Meanwhile...
At James's house...
The man was sitting at his house with his girlfriend was sitting next to him on the couch. James's girlfriend, who's name is Jenny, still has straight black hair with her casual dark blue beret. She also wore a dark gray jacket with a dark blue t-shirt underneath that had a rocket on the ground. She also wore a dark brown skirt and gray leggings. All in all, Jenny hasn't really changed her looks months after everything happened.
The couple were sitting there on the couch, watching TV like they usually do, aside from playing video games. All was peaceful for the two. Not a single sound was heard, except for the TV, and the wind outside.
That was when Leaf arrived at the house...
In the backyard, Leaf fell out of the portal, screaming as he landed onto a random bush was that in James's backyard. This was heard by both James and Jenny, catching both of them caught, completely off-guard. The two turned their heads, surprised by the sound of Leaf screaming outside the house.
The two stood up from the couch, then went over to the back door of the house. They exited the house, running over to the bush, hoping that Leaf was alright and not hurt. Thankfully, for them, Leaf stood up from the ground, brushing himself off, as if what happened didn't even hurt him one bit.
"Don't worry about me, guys. I'm totally alright." Leaf said, as he straightens his hat. "Anyways, sorry for the sudden surprise. I came here because of some awesome news that I am here to tell...you two, as well as Makoto." Leaf then looks over to the house. "By the way, is Makoto here too? This also concerns her." James shook his head at Leaf's question.
"Actually, no. Makoto is at the lab building that Dr. F and Alexa Lexington both work at in the Industrial Park." James said. "So, it's only me and Jenny right now."
"Ah, okay...well, should we go get her? Or should I tell you guys what I have to say?"
Jenny places her hands on her hips, raising an eyebrow at the elf. "What...exactly are you wanting to tell us, Leaf?" Jenny asked him.
"I was just going to tell you, your boyfriend, and Makoto that you guys are going to the 'Forest of the Elves', that's all."
Jenny looked surprised hearing that being said. "Wait, what?! You want me, James, and Makoto to just go off to the island that you live on?" Leaf smiled, nodding his head. "Does Petal know about this? I'm not too sure she'd be completely okay with something like this."
"Well of course Petal is okay with this, Jenny. Why wouldn't she?" Leaf then looks over to James. "Besides, what's the big deal anyway? She knows who you two, and Makoto are, so there's really no issue here." Leaf then looks over to James, giving the human a smile before speaking with him next. "Hopefully, I'm not just...bringing you guys over on a bad time, right?"
"Well, not a all, really." James said. "I mean, a bit awkward, considering that...me and you had this conversation two days ago. I thought you were talking about like, I don't know, a week, or a month or so. I didn't know you meant like two days later or so."
Leaf shrugged his shoulders. "Well..." he then stopped, before lowering his arms. "...Honestly, I got nothing to say on that one."
"Well, me and James were not really planning on doing anything today, thankfully enough...aside from watching TV, or video games, or...what we usually do, so...I guess if James is in, I'm totally fine with this." Jenny said. "What do you think, James?"
The geeky boy could only shrug his shoulders at this. "It's unexpected, but...hey, I am a man of my word, so..." James turns his head towards the elf. "Sure thing, dude. I'm okay with going there."
"Awesome." Leaf said, before James continued to speak.
"Just as long as the other elves in your village are totally okay with us coming along."
"Hey, considering that WE saved the world, including those guys, I'm pretty sure they are now cool with you guys showing up around there. Trust me."
James shrugged, not wanting to argue with Leaf on this one. "If you say so..."
"I know so, James." The human still cringed, before Leaf decided to ask one more thing. "Anyways, should we pick up Makoto, or is she too busy with Dr. F and Alexa?" Jenny spoke up once again.
"Me and James actually went there this morning to see if Makoto was willing to hang out today, but Alexa said she was going to be busy all day today." Jenny said. "So, today, it'll just be me and James."
"Damn...oh well...maybe next time." Leaf shook his head. "I actually miss that girl sometimes."
Leaf walks over to the picnic table like last time, getting on top of it. He closes his eyes, holding up his hands, rotating his hands, causing a giant portal to form front in front of James and Jenny. The two humans stood there, looking at the portal in awe, as it grew bigger and bigger. Big enough for them to back up, onto the first step that leads up to the back door of the house behind them.
James held onto the rail, making sure that he wasn't falling into the vortex below just yet. He looks over to Leaf, who was now opening his eyes to see his two friends still standing there on the steps. He points down at the portal in front of him.
"Well what are you two standing there for?!" Leaf shouts at them. "Jump before it disappears!"
"Are you sure this is safe?! What if we land in a dangerous spot on your island?!" James shouts.
"Look, for the most part, whenever I make a portal, I'm lucky enough to land in front of my own house! I'm pretty sure that this portal will lead to the front of my house like...sometimes always."
"Alright!"
James threw himself into the portal, screaming as he fell into it. Jenny soon followed, jumping into the portal, holding onto her beret in the process. Once both of the humans had both jumped into the portal, Leaf leaps off of the picnic tables, landing into it. After all three of them fell into the portal, the portal disappeared from James's backyard.
Back at the castle...
Petal was just walking down the left corridor, making her way to the dining room of the castle to finally have some breakfast. She stared out the windows to her right as she was walking down the corridor, enjoying the sight of Nature outside of the castle as she passed. It felt pretty peaceful for her.
But during her walk, she couldn't help but feel a little uncomfortable about something. While she was walking to the dining room, she couldn't help but somehow hear the sound of walking behind her. She knew it wasn't Tulip, since she was already in the dining room already. Petal walked a little bit quicker to the dining room, feeling unsafe in the corridor alone now.
Inside the dining room...
Tulip was bringing a plate of food over to the dining room table. The female elf places the two plates she had in her hands, down onto the table, right as Petal was entering the room. Petal went over to the chair she usually sits at, and then sat down, without a word being said.
"Oh...Petal..." Tulip said as she sat down next. "...You seem to be worried about something. Is everything alright?" Petal picks up her fork, as she just silently stared at her house. She finally spoke as she started to eat.
"It's probably going to sound ridiculous of me to even say..." Petal said, before turning her head away from her breakfast. "I just keep hearing weird sounds throughout the castle's corridors on the way here. It sounded like footsteps to me."
"Footsteps? Could it be Leaf once again? Or maybe even Pine-Cone?" Petal shook her head at those ideas.
"I highly doubt they are as fast as...whoever that was. I know Leaf or Pine-Cone wouldn't behave in such a manner as what I heard moments ago."
Tulip turned her head towards the door Petal came from, rather confused. She then stood up from her chair, walking her way over to the door to see if there was anyone out there or not. The elf takes a peek into the corridor to see if anyone was in this room or not. However, upon looking out in the corridor, there was nobody there.
Tulip closes the door, heading back to the table to sit down with Petal once again. "Well, I do not see anything in there, Petal." Tulip said, before sitting down in the chair she was sitting on before. "I believe that whatever you had heard moments ago must've been apart of your imagination. Our minds play tricks on us sometimes, Petal."
"True, but...I swear, I wasn't hearing things. I did hear footsteps on my way over here." Petal said. "Sorry if I sound paranoid, but...I just fear that something or somebody is inside of this castle as we speak."
"Petal, I don't want to say that you're wrong, but I didn't see anyone out there. If there was somebody else in the castle, I'm certain I would've known about it ahead of time."
"You mind like me?" A completely different voice said inside the room with the two elves.
The two female elves stared at each other, as their faces retorted into ones with fear. They then turned their heads towards the direction of the door that leads to the door that leads to the kitchen. There was nobody there, standing at the doorway.
Petal then looks up, noticing that the person who was speaking was standing on top of the door-frame, glaring at the door of them. The eyes on the fox mask glowed as the person was staring directly at the two. The two elf girls quickly stood up from the table, looking at the person in fear as they glared down at them.
"W-Who are you?" Petal asked, stepping back from the table, not moving her eyes from the figure standing on the top of the door-frame. "Why are you here?" The figure then points towards the two of them.
"I was looking for you two. That's why." The mysterious human said, glaring down at the two of them.