The Owl and the Frog

Chapter 53: The New Resistance

So, this chapter ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be, which is probably why it took so long to write. But there was a lot that I wanted to put in this chapter and wanted to make sure that all that was important got in. This is the last time we'll see Sasha and the Resistance until Anne and Luz return in the next arc.

I wanted to give a shout-out to Marzek, as she helped to set up a Discord for this fic. Yes, "The Owl and the Frog" now has a Discord! There's a link to it on my DA profile, or you can search for it. (It is the name of the fic.) So feel free to join and meet up with other fans, chat with me, and get some behind-the-scenes glimpses into how this all works. I would love to see you there! I also want to thank Marzek for giving me a suggestion about Sal's last name. She gave it to me through Discord.

I also wanted to give a shout-out to whoever made the WMG prediction of having a second fight with the Cloak-bot on the TV Tropes page. I'll admit that wasn't something I was originally planning, but after reading that suggestion, I thought about it and decided to include it in this chapter cause it sounded cool! This is the first time I've taken a suggestion from the WMG section and put it in the fic (the other ones that were true were ones I was going to do anyway), so again, thanks to whoever made that prediction! Wanted to make sure and give you credit for that.

But anyway, on with the show!

The toad soldiers of the Southern Tower looked nervously at the sky as the king's castle floated overhead. Many of them had been unwilling witnesses to the castle's destructive potential and had seen it destroy the other towers. Although they knew that none of them had been involved in the rebellion against the King, they worried that Andrias wouldn't care and would take revenge on them, anyway. Bog stood out at the top of the tower, looking through his telescope, not saying anything. Eventually, another toad in armor wearing a helm came up to him.

"There hasn't been any activity from the castle," said the toad. "No one knows why it's here or what Andrias wants."

"Well, we can't exactly fly up to him," said Bog, "so until he sends someone here, I guess we just have to wait."

"The toads are getting restless, though," said the toad. "We're not sure what we should be doing right now."

"Listen, Mire," said Bog, finally identifying the other toad, "I'm in charge now! Last I heard from Jacinda, we're supposed to wait for further orders from the King himself, so that's what we're gonna do."

No sooner had Bog said this than suddenly, a strange object flew down from the castle to the top of the tower where he was standing. Bog wasn't sure what it was, though it looked familiar. He couldn't quite remember where he had seen it before. As it came closer, he could see it was a large, metallic, frog-looking thing. It hovered in front of him before projecting something out of its eye. The image from its eye came into focus to reveal King Andrias.

"What's new, Bog?" he asked in a jovial tone. "Or should I say, Captain Bog, Lord of the Southern Tower? I must say, that's quite a promotion for you!"

Bog was caught off guard by the King's upbeat tone but did his best to respond. "Uh, well, I haven't had much trouble settling in. In fact, I'm glad you're here. We built the new tower and have been waiting for your next instructions for a while now. Do you still need us to collect taxes from the towns?"

"No, we aren't really concerned about taxes anymore," said Andrias dismissively. "I don't much have a use for them now that I have better, more efficient means of producing soldiers, like this one." Andrias indicated the frobot.