Once again Anna wakes up to the smell of roasting meat. Not yet fully awake, she rubs her eyes and yawns before greeting Matt and Natalie. They start eating breakfast together while Nolegs makes himself comfortable on Anna’s lap. The group goes over a plan to defeat the guardian.
"Ready, girls?" Matt asks the group as he reaches down to pat Nolegs head. The feline 'meows' in response. “Sure, you are always ready." Laughs the swordsman as he takes out his claymore and shield.
With staff firmly in hand, Natalie replies, "Ready, Matt" She glances at Anna looking nervously at the wooden giant and gripping her bow tightly.
Anna notices Natalie looking at her and stands up quickly, "Don't look at me like that I am ready." Together the four adventures walk to the guardian’s clearing where Mighty Oak resides. The giant’s body creaks as it turns to face the team.
Mighty Oak begins the battle by charging at the foursome. Matt takes the first position closest to the giant to give Natalie time to chant a spell. Oak uses the shield to slam Matt back. Anna jumps into a tree to attack from a second direction. The nervous archer tries to fire an arrow but her hands are shaking so much she cannot.
Knowing the mage still needs more time, Matt converts the sword to slice mode. Anne can only watch in awe at the swordsman’s skill. In his hands, the red glowing sword is furiously slashing at the wooden behemoth, causing deep gashes.
Despite the swordsman’s diversionary tactics, Oak spots the mage prepping for a spell. Its left arm rockets outwards like a rubber band catching Natalie by surprise. However, as she flies backward she continues to chant. Oak charges towards the fallen mage but Nolegs jumps on the wooden giant's head with his flaming sword.
More annoyed than hurt, the Oak tries to shake his head to remove the determined feline. A stray smack of one of the giant's legs knocks Anna out of the tree and back to her senses. She grabs her arrows to aid Nolegs who has jumped on Oak’s Arm.
In an effect to shake off the stinging sword cat, the giant jumps up high and tries to slam his arm into the ground. This succeeds in dislodging Nolegs. Fortunately, Anna sees the flying cat and intersects him before he hits a nearby rock. Her movement catches Oak's attention, so he jumps again to eliminate the annoying pair.
Anna feels a shadow cover her spot. She looks up and sees the monster is going to slam its body into her and Nolegs. However, Matt throws his sword at Anna, making her fly out of the way seconds before the Oak slams into the spot. The ground shakes around the guardian’s landing area with the sound of snapping branches.
Anna, who still has an unconscious cat in her arms, shakes her head to focus on the battle. She may have dodged the Oak’s attack, but was still hit by flying debris. Shockwaves had sent a rock into the side of the archer's head leaving her stunned. Before the Oak could attack again, a large fireball strikes directly to the guardian’s head.
Defiantly, Natalie stands with her staff pointed to the ground in front of the giant. A large spinning magic circle appears under the Oak that morphs into a large fire tornado. Shaking her head to focus her thoughts, Anna backs away due to the heat of the mage’s attack.
As Anna runs she wraps her feline teammate in her cloak and ties the cat onto her back. Looking back at the fire, Anna is now quite grateful their group has gained such an effective mage. Suddenly a grinding noise catches Anna’s attention, turning around she gasped at the sight before her.
Mighty Oak is still standing there after the fiery tornado attack. The giant roars angrily and charges at Natalie. Seeing her friend in danger Anna reaches into her dimensional pouch and charges ahead. Natalie prepares another spell only for the giant to suddenly halt his attack. One of the Oak’s legs is pinned to the ground. Then the other leg follows suit as Anna’s red arrows find their marks from her new vantage point in the nearby trees.
Matt sees an opportunity now that the giant is immobilized. The Oak shoots the left sword arm at the swordsman but he dodges it. Red blurs continue to rain down from above pinning the giant's arm long enough for Matt to activate his fire sword and slice off the arm. But the giant is not finished yet!
Oak swings the massive shield around and knocks the sword away from Matt. However, Matt quickly runs to the other side of the giant. Sliding across the ground to avoid the shield the swordsman removes another claymore from his dimension pocket. With a powerful slash damaging the right arm, Oak drops the shield. Matt raises his claymore, "It is done now," he says as he stabs the left eye.
The rest of the group slowly approaches the Oak to check if the giant is still active. Matt sighs in relief when there is no movement. Leaning on his claymore the swordsman and his fellow victorious adventures cheer.
"Wow, I’ve never jumped so much in my life." Anna closes her eyes still trying to catch her breath, "I hope we don't encounter anything like this in the future."
Matt shakes his head, "Sorry, but this is what you have to..." The swordsman stops when he hears a creaking behind him. Matt looks up in awe as Mighty Oak wounds heal and the giant casually walks up to his shield. The disconnected sword arm re-attaches to the main body as he stands up. Matt reaches for his sword but Anne stops him. The giant then calmly proceeds in removing Matt’s sword out of his body and throws it at the astonished swordsman. Then Oak steps aside to allow the group to pass. Matt instinctively reached for his sword and slowly turns to Anne, "Okay... what happened?"
"Mighty Oak is respecting you," Anna smiles and continues, "Now he won't bother you anymore."
"Ah…That's cool," Responds Matt. Meantime Natalie just stands there with her mouth open, "I guess… Wait, where is Nolegs?”
Anna chuckles as she turns around to expose her impromptu backpack. Matt looks puzzled at the hidden bundle but Natalie quietly opens her smaller dimensional pouch to remove an object. Holding her hand slightly above the bundle suddenly a blue blur seizes the offering. Movement in the sea of green reveals contented feline chewing on a dried fish.
"Right," laughs Anna as she takes out the map, "Looks like the best way to Whitefall Town is through the Crystal Caverns. As Matt and Natalie start walking down the path Anna turns timidly towards Mighty Oak once more. Now that her adrenaline has worn off Anna wonders if it was another person who had fought the giant. It was so different from the previous time. Anna remembers how terrifying the trial was with her peers yelling different orders only for her to get hit with the Oaks massive shield.
The pain from her injures was almost as bad as their taunts. It was not her fault she froze up! Gripping her bow the archer does the double-take, did the guardian just nod his head at her? “Nah,” she thinks “The Mighty Oak never does that.” Looking back again Anna sees the Ashwood Groves guardian standing motionless again so moves down the path to rejoin her group.
Natalie and Matt are sitting on some rocks on the trailhead waiting for the other 2 members. “Ok Sword-man spill it.” Questioned the mage pointing her staff at the swordsman “Where did you find this girl? You just said follow her to our next adventure. Well, we have and almost got killed due to her lack of experience. Look at her staring at that wooden giant.”
“Just call it a hunch,” Replied Matt adjusting his hat. The approaching sound of crunching leaves stops the duo’s conversation as the other 2 group members arrive. Map in hand, Anna looks sheepishly at the pair and walks quickly down the path to the Crystal Cavern. Matt, on the other hand, breaks out into a wide grin as he follows the archer. “See Nads, I was right.” He whispers.
Walking around some greenery, Anna suddenly stops to point an arrow at a rustling bush. Emerging from the scrub was a red-haired man wearing a black commander suit. Before Anna could react she heard a loud cry from her two companions who rushed past her towards the imposing figure.
Anna freezes in surprise as she watches the scene, even when the mystery man addresses her. "Hey, easy lass. I mean no harm." Stunned, she slowly lowers her bow and tries to process the scene before her. Her traveling companions Natalie and Matt had tackled the tall muscular red-haired individual in an emotional hug. A sword poke belonging to a certain feline gets Anna out of her stupor. Her passenger pokes his furry blue head over her shoulder. Grabbing the feline, Anna slowly walks over to the newest reunited member of the team.
"Lance! Long time no see buddy," Matt exclaims as he releases the hug, "We missed you so much. It’s just you? Where’s Sunset?"
“Matt! Natalie!” enthusiastically cries Lance “When I got the team meetup message I couldn’t believe it. It’s been so long! Oh, got tired of waiting for that scaly girl to return. So I grabbed my gear and decided to meet you at the Crystal Caverns.” An exultant meow got the man’s attention. “Nolegs!”
“Ouch” yelps Anna as the over-excited cat jumps onto the stranger. Both share an exultant hug before Nolegs snuggles into the man’s arms. Laughing, the man turns to the last member of the group. Still surprised Anna strains her neck to stare at the person towering before her.
“So,” reports Lance, “who be this wee lass?” The armored man looks the green girl over while the feline in his arms purs in gratitude for the ear scratches. Lance formally walks around Anna with interest. However, Matt spots the archer's trembling white-knuckled grip on her bow.
Matt moves behind Lance and jokes l, “Cut it out Lance, you're scaring our newbie.”
“Anna…” replies the archer quietly, “My name is Anna. Lance the gunner I assume? Wait…? Newbie?" Retorts Anna as she turns to Matt, "We just won a battle with the Mighty Oak."
"Actually," Matt rubs his chin and chuckled, "There are some problems with your fighting style. Anyway, we’ll discuss this later after we camp." The others nod as they start going to the jungle to collect wood. “Oh, and by the way Anna you can stand at ease now...”
Anna gasped. She was standing at full attention just like for inspection in Greenwood. Lance reminded her so much of her old teacher she just fell back into formation by habit.
Matt finds a ring of rocks, the ideal spot to set a campfire. After Anna clears the area of some brush for tents, the others return with food and wood. Natalie pulls a piece of flat stone next to her for Anna so she can relax while the food cooks in a medium pot with some meat sticks on the side.
Natalie quietly asks, "Now Anna, this is your first adventure right?" Anna nods as Natalie sighs, "I see, this is your first time away from home too from what I gathered. You have to learn more about adventuring and working as a team." Natalie looks up at the sky, "Lucky for you, you met us. There may have been trustworthy people in your home village but maybe not outside of it.”
“Not that you haven’t improved,” adds Matt. “Your skills as an advanced scout are rather good, but you can’t keep losing focus if the rest of the team are depending on you.” The Swordsman proceeds to several rocks out of his dimensional pouch to shore up the sides of the fire.
“Rocks?” says the bewildered Anna. “Wait, are these volcanic rocks from the lava rivers rest area? Is there anything you will not steal?” The mage and the gunner both shake their heads.
“You never know what may be useful.” Says Matt “These are the perfect cooking stones.”
“Says the person who maxes out their dimensional storage pouches.” Retorts Anna. “When we met you were dragging along a heavy bag of miscellaneous stuff.”
“We all have our strengths and weaknesses. When our team works together we can overcome each other’s shortcomings. Anna, don’t think Matt and I didn’t notice you freezing up during the battle with Mighty Oak.” Says Natalie. “Your maps are very useful but you also need to pay attention to what’s happening around you.”
“Ok you two, that’s enough.” Pipes up Lance. “From what I’ve heard it is clear that this lass overcame a great fear to help you with that giant. It’s tough when you’re not used to it. But from I gather you pulled yourself together in the end with an unfamiliar bow and were victorious.”
“Thank you,” replies the archer, “But they are right I may have been scared… a little.”
“It’s ok to be afraid sometimes, keeps ye on alert.” Says Lance supportively.
“Well Mr. Lance, I’m a little too alert. You were nearly hit with an arrow.” Says Anna. The gunner reacts with peals of laughter. Anna sit astonished while Lance chuckles and gave her a knowing look.
The young archer shamefully turned away but the gunner quickly seizes her hand. Anna looked at the group with tears in her eyes. “Now, now none of that,” Lance speaks softly. “Experience teaches ye many things. To your credit, you held the bow expertly but I could tell thanks to my training that it couldn’t be used.”
The swordsman pipes in, “Don’t underestimate our team, Anna. We have been traveling, exploring, and adventuring together so I believe we have gotten to know each other a little. So don’t be surprised when we noticed your fight style change during the last fight.” says Matt. “Lance is right, you have improved and learned to improvise since we first meet. It was only after the battle with the wooden giant that I saw how much.”
“Yes, you are correct, my bow is broken” Anne admits dejectedly, “During the fight with the forest guardian I fell from the tree and it got cracked. I believed if I carried it with my hand over the fracture line no one would notice. But how did you know about the bow?”
Matt smirks and points at Anna’s cloak. With the green garment folded up over her shoulders, it revealed a distinct red bow in the shoulder holder. Anna’s embarrassed face turned almost the same color as the bow.
With a sympathetic look on her face, Natalie places her hand on Anna’s shoulder. “Anna, I owe you an apology.” The archer gives the mage a puzzled look. “Hold on, hear me out,” Continues the mage with a sigh. “I’m sorry I did not consider your feelings, Anna. Lance is right, you must have been terrified to face the same giant wood creature that had wounded you previously. I yelled at Matt earlier for bringing you along but I was worried you would be hurt due to your inexperience. But I guess I was mad at myself too. We could have avoided the giant if we had listened to you. Also, after I heard Matt had given you those red arrows and bow it became clear how hard it was for you to use them. Anna, you are a very honest girl so it would have been difficult for you to use the bow Matt “borrowed” from that abandoned house. It worked out in the end as we all helped each other.”
With nothing more than a meow as a warning, a blue figure sails back onto Anna’s shoulder. The three of them enjoyed an emotional hug before the cat settled down into his previous place in the folds of Anna’s modified cloak.
“Great to hear you two talking things out.” Says a voice above them. The girls look up to see Matt holding some meat sticks. “Just in time for dinner! So here you go!” Natalie and Anna ate in silence. They would never admit it, but the roasted crow did not taste too bad.
Early the next morning, Anna hears a noise outside her tent so peeks out to investigate. Stumbling out of the cloth structure, the archer let out a long yawn. She had a lot to think about last night so had problems falling asleep. Since it is still not yet light out Anna moves over to the fire tended by Lance.
“Morning Anna,” greets Lance. “Hope I didn’t wake ye.”
“No, thank you for asking Mr. Lance.” Replies Anna groggily looking around the camp.
“Ah, we are all friends now so ye can just call me Lance," says the Gunner. “Oh, and if ye are looking for the others they went to meet the other mage. She just arrived.” The gunner pointa to a nearby patch of bushes.
Anna excitedly jogged over to the auburn greeneries. She had been hearing so much about this second mage and now was finally getting to meet her! Still half-awake, Anna pushes through the brush only to trip on a tree root. Pushing herself up the archer looks disapprovingly down at the obstacle. Getting a better look at the problem, Anna notices that it looks less like a tree root and more like a foot, a scaly foot with claws. Slowly her eyes travel up the foot to perceive a large creature camouflaged in the orange foliage and morning shadows. Anna closes her eyes and screams for the second time in so many days.
The archer fell backward into her two companions as she backed away from the terrifying form. However, any fear was quickly dissipated by the sight of them roaring with laughter. Matt is rolling on the ground laughing so hard that tears were falling from his eyes. Meanwhile, Natalie is holding her sides while snickering. Anna turns around and sees an orange dragon with red horns reveal herself. A realization slowly comes to the archer.
“Ha-ha, come on Anna don’t give me that look.” Snickers Matt as he puts his arm around the embarrassed archer’s shoulder to guide her through the bushes. “Your face is going to stay that fetching shade of red permanently if you don’t calm down.” camaraderie
Natalie and the dragon are already sitting by the campsite with Lance and Nolegs when the last two members arrive.
“Hello, Lance you probably heard that Anna has met our last team member.” Reports Matt. Lance rolls his eyes at the swordsman and motions for them to sit by the fire.
He then turns to the dragon. “Since there was not a proper introduction before. This is our new teammate Anna. Her skills are archery and navigation.”
The dragon looks at her for a while then glances at Matt, "Hello Anna. So you are the newbie I been hearing about.”
"Hey," Anna pips at the dragon, "This is the second time I have been called a newbie."
"Alright, I was just teasing," replies the dragon, "My name is Sunset, Sunset Shimmer. As you probably heard from Matt and the others our team does quite a bit of adventuring. I hope we can work well together."
“Now that we are all together, we can finally officially welcome Anna to our team of adventures!” Exclaims Matt.
Sunset turns herself to others and says, "Hey, speaking of adventures, how about we break camp and go inside this cavern. Now that our team is assembled, I'm sure it will be exciting."
Soon the team is walking into the Crystal Cavern so Anna pulls out her cave map. The entrance is a small gloomy space that makes Natalie nervous. She stays very close to Matt as they navigate the darkness. Unexpectedly, Natalie trips on a crack and lands backward in Matt’s arms. Close behind them, the rest of the team snickers at the pair. Noting the cave is causing trouble, Sunset creates two fireballs that orbit around her for more light. Soon they find a torch in the wall and utilize it too.
"... That's cool." Anna marvels, "I didn’t know you could do that."
Sunset shakes her head and continues to go deeper into the cavern. The team soon finds other torches. The illuminated cave reveals three fur ball bats. Their sudden appearance startles Anna who fumbles with her bow and misses the furry targets. Lance shoots the first attacking bat while Sunset teleports behind the second one. The second bat attempts a sonic attack but is quickly dispatched by a swipe of the dragon's claws. With its two companions defeated the third bat retreats.
"Meh... now my claws are dirty," Sunset shakes her claw, "I hope we won't meet any more bats."
Anna stares in amazement at Sunset's claws. She knows dragons have sharp talons but they have sliced their opponent into pieces. Sunset spots Anna watching her and sighs. The archer quickly focuses back on the map and takes the lead towards the best exit passage.
Moving to the next room Anna is impressed by the beauty of it. The walls are covered with glittering ice. She slows her walk to admire the massive cavern and sees an unusual sight. A person is camping in the ice cavern.
Lance greeted the man to ask the way out of the cave. The person confirmed they were on the right passage for the exit but the way was blocked by a powerful golem. The monster had two blades and floated on air. The person was an explorer, but the creature had made it too dangerous outside. The team thanks to the person and decides to defeat the golem. Then cave would be safe again.
Anna is once again thinking about the aggressive animals the team was encountering. These attacks were not a conscience. The archer is increasingly worried that this is the result of the missing Greenwood Jewel. As a former guard for the jewel’s shine, she has taken an oath to protect the secret location, unfortunately, this is now a bit pointless. Walking towards the monster with a group she now trusted and admired, Anna’s mind wandered a bit. Should she tell them everything about the sacred jewel?