Episode 6: Dances with WereWolves
Out in the woods of Jamestown, Virgina, life was just pretty much normal for the Powhatan tribe, the farmers were busy with sustaining their crops, the fisherman was busy catching fish for the people, the warriors were still in training, and the husbands and wives were enjoying each other's company just as much as the children all round enjoyed playing together. On the opposite side, near the shores, there was a fort, the men there from England meant the Europeans meant no harm to the natives residing in this place, in fact they were on good terms, trading and helping one another in times of need. However, there was one man, one who did not believe in such fair practices, who concealed his identity from the others, in the guise of an accountant. His name was Manfred Von Sabrewulf, a corrupt militarist hailing from Germany who secretly wanted to overthrow the natives just to claim whatever gold was there, he believed that the "uncivilized" should be eradicated from the Earth. Besides covering up his identity, he carried a very dark secret.
Tonight was just normal, until strange howling was heard in the woods, both sides heard it, it was most unnatural. At the fort, all the men woke up, even the captain heard it, and readied their rifles. It was happening literally inside of the fort, somewhere near the storage area. The men gathered around where the commotion was, rifles loaded, before the captain could even give the order, a strange bipedal lupine beast emerged from the door, with glowing yellow eyes and a strange red mark glowing on its forehead ;snarling viciously, clawing at its adversaries. The men fired their rifles at the beast, but it did no good, what happened next was a lot of the men were bitten by the beast, yet not killed.
Meanwhile, back in the Powhatan tribe, the medicine man was seeing strange visions coming from the smokes of the fire. The visions petrified him, an army of beasts would be heading this way tomorrow night, for that was when the moon was full on that night. He alerted the Chief Wiggum and his daughter Pocahontas to his dwelling. The chief was deeply concerned about this, what would it take to stop this menace? Thankfully the medicine man later smiled as he detected something positive coming from the smoke signal.
"There is a great defender and his own army, they'll be coming soon. They will have the solution we need to protect the village." The medicine man said with hope. "He will come sooner than we think…"
The next morning, everyone headed over to the center for a meeting, the Chief told everyone of the horrible threat on the horizon.
"My people, there is a great threat looming on us tonight, we have sensed it coming from last night. Our warriors will do little in defense of this menace, I fear it has come from our allies at the shore, though it is not their fault. Do not despair though, there is some assistance coming around any time soon…" No sooner than he finished his sentence, a portal appeared out of nowhere and out came the Z-Team, fully intact and ready.
"We have sensed it coming great Chief…" said Zack.
"We're here to help you defend against the menace…" added Moana.
"We'll have to start with your English allies at the shore…" added Mickey.
"Sounds fair good ones, do what you need to, to help save our village!" replied the Chief. "Please, take my daughter with you, she might get the scoop of the situation." Taking Pocahontas with them, they set off for the fort. There was already a commotion amongst the men, after last night's dreadful encounter. Almost all of them were injured, including the Captian, the doctor had to use up a lot of bandages. All those that were injured told the group that they were bitten by a strange beast, unlike any they had ever seen.
"Where did this strange beast appear?" asked Pocahontas.
"It came from our food storage area…." the Captain replied sadly. "How it got in there is a mystery to all of us….I fear it might strike again tonight, yet it did not kill any of my men...our weapons did not hurt it one little bit…." The Z-Team listened with worry at what the Captain said. While all this was happening, Zack sensed something out of the ordinary, and saw one man in one corner of the fort acting rather suspicious. He turned to Mickey while the conversation was still going.
"Find out what that man is up to and then report back to me." Zack whispered to him, Mickey nodded.
"Dark UCloak!" Mickey whispered, raising his hand over his head, he became invisible in a matter of seconds, and without any further delay, secretly followed the strange man. He followed him to one area of the fort deep inside, which held some gunpowder, canons, and ammunition, trying his best not to be heard. He noticed the man writing down something on his desk, he silently crept up, making sure that his footsteps were not heard. The man soon stopped writing and out emerged a strange black hooded man from one corner.
"Has the curse transfer been successful Sabrewulf?" the hooded man asked.
"Indeed, tonight the army of lycanthropes will strike the Indian village, their fear and blood will make a nice contribution to your master. Report back and inform your superiors."
"Will do…." The hooded man disappeared out of nowhere, leaving Sabrewulf alone in the area. He laughed evilly yet with discretion.
"Tonight is my chance…." he smiled evilly. "Once that village is leveled, I will secretly dispatch the rest of this awful, naive crew and the gold left behind will be mine! They won't know how to stop me!" He then left the area, leaving Mickey alone, yet still unseen. While still invisible he went over to the desk, and examined the papers on his desk. He could not believe his eyes what he was reading, it was proof that Sabrewulf was in allegiance with the Dark Master, and with that help, he became a werewolf, deciding to stowaway on board the ship from England to America to cause some pain and panic, plus obtain some gold in order to become a Shadow Monk himself. Not wasting any more time, he grabbed the papers and discreetly left. He arrived back where the group was still conversing, but before he did, he shouted "Uncloak!" and reappeared with the papers in hand.
"What did you find Mickey?" asked Minnie.
"Turns out the "beast" is one of your men Captain…" Mickey said fearfully, giving him the papers. The Captain read over Sabrewulf's papers, becoming more worried as he read them.
"One of my own men is a monster?! I'm appalled…..just how do we stop him?"
"Since he's a lycanthrope, we'll need some supplies to deal with him…."
"Yes, we'll need some wolfsbane and perhaps a small stash of silver.." added Zack.
"Perhaps the priest will have some of the wolfsbane, and I can give you a small bit of my own silver for your own use…" The Captain dug into one of his pockets pulled out a lump of silver that was recently excavated.
"Excellent, the silver will be used in case we have to defeat at least a few of the beasts, since that's the only thing that really affects them."
"I see, let me take you to our priest"….The Captain led the group to the priest's site, and without any delay, the priest offered the group some wolfsbane.
"I received word from the Supreme Being that a great evil has been within us all the while, a man claiming to be honorable, yet is monstrous underneath. You will do what is necessary to defeat this evil." The priest said.
Armed with the knowledge and the supplies that they needed, the Z-Team headed back to the tribe, but time was dwindling, it was late afternoon which meant that at nightfall, and with a clear sky on the horizon the curse of lycanthropy would spread worse than a wildfire. With the numbers they had, it would take teamwork and resourcefulness to overcome the great evil, yet even if they were able to cure those affected by the curse, there was sure to be something that could not be cured but had to be stopped with a little touch of violence. Pocahontas was notified of this by Zack along the way back, but thankfully she understood what needed to be done about it, since Zack told her, "sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do…."
The Z-Team arrived with just enough time to inform Chief Wiggum of the situation with all the proof and resources they had. The Chief's and the medicine man's worst fears have been realized, yet Zack had assured the two they now had what they needed to stop the spreading evil. The wolfsbane would cure the cursed men, the silver would be used to defeat any incurable werewolf, though Zack believed it would have to be Sabrewulf that would be the one.
"How would you know which beast would be Sabrewulf?" asked the Chief.
"From what we have heard and read, he would have a strange, glowing emblem on his forehead, though we should see if we could cure him first before defeating him." Zack replied, the Chief smiled.
"Then let's prepare for the night ahead, I'll have the women and children in hiding, while I'll have some of my warriors assist you…"
"We'll need a way to administer the wolfsbane while causing the least amount of damage" added Moana, holding a few hollow pieces of wood up she brought along. "Perhaps I could put these blowpipes to administer the medicine via darts?"
"That would work perfectly...and how would the silver be used?"
"By melting the silver into bullets…" Zack reached into his suit jacket and took out a revolver. "I could have one of my members shoot him until defeated. I would only use this as a last resort"
"Let me do the shooting Zack!" replied Mickey enthusiastically, Zack smiled and handed him the revolver. All that needed to be done was make the preparations, which was done in a variety of ways. Mulan, Mushu, Zack, and a few warriors, prepared the bullets in a pot, with a mold on standby, melted over a fire. Moana, Minnie, Aladdin, Jasmine, and Donald prepared the wolfsbane darts. Pluto, Simba, Nala, and Rajah stood by as scouts at the edge of the village to watch over in case the threat came. Afterwards, the medicine man gave the Z-Team a native's blessing which involved face painting to prepare them for the upcoming battle ahead. Some warriors set up a few traps such as vines to trip them up, or pit traps.
Nightfall came soon enough, and with plenty of time to stand watch, the women and children took refuge in a nearby grotto, everyone else was ready for battle. The werewolf howls came almost right away, the warriors and the Z-Team readied themselves. Out of the shadows from the woods a big mass of werewolves came out, snarling viciously, ready to shred anything that got in their way.
"Here they come! Remember don't get bitten, or you'll become one of them!" Ordered Zack. "Let's hunt some horror!" The warriors were ready with their spears to keep them at bay for a bit while the beasts were snapping and clawing at their prey. The females, were ready with their blowpipes shot the darts at some of the werewolves, the warriors held them at bay for a little longer, some got inevitably clawed by them. In a few seconds, the werewolves that were darted, changed back into men and when they came to, they were escorted to safety by the warriors with haste as more were on their way. Two fell into the pit traps that were prepared and then Minnie and Donald came forth to dart them, just as they leaped out of the traps and then in a matter of seconds those werewolves became human again, to be escorted to safety. A few more charged forward, then got tripped up to get darted by the other warriors. Using careful strategy, they fled the darted werewolves who were much faster than they were, but thankfully before the beasts could catch them they changed back into men.
A scream was heard in one of the houses, Zack and his group rushed to the area, where it was heard. They arrived in the nick of time, Pocahontas and her two sidekicks the raccoon Meeko and hummingbird Flik were cornered by a werewolf. Pluto ran forward and bit the werewolf in the leg, which turned its attention to the team. The team was out of darts, but Moana had the Shadow Bane, held it aloft and shouted, "The power of the heavens compels you!" A beam of white light shot out of the amulet, getting the werewolf, in a matter of seconds, the werewolf changed back into human form. It was the Captain himself, woozy from the transformation, groaning a bit.
"Wh-where am I? I don't remember a thing….." He mumbled.
"You're safe now, Captain, in our tribe." Pocahontas smiled placing her hand on his shoulder for reassurance. Another growl and snarl was heard this time it was coming from the center of the village. The Chief was under threat by one werewolf, clawing and biting at him as he tried to repel the beast with his club, there was a strange glowing red emblem on his forehead, it was Sabrewulf himself. One warrior from afar, shot a dart at the hideous creature, but after a few seconds nothing happened, as the werewolf turned his attention to the warrior who then tried to flee but it did him no good as the beast swung one claw at the unfortunate warrior, killing him instantly. Moana stepped forward and holding the Shadow Bane aloft, shouted "The power of the heavens compels you!" The same beam shot out, but this time it had not effect on the werewolf, as it menacingly advanced to the group. Mickey stepped forward and pulled out the revolver and shot three times, the werewolf squealed in pain as it was shot and then crumpled over, dead. In a matter of seconds the werewolf changed back into human form, Sabrewulf lay dead.
The Chief, his daughter, the Captain, the Z-Team, and the remaining warriors, all surrounded the dead Sabrewulf, pondering their defeated adversary wondering how he couldn't be saved.
"Why didn't the Shadow Bane work?" Moana asked as she held up the amulet.
"And why didn't any of the wolfsbane work?" added Donald.
"Maybe it was because it mentioned in his report that he gave his soul to darkness in exchange for power…." added Mickey.
"Which must have boosted his hatred as well…." finished Pocahontas.
"Well whatever the case, we are safe thanks to all of you!" smiled Chief Wiggum. "We shall have a celebration in your honor!"
"Thank you Chief, an honor accepted!" smiled Zack, the rest of his team cheered in excitement. And what a celebration it was! Dancing and music all throughout the village, it was a wonderful time.
From afar a Shadow Monk observed everything, and turned to a large rock which had a shadowy face on it.
"Tell Dakmogon we have another failure…..the next planned threat won't be so easy…."