"Our hero… is a girl?" Jowee asked, staring at disbelief at the animated mannequin before him. "You know, I was expecting a great male adventurer, not…mmph!" He was cut off by Mari, who had put her little hands over the other Raposa's mouth.
"I'm sorry, Creator! He doesn't mean that," said Mari apologetically as she looked up at the ceiling.
"As a matter of fact, her name is Riza," the Creator replied, not showing any type of response to that. "She does not talk, so do not try to attempt a conversation." The mannequin glared at Jowee with those scarlet eyes of hers, obviously unhappy about Jowee's inferences. Deciding that she'd spent long enough in this dusty old hallway, she went out into the frigid air.
The first word – or words - that would have come to mind when you saw the old Raposa Town would have been "wreck". Or "ghost town", really; the old town really looked like a mess in its current state. The clock tower in the town was old and rusted, springs beginning to fall out of it. Had Riza not been wearing a sweater, she would have been shivering; the icy blue, dead grass in the town really showed that it was cold. Too cold, Riza felt as she walked around. She tried to take a look at the rest of the town, but it appeared to be shrouded in pitch-black darkness.
Mari and Jowee, on the other hand, saw Riza wandering around precariously, and stared at the "hero" for a moment. Suddenly, they were alerted to the sound of sobbing from somewhere nearby.
"Mommy, Daddy…please help me!" the shopkeeper's daughter, Cindi, was saying between sobs. "I'm scared…"
Mari knelt down so she was eye level with the small Raposa. "Don't worry. You're safe. Just come with us, okay?" she told Cindi, trying to sound as soothing as possible. The elder Raposa girl held out her hand, and the younger one took it.
"Yeah, yeah, so we found Cindi, great. Can we get to work on finding the rest of the townspeople yet?" Jowee said, tapping his foot impatiently. "Come on, we gotta go to the Snow Fields."
"Riza!" cried Jowee, running towards the mannequin after a few minutes. "You ready to go? The exit's that way." Riza nodded, and the two headed towards the front of the town, Mari and Cindi following behind.
It was when they finally got to the gate that a cryptic shadow emerged from the blackness beyond. His appearance was like that of a normal Raposa, but this one was pitch-black in color. His eyes, only white, appeared to be the warning sign to Riza that this Raposa was definitely not on their side.
The shadow Raposa smirked. "Well, well, well," he said, in a surprisingly smooth voice for a person like him. "It's the delusional young Rapo group and their cute wittle creation."
Riza gritted her teeth. Already this guy was on her bad side, and she felt that if this was what she had to face, she would definitely enjoy beating the pulp out of him.
"You're too late," he continued, closing his eyes and smirking. "Your mayor is already done for."
"You… you're saying you hurt my dad?!" shrieked Mari, obviously trying very hard not to lash out and attack.
Jowee, on the other hand, was a lot more confused than the mayor's daughter was. He adjusted his goggles nervously. "Ehehe…right…who are you exactly?"
The shadowy being opened his eyes, staring right at Jowee. "So no one told you a creepy bedtime story about me, I presume." He walked over to the young Raposa. "If you insignificant Rapos must know my name, it's Wilfre." Continuing his little monologue, he told them, "I've torn the pages out of the Book of Life. They've probably scattered around the world right now!"
He laughed, and it sent a chill down Riza's spine. Yep. He was definitely evil, no doubt about it.
"Are you going to stand there all day and lecture us, huh? 'Cause only lame villains do that," Jowee piped up, looking at Wilfre angrily.
"No," said Wilfre plainly. "But I will do this." He snapped his fingers… and the gate was shrouded in darkness. "Now you're trapped like mice." The shadow began to walk back into the darkness. "Resistance is futile, remember that," he said before he vanished.
There was a moment of silence. "Now what?"
Mari turned towards Jowee. "We head for the Snow Gate. It's the only other way to get there!"
So yeah, I kinda neglected this for a while. Again. Sorry!
And yeah, Riza is mute because the original hero was mute. No Riza/Wilfre pairing in this one, because I realized that pairing OCs with canon characters is a really hard thing to do right. There will be humor though, so don't worry!
After this will come chapter 3's remake and possibly Chapter 4's too. Two for the price of one!