Note that this fic is going to be strongly Foxglove based and is intended for her fans.
Foxglove was the only one in Ranger HQ when there was a knock on the door.
Who could knocking at this time of night Foxglove asked herself. It was well past midnight. Usually at this time she would be sound asleep in Dale's room. Not this night, however. Foxglove was wide awake.
Foxglove pulled the door open. A large black bat, flanked on both sides by two smaller bats, stood before her. An air of ill omen surrounded the large bat in the middle.
"Foxglove, my dear." The middle bat said. "We've searched a long time for you."
Foxglove had never seen these three bats before. What could they want with her? "W-who are you?"
"Come with us, Foxglove." The large bat said, completely disregarding Foxlglove's question. "You are a creature of the night. You do not belong with these diurnal rodents. You can reclaim your family's glory."
Foxglove was growing even more confused. 'What do you know of my family?"
"Let's just we've had a...long history."
The bat's sinister appearance gave Foxglove no reason to trust him. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm perfectly happy here. Now please leave."
Foxglove tried to shut the door, but the two bats on the side of the middle one stopped it with their wings and feet. "You don't have a choice." One of them said. "If you will not join us by choice, then perhaps a little bit of force will persuade you!"
The other grabbed Foxglove's wing as she tried to retreat. "Give up, Foxglove. Without your friends here, you can't possibly hope to take on all three of us."
Foxglove struggled violently to free herself. The large bat chanted an incantation and every muscle in Foxglove's body froze. An unnamed fear caused her heart to pound like it was trying to bust out of her chest. All she could do was watch as the large bat formed a ball of magical energy at the tip of his wing. With a shout, the bat threw the ball at Foxglove.
...
Foxglove was so startled that she almost fell from the bar on the ceiling in Dale's room. She'd been having the same dream every night for the past two weeks. Every time she woke up in the same manner at the same spot in the dream, only to find herself hanging safely in Dale's room. Foxglove looked over at Dale. He was sound asleep in his bed. Careful not to wake him, Foxglove fluttered to the floor, opened the door to their room and stepped outside.
For some reason, and Foxglove had no idea why, she felt as though the night was calling her as of late. She looked to the moon with its mystic yellow glow; took in the still, silent air with all its blackness, feeling the urge to chase after a junebug that was carelessly bumping into a nearby park light. Foxglove had given up the night life for months. Why was it only then that all of a sudden the night was beckoning her? The desire to soar the black sky as she had done before her life with the Rangers swelled inside of her. She shook it off. Returning to the night would mean ending a meaningful relationship, leaving behind the only good friends she ever had in her life. Foxglove sighed and went back inside the treehouse HQ, shutting the door behind her.
The next evening, after the Rangers had their supper and were just about to retire for the night, there was a knock at the door. As if guided by intuition, Foxglove's heart sank, then began beating rapidly.
"I'll get it." Said Monterey Jack as he lumbered over to the door.
"Monty, wait. Don't open it." Foxglove said. Her body was quivering.
"What'r you talkin' about, lass?" Monty said. "I can't just ignore a guest!"
Please Foxglove said to herself. Please let me be wrong.
"Are you okay, Foxy?" Dale asked. Foxglove was too stricken with fear to answer.
When Monty opened the door, the same three bats that Foxglove had seen in her dreams stood before him.
"Who are you?" Chip asked the strangers.
"We've come for Foxglove." The large bat said. "Hand her over to us and no one will be harmed."
"NO!!" Foxglove yelled, paralyzed with fear.
Feeling the same ill omen about these bats as Foxglove had, the Rangers blocked the doorway. "You'll have to get through us first, pal!" Dale said.
"Yeah, I don't know who you are, but I don't think she wants to come with you." Gadget said.
Monterey rolled up his sleeve, but Chip grabbed him by the arm. "Let me at 'em, lad! They don't know who they're messin' with!"
The large bat in the middle gave off a quiet chuckle. "So, you intend to resist? So be it. Arc, Axel, kill them."
Chip released Monty's arm as he realized a fight was invevitable.
"Gadget luv, I think it's time to try out that new invention of yours. Go get it while we hold them off."
"Right." Gadget ran to her room as Chip, Dale, and Monty took up defensive stances. Foxglove watched in terror from a distance.
The two smaller bats both recited words of power. The tips of their wings became sharp as blades. One of them charged at Monty and swung his wing. Monty sidestepped the attack, following with a punch. The bat ducked and swung again. As he swung, Zipper flew into his face to disrupt his senses. The bat's wing clashed against the floor as Monty jumped back to avoid the attack. The bat's wing stuck into the wooden floor. Monty jumped forward towards the bat and gave it an uppercut to the jaw. The impact dislodged the bat's wing from the floor and sent him flying backwards. Monty looked over to see how Chip and Dale were faring against their opponent.
Chip and Dale were smaller and faster than the bat, but they lacked the magical powers that gave him an advantage over his opponents. Still, he was outnumbered. Using teamwork to take the fight to him, Chip and Dale ran around in complex patterns that threw the bat offcourse. Chip ran in and gave the bat a couple of punches and bites. As Chip scurried away, Dale pounced in from the couch. he jumped high enough to give the bat a missle dropkick, a move he'd often seen in pro wrestling. The bat was taken off his feet as he stumbled backwards.
"I've got the power drinks, guys!" Gadget said, coming in from her room with five flasks filled with a grass-green liquid. Through scientific research, Gadget had concocted a potion that could double the strength, speed, and senses of anyone who drunk it. The Rangers each took one and drunk it. They could feel the effects instantly.
"You worthless idiots!" The large bat shouted. "I'll take care of this myself." The large bat stepped forward into the treehouse where a wall of Rangers awaited him.
"You won't lay a wing on Foxy!" Dale shouted as he charged forward. Even with Dale's newfound speed, the bat was able to hit him away with a flick of his wing. Dale flew backwards. He got knocked unconcious when he hit the wall.
"My turn!" Monty shouted. Thinking that no animal could withstand the power of a Monty punch X2, he swung. To the surprise of Monty and the other Rangers, the bat grabbed--and stopped--Monty's fist with his wing. The dark bat tossed Monty and Zipper aside with little effort.
"G-g-golly! N-no one's THAT strong!" Gadget said in amazement.
Laughing, the bat charged up a magic ball in each wing. "You should have backed down. I'm not asking for much."
"You're nothing but evil. I can feel it!" Foxglove had finally gathered the courage to speak.
"That's right. Anyone can feel the darkness radiating off of you." Chip said.
"Enough!" The bat shouted as he hurled the magic balls at Chip and Gadget. The potions beared with the worst of it, though it couldn't give them the speed to dodge the magic blasts. With all of the Rangers down, the large bat and his comrades had access to Foxglove.
"Your friends won't be getting up anytime soon." One of the smaller ones said. "Now come with us."
"Why? What do you want from me?" Foxglove asked as she backed into a corner.
"Wouldn't you like to know?" The large bat said.
Foxglove grabbed the chipmunk-sized broom in the corner and swung it at her oppressors.
"So, you're going to fight, too?" The lead bat said. "Very well then. I just hope for your sake you'll put up a better fight than your parents did."
My...parents? These bats killed my parents? A startling sensation was building within Foxglove. She'd felt it before. It was the same feeling that granted her the strength to catch Dale in freefall, as well as carry a brick between her legs while flying.
From that point, it was as if a heavenly force guided Foxglove's actions. Holding out her wings, she blasted the two croney bats with bolts of lighting. The attack sent the two bats sailng out the door and off of the tree. Foxglove didn't know how she managed such an attack. She was being guided by pure instinct, a sort of blind rage.
Foxglove knew she had to escape from the corner. She leaped into the air, then flew over the big bat's head to the outside of the tree house. A couple of magic blasts followed her, but she took to the air to avoid them. The large bat was gliding fast towards Foxglove and she couldn't get away in time. The big bat flew into Foxglove with body ram that took her off her feet. The bat stomped, Foxglove dodged. Big Bat's back was exposed to Foxglove. It was a perfect opportunity for a strong kick that would have knocked him off the tree had he not grabbed onto a branch just above his head.
The evil bat looked around. Foxglove had dissapeared. Not really, she was hanging a ways above him, concealed by a thick blanket of leaves. When he least expected it, the bat saw a pink blur rushing down at him and didn't have time to dodge. The power of the attack evidentaly was charged with magic, as it was much more painful and forceful than such an attack would warrant. The bat almost rolled off of the tree.
He picked himself up to a knee to see the enraged Foxglove approaching. "Tell me what you know about my parents!" She demanded.
The bat spit off the side of a tree in a show of disrespect. "In due time, my dear. I hadn't come prepared for this. I shall leave you for now, but heed my words: you family's legacy shall die with you when we meet again!" The bat recited a spell and dissapeared in a blinding flash.
Around that time, all of the Rangers had come to. Foxglove just stood there as her rage subsided, staring at her wings. Where had such power come from? What was so important about her family? She had so many unanswered questions racing through her head. Dale's paw on her shoulder brought her away from her thoughts.
"Foxy, are you alright?" He asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Foxglove lied. For on the inside, with all of the questions and the darkness begging her to return, she hardly was.
"I'll tell you what, I'm gonna forget I saw all that." Monty said. "That was something me eyes couldn't believe!"
"Foxglove...seems to have some sort of mystical power in her that activates in times of excitement." Gadget said. "How else could a bat carry a brick by herself?"
"Maybe that's why they want her so bad." Chip said as he put a contemplative claw on his chin. "I wonder who they are?"
"Hey guys, can we figure this out in the morning? I'm really tired all of a sudden." Foxglove said. She wasn't really, she simply needed the other Rangers in bed to do what she had set her mind on.
"Can't blame ya, lass." Monty said. "Let's get some shut-eye."
Later that night, after Dale had fallen asleed, Foxglove wrote him a letter and placed it on his door. It read:
Dear Dale,
I'm sorry I couldn't tell you this in person. It would be too hard to look you in the eye and tell you I'm leaving and I don't know when I'm coming back...or if I'll ever come back. I can't leave you in harm's way with those bats looking for me. Something tells me they're much more dangerous than we think. They know about my parents, about my bloodline. I want to find out what's so special about my family and why those bats killed my parents. I need to find out who I am. I'm sorry. Tell the others good-bye for me and that I'm sorry. I love you with all my heart and always will.
Love, Foxlove.
With a breath of courage, Foxglove flew off of the tree to begin a journey of self-discovery.
