Several Weeks Later
Sasha stormed into the war room. "Why the hell didn't you tell me?!"
Grime looked up from his map of Amphibia. "Tell you what?"
"That you made a deal with Andrias and Darcy!" Sasha shouted. "Beatrix just told me that you and Olivia agreed to give them the Music Box back in exchange for their help in saving Anne and that Core thingy freeing Marcy!"
Grime scratched the back of his head nervously. "I thought it'd be best if you had time to rest."
"You thought it'd be best if I...?!" Sasha slammed her hands onto the table in front of them. "Grime, I am the Commander of the Resistance! And with Anne gone, I need to know everything that's going on around here!"
Grime held his hands up placatingly. "Yes yes, I know. But you've been so busy trying to secure the Valley that I thought laying this on you would be too much."
Sasha pinched the bridge of her nose, groaning loudly as she tilted her head back. "Grimeeeeee!!!"
"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Grime said, standing up from his seat at the table and walking towards his former lieutenant. "It was the only option we had at the time."
Sasha threw her hands up into the air. "You know what, it doesn't matter!"
"Wait, what?"
Sasha took a step towards the toad. "Yeah! It doesn't matter because no one's seen Andrias, Darcy, or the massive flying castle they use, in weeks!"
"They have to be out there somewhere." Grime countered. "Just look at the reports. The U.S. Military, as you call them, are still engaging with the Frobot Army on a regular basis."
"I never said they were dead, Grime." Sasha sighed. "I'm just saying that we have more important things to worry about right now."
"Like what?"
Sasha smiled. "I'm glad you asked." The blonde strode over to the map of Amphibia and pointed at one of the villages located in the Valley. "Swamp Shiro."
Grime looked at the map, confused. "I don't follow."
"Swamp Shiro is the closest village to the mountain pass and as such it will be the first line of defense against the U.S. Military." Sasha explained.
"And we need to worry about this right now?" Grime questioned. "I thought the humans were focused on conquering the Northern regions of Amphibia for the time being."
Sasha nodded. "They are, but if we want to defend the Valley, we need to make sure Swamp Shiro is secure."
"Makes sense." Grime conceded. "So when do you leave?"
Sasha smirked. "The real question is when do we leave?"
"What?!" Grime exclaimed. "Why me?"
Sasha turned and started walking out of the war room. She looked over her shoulder, her smirk turning slightly sadistic. "You didn't tell me about the deal you made, remember?"
"But..." Grime began to say but Sasha was already gone. The toad groaned. "And here I thought I could have the day off today..."
~~~
Joe Sparrow landed in Swamp Shiro with a resounding thud. Sasha, Tritonio, Grime, and Stumpy all dismounted, each one less gracefully than the last.
"Where to first, Commander?" Tritonio asked.
Sasha placed a hand over her eyes, examining the small frog village. She pointed at a large building in the center of town. "There, that must be the town hall."
The group began to make their way toward the building but before they could enter, the doors slammed open and a rather chubby toad walked out.
"Ah, Commander! It's so good to see you again!" The toad said jovially as he walked forward and aggressively shook Sasha's hand.
Sasha smiled awkwardly. "Hey, Mayor Toadsworth. How are things here in Swamp Shiro? Any problems with the frobots?"
Toadsworth chuckled. "Not since you helped us drive them out a few weeks back." He looked over Sasha's shoulder at the other three members of the resistance. "So what brings you all here on such a fine day like today?"
Grime stepped forward. "We're here to help build up your defenses. The human army is closing in on the mountain pass and this town is the first one they'll come across once they pass through."
"Aye, this town's gotta be in tip-top shape before they get here." Stumpy added.
Toadsworth nodded. "I see. Well then, let me introduce you to the leader of our local militia." The toad snapped his fingers. "Frobert, get out here will yah!"
The doors of the town hall slammed open once again, a tall green frog in armor hurrying to Mayor Toadworth's side. The frog saw Sasha and immediately went to salute her. "C-Commander Sasha, welcome. I'm Frobert Moondrop."
Sasha placed her hand on his shoulder. "At ease, soldier."
Frobert looked at the blonde in surprise before reverting to a more relaxed posture. "Yes ma'am."
Sasha rolled her eyes and turned to Toadsworth. "We'll take it from here, mayor. You go do...whatever it is you do."
Toadsworth tilted his head down in acknowledgment before stepping back inside. Sasha looked back at Frobert. "Walk us through your defenses."
Frobert nodded. "Of course. Follow me, I'll lead you to our barracks."
"Great." Sasha replied.
Sasha, Grime, Tritonio, and Stumpy each fell into step behind Frobert as they walked toward Swamp Shiro's outer wall.
Frobert looked over his shoulder at Sasha as the five of them approached. "I have to ask, why are you helping us exactly? You're a human, shouldn't you be supporting the invaders?"
Sasha froze in place, a look of shock plastered onto her face. "Absolutely not! Why would you even think that?!"
Frobert shrugged. "I'm just confused as to why you would go up against your own kind."
Sasha stepped toward the frog, pulling out a piece of paper from her pocket and handing it to him. "Have you seen the reports? They're rounding up Amphibians and doing experiments on them. I mean, that's even worse than what Andrias was doing! As far as I'm concerned, that's more than enough of a reason to go against my own kind!"
Frobert eyed the paper carefully. "So essentially you're saying that you're the only 'good' human."
"What? No!" Sasha exclaimed. "There's tons of good humans out there! Heck, most of those soldiers are probably good people at heart. They just have bad generals giving them shitty orders."
"Huh..." Frobert said, handing the paper back. "Well, in any case, I'm glad you're with us."
Sasha breathed a sigh of relief. "Yeah, me too."
With that settled, the group continued walking and soon arrived at the barracks, or rather, three small shacks pressed up against the wall with a training area set off to the side.
Sasha exchanged glances with Grime, Tritonio, and Stumpy. "Um...is this it?"
"Looks pretty bare bones if you ask me." Tritonio said, making no attempt to disguise his discontent at the meager buildings in front of him.
"Yup, this is it!" Frobert replied. "Let me introduce you to the troops."
Frobert cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled out. "Hey, guys! Come and see who's here!"
Sasha watched as about twenty or so frogs flooded out of the barracks, each of them in leather armor and holding a sword. The blonde narrowed her eyes in disbelief. "This is it?! This is your entire militia?!"
"Well, no." Frobert answered. "Larry had to call in sick today."
Sasha lifted Frobert off the ground by the collar of his shirt. "Do you have any idea what we're up against?!"
"Um...some humans with a bunch of weird black sticks?"
"NO!" Grime yelled before Sasha could even open her mouth to respond. "The humans coming here have weapons beyond anything you've ever seen before! They have giant metal machines that shoot explosive arrows and metal birds that can drop boom shrooms on entire cities! You have no idea the kind of firepower they possess!"
Tritonio spoke up before Grime could continue. "He's right, you frogs are woefully unprepared for what is to come."
"I've seen firsthand what those human weapons can do." Stumpy remarked. "It's no wonder Newtopia fell so quickly."
Sasha cleared her throat. "Thank you, Grime, Tritonio, Stumpy, but I've got this." She raised Frobert higher into the air, his own soldiers stepping back in fear. "Listen here you idiot, we probably only have about a week before the U.S. Military gets here. We need to seriously improve your defenses and the size of your militia if you want your town to even last an hour against them."
Frobert grasped at Sasha's hand. "Okay okay, I get it! Can you put me down now?"
"That depends. Are you willing to put in the effort?"
Frobert opened his mouth to reply but was interrupted by the voice of one of his soldiers.
"Hey, does anyone else hear that?"
Sasha paused, whirling her head around to the frog soldier who'd spoken up. "Hear what?"
"You don't hear it? It sounds like some sort of buzzing." The small, yellow frog answered.
Sasha let go of Frobert and cupped her ear with her hand, straining to hear what the frog was talking about. After a few seconds, she heard it: a low brr that was getting louder by the second.
Sasha's eyes widened in realization. "Shit. EVERYONE, GET INTO YOUR DEFENSIVE POSITIONS NOW!!!"
"What's going on?" Frobert asked, confused by Sasha's sudden shift in tone.
Sasha looked down at the frog, her mind running a million miles a minute. "They're coming, the U.S. Military is here."
"What?!" Grime exclaimed. "But I thought you said they still had yet to take the mountain pass?"
"I did!" Sasha shouted as she ran to help one of the frogs load a nearby catapult. "Looks like they're ahead of schedule!"
Sasha gritted her teeth as she and a couple other frogs hoisted a boulder into the catapult. She wiped some sweat off her forehead, running to help another group of frogs pass out shields to the others.
Sasha called out to her fellow resistance members. "Tritonio, Stumpy, go tell Mayor Toadsworth what's happening and prepare Swamp Shiro for evacuation! Grime, you're with me!"
All three of them nodded before running off to do as they were told. Grime, in particular, scaled the outer wall, peering over it to see how close the army was to the town.
BRRRRRRRRRRR
The low buzz from before crescendoed, causing Sasha to look up in alarm. Her jaw dropped when she saw a bomber plane flying right on top of them. "Everyone get down!"
The entire resistance force ran for cover as bombs began to fall from the sky, destroying several buildings and sending the citizens of Swamp Shiro into a panic.
Sasha reached for her swords but stopped when she realized that there was no point. Her swords were no match for the guns her fellow humans were using. Swamp Shiro was done for and there was nothing she could do to stop it besides give its citizens time to retreat.
"Grime! How close are they?!" Sasha yelled.
"About a quarter of a mile away!" Grime yelled back.
Sasha nodded, turning to the catapult operators she had helped earlier. "Launch the boulders then go help the rest of your town escape. We'll hold them off for as long as we can."
The frogs stared at her nervously. "Are you sure?" One of them asked.
Sasha gave them a small smile to reassure them. "Yes! Now do it!"
The frogs pulled the levers on their catapults, sending multiple boulders flying over the wall.
SMASH
"Direct hit!" Grime called out. "It looks like they've stopped for now, but I wouldn't push our luck."
Sasha gave him a quick thumbs up before putting two fingers into her mouth and whistled loudly. She turned to the remaining members of the militia, most of them still with expressions of pure terror on their faces. "Everyone, gather around me as quickly as you can. Hurry!"
Every single frog, along with Grime and Frobert, made their way over to her just as Joe Sparrow landed next to them. "Get on!" Sasha shouted.
The Amphibians obliged, squeezing onto the bird's back as fast as they could. Sasha climbed into the front seat. "Alright Joe, get us outta here."
With one large flap of his wings, Joe Sparrow soared into the sky. Sasha let out a sigh of relief as they began to fly away.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
The blonde jumped when the sound of gunfire exploded around her. Sasha turned to stare at the ground, realizing that the gunshots were coming from human soldiers on the ground.
"Joe, evasive maneuvers!"
The giant sparrow chirped, shifting his weight from side to side to avoid the bullets. After nearly thirty seconds, the gunfire stopped. Sasha looked behind them, letting out an even bigger sigh of relief this time. "I think we're out of range."
Grime held his chest, struggling to control his breathing as they continued to fly away. "Good. I don't think *huff* I could handle much more of your *huff* fancy flying."
Sasha leaned back into her seat, closing her eyes and sighing. "Did Tritonio and Stumpy get everyone out okay?"
"I think so." Frobert responded. "I saw them leading the rest of town into a nearby forest."
Sasha nodded slowly. "Then they should be fine. They'll be able to meet up with us back in Wartwood later."
"So what now?" One of the frog soldiers asked nervously.
Sasha opened her eyes, exchanging a glance with Grime before answering. "Now we prepare for the fight of our lives."
They may have lost the battle, but this war was just getting started.