When the first silver tipped arrow tore into the large ogre’s left arm the creature screamed in surprise.
It’s two large friends spun around to look at the man in green and purple.
“Leave us alone, Hooded Man! We want no trouble but if you’re gonna stand in our way we’ll bring you some!”
The three ogres towered over a dark haired older woman. The lady did not look relieved at Trickshot’s arrival but instead looked peeved.
Trickshot smiled at the ogres from the log he was standing on. “Go ahead and bring it, losers! I ain’t about to let you frag an old lady just so’s you c’n have a snack!” Trickshot then followed up his defiance with a volley of arrows. Each one struck either an arm or leg on the large brutes.
“ARRRGH! That’s enough!” The first ogre charged the log but Trickshot jumped over the creature. He fired an electric arrow into the creature’s left shoulder. The resulting sparks fried the brute.
The two other ogres watched their third member fall to the ground. “He can create lighting from his shafts! We don’t want any more trouble from you Hooded Man!”
“Yeah!” the other one agreed as they started to move towards the trees opposite from the approaching Trickshot. “We know better than to keep fighting one such as you! Ghuumph was always stupid! The girl is yours!”
They smashed through the forest, leaving a smirk on Trickshot’s face as he bent down to help the woman up.
She slapped his hand away and got up herself. “Idiot! Dolt!” She spit on him.
“Hey!”
The old woman started to brush off her dress. “You thought I needed saving? I was setting the lot up! I am a powerful witch and I lured those three into this patch of forest so that I could gather them up for tonight’s meal!”
Carl Bastion, Earth hero and the arrogant archer called Trickshot glanced at the woman’s basket on the ground for a brief moment before replying. “Fine! Ya don’t want to be saved then who gives a &*^! Next time you git yourself into trouble...”
Something happened that shocked the old witch. In the middle of his sentence, Trickshot changed. His costume had already been transformed as a by-product of his arrival in the Mythlands, yet now it seemed to take on a more nature-look. Cloth was suddenly adorned with leaves and bark. His new hood was now larger and his bow looked more like a wooden branch. His hair was unkempt and his beard was bigger. The archer was now covered in greens and browns. He continued on as if nothing had happened, but this time he had an English accent.
“I would advise you, madam, to exercise more manners. My intentions were noble and just. Here.” He bent down and picked up the basket. “I believe this is yours, madam.”
The witch was still in shock. While this man who under the altered apparel and hair still resembled Carl Bastion thrust the basket forward, something inside the basket mewed.
He pulled it back just as she tried to grab for it while continuing to eye him strangely. He opened it up to reveal three kittens inside. “Eh? What have you got here?”
Her face scrunched up into an awful sneer. “Those are my appetizers! I found them running from the war encampment. They’re mine! Give them back!”
“No! I will not let you hurt these innocent creatures! I am the Hooded Man, defender of these forests and any creatures within them! Back away, foul woman! They are mine to protect!” With moves like lighting, the Hooded Man gently put the kittens on the soft dirt and then notched an arrow.
“That is twice you have kept me from my dinner! I do not care that your legend fills this land! I do not care that you seem to have some undetectable magic!” Her hands were gesturing widely. Strange mystical tendrils started to snake out from them. “I care only for your destruction!”
“Have at thee, woman!” The Hooded Man sent a volley of arrows towards the witch but her magical tendrils blocked each attack. They then tried to grab the man, but he was too fast. He leaped up, grabbed a branch and swung himself to a higher level. He hopped from one limb to the other, like the forest natural that he was. As soon as he was far enough away from her magic, he let fire another volley of arrows. The shafts were different from Trickshot’s. They looked more like finely crafted weapons. They still had no effect.
The magical tendrils changed victims, turning suddenly upon the three kittens. Each one looked different. One was all white, the other was black with a white tip to its tail and the third was brown with a white tip. All three were scared.
“If you will stay beyond my reach then these will go hunting after me! CANNIE-HAF-TOOMANY-KITTYIN-PV!”
The kittens morphed into three human-like cat beings. All male.
“My servants! Chase the Hooded Man and claw his eyes out!”
Within the thick trees, the Hooded Man eyed the cats carefully. He felt the limb beneath him wobble as the cat-men climbed the tree. He was sure of himself. He had traveled through the trees for as long as he remembered. Even back in his youth, orphaned and left to survive in the forest, he was able to adapt to new situations.
The Hooded Man began to jump to the next tree when he paused.
The cat-men snarled as they climbed. Something about the Hooded Man made them pause.
The white one, closest to the ground spoke to his brothers. “Wait! Something’s wrong! I’m scared, brothers! I. . . I don’t wanna fight!” He started to shiver as he began to climb down.
“REEEOOWL! You’ve always been the scaredy-cat, Snowball! Grow some claws and fight with us!” The black one, currently in the lead, shot back.
The brown one hesitated as well. “No, Midnight, I’m starting to rethink our current course of action. I believe our panic stricken comrade in feline-human morphed existence has quite the correct opinion, however skewed by deep fear.” It started to climb down. “Why should we follow the commands of she who would desire the end of our existence? Why should we traverse upon this current course of action when we ourselves seem to have metamorphed into a greatly advantageous predicament? Should we not scamper off to discover our new lives? Should we not find shelter upon within our environment and properly evaluate our new lives?”
“But I want to KILL something, Hazel! Why do you always have to over think everything?” Midnight hissed at his brothers but looked up with apprehension, despite his always-brave attitude.
What caused the cat-man to pause was just above on the limb. The confidently limb-standing Hooded Man was somehow replaced with a newcomer. This man was dressed in some sort of future polyester white with green highlights all body suit. He had a strange lit up quiver attached to his back, a long collapsible aluminum bow and strange aluminum shafts. He appeared to still be the same man as the prior two archers, yet he was ten years younger, had no beard and looked to be as startled as everyone else.
His voice was American, but terribly unsure. “What? How did I get up here? Whoa! Gah!”
The startled witch and cat-men watched as the young archer fell to the hard ground. “OUCH!”
Midnight performed a perfect back flip then landed on his two legs. He started to creep towards the young man sprawled on the earth. “At last! Someone to kill!”
“Leave him alone, brother!” Snowball hissed, despite himself.
“Yes. Let this human be, Midnight.” Hazel agreed.
“Cat creatures? But all animals have been extinct for years!” the archer replied as he reached for a shaft. “Where are the rest of the Legion? Where am I? This isn’t Paridiopolicity! There haven’t been trees or vegetation for decades! Stay away from me!”
With quick skill (but not as quick as the Hooded Man) this archer fired an arrow. A strange noise erupted from the tip, then the arrow exploded in front of the cat-men. Where the explosion was, a portal opened.
All three former kittens called out in panic as the portal swallowed them up.
After the lightshow was finished and he portal closed, the young archer stood up.
“Who are you and where did you send them?” the witch asked.
“Techshot. What were those things? Who are you? Why...”
Yet again, the archer’s form morphed. This time after the strange changes finished, Carl Bastion, the annoying archer known as Trickshot stood there. “ . . .th’ heck are ya staring at me?”
The witch threw up her hands and replied in fear, “You are far more powerful than I had thought! I want nothing to do with your strange magic! I’m leaving!”
With a wave of her arms she vanished.
“Huh. Guess th’ broad knew better then to give ol’ Tricky a problem.”
Trickshot, unsure of what just happened, turned on his heals and headed back to camp.
Earth, Lair Island, Al B. Harper’s Lab;
Kara Harper, teenage daughter from a possible future, sat at one of the computers, surfing the web. She was lost in thought.
“This is boring. Dad’s still working on that dimensional dreadnaught with NTU-150. I guess I could go bug him.”
POP!
Without anything but that strange ‘pop’, three cat-men appear in the middle of Al’s lab.
“REEEOWL! Where are we? This place is scary!” Snowball said with panic.
“It appears to be a laboratory of some sort. I will further examine all the evidence around us to determine who’s facility this is.” Hazel then noticed Kara. “Or we could inquire of this human female.”
Midnight started to sniff around. “Yeeeoww! There are females of our kind here somewhere!”
Kara regarded them with her casual expression. “You’re in my dad’s lab. The other cat-people are in the gym. Down the corridor, pass four rooms then turn left. Can’t miss it.”
After the cat-men (or really boys since they are only kittens) had left Kara looked back to her computer and with a matter-the-fact tone said “If he thinks I’m cleaning up after all these cats, he’s got another thing coming.”
The End
Next part of the cats story is up to whomever wants to write it. I just set it up.
