Eleventh Murder

Eleventh Murder is the third episode of *Mystic Forest Fighters*.

**Previous:** The Long Arm of the Law

**Next:** Bullies & Bad Intentions

## Summary

A week after the previous episode's events, it is night in the guild, as Lucille and Anastasia shoot each other glares as they both try to cuddle with Luke in bed, while Luke is looking at his phone and talking to Walter. Suddenly, a woman's scream is heard and sends the three out of bed and searching the guild. Joey and Noah are also awoken by the scream and rush out to find the source. While looking, Noah and Joey meet Greg, who is holding a knife, and also looking for the screaming source.

Luke uses a spell to see which rooms are occupied, as he leads Lucille and Anastasia into the cellar. In the cellar, Anastasia hears the screams from behind a box. Luke moves it and finds a young female cat. The cat tells Luke that she was sleeping and just woke up in the cellar, to which startles Luke and Lucille, who know she can't see the rest of the guild. Shortly after; Joey, Greg and Noah arrive and the sight of Greg with the knife startles the cat and causes her to scream again. Luke and Lucille explain to the three what had happened, but Anastasia suspects the cat is lying. An argument is about to ensue, when Saad enters the room.

Saad tells everyone that the cat is named Purry, and that he had brought her into the guild overnight. Saad tells the group that Purry is going to be useful in the battle against Enchi, to which she questions. Saad then asks Purry what type of partner she would like to have, to which she responds with someone who is fun and nice. Saad then wakes up Purry's partner and summons them into the room. Greg begins to reminisce about his first partner, to which Saad reminds him that they were partners after they founded the guild, and the other two founders were also partners. Luke then remembers how Walter told him that he and Ter were also founders of the guild, but Ter had passed away. Noah asks Greg who the other two founders were, but Greg responds that they are both dead and not mentioning their names is a way of respecting the dead, prompting Luke to be startled. At that moment, Purry's partner entered the room.

The next day, Luke walks through the village with Lucille and Anastasia. Lucille tells Luke that she was brought into the guild the same way as Purry, as the two wonder why Saad summons new members overnight. As Luke buys a box of cigarettes for Walter, Luke brings up how surprising it is that Walter let Anastasia into the case, to which Anastasia tells Luke she's just as important as he is. Back at the guild, Joey teaches Noah fighting skills with dummies in his room. Noah proceeds to take down the dummy with all his strength, defeating it. Joey is impressed, and tells Noah that he has a surprise. Joey leaves the room to get it.

Luke, Lucille and Anastasia are led to Walter's room by Winslow, as Luke gives him the cigarettes. Walter tells them that they must continue their regular jobs for the guild until he can get any leads on Enchi. Luke then asks to speak with Walter privately, as Winslow shows the girls out. Luke asks Walter about what Greg had said the previous night, to which Walter responds that being a founder of the guild is a major secret of his, and he told it to Luke in order to establish trust. Luke asks why Walter keeps it a secret, but Walter tells Luke that Saad will tell him when he's ready to know. Just then, Winslow enters and tells Walter that they have an emergency, Enchi had struck again.

Sirens blast throughout Enchino, as Joey rushes back to his room to find Noah. Greg announces to the guild that Enchi has taken another victim, and everyone must stay safe. Joey tells Noah that they have a new case, but he doesn't want to risk taking Noah outside after Enchi struck. Noah convinces Joey that he is not scared, as they agree to go do the case anyway. Joey and Noah head to a bakery, while Joey tells Noah that a rat has been stealing from there.

Luke, Lucille, Anastasia and a disguised Walter arrive at the scene of Enchi's latest victim and meet Chief Pupper. They recognize the burned, bloody and beaten body as carpet maker Trevor Collin. Chief Pupper explains that Trevor was Enchi's eleventh kill, and everyone he's killed so far has been a minimum wage worker and under the age of twenty-five. As Luke observes the body, the strange man moves through the crowd and watches him. Lucille finds a note signed with the Enchi symbol under the corpse. They read the note.

Everyone is startled by this, except Luke. Luke steps forward and shouts out to Enchi, challenging him. Noah and Joey hear this along with the other villagers of Enchino. Luke tells Enchi that unless Enchi kills him on the spot, he will defeat him. When Luke is not killed, Luke laughs and tells Enchi that his decision has been made. Walter, pretending to be a mourner of Trevor, asks Chief Pupper to come to his house to discuss funeral arrangements. Lucille says that her, Anastasia and Luke will help out. As the crowd leaves, the group begins heading for Walter's home. However, Luke stops and slowly turns around, finding himself alone and face to face with the strange man.

Joey and Noah enter the bakery and meet the owner, a friendly female hippo. The hippo proceeds to tell them that the rat has been stealing food and utensils from the bakery, including her favorite knife. The hippo shows a hole in the wall where the rat has resided in a series of tunnels. Noah then realizes that he will have to be the one to go in and find the rat, which he is evasive about doing, before Joey tells him that it will be a great way to show off what he's learned. Noah then agrees to it, and heads into the tunnels.

Meanwhile, Luke begins speaking to the strange man. The man introduces himself as Oswald Aaldenberg, a huge fan of the Mystic Forest Fighters. Oswald turns out to be very strange, always crab-walking, throwing his arms up, talking in randomly changing pitches and many other mannerisms. Oswald and Luke talk for a moment about random topics, before Oswald tells Luke to bring him to the Mystic Forest Fighter's lair. Luke turns his request down and begins leaving, but Oswald stops him. Lucille then arrives wondering what's taking Luke so long, as Oswald is shocked at the sight of Luke's "gal". Oswald grabs Lucille and sniffs her hair, prompting him to sneeze. Luke angrily takes Lucille by the hand as they quickly leave Oswald behind.

Luke and Lucille meet Walter, Chief Pupper, Winslow and Anastasia back at Walter's place. Walter brings up all of Enchi's victims on his computer, to which Luke looks at. Helga Gertrude and Robert MacDouglas, killed by burning. Isaac Davis and Angelica Juniper, killed by electrocution. Fredrick Kingsley and Ginger Thompson, killed by freezing. Kyle Hughes and Nina Edwards, killed by decapitation. Wendy Limestone and Tina Sherri, killed by suffocation and organ removal. Trevor Collin, killed by mutilation. The team begins looking at the victim's similarities, when Lucille points out that eighty percent of Enchino's population are minimum wage workers, meaning that could be solely a coincidence. When Walter brings up the ages of the victims, 20, 25, 15, 21, 23, 18, 15, 13, 18, 15 and 19, Luke begins converting the numbers to letters on his phone to spell out T, Y, O, U, W, R, O, M, R, O, S. Luke then looks in his spell book and discoveries that Saratis' first ever attempt at a spell was TYOUWROMROSHPZ. Luke then infers that the next three victims will be 8, 16 and 26 years old. Walter deducts that Enchi could not kill Luke because Luke was not 8, which was why he didn't act upon Luke's threat. Walter agrees to do further analysis, and dismisses everyone.

Back in the tunnels, Noah comes to the end and sees the rat eating. Noah sneaks up on the rat and attacks, prompting a battle to begin. After a few exchanges of attacks, Noah recalls a kick he had seen Joey pull off with Scott, and repeats the maneuver and knocks the rat out cold. Noah drags the rat out of the tunnels, where Joey and the hippo are thrilled to see Noah back successful. As the hippo is congratulating Noah, the door to the bakery opens, prompting her to go greet the customer. Oswald enters, sniffing the pastries and stumbling about the place. It turns out that Oswald is a regular, who only comes in to smell the food and not to buy, which annoys the hippo. She yells at Oswald to buy something for once, which Oswald says he might do because the smell of a gal's hair makes him hungry for creamy foods. Oswald mentions how he needs to find the Mystic Forest Fighters, before describing Luke's battle with Enchi earlier.

The hippo begins growing angry with Oswald's weird behavior, when Joey heads to the front of the store to see what the trouble is. Oswald sees Joey and yells at him for not having a pouch like a kangaroo should, before announcing that he must go find Luke and Lucille to help them kill Enchi. Before he can leave, Noah arrives at the front with the special knife that was stolen. Oswald sees Noah's necklace and freaks out, knowing that Noah must work for Luke. Oswald quickly introduces himself, before running out screaming that he is going to find Luke and Lucille to help them defeat Enchi.

As a reward for saving the bakery, the hippo gives a basket of baked goods to Joey and Noah, making sure Noah would receive the largest muffin. Afterwards, Luke enters the bakery with Anastasia and Lucille. The Mystic Forest Fighters reunite and happily tell each other about their days, as they compare cuts and bruises from missions they've gone on. Luke then tells the hippo that they would like to buy a large piece of bread, but Lucille insists that she pay for it, as Luke has done so much already for them. Lucille buys the bread, as she, Luke and Anastasia take it and head back to the guild. Before leaving, Anastasia shoots a glare at Noah, unsettling him. Joey and Noah then take their basket of goods and bid the hippo farewell, as they head out. As they leave, Oswald stands in the distance rubbing his hands together.

## Appearances

* Luke the Werewolf
* Lucille the Werewolf
* Anastasia the Werefox
* Noah the Chameleon
* Joey the Kangaroo
* Greg the Gecko
* Purry the Cat (debut)
* Saad
* Silas the Dog (mentioned/debut)
* Walter the Weasel
* Chief Pupper
* Hippo (debut)
* Oswald Aaldenberg
* Unnamed Rat (debut)