Chapter 2:
Mystics and Magics

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the following characters except for the Guardians

The army appeared in another pit of darkness. Ahead of them the army of the Dark Guardians stood ready for combat.

Gatescholar nodded to Darkness who held out his hands and an unseen darkness gathered around the edges of everyone's vision. A sudden burst of black light cleared away the shadows and the two armies stood in the middle of a large, bleak, gray plain. A single tower of black stood in the middle of a circle formed by stone walls.

"Who are you?" A voice echoed out from the tower.

Fear and Gatescholar looked up and saw an old man with a short white beard and wearing a white robe.

"I am Guardian G. Gatescholar." Gatescholar replied

"I am the Guardian Fear." Fear replied

The man glared at Gatescholar and looked to Fear. "You sound like a reasonable young man. Would you be willing to help me rid these fools from my domain?"

"Of course." Fear replied with a bow. He turned to Gatescholar as Sauron (The man in white) released a shout that echoed like cannon-fire. An army of orcs emerged from holes that were hidden in the ground.

The whole army was surrounded

"Gatescholar…" Kidd said gripping Liz and Patty tightly as he glared at the surrounding army.

"Just wait." Gatescholar replied waiting calmly

A sudden explosion of stone flattened some of the orcs in the back of the army.

Gatescholar smiled to himself as an army of trees burst from the walls and began to tear through the army.

"What are they?" Nami asked

"Ents, at least in your language." Gatescholar answered

"Are they friendly?" Zoro asked drawing his swords

"They choose no sides. They are their own side. If your goals happen to be the same as theirs then they welcome any help you can offer." Gatescholar replied

While they'd been talking one of the ents had managed to fight his way to the tower and was beginning to climb.

He shouted out so the whole battlefield could hear "My name is Fangorn! Leader of these Ents. You have angered us by cutting down our kin. We come to strike our revenge!"

Gatescholar nodded "That's our cue! Attack!" He shouted over the clamor

The army shouted back and rushed off in different directions.

Zoro found Kuro in the midst of a squad of orcs that were trying to fell an ent. He flashed into the ground and sliced them down. Kuro managed to dodge. He turned to the swordsman as another squad of orcs gathered around him.

Zoro looked up at the Ent "What is your name?" he asked

"My name would be far too long to recite to you now. You may call me Quickbeam" he replied

"Alright Quickbeam. Let's show them what we can do." Zoro said as he put his sword in his mouth and tied a bandanna around his head

"A sword in the mouth? You are a strange human." Quickbeam said before Zoro lunged forward slicing an orc down the middle. He lifted his fist and swung down like a giant croquet mallet knocking away a large cluster of orcs.

Gatescholar ducked as Fear tried to cut him with his longsword. Darkness lunged at Fear, but Blind blocked his strike and knocked her staff into his chin sending him sprawling. Gatescholar backed into a wall. The two Dark Guardians boxed him in and Fear lifted his sword when two daggers appeared in Blind's chest. They ripped themselves free and she fell to the ground. Behind her were two short men.

"Looks like you could use some help" One said

"Treebeard sent us" The other stated

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind the help." Gatescholar said as he watched Darkness push himself to his feet.

Meanwhile Franky dodged a sword slash from Sasuke. Naruto was engaged with Magellan, his clones were constantly being destroyed while two of them were meditating behind him surrounding them was a squad of clones.

Magellan lifted his hand above his head and the fingers turned to poison. He slammed his palm into the ground releasing a wave of toxins that dissipated the clones. Naruto jumped away as the poison continued to flood the arena. Ents turned when their feet were covered in the strange purple substance. They turned and saw Magellan was the source. Naruto landed on the shoulder of one and signaled that they should stop Magellan. The pair nodded and began to make their way forward.

Franky backed away from the sword blade and released a blast of fire from his mouth. Sasuke disappeared in a puff of smoke, a log replacing him. Franky looked around when he saw the ninja flashing amongst the army. He held up his left arm "Weapons Left" the forearm lifted, a chain gun fired spattering the whole army in front of Franky with bullets.

Naruto and the Ents reached Magellan and Naruto poured Chakra into the Ents as they swung down to club Magellan. They sent him flying cutting off the source of the poison. The ground began to absorb the purple liquid and Naruto jumped to the ground grinning at the Ents and giving them a thumbs up. They nodded to him before parting to fight elsewhere.

Zoro dropped Kuro to the ground as a wave of purple tried to drown him. He jumped into the air and Quickbeam caught him lifting him to his shoulder. The purple washed over Quickbeam's feet, soon the wave was absorbed by the dirt below. Zoro nodded to Quickbeam when the Ent suddenly lurched. Zoro looked down and saw Usopp lying at Quickbeam's feet, his body battered and bloodied. He looked up and saw Arlong engaged with Luffy. Quickbeam began to fall toward the ground. Zoro jumped off his shoulder and landed on the ground safely, Quickbeam hit the ground and shook the dirt.

Zoro turned back his ally and saw that Usopp's body had broken Quickbeam's leg. He growled a pledge of vengeance and turned to see a squad of orc archers fire their flaming arrows into Quickbeam's back lighting him ablaze.

"No!" Zoro shouted as the Ent quickly began to burn. He turned to the squad as they congratulated themselves.

"108 pound cannon!" the blast incinerated the squad leaving theirs bows on the ground. He turned to another group of orcs and began to twirl his swords "Three sword style: one-thousand worlds!" He darted through the group, when he stopped their chests exploded into the spouts of blood, they fell to the ground and Zoro stood looking around for another group of enemies.

Stein dodged blast of fire from Zuko, twirling around in his chair. He looked up at the fire-prince's face before jumping into the air cutting Zuko in the chin with his boot. He landed in his chair and wheeled off looking for another group.

Shugo stabbed an orc in the chest. He kicked him off and watched Rena block a slash from an orc. He rushed over and stabbed the orc in the gut as Rena sliced off his head. The two pushed him away and looked at each other smiling. A zombie tried to attack the pair and its head exploded as Khota took it off with his sniper rifle from the walls. Saeko, Rei, and Takashi were protecting him from orcs and zombies as the two forces tried to pour onto the walls from the ground.

Meanwhile, Merry and Pippin (as they'd introduced themselves) were making their way to Treebeard with Gatescholar in tow. After they'd told him the Ent's plan he made it a top priority to get his forces to safety. He had sent a message to all Guardians to secure their forces and keep them alive.

The trio reached Treebeard as he swung his fist sending Don Krieg flying through the air. Luffy was at his feet keeping the orcs away.

"Treebeard!" Gatescholar shouted

"Ah! Leader of the Guardians, we finally meet at last." Treebeard said as he looked down at Gatescholar. "What is it you need?"

"Is it true you're going to flood the field?" Gatescholar asked

"Why, yes it is." Treebeard replied

"Where is the group that's been put in charge of that?" Gatescholar asked

"Well, the last I'd heard they were ripping away the dam that feeds the orcs their filthy water." Treebeard stated

The sound of rushing water reached the group

"That would most likely be the water that was dammed up." Treebeard stated

Gatescholar looked around and saw the Strawhats engaged in multiple confrontations. He held his arms to his sides and barriers of multiple elements gathered them and lifted them into the air, other similar barriers lifted the others into the air. The Guardians rose with them and Treebeard gathered up Merry and Pippin on his shoulders as the water poured in washing away the enemy.

The only enemy that remained was the Glorft commander and Cornelia with her two guards, but the mechs wouldn't respond. Error messages screeched their alarms at the pilots.

Sauron looked on in disbelief, his whole army washed away in a minute. He scowled at Gatescholar who was concentrating on maintaining his barriers. The wizard turned and with a flutter of his robes disappeared inside his tower.

After the water receded Gatescholar and the Guardians let their forces return to the ground. Gatescholar took a headcount and was please to find his army was intact minus a few of them.

Gatescholar grinned "Well, looks like that's another victory for us!"

A shout echoed from the army. Treebeard approached Gatescholar

"Guardian G. Gatescholar!" He proclaimed merrily

"Treebeard!" He said smiling as he turned "What is it?"

"I have come to thank you for your help with my people's war." Treebeard stated

"It was not a problem." Gatescholar replied

"If you should ever need help in the future, know the Ents will be available to assist you." Treebeard said slowly

"I'll keep that in mind." Gatescholar replied before he and his army faded away.