Chapter 15: Castlebrooke

White Tuxedo was well aware that the heroes had figured out by now where his fortress was. He also knew that they were on their way to save four of their friends. Following in the same suit that Wilfre had on his previous two attempts against the Creator's world, he had members of the Raposa Village scattered across the world—except for the bearer of the Book of Life, her beloved, the child in green, and Wilfre's ex-lover who (now secretly) longed to see him once more. He knew that it would be a primary objective for them to just save those four.

The raposa clad in white twirled his silvery cane, staring out the large tower window in Castlebrooke's tallest one. He waited to see the golden vessel that the heroes sailed upon for himself—as it was one of the Creator's most beautiful creations. Not that she or her creations would be relevant once he had what he desired. At the moment, Tuxedo cared not if Mari were taken away. He didn't know enough about the books yet to figure out how to use them. Simply wanting the Book of Life would be overly cliched, after all.

He heard the door behind him open up, creaking as it swung slowly. "…I don't believe that you knocked."

"Well, Sir Tuxedo, knocking is hard when bringing in tea." spoke another voice. White Tuxedo recognized it to be Jani. Twirling his cane again, he looked over his shoulder to see her. Jani had been a useful ally in deciphering the other book, as she was once close to Maelynn. Her short, orange hair slightly bounced as she carried a tray with a teapot with five cups on it, then setting in on the center of the table. She closed the door before going to sit down. She brushed off her dress and her apron.

White Tuxedo continued his gazing. Jani decided to talk to him while she waited. "Do you know when the other three will be here? I've only heard from Black Cat so far. Have the rabbit and the mouse spoken?" She asked, sounding impatient.

"Our lapin friend is occupied." White Tuxedo answered. "As for our mus… well, I wouldn't want to ruin his creative spirit and interrupt what they're doing. They'll arrive when they arrive."

Jani sighed, puffing at her hair. "Why is it that Raven Feather… Black Cat, I mean, tends to be the only one on time? Are schedules irrelevant to the other two?"

"I believe that it's more of them not desiring to take orders from you, Jani." White Tuxedo supposed. "Our mus and lapin friend aren't too keen on showing you as much respect as Black Cat."

Though Jani knew this, she always took offense from it. "I swear their lack of respect is a culture thing. Especially with that haughty rabbit. I am your second-in-command, and yet they cannot bother to treat me like I've authority. I wish to strike them for it."

"Tsk, tsk, Jani. Respect is not given, it is earned."

Jani adjusted her lacy headpiece and continued to remain frustrated. "It still amazed me you've their respect, Sir Tuxedo. That rabbit and that mus have egos the size of the moon, or perhaps the sun. They're so full of themselves you could pop it with a needle and it'd take hours for the air to deflate."

White Tuxedo turned to look at Jani. "When were egos balloons? I always saw them as a building. They can be built up yet broken."

"Balloons can be filled up, but popped and lose the air they once had. It's like having a big ego that's a balloon filled with tons of air, but a diminished ego being that of a shriveled-up balloon." Jani explained, boredly puffing at her hair again. She turned to the door.

"Actually, all three of our allies have large egos. Black Cat's ego is constantly rising or falling, yet she doesn't show it. Her defeat damaged her self-esteem, but not her determination I suppose." Jani reminded herself. She was getting frustrated that the other three still weren't present in the meeting room yet. "…Good god, am I the only one who bothers to be on time?!"

White Tuxedo sighed, simply shaking his head at Jani. "Patience, Jani, patience. They will arrive eventually. Think of it like waiting to get food out to a table. It takes time, but it is done eventually."

Jani huffed again, and lie her head onto the table. "Sir, you're only saying that as my previous occupation was a waitress. I am your second-in-command."

"I know, I know." White Tuxedo said to the other raposa. "Your impatience tends to be a mix of problematic and annoying. You really must work on it, or else it could lead to a hard place for a delicate creature such as yourself."

"Our lapin 'friend' is delicate as well, are they not?" Jani asked, disliking using the term 'friend' in reference to them. "They have difficulty with taking blows."

"Mages tend to be soft and not as physically bulky, dear Jani." White Tuxedo continued. "You are well aware that our friend is quite a powerhouse of a mage. They know what they're doing."

"And our mus friend? Has he not his own delicacies to his nature?" asked Jani.

"He is that of an artist. I've learned to not question art too much as each art has its own beauties."

Jani straightened herself off of the table and crossed her arms. Raising an eyebrow at her ally, she asked, "Yet we're trying to go against the Creator, who is the artist of this world and our life? I find your statement to be highly hypocritical." White Tuxedo only huffed back.

He twirled his cane and gazed out the window once again. "I cannot deny that the Creator herself is that of an artist. She did create this domain, and did create the life upon this world." He responded, keeping his calm. His monocle kept the light's glare when he looked back at Jani, smirking and proceeding to continue on his point. "However, I don't believe she is needed now. Look at all the harm our goddess has done to this world. It would be better if she was taken out of the equation, and her creations are left to rule the world, creating their own creations."

The female raposa at the table furrowed her brow at White Tuxedo, trying her best to understand his line of reasoning. It was very similar to the philosophy of Wilfre, after all. Jani wasn't going to deny that, and quickly brought in that point. "…That philosophy is similar to Wilfre's. Tell me then: what good will come out of using the Books to achieve our goal? We may only become like Wilfre then—as monsters with a hatred for the Creator, intending to destroy that who created us." White Tuxedo clicked his tongue.

"True, I have a similar philosophy to Wilfre. That I also cannot deny." White Tuxedo said. His smirk only grew bigger. "Still, Wilfre failed twice to rid of the Creator. He was desperate, especially in the second round—draining the world of its color to prevent it's 'inevitable destruction'. That Circi also failed in a similar attempt, trying to bring him back, only activating her near demise."

Jani frowned and raised an eyebrow. "And what makes our attempt any different from Wilfre's?"

White Tuxedo and Jani looked over when the door opened. Their late allies had finally arrived.

And now it was time to discuss a plan.

XxXxX

(Cavalier Soleil)

The heroes and their current allies looked upon the deck of the golden sun boat. In the distance, there was a castle-like fortress by the sea, with five tall towers. The central tower overlooked them all and was by far the tallest one. There was also a large, stony wall around the fortress that seemed to be some kind of defense for coming in.

Roselyynn and Thunder gazed upon the fortress with the most determination. This seemed to hark for the final confrontation with White Tuxedo—or at least, they supposed that it would be the case. It was like this on their past adventures, so it was likely the case now.

Penelope was the only one with insight. She knew they were to go to Castlebrooke, and after, they were apparently to go to the Gemstone Isle. She didn't know why they were to go to the Gemstone Isle, but in her mind, it indicated that their quest would be far from over. She prayed to the Creator, wondering if she could perhaps give any insight. The Creator said nothing. The rabbit sighed, bracing for the worst.

SOMETHING just didn't seem right as the Cavalier Soleil sailed closer and closer to the base. There was no attack upon the sun boat, or really any attempts to stop them. Maelynn and White Blaze especially seemed to be expecting an attack, and Wilfre occasionally looked out upon the waters to see if they had some sort of water attack set.

Nothing. Penelope looked to Wilfre, and approached him, asking him a question. "I know this may be an off time to ask, but did you ever set traps or any sort of protection at your Wasteland?" She inquired, trying to assess something. Wilfre continued to stare down at the water, but he heard Penelope's question fine. "Not necessarily. I tried to drive Jowee, Roselyynn and Thunder, and the other Raposa on Turtle Rock away by throwing Heather's Pendant into the ocean. That didn't work."

Penelope recalled to way back when, when she was still mentoring Roselyynn and Thunder and wasn't a shadowy trainwreck like she was now. Wilfre made it VERY hard to get to him. Hell, he even had a scorpion as the last line of defense before himself. He did have obstacles for Roselyynn and Thunder, but Penelope felt like he went easy on them.

…And there were literally two heroes fighting against him. Then again, from what Roselyynn and Thunder told her (and the villagers on a few occasions), their adventure was pretty easy except for a few parts. Roselyynn remembered the King and Queen boss fight in the Galactic Jungle, and it still gave her nightmares.

This definitely seemed too easy. Penelope had a bad feeling about what was going on and why. As she pondered, the Cavalier Soleil came to a stop at Castlebrooke's dock. The tall castled-fortress had an air of grace and intimidation to it. The heroes got off the ship and came to shore, staring up at the fortress. The tall towers were all they could see past the grey and white brick wall, which was incredibly underwhelming.

For starters, there were clear arched openings in the wall that a ship could easily slip into. It didn't look like there were any guards or defenses set up nearby it. Plus, there was yet ANOTHER opening, which looked like the main entrance. Again, there appeared to be no guards or any defenses of any kind. The approach just screamed that it was either a trap, or it was meant to ease the heroes for an ambush.

Maelynn knew it wouldn't be wise to simply charge in as a group, for it was a needlessly reckless and stupid approach. She knew that it would be good for them to split up into groups to handle specific affairs, but she didn't know what for.

Penelope brought up an important point that she had been holding off on until the right time. "Mari, Jowee, Heather and Circi are here in this fortress. I don't know where, but the Creator mentioned that they were imprisoned." She indicated with a wave of her paw. "They're likely in a dungeon area. I don't know where that is exactly, but we should probably split up to search accordingly.

Maelynn was about to call the shots, but Roselyynn butted in. "Thunder and I will be in a group." She declared. Maelynn blinked, crossing her arms in thought. She was going to put Roselyynn, Thunder and Penelope into a group, but it then occurred to her that Wilfre would be left alone. The Renard Mayor didn't trust him 100%, and Penelope was being left out of the heroes group, so she supposed it would be fine to pair Wilfre with Penelope.

And White Blaze with Wilfre and Penelope just for the heck of it. A group of three would be the maximum. Too many people in one group would be risky and make it hard to navigate around. Plus they'd get caught more easily. Wilfre and Penelope were technically the stealthiest out of the whole party as they could blend into the shadows.

However, Wilfre proceeded to disguise into Vincent in a surge of shadow. Rikki gave him an odd look, not considering why at the moment. Pointing at 'Vincent', he asked, "Wilfre, was it really necessary to disguise yourself here?"

"Mari, Jowee and Heather are here." Penelope spoke, answering for Wilfre. "We're mainly here to rescue them. If they saw Wilfre as Wilfre, I'm pretty sure Mari and Jowee would lose it."

"Wouldn't you be able to justify it in some way?" Maelynn asked. "You are the first creation hero. I'm pretty sure you'd be able to explain."

Penelope disagreed, thinking to what happened with Circi. "Yeahhh no. Mari would not take it well if she saw me and Wilfre together. I'm pretty sure she'd think I'd be turning my back on the village."

"…But Mari turned her back on her own village. You mean to say that she'd be upset if she saw you and Wilfre together for a justified reason?" Maelynn asked, her head starting to hurt a little.

'Vincent' spoke out of character for a moment. "Well, it's not like she knew about Penelope's presence during the other two's adventure to begin with. She was there the whole time."

Roselyynn and Thunder paused, and slowly turned back to Penelope. They seemed suspicious to hear that come from their shadow ally. Roselyynn was especially upset. "…What does 'there the whole time' mean? Is there something you need to tell us, Penelope?"

Penelope shot 'Vincent' a glare and quickly addressed Roselyynn and Thunder. "We'll talk about this later. I've sort of explained it, but it's not what it sounds like. I didn't betray the village like Mari did." Penelope said to Maelynn, trying her hardest to explain.

The sunny blonde Raposa didn't respond. She only kept what Penelope said in mind and decided to make no judgments yet. Instead, she decided to split the group up on their routes. Maelynn and her team headed towards the arch where boats could come in, as did Penelope and her team. Roselyynn and Thunder headed towards the central arch.

It was simpler for Roselyynn and Thunder to get in from the front, but not so much for Maelynn's group or Penelope's group. As they entered through the shade of what seemed to be a ship docking area, they observed how some of the Blackpaws' ships were at harbor here. As they got closer, they came across a larger, darker tunnel leading in, and there also appeared to be two other entries beside it.

Maelynn paused and considered her options. The larger way seemed to be for groups, and likely would be more guarded and heavily trafficked. It also led into the courtyard. The leftmost tunnel seemed to head up onto the barrier walls. The rightmost tunnel seemed to head down under the base. She looked to Penelope, who seemed to be tenser than she had before they entered. The rabbit heroine was fixated on the rightmost gate.

Maelynn raised an eyebrow and was about to ask what was wrong. Penelope suddenly walked forward towards the rightmost tunnel as if in a trance. Her teammates around her heard her say, "I sense shadow in this path" as she walked, and she began heading through the tunnel and down the stairs. 'Vincent' and White Blaze stared at each other, appearing fairly confused, and decided that going right was the direction they were going. They went after Penelope in a brisk pace, hoping that she wasn't about to do something stupid.

Maelynn shrugged, looking at the leftmost path. "Hmm. Well, it seems that we'll be going up first." She said, looking around and being cautious. The sunny blonde looked back at Rikki and Aurora and motioned for them to be quiet as they went up, not knowing what would happen before them when they went upstairs.

The three raposa acted stealthily and cautiously as they crept up the stairs. Maelynn went up first to make sure that there wasn't too much danger to face, keeping her paw upon the handle of her rapier. When she stopped almost at the top of the stairwell, she motioned for the two rapos behind her to continue staying quiet and stay where they were. She scoped out the large, circular walkway that surrounded Castlebrooke.

There were guards about. Some of them were Blackpaw gato, but oddly enough, there were Mus guards there too. The guards seemed to have rotations, and they were paired up in groups of two, with another observation being that they were spaced out.

A thought crept across Maelynn's mind when she considered that there were guards present, but not around the lower wall, the harbor, or even the gate. They were here, and they clearly would have seen them park the Cavalier Soleil. Wouldn't White Tuxedo have set up defenses to attack any incoming ships that would be dangerous to Castlebrooke?

Unless…

Maelynn's face paled when it occurred to her that White Tuxedo likely HAD been expecting the Cavalier Soleil to arrive.

And that he wanted the heroes to come to him so that they'd be taken out that way.

As Maelynn was considering what to do, one of the Mus guards noticed Maelynn's tall fox ears twitching. With no hesitation, raising their energy pistol, they fired at Maelynn and she quickly dodged, finding that they either had to leave or fight. She managed to block a few more hits with her rapier, and she decided running likely wouldn't be best. She dashed up the stairs, and slid to the side to dodge a few more blasts, quickly doubting herself and wondering if she was being reckless.

Rikki and Aurora knew something was wrong and came to Maelynn's support. They saw Maelynn clutch onto her rapier and drew it, going towards her attackers and slashed to make them slightly back off before going into a thrust.

The Renard Mayor quickly learned that her opponents had swords along with guns. When pushed back, they both came at her with their swords. A gear-shaped watch whizzed past Maelynn's head and whacked one of the Mus, with a bronze chain pulling the watch back.

Rikki wasn't willing to allow Maelynn to be hurt. He focused on hitting from a distance while Maelynn handled attacking defensively. Aurora didn't attack until the Gato guards decided to attack.

All Maelynn could hope was that this didn't turn into too much of a big mess.

XxXxX

(Roselyynn and Thunder)

While Maelynn, Rikki and Aurora were fighting atop the Castlebrooke barrier walls, Roselyynn and Thunder were finding that they were having issues getting to the Central Tower like they would've liked to. Their problem wasn't guards, but more like they were being bombarded by that of a magic defense system that was currently kicking their butt.

It was like there was some way to deactivate it, but the two of them didn't know how they were going to. There were guards in the central courtyard area, but they only seemed to attack when the two heroes were taken off guard and were too busy trying to avoid the defenses.

Thunder wished that Penelope was there to help them strategize around this. He knew that she was in some other part of the fortress with Wilfre and White Blaze at the moment, likely looking for where Mari and the others were, and trying to help them escaped. He felt uneasy that they had gone in Leroy Jenkins style.

Roselyynn, on the other hand, who was well aware of the fact they were in a bind, seemed to be enjoying the challenge immensely. Deep down, she did want Penelope's help, but she wasn't going to admit it to herself. She rejected that desire and continued trying to push forward.

She couldn't deny Thunder's uncertainty. The lilac-eyed girl noticed Thunder's occasional worried and doubtful glances. It was like he wanted to say something to her, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Roselyynn wondered if there was some way to get him to activate Thunderstruck.

Thunderstruck would be really helpful to have around right now. Of course, Roselyynn had no idea how to push him to activate it and whether or not it was a horrible mistake wanting that to happen, but she thought it would be nice for him to be here. She didn't want to push Thunder into activating the form, as there would be consequences for even wanting that.

For now, it just seemed like it would be best to continue what they were doing and try to make it to the Central Tower or get thrown out in a very unceremonious fashion trying to do so.

XxXxX

(Penelope, Wilfre and White Blaze)

Penelope had been weirdly quiet as they were taking the lower path. By the looks of it, it led somewhere under Castlebrooke like they had initially anticipated, and it seemed like they were going in through a dungeon.

The rabbit hero was almost in a trance-like state. She just kept walking in the direction where she seemed to have sensed shadow. White Blaze and 'Vincent' were on their guard. There was likely going to be some kind of defense down here, but they hadn't come across anything yet.

Nothing from above had been heard in this lower level. The group had no idea how far down this place was, or if it was soundproof, but White Blaze was concerned that something bad had happened to their friends above. 'Vincent' didn't understand why Penelope had gone into a trance.

When the Creator spoke to Penelope, the rabbit stopped in her tracks. "They're up ahead. Just be careful though. I don't think there are any guards down here yet, as there are some fighting Maelynn, Rikki and Aurora up on the walls and some fighting Roselyynn and Thunder plus a magical defense system." Penelope snapped back into reality when she heard her and nodded.

She began moving at a faster pace, which forced White Blaze and 'Vincent' to keep up. Penelope paused when she got to where she sensed shadow goo the strongest and turned to face the cell on her left.

There were four Raposa in the cell. One was praying while holding a red book in her arms, one was pacing, one was in the backleft corner and seemed to have given up, and one was sitting down on a long stone slab in the wall.

All of them were familiar, and Penelope knew who they were. She got closer to the door and gently knocked on the steel bars, catching their attention. Mari, who was praying to the Creator and clutching the Book of Life, looked up to see Penelope, a cat she didn't know, and a black-furred raposa she didn't know.

She was hesitant to move closer, pointing at the Gato. "Penelope…? Is that one of those strange cat guards behind you?" She asked wearily, untrusting of the cat's presence. White Blaze appeared to be a little offended. "I'm not strange. And I'm most certainly not associated with the Blackpaws." Blaze said with a huff.

Mari didn't know what Blaze was talking about, but she still didn't entirely trust her. Then there was 'Vincent', who wasn't looking at anyone in the cell and looking back towards the stairs. The Raposa Mayor proceeded to inquire about him. "Who is that other Raposa with you?"

Penelope had to remember to address him as his current disguise and not blow his cover. "Oh! That's Vincent. He's been travelling with us for a while." She explained. Jowee had broken out of his pacing, looking absolutely relieved to see Penelope, as he went straight to the bars when he stopped his pace.

Mari was pleasantly surprised to hear the term "us" used. "Wait, "us"? There are more people with you?"

Penelope nodded, pointing up. "Yes. I've been travelling with Roselyynn, Thunder and three raposa from a village east of ours for a while. The Creator mentioned that you were here and safe a while ago." She explained. Mari looked incredibly relieved, but then there was another issue.

"Oh thank the Creator!" She cried, breaking Heather (who had been sitting in the corner) and Circi (who had been sitting on the bench) out of their thinking. The two of them were just as happy to see Penelope as the other two were.

Mari frowned, thinking for a moment. Looking at Penelope, she asked, "Actually, Penelope, do you know how you're going to get us out of here?"

Penelope paused, realizing that she hadn't thought to that point. White Blaze pulled her Phoenix-Feather Spear off her back and pushed Penelope aside.

The four raposa in the cell had no idea what she was doing until they noticed that she was attempting to pick at the lock with the tip of her spear. When that didn't seem to be working, she decided to take out a torch from her belt and strike it against the metal bars. 'Vincent', who was alarmed by the noise, gave Blaze an incredulous look.

"White Blaze, what are you doing?" He asked in a harsh whisper. "You know we're in enemy territory, right? You're making a lot of noise!" White Blaze's blue eyes stared at him as the torch lit and she proceeded to light her spear's tip on fire.

Under the orange-yellow glow of the flames, Penelope observed a red radiance glow off the tip and vanish. The flames grew even hotter, and White Blaze brought the tip of the spear back to the lock, heating it up. She wiggled her spear's tip around, and forced the metal to expand so that it would be easier to pick the lock or melt it off. She attempted to do both as she handled the lock, holding the spear in one paw, and holding the torch in the other. Blaze put the handle of the torch in her mouth and got her canteen of water off from the side of her belt with her free hand, flicking off the cap and pouring water on the torch to put it out.

Promptly after, the torch and the canteen were put on her belt, and Blaze had somehow managed to get the lock off. Penelope's rabbit ears extended and wrapped around bars on the door, pulling the door open. White Blaze stepped out of the way when she saw Penelope's ears move and put her spear back in its original position.

'Vincent' genuinely had no idea how White Blaze did that, but he continued to keep watch while Penelope freed Mari, Jowee, Heather and Circi from their cell. For a moment, Circi stared at 'Vincent', like she sensed something off about him, before looking away.

Penelope and White Blaze went to ushering the four raposa in the direction of the stairs, and 'Vincent' remained in the back, keeping watch. When he noticed some Blackpaw guards coming, he made them move faster. The group managed to slip out okay, though 'Vincent' heard the guards still coming when they realized the prisoners had gotten out.

He would've attacked or did something to fend them off, but as he didn't have a weapon and Mari, Jowee and Heather were literally right there, he couldn't use anything shadow-based as it was absolutely necessary to keep his disguise. Circi's presence was not helping him in the slightest, but something else made him feel off and oddly difficult to hold his current form.

Penelope and White Blaze were ready to pull out their weapons as they went back upstairs. Maelynn, Rikki and Aurora were coming downstairs from the walls, looking roughed up and frantic. Mari was confused when she saw more people. "Who are they?" She asked, worriedly clutching the Book of Life.

"We don't have time for questions right now. There are guards coming after us, and we must get back to the Cavalier Soleil." Maelynn answered frantically, not looking at any of the four Raposa they had just freed and rather, looking at White Blaze, Penelope and 'Vincent'. Knowing the current situation, Maelynn's group led Mari, Jowee, Heather and Circi to the ship while Penelope's group covered them.

There was no sign of Roselyynn and Thunder as they were heading back to the ship. Penelope was concerned for their safety until the pair was suddenly flung over the walls and back where they started. Somehow, Thunder managed to lose only the color on his arms and legs, while Roselyynn had lost the color on her mannequin up to her head. Clearly she had been the more reckless one out of the two of them.

Penelope put her stubby hands on her hips and stared down at her two students from the Cavalier Soleil. "Roselyynn? Thunder? Can you two get up or did your mannequins break?"

Roselyynn shot Penelope a glare and stood up, pulling Thunder up with her. She dragged the other hero onto the ship with her. 'Vincent' appeared to be visibly uncomfortable by Circi's presence still, and Penelope noticed that he was struggling to keep his form.

Maelynn and Rikki went to setting the Cavalier Soleil into sail. The path leading down to shore and rebuilt the side of the ship to where it was once again whole.

Jowee took a deep breath of the fresh air as they sailed away from Castlebrooke. "It's great to be out of that cramped cell and back on a new adventure! Where are we going next?" He asked, calling back to whoever knew. Maelynn appeared to be visibly exhausted and Rikki was in the worst state out of everyone, on par with Roselyynn in terms of injury. His blue robes and his yellow scarf were visibly messed up by the battle. He had brought spare changes of clothing, but all were primarily in a blue ensemble.

Looking to Maelynn, he said, "We need to regroup back at the Village. White Tuxedo really screwed us up, and we need to figure out what to do. Being on this boat traveling to the Creator-knows-where isn't helping anyone!" He exclaimed, sounding exasperated with the travels and what had happened.

Mari clutched tightly onto the Book of Life, getting frustrated from the lack of answers she was getting from the group. Looking to the sunny blonde raposa who was managing the wheel, she asked, "What is going on? Where are we going and why?" She asked.

Silently, Maelynn looked at Mari. She felt mixed emotions for looking at the Raposa for the first time. This was the first time she had properly met her, despite hearing so much about her. However, now wasn't the time to be worrying about emotions. "We have to return to the Renard Village to regroup. We were a lot more underprepared than we anticipated, and it seems our foe was waiting for us." She said, keeping calm.

Mari drew closer, still looking perplexed. There were part familiar, but some unfamiliar around her. The newcomers on the ship were wary of their company, even if they didn't explicitly show it. She looked back at Heather, Jowee and Circi. Jowee was gazing back at Castlebrooke as it grew further away, Heather was trying to determine her surroundings, and Circi was giving 'Vincent' a curious stare.

The Raposa was about to leave the deck to go to his chambers, only for him to lose his form with a gasp. Penelope was taken off guard, noting Wilfre was very good at staying in a disguise for a particularly long period of time, and also act differently for a long period of time. The shadow being was shocked to see he had lost his form.

And the fact that Mari, Jowee and Heather (three Raposa who happened to hate him for very good reasons) saw him lose his form. Hell, they were surprised that he was still alive. "Wilfre? How? You've been taken down twice, yet you somehow keep coming back?!" Mari asked, her face flushed as red as a beet.

Penelope was about to comment, but stopped herself. She looked away at the sky, confusing Roselyynn and Thunder. So badly, Penelope wanted to bring up an important point, but she couldn't find herself to speak. She was terrified to do so.

Wilfre did not intend to lose his form of Vincent. He didn't understand why he had lost his form at such an inconvenient time. He had tuned out Mari's question and was currently trying to figure out what could've made him revert to his true form.

There was an incredibly long pause from most of the group on the ship. It was observed by the newcomers that they were aware of Wilfre's presence, but weren't bothered by it, as if they were used to him being there. In fact, the heroes didn't seem surprised or shocked. Mari looked curiously to Maelynn, who seemed to not address the problem.

"Did you know that he was here?"

"Yes. He's been our ally for a while now." Maelynn answered, keeping her cool as she continued to lead the ship across the sea.

"And you're okay with this?"

"Even if I don't fully trust him, I know cooperation is key. If he was helping White Tuxedo, I don't think he would've came to us first."

"Wilfre tried to destroy the world and put it into a place of darkness and colorlessness." Mari indicated, trying to justify as to why it wasn't a good idea to trust him. "Plus, he's skilled at manipulation and misleading trust. How do you know if he's not just in it for the world's destruction?"

"I'm aware of what he did and what he's capable of." Maelynn replied. "Still, despite knowing what he pulled, and the possibility he could turn on us, I believe he's aware that we can turn on him as quickly as he on us. This situation isn't as simple as whether or not one can automatically deemed good or evil by deeds they have done."

Mari shook her head. "Still, Wilfre did try to bring the world into a colorless despair, and has done awful things out of spite to the Creator. You can't just trust him so easily because of the face he's putting on now."

Maelynn was getting annoyed about how they seemed to be working in circles. Mari didn't seem to understand the fact that Maelynn didn't completely trust Wilfre. The same logic could be applied to Mari.

And Maelynn was not going to back down from bringing it up. "Still, couldn't the same be said for you? Despite your village needed you and your leadership, you left them, blinded by the "reality" that was to fall upon our world. You had to be reassured—convinced to come back. Jowee had to take the role of leadership in your absence, yet your people had expected you to lead as your ancestors had done before you. How do we know that you won't commit an act of cowardice again?" Mari was left speechless, and Jowee was taken out of watching the ship sail away to look back at Maelynn in shock that she had known about this, and in such detail.

"We just met, but you know us at the same time." Jowee said in awe. Rikki, who was obsessing over his tattered robes and despairing, quickly brought up a point to the Raposa who was his lighter-furred doppelgänger. "The creation heroes filled us in with what happened during the Isolation. Penelope explained part one, the three of them switched off on part two, and Roselyynn and Thunder explained part 3."

Mari gave Roselyynn and Thunder a disappointed look. "Why did you tell them that I sided with Wilfre at one point due to realizing the world was in danger?"

Thunder decided to let Roselyynn explain it. She wouldn't be as remorseful for expressing her emotions to Mari. "You ditched us in the middle of the night! Why wouldn't we mention that you did that? We can't paint everyone as a perfect saint." Roselyynn looked over at Penelope, unnecessarily bringing her into this. "…Right Penelope?"

The rabbit proceeded to bring herself out of it, deciding to go to her room and rest. "Nobody ever said I was a saint. I'd prefer to stay out of this, noting that technically, I wasn't included in your story. At least, not directly until the end."

"What do you mean by "you technically weren't included until the end"? Why do you seem to keep hiding things from us, Penelope?!" Roselyynn shouted after her. Penelope refused to give her an answer.

Then again, the lack of answers was going to be the least of the problems that they were going to face on this voyage back to the Renard Village.