Animal X: Natural Mystery Unit season 3 part 3

Episode 17: Hidden Realms

Featured Cryptid: Huldufolk (Icelandic Elves)

Our episode opens up in the Faroe islands of Iceland, where we see a bunch of tiny humanoids with pointy ears (about 3 inches tall) living amongst the crags in the rocks, Icelandic elves known as the Huldufolk, cowering in fear as they are being hunted by Black Dot grunts and silencers all the while the Huldufolk turn invisible to avoid detection by the black dot. meanwhile an invisible Huldufolk wearing an animal X uniform watches the villains before running over to the nearby rock where the rest of his people are hiding, an elderly Hudulfolk woman named Siofra exclaiming "Javik, is that you? I haven't seen you in 100 years" Javik then turns visible and tells Siofra his people's native tongue (with subtitles) "It's going to okay, mother. I will be sure that the black dot don't discover our people or the hidden village" Javik then uses his tiny wrist communicator to send a message to Bill for help. and right on cue we cut to the Cryptozoology museum where Bill is giving a guided tour of the museum to some tourists on a new exhibit on Icelandic elves, the tourists gawking at the hokey displays only for Bill to get the distress call from Javik. he then looks outside to see the X-van park outside the museum with James Johnson saying "yo Bill, we picked up your two favorite agents for ya" Daniel and Natalie both stepping out of the X-Van, Bill hugging the both of them happy to see the two again followed by Rodney zipping in to nuzzle Bill happy to see him again. Daniel then tells Bill "Check it out, I got my esper powers back!" as his and Rodney's eyes briefly start to glow showing that they have a telepathic connection. Bill asks how, and Daniel says "you can thank the cryptid guru for that" Bill then asks "and what of your father?" Natalie interjects and says "he... didn't make it" Bill then says "I see... either way I have a mission for you two" playing the two the recording he received from Javik, Bill explaining to the duo that this was a distress call from Javik, member of Animal X's Nordic division and that the two need to go to Iceland to help him protect the Huldufolk from the Black dot. Daniel then exclaims "Huldufolk? sounds familiar..." as he opens the Cryptozoologicon to the page on Icelandic elves, Daniel reading the excerpt about how the Icelandic elves, otherwise known as Hudulfolk (which translates to hidden folk) are a race of tiny humanoids native to Iceland's Faroe islands who get their name from the ability to turn invisible at will. the Huldufolk are one of the seven descendants of the Firstborn (which also includes Vampires, Werewolves, Merfolk, Lizardmen, Winged humanoids, and humans) remembering what Remy Chastelle mentioned back in the season 2 episode "Monster or murderer?" and realizing THAT'S where he heard it from, all the while Natalie places her hand on her stomach and says "Daniel, there's something I need to tell you" only for Bill to interrupt and tell her "That can wait you two, the Huldufolk need your help! now go!" prompting Daniel, Natalie, and Rodney to board the X-van with the Johnsons and take off. we then cut to Domino's airship where we see Black Dot grunts forcibly remove Nile's hand from El Toro causing him to regain consciousness, Domina ordering the goons to take the hand to the cloning chamber. El Toro then asks "And what do you plan on doing with me?" Domina then says "use you as bait to lure your treacherous friends to me of course" meanwhile Adewale, Ivan, and Mayu arrive in Iceland plotting their next move against their boss Domina, with Mayu saying "you boys do everything I say, got that? I'm the one who makes the plans around here" Adewale saying "of course, I would not dare question your brilliance" while Ivan teases him with "well there goes your dignity" all the while the invisible Huldufolk sneak by in single file with Javik leading the charge, telling his people to be quiet. a Black dot grunt walks up to inform the trio that there's been no sightings of the Huldufolk anywhere, not even the silencers could detect them. Ivan tells him "you fool! the Huldufolk are masters of camouflage, they can turn invisible to the naked eye" Mayu is curious, asking him "how do you know so much about these creatures?" Ivan tells her "I studied the folklore. if we find them, they will lead us right to their hidden civilization" only for Domina to show up with a captive El Toro in shackles, the grunts and Silencers pointing their weapons at Domina who demands the trio to surrender in exchange for sparing their friend. however their confrontation is interrupted when Daniel and Natalie are deployed from the X-van on hoverbikes (same ones from the episode "going batty") which swoop down on the Black Dot Natalie tackling Domina electric bo staff in hand allowing the Black Dot international leaders to free El Toro who's glad to see the three again, telling them that they won't believe what he's been through as the four escape amongst the commotion. meanwhile Rodney then zips around the Black dot grunts and silencers to disorient them while Daniel knocks them into each other with his grappling hook while Natalie switches to her electric batons to fight Domina on foot while the invisible Huldufolk watch. Natalie is easily overpowered by Domina only for the invisible Javik to climb onto Domina's back and bite her on the ear saving Natalie's life forcing her to retreat. the invisible Huldufolk who are naturally scared of humans cower in fear, however Javik assures his people that these are good humans and the Huldufolk all drop their cover and turn visible in front of Daniel and Natalie, Javik introducing himself with Daniel making the joke "So you're Javik... I thought you'd be taller" Javik then says "Yeah I get that a lot, you'd be surprised by the amount of non-human agents in the Animal X ranks. merfolk, werewolves, vampires, even elves such as myself" Natalie saying "we already met one, a lizardman named Allander" Daniel looks around seeing the crowd of Icelandic elves including women and children slowly approaching our heroes. Daniel asks him "why were the Black dot after you?" Javik says "they were after our hidden city" Daniel wonders what he means and looks through the Cryptozoologicon to see a picture of a hidden civilization of Huldufolk hidden behind a mystic veil that keeps the city invisible to human eyes. Daniel then looks to see the Huldufolk walking into said invisible veil and disappearing, saying "Hey wait for me!" following them and disappearing, all the while Natalie places her hand on her stomach before following Daniel into the veil while Mayu, El Toro, Adewale, and Ivan watch from atop a nearby cliff with their binoculars, El Toro exclaiming "they just disappeared!" Mayu then says "we'll fill you in later, but it seems the legends were true" We then cut to Doctor Helena entering Animal X HQ from the elevator and entering Natalie's personal quarters, Helena thinking in her head "Bill told me that there was something Natalie wanted to tell Daniel before they left for Iceland, he found it very suspicious" as Helena opens up Natalie's drawer to find a positive pregnancy test inside much to her surprise. she then notices Bill come down the elevator and hides it in her pocket. we then cut back to Iceland where Daniel and Natalie enter the hidden village of the Icelandic elves, the two mesmerized by the sight of the tiny Huldufolk living in tiny houses, Javik welcoming our heroes to the hidden village of Alfaborg (Elf rock in Icelandic), home of his people as Javik holds his mother Siofra's hand, Daniel noticing the large rock in the center of the village with runes etched into it that Daniel recognizes as the ancient Atlantean language, Siofra explaining that their ancestors the Firstborn mastered ancient magic that they passed down to their descendants the Huldufolk, centuries ago their village elders used said magic to enchant the stone which created the veil that keeps their village hidden while Rodney zips around the village to greet the tiny people. Daniel notices his hands glowing the same blue glow as the veil only for him to bump into Natalie and touch her stomach, Daniel's ESPer powers sensing twin zygotes growing in her womb. Daniel is shocked, exclaiming "Natalie, you're pregnant!" she then tells him "Yeah, but don't tell Bill. I don't want him to know about what we did at the temple in Ziro valley" Daniel then asks "Why not?" Natalie puts her hands on her stomach and tells Daniel "When you're an Animal X agent, you're sworn to secrecy for life in order to put the needs of the cryptids we protect above our own. this profession is a lifetime commitment, and having a child would compromise that. it's why such intimacy is forbidden among agents" Daniel then realizes that he and Natalie both made a big mistake as we get a cute scene of Rodney rubbing against Natalie's stomach. things go from bad to worse when Mayu, El Toro, Adewale, and Ivan enter the veil into Alfaborg with their weapons at the ready, Daniel exclaiming "how did you clowns get in here?" Natalie then says "they must have followed us" as the Huldufolk hide in their tiny houses before asking the Black Dot what they want with his people, and Mayu says "it's not your people, it's the stone and the magic within. we want to use its power to overthrow Domina and take leadership of the Black Dot to ourselves". Javik then hops on Daniel's shoulder and says "we must fight to protect my people" Daniel, Natalie, Rodney, and Javik charge at the four Black Dot leaders leading to two-versus-two: the little guys (Rodney and Javik) take on El Toro and Mayu, Javik leaping off of Rodney to crawl on Ivan's head freaking the Russian Black Dot leader out while Rodney zips around Adewale to make him dizzy knocking him into into Ivan Javik thanking Rodney for his assistance before rallying his people to help protect the stone to prevent Alfaborg from being exposed as Javik, Siofra, and the other Huldufolk villagers gather around the very stone that conceals their city and start chanting. meanwhile Natalie is getting pummeled by both El Toro and Mayu, Daniel shouting "leave them alone!" using his grappling hook to tie them both up. El Toro asks Mayu "what does he mean by them?" Mayu notices Natalie place her hand on her stomach and puts two and two together immediately, saying "I think I know why. she's with child... YOUR child" El Toro then says "then that means he and the girl did... GROSS!" before using his strength to free himself and Mayu from their restraints while Adewale and Ivan regroup with El Toro and Mayu. the Huldufolk's eyes all glow icy blue as they tap into the power of the stone causing the veil to pulsate and eject the four Black Dot international leaders from Alfaborg knocking the four outside the veil. Natalie then tells the four "sorry, we can't leave you four with the knowledge you have" and whips out a memory-wipe device to wipe Adewale, El Toro, Adewale and Mayu's memories of ever finding Alfaborg before being picked up by the X-van. Daniel and Natalie wave goodbye to Javik and the Huldufolk who thank Daniel and Natalie before the two board the X-van and leave back to HQ. Sharon then asks the couple "so did you see any tiny elves while in the Faroe islands you two?" Daniel then tells him "yeah, we did. they were quite nice actually" James then asks Daniel "anything else interesting? like were there any giants in addition to the little people?" Natalie interjects, saying "unlikely, Giants have been extinct for centuries" the two sharing a laugh to get their minds off the whole "secret pregnancy" thing. meanwhile we cut to Domina returning to the airship to witness Black Dot personnel attaching Nile's cybernetic arm to his new clone body, Nile opening his eyes as he activates his pack hunter armor ending our episode on a cliffhanger.