Love Conquers All

Chapter 1

2 years later

Artemis's ring buzzed, he twisted it around so that it sat on his palm and smiled. He looked forward to these calls from Holly. She rarely visits anymore so this is the next best thing. "Hi Holly" he said happily but when he heard what Holly had to say, the smile disappeared from his face.

"I'm not just calling to say hello this time" Holly told him "Something strange is going on and I need your help. LEP will be there to pick you up soon".

Artemis nodded "Got it". He hung up walked over to the mirror. He straightened his suit and ran a hand through his hair, gelled back as usual. Satisfied, he headed for the stairs. "Butler! He shouted, get over here right now!"

Moments later, Butler was by his side "What's happening? he asked "Where are you going?".

"Holly needs me" he replied, then paused and turned so he faced Butler fully "Do I look ok?".

Butler paused at the unusual question. "Um, you look very sophisticated as always Master Fowl".

Artemis nodded "Thanks old friend, are you coming?"

Butler stared at him "Always, your safety is my only concern. If you don't mind me asking however, why did you ask me how you look?".

Artemis shook his head 'No reason really, just want to look professional". Butler raised an eyebrow but said no more about it.

Moments later they heard a knock on the door and in no time at all, they were in Haven. "Artemis!" Artemis heard his name and looked around. He noticed Holly and waved grinning.

Holly stopped in front of him and gave him a quick hug. "It's good to see you" she told him "Come with me, we need you to see this".

Together they made their way to LEP headquarters where they were greeted by Commander Kelp, Foaly, Caballine and two other centaurs. "Hi Holly" Caballine said cheerfully "And this must be Artemis, Holly is always talking about you" she pointed to the two other Centaurs "These are my children, Endo and Dolora".

The two young centaurs waved to Artemis and Holly, Dolora, hiding behind Foaly and Endo smiling brightly, standing between his parents.

"Enough talk" Foaly cut in "There is time to get to know each other later. For now, Artemis, a video has been sent to us. Holly believes that you can help us. We've gotten along fine without you for the last two years but Holly insists so there's not much I can do about it."

Artemis nodded "Alright, let's see". They walked over to a large screen at the side of the room. Foaly typed in a few words and pressed a few buttons and a video began to play on the screen.

A sprite sat on a chair in front of her desk, her wings fluttering behind her. The only light source was a lamp in the background so her face was obscured by shadows.

"Listen up cause I'll only say this once" she began "An army is heading your way, surrender now and I will stop it, if you insist on fighting, I will attack. You cannot win this, your deadline is September 20th, my army arrives in two days. I await your response."

The screen went dark for a moment before the words "Replay?" popped up on screen. "Shut down" said Foaly and the image faded out.

Artemis closed his eyes for a moment to process what he just saw. "Aren't sprites supposed to be happy and carefree?".

Foaly nodded "Typically yes, she is an exception. My computers ran an analysis of her voice and results show that she is Juniper Dryde. She has been determined as mentally unstable but managed to escape from the J. Argon Institute".

Artemis thought about this for a second. "If she's crazy, then should we really take her threat seriously?".

"I think so" Holly told him "Before she went crazy, she was extremely smart, almost as smart as Opal".

Artemis shuddered at the mention of the pixie that he had helped defeat so long ago. "She had been working on a strange form of mesmerizing, making people obey her every command but at the same time being able to think for themselves, if she has succeeded, then we have a big problem on our hands".

Artemis nodded, "I propose we find her, figure out her plans and stop her before she can unleash an army upon us. If she's bluffing, then we only wasted two days, if she isn't, then we just prevented a disaster".

"Fine" Kelp replied "Take Holly with you, Foaly will be here for tech support. If anything goes wrong, contact us, if nothing happens, just come back and we can forget this crazy sprite's nonsense. Understood?".

"Yes sir" Holly replied immediately, then she turned to Artemis "What do you say Artemis? You ready to be a team again?".

Artemis grinned "Trouble. Holly. Let's do this".