The Armadillo of Legends: Defender of Stuffed Animals

The Armadillo of Legends: Defender of Stuffed Animals

The Barons of Evil flew down from the sky riding a strange, red, flying vehicle. It had a large body in the middle and on the sides were the wings, each with a large turbine on them. 

These villains alighted in front of our hero and as they did so the fox opened his mouth as if to speak. He never got the chance. The Armadillo leapt forward with the ferocity of a lion. Taking them by surprise the Armadillo smashed the bear across the face, knocking him off balance. Rushing forward he  slashed at the fox, who he knew to be their leader. To his great surprise his sword glanced off.  His foe was protected by a very clear panel of strong glass. From behind the Armadillo a bolas swooped through the air, rapped around the Armadillo’s feet, and he fell off the ship. He had forgotten about the racoon.

The ship quickly drew backwards and up a little as the devious leader of the motley crew began issuing orders. “Slew Foot quick, get behind him. Count Drakecula, grab your weapons and descend from the ship.”

Even as the fox uttered his commands, the bear known as Slew Foot leapt the immense distance, and stood some ten feet behind the Armadillo.

The racoon, whom the Armadillo now knew to be Count Drakecula, stood before the ship sword in hand, as the fox continued. “Did you really think I would just “let” you attack me? Come on guys, I tried to be reasonable, but now we have to do this the hard way.”

“Got it Baron Fox!”

Slew Foot sprang towards the Armadillo slammed against him and sent him flying. The Armadillo bounced twice off the ground before he finally stopped flying. The Armadillo was beginning to understand the true brute strength of the small bear.

His head was still reeling as Count Drakecula swiftly approached him from behind. The Armadillo however, recovered faster. Whirling around the Armadillo pulled a small bomb off his belt and threw it at the Count. Surprised, the Count took a step to the side to avoid the bomb. Coiling his grappling hook around the feet of the surprised racoon, the Armadillo pulled Count Drakecula to the ground.

“You’re good,” said the Count smiling deviously, “but not good enough.”

As he spoke Baron Fox flew towards the Armadillo spraying fire as he went. The stouthearted warrior flipped backwards to avoid the fire, and was smacked into a tree by the strong arm of Slew Foot.

“Now that we have let off some steam,” said Baron Fox, “maybe you could listen to what I have to say.”

The Armadillo looked around at the three trained villains, each deadly in their area of expertise. He knew he could beat them with more supplies, more time, and a plan. He had none of these. Besides, as long as he kept them within his line of sight he could plan while the fox talked. The Armadillo glared at them, and nodded his assent.

“Good.” said Baron Fox, “I hate fighting good guys anyways. They always win. Now I assume you want to know who we were chasing and why. As you know we are rapidly becoming the most evil group in the world. This is not because we are the most evil, but rather because we are slowly eradicating the competition. The elephant we were chasing is known as Doctor Elephant, a sorcerer/genius and complete lunatic. His evil feats are known far and wide, and he is now headed for that village in the distance. If you hurry you can catch him before he does much damage. Good luck.”

As Baron Fox turned to leave Slew Foot interjected asking, “What about the girl?”

“Oh yes.” said the Baron, “You think we kidnapped the fair princess of yonder kingdom. I’m afraid you are sadly mistaken. if you want to know where she is I would ask the Elephant. Kidnapping is not really our style. Good luck with that as well.”

The Armadillo looked at the Baron and knew he was not lying. This ability was one of the Armadillo’s rare gifts. As they left he could hear Baron Fox remarking how he loved when good guys did their work for them. He didn’t want to, but he knew he couldn’t let the Elephant destroy that town. He knew, deep inside him that the Barons of Evil and he would meet again some day.  Whether this was a comfort or a concern he did not know.

Armadillo of Legends: Defender of Stuffed Animals

The Armadillo of Legends: Defender of Stuffed Animals

As the Armadillo left the desert he was greeted with the ominous smell of smoke. Surveying the horizon he quickly saw the origin of the smoke. The smoke billowed and curled in a giant column that snaked down to a small village in the distance.

Though he had promised to save the princess the noble nature of the Armadillo would not allow him to pass such wrongs without at least seeing if he could help. Moreover, since huge destruction and  fires are the token of the Rainbow Dragon, perhaps he could kill two birds with one stone.

As he arrived on the scene he saw that the villagers had already put out most of the immediate fire but it continued to spread with amazing strength and speed into the distance.

Hurriedly the Armadillo went to one of the villagers who gave him a brief detail of what had happened. Apparently most of them had been working in the fields so they did not entirely know what had happened. They did however know that before the fire had started they saw two shadows fly by. They couldn’t tell what they were, but they knew that the second had brought the fire.

The Armadillo waited to hear no more. If this was his arch-nemesis many more people would be in danger. As he grew near to the source of the still spreading fire he slowed down a little to prepare himself for battle. He noticed that while two shadows flew and shot fire they did so with little noise, but the vile dragon generally fought while challenging with ear deafening roars.

The Armadillo had little time to ponder this, as he quickly saw his chance to strike. Crouching behind a large rock, he saw the shadow growing closer. Suddenly he leapt in front of it sword and shield in hand poised for action. What landed in front of him were three perspicuous figures. A fox, a bear, and a racoon: The Barons of Evil.

The Armadillo of Legends!

The Armadillo of Legends: A Shadow on the Horizon

The Armadillo grit his teeth and whirled around to see what new horror stood behind him. To his surprise he saw not an enemy, but rather a tall thin bunny, grey and wrinkled with age.

The Armadillo stood on guard, but did not draw his sword. The rabbit didn’t look very threatening. “Excuse me, said the old bunny, I did not mean to startle you. Of course in your line of work you must be jumpy. My name is MyBunny. N. MyBunny.”

The bunny voice was not old and weak as one might have expected but was in fact, rather like a child talking in an assumed voice to make it sound older and different. The result was very humorous. The Armadillo’s eyes narrowed and the bunny continued, “As I was saying, I came to ask you to save the Princess Mary, who has been kidnapped by the Barons of Evil. I’m not sure yet what they want, but they are rapidly becoming the most evil group in the world. Will you help me?”

The Armadillo nodded in assent. “Excellent. I am afraid you will have to do most of the adventuring yourself, as I am not as young as I once was. I can however offer you some advice. They don’t call me The Wise Bunny for nothing… Well I guess no one actually calls me that but… Never mind. You will have to travel far to find where the Princess is hidden: across the Land of the Living, through the Valley of Din, down the Unending Way of Hall, and finally to the Blue Ruins if you wish to find the Princess.

Know this: the Fox is the leader of the Barons of Evil, and is smarter than all the animals put together. The Black Bear is strong enough to rip through cement walls. And the Racoon is a sharpshooter, master assassin. Together these three are the Barons of Evil; and they are unbeatable. Farewell, and good luck.”

The Armadillo turns and leaves to face this new challenge, to fight an unbeatable team of evil and save a princess he has never met. As he walks away the sun sets in blaze of scarlet and crimson reminding him of his quest for his arch nemesis, a quest he must lay aside till he has saved the Princess Mary. 

Who is his arch nemesis? Can he defeat the Barons of Evil?? What do the Barons of Evil even want??? Don’t miss the next thrilling installment of “The Armadillo of Legends”!