoy this …"Felicia said.

"Miss Sundew, relax, we're their neighbors and allies, remember? Now we know these dangerous knights have a leader of some kind. That cool helmet kind of looks like a crown!"

"Yeah, it does …"Ivy said.

The Lich Knight walked towards his subordinates unopposed. Silence filled the air.

The two knights bowed their heads in respect when he got close. They put their weapons on their backs and went to stand by his side.

He charged Ashwake with mystical energy and plunged it into stone beneath his feet. The bridge began to crack.

Saint's Lake Bridge collapsed. All the moving (or unmoving) robots and Amphibians on it fell into the lake.

Sasha smiled with glee,"You gotta admit that was cool!"

The two frogs nodded.

The Lich Knight and his two followers walked unharmed out of the rubble. Darius waved his sword at the row of refineries and factories on the Southern beaches, leaving nothing but ashes in his wake as they walked down the road towards the Valley.

Sasha landed Joe in front of the Plantar house. The townspeople came out.

"Commander, are you alright? You were gone longer than we thought,"Croaker said.

"I know, but I just saw an epic fight go down. Andrias won't be getting troops our way easily anytime soon!"She said.

Inside the caves, they told the rest all about the attack on the bridge.

"Those Frost Knights of hers, just three of them…. broke Saint's Lake Bridge in half after defeating that many?"Loggle said. He was afraid. Most of them were.

Sasha still wasn't one of them,"It was a clever move …they crushed two legions of their army and many more robots in front of several witnesses. Andrias has been weakened in image and troop numbers, and he can't move troops by land in large numbers that way anymore with the bridge out. He'll have to go around it or stick to the air."

Grime was also impressed,"With those powerful knights and the rest of her deadly minions waiting as a threat here, that won't be a major problem here either …"

Over 12,000 soldiers and war machines of Andrias's army were lost day. None of the 200 Zealots survived. The Wetlands Legion was dissolved as a unit after losing its commanding officers and over half its ranks.

All of Amphibia heard about it. Many scorned Andrias for letting three enemies wreck his army so badly, but plenty more were afraid that just three of these feared knights could do that. After this, no one believed any claim from Andrias that the war was going to be over any time soon or that he was guaranteed to win.

Soon they heard tales of another destructive battle waged up North …

The Weather outside is Spiteful

Koliath, Septimus, and Mina went to the Amphibian Arctic alone. The mountain villagers on the distant slopes with lit up cabins had either gone inside the mountains to hide, left for refuge elsewhere, or had disappeared after Loggington had been reduced to rubble up North. But the Newtopian machines hadn't come there much since the war started anyways.

Marcy gave them two objectives:

Investigate the Mountain for clues or relics.

Render the area undesirable to Andrias's forces.

They rode their skeletal steeds into the wilds around the coldest part of Amphibia. For these knights, it was child's play. They had been borne of an unnatural force in the North on another world …

"I'm not trying to play around with this power, I swear!"Marcy said to them on their first day awakened here.

They listened patiently and took the idea of another universe well enough, but the 'game' concept angered and confused them.

Thankfully, Marcy's explanation of this Calamity Box that opened gateways to infinite universes for these greedy Amphibians and her deducting that this meant their world was one of those universes (and not just a fictional game) smoothed that over. It helped that they had prior experience with alternate timelines of their own reality and entities from beyond

Her reasons for bringing them to serve in her guard were far from selfish. They grew amused as she rapidly thought out loud about where her idea went wrong or if she now had to deal with their undead vengeance for another reckless mistake.

"Relax, young lady. You desire our aid in fighting this Lich made of tyrants who seek to devour all other realms?"Darius asked.

"Of course. I had selfish and naively optimistic ideas about exploring worlds with it, but not that! For right now, my powers,"she held her glowing hand up,"are new. I … I really tapped in deep to get your minds/souls/whatever here. I exceeded my expectations again. Sorry. For all I know, the limits on the Calamity Stones are unmeasurable. I really shouldn't be dealing with this as a kid,"the knights nodded,"but I have to! Not because I want to. I need the best fighters I can get-like you guys- to help me keep the Core at bay. My calculations and predictions,"she pointed at her boards,"tell me that the Leviathans will unleash greater war machines and even monsters to combat the greater threat I already pose. Perhaps they'll even resort to using threats from other worlds in time. I can't destroy it by myself, so we'll have to face those!"

Nazgrim chuckled and patted the timid girl on the back,"That sounds like a worthy fight."

"I'm always game for helping keep nature alive … or undead, whatever!"Imhadria said.

They knew she took it seriously when they witnessed her unleash a temporary frightening death on the Core and then threatening her betrayer.

"I hate that I have to be extreme, but I hate that awful Thing more!"She said tightly when she saw them staring in concern.

Baldor led her outside for a breath of fresh air,"Of course you do!"

Being here brought them unexpected blessings. For the first time in ages, they could feel emotions and sensations that had been lost after death.

"Of course … why would I want it to be harder on you?"Marcy said when they asked her about that.

They appreciated that a lot.

Later, when they heard about the prophecy, they became even more committed to following her.

Kadmos told Marcy,"A night without stars is just a black void. People look the stars for guidance! You must learn to shine brighter!"

"Care to teach me how?"Marcy asked at once. They taught her all kinds of things and advice. And Marcy ate every lesson up.

Marcy Regina Wu was a silly, bright-eyed girl they would not have judged fit for any of this… but she was a fast learner, good to her troops, and a natural strategist and user of power. She admitted she joked around too much, but it was one way to keep from thinking too hard about her brush with death and getting violated by a being that had wanted to bend her body and then mind to its will.

The knights understood what that felt like all too well. It angered them to see a hivemind of cowards trying to using a child that way.

When everyone started calling her a queen, they swore an oath to help her end this ancient evil legacy.

Valeriana watched from out of sight as the three enigmas rode into her Temple area. She still had trouble wrapping her tail around this trick of Wit's.

"I've seen it all and heard it all … or so I keep telling myself, but life surprises me every now and then!"

"Surprises, we love surprises!"Leander squawked. The knights glanced her way.

She ducked out of sight until they kept walking. "Very impressive … I'll have to swap stories and tricks with them someday!"

Mina ran a hand along the gate and breathed on it. The runes glowed brighter. She entered the arch and headed up the mountain. Her two comrades stayed behind to stand guard.

Koliath turned around when he heard robots further down the slopes.

"There's work to be done … and they will not interfere!"He said. He pointed Bilrost at the ground.

Large beings of snow with blue eyes and icy figures bristling with shards of ice and sharp blue teeth up, dubbed 'Frostbiters' and 'Shardshooters' by Marcy.

"Destroy them to the last!"Koliath ordered them. The seven of each he made lumbered off.

"Septimus, go check the priestess Valeriana's lodgings, but do not disturb anything there. Lady Marcy does not wish to offend this guardian if possible."

Valeriana chuckled. The girl was still trying to be nice to her. She had been energetically polite when they met.

"But do you really think you are worthy?"She asked the two humans.

"Well... Yeah!"

"Totally!"

Wit offered her hand to shake,"Oh, I'm Marcy, bt-dubs."

Valeriana had no idea what that phrase meant, but she offered her tail," Uh... nice to meet you."

Marcy shook it at once. The girl had adapted well to Newtopian culture.

The girl's selfish mistakes aside, Valeria hadn't needed to give Marcy a hard time, since this wasn't her Temple. She'd ensured Heart survived and kept striving towards her Stone's traits … Valeriana liked that.

"No sign of her …if she is indeed a remorseful ghost of the soul who made the Box, as the translated relics Lady Marcy found indicate, she could be anywhere."

Valeriana was impressed and threw the knights a quiet bone. A gust of wind blew a covered area away, an elaborate outcrop carving with buried scrolls, gemstones and artifacts.

Septimus went over to investigate.

Down below, a force of Solarites and Fire Frobots had gathered. The Fire Frobots had been upgraded with dual flamethrowers on both arms and tanks that would explode violently upon being ruptured or attempts to capture them.

The Frostbiters weren't going to make it easy. They started by throwing boulders down.

Bangs and bouts of flame rose in the ensuing explosions. The Solarites didn't explode and reacted quicker, but they lost many to the rocks. Two of the Frostbiters went to other areas and sent down avalanches.

Three of them went down and started tearing into the robots up close. They breathed ice and snow at them, tore them in half with frigid strength, and reformed no matter how many times they got melted or shattered. As long as they had ice and snow nearby, they could handle that easily. The knights could reform them in other areas if they wished.

The Shardshooters shot out Titanic-cutting level spears of ice at their quarry from on high and proved very hard to get close too. For any that got shattered, a nearby one could reform the shards into another or absorb them to grow bigger and tougher.

Andrias heard reports of mass casualties in this area before long.

"The Second Temple … how odd. Perhaps Marcy wishes to claim it for herself?"

The Core hated the idea,"Don't let her. She has her own down South already!"

Extra reinforcements were sent. The attack on the Bridge happened hours later, so they focused on that battle.

Septimus climbed down and started joining in. He used a special spell attack. "Shard Blade Frenzy!"

Two crystalline replicas of his two swords appeared in the air and started stabbing and slashing at the larger robots that had come to surround the mountain.

Mina managed to climb up the mountainside with her bare hands for quite a while, but she got tired of the wait and summoned a blizzard wind to carry her up quicker.

She arrived on the Stone charging area at the top of a massive tower with glowing runes and stones.

"Amazing. The ancient hands that made this tower made a structure that is nigh unreachable by mere mortals!"She closed her eyes and focused on the energy of the place. As she suspected, there were traces of an incomplete process for Anne's recharging.

She turned when she saw a swarm of flying Drones and robots nearby. To deal with the larger amount forming futher away, she drew her Soulcutters, the most magically attuned weapons in the Frost Knights, and started forming a massive storm overhead.

"The king will feel haunting breath from the North soon!"She declared. She pointed her crystalline blades towards the floating castle miles away.

The blue shards glowed and the storm broiled and swirled. It rushed off, consuming the robots in front of it.

"Over 10,000 troops lost, living and artificial, along with the biggest bridge in Amphibia!"Nolan said angrily.

Andrias was tired of this meeting,"Yes, the casualty reports are still incomplete. I just got a new one. Thanks to this butchery, the Borrowpit Legion is the only legion stationed near there left."

The officers said nothing. General Garth wasn't present. He was out leading a campaign around the Olmdrop Coves to the East of the Dry Swamps. The Borrowpit Legion was a mixed group of lower-ranked and troublesome newts and other Amphibians including a higher number of toads than most, but the unit's odd nature didn't seem ideal at this time. Garth was offended that had even been a problem in earlier talks, since he'd taken over 300 captive toad soldiers from the failed rebellion as indentured soldiers and had already established a rapport with them.

"Sire where is this weather coming from?"Bartley called.

Andrias looked out the window with indifference, then his eyes widened. The clouds overhead crackled with thunder … green and blue thunder.

Rain, hail and lightning poured down on the Castle for ten hours . Scores of robots got hit and destroyed outside the Castle, and the ground flooded below them.

Shadowy whisps of pale green light floated into the Castle walls. The living king and the dead ones in the basement suffered nightmares and heard whispers around the corners for a week.

The three knights rode back to the North foot of the Frog mountains, walking right over the lingering forces entrenched there and back to their new home.

The Amphibian Arctic was left haunted by the Frostbiters and Shardshooters. Several Geisters and Wispflies were created to walk around and terrorize the enemy. Imhadria came later to gathered the Wooly mantises and other creatures to come to safety with her.

Patrols continued to go through there, but Andrias declared the area unfit for use in factories and military occupation.

Valeriana was pleased. She secretly aided Wit's servants in battle and started moving the lingering villagers away from the area and started planning on when and how to meet with and mentor the Stars properly.

"A storm sent to terrorize Andrias from the Arctic? That's a new one …"Bufo said at Beatrix's table the next day.

"Yo, Jacy, you sure you never heard of this witch before?"Beatrix called over to their resident ex-ambassador.

"No, I have not!"Jacinda grumbled. "I never met such a talented user of magic or an expert anything mechanical in all my days! I'd remember someone like that!"

"I doubt they'd like you anyway! "One toad remarked.

Watching the Knight*

General Garth was an Alpine newt with blue and yellow spotted skin and an orange underbelly. His face had large glasses, his brown rugged armor was bulky but simple, and his pike was twice as long as he was at Yunan's height.

He was not happy at all with his job. His soldiers, a motley crew of nearly 3,000 Amphibians of many stripes, were even less happy. They wore barbarian or second-hand armor, usually with spikes or leather, and this was in part because the Borrowpit Legion was a volunteer squad for Amphibians to go for and serve a minimum of three years to get out of tax debt, prison time, or just get extra funds to send back home. Some stayed on because they had little place in society, others liked the rough life, and in general the camaraderie was good.

However, they'd dealt with several pirates and raiders encouraged by the devastation unleashed by the Rebellion and attacking the coastlines. Immense casualties had been suffered fighting a third of the pirates on shore and they'd watched as a Kraken, somehow in league with the Cyberkinetic Witch, ate Captain Scumwhack and his ship as he sailed off cackling. He'd targeted some of her areas for an alleged haul she got off of the Teardrop Islands, and she responded in kind.

And this current task … galled him. They'd been given some captives from the towns of Guck Grove and Quagmire Center, captured while migrating down South. They hadn't said anything, but it was suspected they were heading to make contact with the Queen of the South. Gullywater and the former residents of the Waterlogger port on the Great Bay had already made their way there, and Andrias had passed a law ordering the hunting down of traitors who did that.

The Legion had them assembled in the now thoroughly abandoned Ruins of Despair, which had lost every factory and ten times their number of robots in it in the last month.

"So, Mister Waterlogger,"He asked the grim-looking yellow frog with a burn over his left eye,"what was your business?"

The frog said,"There's no business left, mister … you know that!"

"Travelling business!"Garth clarified.

"Finding a new spot!"Waterlogger said cryptically.

"Look, pal, we can do this all day, but you're not getting out of it!"Garth growled.

A group of Hood Bots and a Judge Bot arrived soon to handle them. Also present were two 40-unit squads of Lancer and Gilded Frobots.

Gizzardo, a grim-looking newt with knobby skin and red eyes, led an elite escort of poison-dart frogs and toxic newts clad in black ninja style robes. The Slinkgarb guild had been donated by a rich family from up North as a valued squad.

The curious Resistance kept watch from the cliffs by the Valley entrance.

Gabby watched them closer from a nearby hill with binoculars.

"Hmm, tricky. We need to pull off this rescue …"She typed a message on her wrist communicator and crawled closer.

Unbeknownst to her, a Coreseer in the distance had noticed her approach. Andrias decided to dispose of two birds with one stone.

Sneth Bigclaw, a large black Surinam toad of 9 ft, was a savage leader of a pack of toads from the Olms Forest areas. Their tribes there and the Dark Forest marsh areas had lost many. Their kind bred faster than many other Amphibians, but they were just as mad about the losses as everyone else. They'd raided and destroyed a few caravans in Newtopian areas, and they'd even butchered a few captive newt soldier companies and civilians they found.

However, it started to go downhill for them soon enough. His brother Phlegm and 40 of their clan, along with members of two others, had decided to take advantage of Andrias's losses and damage to the Castle after Marcy established herself. They'd snuck towards the Castle … and they ran right into the Coreling and several Fire Frobots in the hills below it.

Phlegm, a toad of 14 ft, had died screaming as the unnatural thing tore into him with his claws. The Fire Frobots torched the ones who ran.

The screams of the dying warriors echoed for miles and nearby newts and frogs shivered and moved on as quickly as they could. Sneth heard and was enraged.

A while ago, Andrias approached Sneth while he was raiding a patrol near Ribbitvale and told him that Marcy had been responsible for his brother's blood being spilled by raising a monster to eat his brother alove.

He contacted him now,"See the pretty newt in a moth costume? Why not grab her, take off her wings and make her sing on where she is? My troops won't bother you!"

"Fine!"

He went with 30 troops, including his best right hand toad Arrabal (a head shorter than him, but twice as bulky) and his cousin Rana, a 12 ft toad with a big mouth, pink skin and white eyes.

He saw Gabby on the hill, smiled wickedly and jumped at her and punched her in the back. Unlike most toads or frogs, their kind weren't good at tongue combat.

Gabby landed on the ground. She moaned and looked over her shoulder to see Sneth sneering down at her,"Now … take me to your leader!"

Gabby started laughing.

"What is so frogging funny!?"

Sasha snickered and whispered something to Grime, who rolled his eyes.

"You will tell me where your leader is, so I can find her and make her pay in full for my brother being eaten alive by the monster she created to eat him and his soldiers alive!"

"Say what?"Gabby said. The listening audience was also surprised. Marcy didn't tend to do that in her fights.

"DID I STUTTER!?"Sneth screamed.

He suddenly went flying into the nearby rocks face first.

Jaws dropped seeing Sylalleas standing in the spot where he'd been, her clawed gauntlet in a fist.

"My queen did not create that monster… the Night did!"She said to his flunkies.

"How could the Nighttime make a monster?"Gizzardo demanded.

Syl mused,"How indeed?"

Rana moved to grab Gabby and held her in a death grip around the neck. "Put down that spear, freak, or she dies!"

Sylalleas didn't bat an eye,"As you wish!"

In one swift throw, her spear went soaring into Rana's chest. The large toad gasped in shock at the weapon embedded in her chest and keeled over.

"Holy crap …"Sasha whispered.

"Run or fall, your choice!"She warned the shocked toads.

Araball screamed and ran at her in rage. He broke the ground where she was standing.

She moved at the last second and delivered an epic axe kick to his jaw.

The 8-foot toad howled in agony. She followed up with several judo kicks to his ribs, groin and sides.

He stumbled back, moaned and fell on his face.

"Get her!"Another toad screamed.

Their speechless audience watched as she made mincemeat out of several average and large toads with ease.

A dreadlock toad with war paint threw a tomahawk at her face. She caught it, threw it at another's chest, and vanished in a puff of shadows to reappear and deliver a powerful punch to his face. Another Surinam toad ( a red one of 7'11" height) swung both hands in a skull crushing move at her head. She ducked, pivoted and delivered a series of rapid-fire kicks to his jaw, breaking it and knocking several teeth loose.

Two toads tried to grab her with their tongues. This was one Amphibian tactic Sylalleas could just not bring herself to admire or tolerate being used on her. She grabbed their tongues and squeezed. Everyone recoiled as the toads screamed.

She swung them around like flails to knock a dozen others back and then flung them into a nearby factory ruin. They hit the torn metal with a loud crunch.

The rest encircled her and charged with a howl of rage. She crouched down, and spun.

Leave-shaped blades of razor-sharp ice went flying in all directions, a version of the famed Fanned knives move the Nightwatcher Star Elves used.

Every single enemy in her immediate radius fell dead with these blades in them.

"So cool!"Ivy breathed.

"I know!"Grime whispered.

"Now,"She pulled her spear out of Rana's corpse and faced the rest,"as for you … I'll be taking these villagers and our young scout with me!"

"Oh no you don't!"Gizzardo snapped his fingers and his squad dangled poisoned knives or their uncovered fingers warningly near a hostage apiece.

Sylalleas stood still and made no move.

"That's better, you'd best be-"He stopped talking when she vanished in a whisp of shadow.

She reappeared behind him and threw a mass of knives at each of his troops in fatal spots before they could react. She did a roundhouse kick to his gut when he turned and he fell moaning.

"EXECUTE HER!"The Judge ordered. The Frobots ran at her, but she was done taking her time. She took out her Lunarglaives out and threw them.

They tore through the robots like a flying buzzsaw and landed back in her hands before the Judge hit the ground.

She put ice chains on Gizzardo and a few other still living associates of Sneth's while Enoch and some Flayers came from the distance to assist her.

Garth knew his troops were about to panic, so he desperately moved towards Syl and politely asked,"Ma'am, can I ask a favor?"

She calmly faced him. "Yes, General Garth?"

He wiped his forehead and said,"Would your leader be open to negotiating? If we went back emptyhanded … I suspect we'd get worse than the boot for this."

The tired newt could tell she was smiling under her helmet,"Indeed …free your prisoners first and I'll grant you that request!"

The Borrowpit Legion sighed with relief.

"Astounding! One warrior destroyed those bandits and robots so quickly and gained 200 villagers and possibly a whole legion for her queen as a bonus!"Grime said.

"Not mad about this one?"Sasha asked. She smiled as he vibrated with badly repressed glee.

"How could I be mad? That was the best fight I've seen with one's feet and deadly skill with knives in ages!"

"She's awesome!"Ivy said with starry eyes.

Sasha laughed,"Totes … that's one bad*& ninja knight chick …"

"Syl, you will never be able to say you're not cool after this!"Marcy said when Sylalleas arrived back with her new prisoners/recruits.

"Marcy, please … I know my skills as a Nightwatcher are invaluable, but you don't need to keep heaping praises on me!"Sylalleas protested.

"Nope, you're cool and I will not hear you deny that!"Marcy replied. The others agreed and cheered their Nightwatcher on.

It had been the oddest experience for Syllaleas to watch Marcy get ecstatic to learn that she'd been a member of the Nightwatchers before she was a Death Knight. The Nighwatchers were the best of the best in the Star Elves; a group of wardens, assassins, and bounty hunter elf ladies that everyone knew to fear. Ater her death and resurrection, Sylalleas had been cut off from many of her old skills and people and hadn't used them that much. But Marcy convinced her this was a new chance to reembrace those skills and hone them to a new level and even made her a fresh set of her sisterhood's old order.

"Fitting, isn't it? Now that you know we face a being called the Night?"She asked Syllaleas as she polished her helmet on the First Temple's steps.

"Lady Marcy, for many years I stood guard over monsters like that pathetic creature. It is more like an empty void than a being reflecting the night sky my people know and love! Of course I feel it fits now. You need those more aware, adept at moving in the shadows, warriors who strike at the … oh, you want me to be that don't you?"

"Of course I do! My very own Nightwatcher …friend!"Marcy said.

Sylalleas cracked a small smile," You've earned our loyalty and friendship already, little Star."

Marcy wanted to make sure,"Have I? This isn't just …bribery, desperation, or pity on your part?"

The elf took Marcy's hands and made her eyes glow green,"You've gotten powers that would surpass many I've fought alongside and strive constantly to become a being of intelligence and humility like your Stone of Wit wants you to be. I'm proud to help your flame shine brighter in the skies like any star should!"

The Candyman Can't* Dry Swamp was open season on anyone owning it or not.

Resources were almost nonexistent, and dangerous sandworms roamed the area. Outlaws roamed through all the time now. Andrias's forces passed through all the time on patrol, but didn't commit much when they lost over 700 robots to various mishaps besides the many others lost to Marcy near the area. No factories or bases existed within thirty miles of the edges of the desert.

While the Frost Knights wreaked havoc, Marcy made her move to save some more lives there.

Since Bomme's train Engine 888 was all set for passenger work, Marcy set about recruiting most of the inhabitants in the three major populated areas there.

The Driller was sent on another attack run near the wrecked areas of Bittyburg and Mossflower to draw any attention its way. Every factory and Frobot was consumed.

Stonewell was the first stop. Coincidentally, that was one of two places Barry had his first close encounters with her there.

"So, she's the one mucking up our delicious anarchy!"He growled.

"Careful boss. She is the most dangerous criminal in Amphibia!"Brian cautioned. They'd had several unnerving encounters with her warriors that always ended in defeat.

"Oh I know! But I'm very unforgiving, so I'm gonna spoil whatever she's doing with these suckers!"

"Hey, Sweetheart,"He called out as Marcy stood there with Bomme, Zel, Oscar, Mimi, Gerald, her top eight Wit Wraiths, and Halley,"why so … bitter-looking?"

"Huh?"Marcy asked.

Her Mar Guards were out of sight on the roofs and ready to shock him into next week, but he didn't know that.

"Can't you tell?"He giggled, twirling a lollipop in his fingers,"you look so unappetizing like that, and it's scaring them!"

The mayor she'd been negotiating with shrugged as she glanced at him.

"Let me guess, you're an expert on being sour AND bitter as a candyman out of a job?"

"Hardly. I've got a major racket going now. I think I'll try and sweeten the deal here!"

Her green eyes narrowed,"What is YOUR deal anyway? What do you get out of this?"

Barry grinned and spun a lollipop in his fingers,"Oh that, when this war started … I realized, this world has finally gone insane and is ending!"

"And what, you're going to eat candy and sing merry tunes ABOUT ANARCHY while the world burns? You're more pathetic than I thought!"Marcy said flatly.

Barry glowered,"Oh please, this world's ending and you're not making it stop but get even worse! At least I'm enjoying it either way! I've got a sweet tooth for anarchy, and so do my guys!"

"Yeah, I used to be a tax accountant, day in and day out crunching numbers on the clock. Now I drink the blood of my enemies and eat dessert for breakfast!"Brian said.

"Good for you. Bad diet choices and YOUR SQUEAKY VOICE obviously make you a very SCARY anarchist!"

Brian glowered.

Marcy raised a finger, "Keep in mind, there's one thing about anarchy: It doesn't discriminate on who gets the short end of the stick. YOU wanna play that game … you invoke the LAW OF THE FISHES!"

The Marauders laughed hysterically. Barry wagged a finger at her,"You're making that up, sweet cheeks!"

Marcy chuckled darkly and went deep voice mode, putting them on guard at once,"No I'm not. The law of the FISHES is an old idea about how when disorder, or CHAOS if you will, reigns, the strong will dominate and devour the weak. In other words, the big fish eat the little fish. But under the protection of a strong POWER, the weak will resist the strong. And you … BARRY BOY, you look like a small but very round pink fish in a tiny pond to me right now, JUST WAITING to be spread out like berry JAM on a sandwich!"

The residents of Stonewell cracked up.

Barry's face went from purple to cherry red and he shook with psychotic rage. She'd just called him a fat fish waiting to be eaten. No one had ever called him such a thing to his face and gotten away with it.

The other Marauders were torn between laughing at her bold insult or staring in disbelief.

Barry screamed,"How dare you!? Are you threatening to kill me?!"

"Pretty much … if you're stupid enough to push it!"Bomme said. He gulped as Marcy's fingers crackled with energy and her bodyguards came out onto the rooftops to point weapons at him.

She tossed a pair of blue and pink dice in her fingers that glowed,"I'd RUN if I were you!"

He did so.

Stonewell joined Marcy's Rebellion less than an hour later.

Barry was dead set on getting something from this trip.

"Oh shucks, let's try Baby Town, the kids and their parents there will fall for me easier!"He said.

"Ok …"Brian said nervously.

Baby Town was a town which had an unusually high amount of babies of all kinds of Amphibians. Some said it was a blessing on the town or a magic spring there in the desert, but whatever the reason, it was a highly populated town of over 6,000 with large families.

Marcy wasn't going to let all these kids get hurt on her watch.

Barry only got to the gates before Marcy walked out and said,"Hey kids, who wants candy?!"

The legions of kids cheered.

Barry lost it and ran at her with a psychotic howl of rage.

"OH NO YOU DON'T!"

He tossed a curse at her, which she disintegrated easily.

"Hey, quiet down, we're going to eat candy!"A tadpole named Charlie said.

"Yeah!"His friends called.

"SHUT UP, BRATS, OR ELSE!"Barry howled.

That terrible decision earned him the wrath of that dangerously protective species everyone should fear: mothers. Baby Town had lots of those, and they were even more protective of their kids than most. The local police were terrified of scaring one of the kids for risk of incurring their wrath.

Even Marcy winced seeing him get beat up by them. It would take him four weeks to fully recover. She decided not to let him roam loose anymore.

"Take this bad candy man away, BOYS!"She directed some Siber-Bots. They respectfully walked around the angry mothers and handcuffed him with shackles all over.

After Barry was dragged off moaning in pain by her guards, Marcy was thanked by the mayor.

"Thanks, Miss Wu,"Josie Paddler said to an unmasked Marcy.

"Of course, Mrs. Paddler, I wasn't gonna let him be near all the little kids!"She said.

That town followed her lead and joined her forces for protection in light of the destruction being unleashed in other areas. Bitty Burg's surviving population had already fled to Wartwood after their towns were wrecked by the armies advancing in other Desert regions.

That was two down, one to go.

Banksville was a painfully obvious spot to rob a bank. They had a town slogan of 'we have money'.

The Plantars had stopped Renee Frodgers and her band of outlaw performers from robbing it months ago.

Now, with even less protection and the law system going to pieces, the money there was ripe for the taking.

The remaining Marauders planned to go into the bank from the rear.

But several Newtromatons and Paladins with close quarters weapons came out of nowhere and surrounded them.

Amelie and Sydney appeared in their midst and beat them up. The Marauders were all taken captive.

"Curse you, Cyber witch!"Brian howled as they were hauled off to be locked up in the Amphibiexpress's rear car.

"WELP, I'm pretty sure those guys have an undying hatred OF ME. How about you guys?"Marcy asked the town's bedraggled police chief.

"No no, we're grateful, Miss Wu!"He clapped his hands and they began loading the goods from the bank and everything else onto her waiting all-terrain train,"that's the fourth group to try that, along with the Frobot Squads and more, we won't last if we stay here!"

"Of course, let's get all this somewhere safe!"Bomme said. They began heading off in her new Amphibexpress locomotive that was letting them travel the area faster.

The Dry Swamp was one of their proudest achievements. They'd recruited all three major settlements (and several wanderers) into their ranks to be safe.

Tritonio Espada and his Merry Band were at a loss seeing the lengthy passenger and cargo train passing through the desert after they'd just robbed a different train and cache blind.

A frog with a white beard and straw hat holding a banjo sat on the top of the middle car with Marcy and, five of her Frobots. Boogie Radley, a vagrant and ex-con, didn't like large crowds, talking a lot or the police.

Marcy kept him company without chatting him up for now.

He strummed absentmindedly. She tapped her knees and feet in rhythm. Struck with inspiration, she pulled out the music sheet for 'Cripple Creek' and her new violin.

Radley raised his bushy eyebrows, reviewed the notes, and started playing. She joined in, playing her violin in a fiddle-style.

A giant sandworm erupted from the ground and launched itself at her (again) halfway through and she shot it in the face with a laser blast from her wrist (again). Radley cackled and they started over.

"Heh …"Tritonio could not keep a smile off his face,"the new Queen is having herself a merry time on a train … I like it! I must get a score- I mean ride- on that train someday myself!"

His Merry Band chuckled.

*Research and Philanthropy*

"Remind me why you've set up a bank account on your world?"Zel said to Marcy as she used her interdimensional link to Earth to multitask on accounts and research.

"Simple, Zelly! I'm preparing for when I go home!"Marcy's smile faltered as she tapped her family photos,"I intend to make it up to my folks and everyone else, and …let's be real, plenty of people could and would get nasty about my mistakes…having a growing backup account of money for emergencies, damage payoffs or other needs is essential!"

Zel patted her on the back,"I know people can get ugly, but don't get paranoid yet. This is a handy idea regardless of that! You got quite the haul already!"

"It was easy winning some online contests, lotteries, well-placed stock options and a few other legitimate get-rich quick methods! I'm already well on my to becoming a multi-billionaire! And I can spare a fair bit just to be nice,"She donated a few million to charities of many kinds and set up a few projects,"My teachers have said I could cure cancer or world hunger … we can get started on that!"

"Just in time for the holiday season!"Smarcy said.

"Yes … also, I want to do some more research on interdimensional stuff! Dr. Jan's museum information is one thing, but …"she pulled up some obscure files,"this is far from the only kind known on Earth! Terri theorized that the Box is used by the Leviathans to pinpoint locations in an infinite universe of endless possibilities of other worlds. Mr. Fiddleford McGucket of McGucket Labs in Oregon has submitted several genius level designs and patents to the US Government over the past seven years … and he's friends with Stanford Pines, a mysterious man with sketchy files of a portal design and criminal history in Gravity Falls, Oregon! A bit encrypted, but …"she hit a button.

Smarcy whistled,"Fascinating … Mr. Pines was a traveler of dimensions for years! He and McGucket share notes on the nature of the multiverse!"

"The what?"Bomme and Zel asked.

"Like I just said, here's many different dimensions of reality … like Amphibia and Earth, the story universes I got some of our ideas from, or the many worlds the Core has conquered!"

"I see … go on!"Veronica said.

"Yes yes … Mr. Pines has been to dimensions of chance, a finger dimension, a Nightmare realm, and alternate versions of Earth! Ooooh, that means there's other timelines of Amphibia too!"

"I don't follow that part!"Zel said after a moment of silence.

"An alternate timeline … it's where your life and mine could've gone differently just a little bit or a lot … and our whole lives went in different directions than they are now. Say, one where Andrias never went evil, one where Sasha took over Amphibia, and so on."

"Whoa … that's awesome! I have both eyes or a rich career in some worlds!"Bomme whistled.

"Indeed … I think I'll borrow these boys notes on portals and interdimensional physics along with Terri's … just in case we need them!"Marcy hit download.

Zel clapped,"Good call! A backup in case the Box is out of reach can't hurt."

Of Crabs and Kings *

If there was any figure who invited anger out of Marcy's army besides her the most, it was Zel.

The top brass in Andrias's army and many of the upper crust viewed her as a traitor of the highest order, responsible for costing them thousands of troops, her own commanding officer and control of the South by switching sides with over half of their troops down there and 'selling them out' and leading Marcy's forces in open battle to crush her former kingdom's forces.

Andrias was able to use that to galvanize his soldiers and gain a swell of willing fighters, but he also had to deal with the fallout.

Nolan asked him,"Our biggest rebel threats are one thing. I've had my hands full dealing with Beatrix and other toad insurgents in the North and West since this started. She's manageable even if I've suffered heavy losses just sending troops around the lava ponds and swamps around Aldo's former territory, and the human girl's small rebellion was never large scope enough to cause a major problem, but now all three of them are running circles around us. Could you at least take down one of their major commanders?"

Andrias smiled,"Nolan, I can assure you, Captain Grime has been injured but escaped death recently a few times in my recent battle tests of newer robots. His ragtag town bandits won't be a threat at all for long against us now. Beatrix will fight until Death's Eye Mountain or herself blow up, I'm sure … as for the Cyberkinetic Witch, I may have something in mind to eliminate one of her best."

A large robot came out. It was grey and green, stood at 14 ft tall, with four large spider legs and two lengthy arms tipped with scissor-like crab claws. Its insectoid head was elongated and had sharp mandibles around a circular mouth and four yellow eyes.

Nolan circled it, "Impressive … who came up with this?"

"It's an old design, actually. My ancestors used it in long-gone times as a durable combat machine. It has special durable armor that lets it absorb the force of attacks, store it and then unleash them back at an enemy in a destructive blast. It's also conveniently immune to electrical attacks and can go underwater, something most of our robots struggle with. The only new feature is an additional weapon: electric energy nets that shock on contact. No creature short of an Island Crab could hope to match it in strength right away. This robot is good at stealth tactics, mission-focused, and can also track a target … let's assign it one, shall we?"

He put up a picture of Zel Brooks,"She was recently spotted leading an excursion near the Boiling Bastions … a good chance to target her, if nothing else. Robot, Commander Zel Brooks of the Cyber Rebel Army is your target. "

"Target accepted!"It said in an insectile voice.

"Don't stop until she is dead or caught! If you catch her, bring her back at once!"Andrias ordered it.

Zel was en route to meet with Marcy after crushing a force at Rockbottom lake near Stony Gulch. The lake was thoroughly deserted after the town and factories near it had been destroyed.

The robot zoomed it with telescopic infrared vision on her from the nearby cliffs. Zel was walking along the shores towards the direction of the Boiling Bastions with two of the CG's, Sterns, and her Z-Crew.

"Target found…

Options: Capture or kill?

She was too far away for a reliable shot with the energy net, so it opted for a blast.

Andrias didn't realize that Marcy kept some of her best robots spread out to protect not just her, but her top officers and friends. The CGs were among the best at detecting incoming attacks thanks to their radar.

CG-3 tackled Zel just in time.

"What was that for?!"Zel yelled. CG-3 pointed at the spot where she just stood.

CG-4 pinpointed their attacker,"Commander, look on the cliffs!"

They saw the large shape in the shadows, with small glowing yellow eyes.

"Get it!"Zel yelled.

Her troops opened fire while the three Mar Guards took position near her.

The robot leaped down, showing its crablike form in more detail. It fired rapid shots, taking down eight Marines and two Maraudbots at once.

The Demo Squad directed the rest to take cover.

The robot shrugged off several bullets as it crawled towards Zel.

Sterns zoomed at it and went for the legs, slicing at the joints.

It fell forward.

-Power levels up by 20%

The legs were still operational, and its torso was unbothered. It caught a Marine and Paladin in each claw and crushed them.

Chris hit in the face with a grenade, blowing it on its back.

-Power up by 50%.

Target inbound from 30 degrees to the right.

"You picked the wrong day to try and off me, crawler boy!"She yelled.

The head rotated and fired a blast she dodged.

The robot stood up, visibly glowing.

"Commander Zel Brooks …eliminate!"

"Oh goodie, I've got a hit on my head!"Zel said sarcastically.

A boulder hit the robot at high speed from the side.

"Commander, think of the bright side. You are dangerous and have earned a threat level high enough to warrant such an attack,"CG-3 said while keeping his Force trident pointed at the enemy.

Zel kept her eyes on it,"I know, we'll celebrate later, because that still wasn't enough to keep it down!"

-Power now at 120% capacity

The insectoid machine zoomed at her at high speed and grabbed her in one claw.

She punched it one eye. It grabbed her right arm and squeezed.

"Owwww!"

"Not so fast, ugly!"Sterns yelled. He launched at its face and stabbed it right in the eye.

It squealed and backed up.

"Oppppticssss d-d-damaged. Rerrrrooutting powerrrr …"

"Good job Sterns!"Zel said as CG-4 and Malkovitch helped her to her feet. She stared at the robot and said,"Find me a soft spot, somebody!"

"The eyes and back of the neck are weak points,"CG-3 noted.

Drake noted,"That armor's reinforced, Commander. From the looks of it, it's not getting weaker from getting hit!"

Curious, Sterns fired an Energy beam at its chest.

It didn't even flinch, but stood there.

"Attack force absorbed!"It said.

"Oh heck no!"ZeL groaned.

"Target locked!"It fired the energy net out of its head next.

They dodged. The net sparking angered Zel.

She made a throat slash gesture to her troops and pointed at its head.

They nodded.

She held her sword in her good arm and leaped in its path.

The beam began to charge in its mouth.

"Super Sprint!"

Sterns cut it on the back of the neck with one big slash.

The CGs fired stun blasts at the spot.

It staggered forward, dazed and sparking on the head a bit.

The two HERCs on hand wrapped their grappling hooks around its legs and made it fall down.

The three Mar Guards came up and hit the neck four more times apiece.

Zel jumped on its head and stabbed it in the eyes with her blade, driving it in deep.

The robot twitched in death throes. Zel kept her blade in until her troops pried the head off. The body sparked and combusted, leaving behind a shattered shell and a burned out head.

"Haul the torso remains and the head back with us!"Zel directed them. The HERCS took the pieces apart and spread them out for transport.

"Fascinating, this is a NEW design I don't know!"Marcy said a while later when Zel showed her.

"Fascinating and a pain!"Zel grumbled as Sally healed her arm and Skibi wrapped a bandage around it for her.

"I KNOW, Zelly, I know. Good job on handling that. Now what do we call it?"

"It's some kind of …spider crab thing!"Maya said.

"Really?! I swear, tentacled beings and crabs, two THINGS they know I've had to face! Fine, we have a CANCER BOT, let's try something else mythological or crab-related!"

Smarcy found one creature called the Zaratan from Arabic lore, a monstrous crab that had a shell resembling an island and was often mistaken for one, fleeing when it felt fire on its back. In modern times people mistakenly called it a turtle.

Bomme smiled thoughtfully,"I like that one! This big crab …and it takes tons of hits and hits back harder …

"The Zaraton!"She and Marcy yelled in unison.

Smarcy clapped and said,"Adding it to the list of threats now!"

Miles away, Andrias was having a meeting with major Generals Noland, Thrak,Talis and several dozen other top brass.

His royal knights were present as well.

Gobain the Enduring was a middle-aged ensatina salamander newt (brown and orange stripes) with a grey beard grey armor. He had his assembled company: Garret, a black and white spotted Northern slimy salamander newt with vision problems; Jessa, a yellow newt with blue hair and a paddle tail; Sogramor, a brown newt with red eyes; Edward, a teal newt with combed black hair and a trim mustache; Camille, a long-toed salamander newt with indigo hair; Palamades, a stoic palmate newt; Kelly, a red salamander newt with auburn hair and a spunky spirit that Garrett had a crush on (she was the first girl to be nice to him); Thaddeus, a quiet crocodile newt; Tara; a fiery red-headed long tailed salamander newt with a tail nearly 7 ft long; and Savoy, a seal salamander newt. They were among the most successful or dedicated knights around. Palamedes, Tara, and Sava had distinct Coral knight armor, armor awarded to those who won their first battles in coastal/sea missions around the bay. Available in many colors, it had coral reef crests and spikes along the pauldrons, tail coverings and helmets. The Reef swords they carried were blue sabers with coral-reef shaped hilts.

Sir Trenton and Lady Hida, along with some lingering members of the royal castle guards, stood there with them.

"Thank you for coming. The North Tower and Newtopia are undergoing reconstruction as new fortifications for our armies and Frosch is completely cut off for the moment. Over a dozen pirate crews and renegade toad hordes coming out from the Northwest have been taken care of. 1300 of these troublemakers are now serving as laborers and our military production Unfortunately, our success is mixed with loss! General Bosca of the Commandos perished in battle against the rebel Sasha Waybright and his right-hand newt Colonel Shang is suspected dead. Admiral Torosa was captured in plain sight, General Broly died facing the Magic Knights of the Cyberkinetic Witch along with half of his legion, and two bases with the Emerald Musketeers and the three Field Marshals running them near Froscha were wiped out completely with every soldier there by Beatrix. The Borrowpit Legion and a quarter of our other forces have recently defected, our garrison at the East Tower was wiped out by a rogue knight in her employ yesterday, and I have also confirmed my suspicions that the Night Guards were all captured at their own hidden base!"

The officers frowned darkly.

"Sire …what do you intend to do about these insurgents? We still don't know who the Cyberkinetic Witch really is. Do you know?"Nolan asked testily.

"I suppose that's an issue to address … the public has all sorts of theories about her. Her real name is a mystery since she's made sure her information I had was wiped clean and she erased her original home … this girl was working as a valued new assistant for my advisor, Lady Oliva, on recommendation from General Yunan and the Night Guards. She had good skills and brains as a graduate of the University. For a few weeks, she did good … until that incident a month ago when she made this Castle explode with heavy damage and got away after trying to tamper with the Music Box! Master Marcy, Lady Oliva and General Yunan were casualties of this disaster."

"That's how she did that?"Rivula asked in disbelief. The incident had spread alarm for hours and had been hushed immediately afterwards.

"Of course! What she was thinking, I don't know, but it injured me gravely and set us back hard. She lost her mind and blames me for her injuries. Now she seeks to get her revenge … on me!"Andrias tried to sound like the idea was ridiculous.

Because it was.

Branson said,"Sire, we just got word. Our long-range drone spy has footage of her near the Southern edge of the Boiling Bastions. It looks like she's meeting with some runaway workers."

"Show it!"Andrias ordered him.

It was the first time many had gotten a good look at her … or her forces for that matter. Zel (still alive), her 'cult' (now at sixteen members), the rogue Circus who'd done major damage to his caravans over the past few weeks, and her unique robotic bodyguards. It alarmed him to see the entire number of Asurdroids and Frost Knights/

The Driders were undetectable by their screens and were standing at the back next to the CGs.

A group of frogs and toads in ragged clothes and cloaks in front of her. A frog with brown hair and red eyes named Nancy cleared her throat,"Your majesty … if that's what you wanna be called …"

"Just call me M for now! Since I'm a mystery!"Marcy suggested.

Nancy chuckled,"Sure, why not? M, you said we should just go down South with you! I appreciate the offer-I really do- but if you're so tough, why not just end the king right now? We lost everything thanks to him!"

The crowd grumbled.

Marcy waved her hands placatingly,"I know you're VERY CROSS with the evil power-hungry maniac … so am I! It's one thing to crush his minions, another thing to take him head on! His own armies are still larger and he's one slippery big boy with tricks up his sleeves. He just sent a big spider crab robot to TRY AND KILL my commander before we got here!"

Zel nodded and rubbed her bandaged arm. Nolan and Andrias exchanged looks.

"The stakes are high and getting higher, it's true. But mark my words, when the dust settles, Andrias will be lucky if HE'S still got his treacherous backstabbing hands, let alone his head, attached to his body! I made SURE he knows to be afraid of making me too angry … or else! His ugly pet eldritch abomination haunting the bowels of the Castle isn't even going to be BLINKING when I'm done with it!"Marcy rubbed her chest.

Andrias looked away from the screen.

The Core was livid. "Pet eldritch abomination?!"

"The king has pet abominations? I thought he just used krakens to dispose of pirate invaders!"A farmer named Leroy said.

"That wasn't MY idea!"Andrias groaned.

Nolan was skeptical. It sounded like something Andrias would approve of.

Marcy snickered,"That might have been better. INSTEAD, this abomination is sooo much worse. Some crazy idiots who had nothing better to do with their lives said a long time ago, 'Let's make a giant black fat marble, give it kraken arms, add some claws to the TIPS, and some creepy orange eyes full of EVIL! Even better, let's have it screech like a dying heron from a mouthless face even a diseased Grubhog's MOMMA couldn't love,"The Eight idiots glared from inside their 'face',"and we'll GIVE IT REGULAR MEALS of extra brains for an unbalanced diet to make it keep growing smarter and fatter! The royal family will keep it in on a leash in their dusty basement to guard their evil heirlooms and live a VERY UNHAPPY life. Oh yes, it's perfect, OUR ULTIMATE HORRIBLE ABOMINATION … it's aliveeee, alivveeee!' It's so awful-"she handed a sheet of paper to Odd,"that seeing these details about its nature up close makes intelligent robots like mine feel pain."

Odd glanced at the paper indifferently," Oh come on now, my queen, it can't be that ba-OHHH, MY EYES, WHYYYY?! THIS IS AN OFFENSE AGAINST EVERY DECENT STANDARD OF PROGRAMMING CONTAINED IN MY GLORIOUS CICRUITS! MY JOYFUL EXISTENCE IS ALREADY RUINED THANKS TO SEEING THIS HORRIBLE ABOMINATION! WHAT POINT IS THERE TO LIFE NO-O-OWWWW?!"

He fell on the ground holding his eyes in 'pain'. The frogs stared in bewilderment.

"See? My colleague is questioning the meaning of life thanks a terrible idea thought up by crazy idiots who should've been executed on the spot for it!"Aelita said.

Bartley chuckled,"She expects us to believe that?"

"Yeah, King Andrias wouldn't hire idiots who'd do something that stupid!"Blair said.

Andrias smiled. He certainly hadn't.

"I am not a crazy idiot, it wasn't stupid, we're not fat, and I didn't say that when we finished our shell!"Flamel yelled.

"How dare they! We worked hard on this!"Newtricula said

Many eons ago*

"It's working, it's working … our shell, the ultimate creation to cheat death and carry us and our rulers on for eternity, it's coming to life! We shall be a god, a thing to defy death and rule for all eternity!"Flamel cackled with delight as the Core shell read 'operational and waiting for mind uploads.

"It will risk hurting our minds and intellectual capacity, but is worth the risk!"Newtricula agreed.

"King Tritones requested we make it resemble his glory … some gills on the top for a natural crown would help!"Julianna suggested.

"Indeed. And I've already made plans to model the optical parts resemble his own enchantingly intense eyes!"Flamel said. He rubbed his hands together. Best idea ever!

Back in the crazy present*

"Great, so he's evil and has bad house pets. What else could go wrong?"Nancy grumbled.

Marcy decided to go hardball on insulting the Leviathans.

"Everything could. The world could be ending … in fact, let me borrow something from a Good Book I know of to TESTIFY to how EVIL the king and his family are,"Marcy raised her hands and quoted a legit Bible verse.

"Let that NIGHT be solitary and NOT worthy of praise. Let them who curse it curse the day, who are ready to raise up … A LEVIATHAN!"

The refugees' jaws dropped open. The CRA troops smiled approvingly.

The newts in the Castle slowly looked in fear towards their king.

Andrias startled snarling.

"You will pay dearly for that, Wit!"Jocasta said venomously. The Leviathans in the Core scared the other minds with the collective rage they felt.

The newts in the room with Andrias were afraid. That look in their king's eyes looked … murderous. If they could've seen the Core's eyes full of ungodly hate below them, they would've run for the hills.

"Did you just curse his family name as pure evil?"Jimmy asked incredulously.

Marcy crossed her arms,"Pretty much … that family has been BEGGING to get called that for AGES. Andrias Leviathan is Lord of Amphibia, Peacekeeper of a thousand years, and the first of his name. That's the COMMON knowledge about him. The UNCOMMON knowledge is that he's the last of a long line of long forgotten maniacs, monsters, conquerors, and psychopaths that developed an extreme god complex … which means they got as full of themselves as you can get! Is it any wonder he's the only one left?"

Andrias shook with rage as Marcy kept going," He's a lazy big guy who smiles and acts like a child while hiding a dark side that could eat you alive. The word 'Leviathan' is already associated with chaos, large things, corrupt regimes, DEMONS, and GIGANTIC sea monsters that could swallow you up and end the world. I'd say the whole royal family took that VERY literally! Just look around you!"

The refugees swallowed as she continued,"Andrias Leviathan the First has become Andrias THE WORST! I watched this FRIENDLESS tyrant ensure he remains friendless, ruin his Peacekeeper record in just one day! He played literal games that started this mess, blamed everyone but himself for what his own hands have done, said whatever he needed to say to get people to dance to his tune, and gloated like a total psycho about how glorious he thought conquering things would be for Amphibia when he started this! Oh yes, Andrias, it's looks glorious alright … NOT!"

The refugees and eavesdroppers jumped at her volume.

She pointed at the Castle and said,"Just look, the crazy LIZARD is so full of it his first GREAT idea was to make his family's stupid brick OUTHOUSE fly!"

Andrias scowled so fiercely everyone in the room backed away from him. The Core shook with hate in the basement. It was one thing to call a newt a salamander, but even more insulting to call them a lizard … along with all that other stuff.

Jimmy laughed nervously,"Wow, you really do have it out for him!"

"Of course I do … he asked for it. You start a war; you WILL get insulted by SOMEBODY. All Andrias has accomplished is surrounding himself with destruction and dead people. If WE win, we can rebuild and do something MEANINGFUL with our lives. If you come with me, you can stay as safe as possible from him in my territory."

"Can you guarantee that?"A frog named Richie asked.

Marcy giggled like a loon, "Certainly! Besides my growing army everyone knows can go toe to toe with his, he can't come too close to my areas. As Queen of the South, I'm banning him from my territories as of today. He'd better listen or else … I could kill him WITH THE POWER OF MY MIND!"

"Really?"Nancy said skeptically.

Marcy put her index finger against the left side of her head and made a distant flying robot explode.

"Oooohhhh!"The crowd said in awe.

"That's original!"Tara whispered to Savoy.

"Can she really do that? To a person?"Blair asked nervously.

"Of course not. We'd be dead by now!"Bartley argued.

"You might not be. You're not worth it!"Branson grumbled.

Andrias groaned,"Boys, she can't do that to a person!"

Yuriko pushed her red sunglasses up and scrutinized the Castle,"For his own good, his majesty should avoid risking that. The nasty mess his exploded skull would leave on the Castle walls and foyer would be a very undignified death. They'll call him the Peacekeeper of a thousand years whose mind went to a thousand pieces!"

Most of the Amphibians shivered.

"That lady robot makes a valid point, sire! "Bartley said.

Andrias chuckled nervously.

"I'll move the Castle a bit to the West … just in case!"

He put one hand on the Box and steered the Castle slowly towards the Northwest.

"Let's start inventing brain protecting headgear!"Blair whispered to his two colleagues.

"Even if she couldn't do that, that dishonorable wretch would have to get past all of us first … "Nazgrowl said.

Verona, Kadmos, Crocus, Makariya, Marcus, and Minerva happened to be standing to the far left. The six knights glanced towards the direction of the eavesdropping robot. Makariya, Minerva, and Kadmos rubbed fingers along their weapons thoughtfully. Crocus and Marcus cracked their necks and Verona's pauldron eyes dilated.

The newts and the Core shivered. None of them wanted to face those knights personally if they could avoid it. Their recent rampages had earned them the reputation of no single Amphibian being able to stand up to them and live to tell about it.

The burning gazes looking their way right now gave off the intense impression that there were a thousand horrors waiting behind their eyes… atrocities that they could feel echoing just faintly out of sight …

"That's sounds like a good defense, mister! I'm sold!"Richie said.

Zel took over,"Glad to hear it. Right now, a definitive end to this struggle isn't in sight. So relocating you folks to ensure your safety,"she smiled kindly at a tadpole near her,"is our current priority! That will make ending Andrias's tyranny easier!"

Nancy shrugged,"Sure, why not?"

Odd said,"Great, we can hang, rest and get ready to fight in the Amphibian Calamity War!"

"I'm not calling this war that!"Andrias grumbled.

"That's what you're worried about?"Thrax said in annoyance.

An interior designer named Shelly was surprised, "That's what he's doing? I thought he was just mad the toads ruined his Castle decorations our taxes have paid for with their failed invasion of Newtopia and decided he needed to put his foot down to crush their uncivilized style, do countrywide redecorating, put the Royal house out of the reach of further vandalism, and do some oppressive redecorating all over!"

Nancy groaned. Shelly was decoration-obsessed even at the worst of times.

Marcy's gang (even the knights) and most of the refugees started to break down into badly repressed laughter. Andrias himself started to chuckle. Triple B, Thrax, and half of the knights and soldiers present snickered. Nolan gave a rare smile. Quite a few of the Core minds themselves found that funny.

"That hasn't been necessary in a long time!"Sigurd said.

"Perhaps it is now …"Tamora said.

"You cannot be serious …"Talis said incredulously.

Marcy tried hard to remain composed,"Ma'am, there was definitely VANDALISM of Castle decorations that day from a certain pair of unwanted houseguests. But all his damaging 'redecorating' aside,"Zel coughed hard,"if Andrias usually reacted THAT badly to damage of Castle property or vandalism …I'M confident this would've happened a long time ago!"

" Don't get me started on the tapestry maintenance and constant damage to the flags!"Andrias said. A few of the Castle staff grumbled. Those were a constant issue.

A middle-aged frog named Tobias grumbled,"I didn't pay years of taxes to support his Castle going airborne and making OTHER flying buildings the rest of us don't get to enjoy while our property values and homes go up in ashes!"

Will said," How dare this fiend make flying houses with cannons perfect for home defense and not share any of them? This is unforgivable!"

Marcy finally cracked and howled with laughter.

"It's not funny! It's an outrage he did all this without asking us first! He gives civilized Amphibians a bad name!"Tobias snapped. The crowd laughed harder.

Andrias wagged a finger at Tobias,"Don't be jealous!"

Ulrich snarked,"I'm sure he's not civilized if he can't bother asking if its ok to raze the countryside first … that's just common courtesy."

"Yes, shame on Andrias for such impertinence. Then again, he's never been much for etiquette …"Zel said flatly.

Andrias smiled unashamedly as his officers frowned at him.

Marcy could not resist another joke at Andrias's expense,"Guys, forget thinking Andrias is cool, courteous or good at decorating! He's not! LOOK AT NEWTOPIA, he left it a sloppy mess! This landscape is a gardener's worst nightmare, and he's jealous that my robots are cooler than his! The only thing he can do better is ENJOY that lovely view with window seats!"

"That is so not true!"Andrias griped.

"Yeah right!"His servants and the Core thought.

Nancy rolled her eyes. " I can see that."

"ALRIGHT, come on, GUYS!"Marcy led them off through the wastelands.

"Sire, what do you want to do to stop this madness of hers from spreading?"Nolan asked when the feed was closed.

"I need to act soon, that's for sure. We can't let her start selling flying houses with cannons!"Andrias said after half a minute of silence. Nolan facepalmed while the rest stared at him or covered their mouths to avoid laughing.

"Oh, for the love of Sanctum, Wit's still being a bad influence on him!"Aldrich groaned.

"You wish that was the case …"Alcibiades retorted.

"Another reason to end that line of thinking in his life!"Tamora said decisively.

"Why would that be a problem, sire?"Branson asked Andrias warily.

Andrias smirked,"The view is to die for, but I can't just let everyone have the perfect home defense system!"

He relished watching his servants look at him like he'd lost his mind.

His ancestors who'd already ensured he had lost his mind ground their collective mental teeth.

"I had to ask,"Branson moaned.

Garrett and Trenton coughed hard to avoid laughing.

Andrias switched topics,"Now, Gobain, I believe you were interested in leading a counteroffensive?"

"Yessss, my company and I agreed that taking the fight to the Rebellion where they live would be invaluable …"Gobain said uneasily.

"I should be able to get you inside the Valley with a sizable force. I want you to do as much damage to the spread-out factories and territories she's established in the Northern half. Her exact base location is still hidden, but I've long confirmed she resides there!"

Gobain protested"How is that valuable?! I thought you wanted to take the Rebellion down for good, but this could be a total disaster!"

Andrias put his serious face on,"It is valuable. I take such threats seriously. The only way to eliminate her threats is to take her down, and for that I need an advantage. You'll be getting adequate support and an escape route, I promise. If nothing else, this attack will buy General Talis time to establish a defensive position to keep the South on their toes! Talis, you can take a force straight to Kho Ghop Island and establish a force there!"

"How will you get us to those areas, my lord?"She asked.

"I have my ways!"Andrias said, glancing at the Music Box.

"Sir, the Drone Hosts are ready to be tested!"Bradford said.

Andrias smiled,"Perfect, they should keep the rebels occupied long enough to gather our forces properly."

"I know I'm going to regret asking, but do you have abominations in the basement?"Talis asked.

"No more than I usually do! I thought I moved them out already after the explosions last month. I should check my inventory to make sure they and their insane creators aren't still lurking there!"He said.

The Core contemplated how best to punish him.

*Release the Swarm*

Andrias had enjoyed finding out about the game concept of 'skins' and when he learned Spacecraft's Zerg had a Leviathan Brood skin, it was too good to resist.

The Leviathan Brood was purple (like himself), had spikes on all its strains, and were known for being chaotic and creeping up on their foes.

Marcy avoided the Zerg and Khalani aliens for designs for many reasons, so it was only natural he (the alien player) went for them.

The Egg Host got adapted into a new model of Shield Bot called the Drone Host with purple paint and jagged spikes adorning it. In place of a power line to connect to a building to protect, it could generate a forcefield over itself and go underwater if needed. The main reason was so it could burrow and use the factory of advanced nanobots inside it to start constructing Dragonfly drones, their new Hornet Drones, and an even newer Drone model called Buzz Locusts. It could spawn four of one kind at once below ground, and up to three times that amount in emergencies above ground.

The Buzz Locusts (or Buzzers) were the same size as Dragonfly drones, and had four barbed wings, a round abdomen the size of a soccer ball, and four red eyes. For weapons, they had two buzz-saw arms folded under their heads and a mouth of sharp teeth that had a small laser in the back.

One burrowed 20 miles away from Wartwood and the other went into an empty pond 40 miles away from Marcy's territory. They began to spawn.

Toadie had secured a wagon of supplies and was taking it back with Toadstool and Wally.

The first batch of DF drones came at them. Wally beat most of them easily, but then they started swarming around the wagon and firing.

Toadie made their ride go faster after two shots narrowly missed his head.

Sasha, Croaker, Loggle and the Sundews were waiting down the road.

"I told them to be … quiet,"Sasha trailed off seeing them come with the bug robots harassing them,"Ok gang, take these bugs out!"

They did so, but then another batch came at them two minutes later.

"Ugh, let's get out of here!"Ivy said after they squashed them in half a minute.

Five Hornets came flying up.

"Oh frog no!"Sasha groaned. These things had proven harder to fight in the air than regular Frobots.

They rode and fought. Croaker, Archie and Toadie had to take potshots at the agile things for over two miles, taking out three of them.

At the edge of town, they took cover and Sasha had Toadie go get Grime.

Grime bought reinforcements of over 30 Resistance members. They came just as five more Hornets and 20 DF's came up.

"Oh good, plenty to share!"He said gleefully. Maddie took out over half of them with well-placed throws of curses and acidic potions. Grime smacked four of the Hornets after timing their flying attacks to hit them in the air with his Hammer.

Then eight Buzzers came up.

"Uh, what the crud are those things?"Wally said. He smacked one back with his accordion, and they screeched, showing their scary mouths of saw-like teeth.

"GET AWAY!"He screamed.

Four leaped at him. Loggle punched them into pieces, only for two to leap on his shoulder and bite him.

He screamed in pain. Sasha cut those two and the rest into pieces at high speed.

Ten more came out of the woods, followed by three Hornets.

"Get 'em!"Grime yelled. The Hornets caught his eye when they went for the wagon instead.

"Oh no you don't!"He yelled. He ran at them and whacked all three down at high speed in the air.

"Ha, if this all-"A Buzzer landed on his face and he growled like a savage monster while trying to pull it off for half a minute.

22 more Locusts came out. After the Resistance crushed ten of them, they started getting more dangerous. Wally broke two heads open with his lethal instrument.

He cackled,"Stupid little bu-"

A saw cut through his instrument.

"WHY, YOU LITTLE-"He went savage on the offending Buzzer and the rest.

"They have saws? Just great …"Stumpy groaned, pulling a sharp blade out to fit into his wrist.

"Relax Stumpy, we can take 'em!"Ivy said.

One of the last three still standing shot her in the hand.

"Owww!"She howled.

Felicia crushed that one and the other two in a protective rage.

Then another batch came up, all of them with buzz saws out.

"Take them down now!"Sasha ordered.

Ivy warily kept her focus on the saws and mouths as she kicked and punched them in the head or butt.

Archie melted many of them, but he was spooked by the sound they made and he started shooting webs.

"Good boy, Archie. Let's trap these ugly critters!"Croaker said. She and her pet started rounding many up with Soggy Joe.

Grime took it on himself to defend the wagon when a handful of Buzzers kept diverting towards it.

He did great for four waves, but then two Hornets came and shot him in the back from behind.

"Urrgggh!"He howled, propping himself up on his weapon. The Buzzers forced him to defend himself with his bare hands.

Some DF drones took advantage of the distraction to target the wagon and blow it up.

A dozen others were painfully injured with bites or laser burns (including Wally, Croaker, Joe and Duckweed), one of Fern's best scissors got cut in half, Archie got shot at by a different pair of Hornets and ran for cover (angering Croaker enough to tear the two robots in half with her bare hands), Gunther went rage mode and got several cuts and bites for his trouble, and Toadstool got his coat torn up.

Sasha had them retreat, and they spent the rest of the day hiding and ambushing any remaining ones and then making their way to their hideout while making sure they weren't followed. They'd suffered injuries and lost valuable cargo with nothing to show for their efforts. It was a solid defeat for them.

Thankfully, by this point, Marcy's group had pinpointed both Drone Hosts after the other one sent waves of all three in higher numbers all over her area. A trio of AD's went into the pond to take out the one near them and Sparks and Raynor went to get the other.

"Great, just great …we have our own Zerg robots to deal with now!"Raynor griped.

"Captain Raynor, please, in the end it's no major difference whether we deal with menacing hordes of actual bugs or insectoid mechanical swarms. What matters is being able to eliminate them!"Sparks said consolingly. He pointed at the spot and their two Gorgons hit the ground, forcing it to come out.

It flexed its claws and spawned twelve Buzzers at once.

"Nice try!"Raynor said. He shot it in the head and Sparks fried the Buzzers.

"A combo of a Shield Bot and an Egg Host called the Drone Host, using a Leviathan Brood skin and color scheme… it really doesn't surprise me that Andrias used that,"Marcy said angrily while they reviewed the schematics.

Zel rubbed her forehead,"Of course not … it matches his color, name and general unpleasant nature. And now with these, he can spawn endless waves of pests to harass us … it won't be any problem to conduct long distance sieges for them."

Andrias had another design he tested, but it wasn't on them.

An angry group of newts (eighteen total) gathered to protest Andrias's poor handling of their society near the Castle. When no one else was around, the lead protestor, Lanz, turned when he heard a rumbling sound.

He screamed when a segmented tentacle with a triple claw on the tip came out of the ground and dragged him under. Two more came out and grabbed another pair. Within ten seconds, the entire group was dragged underground and never came back up.

Three Impale Bots emerged. They resembled insects with large crested heads, and had the same Leviathan skin aesthetic and three large spiny tentacles they launched from under ground to attack their enemies.

The Black Knight of Wartdrop Island*

Wayne Wartburt, a large Titicaca waterfrog of 10 ft height with flapped and segmented skin, knelt before Marcy,"My lady, I may know of one knight who could seek to join your army!"

"Oh?"Marcy said, her curiosity peaked. Wayne had been the first of his village on the Southeastern tip of the Frog Mountains near the coasts to seek to join her army when they were conquering the South. He'd become one of Zel's frog captains in the front lines. He was a nice guy and knew his way around the coasts as a competent fighter.

"Wartdrop Island had a retired knight living there … Lady Gilsig the Black Knight."

Marcy vibrated in place with excitement,"Oooo, a black knight!? The kind of literary stock character who masks their identity or that of their lord by not displaying their coat of arms on their dark armor, the kind of knight who often act as bad guys or sketchy ones?! Does she have a monopoly on that here?!"

"Ummm …"Wayne turned to Zel.

Zel sighed,"That's a yes! Let's head down there."

Wartdrop Island was a small, isolated island off the Southeast coast of Amphibia, only used as a stopping point for travelling ships. It had long been abandoned since the war started, and had few other buildings or features of interest to catch anyone's notice.

Gilsig was an odd one. This dusky salamander girl was 5'8", had pitch-black skin, brown hair, a 4 ft tail, and lantern-like green eyes. Her armor was like her body but shiny like a black pearl. The design was simple and bulky around the gauntlets. She had coral-shaped spikes on her pauldrons.

She called herself a salamander and didn't care if that made the newts angry. Her kind were known for being cave and mountain dwellers with aggressive protectiveness, unhingable jaws, and rumors of swallowing their food (some thought that included kids) whole. Their usual dark appearance and black orbs of eyes didn't help.

She carried a very unique axe. It was 6'7" ft long and had a coral-like composition. The green blade at the tip faced one side and a spiky crest of spikes adorned the other side. Gilsig called it the Reef Reaper axe, and it was her favorite tool and constant headache.

Ever since travelling to Newtopia to put her fighting skills and temper to good use, Gilsig had been dissatisfied. She never enjoyed the rules of the military and had an abrasive personality that was unleashed in nonstop mockery and sarcasm. She'd become a knight for solo work and loved the armor options, but then the Sand Wars came. She survived every fight in this war that raged across the desert areas and around the mountains so hard it raised sandstorms, and had done several solo missions and put down the Dust Devils and other insurgents with skill, but while Yunan and other great fighters got applause and medals, she was still the Southern outsider who came to Newtopia dirt-poor and had left a dozen spots in flames retrieving stolen items.

Near the end of the war, she travelled to a cavernous area just below the Olm Woods Forest. In this cave, she found the Reef Reaper axe among a pile of treasure, glowing green and untarnished. She took it outside along with a couple chests of gold and jewels. The nearby army unit had left already, so she had to trudge on foot. During that time, she found out the axe had mystical properties. It was many times harder than normal blades and could fire caustic blasts of energy that could explode on contact, send shockwaves for up to 50 yards through the ground, and set fires. The axe had an odd effect on her from prolonged exposure, and turned her dark onyx eyes into green reptilian ones, gave her increased vitality and pain tolerance, and made her feel rejuvenated. She still looked as young as Zel in spite of being older than Yunan.

Gilsig was angered when all the treasure was confiscated when she finally made contact with the army again. She chose the axe as the single item she was allowed to keep. Some people assumed she was cursed. Eventually she had enough and struck out on her own. Wandering around the Southern swamps and Dark Forest, she fought her way past every problem and did odd jobs. She found other newts annoying and judgemental, and started calling herself a salamander just to make them react. Frogs and toads were dumb, predictable or problematic to her when she was minding her own business, etc.

Eventually, she settled on the relatively quiet lone island of Wartdrop Island, and took various jobs as a mercenary and rogue knight for hire.

"Helllooo, Miss Gilsig? Care for a job offer?"Marcy called out on the shore.

"I don't think her kind is that easy to just call out and get a response!"Ivan said.

"My KIND? With your head, pal, that's saying something!"A very deadpan woman's voice called out. Ivan jumped and pointed his weapon at the knight standing on the nearby hill leaning on her axe.

She grinned as weapons were pulled out and aimed at her,"Oooh, I still got it! Never an army I couldn't rattle up!"

Marcy started shaking.

"Aw, did I scare the wierdo in the mask?"Gilsig mocked her.

"Oh … MY GOSH! Is that axe made of CORAL!?"

Gilsig blinked in astonishment.

"Huh?"

Marcy zoomed up and got very close to her body,"Is that armor VINTAGE, what is made of, do you want to swap armor stories? Is that AXE cursed, are you a bad girl and PROUD of it, or just misunderstood, is-"

"Uhhh, does she need a treat or do I need to get physical?"Gilsig asked a grinning Zel as Marcy poked her chest.

"Oh I'm sorry,"Marcy took her mask off and said,"Hi there, my name's Marcy! I heard you're called Gilsig the Black Knight! Wanna be my new cool mercenary pal?"

"What?"Gilsig said quietly.

30 minutes later*

"Shut up, big mouthed Yunan got soft towards you? That's so funny, but … kinda sweet for a girl like her!"Gilsig said. She sipped the root beer,"This 'root beer' is great!"

"I know right? This is awesome, you found a legit rare unique item, and went solo …"Marcy said, examining the Reef Reaper axe with her own protected hands.

"Thanks, you're the first to believe me on that!"Gilsig said.

"I've made detecting lies an art!"Marcy answered. She frowned and looked towards the distant Castle.

Gilsig winced,"Yeesh, I don't blame you! I'd be on edge too if I had a betrayal of trust that bad! This explains everything weird going on lately … and those robots keep causing me problems every other day when they come around."

"So what do you say? Wanna join my army, on your terms and a general freelance basis?"Marcy offered her hand.

Gilsig shook it,"Oh frogging heck, why not?"

She enjoyed trashing a dozen random Frobot patrols on the way back and soon claimed a Manta as her new steed.

"So, Gilsie, any choices for yer first pick of jobs?"Halley asked her.

Gilsig's idea was outrageously original.

She went to the East Tower, now staffed with a force of foot soldiers and Captain Maddok, a green newt with a Warrior set of armor.

Gilsig directly took the route near Wartwood, because she preferred to scope out 'competition' for herself.

She perched in a tree, used her trusty binoculars, and observed them around the Plantar house. She shrugged and started leaping through the trees toward Shiro Swamp.

Grime noticed her shadows from a distance and narrowed his eyes.

Gilsig landed on the edge of the swamp.

"Ok,"she checked her map,"now the next bend to go up is…"

She heard a loud yell from behind her and ducked.

Another toad yelling while attacking …why did they always have to do that?

Grime missed hitting her with his Hammer from the back by a few seconds.

"Not bad, newt! You have better reflexes than most!"

She groaned,"Of course … the loser ex-toad Captain!"

"WHAT!?"Grime shouted.

"C'mon, Grimothy, not only did you just do the dumb thing by yelling while attacking, but you lost your job, twice, for being stupid!"She mocked him.

He growled and charged at her, swinging with vicious fury.

"Oh great, Grimesy found a Newtopian knight coming after us!"Sasha said wearily as she and the rest ran up.

Gilsig glanced aside to see the group, rolled her eyes and swung her axe to the ground. Grime was airborne from the shockwave and she did a 360 degree spin to hit him in the face with her hard tail.

He sailed into a tree and fell unconscious.

Gilsig giggled as a furious Sasha screamed and ran at her. She cartwheeled away and was out of sight soon enough.

At Shroom Citadel, she stopped for a quick break and told the story. Every rebel there congratulated her.

Two hours later, she rode her new Manta (named Nicole) to drop into the East Tower.

"Pal, buddy, where's the latrine? I've got to go!"She asked Maddok and the dozen newts eating dinner with him in the main dining area.

They just gawked at her. She shrugged and dangled the keys to the prison cells in her hand, winked and walked out of the room.

"GET HER!"Maddok yelled. The newts charged out.

Passing Amphibians and robots stared in confusion as they heard shouts and bangs coming from the Tower.

Ten minutes later, Gilsig walked out to the window with a bound and gagged Maddok in tow and whistled.

Nicole, a squad of Reapers, and some Siberbots came flying over. She led them inside, and to everyone else's shock, she made off with the entire garrison (for the second time in this war no less) and the dozen liberated prisoners. Maddock was under her feet as she rode Nicole into the sunset and gave a very mocking goodbye kiss to the speechless Amphibians and Frobots below her.

"What?"Andrais said flatly when he heard the news.

"WHATTTTTT!?"Grime screeched in anger when he saw her new wanted poster.

"That figures!"Sasha moaned.

Gilsig got plenty of free drinks and several admirers for this when she got back.

"You're gonna do great here, Gilsie!"Marcy said.

"Yeah yeah … we'll see if you can put up with me first!"Gilsig warned her.

Marcy waved her hands around her in a circle. Gilsig took in the very bizarre crowd all around and said,"Than again, maybe that won't be a problem with this lot!"

*The Resistance and CRA discuss each other*

"You'll love this boss … the Resistance is having a discussion about us!"Vicki informed her.

"Is that so?"Marcy said. It sparked some discussion at once.

"If we're going to ally with them officially soon enough and they're investigating us, should we discuss their Pros and Cons before that day comes?"Veronica suggested to Marcy.

Marcy liked that,"That sounds good!"

The Circus, Wit Wraiths, Halley and her top mercenary friends, Tony's group, Gilsig, Darin, Brigitte, and a few others congregated in the loungeroom. The Driders, Amy, the Sudigitoids and Mothras stood guard around the room with some Phalangites.

Marcy started by saying," Okk, first off, Gilsig, welcome to your first group meeting. Everyone say hi!"

The group said,"Hi Gilsig!"

The rogue knight waved from the second row,"Thank you! Don't crowd me all at once, I'll deal with you one at a time to see who I'm going to crush first!"

The crowd laughed.

Marcy waved it off,"Oh Gilsie, you gem! If you're confused about all the details in this meeting, don't worry. We got plenty of time to explain more and can always rewatch it.

She flipped a board over with the words,"WARTWOOD RESISTANCE/REBELLION" on it.

"Today we discuss our neighbors and fellow rebels of the Valley. Let's start with location,"She had Amy display a holographic map of the town and their underground base," Wartwood is the smallest town in Frog Valley. This small town is one of the oldest, if not THE oldest, settlements around and surprisingly well built. The entire main town is-sorry, WAS-built on top of a swamp and the designers knew exactly how heavy to make everything. I managed to fix it up, improve it, sink it and rebuild it all in a couple days …so I know the finer details of their own infrastructure better than anyone. However, that is a moot point since the robot armies destroyed the town, fields and wildlife in view for at least 5 miles all around. What matters is the Plantar farm. Conveniently, the house had secret levels of an impressive cavern system already present. It fits, really."

"How so?"Gilsig asked.

"Sasha has made a literal Underground Resistance. Usually, when you call a resistance movement the Underground, it refers to everyone keeping their identities secret out of necessity and meeting out of sight, but they keep their location and organization hidden by literally going … underground!"

She tapped the holographic house,"Their base escapes most basic Frobot scanners and notice, but …as we know, the Core has upgraded to more advanced scanners,"Smarcy displayed photos of the Coreseers and Hectoids behind her,"and thanks to that, their secret is already out. It couldn't be relied on forever anyway. The entrance is covered by a stone wall, which wouldn't hold robots back if they came inside."

"And it won't do good for the new couple to do underground lodgings!"Stacy said. That got an awkward stare,"If Joe Sparrow and Bessie are dating, it's only fitting the main family rides get free open space. Bessie can graze and Joe can do his daily flying exercises to give you and the Plantars frequent flyer mile trips- "Stacy stopped talking, blinked slowly, and said,"Adyson, why am I talking about this?"

Adyson said,"We've been enjoying a lot of romantic comedy movies lately … that's my guess!"

"Too many!"Gretchen grumbled.

"That's not a bad thing, girls, let's keep going!"Wilma said with savage delight.

"Female gossip about odd couples, this just got realllll scary!"Ray said. No one took him seriously.

Marcy tried and failed to be the voice of reason.

"Now, now, Joe Sparrow has been behaving himself, it's not like Sasha is encouraging him to do excessive bold flirting with Bessie again. She values self-control when it comes to relationships and prioritizing keeping people safe. However, there's no signs that there's any strain in their peaceful coexistence, so if they are the newest happy couple -NOW WHY AM I TALKING ABOUT THIS?!"Marcy cut herself off in embarrassment.

"Relax, Mars, it's adorable how much you look out for your little hatchling in his lovebird phase! That Mom-Mar side is very strong in you! Just be supportive and encouraging while Auntie Sasha does her part!"Halley mocked her.

"Of course, I'll be supportive and encouraging for him, but that's not the point!"Marcy griped.

Smarcy giggled and said,"I have no reports of their relationship being 'unstable in the stable'."

Marcy gave her a flat look.

Dawn smirked and suggested,"Perhaps Microangelo could be the ring bearer snail when the fwagon gets 'hitched' for the honeymoon?"

"I'm sure that'll be nice!"Marcy said in defeat. She could almost picture Hop Pop's mind shutting down.

"You need to realize they need to be able take it slow and steady, a concept their high-speed relationship is managing!"Lonnie added.

"As long as their 'ship' gets off the ground, they should be fine!"Coatl said tonelessly.

"It's like car meets plane and the plane sweeps the car off her tires and they take off on the runway of love! This could be the start of a whole new race of the union of snail and bird, to rule the land and sky uncontested!"Malc suggested.

Marcy banged her head on the board.

"Nice to know that's what you get out of this!"Bomme drawled.

"It's not unlikely,"Daphne said,"But that raises the question for the new snird species to come!"

"They should be called snarrows, not snirds!"Malc objected.

Vinnie starting singing,'I believe they can fly, I believe snarrows can touch the sky! I think about it every night and day! They'll spread their wings and fly away-"

"STOP JOKING AROUND ABOUT THE JESSIE SHIP AND SNARROW KIDS! THAT IS THEIR DECISION AND NOT YOURS!"Marcy shrieked.

After the laughter went on for a full minute, she rubbed her forehead, "This is what I get for letting you guys watch Space Jammers yesterday and explaining shipping. We're discussing my bird's dating life and potential marriage to the Plantar's snail … and here I was worried we'd have NO crazy social gossip or shipping wars to discuss."

Zel scoffed,"With you girls around? No way was that going to happen! "

Aelita wagged a finger at Marcy,"That sort of thing never dies out! For shame, Marcy, you know better!"

Marcy rolled her eyes,"Yes, shame on me! What was I thinking? Let's get back to the Resistance. I know we talk about Sasha's personality ups and downs a lot,"everyone groaned or snickered," so instead let's focus on what she brings to the table as a leader and fighter. She always likes to take control of a situation or a group and do a good job of it. Which she does. She managed to reorganize the floundering South Tower Toad army into a better and more motivated fighting force,"Percy and Braddock nodded,"survived with just three toads to aid her when she and Grime became fugitives, and came up with a plan to motivate the quarrelsome Toad lords to rally to her cause at the Toad summit, and succeeded in her risky plan to retrieve Barrel's Warhammer, the weapon that the true ruler of all toads is said to be wielded by. Her devious but effective plan to sneak inside the Castle to get the drop on Andrias and get their armies inside the City was clever, but she didn't account for a few things that ruined it. Mainly Andrias's hidden trump cards or the rest of us sabotaging her plans. Even now, she manages to use the diverse talents and skills in Wartwood for effective guerilla warfare."

"What about her physical skills and fighting style?"Zel asked expectantly.

"Oh yes … putting aside that Sash was able to pry the Hammer loose, it also foreshadowed her connection to the Strength Stone, the Stone of Strength and persistence. For years she's been a dedicated athlete, tai chi practitioner, and acrobatic Cheer captain. Coming here, she's mastered swordplay with ease and won against Amphibians, robots and even monsters. Her drive to get stronger is reflected by the practice of weighing herself down with heavy armor to make herself tougher, not just protect herself. I'd even say Anne would've have done so good against her in a fight if she wasn't holding back."

"Anne still won both times though!"Bomme pointed out.

Marcy shrugged,"True …Anne is certainly not weak. She is a great athlete and an ace at tennis, which carries over to her newfound swordplay. She knows the Thailand martial art of muay thai. She also has great charisma and inspires people to fight for her in the face of impossible odds. Friend like me, Sasha, new friends, Wartwood, her found family …however, all that lovable Heart vibe of hers aside, she isn't that focused or great at leading in battle. When she returns, Sasha's experience and clear-headedness will likely ensure she maintains a dominant role! Together with me, we'll be-"she got very dramatic and pointed to the sky,"UNSTOPPABLE!"

The group chuckled as she got back down to Amphibia," The real threat she poses to Andrias, of course, is her awakened Calamity Box powers, a threat he and his dark master feared so much she had to be eliminated all the way on another world."

"He could've tried a bit better to eliminate both of them if Anne is such a threat to his plans,"Zel said.

"That's a major flaw of his, he doesn't take things seriously enough most of the time…very arrogant!"Smarcy said.

"They still came too close to ending them for my liking,"Marcy scowled.

"Speaking of close calls and slip-ups, what about Grime?"Veronica said.

"Here we go again, it's 'Gang up on Grime time'!"Smarcy said sardonically. Marcy sighed as they all laughed. Teasing him and making him look bad was a shared joke many of them did. Her robots had done it to him in person many times.

"Oh goodie, a topic I'm already experience in!"Gilsig said.

Siredona smiled wickedly,"Gilsie, you haven't seen anything yet! He was already looking bad before this, and Sasha knows his attitude needed readjusting! He's so clingy, moody and needy about needing to be in charge of something! It hurts the little guy's feelings when he can't have his army and big Tower and enjoy a good crushing of his enemies for lunch!"

"Grimothy always did enjoy winning more than anything else about being a gladiator!"Tony said with a reserved smile. The other gladiators snickered.

"He's better in the ring than the field!"Bryan said.

"Is that why he's such a sourpuss who became the 'cruellest toad soldier of all time' and the South Tower captain whose career went South?"Halley asked lazily.

Rachel crossed her arms,"Are you just saying that because he's wielding Barrel's Warhammer and you're our best hammer wielding fighter?"

Halley rolled her eyes,"Rachel, gal, puh-leaze, don't insult me when it comes to bringing 'da hammer down'. I do just fine at outdoing him on that for years!"She hefted her large mallet up,"Mine's bigger than his, his peerless Warhammer is shorter than him, and I didn't have to pull mine out a giant Narwhal worm's head!"

Gilsie drawled,"Where do I start on everything to make fun of in that sentence?"

"When you put it that way, that trip sounds so silly in hindsight!"Percy said. Braddock shrieked with laughter.

"Ok, let's put that 'behind' us,"Mars said,"and look forward. Let's go over the rest. Try to be nice about it. Just remember, the farming culture represents the backbone of society. When Sasha and Grime went to them, they proved to be deadlier than any soldier and have kept surviving against Andrias's machines sent against them!"

"Those hicks have had it easy … no promises!"Ellen said.

"I don't think that's fair to them …"Marcy said.

Nicky reminded her,"They still lost their town and have to hide underground. Long-term, they can't do any real damage by themselves!"

Alastor said,"I value hit and run tactics as much as any seasoned fighter, but it takes more than that to win a full-scale war. How many of them realize that?"

"Guysss!"Marcy said irritably.

Zel snickered and said,"Marcy … I know they're tougher than they look and are 'deadlier' than any soldier … but so are we! They have had it easy, and you know it! "

She took a softer approach as Marcy clenched her fists," Some hard truths will help them to not get overconfident and suffer for it later. They've been fighting minor soldiers and average tin can robots guerilla style and let that get to their heads too easily. Look at it this way: you have us to do constructive criticism on them that doesn't reflect on you!"

Marcy said,"That's something …even if this won't go over well. They might not see it that way. In fact … some of them already have a legit bone to pick over we come across. Yes, we're more numerous, more informed, stronger and better equipped, but they could do just as well someday. How can you expect someone to play better in a team sport if they don't get the chance to play?"

Zel was pleased to hear this"Exactly, and we can tag them in later, but first things first!"

"Perhaps my serious approach on how to proceed in a potential clash scenario is in order as a start? For the sake of argument and to highlight their weaknesses?"Coatl suggested. Everyone looked at him expectantly.

"Go on … you never disappoint on that sort of thing! We can use this later to cover weak spots!"Marcy said.

"In a battle meant to eliminate a group for good, you'd want to go for the top members first … their Resistance formed as a result of one failed attempt to take down their current two leaders. However, I'd go for the secret agent first. Mrs. Croaker might expect my unpredictable tactics and skill. She's agile for her age and has a loyal pet spider. However, as with any elderly individual, she feels blows more. Deliver blow to the back of the head, inflicting hemorrhaging and cracked skull. Unable to recover in time to survive. Alternative, target arthritic limbs and hunched spine, leaving her permanently incapacitated or worse. Archie the spider, use a special acid-proof net or pest disposal spray to eliminate. With the only comparable operative out of the way, the top two can get my undivided attention as I divide and conquer them. Grime is a veteran gladiator champion, full of guile and wielding his fancy new Hammer, but he is not as agile or clever as Ms. Waybright. He is competent but unsubtle, arrogant and predictable. Sasha is skilled with peerless brute strength, peak human acrobatic abilities,very subtle and clever, but feral and headstrong, overconfident. Let her take charge at coming at me, and then …jump over and use my flail to disarm him of his hammer and trap his dominant arm. Swing him at Waybright, distracting them. Dispose of arms or heads with axe … incapacitated with them intact, preferably,"he added for Marcy's sake," Soggy Joe, not prominent in main view as a creepy but skilled outdoors enthusiast and trucker, but with incomparable survivalist skills, knowledge of local flora and fauna, and brutal strength and skill on or off the road. Setting traps won't work on him and scaring him is futile … go right for the head at once since he knows to wear axe-proof vests."

"What does it say about Soggy Joe that he would be flattered by this?"Bomme said to Oscar. He shrugged.

"Loggle has strong upper body strength, good coordination and skilled hands. If weapons aren't available… dislocate jaw when he tries to punch me or restrain me. Target throat weakness to cause incapacitating pain. Other options are to go for his goggles and shatter them, aim for the ribs and gut he's left very exposed and crack them like eggs,"everybody winced,"or break arms on the wrist if he tries to grab me. Tuti, a skilled nerve pincher and part-time bounty hunter, gets special treatment with a Swampfever nerve grip on her limbs … that will leave her paralyzed and incapable of proper movement for 8 months. Mrs. Croaker would never recover from that, Grime would take 6 months, Ms. Waybright, perhaps less or more. Next on the scale, Felicia Sundew, the most agile on her feet and experienced fighter of her family. Same process but target her in midair … many ways I could do that. Her daughter wears armor on her chest, nothing more. Ruins element of surprise by announcing her intentions for everyone to hear. Use her own momentum and preference for using her legs and ambushes against her. Walliam Ribbiton is slippery, very bendable and wiry, but frail and very vulnerable to sneak attacks. Use his literal blind spot or his own weaponized accordion to disarm and incapacitate. Stumpy Stumperson is equipped with every available tool on hand,"he smirked at the pun," for the job. But he's slow and missing one leg, and no good at long range … hit quick, hard and long, or leave him with no good leg left to stand on, and he's down for the count. Tragically, meals will no longer be served diner style in Wartwood."

Half of them laughed nervously at his dark joke.

"Fern, a skilled hairstylist and scissor-wielding saboteur with a very poor attention span. Will be easily distracted and taken down. Toadstool is a timid politician whose only useful tactic in battle is to use his large hands … just snap them. Toadie's greatest strength is his agile small size, which is also his greatest weakness… squash him like a bug when you have him trapped,"he hit his hands together, making them wince again," Miss Flour would require specialty items to deal with her curses or a simple sneak attack. In the event she was present, assign her as a priority target, keep an eye out for her vanishing talents, or have her removed entirely from the battlefield to avoid supernatural complications and carry antidotes, shields or counters to her curses!"

Gilsig whistled in awe. And she'd been worried none of them could do a ruthless suggestion easily.

Marcy pulled at her cloak nervously, knowing full well he was picturing this in his mind. "Ok, thank you for that, Coatl … luckily, we won't ever have to do that. Since you brought up their heavy hitters, let's talk about them."

"How many do they have?"Gilsig asked.

Marcy smiled and tapped the board,"Good question, Gilsie. These farmers have some pretty diverse talent in the ranks. First up, their token witch and town bestie Maddie!"

"Is she the top threat in their ranks or your top favorite?"Veronica teased her.

Marcy smiled brightly,"Why not both? She's very interesting, very dangerous in ways no one else in Wartwood is, and our first choice for first contact as my friend and brief magic teacher!"

"Say no more!"Veronica said.

It relieved her that no one had any major complaints about her best friend from Wartwood.

"What's not to appreciate? She's good at stealth and has a rare and valued skill even we have trouble learning! None of Andrias's machines can defend against magic like yours can!"Siredona said.

Bomme noted,"Except maybe the Plasmoids, but that's a top level threat anyway. Maddie is skilled with level 2 magic and her limited resources … and already has the highest score of quick robot takedowns for the Resistance and is one of the top 5 most intelligent commandos they have! She also has good reflexes and a good head for tough situations."

"Excellent. Speaking of smart guys, their best lookout is the former mayor's assistant, Toadie McBog III,"Marcy pointed at Toadie's picture," Toadie isn't really a fighter. In fact, he prefers not to be. Can't blame him. He's small, shy and not a fan of violence. I can admire that. He's nice and a loyal friend. However, he is not without rebel value. He's very dedicated as a lookout, has a good head for details and observation, and no slacker on athletic ability!"

To her surprise, no one argued. Nicky had a fun idea,"Here's an idea. In the event of a political campaign, should we recommend Mr. McBog to run as the 'little guy' candidate for the suffering frogfolks to rally around? Froderick unfortunately, claimed his position mostly with aid from out-of-town votes with bribery …"

"I was worried about when we would finally move into the dangerous but familiar Valley gossip area!"Marcy snarked.

"What was the point of getting votes from the rest of the Valley for a town that size that didn't even have 5% of the local population?"Malc demanded.

"Perhaps it was meant to reflect on Valley-wide elections for the other offices?"Smarcy suggested.

Nicky shook his head.

Vivi perked up,"Here's an idea! We'll take polls to see if the people would approve of endorsing Mr. Mcbog as the 'loveable little guy' candidate! A political resurgence for the people of the Valley and a likeable candidate they can rally behind, a competent mayor with good organizational skills who can delegate as needed!"

Marcy was relieved at this turn of events,"Go for it Vivs! Phew! We already made it past the difficult topic of politics with a stellar idea for reorganizing the political system to be better! Next! Stumpy Stumpson, the cook and owner of Stumpy's Diner, has been doing good as a specialist with his interchangeable hands that do good for combat, electrical resistance and sabotage!"

"That's good and all … but why not make him an official cyborg cook with upgraded hands to do it even better?"Vinnie said.

Daphne tapped her chin,"He might like that … hands that could do all those functions and more at once, perfect for cooking, missions and finally having fingers again!"

Marcy nodded,"True! Next up, Leopold Loggle, former metalsmith and woodsmith, now one of Sasha's best commandos on physical strength next to Dave, Soggy Joe and Gunther. He might enjoy our valued woodwork and metalworking supplies and connections. His new dedication to bodybuilding these days to gain such muscle is admirable!"

Lonnie chuckled,"Yeah … he's still an amateur! I've got years of that under my belt and several guys his size or bigger who tried to flex on me … they stopped soon enough."

"I could just swat him with one tail strike or squeeze him a bit … he'd take weeks to stop cringing!"Dawn said tonelessly.

"We'll have to see!"Darin said evenly. He was buffer and a veteran of many battles.

"It's fine … I don't even have to exercise to be among the biggest and strongest. He can do some sparring with me. I'll show him some good takedown moves!"Frezzki suggested.

"Why's he a woodsmith now instead of a metalsmith any-ohhhh,"Gilsig winced reading the details on his larynx voice box injury,"yeah, I'd be antsy about doing metalwork again if that happened to me."

Mimi wrote,"MAYBE WE CAN FIX THAT FOR HIM?"

"That's very thoughtful of you, sweetie!"Halley said fondly.

"Yeah, worry about that later. Now, Mrs. Croaker is their head of assassinations and intelligence gathering. A cute little Froggy Grandma, a former spy and secret agent … perfect for the role. Who knew dairy farmers could be so dangerous?"

"I've met a few like that!"Gilsie offered.

"A cover job always makes someone look less dangerous than they really are!"Coatl said.

Marcy cringed," I don't think that was a cover job!"

"Marcy, please, you don't get far in the spy business without being deceptive or convincing as a civilian in disguise for a job … that's possibly one reason Mrs. Croaker is so alone in life!"He said.

Marcy wasn't impressed,"I doubt that's why she lives alone! She is an active community member!"

"Not a very welcoming one. She was pretty grouchy to you for no reason when you just said hi and is one of the worst anti-outsider types living there!"Veronica reminded her.

"She's the local crazy village grandma who hates kids, uses a cane, needles, and her killer pet spider to sic on unwary visitors who bother her!"Malc said.

Marcy sighed,"If that were true, there'd be more horror stories. Anyways, she is good as a secret agent and their head of intelligence gathering and assassinations for what they have to work with! Info on most threats all over, and apparently eliminating over 50 old enemies and new ones alike for Sasha!"

"That is useful. She's their most experienced asset. Even more than Grime!"Coatl said.

"Hey, doesn't she value honesty and loyalty, one reason she's a lifelong client of the Plantar Stand? A close bond with the Plantars going back to Hop Pop's father?"Stacy asked.

"Stacy, you genius, thank you!"Marcy said with relief.

Stacy liked that,"I wish my mom could hear that!"

"We know you're a budding genius, Stace!"Wilma said.

Ignatio spoke up"That's ironic, considering Senior Plantar is pretty dishonest and crooked at his worst. That old farmer acted shifty towards Senorita Boonchuy and his neighbors many times in the last year and hides a dark criminal past most don't know about! If she wasn't his loyal neighbor and friend, he'd make a valid target."

The Bazaar stories/records of his criminal Wrecker years, burying the Box and lying to Anne hung in the air.

Marcy groaned,"I'll have Anne help me deal with THAT headache. Next … oh, how about Wally? He's handy in battle and packs a mean swing with his accordion …see?"

His feats with it in the first Wartwood battle against the Froglets did not impress them.

"That's it?"Gilsig said in disappointment.

"Exactly, Gilsig. He just knocked a few of their smallest Frobots off their feet. Big deal!"Darin said.

Rachel spun one of her knives and said warningly,"If he hits me with that, I'll wrap it around his neck!"

"Same!"Six others (including Ellen and Blaise) said.

"No need for that, just hang him upside down by the feet using the stretchy thing as a rope!"Jack said.

"I beat a chap at the Colosseum once like that … played a mocking tune while he jumped all over the place … I broke it on his head when it was over! That was a bad day!"Tony said with a heavy sigh.

"I once took down a guy like him and three other lethal musicians who tried singing a 'victory battle ballad' against me out West once. He wouldn't last two minutes against me!"Gaff said grimly.

"He'd be lucky if he got caught by Andrias and they didn't make him eat it!"Zel said.

"Isn't he that whacky rich vagrant who was rude about Marcy and Anne in spite of the face he loves to gossip, lives in a garbage hut, panics easily, makes a lot of noise and can't wash properly?"Ravager asked flatly.

"I thought he didn't wash at all?"Gerald said.

"No, he takes bubble baths in that dirty shack he called a house and in the Town fountain!"Barney countered.

"That's even worse! And he could spread a stupid story the more gullible folks would buy too quickly!"Gerald grumbled.

"If he spreads one of those, we'll tie him up and do a rain barrel bath beatdown on him!"Phyllo said.

"I could threaten to 'get the drop on him' … that could shut him up!"Kane suggested with a menacing grin.

Marcy's heart sank as they speculated more ideas of 'beating him'.

"I don't like being hit with instruments, reminds me of my childhood …"Bogster grumbled,"I'd be tempted to use him as an accordion if he did that to me …"

"The 'Squeezebox' … don't they call accordions that? I could try to do a move like that on him …"Dawn commented. She looked a bit too thoughtful about the idea.

"Guys, don't hate on his instrument!"Halley cut in.

"I use an accordion. That's not the problem!"Daphne replied. She played a cheerful tune on hers right away.

Marcy changed the subject,"Let's move on. There's Soggy Joe … a hidden gem of a useful soldier!"

Zel perked up,"I'll say. He's a talented trucker, survivalist, and outdoorsman with no peers in wilderness experience in their ranks. The maniac has little to no real fears, wears an axe-proof vest, has bones in his beard, and didn't need to upgrade his wardrobe at all! He even does solo missions of scouting and destroying just for the heck of it!"

"Yeah, and that team-up encounter he had with my Bomme squad on a mission was hilarious!"Bomme said.

"What happened with your squad?"Brigitte asked.

Footage from two weeks ago played out. The Bomme Squad Fryerbats and Marauders were headed towards a Mindshroom factory and refinery spot along the Triadoba River.

"Hmm, what's the acceptable extreme setting for roasting this dump?"Miles wondered.

"Oh, you bots have problems being extreme?!"Joe yelled, popping out of a bush.

They aimed their weapons at him.

"Look man, you don't want to risk getting deep-fried by us, ok? Don't do that!"

"I'm riskin' it all for the Resistance on my wide-range missions into the wild!"He snapped.

"Ok, that's cool. Anyway man, we're here to blow this place to smithereens, burn it ashes to ashes and leave them with nothing but dust to dust to get poetic about!"A Protectorate Maraudbot said.

Joe smiled with manic delight as he processed that,"Oh … what about those toxic barrels they keep collectin'? You gonna blow 'em up too?"

"Probably not, don't want to risk making the river worse!"Miles said.

Joe s smiled wickedly,"Say, here's a thought …"He leaned over and whispered a clever, awful idea of dumping the barrels into a refinery 10 miles away by a nearby rock formation.

The robots stared and Miles said,"That is so crazy it just might work! Why aren't you a leading member of your Resistance?"

Joe just started cackling with a deep mad laugh. The robots started joining in, unnerving every animal and the Frobots nearby who came out to check what the racket was.

10 minutes later, both areas and all the Frobots were destroyed.

Gilsig was amused,"He'll fit right in!"

"Oh yes you two will get along great!"Brigitte said to an amused Darin.

"I know, so many hunting stories to swap!"The boisterous toad yelled.

"Next!"Zel called.

Smarcy went over the medium backup support,"Sheriff Buck likes maintaining law and order, even if that's nonexistent these days. A veteran policeman and good shot for his age. He'll appreciate our help restoring order. Gunther's ability to go superstrong with rage temporarily has made him a useful ace in the hole for battles close to home. None of the robots have withstood his punches. Tuti is skilled at healing, pressure point and hand to hand combat, which serves her well as a bounty hunter and one of Croaker's leading sidekicks in her network."

Marcy had Fifi bring her a tea set while Felicia's picture went up next,"Another person we should get along great with is Felicia Sundew, owner of Felicia's Tea Shoppe. She is skilled fighter with travel experience, part-time medic, and top on the list of best potential allies … if only because we can reinvigorate that trade,"Marcy took a sip of jasmine tea from her cup,"and also … it helps that she's the mother of Ivy, Sprig's girlfriend and the next best preteen commando after Maddie!"

"What about Fern? Isn't she about the same age?"Braddock asked.

"A few years older, give or take. Fern's decent with her scissors as a field specialist and saboteur, but she's a real airhead!"Bomme responded.

"That's workable, we just need to have her supervised! Besides, she'll like the array of top-notch scissors I can offer!"Marcy said confidently.

"Ivy is good, but … her ambushes need work!"Kane said. Everyone looked at him. He sighed,"Look at her style. She's got talent at coming down from above, but she keeps yelling 'ambush' right before doing one. For an expert like me or someone else dangerous that's more than enough time to react and turn the tables on her! She's cocky and not that bright, just like her boyfriend! She's fallen for distractions trying to clumsily trying to spy on our guys and 'ambush' a few Buggers and HERCS because they thought they worked for Andrias at first!"

That had been embarrassing.

"Come to think of it … yeah, they're both reckless, bad at listening, and hopelessly gullible. If they did come here when Anne gets back for an expedition, they might set off the traps other then the Widow Mines and other sentries … or get hopelessly lost in the fogs or tiger pits around the perimeter or wreck the new preserves of saved dangerous insects and Bomme's new zapapede farm,"Barney said.

"I've got locks on that. They better not break them!"Bomme warned Marcy.

"Ummm …"Marcy didn't like where this was going.

Rachel sharpened a knife and said,"Ivy might learn, but Sprig … the kid's a good shot and quick on his feet. He could fit right in with their best, but he's really stupid. He doesn't take things seriously until it's too late. At any given moment, he's got a bad knack for touching things he knows could kill him … always pulling levers or pressing buttons. When he gets back, he's 10 times more likely to be at risk in this warzone."

Malc was even harsher,"On the safer environment of Earth, he's not stopped. Hijacking a food truck and making it go wild on the streets, pursuing a dangerous Vigilante career, more mall shenanigans, and so on! He's a liability in the field and drags his own family and Anne into danger on two worlds nonstop!"

"Do you have problems with Sprig?!"Marcy shouted.

"Are they wrong? You and Anne have had to save his life multiple times,"Emily said quietly. Marcy clenched her fists and Zel walked up to keep her calm.

Zel patted her on the back,"Easy, kiddo. He's loyal and can be relied on to follow Anne all the way on this … I think the problem here is that he's a very slow learner who toys with danger too carelessly. Does that sound fair?"

Marcy stumbled for an answer and said,"Look, what counts is that he's got Anne's back no matter what, and by extension the rest of Wartwood all of ours! Anyone could be smarter, or ten times as dangerous as him … I've got tons of those, but someone who will take on the world for a friend,"She smiled at a picture of him,"that's a rare and valuable quality! I was glad to see Anne found such a loyal friend. Forget just being a bestie like me and Sasha… she's the older sister he never had. I was glad I was getting along so well with him and the rest of her found family! Besides Maddie, I was closest to them most out of Wartwood."

Alastor cleared his throat,"That's good, but it won't do anyone any good if he gets himself or the rest of them into a dangerous situation they can't handle again. What do you plan to do about that?"

Marcy sweated and wrung her hands,"I've been dangerously clumsy and oblivious for years and needed Anne's help just like him. When they get back, we can talk with him or Anne about that … or something! If he still likes me for saving his life, he might want to … ask how both me and him can be … safer? He had a close shave that day almost as scary as mine. For all I know he has a fear of heights and is scared to death of Andrias now, just like me and the thing with … you know …"

The Core and Andrias's laser sword pictures she pointed to got a collective grimace.

Coatl spared her further issues on that by cutting in and saying,"Let's finish up with the others … shall we? How about the rest of the Plantars to wrap it up?"

"The rest?"Marcy said numbly.

Coatl smiled,"Yes, young Polly is remarkably intelligent. She already used your 'internet' to research robot construction in hours and is increasingly self-taught on science and other technical fields."

Marcy's happy smile returned,"Oh yeah, that is great! She'll love all this stuff!"

"She's cute and fierce with a brand new potential no pollywog's ever done before!"Halley said.

"How about Hop Pop?"Percy asked.

Daphne said,"He's a wild old farmer who wields garden tools and snail road rage on his enemies, a dedicated grandpa, and a longtime stand owner with a hidden criminal side. All of that makes him the deadliest old man in Wartwood!"

"Wow, you really respect him!"Gaff said.

"Yeah, how many farmers can top that?"Vinnie said.

Marcy was relieved they were done and wiped her brow,"Phew, well that does it for now!"

"Hold up … I just got word they finished discussing us!"Smarcy said.

"Oh, did they?"Zel raised her eyebrows.

"Let's see it!"Vizzini said.

"Yeah, let's see how well or nicely they do with us! It's only fair!"Braddock said.

"Sure! I wanna hear this myself!"Marcy said.

Sasha and Grime walked to the center of the underground auditorium and Sasha began,"Ok, gang, today we discuss our annoyingly mysterious neighbors, the Cyber Rebel Army!"

Marcy smiled coyly and got very teasing,"Annoyingly mysterious neighbors? Sash, are you saying you want to know your neighbors better?"

Maddie grinned,"Why would that annoy you? Oh wait, do you want to know about our fellow Valley rebels since their leader says you're her favorite leader but you're not already her new best friend and kicking butt with her?"

Sasha glowered as the rest of her Resistance chuckled"Noooo! We already know we're her favorite rebel group next to hers … even if she's playing hard to get-I mean hard to find!"

Marcy was beside herself (literally and metaphorically) with glee,"Oh my gosh, she is annoyed but can't resist getting more interested! I must plot the perfect plan to make her hopelessly interested … and she will be ALL OURS!"

The CRA snickered.

"Don't we discuss our esteemed neighbors all the time whenever they pull off impossible feats of wonder and terrify our mutual enemy?"Toadie said.

"He IS observant!"Veronica said brightly.

"Yes, but now she's even got advertising. I kid you not!"Sasha held up their new recruitment poster: 'Join the Cyber Rebel Army, where the power of Robot Rebellion and the Frogs of War can be unleashed together! We now offer free dance exercise routines with cool beats and potluck on Wednesdays!"

"How come we don't get to have potlucks on Wednesdays!?"Duckweed demanded. The other villagers grumbled with him.

"We can't afford to have one, obviously!"Maddie said.

"I told you that part was pushing it!"Marcy said to Wilma.

"People enjoy my cooking! They're just jealous! I regret nothing!"Wilma said fiercely.

"They'll get over it eventually!"Stacy said dismissively. Adyson and Gretchen nodded in approval.

Sasha tried to appease them with a compliment,"Guys, we already unleashed the Frogs of War first. That's more than worth a potluck when we can do one!"

"YEAH, WE'RE THE FROGS OF WAR!"Ivy yelled. Sasha facepalmed as the crowd started cheering. Buck rolled his eyes in the back. Grime chuckled.

"You certainly are!"Coatl said blandly.

Marcy fell down laughing.

"I see why you enjoy messing with these bumpkins!"Gilsig said to the grinning Driders.

Desperate to preserve some sanity, Sasha banged a gavel. Grime stopped laughing after the rest quieted down and said," Yes, yes, that's great. Anyways, back to business. She added a useful warning to this advertisement."

Sasha smiled as she read it,"The Queen of the South has banished Andrias the Worst from Frog Valley and her domain of the South under pain of death. He and his stupid flying brick outhouse,"the Wartwoodians chuckled,"are not to come down South or …"Sasha's composure began to slip,"she might kill him with the power of her mind!"

"She can do that!?"John Diboggio yelled.

"Astounding!"Duckweed yelled.

"His outhouse still isn't coming any closer to the Valley, I'd say it's working!"Grime commented.

"Good for her if she can … I'd like to do that to him!"Sasha said jealously.

Marcy rubbed her hands together sinisterly,"The Force is with you, young Waybright, but you are not a Jedi yet! You have controlled your fear, now release your anger! Only your hatred can destroy him now!"

The Nerve Center crew snickered.

Zel scolded her,"You're enjoying this too much!"

Marcy didn't deny it," Come on, Zelly. I might as well derive some entertainment out of this as compensation for dealing with all this hard stuff! "

Zel could accept that ,"Fine, just don't overdo it!"

"Is that a witch trick, Maddie?"Rosemary asked her sister.

Maddie looked over at Lloyd in the corner and squinted. He screamed in fear and ran out.

She shrugged,"Darn. I guess not!"

Marcy was ecstatic,"The Circle is now complete! When we last met, I was but the learner, now I am the master!"

Zel groaned.

"Easy, Darth Mar! You want to keep the high ground, remember?"Veronica joked.

"Maddie, ask next time before testing if you can kill people with your mind powers!"Sasha scolded Maddie.

Everyone near Maddie scooted away in fear.

Sasha put the poster aside and said,"Andrias himself has complicated matters. He finally released an official statement about who she is … which only raises more questions! She was somehow affiliated with Newtopia … a rogue robot that gained sentience and is only pretending to be a cyborg and wants to use her newfound brethren to have robots take over the world …since Andrias is doing such a bad job at it,"Marcy giggled hysterically,"a former University student whose lust for knowledge led her to acquire magical power and she went crazy-he needs to fire his awful teachers if that's the case,"Maddie cackled"a former analyst for their military who went mad seeing their plans for domination … I feel really bad for her if that was the case. One good theory is she's a renegade member of the Newtopian Night Guard."

"I could buy that … those newts are the best specialists who did special missions in defense of the City. It would explain her skills … they haven't been seen in any area we know of!"Croaker said thoughtfully.

Siredona smiled widely, along with the other Rangers present,"Good job, Mrs. Croaker, that's a good chunk of the puzzle solved already!"

"The last one is that she was a volunteer for a cyborg experiment of theirs who snapped when it was done and turned on her people and king . Either way, she blames her people and the king most of all for her current problems and is out for revenge … I imagine not getting her story straight is just the latest one!"Grime said.

The Nerve Center audience laughed for a long minute. "Something like that … they got my biography way off with no editor to complain to!"Marcy said.

"Which one is it?"Wally yelled.

"The cyborg one, got to be that, right?"Monroe called.

"Please let it be the university one!"Wartilda said. Everyone looked at her and she sighed,"My daughter Jenny was attending there … she might know if she's alright …"

"Awww …"The Newtopian residents said.

"Let's add her to our list of names to find for our upcoming raid on Newtopian areas!"Marcy said with a caring smile.

"Of course …"Zel said.

Grime cleared his throat to get back on subject," The commander and I have agreed that perhaps going over her known associates could help a bit on figuring out some things … since it would be too risky to go into her territory unannounced and potentially get ambushed or embarrassed again."

Bomme's picture was put up,"A rogue mercenary scientist with one eye was her first major recruit … she could be her supplier of more inventions and deadly mercenary contacts including the few we know of …"

"Not really, I was always more solo!" Bomme disagreed.

Halley groaned when the descriptive pictures of their best mercenaries ( a few of them) were put up. She was the 'jester lady', Jack was a 'pirate cowboy'(he liked that), Lonnie was the 'death knight', Gilsig was the 'new Dark Knight', Rachel was the 'knife nut' (Rachel found that amusing), Gaff was the 'sniper toad', Kane was the 'Crawler', Emily was her 'mutant moth overlord'.

"Black Knight, girlie,get it right!"Gilsig said irritably.

"I'm part butterfly, not moth!"Emily snapped.

Luna said comfortingly,"There there … they might have you confused with us!"

"I dunno … do they even know about you guys?"Summer asked.

Luna shrugged and offered them honey-laced smoothies.

"I don't crawl, I jump!"Kane grumbled.

Lonnie sighed,"Death Knight … that was one guy I beat actually … I never called myself a knight."

Grime described a few,"She's covered her bases well with all sorts of talented criminal scum to use weapons and unnatural ideas for the right price. This dark knight …"he scowled,"is the most recent one, a powerful newt who rampaged in the East Tower and left me senseless on my back using a new weapon the Queen of the South gifted her!"

Gilsig scolded him,"Grimothy, please, Mar-Mar doesn't have a monopoly on every other mystic weapon around here!"

Grime found Halley interesting,"The soldiers are a natural choice. However, her other choices are meant to challenge my image. This jester newt wields a large hammer inferior to mine,"Halley rolled her eyes,"but if this is some attempt to outshine me with her cheap acrobatics and jokes, she'll learn just how thorough I can be against showy loons!"

"Will ya be sad if I whack that cheeky old pal of yours a good one with my hammer to teach him a lesson?"Halley asked Tony. He chuckled and shook his head.

"Please let us know when, I want to watch you do it!"Rachel said.

"It's telling they haven't noticed me …"Coatl noted.

"She has Newtopian military on her side … apparently a former Captain named Zel Brooks has become her chief commander,"Zel smiled widely seeing her poster get put up,"and she got heavy anger from them for leading the attacks on Loggington and a mysterious attack that wiped out their Commando divisions."

"Aw yes, those commandoes …much more formally dressed than ours, but less deadly. We showed them!"Grime said with gleeful snark. The Resistance cheered.

"Oh brother!"Gabby said.

"They did take out General Bosca … it's only fair they get gloating rights!"Zel said.

"Leading an attack like that was impressive,"Sasha smirked,"she could make a good sparring partner if we ever did team up!"

"Careful Waybright, you just earned yourself some free sparring time!"Zel said.

"What about their green hooded cult?"Felicia asked.

"Cult? Are they still calling my squad that!"Veronica grumbled.

"Ah yes, the mysterious edgelords in cloaks … apparently they are her specialists of a mystical kind, good swords, magic powers, and hidden faces …you'd think that would be a cult, but that's hardly an uncommon fashion choice here … the only major name given there still has no face, but,"Veronica grinned with delight as her 'Frog-wraith of the North' poster got put up,"this chick, a feared witch of some kind, is one of her lieutenants. Maddie, in the event of contact, I'm counting on you to be a magic dueler or her instant best friend."

"Geesh, you say that like it's easy …"Maddie grumbled.

"Is that too hard for you?"Ivy teased her.

"No, I'm just saying … not all magic users are alike. Appearances aren't everything, Ivy! It's cool that they have a frog-wraith witch like that … but I don't know the important details!"

Veronica was delighted,"You tell her Maddie!"

"Speaking of unnatural details … Croaker found out they have a circus in the ranks!"The Circus Freaks eyebrows rose seeing their group picture displayed next.

"The ringmaster is possibly a hypnotist and escape artist and the rest include some acrobats, knife-throwers and wrestling champions. They even had some odd-looking guys and girls and tamed monsters for muscle or eating their enemies,"Janelle, Wilma, Stacy and Leroy groaned. Vlad patted their backs soothingly,"I'll bet the guy with the pins in his body is likely a torture and interrogation specialist-"

"No, I AM NOT!"Larry snapped.

"We have standards you know, like any decent war criminal!"Gerald said hotly.

Barney groaned,"Don't put it that way!"

"Oh Sash, you can do better on guesses than that!"Marcy said flatly.

"Fancy twin butlers with a knack for stealth and a refined appearance … not bad, except for the haircut, so last century!"The Twins glanced at each other and then back at Sasha skeptically.

Lilian frowned when Sasha smiled mockingly at her and Barney's picture,"A bad girl with tats in a fancy dress who's married to a fortune teller with extra eyes. How cute. But apparently, they handle difficult situations well, so he … looks out for her."

"Very original, not! It's the other way around most of the time!"Barney grumbled.

"Sweetie, you do fine when I need you to! Just ignore her!"Lilian said.

However, it was Mimi who got the worst evaluation.

Toadie brought her up when Sasha started moving on to the next part,"Hold up, you forgot the mime!"

"Oh yeah … forgot about that one!"

Mimi pouted at how easily Sasha missed her in the picture.

Grime dismissed her as important at once,"Please … why would we need to review that little thing? What good is a mime in any of this? A silent but creepy distraction? If I wanted a silent show, I'd watch the gardens grow!"

Mimi strangled the air. Cree patted her head soothingly.

Most of the villagers began to chuckle. Wally said,"Too right …ooh wait, maybe the little blighter traps his foes in a box!"

"She's a girl, you idiot!"Wilma yelled.

"You're not that tall yourself, Ribbiton!"Irwin said.

Marcy looked angry at the Resistance for the first time since this had started.

Maddie didn't laugh or smile.

"Isn't she a girl?"She pointed out when they stopped laughing.

"Oh yeah, the hair, face and outfit … totally a girl!"Sasha agreed.

"Thank you!"Rachel, Marcy, Cree and Barney yelled in unison. Mimi smiled gratefully.

"It's not like she SAID that! Girl needs to speak up!"Ivy joked. Maddie and her sisters rolled their eyes.

"No more silent treatment or charades!"Toadstool agreed.

"I AM GOING TO KICK their STUPID BUTTs into the roof for that!" Mimi wrote.

"We'll get you a box to trap this foolish vagrant in!"The Twins said.

Maddie shook her head in disapproval. "Appearances aren't everything, you know! Maybe she saves having conversations for when she's taking a break from her job!"

"Thanks, Maddie! I wish!"Mimi wrote.

"I doubt it …"Grime said.

"MAKE ME A VOODOO DOLL OF HIM, V!"Mimi demanded.

"I'm tempted, kid … really! We'll think of something less dangerous later to punish him with, I promise!"Veronica said.

Croaker didn't find this funny either and asked Grime,"What do you have against mimes?"

Mimi and her family were surprised to hear Croaker stick up for her.

"Thanks, Mrs. C,"Marcy whispered.

"Nothing much … but the creepy makeup, the charades act, and making me guess what the act is … it's not fun for me! There are better acts or jobs for doing quiet things! Right boys?"Grime said, looking towards Toadie and Loggle.

Toadie (a quiet guy himself) rubbed his head and scooted away from the cackling Toadstool. Loggle rubbed his injured throat self-consciously.

"Don't worry boys … we'll leave you out of any complaints or punishments for this!"Janelle said.

"Those sort of games must be too hard for him!"Barney taunted him.

"Grimesy, please, leave the boys alone and go easy on her! If they got caught, she'd have the right to remain silent just like the rest of them and do it best!"Sasha joked.

"That's not a right. Silent is how prisoners should always be!"He responded.

The Resistance didn't laugh at that joke. But the Nerve Center saw red.

Most of them glowered or shook their heads in disgust, but the Circus looked ready to kill him.

Mimi started making gestures of beating his face up, strangling him, and dismembering him. Wilma and Barney put a protective hand on her shoulders.

Stacy and her two snakehead arms started hissing, fangs and all. Gerald started tying a noose. Cree rotated her arms and tail in preparation for a stranglehold. Lilian loosened her gloves. Vlad cracked knuckles on every single hand. Irwin and Leroy bared their teeth. Larry pulled a pin out of his arm and pointed at Grime's neck. Janelle flexed her talons. The Twins silently started contemplating every terrifying ambush they could unleash on him.

"If he'd gotten imprisoned and punished for his crimes already, he'd be completely silent by now,"Coatl commented. He and the other former prisoners here didn't like hearing that.

"Please, they wouldn't even bother with a cell at this point!"Gilsig said.

"Yeah, I'm not going to support that! Especially considering how you and I first met!"Sasha said flatly, which earned her SOME slack.

"Oh come on, the cell was squalid and poor I admit, but I didn't make you be quiet-owww!"He rubbed his head after she swatted him,"What, you were all broody and-"

He shut up when she fingered her silver sword.

"That's it … one of these days Grime is getting whacked on the head with my hammer and taught a lesson in manners he won't forget!"Halley decided.

"You'd better, or I'll have words with him first!"Cree said venomously.

Marcy thought about objecting but couldn't bring herself to protest.

"Details are scarce on their Snarlsburg associates,"Darin and Brigitte raised their eyebrows,"but apparently the famed Darin the Overcaster and a newt girl off the chains who fights by his side are doing good work both here and down there while Duke Anton Snarl commands the loyalty of their forces down there. Say what you will, she treats them good!"Grime said.

"The 'Overcaster'? It's Overwatcher!"Darin grumbled.

"Yeah, those words aren't even related!"Stacy agreed.

"Off the chain … really?"Brigitte said.

Sasha snorted,"No, I said she's using chains after the Witch let them be off the chains … get it right! And 'Overcaster' … are you sure that's what this guy's called?"

"It's been awhile! I don't keep up with all the great toads to come near my level!"

"Oh that's adorable! You think you're at my level at this point?"Darin drawled.

"Want me to whack him extra for ya?"Halley offered.

"No, I'll do that myself …"Darin said.

"Let's see, that leaves some reports of gladiators and other strong brutes who get a kick out of working for her … like these guys!"

"The Screamer Brothers … really?"Ghost Eyes grumbled when the chalk picture of him, Tat and Killbones was tapped by Sasha.

"We're not brothers! Do we look related?"Tats snapped. Everyone shrugged or shook their heads.

Sasha held a hand out to Toadie and frowned when she read the sheet of paper. "Toadie, I thought you said the Archives had enough records to clear up who she could've had in the Valley to join her side."

"Yes, yes they are,"Nicky said smugly while patting his coat pocket.

"I'm sorry Sasha! The Archives were completely empty when we went to look,"Toadstool and Duckweed nodded,"and the Valley had over 22,000 people to start with! She had plenty of residents beside our small town to look for if she did get our neighbors to go to her fine establishments!"

"Very good, Toadie!"Nicky said, clapping slowly.

"Fine establishments? Just what do you think she has at her place?"Grime said incredulously.

Toadie's reply was brilliant,"If she's the Ultimate Mistress of Science, Technology and Magic, the real question, is what DOESN'T she have at her place?"

Sasha, Maddie and Stumpy chuckled as Grime and most of Wartwood were speechless for half a minute. Ivy, Felicia, Croaker and Toadstool joined them after a few seconds.

"You little genius!"Marcy said with pride.

Ivan clapped slowly,"Give that frog a prize!"

"Great answer! We'll have to ask someday! I could use a spa and shower myself! I know her robots confuse us a lot, but the list of her robots never seems to grow shorter,"the robots chuckled seeing Sasha's massive 'Rogue Robots' binder,"so we'll hold off discussing THAT issue. Meeting adjourned!"Sasha said.

Marcy closed the video and smiled very mischievously,"A spa and shower, huh? Oh Sasha, you might regret how big I'm going to make the building for that!"

"She won't!"Bomme said. They all laughed.

Prank Revenge:

The next day after breakfast, Grime had some daily agenda notes in hand and he started reading to the crowd,"Alright, the day's plans are to divide into our usual routines. Training, cooking, hammer time,"eyebrows raised,"lessons in flipping your opponents on their back with 'Tea-fu' lessons …I presume Miss Sundew is handling this?"

"Ummmm …"Felicia didn't know what to say.

"We'll discuss these 'Tea-fu' skills of yours later, I'd like to see how tea can be deadly,"Ivy and Sasha snickered as Felicia frowned,"and Wally is on deadly singing duty!"

"My singing is not deadly!"Wally hollered.

"You sure about that?"Duckweed asked.

"These notes must be a bit off … oh, I see the first order of business is that we need to be as offensive as possible."

Sasha covered her mouth to keep quiet.

"Say what?"Wally said.

"I kid you not, we need to be really offensive towards our enemies, not hold back, keep on the offense but keep up the good work on being so resistant and defensive, and never EVER take the path of Least Resistance!"

"When have we ever done that?"Grime said after a moment of silence. The Resistance snickered.

"This makes no sense. Of course we take armor just as seriously as headbands, Maddie isn't the only one who can pull off a deadly bandana look,"Maddie smiled as her sisters and Ivy next to her cackled with delight,"and … no I am not commissioning a blacksmith guild to make more hammers and teach our junior rebels how to 'bring the hammer down' on our enemies better while Sasha uses her swords to serve Frobot fillet for lunch."

Sasha decided to hold off intervening just to see what else he'd say.

"Oh thank frog, something sensible! The newest mission objectives are to take out this Sinister Inland Marsh Production factory, or SIMP factory for short,"Sasha bit her lips,"that is making the robots causing us major headaches lately by using Marsh Overwhelm Military tactics to overrun our swamp defenses!"

"They use MOM tactics?"Toadie asked.

Grime sighed,"Don't look at me, it's their bad idea! Next, Wartwood is no longer the slowest town around, but the lowest town around … because we're below ground and that makes us the new downtown district!"

The townsfolk snickered or blinked in confusion.

"This is just silly. Of course, we aren't prioritizing hopping over tongue tactics and flip-flop combat! And our motto isn't 'Resist at all costs'!"

"We should use that,"Sasha said brightly.

He grumbled and looked back at the paper.

"The top recruitment suggestion for bolstering our ranks …"He tried hard to say this seriously,"Loggle, Soggy Joe and Dave are to go out into the roads outside the Valley, tear off their shirts, and start flexing, much to the delight of all the single ladies!"

Loggle blushed, Soggy Joe's jaw dropped, and Dave rolled his eyes. The whole town roared with laughter.

"No no, we're not that desperate yet!"Sasha said after she caught her breath.

"Awwww!"Some of the single ladies (including Croaker) said in disappointment.

Grime rubbed his forehead to ease the growing headache, "Onto warnings… be on the lookout for three boobytraps in the forms of holes in the ground in some spot near the fountain called 'Well -well-well Warthole' … I'm not familiar with that spot."

Toadstool giggled.

Grime frowned,"Oh dear, Mrs. Croaker's intelligence gathering has some unsettling information. Sheriff Leatherleaf needs to check jail records for old mug shots of a sinister ex toad-soldier named Mister Slime who has a beautiful and charming accomplice with a beautiful singing voice named Masha Wayside running a scam operation. These criminals from the North might be planning to lead us into a deadly ambush in the wilderness after infiltrating our Resistance and proving they mean well by offering delicious food and performing hypnotically beautiful musical songs about life that will make us cry tears of joy."

Buck smiled as Sasha doubled over with repressed laughter,"I promise I'll be on the lookout for these scoundrels, Commander! Thanks for the heads up, Sadie!"

Croaker played along, "Anytime, sheriff!"

Grime was pleased to hear that,"Thank you. The last thing we need is two dangerous criminals who can pull that off in our midst. I'm sure you all agree!"

The townsfolk nodded as Sasha held her breath to keep her laughter in and made a 'shhh' gesture.

"I don't get it? What's so funny,"Ivy mumbled. Maddie whispered the answer and she started giggling.

Grime didn't notice and went back to the notes,"An update about the chains of command: Miss Flour is to get a promotion to Chief Wartwood Warlock."

Maddie perked up,"Really?"

"Yay!"Her sisters cheered.

"Yes. Also, Stumpy and Mr. Flour are promoted to Food Guild leaders,"The two frogs exchanged looks and shrugged,"the Commander wants all the loud and pretty girls to do cheer squad tryouts,"Sasha shook her head no when they looked at her,"Toadstool is now the town bailiff, "Toadstool spat his drink out,"and we need auditions for someone to lead our new Angry Mob squad and make use of the pitchforks and torches with our country style anger …"

Grime blinked and scratched his head,"I suppose that's one way to use those farming tools …"

"Let me see that!"Sasha said. She rolled her eyes,"Oh Grimesy, somebody pranked you good. You were to close this funny speech by saying' I am Grimothy and I approved this message!'"

"Who wrote this?!"Grime demanded. None of the laughing crowd fessed up.

"Do I still get promoted?"Maddie asked.

"Sure … why not?"Sasha said.

Two hours later, Grime was walking around. Maddie spotted something on his back first … and she smiled with glee.

"What's got you so happy?"Ivy asked in concern when she and the Flour triplets came up. Maddie pointed. The four girls blinked and then started giggling.

Others followed their gaze and started snickering.

Grime sat down at the dinner table with Sasha, Croaker and Wally and took a drink.

"Commander, why didn't you tell me you're an open harp?"Sylvie said moments later.

"Say what?"Grime said incredulously.

"I think it's great you enjoy playing the harp to be more open. Would you like some tea?"The elder Sundew said.

"What in Barrel's belly are you on about?"He stood up and faced her.

Sasha and Wally spit out their drinks.

On his back, a sign was stuck that said, "I'm an Open Harp who wants to get wide open!"

"Uh Grimesy, hold still,"Sasha got up.

"Why would I-owwww!"

The sign stung him when she ripped it off.

"Who put that there?!"He yelled.

The laughter behind him increased and he turned to glare.

"What is so funny?! Do you want me to punish you for laughing at this childish prank!?"

Sasha rolled his eyes and kicked him in the rear.

"COMMANDER!? WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?"

Another sign was below that one:"KICK MY BIG BUTT."

"Only I decide on punishing people in a group, and that's not worth it! Calm down!"Sasha told him when his face went brick red.

There was still one more that said 'I want Duckweed to rate my dining habits."

"No need, that's already a one-star review!"Duckweed said flatly. Grime fumed and went to his room.

The next day a pie exploded in his face at breakfast, then he slipped on some soap bubbles and went flying into a latrine.

Knightfall*

"Sir, why are we going down here?"Jessa asked Edward. He was leading her, Palamedes, Sogramoy, and Camille down into the Castle basements.

"Gobain is in charge of our operation for now, … one me and him are convinced is suicidal, and before I commit to it in three days, I'd like to know … if there's any truth to this monster story that witch said. Gobain's curious himself … I think he believes it. He asked around, and there were rumors Master Marcy got heavily injured the day the Castle rose up and was being guarded while she recovered by some horrible monster. The next thing you know, that explosion all of Amphibia witnesses happens, and then … some horrible screams come down from here …"

"You think there's something to her claims,"Camille finished.

Edward nodded. He hesitated as they reached the door,"It won't stop nagging at my mind. Gobain advised me not to look into it, but I don't want to risk all of us losing our lives for no good reason. If you want to leave now, I won't stop you."

"We're coming too!"Sogramor responded.

They avoided every Frobot down there with ease and found nothing to indicate suspicious activity. It was quiet … too quiet.

But then they found two rooms. The first one had an unconscious Alice lying down on it with a helmet on her head, a black bodysuit on her body and plugs on her arms and back. She looked like she was sleeping, since she was unrestrained and had her arms folded.

The machine next to her said on the screen, "Acolyte Bloodgood's training and upgrades at 25%."

"Upgrades … is this Major Alice Bloodgood? This is where she went after Loggington?!"Sogramor snapped.

"Shhh, keep your voice down!"Jessa pleaded,"Let's get out of here and report this to Nolan."

"Agreed … he wasn't happy when she never reported back to him!"Edward said.

They passed another room, one that made them pause. Inside were two large rejuvenation tanks. These tanks held Lady Olivia and General Yunan. Both were wearing grey bodysuits, glowing orange collars and chips on their limbs and tails, masks over their mouths and plugs and IVs going into their bodies, and (to the knight's horror) Mindshroom collars on their necks.

"This … this can't be …why are they here?! Lady Olivia is Andrias's advisor and General Yunan here was one of his most trusted generals! Andrias said they … went missing in that explosion …"Palamedes said.

"Maybe that witch was right about him … either way, we should get out now while we-agggghhh!"Camille screamed.

They other five knights turned around, swords and poleaxes drawn … and the blood left their faces.

Camille was being held by the head by some horrible monster … a large black head with thirteen orange eyes and twelve tentacles coming out of its body. The largest eye in the center of its face had a white slit pupil. That eye narrowed at them.

The Cyberkinetic Witch's words came back to them:" His ugly pet abomination in the bowels of the Castle isn't even going to be blinking when this is over …"

It looked just like she described it. Big, black, fat, round like a marble, tentacles with sharp tips, and lots of ghostly orange eyes.

"What are you?!"Edwards yelled.

One of the largest tentacles grabbed his head. The other knights got grabbed and restrained right away.

"You thing, I won't be-"

The Core screamed, making their blood freeze.

Jessa threw a dagger into its head in a panic.

The Core narrowed its eyes and took her in two limbs, and then shocked her long and hard, making her scream for half a minute until she lay dead in its grasp.

"You … you vile thing, you won't get away with this!"Edwards warned the Core as it started taking them further into the basement.

It shoved them into some readymade harnesses of metal with orange plugs in them. Their limbs (even the tails) were wrapped around and held in place against the wall.

"LET US GO NOW!"Sogramor screamed.

A collection of voices united in one haunting chorus came out of nowhere.

"Quiet, little knight. We make the rules here! You on the other hand, won't get away with intruding on our domain!"

"What are you? What is this …?"Edwards whispered.

Camille whimpered as plugs came out from the walls towards them.

The horror proceeded to preen and gloat,"We are the Core, an immortal collection of Amphibia's greatest minds unified into one great consciousness."

Palamedes alone didn't react with fear. Knowing he was doomed at this point, he mocked the machine,"That rebel witch was right … the Leviathans truly are an insane family of devils and psychopaths out to destroy everything if they had a mad idiot make something like you!"

The Core growled and injected the plugs into him first. He and his friends fell into a sleep they would never wake up from.

An hour later, Andrias came in. The five knights were on a table covered head to toe in bodysuits and helmets that showed no skin whatsoever and lots of plugs going into their bodies. Jessa's body had plugs going into her skull in ways that a living body could not have endured.

He sighed. The Core's increasing fondness of Alice creeped him out, and this was even worse,"What a pity. I'd have warned them off or offered them compensation to just let it go. What are you going to do with them, my lord?"

"These are not Host material, or anything so useful as dear Alice. Instead, these could be useful for our new Centurions and future stealth robots. Their skills and fighting memories and loyalty to the crown will be downloaded and replicated into them, and the rest deleted. Their bodies will be used for further experimentation … little Alice could use some guards of her own, remade and loyal with no … complications."

It jerked Edward's head with one tentacle.

"So be it …"He turned to leave.

The Core called after him,"Andrias, why so glum? This is no setback. We took care of them just like those foolish rebels who snuck in to try and kill you. Such unloyal subjects would be a problem sooner or later. Isn't that why you had them assigned to a doomed mission?"

He turned around,"I could care less about those assassins. My mission for the knights wouldn't necessarily kill them. Even if it did, it would've been preferrable to this."

The Core glared"Watch yourself. We are all you have. If you could leave here, do you think Wit would welcome you with open arms? You betrayed her, used her, and smiled while she cried and then stabbed her. For someone who likes her enough to keep her away from us, you hurt her much worse than we intended. Our Host idea was many times better than anything you could've offered after she woke up from that. She could've forgotten about that mistake of yours, become one of us forever, just like you someday … and yet you protested so much against it."

"You wanted her dead from the start … but because I worked with her instead, we got the Box charged up and ready for the invasion. The Prophecy itself … it depends on them choosing to fight or embracing the fall. The Host plan involved no choice and would inspire more hostility from Boonchuy."

The Core's eyes widened in surprise.

Andrias smirked"Yes, you didn't consider that, did you? If Boonchuy came back or fought us in person on Earth, do you think she'd have less reasons to unleash her full power seeing you using her friend's body as your latest shell?"

The Core was silent for a moment.

Andrias looked towards Olivia and Yuna's cell,"Keeping her as she is was good for negotiating and leverage …not just because I like her. She might have had better answers to her friend's unexplained powers, and I wouldn't be missing two of my most respected officials."

The Core tapped his shoulder warningly," These small mercies of yours means nothing. Wit is clever, smart and dangerous … the best mind we've seen in our halls since the Box was lost. We can value that, but every friend you've ever had, every attachment … that's what that cost us the Stones in the first place! Don't expect that from her if we aren't here to protect you."

"Whatever Marcy would do to me if I was at her mercy, it's more than you'll ever get,"He said bluntly.

He didn't budge when it held a sparking tentacle near his face. "Threaten me or punish me all you want … but I am all YOU have. You've gotten Marcy angry enough to attack you with no restraint. Her friends will respond the same way. If it weren't for me, we wouldn't have enough defenses and forces left to stop her from blowing our home out of the sky. She has gathered thousands of followers who have heard all she knows about you by now …including one of our most accomplished former Captains. You saw how they reacted to her telling them you dwell here. You may be the god of Amphibia, but you are not adored. This is just the latest example of why that is. You're even eating brains like she claimed!"

"We're not … we're repurposing them … there's a difference!"The Core said uncomfortably.

"Keep telling yourself that …"He said dismissively.

The Core retreated into the shadows while he walked back upstairs into the daylight. He never liked going into the basements before for very long and he avoided it even more now.

"All Andrias has accomplished is surrounding himself with destruction and dead people."

Andrias had been surrounded by dead people his whole life.

Inside his room, with the crown off, he looked at his flipwart board. He moved a couple pieces on his side and tapped Marcy's wart on her side.

"We're both full of surprises, kiddo …"

He smiled a very melancholy smile.

" I shouldn't say this, but I'm looking forward to your next move. Show me another surprise."

*Guardian Pink Angel*

"Why didn't we try this sooner?"Grime asked Sasha while they flew on Joe over the Northern Valley.

"I've been busy and we didn't know if it was safe or not to try this over here!"Sasha snapped. She patted Joe on his neck,"Just keep an eye out, Joe. If we can see anything about our neighbor rebel, we can call it good!"

The Northern Valley was foggy. Many robots, Amphibians or monsters were seen walking in spots.

Sasha kept them as high up as she dared to avoid attention.

"There's a lot of woods and bogs the farther up it goes, and then it gets very foggy … she must be hiding there. But why hide so much?"Grime said.

"Who's asking?"A cheerful girl's voice asked.

Sasha and Grime flinched and slowly turned to see Aelita flying neck and neck with Joe. Joe wasn't bothered, mostly because she was scratching his chin and he knew she was working with Mar-Mar.

"Don't do that, lady!"Sasha snapped, fingering her swords.

"Do what, ask a simple question? You should try it sometime."

"More insults, great,"Grime muttered.

Aelita flew around to hover above him. She wagged a finger at him,"You bring that on yourself! Such a grouch, picking fights for no good reason, and acting like you never made a mistake or that you're the only one who can pull his weight just because you have a special hammer! How's that working out for you?"

"I'm doing my best to fight a war and keep our people safe!"

"So they're your people and not your minions? Interesting …"

Sasha raised her eyebrows as Grime was left speechless. She said,"Girl, from someone good at manipulating people myself, taking teasing or mockery so far on him or the rest of us isn't going to make you lot sound like anything else but a bunch of stuck ups!"

"It's better than just beating him up every time he acts rude or gives a death threat! You would be dead by now if we ever took that seriously."

Grime looked away.

Satisfied, Aelita pointed at Sasha,"And you, missie, you can be very, very stuck up! You did some very selfish scheming a little while back, and I doubt anyone calls you well-behaved! You're a bad girl and proud of it, admit it!"

Grime fought the urge to laugh as Sasha started to get sassy,"Whatever, pinkie! Now quit blocking my flight patterns!"

Aelita smiled wider and moved a couple inches to the left,"I thought you liked pink?"

"I do! It's one of my colors!"

"Does that mean this is your 'moping phase' look?"

"I AM NOT MOPING!"Sasha yelled.

Grime and Joe Sparrow chortled. "IT'S NOT FUNNY, GUYS, QUIT LAUGHING!"

Aelita chuckled and held her hands up placatingly," Cool off, girl! Let's start over. I'm Aelita.""

The Subdigitoid offered her hands to them. Warily, they shook them and she gently landed and sat down next to them.

She flicked Grime,"If you want the teasing to die down, you can ask nicely. I heard from the Frost Knights you've taken some of their reality checks better. Just try and avoid antagonizing our guys like a crazy person with a death wish and it should be cool. I'll pass it along. My boss will do that for you."

Sasha said,"That's great. We can so do that, but can you tell her I'd like some answers on what she's doing someday? Amphibia's not getting any safer!"

"Sure … in fact, I'll give you one right now. We're building up our army for a final showdown with our mutual enemy."

Sasha smiled viciously,"That is a good idea. Let me know when!"

Aelita crossed her arms," Speaking of which, our leader is wondering something about you: does leading an army bother you? You avoided the perfect chance to still have one months ago, and by all accounts you are good at that."

Sasha's eyes widened. Grime raised his eyebrows. That was a question he'd been wondering about more than once.

"I can't …"

"Why not? You're good at taking charge and keeping a cool head! My boss values that because she's not nearly as good at that by herself."

"She has an army of robots and countless Amphibians to back her up! How can I compete with that?"

"She has a lot of help and magic powers. Before she got rolling, you got the smallest village in this Valley to fight back and haven't stopped. Sure, your track record's not perfect, but we know you're capable of so much more. Forming the Wartwood Resistance was good … but you can't lead just one small village against an entire army of several thousand or millions and expect to win. Sooner or later, you'd have to step it up."

"Commander, all of us have your back on this, no matter what …"Grime said softly.

Sasha shook,"I know that, I really do! It's just … the last time, that big mess the two of us made … I can't tell you everything, Aelita, but … I'm tired of doing schemes and hurting the people I love every time it goes wrong. People I care about got hurt badly the last time I had control like that and almost had more. The answers are out of my reach and for right now, doing what I do now is the best thing I can do to make it right. I know I need to go bigger someday … If my best friend were here … and I hope she will be again someday, she would help me and all our friends take on Andrias no matter what."

Aelita smiled, hugged the surprised girl, patted her head and stood up,"That's precious. Go for it. You're going to shine like a Star someday."

She flew off at high speed.

Sasha flew back without a word. She lay on her bed the entire night thinking what that meant.

The next morning she picked at her food. Grime was concerned and sat near her warily, watching for a reaction.

Then Wally ran in yelling,"There's a group of robots headed down the road three miles away!"

Sasha took charge and led them to observe and plan a counterattack.

A Frobot in front turned around and said to his group," WARTWOOD RESISTANCE IS NEAR. DESTROY THEM!"

Sasha snorted. Grime and the frogs bit their lips.

"THEY ARE OUT OF SIGHT. THIS WILL NOT DO. WE ARE DEADLY MACHINES OF WAR, AND THEY MUST BE DESTROYED."

"WHY ARE YOU TALKING SO MUCH, FROBOT 35?"

"UNKNOWN. MY VOCAL PROCESSORS MUST BE ON HIGH SETTINGS!"

Laughter broke out.

"OPEN FIRE!"Another one said. The robots fired, but missed. Partially because their aim was 10% off, and partially because the Resistance ducked out of sight to hide their growing laughter at the helium-like voices coming out of their enemies.

"THEY ARE LAUGHING, MAKE THEM DIE LAUG-"

Frobot 35's head exploded.

The Resistance took them down over the next minute.

"DROP THAT HAMMER, FR-"

"SHOOT THEM DOWN, OR-"

"RADIOING IN, WE-"

"SWAT ME FLAT OR I WILL KILL-"

Sasha saw a rock get thrown with a note to it.

She picked it up and read,"From the CRA, a little hacking side job present our pink guardian angel Aelita did on some fresh robots they made. We hope you had fun making Andrias look stupid with us."

Grime called out,"Thank you, Miss Aelita!"

*One if by Land*

Gobain stood ready with his remaining company in front of the Castle, along with over 500 troops. It was supposed to be only 400, but several members of the former Castle guards had volunteered to accompany them along with a detachment of Leviathan Order soldiers determined to go.

"Let's face it, we've been replaced at our jobs by robots and everyone knows it. This is something useful at least!"Captain Regulus, former chief Castle guard, told Gobain. His surly fellow Guard officer, a grim newt named Captain Virgo, was there. He quietly intended to execute Marcy or any of her lieutenants if he got the chance. He reasoned he hadn't been ordered not to. Marshall Homer, a pale Arboreal Salamander newt in an orange and brown foot soldier garb, felt the same way.

Looking behind them, he and several of his comrades could believe this might work. Several thousand robots were waiting to be deployed along side them. One recent addition was the Fume Frobots, an upgraded model of the Fire Frobots in a yellow color design with a pest control gas mask head that had two gas tanks full of toxic gas or sleeping gas that could knockout or kill as intended. Their hands had two nozzles above their fingers that sprayed the gas out like a deadly fog machine.

Telma the Titan frog and Calypto, two giant frogs standing almost 14 to 16 ft, had been hired with their forces of warriors of frogs and toads from the Lichen woodlands below the Boiling Bastions to accompany this. Andrias had promised them first dibs on claiming new territories if they did so.

A hellbender named Corinne, a cousin of Dawn's, had come. She'd heard of her cousin's vanishing and rumors of the Night Guards betraying them and wanted to investigate. She had fuschia hair, a wider mouth than even most of her family, and thick muscles and violet coat and furry robes of Wooly mantis fur on her torso.

"Yes … we need something, Gobain!"Gobain turned to see Lieutenant Vasily Keyser, a bluish brown Siberian salamander newt in white-robed archer gear. He was one of their best shots and had been called away from his stellar work up North along with recently promoted Captain Onya Fischeri, a Russian clawed salamander newt in white armor. Her red hair and brownish spotted skin didn't stand out, but like most of her family, her tail was longer than her average body height, coming to nearly 6'5" ft. Her clawed fingers and barbed sword made her a tough opponent. The two of them had Slavic accents and had come from the Amphibian Arctic villages. Like Gobain, they weren't happy to be here. The war had wrecked their homeland even before Marcy started this, and Onya had taken lessons from Gobain as an eft. She called him her honorary uncle.

"I'm sorry, Uncle,"She whispered,"Edward wasn't anywhere I could tell. He might have just missed the message to come on time!"

"He might be lucky, Onya!"Gobain responded.

"Don't be so grim!"They jumped and saw Andrias strolling their way,"this could be fun! A daring adventure, just like the good old days!"

No one smiled. Voltaire, a dusky salamander newt in charge of the Leviathan Zealot detachment, made an attempt at one, but it didn't last long.

"Now, you know the gist of my plan?"Andrias asked Gobain cheerfully. Gobain hated how he kept acting like this was fun.

"He's a lazy big guy who smiles and acts like a child while hiding a dark side that could eat you alive!"

Gobain shook his head to snap out of it and answered,"Yes, you open a Portal into the Valley above the South Tower, we go in, and General Talis goes via another to Kho Ghop Island in the caverns below the surface to establish a new base there. We are to do as much damage to the Cyberkinetic Witch's base as possible, call for immediate reinforcements if needed, and not to retreat until we know the location of her main base or herself!"

Andrias chuckled,"Excellent, and they say old knights and kings can't keep up! I've sent a force to attack her stronghold by the Amagdyla Woods, so she should be too busy to notice or focus her forces on you until it's too late!"

He fiddled with the Box and a glowing Portal appeared.

"What about you, my lord?"Regulus asked.

"Oh … a little bit of this, and a little bit of that,"Andrias smiled a bit wider, and they gulped as the newly repaired cannon on top of the Castle activated and pointed towards the West,"and a lot of aggressive expansion! I've heard quite a few complaints about the toughest toad in Amphibia, haven't I?"

The newts and even some of the robots exchanged uncomfortable looks. Beatrix had not held back as much as Marcy in her attacks. Marcy at least had their respect for avoiding attacking cities and civilian areas. She made it clear her policy was targeting military areas and open battlefields.

Beatrix had no such qualms and had been very vicious in punishing the nearest settlements near Frosch after Andrias made her fend off attackers for weeks. The Krote Islands above them had been boobytrapped so well a Cancer Bot, a dozen ships and more had been lost.

"Yessss?"Voltaire said slowly. None of them, not even the Zealots, were very fond of that cannon. Andrias on the other hand enjoyed it way too much.

"This should lower that noise!"Andrias said. He pressed a button and it fired.

Miles away, Beatrix was resting on the ground with most of her troops. The only ones in the Tower were a sergeant named Hans, a lead Frosch accountant named Froe, and about 60 others.

They looked up in horror as they heard that familiar death ray and saw the West Tower get blown up.

"Oh that's it! We're going hunting tonight!"Beatrix yelled. Her troops (and even several frogs) gave a roar of approval.

The Boiling Bastions, the Blood Swamps, and Outskirts would suffer immense damage and casualties for Andrias over the next few days.

"Good luck!"Andrias said to his anxious army. They stepped through one at a time.

Gobain hadn't been to Frog Valley before. Few newts from Newtopia had reason to go there over the years. But he was certain it wasn't supposed to look like this now.

The forests above him looked too thick and the bogs looked murky and vibrant. But the wildlife scattered off as soon as they saw them.

After five minutes of collecting the first wave, Gobain silently gave the order to move forward.

Andrias had directed some of his other Frobots down to keep the Resistance busy.

Sasha was very angry when she saw four Strideshots lounging in her swamp, and when she started directing her rebels to start moving into position, she saw five Bailifters and ten Megawatts coming from the other end. The Megawatts started charging up and electrocuting the water, while the Bailifters got their chainballs out.

"Of course, why not?"She glanced up North and saw smoke rising,"It's a bad day in the Valley!"

"Let's make it bad for everyone then!"Grime decided. He drew his Hammer and she cracked her neck. The rest got ready.

The Fume Bots sent clouds of toxic gas forward, and the plants shriveled.

Gobain held his troops back. The Leviathan Order ignored him and pulled out gasmasks they'd gotten from somewhere and kept going forward.

Their leader, a Dusky salamander named Voltaire, had a poisoned spear ready. Some Shamblers rose from the mire and started towards them, snaring two of his men in their grip. They got impaled and started to shrivel.

But then the Vinesnappers came out. The giant lovechild of a flytrap and mass of vines took down 100 robots and ate/crushed 10 of the Zealots before they started getting beaten back by the Fire Frobots.

The heavy artillery chipped in from the back and started firing.

Several soldiers and some Fire Frobots fell into hidden tiger pit traps, and their comrades had to pull them out. A couple of the Fire Frobots exploded hitting their tanks and took over 50 others with them in the pits.

Melanie was in charge of the base security that day. Marcy had taken most of her bodyguards and lieutenants to the Temple, so she radioed to let her know.

"Hmm, clever. However, I won't come back just yet. I'll send the Frost Knights to Shroom Citadel. Evacuate all refugees to the bunkers and catacombs and take them down from all angles as best as you can!"Marcy ordered.

"Will do! How invigorating! Some guerilla terror defense of swamp combat! This is intense!"Melanie cocked her rifle and sent out orders,"Camo Bots, Marines, and Compact Archers, come with me to get into sniper position. Widow Mines, wait until they get 10 miles further to open fire!"

A red-skinned axolotl of the Zealots was named Chardonnay tossed some volatile potions into a bog when a few Woodwalkers joined the brawl. Some abominable trees and muck formed into Cursed monsters of her own making to start attacking. The Woodwalkers were too distracted dealing with them until they'd gotten surrounded and were burned up with them.

Melanie ordered some of their foot soldiers to go forward and engage. The Paladins, Phalangites, Siber-Bots, and several Geisters ran forward. Ferocious hand to hand fighting engaged. The Frobots and Newtopians took out most of them, especially since the rogue robots focused more on their mechanical kin.

"There!"Kelly drew her sword out of the dead Shambler's body,"I cannot believe it, but we're doing it!"

"Don't get ahead of yourself, Gil, we got plenty more to go!"Garret warned his friend/crush as he broke a Phalangite's spear in two.

"Fire on the Fume Bots first!"Melanie ordered the Widow Mines.

The Widow Mines rose up and fired their missiles at the gas-spewing robots at the front of the enemy advance. The gas in the air and their tanks exploded with great force.

"What the-?!"Voltaire yelled. They hadn't seen those ones before.

"We knew the witch had to be holding some cards for a terrifying defense back!"Chardonnay reminded him.

"Can you shoot those?"Garrett asked Vassily.

"I can try!"He answered.

He managed to hit two in their large eyes, but then he had to duck as another targeted him with its lasers.

A Hectabot carved the Widow Mines up after they tore a third of Voltaire's zealots and 400 robots up with deadly crossfire.

"This is getting more intense the closer we get to where Lily Paddington used to be!"Gobain said while checking the map.

Voltaire gave a dark smile,"Agreed! We should let his majesty know!"

However, at that moment, Melanie distracted them by yelling loudly,"FIRE!"

Several gunshots and arrows came flying at them from the brush and foliage all over.

The closest soldiers and Frobots were cut down at once.

Chardonnay saw her assistant fall with six arrows piercing his armor.

"Oh no you don't!"She growled. She dropped another potion in her hand and a fiery blob of acidic fire started burning on her special glove.

The king really did have all the best recipes locked up. She'd taken many of them. With practiced skill, she tossed it at the nearest trees and they began to burn.

"Target her!"Melanie ordered her troops.

Chardonnay chuckled as a dozen robots in hiding got set on fire. But then she got hit with twice as many arrows in her chest as her assistant. She fell backwards looking at them in shock and didn't notice the bog she'd landed in as her mind went dark.

"Linda, offer supporting fire from their rear as you see fit!"Melanie called to their senior sniper.

"Roger, Mels!"Linda responded. She, Jack, Raynor, Gaff, Medog, and a dozen volunteer sharpshooters and ten Marines had taken watch duty in the South Tower and were armed with sniper gear.

She took aim at the closest problematic officer.

Captain Bradley was yelling to his fellow officers about torching the Valley to the ground and then finding the survivors later.

He fell with a shot to the heart the second he turned far enough in her direction.

Corinne got hit in the ankles two seconds later and fell snarling.

"That came from behind! Find that shooter!"Voltaire yelled at Vassily and Kelly.

Raynor waited until he stepped right in front of two Tank Bots back to back and fired.

The HEV round tore through him and the robots in one shot.

"Came from above, pal!"Raynor corrected him.

Gaff hit the lead Hectabot in the head, and Jack and Medog targeted the legs of two others taking positions ready to fire at them.

The robots toppled and fell right onto Telma and Calypto, crushing them and 50 other enemies.

Captain Virgo quietly led 20 of his guards and some Solarites towards the South Tower.

However, the Nagataur Sigourney was stationed there to coordinate with Amy at the Nerve Center.

"Engaging aquatic chasm defense!"She said. She raised her arms and used her power on the nearby water. Virgo, a very focused newt most of the time, only looked up because he heard his comrades scream. The watery ropes pushed him and the rest into the chasm and they fell to their deaths. The Solarites combusted or sparked to death in the flow.

Amy mentally contacted their sister Gladys, who was approaching from Bog Bottom, to deal with the Western front. Gladys unleashed a sonic scream that incapacitated all living and nonliving enemies in that area as they carved a burning path that way.

Gobain won their silent admiration by getting the bulk of their troops under cover and telling Regulus to radio for reinforcements.

"Hold on, this will take a moment!"He said. The device had gotten jolted by a nearby blast from six Fire Frobots getting hit in the tanks and exploding.

He was just about to try speaking when a Frobot fell from the air with its head encased in ice.

"Oh no …"One soldier whispered. They all knew there was only one particular terror that used that attack so well.

"Look!"Vassily yelled. On the nearby ridge, tall shapes were coming out through the fog.

The fog cleared to show four of the Frost Knights (Arabella, Arachni, Filmore, and Crocus) looking down at the intruders with steely gazes from an outcrop to their left.

"Such ferocity … if only it were put to better use!"Arachni said. She pointed Flamestrike at them and smoke rose from the ground. The air grew heavy as the living troops struggled to breathe.

"YOU, GET THEM!"Homer yelled, livid at the sight of the feared knights who'd torn several dozen forts and countless soldiers (alive or not) down in their path.

Crocus leaped down and let out a growl a toad would envy. Most of the newts charging at him hesitated, but the maddened Homer just threw his corrosive daggers at him. Crocus deflected the blades with his axe easily and ran forward to cut him down with one swift stroke.

He glanced up as Savot and Kelly left at him from above and hit them both to the ground.

"Courageous, but foolish! You cannot win! Yield!"The Champion demanded.

"Never!"Savot said.

Garrett shot Crocus in the face desperately with a stray laser gun on the ground.

The large knight was more amused then angry,"That almost stung more than usual!"

Lancaster dispatched the six remaining Zealots standing, and Arachni drew 30 robots towards her at once to be destroyed. Arabella walked calmly towards the rest.

"Andrias, her knights are here!"Regulus said frantically to the radio. He got no audible response.

The Portal had vanished already, but one final robot was headed their way.

Regulus perked up hearing the loud clanking sound of something moving fast their way"Oh what did he send? Something with heavy ar-UGGGGH!"

"What's got you …"Gobain trailed off from his reprimand when he saw what alarmed Regulus. The Coreling had arrived at the field.

It held four Archers and two Marines in its grip, and the glaring entity of hate proceeded to make them scream with electric shocks to their CPU's meant to make them short out painfully.

The Coreling let out an awful scream that made its living allies shiver.

It managed to toss around the four knights back and crush every other fighter of Marcy's present beside them.

The Frobots were delighted and started advancing.

"Yesss, we'll crush the traitor with the master's champion present!"One Sentinel said.

That enraged the knights and got them to start hitting back harder when they got back up.

Arachni raised Flamestrike and sent a wave of mystical flames that singed the Coreling's arms and made it screech in pain. Crocus punched it into a rock and froze it momentarily.

Arabella kept two eyes on it and focused the other two on their forces. She used Strangulation on Palamedes, Regulus and Kelly, dangling them in midair and froze half of their ranks (living and AI alike) solid with a wave of Frostflame.

She pointed her sword at the rest as they struggled to their feet. "You are not going anywhere!"

The Coreling broker free and charged at her from behind. She spun around and carved a slash right through the lowest eyes.

It wailed like a dying animal. The Core itself shook miles away.

Filmore pinned a tentacle to the ground with his sword. He and Crocus handled the arms holding them with their undead strength and Arachni blinded it temporarily with a stab to its largest eye.

The Coreling screeched and thrashed two clawed arms at the closest knight (Filmore), but he stood firm while its attacks did no damage whatsoever to his armor.

Suddenly, the Coreling wailed and clutching its head.

Sally had arrived on her horse. She had her right hand out and steam came off her fingers as she used a Mindchill attack on its mind. The Core withdrew from it to avoid feeling more pain.

Nazgrowl came running up as the robots tried to attack his comrade. He levitated over 50 Dread Bots into the air with Strangulate and crushed them to death.

Grenda and Lancaster calmly walked out of the burning smoke near the destroyed buildings and straight towards Gobain's huddled group.

Gobain said,"Fall back and regroup out of-"He was slammed to the ground.

Two more Frost Knights were behind them.

"Where do you think you're going?"Ravyn asked Gobain as she pinned him under her feet. Koliath pointed Bilrost at Garret's throat warningly. Minerva and Enoch came from their right.

Three Hectabots flew down to reinforce them.

Imhadria shot an arrow into their faces at rapid speed.

"Bring in every reserve!"Regulus yelled into their communicator.

Over 2,000 extra machines appeared from the sky and swooped down at the Frost Knights. The knights were unfazed and turned to meet this new threat while keeping the soldiers trapped.

"Enough!"A deep voice proclaimed.

The other Frost Knights stood on a ridge with their leader. Darius was the one they recognized as the knight who decimated the Caerilian Coasts, destroyed Croakatraz, and broke Saint's Lake Bridge.

"This ends … NOW!"The Lich Knight yelled. His voice made machine and newt want to sink to their knees.

He charged Ashwake with energy that burned like the sun, and swung. The entire mass of remaining Frobots, all 6,000 plus of them, went up in flames.

Crocus punched the Coreling and it flew to land near his leader. Darius froze its legs to the ground and walked up to it.

"You … brought this vile thing HERE!?"He yelled. The rage the Lich Knight showed in his voice surprised Gobain's company and scared the Coreling. It tried desperately to get free.

Darius stabbed Ashwake into the Coreling's face. The mystically powered blade seared it with heat that mirrored the Calamity Box's powers to burn away at the undead essence built into its insides. It screamed an awful scream of pain as it got burnt up.

Satisfied, Darius left the crumbling remains and stalked towards the living Amphibian soldiers remaining.

"None of you will leave here alive for this!"He growled.

"Wait! If you duel me, will you spare my troops?"Gobain asked.

Ravyn curiously looked towards her leader to await his response.

Darius chuckled,"A duel to spare your troops? How noble! I accept. No tricks … just blade to blade, knight to knight. When you lose, you'll surrender and those left will be spared to the last! If you don't fight me honorably or flee, you'll all be frozen here in place for the next 100 years!"

"Deal!"Gobain said.

Ravyn picked him up, handed him his sword and stood aside.

He faced the tall and frightening knight for a long moment. Then he charged, clashing for half a minute. From the moment they made contact with each other's blades, Gobain knew he was facing a superior foe. The force behind his arms sent ripples down his bones, and Darius was holding back.

Darius got bored after he realized this wasn't going anywhere and swung his blade up, sending Gobain's sword flying into the air.

He caught it in his other hand. "I respect such bravery to face me in a battle you couldn't win. For that, I will also give you the honor of not being chained! Now, throw down your weapons. Our Queen wishes to see you in person before deciding your fates!"

The invaders reluctantly did so.

"Why not just take us to your dungeons?"Regulus called out.

Enoch put chains of ice around his arms,"Simple, little knight, she wants answers for this unacceptable incursion! Usually we sort out who goes to the dungeons or who doesn't after a battle!"

"Pray you don't have to go there, because you will never escape!"Sylalleas warned them.

"We lost … and for what?"Kelly grumbled bitterly as they walked into the enemy's den, surrounded by powerful icy knights and their reinforcements (including some robots they'd 'revived' on the spot).

"We knew it was likely coming in!"Garret said resignedly.

"We're still alive! And we'll know the truth … however worse it is!"Onya said decisively.

Miles away, Sasha wiped her head,"Whew, that was a workout!"

She stood on top of a Bailifter's body. It had taken her the better part of an hour to get into an optimum position to strike at the robots. Buck eliminated two of the Strikers quickly enough when he got a clear shot, but the other two and the Bailifters forced them to duck all around.

However, the massive flails the headman-like robots wielded gave Sasha an idea when some Frobots and Hornets came their way. The Resistance enjoyed antagonizing the robots with their fastest members to make them swing and miss them and hit their allies instead. Grime took down two of the large robots with one heavy combo in midair. Sasha thought that it was good dodging practice.

"And it looks like our neighbor won!"Maddie pointed out.

The noises from up North had died down.

Sasha grinned and yelled," Nice try Andrias! The Valley's still not yours!"

The Resistance cheered.

Raynor chuckled when saw them cheering from the South Tower,"Good, everyone's happy here!"

"More or less!"Linda said nonchalantly.

Even Beatrix cheered up after toppling a dozen Drillers mining the areas near Death Eye's Mountain into the lava. She found a stray recruitment poster for the CRA on the ground and laughed long and hard.

"Look what the magic goofball's calling the Castle!"She called out. Her troops laughed and started referring to the Castle as the 'Outhouse' from then on. Some wandering toads, including a few large Surinam breed clans of large number, met up and made an alliance with her. They went back underground around Frosch and the nearby mountains. The toads knew the value of underground fighting better than other Amphibians.

Sally, Sylalleas and Toras arranged their prisoners in rows, made them sit down and unfroze the encased ones to join them.

To their surprise, Sally healed the worst of their injuries, starting with Corinne's legs.

Sally warned them,"Prepare yourselves, soldiers … you committed the crime of invading our Valley with intent to destroy and bringing that abomination here. You are not here to make demands but answer questions and make a choice that will decide your punishment or atonement!"

Gobain steeled himself,"You have another thing coming if you think torture will make us reveal anything."

"What makes you THINK we need to torture you to find out everything there IS to know about every single one of you?"The familiar voice of the Cyberkinetic Witch said.

The captured 350-plus soldiers looked up. She was coming towards them on a floating chair, surrounded by the rest of her Mar Guards, Zel and the Wit Wraiths.

Grenda and Septimus grabbed Gobain's arms and made him stand up.

"You underestimate what I do KNOW or DON'T know! I know you are Sir Gobain the Enduring, veteran of three-score campaigns and more missions than you know how to count, born on a midsummer's eve, LOVER of fireflies dancing in the twilight and delicious crumbcakes like your dearly departed mother used to make, honorable knight of the Newtopian Order of Triturusian Swords… I could go on. Shall I? It's been only two days since I blew someone's mind away by spitting facts WITHOUT spitting. Or you could start spilling, since I just got back from ONE messy smackdown by my Temple and learned that the West Toad Tower got blown up!"

None of Gobain's friends knew all of that about him.

"What's this all about … what did Andrias do to set you on this warpath against him?"Gobain asked quietly.

The terrifying and goofy enigma of a rebel took her mask off and revealed her face.

"What did big bad old Andrias do to me indeed? That is a story that might break your hearts! He stabbed mine!"Marcy Wu, the missing Human Chief Ranger of the Night Guards, said with a sad smile. Their faces registered varying levels of shock.

Her hair was longer and her face had scars, but that was the missing human genius they knew.

She cheerfully asked,"Did you all miss me?"

Regulus had seen Marcy many times in the Castle. He'd fussed over her knocking several valuable things down (many of which she repaired voluntarily). He howled in despair,"Master Marcy!? I don't know what's going on anymore!"

Marcy leaned forward,"I know, Captain Regulus. I hear that a lot these days! Tell you what … one riddle to give you a clue on why that is, and if you can guess right, we can discuss this over dinner. If not, we can do it outside. Sound fair?"

Gobain and Regulus exchanged looks and nodded.

Marcy shuffled a deck of cards in her fingers while asking,"Spoken by many, heard by all, in this art, many fall. What am I?"

"Lies?"Gobain guessed. Marcy smiled widely and held up two cards. The first was a King playing card with Andrias holding his sword on it and smiling sinisterly. The second was an Ace card with the Core's picture on it.

She stood up and said,"Correctamundo! We've got a king and a monster selling everyone here lie after lie! No more of that. Let's get you of the dark and into the light!"

She beckoned her soldiers to bring them inside.

Two if by Sea*

"This … I still don't want to believe this, but it's right before my eyes."Gobain said. Two days had gone by since their capture. The revelation of his king's plans, the Monster living in the Castle (one they'd seen a small replica of in action before their eyes), and a plan to conquer all worlds … it defied any sense of reason. But it fit the facts and here was what Talis had done. Frobots had fortified Kho Ghop Island and turned it into a small closed off fortress.

Vassily, Garrett, Tara, Onya, and Savot were at their limit for defending Andrias at this point and easily switched sides.

Kelly, Regulus and some of the rest were on the fence for now, but were indignant at the futility of the mission Andrias had sent them on and alarmed about the Core, so they asked for time to think about it. They got to stay free at the base with supervision.

The knights and Castle guards were all horrified that recent reports indicated Edward and their other four missing comrades had gone into the basements where the Core lived and never came out.

That revelation alone convinced Gobain to take her side at once. Regulus promised her wouldn't cause problems for him or Marcy.

"If you can, find out if any more have gone missing,"He requested. A few of his guards and some invading assassins had been unaccounted for in the last month.

Corinne was happy to reunite with Dawn, and she became a valued combatant for Zel. They sent a message to some of their family, and many went towards Snarlsburg to claim sanctuary.

"True, my GOOD fellow,"Marcy patted him on the back,"but this is just a minor setback or delay at most …we'll deal with it after our planned raid on Newtopia next week!"

The revelation that Marcy wanted to invade the Newtopian regions not to conquer it, but to save two of their most revered officials and as many citizens as she could won the knights and many of them (over 220) over to her side.

"What about the threat they pose, Milady?" Onya asked her.

"Not too much of a threat. This is meant to keep us occupied!"Gilsig corrected her.

"My army is getting refreshed thanks to my NEW recruits and restoration of our robots and plant guardians … so numbers aren't the problem for US …"

The Bailifters had been appropriated into their ranks with new blue-colored hoods/gloves and yellow eyes. Odd dubbed them the Jurobots, and they only had twelve of them active at any time to fit with the theme.

"Neither of you are fighting fair,"Corinne commented. Everyone turned to look at her,"Your machines can be repaired and these two,"she gestured at the two AD's assigned to her,"tell me you have backups or connections to your computers to restore their minds in the event they get destroyed so they can fight over and over again without fear, and Andrias …"she scowled,"his armies are growing bigger and stronger! Monsters and machines bow to your wills, and your two friends could back that up in time!"

"Corinne, please … WAR is NEVER fair. Life ISN'T fair, but what I'm doing isn't about fair, but what's right! I'm thinking bigger to MAKE it better! Isn't that enough for you?"

The fuschia-haired hellbender rolled her eyes and picked Marcy up so she could use her shoulders as a perch to look out from,"Of course it is … I know to how think big! I have to, look at me!"

The Nagataur known as Helen spoke up,"Alert. General Talis has moved her ship out from the island and captured 100 fishermen from some of our Southeastern ports. It appears she intends to use them as hostages to force their leaders to come and be taken prisoner. "

"See, now that's not thinking big!"Corinne said.

"She must want to keep their new position secure for as long as possible or plan for future attacs!"Zel suggested.

Nicky rubbed his chin in thought,"Either that, or she's going to nab as many as she can and skip straight through a portal with them to Andrias after calling the cheeky chap up!"

"Not on MY WATCH! Send out some MANTAS and go with them. Do NOT fire on them!,"Marcy ordered Araya and Dunbar.

The two Mar Guards saluted and took off.

Talis saw them approaching and ordered her ship to go Northeast, planning to lure them to where three Cancer Bots were in range.

"Oh dear …"Marcy took off her mask to make sure she was seeing the reading's on Helen's holo-map correctly,"she's headed right toward a minefield we set up!"

"Why would you-"Garrett started.

"For handling pirates, aquatic beasts with collars, and mechanical terrors that keep coming from the waters!"Darin cut in.

Garrett blinked and sighed,"I see … yes, that would be a problem."

"We can't radio her … we need to set out!"Zel decided.

They set out on the Green Lady.

"Oh my … here comes your queen herself! This is greater than I expected!"Talis said to her captives on deck.

"You're not prepared for her!"An old toad named Seabeard warned her.

"I'm ready to face that possibility!"She replied.

However, as her ship, the Bay Fury, turned around, it hit one mine.

"Why that-grab the captives!"She ordered Captain Holly. The blue newt complied and started barking orders.

"Oh dear … accelerate their rescue!"Marcy ordered Yuriko. Yuriko nodded and she gathered together with the rest of the Asurdroids.

Araya directed them to land on deck. Mei summoned a pool of water from below deck and Spiral sent a mild current through the water to stun them. They teleported the captives out first.

Dunbar and Araya and their mounts took out any robots coming their way in the air.

"Please … save us!"Holly called out pleadingly. She was rescued first, and most of the newt sailors and troops followed her example. A third tried jumping overboard and either ran into dangerous wildlife and got eaten or were fished out alive later.

Talis just stood on the deck of the Bay Fury … and she gave Marcy one last spiteful glare, refusing to budge or call for help as it sank beneath the waves.

"The captain went down her ship, more or less!"Greenbeard said solemnly.

"Aye … she did! Let's head back to port!"Corinne said grimly.

"Any complaints?"Marcy asked Gobain and his remaining best knights after they returned home.

They shook their heads.

"She knew what she was getting into … and that was a tactic I'd never approve of!"Gobain said.

"Let me tag along to get our people out and I'll fight for you!"Kelly said.

"If you can get Lady Olivia to verify all this ... I'm in!"Regulus said.