The Festival
Anne, Sasha and Marcy began to engulf themselves in the constant attention and questions from the citizens of Wartwood. Usually they'd avoid this much attention for... obvious reasons, but they sorta liked the attention.
They were actually starting to enjoy themselves...
... Until Toadstool asked a question nobody was expecting.
"Brave warriors, I would like to kindly, once again, thank you for saving us from the Dragon Toads. Now, may I ask that you'd please, remove your masks, so we may see the faces of our heroes?"
Anne, Sasha and Marcy exchanged glances for a few seconds, as they had no idea how to respond to that.
"Uhm...well, you see...the thing is..."
Sprig noticed them acting weird and began to wonder why, until he remembered what Sasha told him.
*If you tell anyone about what we look like, I'll kill you faster than you can even CROAK!*
Without thinking, Sprig spoke.
"WAIT, I DON'T THINK THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA!!!"
Everyone turned to the young frog, even the trio.
What was he doing, Anne thought to herself.
Sprig tried to think of a excuse, but struggled, until finally, he thought of something perfect.
"Because, if we find out who they really are, then we would be in constant danger from those who would want to know who they are for revenge."
Sprig smiled nervously as everyone stared at him a bit, before everyone exchanged glances and mumbled in agreement.
"Okay then, how will they eat? They can't eat if they have wood covering their mouths."
"Actually, I designed these masks myself," Marcy spoke as she gripped the bottom part of her mask and pull it off with a click, the mask separating from under her nose. "See, we can keep our identities a secret while we enjoy the festival."
"Fine, have it your way, but I don't like it. Come on boys, let's get this festival started!!!"
The citizens of Wartwood proceeded to walk away from Anne, Sasha, Marcy and Sprig, leaving the four alone for a few seconds.
After a while, they all sighed a huge sigh of relief, as Anne turned to Sprig.
"Thanks dude," she spoke, giving him a thumbs up. Sprig looked at this and smiled, getting a thumbs up from three awesome kick butt figures, it gave Sprig a sense of responsibility.
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Nearby in the woods, a group of Dragon Toads hopped through the forest. Leading them was a blue skinned toad. He leapt through the forest and landed on the ground as his fellow Dragon Toads followed him.
He looked around to see where they were, only for a sound of rustling bushes to attract his attention. He turned and the rest of the gang members turned to face the danger.
Whatever it was, it was approaching fast. The toad grabbed an arrow out of a sack on his back and loaded what looked like a foldable bow and arrow. He aimed it at the bushes, ready to release and kill whatever was coming.
When a large red toad walked out breathing heavily, however, the toad lowered his weapon and put away his arrow, collapsing his bow.
"Redd, really?"
"Sorry Franky, I couldn't keep up."
Franklin and Redd Dart were members of The Dragon Toads since they were born. Redd was the brute, and Franklin was the brains. Despite their size difference, Franklin was older than Redd by three years.
It was kinda a Edward and Alphonse Elric situation. Man I love Full-Metal Alchemist. But this is an Amphibia AU.
"Maybe if you slacked off of the honey dipped Choco-Pedes, you'd be able to keep up with the rest of us," one of the toads mumbled under their breath, only for Redd to hear him.
"What, are you calling me FAT, cause I don't like being called FAT!!!" Redd reached for a club as the toad pulled out a Boom-Shroom. However, before things could go too far, Franklin stepped between the two.
"Hey, can it!!! Do you want us to become food for a mantis!?" The two soldiers looked at each other, before putting away their weapons in agreement. Franklin turned to his brother.
"Alright Redd, you bring the torches?"
"Yep, right here." Redd dumped out a bag of various supplies on the ground. Torches, cloth, flammable substances. Everything was there. Except for one important thing.
"Redd, what are we supposed to light these with?" Redd looked through his bag, only to see it completely empty. A little hole that looked like it was burnt through was visible on the bag.
"Sorry Franky, I think the Pyro-Beetles escaped." Franklin sighed as he massaged his temple.
"It's fine, Redd, we'll just-"
"No, you know what, it's not fine!!!" One of the toads stepped forward and began to cross his arms. Franklin gave him a death stare, but the soldier ignored it. "YOU ARE AN IDIOT, EVERYONE KNOWS YOU DON'T KEEP PYRO-BEETLES IN A FLAMMABLE CONTAINER, THEY TEND TO ESCAPE!!!"
Redd began to whimper at the toad's insult.
"YOU KNOW, FOR ALL YOUR BRAINS, YOU ARE A COMPLETE IDIOT!!!" The toad turned to Franklin. "AND YOU!!!"
Franklin watched the toad get up in his face. "YOU JUST PROMOTE THIS TYPE OF FUCKING BEHAVIOR, BUT WE'RE DRAGON TOADS, WE HAVE A JOB TO DO!!! YOU NEED TO TEACH THAT BROTHER OF YOUR'S A LESSON, OR SO HELP ME-"
The toad stopped talking with an audible SHINK and a squishy sound. The toad tried gasping for air, but found he couldn't. He looked down to see that Franklin had stabbed a blade through his lungs.
"You need to shut up, and get out of my face." Franklin removed the blade from the toad's torso and let him fall over. Franklin watched the man try to breathe, but slowly go silent. Franklin turned to the other toads, placing his blade back in it's sheif.
"Tell no one the truth to this toad's death, or face the same fate." The other toads turned to Franklin as they nodded in agreement. "Now then, there's more than one way to start a fire."
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Anne, Sasha and Marcy watched as the citizens of Wartwood surrounded them with bug based meals. They watched as the various frogs ripped and tore into flesh and muscle of various insects, leaving the entire village filled with the sounds of squishy chomps.
The three tried their best not to puke, as Marcy reached into her bag and pulled out three chocolate bars and handed two to Anne and Sasha. They thanked her and began to munch on the chocolate.
"So let me get this straight," Hop Pop spoke. "You three are from another world, with no idea how to get back home?"
"That pretty much sums it up," Anne responded, mouth full of chocolate. "It sounds fun and all, but we miss home."
"As much as it pains me to admit it, I miss my mom, and my dad." Sasha dipped her head when she said that word, as Hop Pop scratched his chin.
"Hmm, well, at least you have a cave."
Marcy perked up. "Yeah, but sometimes it's hard to live out there in the wild, it's cold, damp, and don't even get me started on the nighttime."
Anne shuddered. "The nights were the worst." Sasha and Marcy shuddered in agreement, as Sprig chuckled.
"Well, how did you get here?" Anne, Sasha and Marcy froze up. They exchanged glances and whispered amongst themselves.
"We'd rather not say right now, maybe later," Anne finally spoke. Sprig pouted as he slumped back in his chair.
Suddenly, the music kicked up a notch, as a couple of frogs got out of their seats and began to dance. Hop Pop got up as well.
"Wish me luck Sprig, I got my eyes on some gorgeous frogs tonight!!!" He hopped over to a couple of elder frogs, as Anne, Sasha, Marcy and Sprig faked a gag. Sasha turned over to Marcy.
"You wanna dance?" Marcy's blushes slightly.
"You sure they'll mind, I mean, we don't know how sexuality works here."
"Come on, Mar-Mar, it's just one dance, it's not like we're getting naked and-"
Marcy shot up instantly. "Shut your mouth and let's dance!" Marcy grabbed Sasha's hand and the two of them walked over to the dance floor, leaving Anne and Sprig by themselves. Anne tapped on the table a bit while Sprig twirled his tongue. After a few seconds of awkward silence, Anne pulled out her phone and began playing a game.
Polly noticed the item in her hand. "What's that?"
Anne looked up at Polly and Sprig. "What this, it's my phone. It's how I record memories, play games..." Anne noticed the visible confusion on the two siblings faces. "Wait, you guys don't know what a phone is?"
Sprig and Polly shook their heads as Anne began to grin.
The rest of the day went on with Anne showing of her phone, as Sasha and Marcy slow danced the night away.
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"Their anatomy bears resemblance to a newt, but they're different as well." A tall thin toad examined the three heroes from afar. "And they possess technology like nothing I've ever seen."
"I've never seen you so stumped before by a new species, Doctor, you usually know everything," Scales spoke, munching on a random beetle.
"Just another species to record, this is a scientific find like none other. If only I could apprehend one of them, I could get their full anatomy." Dr. Bog Le Flaire pulled out a scalpel, examining the blade.
"Tell you what, Doc, how about we don't just capture one of them..." Scales walked over to the edge of the mountain they stood up on. "...how about we catch them all!?"
"You know me to well, Scales." The two toads laughed viscously as the day became night.