• Andromeda and Axel left the safety of Barton Town and into the Village Greens. They watched as a few people fought a few lawn gnomes. Strange. Then something big hit Andromeda in the arm in a surprise attack. It had the force of a paint ball only harder. The skinwalker screamed and fell to her knees. "Andromeda! Are you okay?!" Axel asked, worried. Then a similar projectile hit him in the back. He screamed as well and turned around to see what attacked him. Andromeda jumped to her feet and moved so that her back and Axel's back met.

    BANG!

    Another was launched. Andromeda pushed Axel out of the way and was hit in the cheek. "OW!" She screamed, then tasted blood and something hard and spiky in her mouth. She spit it out. A bloody tooth. "Whoever did that is so lucky that that will grow back!" She growled. "Andromeda! There!" Axel said and pointed. It was..... a cannon. But not a cannon, another one of the Animated, a mushroom cannon. "That's kinda weird......" Andromeda remarked. Axel held his ring at the cannon. It aimed at him. The gimpi tried to duck but he was hit in the side. He kept his aim though. The sun seemed to shine brighter on him and shot a beam of solar energy at the cannon. It seemed to struggle. Andromeda jumped after it. Axel used his coyote spirit ring on Andromeda, making her speed increase. She used her summoned a small tornado with her Dervish. The cannon was nearly knocked back, but it was planted firmly into the ground. Axel used his solar rays again and the cannon vanished. Andromeda walked back to her friend and helped him up.

    "You okay?" Andromeda asked. Axel nodded but held his side. Andromeda opened her hand and the area around them glowed green, especially around their feet. Both were healed. "Let's continue." Axel advised. Andromeda nodded and ran down the path still under the effect of the coyote spirit. It lasted until she reached Commander Leon. Axel soon caught up. "You two must be Andromeda and Axel." He said. They nodded. "Yes we are, we finished learning about these rings not long ago so we came down here. Also, mind telling us what Ring Sets are?" Andromeda asked. "Rings sets eh? Well, basically, they're a group of 4 rings for each hand that work together. When combined, they will give you an advantage." He said and took out 2 small pieces of laminated paper and handed it to them. "These will say which rings create what set gives you what boost." He finished. "Alright, thank you. Do you have anything we could do for you?" Andromeda asked. Leon thought for a brief moment. "Go check on my mother, Olivia." He said. "I'll go do that." Andromeda said and flew off.

    "Do you have anything for me?" Axel asked. "Go talk to Remo down south, but be careful, it's rough. I'll mark your PDA." He said and marked Axel's PDA. Axel nodded, took it, and flew off.

    Andromeda was with Olivia mean while. "Hey Olivia, Leon sent me to check on you, do you need anything?" She asked. "Oh Leon sent you? Well I do have to give him his lunch." She said and took out a lunchbox smelling like a month-old open can of beer and month-old, moldy pizza. Andromeda gulped. 'Grotesque!," Andromeda thought. She took it. "I'll be back." She said. "Oh no need to rush little one." Olivia said. Andromeda nodded and ran off anyways. She wanted to get rid of the nasty smell.

    Axel soon found Remo. "Hey are you Remo?" He asked. She turned to him and nodded. "What cha' need kid?" She asked. "Leon sent me, he was wondering if you had any tasks for me." He said. "Oh why yes, but first, let's see what you're made of, kill 20 lawn gnomes for me." She said. Axel nodded and ran off to do so.

    Andromeda flew down the path. She hated the smell of the lunchbox. Gross! She ran to Leon. "Leon.... (cough) I went to your mom and told me to drop off this slob for you." He said. "Don't worry, I'm the only one in Barton who can stomach this crap. But as far as this goes, here are some charge orbs. Anything you wanna ask?" He asked. Andromeda nodded and reached into her dark-blue coat. She pulled out some of the things she found. "I found this stuff on some of the Animated, are they just normal objects or what?" Andromeda asked. "Oh, that's loot, it can be made into many things with the right recipes. There has to be somebody who can make something out of this for you." He said. Andromeda looked at it. "I'll experiment a bit later." Andromeda said. "Okay, then go talk to Remo." He said. Andromeda nodded and ran to go do so. "Any time you stop by Barton again, give that to my mom!" He said. Andromeda nodded and flew that way. Leon wanted to tell her not to rush herself, but she didn't listen.

    Axel snuck around the area, trying not to attract the attention of the gnomes to himself. He saw a small group of them, then he was attacked by a cannon. "Oh come on!" He nearly screamed but held his own. He used the power of his Fire Rain ring but used his Solar Rays on the cannon. There were only 6 of them, but his ring wasn't ready for quite so many at once. He felt weakened. He missed every shot with his Solar Rays and eventually, after one last shot from the cannon, passes out. The gnomes left the body there and in a flash of purple light disappeared.

    Andromeda meanwhile was back in Barton. "Hey Olivia, I gave Leon his lunch and here is the lunchbox." She said. She handed the lunchbox to Olivia. Olivia took it. "Thank you little one." She said. "Tell Leon to have fun." She said. Andromeda flew off again.

    Axel in the same place he was nearly killed. The same ninja that helped Andromeda helped him. "Hey, are you okay?" He asked. Axel got up and stumbled. The ninja caught him. "I'm........ Fine....." Axel said. The ninja used his Bandage ring to heal Axel completely. "Who are you?" Axel asked as soon as he could stand straight again. "That is unimportant. Are you by chance with Andromeda Young?" The ninja asked. Axel nodded. "She likes you." He said. "What the heck does that have to do with anything?" Axel asked. The ninja snickered. "You'll find out. Meanwhile, they're coming back." He said and pointed. Axel looked over his shoulder. The gnomes were back. "Here, I'll lend a hand." The ninja offered. "Thanks!" Axel said and both started to fight them.

    Andromeda ran to Leon. "Taken care of." She said. "Well, you didn't have to, but whatever." He said with a shrug. "Now go find Remo." He said. Andromeda got out her PDA and handed it to Leon. He took it and marked it. Andromeda took it back when he was finished, bowed, and flew away.

    Axel and the ninja fought the gnomes. Axel was running out of stamina just as the last ones were being killed. The ninja took care of that for him. Axel fell to his knees and huffed. "Take a short break, you need it. I'll keep an eye out for any more enemies." The ninja advised. Axel knelt on one knee and nodded.

    Then a loud, resounding BANG was heard, Axel looked up. He ducked another acorn. A cannon. The ninja was instantly on guard. "Not to worry, I'll do it!" He said and aimed his hot-foot ring at the cannon and it activated, shooting a beam of flames at the cannon. Axel aimed as well, and hit the cannon with a beam of pure sunlight. The cannon eventually died. Axel now felt more tired than before.

    Meanwhile, Andromeda ran to Remo. "Are you Remo?" She asked. Remo turned to her and nodded. "How may I help you?" She asked. "Leon told me to come see you for some tasks." She said. "Do you have any?" She asked. Remo nodded. "First off, let me see your rings." She said. Andromeda flexed her fingers and showed Remo her hand. Remo took it and looked. "Solar Rays, Dervish, and Diagnose. Good choices." She said, "for now, let's see what you've got, find and kill 15 gnomes." She ordered. Then suddenly Andromeda's PDA beeped. She took it off her belt and read it. It said, "Axel successfully killed 15 gnomes, he's returning to Remo right now." Andromeda looked at Remo and strapped it back on her belt. "Axel? You mean that Gimpi kid with brown and white hair?" She asked. "Yeah, he's helping me out." Andromeda said.

    As for Axel, he was healed and on his way back. "You'll see I'm right about Andromeda, I'll see you again. Both of you." The ninja said and jumped back into the shadows. Axel returned to Remo a minute later. "Back." He said. Andromeda smiled at him. "Well, you two are with eachother right?" Remo asked. Both nodded in unison. "Good, fighting in groups improves your chances of finding loot and--"

    "Wait! Did you say loot? Do you mean this stuff?" Andromeda asked as she reached into her dark-blue coat and took out a few things she found. Remo nodded. "You can use that for alot of things, craft it for armor, household items, clothing, weapons, and much more." She said. Andromeda looked at it and raised an eyebrow. "I might be able to use this." She said and put it back, her coat starting to get heavy. "Careful, carry to much at one time and it'll weigh you down." Remo warned. Andromeda nodded. "I know, I won't keep it there for long." She said.

    "What's next?" Axel asked. "You know those mushroom cannons?" Remo asked in response. "Yeah, they're a b***h to get rid of. One of my teeth were knocked out from one of those things." Andromeda said, and rubbed her cheek. Being a skinwalker, in about a month it would grow back. "Well, get me 3 mushroom heads and then come back when you're done." She said. Both nodded and flew off.