It didn't take long for James, Jenny, and Pine-Cone arrived at the castle...
The three of them entered the castle, walking into the throne room first. To James and Jenny, it was almost amazing how beautiful this room was upon entering. It was like nothing that the two had ever seen before in their lives. But the amazement was short-lived, as they had to stay focused on Leaf's safety.
Pine-Cone decided to guide the two humans to the last room that he saw Petal and Tulip in, which was the dining room. He ran over to the door to the right of the throne room, pointing at it, telling the couple that they needed to go through the right corridor first. James and Jenny ran over to the door that Pine-Cone was at, running through the corridor to get to the dining room.
Arriving at the dining room door, the three of them saw Tulip about to walk into the room to check on Petal. Tulip looks over to the three who were coming over to her right now. She even took notice of James and Jenny while the three were coming over to her.
"Uh...who are those two?" Tulip asked, pointing at the humans that Pine-Cone had with him.
"They're friends with Leaf. Don't worry, they are not with that psycho who tried to let me drown last night." Pine-Cone said, vouching the two humans behind him. "Also, Leaf probably mentioned to you, they were there when he was stopping that Preston person from using the Nightmare Crown."
"Those two?" Tulip looks over to James and Jenny again. "Then my apologies."
"No problem, dude." James said. "But if you don't mind...we're kind of in a bit of a rush." Tulip opens the door to the dining room, letting the four of them into it.
The group walked in, only to turn their heads to see the masked human, with their mask off, and their back turned towards them. Leaf and Petal were standing in front of the human, a few feet away from her. None of the four really knew what was going on, but from the looks of it, it didn't appear that Leaf and the human fought any longer after they found themselves here.
Tulip was about to confront the human about the fight, only for the human to turn around, revealing themselves to her and the other three as well. The woman turns around, as Tulip stopped in her tracks, seeing that the human who had almost killed Pine-Cone was a woman. Even Pine-Cone himself was taken aback at this.
James and Jenny stood there silently, however, Jenny appeared to be a little more shocked than her boyfriend. She stared at this person for a few good seconds, before she finally realized something about this person. She knew who this person actually was. She seen her quite recently back in her hometown.
After realizing this, she finally said something, stepping forward towards the pink-haired woman and Tulip. "Hey...I know you!" Jenny said, pointing at the woman with pink hair. James raises an eyebrow at Jenny.
"Babe, you know this woman?" James asked her. "They're saying she was going to let Pine-Cone drown last night."
"I know...I know...but..." Jenny points at the woman with pink hair, deciding to cut to the chase on who she is. "...Back in our town, there was a ninja that was roaming around our town as if they were some sort of vigilante when the agents weren't around. I didn't talk to you, but I know the other agents did." Jenny lowers her arm, looking at the pink-haired woman still. "I don't exactly know all of the details of what happened, as she mostly appeared at the Agency during the night, which is when I'm not working. All I know is that a couple days later, she disappeared, and somehow, she ends up here."
After a long amount of time of being silent, the woman went over to the dining room table. She removes one of the chairs from it, placing it aside in order to sit on top of the table. She sits down, taking the collar off of her neck, keeping it in her hands as she finally spoke.
"Then I believe I owe most of you an explanation, yes?" The woman asked. Tulip narrows her eyes at her.
"You sure as hell do." Tulip said, still not happy with her.
"Very well then..." The woman places her collar aside as she spoke. "...In truth, my name is Star. I am the leader of a ninja tribe down in the isolated island of the Crescent Moon Village." She points to Jenny. "My intention of going to your town was because a...person who I use to trust had...stolen the Blade of Destiny from my village, and have him punished for his actions. I, along with the agents, had succeeded, and I was on my way home...however, the cargo ship I took to get return to my island had somehow sank." Star then turns her head towards Pine-Cone. "Which, in turn, is how I ended up arriving here unexpectedly."
"You still tried to let me drown..." Pine-Cone said, pointing at her.
"...I thought you were...him...the person who had betrayed my village..." Star looks up at Pine-Cone. "...As for you, I would've..." Pine-Cone scoffs hearing that said.
"I heavily doubt that."
"Dude, knock it off already. Be grateful I saved you instead." Leaf said to his friend, before looking at Star again. "Anyway, uh...please, continue."
"Why thank you. The only reason why I was coming up here to the castle in the first place wasn't to harm or kill anyone. I was only here to talk to the person who is the leader here." Star said, before pointing towards Petal and Tulip. "As these two were the only ones present here, I believe one of you were the leader, correct?"
Petal raises a hand. "That would be me." Petal said. "But...what were you going to explain to me about?" Star stood up from the table, looking at the collar that she always wore.
"My mask is my only means of communication to get off of this island, but unfortunately, the explosion probably damaged it when the ship sank. So it appears that I am trapped here until further notice." Star stood up from the table, before placing the collar around her neck again. "If I'm stuck here, I believe it's only right of me to ask how life is on this island."
Petal and Tulip looked at each other, still feeling a little weary about this woman. But despite the fighting that had happened, it seemed like this person was calm, yet seemingly civil. Not to mention that she's right about being trapped here, as the island was isolated as well. The only option at this point is to trust Star.
"Well...I guess I'll be able to show you around the island." Petal said. She then looks at Pine-Cone, Leaf, James, and Jenny. "As for you four, I believe I am going to be busy for awhile. I will find one of you later on." Leaf gives Petal a salute, smiling at her.
"Alrighty, Petal." Leaf said.
That was when the group went two separate ways. Petal, Tulip, and Star went off into the corridor to the left, while James, Jenny, Leaf, and Pine-Cone all went back down the hallway that leads to the exit. While he exits the room, Leaf looks behind his shoulder, seeing Petal walking away with Tulip and Star. He took a sigh to himself, before following his friends to the castle's exit.
With Leaf...
"I still don't know about that woman, friends." Pine-Cine said as he and the rest of the group exited the castle. "Are we going to forget that she had almost aloud me to die? Should we really allow her to be trusted near Petal and Tulip despite that?"
"Get over it, dude. We already agreed that she thought you were...whoever that dude who betrayed her village was." Leaf said. Pine-Cone peers over to his friend, almost glaring at him.
"Yes, I know we agreed. But she still has me weary if she should still be trusted or not."
"Well, she's trapped here..."
"But you know how to create portals that leads to where the humans live, yes?"
"Yeah, but...I don't know where her village even is. So at the end of the day, she's trapped here, dude." Pine-Cone sighed, not wanting to continue this argument any further. He looks forward, ready to head off back to the village.
"Very well. I believe I should be going now. I hopefully will talk to you later on, Leaf."
"Yeah, will do."
Pine-Cone heads down the stairs, leaving Leaf alone with James and Jenny near the front door of the castle. Leaf just looks back at the castle behind him, before he decided to also go down the stairs, back to the village. James and Jenny soon followed him down the stairs.
James went up next to Leaf, who just stared down at the steps. "Sorry about that. Pine-Cone can be a little stubborn at times, you know?" Leaf said to his friends. "He and I have became a little bit better as friends, but, really, he still has his problems. Being a stubborn asshole at times is one of them." James shrugged his shoulders as he places his hands in his jacket pockets.
"Sorry to hear, man." James said to him. "But...hey, at least you're no longer on bad terms with him, am I right?"
"At least." Leaf then looks behind himself at the castle once again, before turning his head towards his friend. "Hey...can I ask you something important? It's about Petal?"
The human boy nodded his head. "Sure, Leaf. What's up?"
"Well...it involves one part of that conversation that we had like, two days ago...if you remember that." He chuckles nervously, before he looks forward. "So, the day after me and you hung out, I went to Petal to tell her about getting you, Jenny, and Makoto here, and...well...let's just say that I tried to talk to her about..." He cringed. "...My feelings for her."
James's eyes widened hearing that. "Really?" Leaf nodded his head. "...What did she say?"
"She said nothing, I said I 'tried' to talk to her, not that I actually did talk to her about it. I tried to say something...only to just...I don't know...no longer speak. I just couldn't bring myself to tell her for some reason. You get what I mean?" James cringed, before nodding his head. "I mean...I never felt my tongue go completely dry, talking to Petal before, and now...this happens. Why the hell didn't I say shit to her back there?"
"Eh, that's love for you, Leaf."
"Being sarcastic isn't helping me one bit. Not cool, dude!" Leaf said, looking angry at James, poking the man on his chest. James waves a hand, making the elf stop poking him.
"Okay, okay, sorry!" The boys stopped in their tracks, causing Jenny to stop, catching up to the two in the process. "Okay. I can see that you don't seem to have the courage to talk to Petal about your true feelings for her. I get it."
"What are you two boys talking about over here?" Jenny asked her boyfriend.
"Just talking about love. That's all."
"I tried to tell Petal that I wanted to be more than friends, but I was unable to say anything to her." Leaf said, crossing his arms. "Seeing you two together for awhile now, I thought trying to get Petal as my girlfriend is going to be easy." The elf then threw his arms into the air. "Apparently not."
"You almost told Petal that you wanted to date her?" Jenny smiled, then patted the elf on his back. "That's actually very nice of you. But...what about Makoto? You do know that she was...oh, I don't know...in love with you back when you saved her life."
Leaf's eyes widened, suddenly remembering that. He held up a finger, seemingly finding that part a little awkward. "Uh...first of all, we saved her life. We were able to find her in that warehouse and place her battery back into her. Second...I don't see Makoto as anything more than a friend. Yeah, I was able to save her a couple times, but..." He shook his head, shrugging his shoulders. "...I'm sorry. I always had my heart for Petal."
Jenny cringed hearing that. "Well...that sucks..." She said, whispering to herself. "Well, Makoto or Petal, me and James have your back whenever it comes to trying to get a girl to date you." Leaf smiled hearing that being said.
"Thanks guys." The three started to walk down the stairs once again. "But...for right now, I guess we should wait on that. Besides, you guys are here right now, and I think we should just focus on me, and you two, hanging out together. Have fun, and just ignore whatever problem that's on our minds, am I right?" The human couple nodded, pretty much agreeing with Leaf on this one.
"Alright." James said. "Shall we see what your house is like?" Leaf nods his head.
"Glad you guys asked."
The elf places his hands onto both James and Jenny's shoulders. He closes his eyes, causing a purple light to come out of his hands. Soon after, the purple light engulfed all three of them, until suddenly, they disappeared from the spot.