The Rich Kid
Sasha Waybright was the one and only child of the illustrious Waybright family.
The Waybrights were near-millionaires, the father of the family being the best plastic surgeon in the USA and the mother being a corporate lawyer.
They had it all - A mansion, a huge swimming pool in their vast backyard, two ferraris with their own separate garages, constant vacations to France,Germany, Hawaii and the Seychelles, their own butlers, maids and chauffeurs, and a nanny and private teacher for their kid.
Sasha, the kid in question, lived pretty luxuriously as well.
Home schooled, dressed like a little princess and had every need tended to by her nanny or the numerous servants her parents employed. She basically lived the life of your average rich kid.
Yet, despite all this privilege, She lacked the one thing a child her age needed the most.
Parents.
Sure, they were alive and well and provided for her financially, but not once in her life had they ever been around to actually raise her and show her any kind of affection.
She had her nanny and the butlers and maids, who had all cared for her since birth and made sure that she grew and developed properly, was well fed, bathed, and was in bed and asleep before 9 p.m. every night, but none of them had ever really dealt her any genuine affection. They were just there to care for her every physical need, make her shut up when she got too loud, make sure she stayed out of her parent’s way and get paid for doing so.
That was it.
Sasha spent the first few years of her life without any kind of real affection or proper parental figures. All she’d had were two cold, distant beings that ate breakfast and dinner with her and an army of people in black and white uniforms who made sure she remained as invisible as a spirit to her parents.
________________________________________________________________________________
Today, on this particular day, Sasha was going out somewhere with her mother.
Her rich, neglectful mother.
Her rich, neglectful mother who didn't even look at Sasha or acknowledge her existence.
Seven year old Sasha was currently in the backseat of her mom’’s new car, the chauffeur driving her and her mother— Who rode shotgun and was applying blood red lipstick to her lips as she looked in the visor mirror- into town so that her mother could go buy some more clothes or make up or whatever she wanted at that moment.
Sasha sat in the backseat, bored and annoyed, her legs swinging up and down as she looked out of the car window.
After driving a bit further, the chauffeur stopped the car, getting out and opening the car doors for Sasha and her mother as they got out and walked towards a nearby store. It was some high end department store, standing out like a glimmering jewel amongst the rundown small businesses and junk stores that surrounded it.
Sasha's mother walked in, Sasha following closely behind her. She was already bored as heck, her mother going over to an area of the store that sold perfumes and make up and chatting idly with a clerk that was working the perfume counter as Sasha wandered around aimlessly, looking for something that would amuse or entertain her.
After walking around numerous wracks of clothing,shelves of random items and dressed up mannequins on stands, she saw a nearby room with a sign above it that read “STORAGE”. The door to the room was wide open, an array of random things visible inside the doorway. Sasha walked over and went into it, wanting to explore the room and see if she could find anything interesting inside it.
The first thing that caught her eye in the room was a small, gold and black treasure chest shaped box, which sat atop a small plastic chair that had been left inside the room. A small crank on the right side of the box indicated that it was possibly a music box, and three brightly colored gemstones shone brightly atop the box’s lid- One pink, one green, and one blue- alongside the image of a golden frog.
Sasha liked gemstones. She liked anything shiny and pretty, really.
She HAD to have it!
Sasha ran out of the room, running around until she found her mother, who was still talking with the clerk at the perfume counter.
"Mommy!" She shouted, trying to get her mother's attention.
Her mother didn't even glance at her, continuing to talk with the clerk.
Sasha huffed and ran over to her, tugging on her mother’s pants, shouting some more.
"Mommy mommy mommy! Mommy!!"
Her mother finally turned to her and huffed, visibly annoyed.
"What?" She asked, incredibly annoyed by the child’s presence.
"Can you get me something?" The little girl asked sweetly, looking up at her with big, shiny eyes.
"What do you want?" Her mother asked, tapping her well-manicured nails against the marble top of the perfume counter.
"I saw a treasure chest, and it’s really pretty and I want it!!." Sasha said happily,smiling with excitement.
"Treasure chest?" Her mother asked flatly, raising an eyebrow as the clerk looked at Sasha and let out an "Aww!"
Sasha nodded. "Mhm hmm."
Sasha's mother sighed. "Well, Where is it?"
"In that room." Sasha said, pointing at the storage room where she had found the box.
Sasha's mother walked over, high heels clicking loudly on the shining linoleum floor as she went into the room. She saw the box, then sighed, looking at it with distaste.
"It's hardly a "treasure chest". The gemstones look fake."
“I know but I want it! It looks cool, plus it might be a music box that plays really pretty songs!” Sasha said, looking at the pretty pink gemstone on the box’s lid. Pink was her favorite color.
"I'm not wasting money on that! Now, go run along and do something else, mommy's busy." Sasha’s mother snapped, swiftly walking back to the perfume counter and continuing her conversation with the clerk.
Sasha went over and picked up the box, tears forming in her eyes as she looked down at the pink gemstone.
She wanted it……
Sasha walked back out, finding her mother and holding the box out.
"Mommy...I…I really want it." She said, threatening to cry, minutes away from having a tantrum.
Her mother didn't even look at her, ignoring her once again.
That’s when Sasha finally broke, bursting into tears, crying as she shakily stood next to her mother. At this point, it was both her desire for the box and her sorrow and anger that her mother was once again ignoring her that had brought the child to tears.
Her mother turned to her, looking disgusted and angry in response to her own child’s cries for her attention.
"Sasha, go outside and get over yourself. We can't always get what we want." She said coldly.
Sasha glared at her, sniffling.
"Why not? You always get what YOU want, and you have enough money to get it!" Sasha yelled.
"Well I'm not wasting money on junk!" Her mother yelled back.
"It's not junk!" Sasha shouted back, hugging the box tightly.
"It is! Now put it back and calm yourself before I give you something to really cry about!!” Sasha’s mother snapped, glaring at the small girl before turning away from her, going back to talking with the perfume counter clerk.
"Damn kids....am I right?" She said, the clerk shaking her head.
As Sasha's mother and the clerk got back to their conversation, Sasha slowly walked back into the storage room where she'd found the box, sniffling and huffing.
It wasn’t fair, her parents always got whatever they wanted, but when she wanted to get something she wanted, she got yelled at.
Sasha slowly put the box back on the chair it had been sitting on, then slowly put her hand on top of it. She at least wanted to see what the inside looked like before she left it. Maybe it’d play some pretty music.
Slowly, Sasha opened the box.
A bright flash of light hit her, and suddenly it felt as if the world around her was collapsing.
Sasha was confused and scared, she didn’t know what was happening. She felt as if she was falling down, and before she knew it, the entire front side of her body had made contact with cold, wet earth, the world growing still and stable once more.
Only…..She wasn’t in her world anymore.
______________________________________________________________________
When Sasha finally began to come out of her state of shock, letting her mind settle and register her current surroundings and physical feelings, she realized that she had landed face down in a large patch of mud. Her face, chest, the undersides of her forearms, the palms of her hands, the front of her skirt, her shins and the tops of her feet were now coated in mud, and her body ached from the sudden impact.
She groaned and slowly got up, wincing in disgust at the feeling of cold mud all over her. She looked around, slowly realizing that she was no longer in the store.
She was now in some kind of marshy forest, the leaves of the tall, gnarly trees that stood around her covering the forest in a cool green shade.
"What....Where am I?" Sasha asked herself, looking around in confusion and fear.
Her mother,the clerk, the box.....
They were nowhere in sight.
Sasha began to panic, taking a few shaky steps forward only to slip on the muddy ground and fall on her back, groaning.
"M-mommy?!?" She called out, shakily standing up, highly distressed and wanting the comfort of her mother, or anyone familiar for that matter.
She was so lost in her own panic that she failed to hear the heavy footsteps coming from behind her.
A toad soldier, out on his nightly border patrol, spotted the distressed, mud covered human girl as he was walking through the forest.
A wave of shock, then curiosity, went through him as he eyed the incredibly strange yet relatively harmless looking creature that stood in the middle of the forest, quivering like a leaf during a windstorm.
He slowly walked up to her, eyeing her with caution.
"......Hello,little thing....What are you?" He asked her.
Sasha screamed, jumping back, looking at the giant, warty monster that now towered over her, wearing a suit of armor on his stout body and holding a large sword in his right hand.
The toad looked just as surprised as she was, not quite knowing what to expect from this strange, peach colored creature with a bumpy face and big, scared eyes.
“What in Frog's Teeth....?" He muttered, standing back, raising his sword slightly.
The human girl shook violently, backing up against a tree. The soldier noticed that her eyes were transfixed on his sword, and he slowly put the sword away in it’s scabbard at his hip, trying to show her that he posed no threat.
"........No need to fear me.........No need at all.......Just........Do you understand me? Do you understand what I am saying?" He said slowly, trying to see if the small creature understood his language or could even speak at all.
"Y-yes..." Sasha replied. "I understand you."
“.....Okay....,now, what are you? Where did you come from? Who sent you here?" He asked slowly, kneeling down to her level.
“ I don't know how I got here, I just...There was a box and I looked inside and I..." Sasha said, panicking.
“A box?" The toad soldier asked, confused by what the creature was trying to say.`
“Y-yeah..." Sasha replied, tears falling from her eyes.
The toad soldier raised an eyebrow.The child wasn't making sense...It was a child,wasn't it? Or was this strange creature just acting small and scared so it could lure him into a trap? He cautiously got closer.
`”...There now....Why don't I take you back to where me and my fellow soldiers live? I'm sure we'll be able to help." The toad soldier said.
"O-ok....." Sasha said, sniffling.
The toad soldier slowly reached a hand out, attempting to be as non threatening as possible.
Sasha eyed his large, clawed hand with fear, then looked at her own muddy hands.
“The mud is no issue to me. I’ve had worse things on my hands.” The toad soldier said.
Sasha slowly put her hand in his, shivering violently as she felt the cold,rough skin of the toad’s hand. The toad soldier slowly led her out of the forest, the two finding themselves surrounded by nothing but flat land and tall, dry looking grasses. The toad soldier led Sasha out through the grassland, eventually coming to a long dirt road. Sasha continued to shake and whimper in distress as they made their way down the road, the toad soldier remaining silent throughout their trek.
Eventually, the two found themselves leaving the grassland, coming into a barren wasteland area, surrounded by huge, jagged mountains and dead, twisted trees. Sasha clung to the toad soldier, who eyed her with caution as they kept walking.
After a little while, a huge, castle-like stone fortress came into view, Sasha looking at the fortress with fear while the toad soldier looked at the fortress with recognition.
It was the Southern Tower, the headquarters and dwelling place of the great Southern Toad Army.
The toad soldier led Sasha to the tower, the doors to the tower opening slowly. Sasha was contemplating running away, hesitant to enter the intimidating looking building, but the toad soldier’s grip on her hand was too strong, and she was dragged into the great tower, the doors closing behind them.
Sasha looked around, seeing that they were in some kind of stable area. Upon looking a bit harder, she could see what appeared to be giant tarantulas huddled in the stables, staring at her with beady, shiny, menacing eyes.
Sasha hugged onto the toad soldier’s arm, who seemed not to notice the child’s sudden clinginess and kept leading her into the tower, the two of them coming to a large door, the toad soldier pushing it open and pulling Sasha into the room on the other side.
As soon as they got into the room, Sasha's ears were assaulted by a range of loud noises.
Yelling, fighting, swearing, war ballads being sung by deep, gravelly voices, cheering....
Sasha covered her ears, whining. She looked around, finding that they had entered a large dining hall, the room lit by torches that hung from the walls and large, candle-light chandeliers that hung from the ceilings. Dozens of toad soldiers were sitting down at a big, long table or at some smaller, rounded tables around the room, gorging themselves on whatever food their cook had managed to find and burn, joking amongst each other, arm or tongue wrestling, or singing as they got themselves drunk on beer or mead.
The toads were all oblivious to the strange new creature, too preoccupied with their actions as the toad soldier that was with Sasha kept leading her through the dining hall.
Sasha was about ready to die from fear and distress.
These huge,strange looking monsters terrified her.....and they were armed!
Sasha stood close to the toad soldier as he slowly led her out of the hall and into another part of the castle, going over to a large open doorway that led to a long flight of stone stairs that went up into the tower. He led Sasha up the stairs, Sasha walking up the stairs cautiously, hoping she didn’t trip or fall, considering her legs were still shaky and because the only light to guide her came from some yellow-green mushrooms that grew from the sides of the walls, emitting dim, acid-green light that barely lit the hallway.
Everything was suddenly damper, colder, and clammier than it had been downstairs, and the stench of mold and damp stone filled the air. It was eerily silent, apart from the sound of Sasha and the toad soldier’s footsteps as they went up the stairs, soon finding themselves at an open doorway that led into a large hallway.
The wall on the right side of the hallway had a closed door, signifying that a room lay behind the other side of the wall, and on the left wall there was an open doorway, which appeared to lead to a room full of bunk beds.
The toad soldier pulled Sasha over to the large closed door on the right, pulling a key from a rope around his waist and unlocking the the door with it, opening it up and pushing Sasha forward, the girl finding herself in what appeared to be a dungeon or prison room of sorts, with chains on the walls, a table with numerous weapons on it, and right in front of her, she saw a jail cell. The only light came from a small barred window inside the cell, and a window on the left side of the room.
Before Sasha could say another thing, she was roughly pushed into the cell, falling to her knees as the cell door was slammed shut, the toad soldier locking the door.
"Hey!" She yelled, turning to look at the toad soldier, who didn’t look at her.
"I'm going to find Captain Grime.....He will decide what is to be done with you......Until then, you stay here.....Creature..." He said solemnly.
He walked out, going out of the room and slamming the door, then locking it before walking back downstairs, leaving Sasha alone in the cold silence of the cell.
"Hey! HEY! LET ME OUTTA HERE!!" Sasha yelled, her voice resounding against the stone walls.
When no one responded to her, she let her despair take her over, falling to her knees and sobbing into her hands.
She wanted to go home.
She wanted to go home she wanted to go home she wanted to go home she wanted to go ho-
Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard heavy footsteps coming up the stairs to the cell area. She stood up, wiping her tears on her arm and the door was unlocked, then was swung open forcefully.
A huge toad walked in, clad in heavy brass armor and a dark cloak, one eye glowing yellow and the other a pale,cloudy turquoise with a jagged scar running down it, the scar starting at his eyebrow and ending at his chin.
This must’ve been the “Captain Grime” the toad soldier had mentioned earlier.
Sasha froze, terrified of the great monstrous being that stood before her.
The toad slowly came forward, eyeing Sasha, studying this strange new thing that now stood in front of him.
".......Strange creature......Alric tells me that you know our language." The toad said in a low, gravelly voice.
".....Yeah. I do….A-Are you Captain Grime?” Sasha said quietly.
“Yes.” The large toad said, showing no emotion as he studied her.
Sasha shakily sat down, legs crossed as she looked at him, trying to remain calm as she faced him.
"...How did you come here? Who sent you? What are you?Why did you come here?" Captain Grime asked, eyeing her and monitoring her every move. While the strange creature looked harmless, he still had to be cautious.
Sasha pulled her knees to her chest and hugged herself, burying her face in her knees, starting to cry again, not knowing how to answer the toad's question, her mind clouded with fear.
"I-I don't know..." She stuttered. "I-I don't know!"
Captain Grime huffed. “Can you at least TRY to answer me?" He narrowed his eyes at the crying child.
”I..I don't know how I got here.... Nobody sent me....I just want my mommy!" Sasha shouted, crying harder than she ever had in her life.
Grime sighed with frustration.The creature seemed to be a child - a young child.
Still, children could give information.....wherever this strange creature came from, he wanted to know.
"Well you must've gotten here somehow.....can't you remember? Where are you from?"
"Los Angeles...." She said softly. "I-its in California...."
Grime looked at her in confusion.
"Where is this California place?" He asked
"I-It's.....in.....America..."
"Well where is America?" He asked, getting a bit closer.
”It's...In America?...." Sasha replied, scooting away slightly.
"Is it a place near Amphibia?"
"A-Amphibia?" Sasha asked."What's that?..."
"Here! This land! This is Amphibia!" Grime yelled, motioning around.
”So, tell me, where is this "America" in relation to Amphibia?" Grime growled.
"I-I don't know.... I-I've never heard of Amphibia."
"Well, now you have. Welcome to Amphibia, creature..."
Grime sighed, rubbing his temples.The creature wasn't being very informative. Then again, how could he expect a child to know such things?
Perhaps her strange parents were around and would come looking for her, and would be willing to pay ransom money to them in exchange for her.
If not......He would figure out what to do with her.
Grime stood up, walking towards the door.
"If we see others of your kind, we'll alert you.....For now, you are to stay here...." He glanced at Sasha, watching as she stood up on shaking legs.
"O-okay..." She said weakly, not knowing what else to say or what else to do.
Grime walked out,slamming the door and locking it before going back downstairs.
Sasha fell back to her knees, beginning to cry again, thinking about how much she just wanted to go home. Even if it meant she’d be in trouble with her mom or that she’d just go back to being an unloved kid, it was better than being here in this cold, wet cell, without any familiar face or place around to give her comfort.
___________________________________________________________________________________________
After an hour or so, after Sasha’s crying had subsided and she’d resorted to lying down on the cold, hard cell floor and attempting to sleep, a rather large, fat toad soldier walked in, holding a brightly burning torch and a bowl of some kind of green sludge. He slammed the door shut behind him, Sasha waking up from what had been a very light, troubled sleep.
"Dinner,creature." He grunted.
Sasha looked up, eyes puffy and pink, dried tears and snot staining her face, along with the now dried mud that had begun to flake off.
The soldier walked over to her and knelt down in front of her, the metal cell bars separating them, a smirk on his face.
"My, aren't you an ugly lil thing." the toad remarked.
Sasha began to cry again.
"W-why are you being mean to me?..." She asked, her voice hoarse.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." He said, swirling the green soup around in its wooden bowl.
Sasha looked at the soup, wrinkling her nose. It looked like vomit, and she had no doubt that it’d probably taste like vomit too. However, she hadn’t eaten a thing in the past few hours, and her stomach had been emitting growls of hunger every few minutes.
While Sasha didn’t want to eat the nasty looking soup, it was likely the only food she’d be getting that night, and a belly full of nasty green soup was better than being kept awake all night by the pain of hunger.
“....Can you please give me my dinner?” She asked softly.
The toad smirked."Aww, is something hungry?"
"Y-yes...." Sasha said weakly. "Can I please have my food?..."
"Hm.......maybe.....but I haven’t had any dinner yet, and I’m VERY hungry, and you can’t get to the food, so..." The toad brought the bowl to his lips, drinking the soup down.
Sasha stared at him.
At first, she felt upset, devastated even. The only food she’d been offered in hours had just been devoured....
Then, her devastation became anger.
A boiling,churning anger.
How dare he deny her food? After she'd just been thrown into this horrible,dark world and jailed by big, scary monsters for no reason?!? After everything she'd been put through today, he was going to deny HER food?!?
She started to breathe heavily, gripping the bars of the cell so hard that her arms began to shake.
The toad chuckled, the thin, vomit-green soup dripping from his mouth.
"Awww.....Are you gonna cry again? Pathetic little beast."
Sasha glared him in the eye, feeling a rush of pure anger and adrenaline shoot through her as she lunged at him, her right arm going in between the cell bars and her fist punching him in the eye as hard as she could.
The surprised toad yelped, dropping the bowl, which clattered on the ground, leftover soup spilling everywhere. He put a hand to his now reddened eye,snarling.
"You lil shit...." He growled angrily.
He stood up, grabbing a key from a rope around his waist and opening the cell door, walking menacingly towards her.
"I oughta break your lil neck for that...."
Sasha didn't hesitate before jumping at him, using all of her strength to punch him in the chest, making him fall over onto his back. He groaned, the wind knocked out of him.
How could such a small, seemingly weak creature pack that strong a punch?
Sasha stood on him, stomping her foot onto his chest.
"You're mean!" She shouted, eyes flashing bright violet.
"Get off me!" The toad yelled,grabbing her by the arm as he sat up,throwing her off of him, sending her into a wall, the small girl slamming against the wall and groaning at the painful impact of the hard stone against her back. drew his dagger, the blade narrowly missing the left side of her face,growling as he stood over her.
"You little-"
Suddenly, the door swung open, Captain Grime appearing in the doorway.
"HEY!" Grime shouted, the soldier turning and looking over at him, startled by the Captain’s sudden entry.
"Captain Grime!" He turned to him,standing tall and saluting.
"I can explain Sir, the little beast attacked me, I was fighting back, had to put the little beast in it’s place!" The soldier claimed, glaring at Sasha, who was pressing herself against the wall of the cell, glaring at him, ready to fight back again if needed.
"It attacked you?" Grime asked,looking at the soldier's eye, which was swollen and bloodshot, then at the angry young human, who turned and glared at him.
The creature hadn't dealt an impressive injury to the soldier,but the fact that the puny creature had enough gall and outright rage to attack the toad and stand up to him even though he was armed intrigued Grime.
A courageous little monster......A courageous little monster with fighting potential.
She could possibly be of use to him, to the toad army......With the right training.
A personal project. An experiment- He wanted to see what he could do with this angry new creature. He wanted to see what this creature was capable of doing. Grime chuckled and smiled at the angry little girl.
"Well then, creature, if I’d known you were willing to fight, I’d have made you fight to get your dinner instead of sending someone to just hand it over to you.” He said. He then turned to the soldier.
"Go get a bunk set up for it in the soldier’s quarters and see if there are any clothes and armor that’ll fit it.” He demanded.
"What?!?" The soldier asked, surprised.
"You heard me, now go as I said, soldier." Grime replied, his eyes on Sasha, who now looked at him with both hostile anger and confusion.
A bunk? Clothes? Why was he asking the soldier to do all that?
".....Are you sure about this, Captain?" The soldier looked skeptically at Sasha.
"Must I remind you that I am your Captain?!! I gave you an order, soldier, now go fulfill it before I RIP YOUR SKIN FROM YOUR BODY AND TURN IT INTO A NEW SADDLE FOR MY TARANTULA!!" Grime yelled, the soldier jumping back in fear, shakily standing and saluting Grime before running out of the room without another word.
Sasha hadn’t let her guard down, still pressing herself to the wall, her breathing heavy and her fists still balled, her fingernails digging into the soft skin of her palms.
Grime got down on one knee, bringing himself to Sasha’s eye level and looking into her blazing fuschia eyes, which were full of nothing but fiery anger and the slightest bit of fear.
"I think you could be a very valuable asset to us...." He said, smiling at her.
"........Little fire eyed creature......."