7. S1: Backpack Chasers

It has been about two weeks since Sasha was transported into this other world filled with low-tech sapient amphibian people and for the most part, she was adjusting to her new life there quite well, though with a few hiccups here and there. Nonetheless, she prevailed against every challenge and learned valuable lessons along the way, like some kind of a kid's show.

So she deserved some downtime after all those unfortunate events, which was why she was sitting in her basement room with her this-universe BFF, Sprig, and his little sister, Polly.

"What's this?" Sprig asked, holding a metal cylinder with a handle and a hose.

"That's a bicycle pump. Or in this case, just a pump?" Sasha the human answered, somewhat uncertain.

"And what's this?" asked the sister Polly, in her fins was a small rectangular box.

"That's a power bank." Sasha explained. "Though, not much use right now."

"And what's this?" Sprig asked once more, flipping through the pages of a notebook. "'The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell'?"

Sasha swiped the book from the boy frog's hands, blushing. "Hehehe, that is just homework. Let me just slip this here…" She muttered, sliding the book under her pillow.

Sprig continued to look at all of Sasha's friend's stuff. While some were familiar like the ruler and a pair of scissors, others were bafflingly new and unseen off, like the mysterious Rubik's cube. "You know, your friend Anne has a lot of cool stuff. I'm surprised she brought all of this with her."

Sasha leaned back, supporting herself with her arms. "Well, she usually doesn't bring this much. It was like her birthday that day and we went on a little happy birthday shopping spree. It was totes fun."

"You know, before we got sent here by accident."

"How did you get here anyway?" Polly asked, holding an eraser. It smelled of strawberries, which tempted Polly to then slowly try and lick, only for Sasha to grab it away from her.

"That is a secret I'll carry to my grave." She answered, dropping the eraser back into the bag. "Alright, y'all! Fun time's over. Now put it all back into the bag, please."

At Sasha's request, Polly and Sprig helped collect all of Anne's belongings, dropping it into the bag. While the contents weren't exactly Sasha's, she was at the moment the only one who knew what everything was. Thus, technically it was hers until she finds Anne and gives it back. The items themselves were just basic things to her but being from Earth, they were special and Sasha couldn't help but feel protective of them.

At the same time, she was still genuinely surprised at how spacious the bag was and how much they actually packed into it. She did roughly check the bag when she was stuck in the forest early on but it was never that thorough. She was also glad that she planned early and placed the magic music box under a blanket instead of leaving it in the bag. She wasn't ready for the questions that might arise from revealing it and she was sure that this box didn't originate from her own world if the frog symbols had anything to go by.

"I want to see more of this 'Anne' stuff! They're pretty cool!" Polly exclaimed after finishing with the clean-up.

"Maybe later." Sasha waved off. She then lifted the backpack and dropped it right next to her bed. "We can look at it upstairs. You know, where there is an actual table and natural light."

"Are the mushrooms not natural?"

"They aren't from where I'm from."

As if on cue, Hop Pop's voice called out from upstairs, presumably from the kitchen. "Kids, come on up! The… eh, 'brunch' is ready!"

"Yay!" Sprig cheered, running up the stairs with Polly right behind him. Sasha soon followed, leaving the bag behind in the basement. Unbeknownst to Sasha, a mysterious member had been watching the whole ordeal from the cellar door. It had waited patiently for hours on end, or maybe a few minutes for it had no concept of time. One of its eyes shone and sparkled, looking at the bag of otherworldly objects. The other was looking in a completely different direction, a bit confused.

It was a crow. Larger than the average Earth crow but smaller than most birds seen here. It stood twice as tall as Hop Pop, making it almost an average human teen's height. Huge in comparison to that of home but animals tended to be bigger here anyway. Bessie, for example, was a car-sized snail.

"CAAAAAWWWW!" It squawked loudly.

Meanwhile upstairs, the Plantars were all enjoying a nice morning-noon meal which humans call 'brunch'. Hop Pop called the idea insane and unnatural. After all, skipping breakfast and eating lunch early? How would that even work?! You need to eat lunch in order to have the energy to work on the farm, so skipping it seemed crazy. And eating before lunch meant stopping mid-work for a meal. A heavily frowned upon work ethic.

Sasha didn't see how big of a deal that was.

"We should have brunch every day. I like eating breakfast and lunch at the same time." Sprig said, scooping up some invertebrate-based Plantar-family 'giblets' mixed with corn kernels and seeds, and a glass of milk on the side. Polly was also eating the same thing but she had mixed them all together, creating some kind of makeshift meat cereal. Sasha, on the other hand, ate a grilled salted corn cob with an egg on it, a simple non-Plantar dish that she was confident won't kill her.

"Are you sure you don't want to try some of my giblets?" Hop Pop asked with a bowl of the stuff in his hands. "They're delicious and healthy!"

"Ehehehe… Yeah, no." Sasha replied with a light push of the bowl. "Still don't want to die. Also, when I explained what brunch was, this was not what I meant."

"What do you mean? You told me brunch is the fusion of lunch and breakfast. Well, the giblets are for lunch and the corn is for breakfast." Hop Pop exclaimed with a confused tone.

"It wasn't supposed to be literal."

Just then, a loud squawk was heard coming from below the house. The few bangs and bumps noised out afterwards, followed by more squawking. Sasha, startled by the noise, nearly dropped her cob. She, alongside the rest of the Plantars, all turned towards the noise, examining it from the kitchen. After a few short seconds, the house finally fell silent as the squawking became more and more distant.

Sasha broke said silence immediately after. "Okay, what the heck was that?"

"Sasha! No dirty language in this house!"

"'HECK' IS NOT A BAD WORD!"

"Is anyone going to check what that noise was?" Sprig asked before the two could argue any further. "I mean, it was pretty loud and came from the basement."

"The basement?! MY STUFF!" Sasha shouted, running straight to her makeshift room. Sprig, Hop Pop and Polly quickly followed, also curious of the condition of their basement.

Sasha opened the door and ran inside, instantly looking at her part of the room. For the most part, the whole room itself was intact with a few flipped boxes here and there. Sasha's sleeping area seemed okay too but there was something that felt different. Examining closer, it instantly clicked what had transpired.

Anne's bag wasn't there.

"AAAAAAAAAA!" Sasha shrieked in horror, her eyes almost popping out in fear. "THE BAG'S GONE!"

While Sasha was panicking, Hop Pop noticed the open cellar door that led outside to the back yard, by the lake. He had a good idea of what happened and what made the noise. "Kids, did'cha left the door open?"

"Huh?" Sprig voiced. "I guess we forgot."

Hop Pop rubbed his wrinkled chin inquisitively. "It's probably a gilded nest crow. They don't often appear in these parts though."

"What's a gilded nest crow?" Polly asked, being nearby. Hop Pop turned to Polly to answer. "Well, a gilded nest crow is a type of bird that steals objects of value and hoards 'em in their nests. Usually, their nests are full of gold jewellery and silverware, though I'm not sure what's in that bag of yours."

"Yeah well, there's NOTHING LIKE THAT IN THERE!" Sasha yelled in frustration. "It was just a bunch of junk from home! I don't get why that stupid bird had to take it!"

"Maybe it's because they're objects of sentimental value." Sprig quipped, only to receive an angry glare from Hop Pop. "Impossible! A crow can't tell if objects have sentimental value!"

"I dunno, seems kinda possible."

"AAAARRGHHH!" Sasha frustratedly screamed. "We have to go get that bird, like NOW!"

"Calm down, Sasha. I'm sure we'll find it." The older frog stated. "It was far too recent. It couldn't have gotten far."

Despite Hop Pop's assurances, Sasha couldn't stay calm. Sure, the stuff in there wasn't hers exactly but they were her only connection back to Earth. A bunch of irreplaceable junk. She felt nervous and outraged but far more perplexed than what she's used to. Sprig noticed this and he wasn't going to let his BFF suffer like this. He hopped onto the stairs leading outside with determination.

"Come on, guys! If we hurry, we'd catch it before it gets back to its nest!" Sprig declared.

With desperate conviction, the four sole members of the Plantar household ran outside. Hop Pop swiftly readied Bessie, packed some supplies and when everyone was finally on its shell, the older frog whipped the leash and their pet snail immediately drove off along with them.

After a minute or so of driving, Sprig noticed a familiar object on the road. Instantly, he pointed and called out. "Look! It's the mystery colour box!"

"Color what?" Sasha asked, distracted. Inspecting at where Sprig pointed, she noticed a familiar cube she showed the boy frog earlier. "The Rubik's cube!"

Hop Pop halted their snail nearby and Sasha promptly jumped off once close, Sprig just behind her. Kneeling down, she grabbed her friend's puzzle and rubbed off the dirt and dust that covered it. The item was a bit scratched but mostly undamaged which Sasha was somewhat glad of.

"Well, we now know that stupid bird went this way. Hey Hop Pop, where does this road lead to?" Sasha asked, putting the cube into a spare burlap rucksack.

"Well, this road here leads to the rocky plains filled with large plateaus and deep canyons. We rarely use the road since it doesn't really lead anywhere." He replied, looking at the road ahead.

"Maybe the crow lives there." Sprig quipped in.

"Preposterous! Gilded nest crows don't live on top of stone! They live in high canopies in the forests, too dangerous for anyone to reach."

"It doesn't matter where it lives!" Sasha interrupted. "The point is we can still catch it! And every second we stand here doing nothing, the further away it gets!"

"But Sasha," Hop Pop began. "That place is dangerous! The air is so dry and hot, it practically an oven! You'll get yourself killed!"

"Like I said, it doesn't matter!" Sasha jumped onto Bessie along with Sprig. "SO LET'S GO!"

"Alright alright!" The older frog said, exasperated. He then patted the snail's shell and whispered. "Come on, Bessie. Let's show that bird what you can do."

"KIIIIIIIIII!" Bessie squeaked. With the heart and power of an overgrown snail, it rushed through the dirt road, following its path to God knows where.

After an hour of travel, the surroundings started to change slowly. Gone were the lush forest trees and thick bushes, instead replaced by orange dry earth and large pebbles along the path. The border was not clearly defined but Sasha knew they had entered unknown territory. The air was quiet and dry but far from still, kicking up dust here and there.

Along the way, they had found more of Sasha's belongings. The heavier objects seemed to have fallen first, such as the bicycle pump from earlier and a pencil box carrying various school supplies, all of which were collected and placed in the replacement rucksack. Surprisingly so, despite the rucksack looking bigger than Anne's bag, it had somehow slowly gotten full with all the items collected, which makes one wonder if Anne's bag was magical as well.

"Well, here we are. Welcome to the Rocky Plains." Hop Pop announced, stopping the snail momentarily.

"Wait, so the Rocky Plains is its actual name?" Sasha incredulously asked.

"Well, yeah. It's a plain filled with rocks. What more do you want?"

Sasha thought about it and only shrugged. Hop Pop easily accepted said response and whipped the leash forward, causing Bessie to move once more. While Hop Pop continued to drive across the plains, Sasha and the two Plantar kids kept watch, looking for anything that could be described as a trail.

"See anything yet?" Sasha asked, looking around with squinted eyes.

"Nope.", replied Sprig, who was using a pair of binoculars. They continued and with every second, the environment that was the Rocky Plains started to gain effect. Their skins began to wrinkle and harden, their mouths dried itself of all saliva and the very Earth sapped them of their energy. Despite that, Sasha was insistent on finding her lost belongings.

They searched and searched for what could've been hours. Had they brought with them a watch, they would've been able to accurately tell the time. And while Sasha was dealing with the new environment quite well due to her human biology, the rest of the frogs were less so.

Sprig, who was sweating by the buckets, had been panting for a while. He took a flask out of the supplies, courtesy of Hop Pop, and drank some of its fresh liquid contents. It was just cold and clean river water though, nothing special. "Hey, Sasha… Should we stop?" He coughed, accidentally choking on his drink. "Haa, it's been hours…"

"NO! NOT YET!" Sasha unintentionally shouted. She breathed, "Look, we've only found like a third of what was in that bag. We can't leave now! Not when we're so close!"

"I don't know how you humans do it," Hop Pop groaned. "But we frogs aren't meant to deal with this heat. The Rocky Plains have nothing in them for a reason! It's a dead zone!"

"Except for the crow's nest." Sprig added, wiping the sweat off of his forehead.

"There is no crow's nest!"

"But if we don't get them now, we'll lose them forever!" she argued, getting back on track and feeling a bit more heated than usual. "I can't let that happen! All that junk, they're all I have from home!"

The Plantars all looked amongst themselves for a moment and back to Sasha, who looked like she was having a mental breakdown. With only a glance, they all sighed in defeat. "Alright, Sasha. We'll continue our search. But only for another hour. The water supply we have won't last any longer."

"Awesome! You rule, old man!" Sasha praised with a huge smile and then looked straight forward again. She was grateful that the frogs followed her on this, even if it was somewhat unsafe. Those items might have been junk even to her but they were irreplaceable. She can't afford to lose them, not now and not ever.

A few minutes later, an unknown object glinted in the distance. "I see something shiny!" yelled Polly with a pointed fin, who was still somewhat okay due to her bucket of water. It was quite a distance away but the setting sun caused it to flicker noticeably.

Following the flickering shine, the four found themselves facing off of a ravine, though the opposing cliff face at the other side was considerably taller than theirs by presumably 25 feet. The ravine itself wasn't that wide nor was it deep, about five or six feet downwards from their location with sloppy brown liquid at the bottom, lying completely still. Once close enough, Sasha went to inspect the item which was at the very edge.

"It's a pocket knife." Sasha exclaimed with a tired voice, showing it to the rest. "And this is the very end of the road."

Looking around, everyone realized her words rang true. Where they stood truly was the end of the road. The only way forward was to cross the ravine and climb the steep cliff by hand. But for a crow, it would've been extremely easy since they could just fly over. But they were not crows; they were three dehydrated frogs and an unnaturally determined human teenager.

While Sasha brainstormed her next move, Sprig looked at the cliff face and noticed a bird's nest hanging precariously on a large dead-looking tree branch growing out, large enough for the whole family to sit in. The surrounding support from the wall seemed to be cracked and the roots of the tree were barely hanging on, mostly due to the weight. "Hey, guys… is that what we're looking for?"

Sasha turned to where Sprig was pointing and saw the nest as well. She grinned happily, "THAT'S IT, SPRIG! YOU FOUND IT!"

"Yay…" Sprig cheered weakly. He was just so exhausted and desperate for some hydration. Hop Pop drank from his flask, giving half of what's left to Sprig who looked like he was ready to fall over. The boy frog accepted it greedily but with a few glugs, he realized that the flask was finally empty. Such a shame.

With her hand shielding her eyes from the harsh sun, Sasha glared at the bird's nest for a better description. She couldn't see her bag but she did notice a bunch of random stuff in it, so the most likely scenario was that her bag was in it as well. "The stuff is still there. We can make it!"

"But how are we supposed to get up there?!" Polly argued. "It's like at least ten frogs tall!"

"I thought you can't count." Sasha inquired. All she got back, however, was a huff of annoyance. "I can count! I just can't read!"

"Well, it doesn't matter! We just have to climb up and grab the bag. So…" She turned around. "Who's with me?!"

From the looks of it, nobody. The heat was unbearable and the Plantars had been there for hours. While the road back wouldn't take that long, it was still considerable risk. Sasha may be aware of it, which is why she wanted it done as quickly as possible, she was still human and thus was unable to fully grasp the differences of their biology.

So all she got was silence and apprehensive looks. Sasha rolled her eyes and groaned, "Urgh, fine! I'll do it myself. You guys can stay here or whatever."

"Thanks, Sasha!" "Thank ya kindly, Sasha." "YOU'RE THE BEST!" Sprig, Hop Pop and Polly said respectively.

Sasha stretched and cracked her joints, releasing the tension within her muscles. Readying herself, she ran and jumped off the ledge, grabbing hold of the cliff wall by its loose stone. The cliff itself wasn't as perfectly steep as it seemed, giving Sasha some foothold to bind herself to. Once secured, she climbed up step by step, grabbing any holds that stood out of place and pushing herself higher.

She had to admit, she wasn't the type to do this kind of exercise but if her athletic history was anything to come by, then she had trained a bit of her upper body strength. You don't just become a cheerleader-slash-gymnast by doing hula hoops. A lot of work was put in and she was somewhat proud of her skills.

While Sasha continued her climb, a shadow briefly loomed over the teen, something that Sasha instantly realized. "THE CROW! IT'S BACK!"

"CAAAWWWWW!" The gilded nest crow screeched. Physically, the crow was at least twice the size of a frog but finally, with a good view, she saw that it was not pure black like an average crow and had golden-tipped wings. Its beak was also a light purplish colour and for some odd reason, it had a lazy eye.

It squawked once more and dived down to attack. With a glint in its normal eye, it turned slightly and aimed straight towards Sasha specifically. Sasha pulled herself closer to the cliff face in retaliation, avoiding its deadly talons by a mere inch. She yelped as she nearly lost her own grip, pulling herself back and stabilizing as best as she could. While the bird took its time to circle around for another strike, she quickly climbed as fast as she could to reach the nest, the only stable place they could be.

Once in range again, the gilded nest crow continued to eye on Sasha, finding her to be the preferred target. These crows might not be that imposing but they were extremely territorial, similar to that of Earth's geese. Seeing Sasha as the main perpetrator, she had gained its full undivided and unfortunate attention.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM, YOU STUPID BIRD?!" Sasha angrily barked. The crow might not have understood what she had said but body language and loud screaming was enough aggression for it to retaliate. It revealed its wings and shrieked, diving once more onto the blonde-head teen, something Sasha was immediately aware of.

"CRUD CRUD CRUD CRUD CRUD—!" Sasha chanted in distress, climbing even faster than before. But before the crow could get its talons on her, a rock flew across the air and hit it directly into its lazy eye, causing it to screech in pain and change course.

With the bird distracted, Sasha continued her climb without interruptions. She never noticed the rock that saved her or more precisely, Sprig with his slingshot. "HEY, YOU BIG DUMMY! PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!"

The crow shook its head mid-flight, orienting itself as it hovered. Sprig had managed to gain its attention, causing it to switch targets; the Plantars on ground level.

"Uh, Sprig?! I think you got its attention!" Hop Pop exclaimed with increasing worry. Sprig grabbed another rock and loaded his slingshot, aiming at the crow. The two glared at one another, Sprig with his loaded slingshot ready and the gilded nest crow with its beak pointing directly at him. It was a classic cowboy standoff except instead of cowboys, you get a frog boy and a larger-than-average bird.

After what seemed to be several gruelling hours (but actually only a few seconds), Sprig made the first move and released his slingshot, firing the rock at the crow. Unlike last time, however, the crow was ready and dodged his projectile with ease as it dived straight towards him.

Sprig grabbed more rocks and fired repeatedly, raining the bird with stone. But it was far too agile and was able to quickly close in on him. Sensing the looming threat, the frog boy ducked out of the way, causing the bird to miss its mark. Sprig, however, was relentless and continued firing rocks with his trusty slingshot, even as the crow had passed him.

Meanwhile, back by the cliffside, Sasha struggled as she climbed rock by rock towards the nest. She might have been athletically able but that didn't mean she wouldn't get tired. However, her will refused to break that easily to a simple boorish wall of dirt and rock and ultimately, that paid off.

Sasha scrambled over the edge of the nest, apparently made of bent metal poles held together by dried spit, and sat down for a breath. Her breathing was frantic and irregular but she calmed down quickly. Afterwards, she promptly stood up and started her search.

"Now where is it…?" Sasha asked herself, looking around the nest. The nest itself was somewhat big but it was mostly cluttered with so much random junk that it was hard to find any space. There were, at a glance, a few broken appliances, some tools and material, typical expensive jewellery and dinnerware, some blankets and pipes here and there, and peculiarly one or two oddly muscular wooden sculptures. Heck, there was even a small bag just filled with marbles.

Thankfully, the search didn't take long. She found the straps of the bag underneath a few clocks and pulled it out.

"There you are! And…" Sasha looked inside but instead, found herself staring through a tear the size of her fist. Its contents had been emptied, leaving her with nothing but a torn bag. "OH, YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!"

She briefly peered outside of the nest and called out at the Plantars underneath her. "Guys, I found the bag but the stuff is gone! I need to search the pile!"

Sprig turned towards shouting Sasha, waving. "Oh hey, Sasha! Did you find your stuff yet?" Sprig asked, shooting another rock at the crow. Sasha, in turn, shouted louder. "No, the stuff is mixed with the pile! I need to look for it!"

"Oh, okay!" Sprig replied with a smile. "Take your time! We're cool down here!"

Unbeknownst to Sprig, the crow had been watching his every move, looking for an opening it can abuse. Detecting its enemy as distracted, it quickly took advantage of the situation and dived towards it as fast as possible. Hop Pop noticed the fast-moving avian and gasped. Sprig didn't see it coming.

"Sprig, look out!" Hop Pop yelled, jumping onto him before the talons could even scratch him. However, the lunge surprised the young frog, causing him to let go of his only form of defence; the slingshot. It clattered away from his hand before stopping a few feet away. Both frogs stared at the loose weapon but crows are smart. It landed next to the slingshot and kicked it away and into the muddy ravine.

"… Uh oh." Sprig exclaimed. The crow turned to look at the frogs with its lazy eye, which realigned itself to look at them straight dead in the eye.

"CAAAAAWWWW!" It cawed angrily and flew forward into them. Sprig and Hop Pop rolled to the left and right sides to dodge.

Concurrently, Sasha ransacked the crow's nest, looking for any stuff that could resemble at least 'human'. But suddenly, she heard a cry of fear from her favourite froggy family. She jerked and glanced at the general direction of the noise.

"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH—!"

Hop Pop and Sprig were running in circles, panicked and out of control. The crow continued its attempt to gouge them like yesterday's meal, almost catching them several times. Polly, who wanted to help, was forced to watch as she was unable to do anything from her bucket and that she carried no weapons with her. Something that she'll keep in mind in the future.

"Oh gosh… SPRIG! HOP POP!" Sasha yelled from the bird's nest. They were in trouble and she was too far away to do anything. She curled up in the nest and brainstormed for an idea.

"Come on, Sasha… Think!" She ordered herself, smacking her forehead for ideas. As she tried to think of a way to get out of this mess, the seconds began to pass and the chances of survival dwindled considerably, adding up even more stress onto the young teen. The screams in the background definitely did not help.

"URGH, DAMMIT!" Sasha screamed furiously. "If I didn't push them to get my stuff back, none of this would've happened! All of this stupid junk is in the way and I can't find any of it fast eno—"

Suddenly, she had an idea.

Polly was having an emotional breakdown.

Okay, it wasn't that dramatic actually but her family was still about to be eaten by a larger-than-average bird so it wasn't a complete understatement either. If it were back home, she would've jumped at that bird like a crazed maniac. Unfortunately for her, the air was far too dry and hot and she was pretty sure the bucket was the only thing keeping her alive.

Instead, she scoured through Sasha's collected things and picked one that was throwable. For example, this cube made of mismatched and colourful smaller cubes or as Sasha called it, a Rubik's cube.

"HEY, STOOPID! PICK ON SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!" Polly yelled, using the same words Sprig previously did. She then threw the cube at the gilded nest crow and while she may be a pollywog, she was by no means physically weak.

At the moment, the crow had managed to corner Sprig and Hop Pop but the cube crashed at the back of its undefended head with a loud and painful thunk. Surprised and distracted, the two took the short opportunity and escaped its clutches, all while it shrieked fiercely at Polly.

"Polly! What did I tell ya about starting fights?!" Hop Pop scolded as he ran towards her. Polly threw her fins up back at him. "You didn't tell me anything about that!"

"Well, I'm telling ya now! Don't start fights with giant birds!"

"IT'S BIGGER THAN YOU ARE!"

Ignoring her remark, Hop Pop grabbed Polly with her bucket. With a few taps on her shell, Bessie immediately shrunk itself into the shell, protecting it from harm. Hop Pop had run away from the crow with the express purpose of keeping Polly safe but that couldn't be the case any longer. Crows are smart and like any smart sentient being, they don't like being pelted by random hard objects.

Which was why Sasha was pelting the crow with random hard objects.

"Hey, you dumb bird! Pick on someone your own size!" She provoked from the height of the bird's nest, the same words both Sprig and Polly used. The crow turned around and faced her, glaring with the intensity of a hundred blades. It was one thing to throw objects at it, it was another to use its hoard for that. Gilded nest crows are quite protective of their loot and Sasha was pretty much desecrating its home.

"CAAAAAAWWWW!" It screeched and immediately shot up to the nest. Sasha moved back and into the nest, away from the crow's view. It overshot its flight and looped back to the nest, landing with a threatening thud. As it lifted its head, it locked eyes at the human teen with a scowl, a dangerous pressure enveloping the area.

"Oh hey there, you stupid animal. Nice to meet ya." Sasha mocked with pure confidence. She mentally imagined herself with a wad of bubblegum in her mouth, just to make it look cool. "You know, I don't really like it when people mess with my stuff. And I'm guessing you're kinda the same too."

The crow tilted its head sideways. "Which means, you're definitely not gonna like this!"

Immediately after, Sasha kicked an already-broken clock open, breaking it even further. The feathers of the crow stood out, shocked and surprised. A few more stomps, the clock shattered into pieces of wood shards and bent gears, permanently unfixable. Turning around, she kicked a fairly expensive-looking vase, toppling and breaking it into ceramic pieces.

Suddenly, the temperature dropped and Sasha could feel the chill from the avian predator.

"CAAAAAAWWWW!" The bird ran straight towards her with scorn, fury bursting from its every pore. It internally vowed to peck the human teen till she was nothing but stains and scattered her remains through every nook and cranny of the world. A dramatic way of wanting someone dead but it was a crow. It was born with drama.

Sasha, however, was fully prepared for this. She grabbed the bag of marbles and threw it straight forward haphazardly. It wasn't enough to stop it from charging but it did its job as a distraction. The crow was forced to close its eyes as the marbles pelted its face and when it opened them again, all it saw was cotton.

"HIIIYAAA!" Sasha threw a large cotton cloth over the crow's head, who was too distracted to notice. The cloth's corners were tied in different parts of the nest, with one corner tied to a free rope. It ran blindly all over the place, cracking the nest floor before it attempted to fly away but the dastardly blonde teen wouldn't allow that. With a tug of the free rope, she pulled the bird back down before it could escape, causing it to roll all over and shake the entire nest. The nearby wooden sculptures, precariously placed by Sasha, fell over and onto the entrapped crow, knocking it down.

Sasha then grabbed a loose stick from around her, ran over to the downed bird and began brutally beating it with said stick.

No mercy.

This lasted for many long seconds and after a few agonizing and unrelenting hits, the crow managed to stand up and spread its wings wide, releasing itself from the cloth trap and pushing the teen onto her back. While this may seemed to be the perfect opportunity for revenge, the crow instead decided the girl was too crazy to deal with and flew off with its tail tucked beneath its bird legs.

"CAAAWWW!" It shrieked in fear.

"YEAH, YOU BETTER RUN!" Sasha roared, her fist in the air. She even threw the stick at its general direction for good measure.

Watching the big bird retreat in the sunset felt somewhat cathartic. While she wouldn't call herself a fan of bloodsports, she had to admit that hitting it with the stick was both an unnatural but welcoming feeling. While she admired the slowly disappearing form of a thieving avian, she heard cheers from below the nest. She walked to the edge and looked down, eyeing on Hop Pop, Sprig and Polly all cheering for her.

"Good job, Sasha!" "You did it!" "YEEEEAAAAHHH!"

Sasha bashfully blushed. "Aw shucks, guys. You don't have to praise me like that. I mean, we beat way worse stuff than this."

Sasha pointed back at the pile with her thumb. "Well, I gotta go look my stuff. See you guys in five—" Snap. Crack. The ground beneath her feet began to shake. "—minutes?"

That was when the supporting branch that held the whole nest up split itself and Sasha fell to her doom.

Sasha screamed. "AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH—!"

"You know, you're lucky that the ravine was filled with mud. That fall could've killed ya, or worst." Hop Pop blurted to Sasha, bandaging her arm. While she did come out of that fall mostly unharmed, that nest was still made of a bunch of wooden branches, many of which when broken can be quite pointy. A wound in the arm wasn't so bad.

"What could be worse than death?" Sasha asked back.

"Being crippled for life is a good example." Hop Pop answered, finishing the bandage. "Though, I did hear there's magic that can fix that."

"Wait, magic exists in this world? How come I've never seen anyone use it?!"

"Sasha." Hop Pop stared at the teen. "How many spellcasters do you know in Wartwood?"

"Uh…"

"Thought so." Hop Pop secured the bandage with a simple knot, nothing too fancy. It did its job and that was all that mattered. Sasha inspected her wrapped arm, moving it around. "So, how's it feel?"

"Ay, not bad, old man." Sasha genuinely praised. She had gotten injured before, so she knew a fair amount of first-aid herself. "You sure got a lot of secrets. I didn't think first-aid was one of them."

Hop Pop laughed. "Heh, you wouldn't know half of them." Done with the inspection, Sasha stood up and walked towards the edge of the ravine with Hop Pop by her side. The two looked down from said edge and watched Sprig and Polly swimming in the mud, looking for whatever valuables they could find. Half of the reason was to find Sasha's lost belongings while the other half was about getting any useful treasures out of it. After all, it wasn't always that they could raid a gilded nest crow's turf.

"Did you guys find anything yet?" Sasha called out from above. Sprig turned towards her with a muddy gold necklace in hand. "I found this! Is it yours?"

"Nope. Keep trying, man." With a little encouragement, Sprig threw the necklace in the small pile in front of him, all of which were jewellery.

"So… We're selling this stuff, right?" Sasha quipped, wondering what they were to do with it. Hop Pop responded without turning. "If we could. Though it's best we return what we can. Don't want the folks to think we're thieves or anything."

Sasha nodded, acknowledging the answer. She then crouched and sat by the edge, her feet dangling next to the ravine wall. Hop Pop also did the same, his tired old bones already at its limit. Today had been one hectic day for the two of them. Sasha felt relieved that she got her friend's belongings back, it is what last connection she had with her old home and Hop Pop hadn't gone on an adventure like that for a very long time, starting to physically feel why.

Her head swayed upwards, staring at the darkening sky. Stars were slowly coming to view and out in the middle of nowhere, it wasn't as dark as one expected, especially with the bright blue moon out. She lived her entire life in the suburbs and so rarely had she ever watched the beautiful night sky this way. She honestly couldn't remember the last time she experienced this view, feeling a little melancholic.

"Hey, Hop Pop?" Sasha uttered. Hop Pop, who was watching the night sky as well, turned to her. "Yes, Sasha?"

"I'm sorry I risk your lives in this mess. It was my stuff and I shouldn't have gotten you all in danger like that." She laid her back onto the ground. "I-I acted like a jerk, pushing you all and being bad. I just… I didn't want to lose them."

Sasha felt a hand lightly placed on her shoulder. Turning sideways, she saw Hop Pop looking at her with a smile on his wrinkly face. "It wasn't your fault, Sasha. I understand what it's like to have sentimental value in random objects. Heck, it was why we agreed to begin with."

"I'm pretty sure it was why the crow stole it!" Sprig added while covered in mud. Hop Pop ignored that, still somewhat disbelief that the infamous gilded nest crow would go around stealing junk, and continued.

"The point being, you looked so scared when we left the house, that all of us wanted to pitch in and help ya in any way we can." Hop Pop shifted his focus to the kids, still searching for more treasure. "Sure, we nearly got ourselves killed but it all worked out in the end. That's what matters."

Every word Hop Pop said, Sasha couldn't help but feel a bit sad about it. She hadn't been here long and yet, the Plantars tried to help her in any way she could. When she tried to repay that, everything went up into flames but they still didn't mind.

She didn't know why she got sent to this world; she assumed it to be her own fault, but there was one thing she was definitely sure of, and that was the Plantars were too good for her. She realized that. And yet, she still got to be in their lives as they are in hers. She was grateful that she got to meet them.

"Heh, that's got to be the most cliché thing I've ever heard you say, old man." Sasha exclaimed with a stifled laugh.

"Whaa? But I was being honest and everything!" Hop Pop cried out, looking a little offended. Sasha raised her hands in defence. "No no, cliché is good! All stories have clichés in them, even good ones."

"The history behind all clichés, it's why people like them." She quoted with a positive note to what was usually a negative term. "I mean, they wouldn't be clichés if no one liked them, right?"

"Hmm…" Hop Pop hummed, tapping his chin with his finger. "I guess you're right. Never thought of it that way."

The two continued to watch the stars slowly glow brighter. There was a simple yet pleasant feeling of watching what accounted as a daily occurrence, especially in the quietness of the night.

"But Sasha?"

"Hmm?"

"If your stuff gets stolen again and we nearly get ourselves killed for it, I'ma burn them to ash."

"Over my dead body."