Episode 20: Part 1
The bright glare of the warm sun filtered down through the trees of the Summer Orchard as the pair of elephant guards stalked closer with their menacing hammer weapons. Artemis eyed them warily and quickly called on her powers to morph into the Mythos Dryad Ranger. "Kristen... what are those things?"
"Loxodons," the Druid replied as she held her ground and stepped forward to meet them, "Hopefully we can reason with them."
Kristen planted her staff in the ground, "Hail! I am a Druid of the Juniper Order and..."
"And you have no business being here," one of the loxodons replied threateningly, "You've trespassed on lands belonging to the Sidhe lords of Summer. Drop your weapons and surrender now!"
"There seems to be a misunderstanding," Kristen continued while keeping her voice forceful but level, "If you'll but give us a chance to explain we'll..."
The loxodon guards didn't wait any longer to negotiate and instead gave a belligerent trumpeting sound from their trunks before charging forward with their mauls. Kristen raised her staff and immediately began calling upon her own Druidic magic, "Artemis, the Rowan trees! Go now and fetch the components! I'll hold these guys off!"
"But..."
"Don't argue with me! Do it now!" Kristen shouted as she swung her staff and blocked the guards' advance with a sudden wall of soil and earth that rose up before her.
Artemis broke left and sprinted for the tall boulders where the red trees grew atop them. As she neared, the Dryad Ranger began calling up magic of her own to have the earth and roots before her rise up into a line of stairs for her to climb. She quickly bounded up the steps and stopped at one of the trees before she pulled free a bag that she was carrying to store the items.
While Artemis scrambled and hurriedly collected some large branches, strips of bark, and handfuls of red berries from the Rowan trees, she watched as Kristen skillfully danced and dodged around the awkward blows of the burly guardians while keeping them off balance with her staff. As she got into position, she called upon a burst of swirling air to lift her up over another blow from the mauls. Once Kristen reached the peak of her leap, she turned her staff down and blasted the two guards back several feet by a bolt of lightning. The way in which the young master Druid was able to hold her own and seamlessly shift between calling on different natural elements was impressive and Artemis could only stand in awe while watching the display.
Unfortunately, the lightning strike didn't do much to stagger the loxodon warriors with their heavy magic armor plating and their naturally thick skin. Shrugging off powerful blows really shouldn't have been unusual for them either. One of the guardians charged past and tried to gore the Druid with his tusks but Kristen nimbly spun sideways and backed up towards the boulders as the loxodons closed in and began to corner her.
Artemis watched in concern as the elephant men closed before she decided to step in and take action to help her ally. Kristen backed up to the boulder desperately trying to come up with a countermove until several bright bolts of energy were fired from above. To the Druid's surprise, the bolts struck the forehead of one of the loxodons and blew off his helmet, dropping the guard into an unconscious heap.
As she looked up, she saw the Dryad Ranger leap down from the boulder and land on the other elephant man's head with both her feet. Artemis kick-flipped backwards and stunned the loxodon just enough for Kristen to sweep her staff around and cause the earth underneath the guardian to erupt into a geyser of soil and toss the warrior high into the air. Both women watched as the loxodon fell back and landed on his head with a sickening crunch, causing the guardian to fall unconscious from the sudden direct blow to the skull.
"Whew... thanks for the save," Kristen sighed gratefully as she leaned on her staff, "Though I didn't recognize that blasting spell you used just now."
Artemis snorted in amusement and handed off the bag with the Rowan tree spell components, "Another friend of mine taught me that one a while back. He called them Magic Missiles."
"All right kid, what do you say we get out of here? I think we've worn out our welcome in the Orchard, don't you think?"
Meanwhile, back in Somerset Valley Noelle and Aaron arrived on the scene at the edge of town as a fresh platoon of spriggan soldiers marched alongside the combined might of Leanansidhe, Seamus the redcap, the Morgana's hulking wendigo. As they watched the enemy advance toward them, Aaron stood calmly while several townspeople began to flee. "So... this is what you're normally up against, huh? You guys certainly have your hands full up here."
"Normally the odds are little more balanced," Noelle muttered uncomfortably, "Watch out for the guy with the red hat. He's a commander too and he's able to hulk out."
Aaron nodded as the two morphed and stood to block the road, "Understood. Which dance partner do you want?"
The Autumn Knight drew her sword and thought it over, "You're the veteran Ranger here so maybe you should go after Morgana. I'll try to slow down the brutes and buy you time."
"Try to cut the head off the snake first... sounds like a plan," Aaron nodded as the monsters drew near.
"What an unfortunate turnout," Morgana-Leanansidhe laughed while the spriggans fanned out,
"Only two of you? I thought we'd have more of a welcoming party to greet us."
Seamus glanced over in confusion as he heard an unknown voice mixed in with Leanansidhe's.
"We'll do more than just greet you Morgana. We'll show you the way to the door and send you packing for good," Aaron retorted as he raised his own longsword into a battle stance.
Seamus frowned and turned to his fellow commander, "What is going on here? Is this some kind of trick?"
The witch smiled and waved him forward with the wendigo, "A trick on them redcap. Perhaps you'd care for the glory in this battle?"
Seamus eyed her carefully before changing forms into his troll shape and charging into battle alongside the wendigo. Morgana and her student simply crossed their arms and waited patiently in the rear ranks. After all, why put themselves at needless risk when there were small minded brutes on their side willing to do it for them?
The two knights met the spriggans first and carved through the front rank. For the Templar Ranger, the fey footsoldiers were nothing compared to some of the other monstrous minions he had battled before such as shades, demons, and undead zombies. As they cleared a path, the brutes came next to challenge them on the streets. The snarling wendigo came barreling forward and instead of meeting the charge, Noelle sidestepped the monster and used a reverse slash to try and hamstring it from behind. The monster's thick fur and hide absorbed most of the blade's damage, but it was still enough to momentarily stagger it.
Calling on a burst of Autumn Wind, the knight hurled her blade like a boomerang and clipped off a chunk of the wendigo's antlers while summoning her steed and charging forward. She caught the boomerang blade and set it for a passing cavalry style attack but the monster surprised her with a breath weapon and caught her in a cloud of sulfurous gas as she neared. The horse halted and reared sideways as Noelle sputtered blindly giving the beast just enough of a chance to use its good antler to knock her out of the saddle.
As the unseated knight rolled away on the ground, she shook off the stunning impact just long enough to unsummon her horse and raise her guard against a follow up swipe from the wendigo. Nearby, Aaron battled the redcap Seamus and fended him off with his sword. Despite the troll's greater strength and thicker hide, the Templar Ranger pressed the attack and kept him on the defensive. Seamus grunted as he deflected another blow, "I don't know who you are, but your armor is going to make fine trophy for my lair."
"No thanks. I wear this red armor a lot better than you wear that red foppy hat," Aaron retorted as he slashed Seamus aside with a magically charged attack. He leveled his blade at the witch in the rear line, "And now for you Morgana!"
"You go no further Templar Ranger!" the witch cackled as she summoned a large crackling ball of necrotic magic and hurled it toward the veteran knight. Aaron gasped and raised his blade to meet the magic attack as it pushed against his sword. He gritted his teeth and despite his best effort, the intense power of the supercharged spell threw him back and deflected away into a storefront blowing the windows wide open.
As Aaron and Noelle regrouped and fell back against the Fomorian onslaught, they both stopped when a green messenger pixie flitted on to the scene and whispered a few quick words into the Autumn Knight's ears before winking out.
"Kristen and Artemis did it!" she said to Aaron, "They're back and getting our friends back to normal."
"Good. We'll regroup then. I think a temporary retreat would be in order right now, don't you think?" Aaron nodded.
Noelle called up her steed and another powerful gust of Autumn Wind to kick up dust and soil to momentarily blind their enemies. Once the knights made their escape on the horse that moved as fast as the wind, the dust subsided and the remaining Fomorians regrouped on the streets.
"They retreated! What was that about?" Seamus groaned as he held his arm and shuffled back to the huddle. Nearby the wendigo pitched over a car and restlessly snarled.
"Let them run," Leanansidhe said calmly as she continued to walk forward, "Wherever they ran to, we'll find them eventually. For now, we'll hold our position and call in more reinforcements before we continue the invasion."
As he watched her marched on, Seamus frowned and wondered where the strange new attitude and powers exhibited by his rival was coming from. He debated on informing Balor about it when he returned, but for now he would watch and wait.
Back at the apartment, Kristen inspected her home while Artemis finished stirring together their newest magic concoction on the stove. "Between the gargoyles in my shop and now this? I guess the good news is the animals didn't mess the place up too much. How's the potion coming along Artemis?"
"All done," Artemis replied as she carried in the saucepan, "I reduced in the tree bark and the berry juice at the end just as you wanted."
"Okay good, let's just hope the knights are feeling thirsty right now," Kristen muttered as she gingerly removed Stephen from his makeshift cage.
The small falcon flapped its wings irritably and started squawking before being placed over the pot filled with the Rowan tree potion. One by one, each of the animals was carried over and made to drink some of the liquid before the older Druid picked up her staff and began to recite a Gaelic counter-charm to restore the knights to their true forms. Again, Artemis sat back and watched as the four creatures began to glow with a gentle light before miraculously returning to their human forms. All four of them sat dazed and confused on the floor, trying to make sense of their surroundings.
"What happened? Where are we?" Quinton said while shaking his head and rubbing his eyes.
"That's a long story. Right now you're safe in my apartment," Kristen said as she helped her younger students rise to their feet. "The Fomorians are at it again and they've gotten some help from a powerful witch. Fortunately, we've got some help recently too. This is Artemis."
"Err... nice to meet you guys... again," the girl said giving a little wave to her new allies, "You guys had all been turned into animals... but you don't remember anything, do you?"
"Not in the slightest," Laura answered while unconsciously licking her wrist and brushing it over her hair one last time.
Everyone stopped and stared at her for a moment before Connor wrinkled his features, "I don't remember anything either... but I've kinda got a funny taste in my mouth right now."
"Maybe because you've been a bad dog lately?" Kristen sighed in dismay while holding a chewed up slipper.
"Gross," Stephen muttered in mixed disgust and amusement.
The Summer Knight wore an embarrassed look, "Oh... uh, sorry about that Kristen. Let me guess, that one's coming out of my next paycheck, isn't it?"
"Oh yeah."
Before the others could continue their conversation, the door opened and both Noelle and Aaron entered looking a little windblown and spent. The other knights gathered around Noelle a moment happy to see that their other friend was safe before turning to the Templar Ranger.
Kristen cleared her throat, "Everyone, meet the leader of our new allies, the Mythos Rangers..."
"Aaron Du Lac..." Laura interrupted in wide eyed shock.
Aaron froze when he saw her too, "Laura Gremory... is that really you?"
"Wait! You two know each other?" Stephen cut in, but Laura ignored him and stepped forward.
The Winter Knight trembled and reached out her hands to pull his shirt collar. Her lip quivered and everyone stood in shock as she suddenly raised her hand and slapped him across the chin with her hand.
"Where have you been?" she demanded as tears began welling up in her eyes.
"Laura... I... I'm sorry. A lot has happened, I don't..." he stammered dumbly.
Everyone in the room continued to stare at the drama unfolding before them as Laura buried her face in the Templar Rangers chest and began to cry, "It's been four years Aaron! Why did you never write me back?"