Chapter Text
Mrs. Croaker was not in a good mood. The past few weeks had to have been some of the worst days in her entire life.
The Plantars were supposed to have come back from Newtopia by now after saying goodbye to the humans. Normally, Mrs. Croaker would have just shrugged it off and continued on with her day, but the castle in the sky seemed to indicate that something had gone horribly wrong.
But that wasn’t all…
Mrs. Croaker had read the newspaper. Frogs across the Valley were being thrown out of their homes by the Toad Army. Those that resisted were killed on the spot.
It was monstrous behavior, even for a culture as brutal as the Toad’s. Something had to have changed in order for them to begin acting so violently.
Mrs. Croaker was snapped out of her thoughts by One-Eyed Wally. The teal frog stormed through the market, yelling at the top of his lungs.
“THE TOADS ARE COMING!!!”
Everyone in the market gasped as Wally kept on running, continuing to shout out a warning to anyone he saw.
Mrs. Croaker abandoned her shopping list and marched back to her home. She had some very important things to grab.
Wartwood would not go down without a fight!
Sasha grinned as the walls of the annoying frog village came into view. She motioned for Bufo and Beatrix to begin the assault while she checked in with Grime and Aldo.
Sasha approached the two older toads who appeared to be arguing with one another.
“This has gone too far, Aldo!” Grime yelled in the Toad Lord’s face. “Killing these frogs only makes it more likely that a rebellion will form later down the line.”
“This is not up for debate.” Also replied calmly. “Captain Waybright has done wonders for Toad Society. I trust her judgment.”
Sasha coughed into her hand. “Ahem.”
Grime and Aldo immediately turned and saluted their commander. Sasha rolled her eyes. “At ease.”
She looked at Aldo. “Are the birds ready?”
The old toad nodded. “They await your command.”
Sasha smiled. “Good. Maybe these frogs will put up more of a fight so I can finally use them.”
“Commander?” Grime decided to speak up. “Don’t you think all of this is going a little overboard? We already rule over the frogs, why do we need to drive them out of their homes?”
Sasha groaned in annoyance. “Because Grimsey, you toads shouldn’t have to live in a damn tower.” She looked towards the mountain pass where the floating castle was visible in the sky. “And as soon as we take over the Valley, I can finally go kick that stupid king’s ass.”
“If it’s Andrias you’re worried about, maybe we could work with the frogs in order to—“ Grime began to say before Sasha cut him off.
“Just drop it, Grime.” Sasha hissed. “Remember who’s in charge here.”
Grime closed his mouth and nodded as Sasha unsheathed her swords. “Aldo, you take me to the herons. Grime, you take the rest of the army and help Beatrix and Bufo in the frontal assault. Got it?”
Both toads saluted her while Sasha basked in her verbal victory. This was how it should be. How it should’ve been with Anne and Marcy.
Sasha was in complete control.
Loggle worked as fast as he could to clear his shop of all things valuable. Even though he wasn’t a frog, he knew he wouldn’t be spared by the Toad Army. Either he got out now or not at all.
A knock on his door snapped him out of his panicked state. Loggle cleared his throat. “Who………is it?”
A familiar elderly voice spoke. “It’s Sadie. Come out here, Leopold, it’s urgent.”
Loggle cautiously opened the door to his shop and nearly slammed it shut again when he saw the massive crowd of amphibians standing just outside. “What’s going on?”
Mrs. Croaker handed him a rusty sword. “This town isn’t going down without a fight.” She looked back at the crowd behind her. “Isn’t that right?!”
“No!” The crowd answered in unison.
Loggle looked at the sword Mrs. Croaker gave him. “I don’t even know………how to use this.”
“Just swing it at their heads.” Stumpy replied. “Always works for me.”
The half-frog, half-toad took off his spatula hands and replaced them with a hammer and a mace. Loggle looked at Mrs. Croaker and Stumpy in disbelief. “Not all of us are fighters, you know?!”
“But you all could be.” Mrs. Croaker countered. “I’ve seen your statue, Leopold. I know you want to be strong.”
Loggle sighed in defeat. “Okay, I’ll fight, but it’ll be a losing battle.”
“Probably.” Mrs. Croaker conceded. “But at least we’ll die trying.”
Grime stood atop the bridge just outside the walls of Wartwood. Bufo and Beatrix had led their armies around the sides of the frog village, surrounding the town and leaving no room for escape. All three Toad Lords waited for their commander to give the signal.
Grime looked back at his own army and grimaced. He still couldn’t comprehend why his former Lieutenant was so hell-bent on getting rid of these frogs. Sure, they were annoying, but that wasn’t enough of a reason to kill them.
Grime sighed in defeat. There was nothing he could do to stop this unless he committed treason against his own kind. He would need to raise some kind of Frog Army and storm Toad Tower if he wanted this madness to end. What were the odds of something like that happening?
SCREECH
The sound of one of the herons overhead broke Grime out of his thoughts. That was the signal.
Grime pulled out Barrel’s Warhammer and charged through the gates of Wartwood, his army following closely behind. He slowed to a halt when he noticed a large crowd of armed amphibians ready to defend their home.
Grime stared at them in disbelief. Did these frogs seriously think they could stand up to the Toad Army? This was just plain suicide!
Grime powered up Barrel’s Warhammer and sighed. He was really hoping for an easy victory today.
Wally raised his sword just in time to block an attack from a nearby toad. He kicked the toad away and dodged out of the way right before a different toad could cut his head off. It was clear that the small army Mrs. Croaker had amassed was being overrun.
Wally dodged the swing of a toad’s sword and ran in the direction of the old frog, hoping that she would have a plan. His heart skipped a beat when he saw her struggling to hold back Captain Grime.
“MRS. CROAKER!!!” Wally shouted.
Just then, another toad punched Grime away. It was Mayor Toadstool. Wally stared at him in shock. Most of Wartwood had assumed he would simply sit back and watch the town be taken, but here he was, fighting to save them.
Wally ran over to Mrs. Croaker while Toadstool picked up a fallen battle axe and prepared to hold off Grime. The toad looked over his shoulder at the two of them. “This better have earned y’all votes for the next election!”
Toadstool rushed toward Grime just as Toadie ran up to Wally and Mrs. Croaker. “Has anyone seen the Mayor? I saw him run into the battle and now…” The small frog trailed off when he noticed the mayor duking it out with Grime.
Toadie opened his mouth to comment on Toadstool’s lack of fighting ability, but a toad soldier cut him off as they tried to bring their sword down on Toadie’s head. Thankfully, Mrs. Croaker blocked the attack while Wally knocked the toad out with his accordion.
“Come on, you frogs, we need to get out of ‘ere!” Wally said as he tried to pull the two of them away.
Mrs. Croaker stood firm. “No. This is our town and I won’t let it be run by some dry-skinned brutes.” She gestured to the knocked-out toad on the ground. “Just look at the idiots they have for soldiers.”
SCREECH
The sound of a bird flying overhead interrupted their argument. Everyone looked up in horror at the two herons flying above them with none other than Sasha Waybright riding on one of their backs.
The monstrous birds crashed to the ground, crushing two buildings in the process. Sasha smirked as she peered down at the frogs below. “What’s up, frogs? Guess who’s back~!”
Mrs. Croaker froze at the sight of the birds who had taken so many lives all those years ago. It seemed like only yesterday that she would buy a loaf of bread from Mrs. Flour or greet Mr. Sundew on her way to the market. Frog, watching the Plantar couple play with their children near the fountain used to be one of her favorite pastimes.
Mrs. Croaker sealed away the memories as she went to glare at the creature riding one of the herons. A small part of the old frog knew that Sasha couldn’t be trusted even after Anne said she had changed.
Sasha caught Toadie’s eye. “Sup butler frog! Like what you see?”
Toadie seemed to be at a loss for words. Mrs. Croaker stepped forward and pointed her sword at the human girl. “This is our town, you can’t have it!”
“Oh?” Sasha asked innocently as scratched the back of the heron she was riding. “And why’s that?”
“Because…” Mrs. Croaker began. “We don’t accept, let alone respect, outsiders like you.”
Sasha’s eyes twitched in annoyance. “If that’s how you wanna play this, fine. I’ll do it your way.” She pointed at Mrs. Croaker. “Kill.”
Both herons immediately snapped their beaks at the old frog, just barely missing their target as Wally pulled Mrs. Croaker out of the way.
Mrs. Croaker, Wally, and Toadie all ran towards the town statue with Toadstool bringing up the rear after losing his axe in the scuffle with Grime.
Mrs. Croaker spotted Loggle fighting alongside Stumpy and Felicia Sundew against an even larger group of toads.
“Fall back!” Mrs. Croaker called out to the group as she and the others continued to evade Sasha's herons.
The other three amphibians abandoned the fight against the toads and started to run alongside Mrs. Croaker and the rest of her group.
“Do you have a plan?” Felicia asked hopefully.
Mrs. Croaker shook her head. “We need somewhere to lay low and come up with one.”
“I know…………someplace we can hide.” Loggle exclaimed as they all took cover behind the town statue.
Mrs. Croaker turned to the axolotl. “Where?”
“Underneath the Plantar’s house. They have a system of tunnels down there.” Loggle replied. “We can hide there and come up with a plan to………take back Wartwood.”
Mrs. Croaker nodded before turning to the rest of the group. “Felicia, Wally, Stumpy, you three find as many Wartwood citizens as you can and lead them to the Plantar’s house. Loggle, Toadstool, Toadie, and I will make sure the tunnels are safe.”
Every amphibian in the group nodded before taking off to do their respective jobs. Mrs. Croaker nearly yelled out in surprise when Toadstool threw herself, Loggle, and Toadie onto his back like he had done at Toad Tower. The toad immediately took off running toward the Plantar home.
“We’re almost there, sir!” Toadie exclaimed as Toadstool weaved through the battle happening all around them. “Keep running!”
Mrs. Croaker looked behind them and was relieved to see that the herons had lost interest in them, but now they were on the hunt for other frogs to feast on.
“Faster!” Mrs. Croaker ordered as Toadstool reached the edge of town.
Sasha’s grin widened as she watched the Citizens of Wartwood run for their lives. Although some frogs were dead on the ground, most had seemingly decided to run after it became clear that this was a losing battle.
As soon as the last of the frogs were gone, Sasha dismounted from her heron and marched over to Beatrix, Bufo, Aldo, and Grime.
She slowly clapped her hands. “Well done. This town actually resisted somewhat, but you guys still destroyed them.” Sasha patted Grime’s head. “Even you, Grimsey.”
“Shouldn’t we go after those frogs?” Beatrix asked. “What if they try to rebel against us?”
Sasha laughed. “Are you serious right now?! Those frogs don’t stand a chance against us, let alone the herons. They’d have to be idiots to even think of trying.”
The blonde turned and started walking toward the town square. “Now come on you guys, we’ve got some plundering to do.”
Wartwood had fallen, but little did Sasha know, the war had only just begun.