Fanfic / Sasha and the Frogs

Her story (and redemption) begins today.

"Being transported to another world filled with talking frog people might be the weirdest thing Sasha ever experienced, but at least she's got the Plantars to help her out."

Archive of Our Own summary

Sasha and the Frogs is an Amphibia Role Swap AU fic by Scrabbleauthor. Focusing on Sasha, the fic has her switch positions with Anne; rather than her starting her journey captured and imprisoned at Toad Tower, Sasha drops down just outside Wartwood and is taken in by the Plantars. With the love and guidance of her new frog family, Sasha learns that while she might not be the best person around, there's nothing stopping her from working her hardest to become more kind and loving herself. Meanwhile, Anne is stuck under the influence of Captain Grime, who after helping her realize just how toxic her friendship with Sasha was, urges the girl to address that revelation in what could be a very destructive and dangerous manner.

Each chapter adapts an episode of the show, with some events reordered or even skipped over completely. There are also a number of original episodes sprinkled in as well. Expect to see even the plots you know from the show take some drastically different forms as well, as Sasha's differing personality and skills changes things more than you'd expect, creating wildly different scenarios.

The first part in the series can be found here on Archive of Our Own.

The second part, titled Sasha and the Frogs S2: Pumped Up Pink!, can be found here on Archive of Our Own.

The series can also be found here on FanFiction.Net.

This fanfic contains examples of the following:

• Abnormal Dental Growth: Sasha regrows a tooth after drinking a potion. The potion was so bad, she cried.
• Action Girl: Both Sasha and Anne, who already boast natural athleticism that lends itself well to combat, in addition to the Calamity Box enhancing their physical abilities when under stress.
• A Day in the Limelight: Chapter 38 focuses mostly on what's happening back in Wartwood while Sasha and the Plantars are on the final leg of their journey to Newtopia.
• Adapted Out: Applies more to events rather than characters. Thanks to a combination of the author aiming for a more straightforward plot, and the inherent differences between Sasha and Anne, episodes that either add little to the overarching story or just wouldn't make sense for Sasha to experience are skipped.
• Adaptational Angst Upgrade: Sasha's internal monologue often consists of sad and guilty introspection about the effects her more selfish actions and need for control have on her friends, the Plantars, and the town of Wartwood.
• Adaptational Nice Girl: Sasha is portrayed more sympathetically right from the start, as while she still has her moments of intense selfishness and callousness, they're usually followed by guilt and remorse should they have negative consequences for those she cares about.
• Adaptational Personality Change: Sasha, while keeping her snark and blunt attitude, slowly grows into a more selfless and kind person under the influence of the Plantars. In contrast, Grime encourages Anne's buried feelings of resentment, turning her into a more bitter and angry person than her canon counterpart. The author sums it up in a quick joke on their Tumblr:
  Canon Sasha: Who are you?
  SatF Sasha: I’m you but sadder.
  —–
  Canon Anne: Who are you?
  SatF Anne: I’m you but ANGRIER!
  —–
  C!Marcy and SatF!Marcy: Despite everything, it’s still you.
• Aesop Amnesia: Downplayed. While she often ignores Hop Pop's advice, Sasha does her best to learn from her actions and mistakes.
• A Friend in Need: Sprig, and the Plantar family as a whole, repeatedly help Sasha regardless of her troubles. Early on, this has the unintentional effect of giving Sasha a regular string of Heel Realizations over how poor of a friend she is in return.
• A Father to His Men: When Anne is training and talking with Grime, she tells him not to blame himself for any dead toad soldiers that were KIA. Grime, however, begs to differ.
  Grime: I am responsible for every single toad in this fortress. Should anything happen to them, it is because of my own weakness.
• Aliens Speaking English: Lampshaded. Sasha notes that all the local text is in English.
• The Aloner: In Chapter 23, Sasha ends up being the only one not frozen during Hiber-Day due to her warm-bloodedness. She ends up traumatised due to it after 5 days of solitude.
• And This Is for...: In Chapter 37, Wally punches Sasha in the stomach for slapping his father, literally kicks her while she's down for kidnapping Wally to force him and his dad to make up, and finally gives her a kiss on the forehead to thank her for helping the two reconcile.
• Arranged Marriage: Much like the main series, Sprig and Maddie are part of an arranged marriage. However, it is broken much earlier.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In Chapter 15, when Anne realizes she hates Sasha and starts listing out all the reasons why, from forcing her to skip class to being the reason she may never see her parents again, in the middle of the rant is a diatribe about... how Sasha once suggested she shouldn't have chili.
  Anne: Or that other time [she] told me not to put chili in my noodle soup because I can’t handle the spiciness. [She doesn't] know that! I’m Thai-American! It’s in my blood to eat spicy food!
  Grime: (confused) A bit weird but okay...
• Ascended Extra:
  • Felicia Sundew is given a backstory as a traveling maid who learned various skills on the road.
  • Maddie Flour has been given this treatment as of Chapter 16, becoming good friends with both Ivy and Sprig.
• Berserk Button: After bonding with them, Sasha's becomes harming the Plantars. As the kind, loving family who wholeheartedly accept and support her despite how difficult she makes their lives, even a drive-by-insult is enough to make her want to scrap with whoever made the comment.
• Big Sister Instinct: Sasha towards Sprig, but especially Polly. Chapter 14 even consists mostly of Sasha fretting over Polly's safety and well-being until Polly gets fed up and calls her out for being so smothering, when she knows very well that she isn't defenseless. That said, she did appreciate Sasha's efforts and how much she cared.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Barry Goodness, just like his canon counterpart.
• Break the Cutie: Poor Anne has this in Chapter 15. When Grime realizes that Anne's toxic friendship with Sasha is a reliable trigger for her magic to activate, he hammers in during training how Sasha clearly views the girl more as a tool and less of a friend.
• Brutal Honesty:
  • This is Sasha's default setting, arguably to a fault. She's often honest and straightforward with her words and is never afraid to speak what's on her mind.
  • In Chapter 4, Hop Pop tells Sasha bluntly that she sometimes scares him. While it's meant as a joke, the remark makes her paranoid and on edge, leading to hijinks at the convenience store.
  • In Chapter 15, Grime breaks down Sasha's clearly manipulative nature to Anne, much to her horror and dismay.
• Catapult Nightmare: Chapter 3 opens with one, being Sasha's memories of the day she and the girls got teleported to Amphibia, with the rest of the chapter establishing this a recurring nightmare.
• Childhood Friends: Anne and Sasha are revealed in Chapter 15 to have both been very close friends since Kindergarten.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment: While Sasha is grounded, Sprig is only forced to wear holiday-themed gloves. Because of it, he can't feel anything that he touches.
  Sprig: I can't feel what I'm touching at all. It's been excruciating.
• Creepy Good: Like in canon, Maddie is a good girl despite some of her creepy habits.
• Curse Cut Short: At the end of "Reunion Pt 3", Sasha almost swears in surprise when the mysterious pink frog appears in front of her out of the blue.
  Sasha: ... WHAT THE FU—!
• Cursed with Awesome: Albeit for a brief moment, but when Sasha gets turned into a newt in Chapter 11, she grows to enjoy it after a while.
• Darker and Edgier: Compared to the original show.
• Death by Adaptation: In the series, Renee Frodgers was arrested for robbing banks. In this story, she gets eaten by the sand worm.
• Declaration of Protection: Sasha promises to protect everyone when they become frozen.
  Sasha: "C-come on, let's get you guys somewhere safe. (looks at everyone) All of you."
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Has its own page now.
• Deconstruction Fic: The fanfic serves as a deconstruction of the series proper, where most of the situations that Anne has been through with Sasha taking her place have a more realistic tone to them. The citizens are more serious with their jobs and duties as farmers and sellers, the Plantars are more brave and understanding towards Fish out of Water Sasha, and Anne openly isn't coping well with the realization that Sasha was being a false friend to her. In addition, the fanfic gives Sasha some well-deserved karma for her more questionable acts.
• Determinator: Seen in the climax of Chapter 9, where Anne holds the mandibles of the queen ant with her bare hands.
• Disney Death: In "Reunion Pt. 3", Anne inadvertently kills Sasha by caving in her chest and punching her through a wall. Sasha is brought back to life by the spirit linked to her Gem powers, though she has no recollection of anything involving her god-like Heroic Second Wind, leaving the Planters to explain what happened after her and Anne's fight.
• Dying Dream: In "Reunion Pt. 3", Sasha dreams of an alternate "perfect" version of the day she got sent to Amphibia; where she apologizes to Anne for being a bad friend, befriends Anne's mother and pledges to clean up her act, and her parents are still together and attentive to her needs. It's that last thing which makes Sasha realize that this is all fake and she's actually dying.
• Enemy Mine: In Chapter 9, Anne and Grime team up to defend Toad Tower from an ant infestation.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Downplayed in that Sasha's not exactly "evil", just selfish. In Chapter 2, she struggles to understand why Sprig would save her from the lake monster when she admits she would have just left Sprig for dead, not realizing that some people are just that kind. It's because of this that Sasha starts to see Sprig as an actual friend.
• Eye Scream: Played for Laughs. At the start of Chapter 4, when Hop Pop serves up his home cooked stew, Sasha gets sick and spits the hot contents onto Sprig's eyes, causing him to scream and collide into various objects. A few scenes later, his eyes are bandaged.
• Family of Choice: Sasha comes to accept the Plantars as her family in Amphibia, even considering the name "Sasha Waybright Plantar" after Sprig calls her an honorary Plantar.
• Fantastic Racism: The citizens of Wartwood all see Sasha as a monster, prompting her to introduce herself each time. Most just grunt in response, while others act even more rude.
• Five Stages of Grief: Sasha undergoes this in the third chapter, when she has nightmares about how she and her friends came to Amphibia. She at first denies having any problems despite these nightmares clearly messing with her sleep, becomes enraged when the family begins to pry before begging them to just leave her alone. She eventually admits to Sprig her guilt and shame for what she's done to her friends, before accepting what she's done and gaining the Heroic Resolve to find them.
• Foreshadowing: Throughout Season 1, the Lemony Narrator occasionally alludes to Marcy's hijinks in Newtopia.
• Forced Transformation: Happens to Sasha in Chapter 11, where she gets turned into a newt, though she quickly acclimates and later admits the experience wasn't that bad.
• For Want Of A Nail: Due to her manipulative tendencies, Sasha is far more likely to come up with plans and weigh her options in any given situation, as opposed to Anne, who prefers to think with her gut, meaning that even when she experiences the same adventures as Anne, they tend to have completely different inciting incidents or quickly diverge. Her less friendly and more confrontational attitude also means the townsfolk are much slower to warm up to her. Case in point, by the end of the show's first season, Anne was beloved and trusted by the town; meanwhile, by the end of the fic's first season, half the citizens view Sasha as little more than a monster Hop Pop managed to tame.
• Frog Men: Like the actual show, it's an island called Amphibia and it's populated by bipedal and sentient Amphibians.
• Fun with Acronyms: Chiddy and Middy are part of an organization known as the "Priesthood in Establishing New Ideas and Sciences".
• Glowing Eyes: Both Anne and Sasha do this when they activate their abilities, with Anne training to do so on command.
• Gosh Dang It to Heck!: Sasha says "heck" a lot.
  Sasha: "'HECK' IS NOT A BAD WORD!"
• The Greatest Story Never Told: Sasha spends five days guarding the hibernating bodies of Wartwood townsfolk without them realizing. In the end, only the Plantars know what she did while everyone else barely notices.
• Heel Realization: These happen to Sasha like clockwork.
  • Chapter 2: Sasha replies to Sprig's claim that she'd also try to rescue with him with a resounding "no", without even having to think about it. While Sprig is shocked and trying to process this, all Sasha can do is sit in shame at her admission.
  • Chapter 3: After dwelling on her nightmares, Sasha accepts that her, Anne and Marcy being transported to Amphibia is all her fault, and that she must resolve to find them, return them home, and work to become a better friend towards them.
  • Chapter 8: While reading the story of how Hop Pop saved Bessie from an abusive situation despite barely knowing the snail, she shamefully dwells on the fact that despite stating she'd save her life-long friends back in Chapter 3, she hasn't even begun trying.
  • Chapter 13: When seeing all the damage that's been caused to the town because of her money-making scheme, which includes nearly getting her found family killed again, she openly apologizes to the entire town and doesn't even put up a fight when the townspeople start berating and throwing things at her.
• Heroic BSoD: Sasha suffers from one when Anne declares an end to their friendship. She get better almost immediately however, thanks to Sprig.
• Honest John's Dealership: Sasha attempts to pull this to earn more money and sell unused produce in Chapter 13. It eventually and inevitably backfires.
• How We Got Here: The second season begins on this note, showing the climax of the season finale before Sasha breaks the fourth wall ala The Emperor's New Groove to apologize for the confusion and promises to explain everything that led up to this, starting with a brief recap of the first season.
• I Ate WHAT?!: While she eventually gets used it eating bugs and the like, Chapter 6 has Sasha trying to avoid learning what's in the food she's eating. Cue several scenes later, and her horrified internal reaction upon realizing the scones she's eating are made of dung beetles.
• In Another Man's Shoes: During the confrontation between Sasha and a giant weasel, the two end up sharing perspectives of each other's struggles. This ends the fight immediately as neither is willing to attack the other.
• Ironic Episode Title: Chapter 23 is titled "What a Wonderful Hiber-Day", implying a somewhat positive episode similar in tone to its corresponding Amphibia episode. It ends up being one of the darker chapters, as Sasha is left paranoid and alone in a frozen wasteland, convinced that everyone she knows has died with no explanation.
• It's All My Fault: Sasha blames herself for getting her and her friends transported into another world and spends the entire story, trying to mend her relationship and change herself for the better.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Sasha is a rude, manipulative Control Freak. However, she quickly grows to love and care for the Plantar family, and slowly comes to bond with the other residents of Wartwood as well.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Discussed in Chapter 15 with Anne and Grime. Grime points out from Anne's stories about her that Sasha seems to always get off scot-free, while Anne is left to take the blame. Suffice to say, this realization doesn't exactly ring well with Anne.
  • Ironically, Sasha also averts this trope. While she easily got out of any punishment back on Earth just as Anne says, in Amphibia, pretty much all of Sasha's actions end up having surprisingly swift consequences for her and/or the people around her. It gets to the point that Sprig and Polly decide to name the phenomenon.
    Sasha: I’m sorry for not backing you up, Sprig. I’ve just been so worried about getting in trouble again.
    Sprig: You mean the Sasha-Karma? Oh, totally. I get you.
    Sasha: You guys have a name for my bad luck?!
• Last-Second Word Swap: When Sasha is protesting being grounded in Chapter 38, she starts to call herself a "bad bitch" until she notices Polly nearby, and changes it mid-word to "bad bisexual".
• Lemony Narrator
• Lethal Chef: How Sasha views Hop Pop's cooking, to his chagrin.
• Look Behind You: Used by Sasha at the convenience store in Chapter 4.
  Sasha: "Look, a diversion!"
• Lost Aesop: After Barry rejects Sprig's deal, Sasha becomes so angry at Barry that she forgets what lesson she learned seconds prior.
• Magic Dance: The Plantar family hunting dance is designed to entice and disorient wild animals. Unfortunately it also affects Sasha, similar to how it affected Barrel, meaning she can't learn it like Anne did in canon.
• Man Bites Man: Sasha gnaws onto the Curator's leg to subdue him.
• Morality Pet: The Plantars are slowly bringing out some of Sasha's more redeemable aspects, namely her loyalty to her loved ones and desire to protect others in need.
• Never My Fault: During the fight between the Curator and Sasha, he throws Sasha through a wall and then, a door. Both times, he blames Sasha for destroying his property.
• Parental Neglect: Sasha suffers from this, as while her parents certainly provide her needs, they have no presence in her life as she rarely gets to see them day-to-day. Her relationship with them is nonexistent to the point that the possibility of them missing her doesn't even cross her mind until Sprig mentions it in Chapter 24.
• Pragmatic Hero: Implied at the end of Chapter 9 by Anne during the victory feast.
• Pragmatic Villainy:
  • Grime's sole reason for keeping Anne around in Toad Tower during Chapter 9.
  • Invoked again in Chapter 15. When Anne is talking with another toad, they mention something about Grime scoffing at other activities that could waste resources better used for Toad Tower.
• Psychological Projection: Upon learning of how Wally is keeping his true lifestyle secret from his father, Sasha projects her own parental issues onto the situation, becoming convinced that Wigbert doesn't care about Wally and that Wally therefore shouldn't care what he thinks either. She recognizes her problem and apologizes for it after her actions lead to a falling out between the two that she has to patch up.
• Rage Breaking Point:
  • Played for laughs in Chapter 5, with Sasha's rage at the family's day-long attempt to make a pizza being ruined.
  • A less humorous example in Chapter 15, when Anne is training with a practice dummy. Grime's words make Anne rethink her relationship with Sasha and slowly begins to view her friend in a less positive light.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Anne gives one to Sasha to the point of putting her in tears. Their friendship officially ends at this point.
• Role Swap AU: The premise of the story. The story focuses on Sasha, having switched places with Anne at the beginning of the source material and now currently residing with the Plantars.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: The whole of Chapter 5 with Sasha and the Plantars attempting to make pizza, only for all the ingredients they have gathered to fall into the tomato plant monster's stomach acid, much to Sasha's frustration.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Sasha's flustered reaction when Polly refers to Anne as her girlfriend.
• Shield Surf: Sasha does this when fighting the toad soldier at Toad Tower. All in a dress too.
• Shout-Out:
  • The first chapter changes Sprig's line when he decides to hunt the "monster" from "I just had a great idea" to "I know what I'm gonna do today."
  • Chapter 18 has Sasha fixing the millipede stew while Stumpy is away is similar to how Remy from Ratatouille improvised the potato and leek soup alone before being caught by one of the workers, particularly Stumpy.
  • Sasha names the scorpileo she tames Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson.
• Slipping a Mickey: Anne does this to Sasha when they hung out in her room, to keep her from interfering. Chapter 26 states that Anne specifically used this method because she's unsure whether she can take Sasha on in a fight.
• Sneeze Cut: When Sasha was carried by Anne up the stairs in a somewhat romantic way, Marcy (the last of the trio) sneezed.
• Spared by the Adaptation: In the canon series, the Curator was (supposedly) killed by the creatures he covered in wax as his exhibits. Here, he survives while the Curiosity Hut gets burned down, and he gets arrested by Javi and Kettle and taken to Newtopia for his crimes.
• Teach Him Anger: Grime invokes Anne's anger in order for her to activate her Calamity Box powers.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: How Sasha ends up working with the Toads in "Toad Tax". Unlike Anne in canon, who earnestly believed working with the tax collectors would finally garner her everyone's respect, Sasha knows that they're corrupt from the moment she meets them and shrugs off their invitation to join. It's only when she gets hit with another round of bullying from the townsfolk that she decides to help them repo everyone's belongings out of spite.
• Took a Level in Kindness: Thanks to the Plantars' influence on her, Sasha shows some of her more likable traits earlier in the story, even loosening her Jerkass tendencies.
• Wham Line: The ending lines of Chapter 11 of Season 2, where during a conversation between Marcy and Andrias, it's revealed that Marcy already knows about the Core.
• Would Hurt a Child: In Chapter 7 of Season 2, the Curator who is an old man, fights against Sasha, a child. He does not hold back, throwing her through walls.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are:
  • In Chapter 2, when a bewildered Sasha questions why Sprig is trying to save her from the lake monster, he replies that she would do the same, only for her to shamefully reply that she would have ran away and never looked back instead. Sprig is stunned silent for a moment before arguing that, based on everything that happened the previous day, there's no way that's true.
    Sprig: The first time we met, you saved my life from a frog-eating mantis. Then just after, we worked together and, pardon my language, beat the creek out of it!
  • Done again in Chapter 26, where Sprig gives one to counter Anne's "The Reason You Suck" Speech, admitting that while Sasha is the selfish, vulgar and manipulative egomaniac that Anne accuses her of being, she has also been trying her hardest to become a better person during her time in Amphibia, and he's seen all the good she manages to accomplish when she doesn't give in to her worst qualities.
• Your Approval Fills Me with Shame: Anne isn't exactly pleased with herself when Grime congratulates her on exploiting the Fantastic Racism between toads and newts to get Bufo onboard with their rebellion plan.
• You Do Not Want To Know: Inverted. Sasha herself prefers not to know what her food is made of, though she seems to grow out of it over time.

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