The Cursed Crusade

Judy Hopps is the first bunny Templar, she hunts witches and mages. Nick Wilde is a mysterious warrior that caries three swords on his back. Their paths cross when, following the mysterious appearance of demons in a deep forest, Judy and her troops fall in an ambush and have to find a shelter to heal their injuries… and mourn their dead.

This is my second fanfiction (the first: "Undertopia" isn't over, don't worry). Reviews and comments are welcome so don't be shy, tell me what you think of it!

You know how much I LOVE Bioware's company? They made my favorites games: Mass effect (I'm so hyped for Andromeda), Dragon age, Star Wars: the old republic… The stories, the characters, so many things to discover in so many universes! So if you find a link between this Fanfic and their games… well know that I own none of them and just do it for me and those who want to enjoy it! …This was a disclaimer (please don't sue me).

1- Ambush

Judy was bent over a table that showed a map of the nearest village and its forest. A few days ago the higher up had received a report from the local church. It seemed demons could be see roaming around the forest at night. Even if they never tried to get closer to the village – they were probably outnumbered by the guards – their presence was a bad omen. It meant supernatural powers were used nearby since the demons couldn't pass through the veil – or whatever the mages and the witches called it – that separated their realm from reality alone. It was her second time being at the head of a troop of Templar and the first time she would lead them against demons.

"Sister Hopps." said Fangmeyer – a huge tigress – as she was entering the room Judy was in. "This weather is terrible, the recruits are afraid it will turn against us when we will fight the demons." She was wearing the traditional Templar medium armor. White with a red cross on its chess and a cape as white as the armor. A red cross could also be seen on its back. She had already fought dozens of demons all around the country. She once led her own troops but after a special mission she refused to hold such a responsibility again. When asked why she always answered: "This isn't why I joined."

"They are still too fresh," added an old, tall lion next to the entrance. Mane was known for his lack of tack and the way he treated the recruits. But he was effective in the field. Any recruit serving under him eventually grew to respect him after their first battle. "They still believe all this crap they are told at the Academy."

The Academy as the Templars liked to call it, described the long and painful training they had to go through in order to become the demon slaying machines they were. Five years of torture where they would have to fight everyday against each other, run for hundreds of miles, learn each race of demons and how to slay them. Learn how to recognize a mage and how to either subjugate him or take him down.

When Judy had volunteered nobody believed she could stand on equal ground with the rest of the recruits. But she showed them she had what it takes to face stronger mammals and proved she had a good potential at leading troops and investigating supernatural cases. This, along with the two last years where she proved herself worthily was the reason she finally had her own troop.

Mane wore his heavy customized armor. He had fixed spikes around the arms and legs of his armor. He explained that letting a demon grab you was one of the worst things you could do. Considering he was the one with the most years of serving – he had fought more than a hundred battles – Judy was keened to believe him even if she would never customize her own light armor, also wearing a red cross on it. She had learned that she had to rely on her speed and her agility to fight rather than brute strength, something Mane seemed to prefer particularly.

At first she thought that the Lion was more fit to lead the troop but his ruthless ways always prevented the higher ups from giving him his own Templars to lead. She thought it was stupid until she heard him say that sacrificing troops was okay as long as the mission was completed… If mammals like him were the leaders, the Templar would last less than two years against the Mages and their demons.

"Rain bothers demons as well as us, it is something that alters their perception, magic's flow is interrupted and in my time…" started the Old Lion.

'Here he goes again' thought Judy. She had heard him countless times, for days and days and even more at night when his toughest foe, alcohol, weakened him and made him mumble about 'his time'. She had to stop him or they would never leave their camp. She decided to simply ignore him.

"Sister Fangmeyer, gather the troops, I'll give them a speech before we head to the forest." The tigress obliged and left with a smile due to the Lion's frown. Judy could hear her shout at the company, calling each of them by their name, making sure they were all present.

Once there was finally silence Judy headed outside. It was raining heavily, the weather surely was against them but there was some truth in Mane's words; Demons disliked water; and the mages had some explanation.

Templar didn't killed all the mages and witches they found, those that turned themselves in were put in 'the Library' a place where mages could, while being controlled by the Templars, use their power without the fear of harming anyone… Except themselves… But who cared about the death of those power thirsty monsters anyway? It was those wizards, as they were called, that taught the Templar about the demon's weakness, how to trap them, how to prevent them from appearing…

So the wizards explained 'mana', the source of magical power, was like the wind: present but invisible. Calm most of the time but could grow dangerous when special events occurred. Just like the wind, rain could alter the mana in the air, disorienting the demons that focused on the flow of mana to locate their preys. Many Templars knew that but much more feared that if the demons were called by a mage, they feared he would use the rain to HIS advantage, hiding the demon for an ambush or tricking the Templars to their doom. But so far, mages that tended to work with demons were overconfident and never bothered with tactics. After all, demons were so twisted they managed to make mages think they controlled them where in fact, they never had any form control over them.

"Templars!" She shouted, throwing her thoughts away. "Some of you followed me against thieves and muggers!"

It was true, when there were neither demons nor mages to hunt; Templars sometimes had to patrol on roads or in town to protect the inhabitants from all kind of less deadly, but still dangerous, threats.

"Some of you fought side by side with me against demons and saw me slay them like any other Templar would have when I was as fresh as our recruits." She continued. "Now I will lead you all against demons and I hope YOU will slay them as I did back then!"

This seemed to work, some recruits cheered a bit and agreed with her. Fangmeyer even gave her an approving nod. She knew Judy had trouble speaking in public or being the center of the attention. It was her job as Judy's right paw to help her improve as a commander.

"All right!" the tigress shouted, "take arms and form the line, we're heading for the forest right now."

Judy smiled on the inside, after dropping the title, Fangmeyer had always refused to become a commander so the higher ups used her to form those that wished to hold it, hoping one day, she would wish to become one. It's the tigress who pushed her to become a commander; where most mammals though a bunny stood no chance, she thought that species and size didn't matter. She was kind and caring yet fearsome one the battlefield. Judy had often asked herself what pushed the Tigress to join the Templars but that was a seriously private matter so she never dared to ask.

By the time her thoughts left her, two lines had been made. One of five; including Fangmeyer as a leader, Grizoly – another Lion, far younger than Mane that was enrolled in the same time as Judy – MC Horn – the rhinoceros that recruited Grizoly – and two recruits; a young water buffalo and a hippo.

The other line was made of four mammals; Wolford, a wolf that was recruited one year before Judy, two wolfs recruits – one tanned; the other grey and white like Wolford – and finally Mane closing the line.

Fangmeyer and Mane had insisted she was to lead the wolves as they would only follow one "Alpha" and stick to it. Mane always closed the line, he always said nothing could get behind him and, to this point, he was never proved wrong.

But Judy knew the true reason behind it. Both the Lion and tigress feared the biggest mammals would step on her if she was to walk slower than them… This, with the size difference, could kill her. She appreciates the concern as much as she disliked it. When she was at the academy she went through the same training as any mammal and even if at first she had trouble she ended being the best Recruit they had this year. When fighting during the next two years, she proved her smaller size was an advantage: she could reach places the biggest Templars couldn't, move on the battlefield with more ease than anyone and then backstab the enemies. She had proved she was as efficient as any other mammal but they still treated her with extreme care as if she was a fragile glass figure that could easily break.

Still, she accepted the formation as usual, no need to make a ruckus just for this. "March!" she shouted, leading the way to the forest. The troop followed in a heavy silence only broken by the sound of their footsteps. They were heading to battle… against demons… For five of them it would be a first, for the others, they had enough experience to know they needed to focus on their upcoming task. They knew too much mammals that were overconfident and died in the claws of demons they would have had no trouble taking care of if they didn't underestimate them.

Their silent procession led them to the edge of the forest. In the meantime, the rain had decided to worsen and soak them to the bone. If none of the Templars was uncomfortable with it – and they obviously all were – none dared to speak. The forest seemed darker due to the heavy clouds that covered the sky and, unfortunately, the trees didn't seem to stop the rain. Fighting under those conditions would be hard but Judy had faith she had been through worse… Or so she thought.

She drew her sword and walked under the trees. The company followed without a word, taking out their own weapons. All of them were using a one pawed sword – safe for Mane who wore a mace instead, and the two wolves that used bows – and a shield. The two lines walked in the same time, sticking close. This was the most used formation: if they were ambushed they could easily form a circle and wouldn't have to fear an unprotected flank. Judy also liked it because this allowed her to take advantage of her smaller size to move freely from one side of the circle to the other.

After a few dozen minutes that felt like eternity, they reached too deep in the forest for the villager to go. The vegetation was bigger and there wasn't a 'real road' but instead a few paths where grasses and small tree were crushed. This was probably the path that the demons used when they ventured near the village at night.

Speaking of night, it was starting to become darker and darker, they sure had time before dawn but the rain made it harder to see this deep in this forest. They clearly were jumping in the devil's jaw but they had no choice, they needed to push forward so Judy stepped first into what she knew was the perfect place for an ambush.

She felt all her muscles tenses as she walked deeper and deeper into the wood, she expected a demon to jump on her at any moment, the thought of a mix of teeth sharper than a tiger's, claws deadlier than a sword, moving horns and pointy bones flashed in her mind before she steeled her resolve pushing forward. She felt like she was climbing a deadly mountain, she had to be careful of each of her steps and watch for any sign of the potential demon's avalanche that threatened her like a Damocles' sword.

Yet nothing moved, no demon came, the woods remained silent as her troop froze behind her when she stopped. "Something is wrong," she said. "This was the perfect place for an ambush, where are the demons?" The question wasn't asked at somemammal in particular so she didn't expect an answer.

She started walking again; "don't let you guard down" she added. By that time, even if none of them had seen it, they had already fallen in the ambush.

They walked less than a mile when all hell broke loose. At their left was an enormous oak tree that seemed to be as old as the forest itself. None of them gave it much thought: after all, these kind of trees weren't unheard of. Some mages stated that they somehow were enhanced with magic and said this was the reason they were so big but Templars hadn't the time to debate such thing; it was just a tree bigger than all the others around it. If only Judy had paid attention to it instead of ignoring the unnatural sight then maybe she could have seen that the leafs on the ground weren't laying naturally near the roots of the tree.

She had just jumped over a particularly massive root when she heard a horrible scream then a curse. She felt electricity run through her whole body and turned back, ready to fight whatever had attacked them. She found a spider as big as her laying on the tanned wolf that followed Wolford. The spider had both its deadly mandible planted in the wolf's neck. Wolford tried to take it down with a thrust of his sword before another spider jumped at him from between the roots where it was buried. Since his right side was exposed, Judy had to jump in front of the spider with her shield up in order to protect him. She felt like she had tried to stop a rhino from charging. The shock sent her flying a few inches away but she held on.

She braced herself for the next charge, waiting for the spider to jump at her once again. Thankfully, even if those creatures were terrifying and extremely strong for their size, they weren't very smart: using the same tactic again and again until it worked. When the spider dashed in her direction, she used her shield to parry the attack rather than just blocking it. She oriented the spider's head on the left and trusted her sword in it.

In the meantime two more spiders had shown up; Mane had smashed one with his mace while Wolford had used the same tactic as Judy to kill the other. Unfortunately, the spider that had killed the tanned wolf was now over the other recruit. Since he used a bow a surprise attack like this one put him in disadvantage and all he could do was to use his bow to protect himself from the deadly fangs that would have no trouble passing through his leather armor.

The other line had divided itself: Fangmeyer and the hippo recruit had rushed to give them a paw while Grizoly, Mc Horn and the water buffalo had formed a half circle, turning their back to the battle to prevent being surrounded.

Mc Horn charged the spider in top of the wolf recruit, using his shield he bashed it, throwing it away while the water buffalo took a few more steps and shoved his sword right behind its head, pinning it to the ground. Fangmeyer shouted at the young wolf to get up while three more spiders attacked; this time falling from the tree. The archery wolf backed behind his more protected allies and aimed with his bow. He shot an arrow right into one spider's eye, making it fall immediately. Mane took the chance and crashed its head with a powerful blow. Four more spiders were now coming making it one spider for each Templar.

All the attention was focused on the threat coming from the tree so none saw the sloth demons – a living ink like creatures – that appeared right in the middle of their formation until it was too late. Sloth demons were mostly made of 'tangible shadows', in truth, they drained the magic around them as well as the living's life force to create a body instead of possessing one. So it wouldn't have been a surprise to see it try to bypass their formation and try to backstab them if they hadn't been hidden by the surrounding darkness and the unstoppable rain.

The two demons slowly and silently reached behind the wolf archer and Grizoly. They strike together; their arms formed gigantic claws that they both used to thrust in each mammal's back. The wolf was immediately transpierced and a bloody cry left his mouth as his life was been absorbed by the demon that was now growing stronger. Grizoly was a bit luckier; his heavy armor protected him well enough and the wolf's dying cry as well as his own drew the hippo's attention. The young recruit charged the demon crawling on his ally's back and hit it with his shield. They were now side by side; harmed Lion and an inexperienced hippo facing the two demons.

On the other side of the 'battlefield,' only four spiders remained; Mane had killed one more when the wolf's death had drew the attention. Judy's sword cut deep into the abdomen of the spider she had jumped over, disgusting fluids gushing out of the wound. She looked at the source of the wolf's death to see Grizoly and the hippo recruit face the two moving shadows. She rushed to help them, leaving the three remaining spiders to the five remaining Templars. The cry of a dying spider told her she had nothing to fear for them.

She jumped on one of the demon's back and trusted her sword on its neck. The moving shadow let out a painful sound mixed with anger and tried to get rid of her. Pointy shards started to form on its back and flew toward Judy. Of course she knew what was about to happen so she had already jumped down and was now aiming at the creature's back, slicing it with her sword. Grizoly shoved his sword into the demon's head, killing it immediately. Unfortunately, they were facing the demon that failed to kill the lion. While they were focusing on the weakest target, the now enhanced sloth demon was facing the hippo. The poor mammal didn't stand a chance. His first battle had him face a major sloth demon strengthened by the energy stolen from the, now dead, wolf. His nerves were put on an edge he couldn't stand. He acted recklessly…

Trying to finish the fight as quick as possible the hippo focused on attack, he darted his sword toward the demon's head aiming for the killing blow… But the demon was faster; its torso formed at spike similar to a spear and sent it right to the hippo's uncovered chest. The heavy armor didn't protected him and he felt his life leave him as the demon drained it away.

Judy dashed forward and cut the black trail that was linking the hippo and the demon together. The hippo was in no shape to fight but at least he would have a chance to live… much to the ink creature annoyance that snarled at them.

Mane, Mc Horn and Wolford that had finished the remaining spiders unharmed were now tagging along. Six Templars were now surrounding the major sloth demon, each waiting for an opportunity to deliver a fatal blow… None had the chance… Seeing it was a lost fight the unholy creature emitted a loud and high cry that almost ripped their extra sensitive ears off. A second later Fangmeyer jumped over Judy and Mane did the same with Wolford while Mc Horn held his gigantic shield in front of himself. "DOWN!" they shouted at the same time before the Major demon exploded in a storm of black spikes and demonic fluids.

When Judy managed to remove Fangmeyer off her she froze. Black spears looking matter were shoved all around them; the tigress over her was slightly injured: a small spike was planted in her left arm over the shield still fixed at her by the hold. Mane looked a bit more like a mess: he was on his four; his head was badly bleeding as his right ear was removed and a few small spikes were shoved in his right side. Wolford for his part was unharmed thank to the Lion protection. Grizoly was slowly sitting up, miraculously unharmed, but the way he moved showed his back had been badly injured by the other demon's attack and that he would need help to move.

The less lucky of them was the Water Buffalo that hadn't understand what was happening. His body was lying down; black spikes of all size were stabbed in his lifeless body. Finally searching for the hippo, Judy saw a beautiful rabbit standing next to him. He was wearing a light leather armor that fitted his buffed body. His face wore a handsome smile and a genuine expression of peace. He walked toward the bleeding Lion and helped him stand. Her clouded mind didn't notice something was off; the rabbit was as tall as the lion… But the way he gently helped him stand was so careful she thought nothing was wrong; she just saw a gorgeous looking rabbit help her soldier stand and lovingly slice his throat open with his sexy fangs. His strong and slender arms held the Lion in the sweet embrace before the charm broke.

"Nooo!" Mc Horn, that until now had had trouble getting up due to the shock of the blast, was charging the tall rabbit head first while shouting. Wolford stood up immediately at the sound of the rhino charging. He took his gear and assumed a battle stance at the rabbit. At this moment Judy noticed the rabbit was now shifting back to its real form, the illusion it had cast on them now gone. The lust demon was now standing in all its glory, its naked body made of both male and female anatomy barely hided behind clothes made of fur. A long and pointy scorpion's like tail was exiting its back and was waving angrily. Judy cursed and stood to follow them.

Mc horn sent it flying away with a bash of his head and Wolford followed by taking place behind the creature. Judy stood took her sword and dashed to help them, Mane tagging with her.

When she finally reached them the demon spoke: "You should all have stayed down, I would have given you a painless and loving death."

"Shut up you fiend!" shouted Wolford. "You are the only one going down."

"Fools! You could barely take care of a few spider and sloth demon and you intend to fight me?!" Its anger could be felt as if it was physical. The Lust demon was far less loving now; its arms grew with deadly long claws forming at their ends and a growl erupted from its throat.

The four mammals formed at triangle around the monster and started to slowly circle around it. Waiting for it to make the first move.

Lust demons were one of the strongest and vilest demons. Sloth demons couldn't prepare an ambush like the one they fell in. They were in a relatively open space for a forest, none would have put an ambush here and yet, the lust demon took advantage of this fact. It had hidden the spiders long enough for them to attack only when they would be sure to get one of the Templars; then she had them focus on the upcoming threat, using the rain to cover the sloth demon's approach. The only miscalculation was having one of them target Grizoly and his plate armor. But the other sloth demon was strong enough to take a shocked recruit down. Its explosion was probably her doing too because a demon would never sacrifice its own life without someone or something forcing it.

Then the fiend had used a spell to make itself look like an awesome buck and tried to kill them one by one. This creature was dangerous and needed to be taken down… but didn't move as they all expected. Instead it waited for them to do the first move. They needed to attack together, but the danger was big. They could easily kill it but it would at least take one of them down… and they had lost enough brothers for today.

Finally, it was Fangmeyer that made the first move. The tigress had slowly moved away from the other Templars and had grabbed one of the wolves' bows. All Templars received formation for all kind of weapons in case they were to lose their sword and had to fight with whatever they had under their paws. Few were those that choose to use one of them rather than the traditional sword and shield but none complained since they were times when a bow could be useful. This was one of those times.

Fangmeyer pulled the bow and nocked an arrow at the Lust demon despite her left arm screaming in pain due to the spike that was still inside it. When she released the string, the arrow flew right into the back of its target that screamed in pain and waved a deadly claw toward its source… to find it empty.

Judy, who as facing the demon before it turned, dashed right between its feet and sliced its left one. The creature lost its balance, turned back and tried to maul her with its right arm, missed and hit the ground instead of the bunny. Mc Horn charged and used the corner of his shield to hit the lowered arm. The sound of bone breaking was the signal Wolford needed; he launched himself and aimed for the left axilla with his sword. Cold steel met the flesh and the wolf twisted it, dismantling the other arm and preventing the demon from moving.

Mane was reeling back for the finishing blow, aiming at the monster's head with his mace. Unfortunately, with all the injuries he had suffered he was a bit too slow… The fiend had the time to hit Mc Horn with its tail and set its hand free. It used this hand to grab Wolford by the head and sent him flying at the Lion's torso. The demon then launched itself forward, claws and tail out in an attempt to kill the two mammals.

Before they reached the floor, Mane took Wolford and tossed him away. When he hit the muddy floor he held his shield to block the upcoming attack. Sadly, the demon's tail went right through it and pierced his armor and flesh like it was nothing. Coughing blood, the lion grabbed the demon's tail and pulled it deeper.

"Now!" He shouted blood gushing from his wound.

Judy who had stood up quickly after cutting the fiend's foot had rushed behind it as soon as it had jumped toward her two brothers. She jumped and turned on herself, slicing the tail and the head off at the same time.

Everything was over in an instant as the head fell, still screaming, on the floor.

"You idiots!" shot the laying head. "More will come, you can't stop us! Five of you died today how many more will tomorrow?!"

Mc Horn silenced it by stomping on it. Sound of broken bone and brain was the last thing they heard from the demon.

Judy came close to the Lion that still wore a ferocious face. She wanted to save him, or at least to ease his pain, it was, however, too late. The demon's tail had touched his heart, it was a miracle he had the strength to pull the tail for even one second…

They all fell down, siting where they were in silence. They had accomplished their mission; they had killed the demons that were lurking around the village but they weren't about to celebrate it. The fiend was right; they lost five brothers today. The hippo had died when they were fighting; they were too slow finishing the lust demon, the pool of blood around its body made it clear.

"We should get going," finally said Judy as she stood tears building up. She would cry, but not today, not before they could contact the council, tell them the job was done and ask them to send help to bring the body back for a proper burring. "Find a better place to take shelter; try to dry ourselves; rest and tend your wounds." She added toward Fangmeyer and Grizoly that was now sitting.

"Sorry." The lion simply said. He was the only one that didn't fight in the last battle and didn't do much since it had begun.

"Don't be," answered Judy, "just get ready to leave." Her tone was a bit harsher than she wished but it was hard enough not to cry for the dead; she was simply burring her felling behind that tone. If anyone thought anything about it, none said a word, they just obeyed.

Mc Horn helped Grizoly to stand and gave him his shoulder. Wolford quickly treated Fangmeyer arm's wound, removing the dark spike from her arm – which made her growl in pain – and tending it in a rudimentary bandage. Within five minutes they were ready to leave. Fangmeyer just stopped and took the bow she had used to shoot the lust demon a while ago. When the others gave her a weird look she simply answered "memento" before putting it on her back with a quiver of arrows. "And you never know" she added. The other agreed and formed a single line.

Judy led them, followed by Fangmeyer, Mc Horn still helping Grizoly stand and Wolford closed the march. It was far from being the perfect dispatch but it was the only one they could do.

Sadly, the night was coming close and it seemed like they weren't able to recognize the path they took to travel inside the forest. Wolford was unable to smell their own sent that had been washed by the rain. If they didn't find an exit fast they would be doomed to stay in this cursed forest for the night… and none of them enjoyed the idea.

Finally, Wolford started to smell something in the air: "I smell food," he said, "it's close."

Judy shivered: "Who live this deep in the forest with demons nearby?"

None answered; they knew the likely answer: probably a mage or a witch. They were in no shape to fight such a strong opponent but had little to no choice, it was either find the source of the delicious smell than now reached everyone's noses or wait for a potential threat to get them later.

"Let's go." Grunted Grizoly, "If I have to choose, I would like to die fighting a witch than in the cold like a beggar." They all nodded and started to walk again.

They finally reached a small camp, a tent big enough for at least two of them to stay away from the rain and a small fire was all there was to see. They had almost expected a house surrounded by dead bodies and a garden full of venomous mushroom. As they closed in they saw a medium sized pot on the fire from which the delicious smell was emitted.

Not seeing anyone, they started to wander through the small camp. Wolford closed in and took a few sniffs of the cooking pot. "Whoever cooked this know what they're doing, I would kill for a bite."

Nobody heard anything until Fangmeyer yelped. They all turned toward her and saw a red fox pointing a sword at the Tigress neck. He was standing casually on her left side, where her arm was injured.

"I can testify that he knows what he's doing and you should all be careful… because he would also kill to keep his food." He said with a grin that all but friendly.

Yeah! I did it! How was it? Don't expect all chapters to be this big; it would take me too much time to write it down. Once again, thank G4Cod for helping me with this fanfic! we'll try to make one chapter for Undertopia then one chapter for this fanfic.

G4COD: Ugh… What tha fuck? Where am I?! How much did I drink last night? Why am I naked, did I get laid again..? (Yeah you wish) Why am I in a bathtub full of ice!? Oh, and this chapter's American English consulting and editing was brought to you by The Molag Ballad by JT Machinima. Now, WHERE ARE MAH KIDNEYS!?