Pidgeons in a Fox Hole, Part 2

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Full episode list: List of Magical Monster High School Drama! episodes

This page is about the sixteenth episode of Magical Monster High School Drama! It was released on June 13th, 2017.

Production
The episode was written by Terry H and features the voices of Kitto M, Marco D and George H-S.

Plot
Tuesday evening, the party are exploring an enchanted forest on Sashi’s plane, after having learned of the kitsune’s death by another fox demon. Rowan, Darren, Gregor, Raphael and five other angels follow Zeroeth through these woods, as with her gold sense she can feel a line of golden buddhas that lead the way deeper. A clearing opens up, with one such statue on a post in the centre. The dragon caresses the golden object before raising her head and stalking further into the brush. The party follows, until, last in line, one of the unnamed angels draws their weapon and cleaves the buddha in two.

Zero looks round in surprise, and growls at this destruction, demanding to know the reason, as she planned to take these statues with her once they found the grand buddha. The angel is indifferent, saying that the buddha is a pagan relic, a devil in disguise, and deserves destruction. Before the dragon attacks, Rowan steps before her and persuades her away from this course of action. Grumbling, she turns back towards the trail, and pauses. The dragon stiffens, her pupils contract to slits, and her hackles raise. In an instant, she whirls, snarling, claws unsheathed.

Seeing the signs of one of Zero’s rages, Rowan draws the Wand and intercepts. Light springs from the tip of the weapon to crackle across the dragon’s scales. This succeeds in distracting her from the angel across the clearing, and she rounds on Rowan to rake them with her claws. They stagger, raise their weapon once more and attack again, attempting to shock Zero into unconsciousness rather than wound her. It seems ineffective against the enraged creature, who roars and bathes Rowan in flame. The brush and trees behind catch and set alight with flickering flame, wildlife flees, kodama float to the ground. Gregor and Darren scramble out of the way, while the angels, who had been watching closely, spot something else. Behind the dragon, a floating blue flame floats away, into the darkness of the forest. The celestials take up their weapons and follow after it.

Rowan looks up at Zeroeth snarling, her eyes aflame. She raises a talon to pin them to the ground, then stops. Reason returns to her eyes, as unbeknownst to her the will-o-wisp leaves. She steps back with a snort, and Rowan asks if she is done, wary. Seeming ashamed, the dragon apologises for attacking them, and advises that Rowan return to the school to be healed. Rowan refuses, and Zero chases after the apparently fleeing angels, remembering only that she wished to attack them.

Bleeding and burned, Rowan kneels down and takes a breath, then asks Gregor and Darren if they have any form of healing. Despite Rowan telling Zero to continue, the dragon’s attacks in fact nearly killed them. Darren tells them that he can heal, but only by taking the life from another. They offer to transfer Rowan’s pain to the dragon, but they refuse, and turn to follow her trail - but it is gone. There is no trampled ground where Zero passed, nor the light of angels ahead. Behind them, the fire she caused has gone out, and no mark of it is left. With their magic cloak, Rowan flies above the canopy, and they see nothing. There is no sign of the dragon, and the trees stretch out indefinitely. The village that they came from is nowhere to be seen either.

They return to the ground, and Gregor attempts to sense Zero. Through the stone of the ground, he feels a river instead, and with no other way marker, they move towards it. Eventually the trees open up again and they do find a shallow river splashing over rocks. Already crossing is a human traveller with ragged clothes and an unkempt beard. At the sight of Gregor, who appears as a winged rock monster, the man tries to flee. Rowan calls out for him to stop to no avail, so Darren traps the man in a vortex of water.

Meanwhile, the angels charge forward into an old and grey part of the forest after the wisp. It dances on to a dark clearing and flickers out. The angels halt in their flight, seeing ten pairs of glowing eyes appear around them. Raphael raises his hand, and light erupts from him. The blinding radiance shreds the darkness, provoking hisses from the ten foxes that have been revealed. Thinking that these are ordinary foxes possessed, the angels attempt an exorcism. The foxes shake it off. They howl and leap at Raphael.

At this point, Zeroeth arrives. The dragon crashes through the trees to see several demonic foxes attacking Raphael. Immediately thinking of Sashi, her sworn enemy, Zero flames them. The foxes screech and die, while the angel flies upward, narrowly avoiding the fire. With this clear attack against him and none of the others around to stop them, Raphael and the other angels turn on Zero. Six against one, they overpower the huge dragon. Even as more foxes arrive, Raphael crucifies her, stabbing a javelin through each forepaw. The foxes are quickly slaughtered by the other angels.

Meanwhile, Darren and Gregor are busy tormenting the traveller in the river. They learn that his name is Oda, and that the largest fox demon, the one who allegedly ate Sashi, is called Muramasa. He tells them that he lost the string which leads into the forest, and now cannot find his way back. He calls the trees upstream the “Fox Woods”, and advises them to avoid killing any giant boar they come across. After this, Darren offers to heal Rowan by killing Oda, as he will be of no further use to them. Rowan refuses this, and they head upstream with the traveller as prisoner. One of the giant boar rushes they party, but Rowan makes short work of it. In a strange twilight they walk, and eventually set up camp for Darren and Oda to sleep, while Gregor and Rowan, not needing it, keep watch. On Oda’s recommendation, they pray to the kodama, and wait.

Elsewhere in the forest, Zeroeth is still alive, though in pain. Fading in and out of conscious, she feels her body fall to the ground. Then she is dragged away. Dimly, she sees Sashi, saying with a grin that she cannot allow the dragon to die just yet. Later, Zero wakes with a start. She lies on a bed of roses, in the centre of a clearing ringed with trees bearing gilded apples. Around her lie the desiccated bodies of five angels. She heaves herself to her feet and examines them. They crumble to dust at a touch. Wary, she walks towards the tightly packed trees. Her feet pass through them. Finding the woods here to be illusion, the dragon spreads her wings with a crack and launches herself above the canopy. She circles outwards over the endless forest, calling for her companions. No one answers, but she hears the scream of some other poor traveller and witnesses them die to several shadows that reek of kitsune. Zero continues circling, but she eventually tires, and lands in an incongruously sandy clearing to rest, but not sleep.

Meanwhile, Rowan and Gregor stand guard over the sleeping Darren and Oda. Rowan turns to see a stag leave the woods and gaze at them with liquid eyes. They greet the creature, and it replies by turning back to the trees, as if waiting for them to follow. Expecting some trick, Rowan refuses. The stag bounds away and disappears. Right next to Rowan, the voice of Sashi tells them that they should have followed the stag. They turn to see a girl with three fox tails. They ask whether she is Muramasa. The kitsune replies no, then slashes at Rowan with her claws. Rowan sidesteps and Gregor grapples the squirming fox girl. Rowan raises their wand and blow a hole through the kitsune’s eye. Then, remembering the amulet that the old man at the shrine held, they take it out and place it over the kitsune’s neck. With an eerie scream, the spirit vapourises into a black smoke, quickly whipped away in the wind.

Later, Oda and Darren wake and Rowan explains that they defeated a three-tail. Then they venture further into the forest, away from the stream. This distresses Oda, who had told them that Muramasa is weaker near the water. Darren intimidates him into continuing, and then into following a line of will-o-wisps first. Predictably, this leads to Oda stepping into a bog. Darren pulls him out with his telekinesis, but Oda loses his trousers and shoes in the process. Seeing red eyes appear at the other end of the bog, Rowan grips the amulet tightly and orders the party onwards.

Resting in the sandy clearing, Zeroeth sees three pairs of glowing eyes appear around her. Frightened after her fight with Sashi at the school, she flies upward to burst through the canopy. The trees close in towards each other in response, and when she hits the branches, the impact is like hitting stone. She crash lands in an explosion of sand. Three kitsune with four tails each emerge around her, laughing. Growling, the dragon knocks them down and then uses her frightful presence. The foxes scramble to their feet and flee under the oppressive fear, avoiding her snapping jaws.

Zero breaths out, and sits down once again. As she does so, she senses the alluring pull of gold from beneath her. After looking around warily, she begins to dig. She finds nothing, the scent of gold seeming always deeper in the sand. The scent of kitsune becomes stronger, however, so she climbs onto the mound of sand she has created to find five five-tailed kitsune surrounding her. They dash towards the dragon, claws unsheathed. She leaps out of their reach, flaps her wings, and torches them from above. She lands heavily, disturbing their smoke. Before her, a path in the thick trees opens.

Zero hesitates, then walks along this path. She enters another, grassy clearing, encircled by thick and impenetrable trees. Up in the branches sits a nine-tailed kitsune, the spitting image of Sashi. The fox girl claps slowly, grinning from ear to ear. Then, as Zero backs up and finds herself hemmed in with trees behind her also, the kitsune congratulates her on surviving to this point. She tells the dragon that her name is Muramasa, not Sashi. Then, Muramasa attacks.

Elsewhere, Rowan, Oda, Gregor and Darren encounter ten five-tailed kitsune, some in human form and some as foxes. Oda hangs back as the party rush forward. Darren pins and throws them with his telekinesis, Rowan shoots energy blasts from their wand, and Gregor stomps about causing destruction. After dealing with them

Rowan, Oda, Gregor and Darren are then faced with ten five-tails, some in human, some in fox form. They begin the fight, with Darren pinning most under his telekinesis, then trying to use the water against them. The party then smacks them and slowly kills them while they are still being held under Darren’s spell. Some Darren uses as weapons. Finally they kill all of them, with Darren cutting off and keeping the tails.

Then, breaking through the forest, Rowan and Darren see Zero, miss a last bite attack. Muramasa sidesteps the clumsy attack easily, then rips out the dragon’s throat. Zero falls, and lies still. Darren completely lowers the tone by stiffening one of the fox tail to form a faux sword. Muramasa monologues that she likes this guy, but unfortunately, she is going to kill them all. The battle begins, Darren attempting to pin her with telekinesis, Gregor grappling the squirming kitsune. Rowan walks over and executes the kitsune with one shot of their wand. Kneeling over the shocked Muramasa, they place the amulet, and the spirit evaporates. Rowan then sits down at Zero’s side, and waits as the dragon’s wounds heal slowly. Eventually, she blinks, and sees Rowan there next to her. They tell her the fox is dead, and that it is likely the kitsune’s influence caused Zero’s rage. The dragon still feels bad at the act, but just wants to go home. Kodama lead the way back to the portal.

They return to the school plane, and it is still Tuesday evening, as if no time has passed since they entered the forest. Before Rowan and Zero pass, the dragon asks if she may spar with Promethia during the week, and they agree. Then they go to their own places to sleep.

Wednesday, classes. For Zero, it is as normal. In Rowan’s class, Madam Bonnie announces… to just Rowan… that they have a new student joining the class. Mótsognir, new today, looks out over the class of one, and begins hesitantly to say that his world is technologically and spiritually advanced, and that he is eager to learn. This student seems as androgynous as Rowan, and more bishie. Rowan asks “Mótz” what pronouns he uses, and he replies “he” of course. Then, classes pass with the usual banality as Madam Bonnie, circles. Unlike Rowan, however, Mótz seems entranced by Bonnie’s teachings, hanging on to her every word. At lunch, Madam Bonnie tells him to check out clubs and societies. Rowan begins giving Mótz a tour, before they encounter Dimitri, and the vampire introduces himself and takes over. He shows Mótz the Arcana society, and several others based around summoning, once the young student expresses an interest in demons. After this, Dimitri invites Mótz to dinner, and, surprisingly, he accepts, and so a date is booked for tomorrow evening.

After afternoon classes, Quentin does some Qrav Maga and Zero looks up the steps she may take to learn to see through illusion. Then, Rowan cooks. Zeroeth answers the door. Before Mótz arrives, Zeroeth apologises again and tells Rowan that if she rages again, they could avoid being attacked by bowing to her. She explains, gaze firmly turned away from Rowan’s, that in the rage, she is blind, and notes only servants and enemies. And any servants seeing her in the rage would bow down to her.

Mótz appears, he tells them about himself. They eat dinner. Then Zero and Rowan go outside to hug. Then Rowan walks Mótz back. Then Rowan drinks more.