Part 4: The Power of Persuasion

The rain seemed hesitant at first: sprinkling a bit but halting altogether just as it seemed to gain momentum. Finally after several false starts, the rain began falling in earnest – covering the world in a silvery, damp blanket. It was the kind of rainfall that farmers prayed for: a steady fall not accompanied by strong winds or lightening. And while many in the area would be staying indoors this evening, they looked forward to the refreshed, glistening crops they would find in the morning.

Gusto was still sitting on the small hill, all but oblivious to the rain. His mind was consumed with the thoughts and questions that had arisen in the last two days.

He went over the incident with Vixen thoroughly in his mind and, despite the heavy feeling of guilt that weighed upon his heart, he couldn't really find anything that he had done wrong. She had kissed him. However, he did wish that he had pushed her away immediately instead of waiting a few seconds. Not doing so was a mistake on his part, but he had been too surprised at the time to think clearly. He also wished that Tummi hadn't seen them.

Poor Tummi. He was merely an innocent victim – in love with the wrong girl and in the wrong place at the wrong time. Of course, Tummi wouldn't have been there at all if Gusto hadn't suggested it. Okay, so he had made two mistakes.

Now Morlin was threatening that no Great Gummi would return to the Glen – all because of him. Gusto had and still thought about leaving. It might be the best way to fix the problem, but instead of just going he had broached the subject with Gruffi.

It had been a foolish thing to do. Perhaps he had just wanted Gruffi to insist that he should stay. Maybe he just wanted to hear someone say that none of this was his fault. No matter what the reason, he knew now that he shouldn't have told Gruffi.

Mistake three.

Besides all that, he had told Gruffi too much about his own past – things he kept closely guarded for so long. He couldn't let anyone find out and he had been careful, up until now. With a minor slip of the tongue, he had started Gruffi to thinking and wondering. Soon, he would have many questions for Gusto.

It looked like he had made a lot of mistakes after all.

Sighing, Gusto stood and for the first time really noticed the rain. He was already soaked to the bone, but he wasn't really bothered by it. He lived behind a waterfall and had spent a good portion of his life on a tropical island where it would often rain with no warning. For him, being wet had merely become a part of life, so he did not worry as he casually made his way back to his place.

Artie was waiting there for him. "Hey Gusto!" he greeted warmly although a bit nervously. "You okay? You sure are wet."

Gusto smiled as warmly as he could manage and could practically see Artie relax slightly. "I was feeling a bit dusty," he responded, "and the rain felt good."

As he changed into a dry outfit, Artie talked almost continuously about his vacation. Gusto nodded in all the appropriate places, but he was only listening with half an ear as he prepared to go back to the Glen. His mind was still preoccupied with his own problems.

Maybe he had inadvertently given Vixen the impression he was interested. Usually he preferred to do portraits at his studio rather than the Glen, so he never really thought anything about telling her to come to his place to pose for her portrait. However, Vixen may have misconstrued this as merely an excuse to be alone with her. Also, he typically used his hands to position his subjects just so, but she could have also misunderstood his touch. The more he thought about it, the more things he realized he could have done differently.

"But of course," Artie was saying, "It had to rain the last two days I was there. I don't usually mind rain, but it was as cold as ice."

"The rain earlier was cold," Gusto responded distractedly as he stepped into the Glen. He was genuinely surprised to see Chummi was there.

"Gusto," Chummi began, "I'm glad you're here. I was about to go looking for you."

"How long have you been here?" Gusto asked, trying to keep the shock from his voice.

"I just got here," Chummi responded, "but I had to come back when I found out something."

"What did you find out?" Gruffi asked, as the others grouped around him.

"Well, when I first heard about Morlin coming here, I asked if I could captain the boat because I wanted to see you all again," Chummi explained, "I was told that there was already a captain – some guy that Morlin knew. However, they said that they would be probably sending more boats later and I could help with that if I liked.

"Then, two days before they were going to leave, Morlin came to me himself. He said that their captain would not be able to make the voyage and asked if I could take his place. Of course, I said yes immediately. I was so excited, I never even thought twice about their original captain. I just assumed he had gotten sick or something. But earlier today, Burly gave me this note." He handed the note to Gruffi.

"I don't think this is the first time," Gruffi read aloud, "I heard that Vixen threatened to make similar accusations against our first captain and that's why he resigned." His eyes widened with surprise. "You mean, she's done this before?" he asked, "Then why was Morlin so quick to accuse Gusto?"

"He may not know," Chummi answered, "According to the note, Vixen only threatened to accuse this guy. If she didn't actually do it, Morlin may not even that anything happened."

"If he didn't know," Gruffi stated, firmly, "then he will soon."

"Wait, Gruff," Gusto spoke up, "it might not be such a good idea to confront Morlin right now. Maybe we should wait."

"No," Gruffi countered, "What he did before was wrong and we should have never let it got this far."

"Precisely," agreed Chummi, "Morlin may never let me guide one of his ships again, but I don't care about that anymore. I care more about my friends."

"So do I," Sunni added.

"We all have to care for each other," Grammi said.

"I think so too," Tummi spoke up from the doorway.

They all turned to look at him in surprise. Since the beginning of this entire ordeal, Tummi had stayed mostly in his room, not talking very much. Even a huge batch of Grammi's marble nut cookies had only drawn him out of hiding temporarily. Yet, there he stood now, ready to offer his support. With tears in his eyes, Gusto walked over to him. "I'm sorry about all this," Gusto apologized, his voice barely above a whisper.

Tummi smiled softly. "It's okay," he replied, "It wasn't your fault. I was just a little hurt for awhile."

Gusto returned the smile as Gruffi led the way to the Quick Cars. Only Zummi seemed hesitant as he followed slowly from behind the group. Still, Gusto had never really imagined how supportive his friends could be when he really needed them.

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The rain was tapering off by the time they reached Ursalia, but Gruffi barely noticed as he boldly marched inside. Ursa was standing just inside, as if she had been waiting for him. Maybe she has, Gruffi thought, she must had figured something was wrong with Morlin returned. He wasn't sure if Morlin had told her anything about the situation but he doubted it. Ursa was curious, no doubt, but she wasn't standing around asking questions. Being nosey wasn't her style.

"Where's Morlin?" Gruffi asked, trying to keep his voice calm, "We need to talk to him."

If Ursa was surprised, she didn't show it. "He's in the same room he stayed in before," she answered.

"Actually," Morlin said, as he stepped forward, "I'm right here."

Gruffi spun around, but was taken aback but Morlin's apparance. Before Vixen's accusations, he had appeared so neat and organized with a youthful, open expression. That was no longer the case. His robes were wrinkled and disheveled and the belt was hung crookedly about his waist. New wrinkles lined his face, criss-crossing like strands of a spider's web and the sparkle was gone from his eyes. His shoulders were stooped and rounded as if he had been burdened by a heavy load.

Taking a deep breath, Gruffi walked closer to the Great Gummi Wizard, feelings of anger, hurt, and even pity welling up inside him. "Yesterday," he stated, "you accused Gusto of some rather horrible things, but there's one piece of evidence you may have not know about."

"Really?" Morlin asked in a tired voice.

Nodding, Gruffi produced Burly's note. "Vixen has done this sort of thing in the past," he added, "to the original captain of your ship. It's rumored that's why he left."

"Oh," Morlin remarked sadly, "Is that so? Where did you hear that?"

Burly stepped forward, his expressive face strangely calm.

Gruffi was growing agitated. "We know that Gusto didn't do anything," he said, "And this isn't the first time Vixen's tried something like."

He expected Morlin to get mad, but the wizard only shook his head. "I may have been hasty," he admitted, "I never gave your friend the chance to defend himself, and that is why I've decided that a trial would be the best course of action."

"A trial?" Gruffi repeated.

"Yes," Morlin continued, "A fair trial where all the evidence will be examined." He paused and looked directly at Gusto who still seemed somewhat nervous of the whole affair. "If your friend is innocent, then he has nothing to fear, but if he is guilty he will be punished. I believe that is fair."

At first, Gruffi wanted to argue because he already knew Gusto was innocent, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. If there was a trial, there would be no way for Morlin not to see the truth and Gusto's name would be cleared for good. "Perhaps it would be fair," he said. He turned to look at Gusto. "What do you think?"

"I guess so," Gusto responded.

"What exactly is going on here?" Ursa demanded. She had been quiet up to this point, but could make little sense of the conversation.

"Vixen accused Gusto of attacking her," Gruffi responded, carefully stressing the word 'attacking' so that Ursa would understand what he meant.

"What?" Ursa gasped, looking at Gusto and then back to Gruffi, "You have to be kidding."

"We shall have a trial then," Morlin spoke up as if he had not heard Ursa and Gruffi's conversation as he turned his attention for the first time towards Gusto, "We will leave tomorrow morning for New Gumbera. I know you don't have anything packed, but I suggest you take some time to rest. The trip will be difficult."

"New Gumbera? Why not have the trial right here?" Gruffi asked.

"You are his friends," Morlin answered, "There is no way that you could be completely fair."

"But didn't you once tell me," Zummi began, "that you are well-known and somewhat referred in New Gumbrea? If that's true, do you seriously think that they will take Gusto's word over that of your granddaughter?" Although he spoke with conviction, his words were somewhat hesitant and Gruffi knew why. Zummi had always been the one who was most excited whenever the idea of the Great Gummies coming home was mentioned. Plus, he had always wanted to become a greater wizard and had seen Morlin as a way of doing that. Yet, despite all this it seemed that Zummi felt like speaking up on Gusto's behalf was more important.

"We could hold the trial here," Ursa offered.

"He is a friend of yours," Morlin argued, "You could not be impartial."

Gritti stepped forward almost menacingly. "Are you saying we couldn't be fair?" he demanded and Morlin flinched.

"We could be impartial," Ursa insisted, "I can honestly say that I don't really know him all that well." Only well enough to be surprised at the accusations she silently added.

At he her words all of the Barbics stepped forward, standing steadfastly behind Gusto in both action and in support. Burly and Chummi stood with them as everyone watched Morlin carefully.

Morlin nodded slightly. "I'll think about it," he mumbled as he turned away and headed back to the room where he had been staying.

This wasn't a good enough answer for Gruffi who followed Morlin to his room. "Try to see it from our point of view," he said, as he closed the door behind him, "We believe in Gusto and I think if you will give him a chance we can get to the bottom of this mess."

Morlin sighed wearily as he sat down in a nearby chair. "This has just been too much to deal with," he lamented.

"I know she's your granddaughter, but she threatened to do this before," Gruffi continued, "Even you have to admit that's quite a coincidence."

Morlin turned quickly towards him and for a brief second Gruffi saw a flicker of his previous rage in his tired eyes. "Vixen is very beautiful," Morlin stated, "I am not surprised that some may lose a certain amount of control around her."

Gruffi watched him for a moment as a thought suddenly bloomed within his mind. "You knew that she had done this before, didn't you?" he asked. Morlin's silence confirmed all of Gruffi's fears.

"You did know," Gruffi ranted, his anger rising, "This entire time you knew all about it but you still openly accused Gusto. You treated him as if he was a criminal when you knew he was innocent!"

"I know no such thing!" Morlin shouted, "How do you even know? Were you there? He went out of his way to get her alone – pretending to be interested in only a portrait. I should have know it was a ruse!"

"But you were the one who asked him to do the portrait!" Gruffi insisted, but Morlin didn't seem to hear him.

"I had no reason to suspect my granddaughter of anything but the truth," he said, calmly.

"Yes you do!" Gruffi contended, "You knew she has done this before, but you still insisted on accusing Gusto. Do you even care what he's been going through? I've never seen anyone so depressed and he's been talking about leaving. He was willing to go off on his own just because of what you said!"

Morlin seemed truly shocked. "He was thinking of actually leaving?"

Gruffi nodded. "And it's all because of you! Why did you do this? Why?"

Morlin dropped his head, but Gruffi could see the tears forming in his eyes. "When my daughter died," he said slowly, "I felt so empty and alone. My wife had been gone for years and now, so was my precious little girl. All I had left was my granddaughter – who was only an infant at the time.

"I didn't really want to take care of her. I told everyone I had already had my turn at fatherhood, but when I looked down at her I knew what I had to do. Watching her grow up, I saw her blossom into a beautiful young lady."

He stood up and walked over to a small window. "She's so beautiful – just like her mother was. I knew that many of the boys had noticed and I was concerned. In a way, I was prepared for this to happen."

"But she has already made two allegations," Gruffi reminded him.

"Who says that what she accuses is not true?" Morlin shot back as he continued to stare out the window. "I would rather believe that the world is full of rats and dogs who disguise themselves as Gummies than to believe that my daughter – granddaughter I mean, would lie about such a thing."

Morlin's revelation was shocking, but Gruffi managed to stay focused. "You mean you would rather punish an innocent bear just so you can believe that Vixen is some sort of sweet little angel." Morlin didn't answer as he continued to stare outside. "I see," Gruffi stated simply as he opened the door to leave.

"I think we'll have the trial in the morning," Morlin added, "I believe the Barbics will try to be fair."

"No," Gruffi said simply, "There isn't going to be a trial."

"What are you saying?" Morlin demanded, turning away from the window.

Gruffi was steadfast in his answer. "We agreed to the trial only because we wanted to put this whole matter behind us. Our ultimate goal has always been for the Great Gummies to be able to return, but now that I've met you, I'm not sure if I want them to come back after all."

As Gruffi shut the door behind him, he saw the shocked look of hurt on Morlin's face. Serves him right, he thought bitterly, but then another thought suddenly occurred to him.

Why had he briefly referred to Vixen as his daughter?

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While Gruffi was speaking to Morlin, Ursa had her own business to attend to. Quietly, she walked up the steps and opened the wooden door to the small room. Vixen jumped when she saw Ursa.

"You scared me," Vixen said.

Instead of speaking, Ursa quietly went about her business as she turned and locked the door.

"What are you doing?" Vixen asked nervously.

Ursa turned and smiled slightly. "I thought it was time for us to have a little chat," she answered.

Backing up a step, Vixen eyed her warily. "About what?" she asked, her voice shaking slightly.

"About this whole incident with Gusto," Ursa responded.

Vixen gasped slightly as her eyes widened. "I have already said everything I am going to say," she answered.

Ursa's smile widened, but it was a smile that didn't reach her eyes. "From what I hear, you like to talk a lot."

"Get out of here," Vixen demanded, "Or I…"

"Or you'll what?" Ursa savagely interrupted, "In case you haven't noticed one of your 'attack' stories won't exactly work with me the way it did with Gusto."

"I'll tell them you threatened me," Vixen stated, "that you tried to beat me up."

"Well then," Ursa sneered, "for once you'll be telling the truth." She quickly crossed the room and grabbed the collar of Vixen's dress.

"I'll scream," Vixen threatened.

"Go ahead and scream," Ursa stated, "I doubt if anyone can hear you and besides I locked the door. How long do you think it will take them to get in here?"

"You can't do this," managed a desperate Vixen, "I'll tell my grandfather and the Great Gummies will never come here!"

Ursa chucked slightly. "From what I hear," she said, "the Great Gummies aren't coming here anyway. Besides, we don't care really if they come or not. The Barbics split from them a long, long time ago." It was not exactly true that she didn't care. Since Gruffi and the others wanted them to Great Gummies to come, she did want them to return to Gummi Glen, but it was all or nothing at this point.

"They'll come and attack you!" Vixen cried.

"I thought you said they weren't coming," Ursa countered.

"They will if you hurt me. They'll come here and fight. You won't have a chance."

Ursa laughed again. "We live for a good battle," she said, "Let them attack us and we will see who is the victor."

Vixen whimpered softly. "What do you want?"

"The truth."

"I've…I've already told the truth!"

"Oh, really," Ursa responded. With a fluid motion, she pulled out the sword that hung at her waist and held it up to Vixen's neck. "What if I don't believe you?" In all reality, she had no intention of cutting Vixen but Ursa wanted her to believe that she did.

"You wouldn't!" Vixen cried.

Without answering, Ursa brought the sword closer and placed the cold metal against Vixen's neck. Tears came to her eyes as she tried to squirm from Ursa's grasp. "I was just mad at him!" Vixen finally yelled.

"What did you say?" Ursa demanded without moving the weapon.

"I was mad at Gusto," Vixen said, "but I didn't mean for all this to happen."

"That's a start. Now, what happened?"

Tears spilled down Vixen's cheeks as she spoke. "I told my grandfather I would like my portrait done," she explained, "and he told Gusto. I didn't mean for anything to happen, I just thought that Gusto was sorta cute."

"And?" Ursa urged.

"I kept flirting with him, but he ignored me at first. Finally, I asked if he thought I was pretty. When he said that I was, I told him he was handsome and I kissed him, but he acted really weird about it. He suddenly pushed me away saying something about his friend that was coming there to see me. I guess that Tummi guy liked me and he saw us, but I didn't really care about that. I was just mad at the way Gusto had pushed me away." She pouted slightly.

"Did it ever occur to you that he might NOT want to kiss you?" asked Ursa.

"Why would he not want to?" Vixen responded, truly confused, "Anyway, I was holding onto his arm and when he jerked away I fell and hurt my art on a table. It really ticked me off."

"You were mad at him so you decided to make such horrible accusations against him?" Ursa questioned.

"No," Vixen replied, "I was mad but I didn't just go and accuse him. I went back to Gummi Glen and I was just sort of ranting and raving to myself. My grandfather saw me and asked me what was wrong. I just started complaining saying that Gusto was a lousy artist and that he was mean. Without thinking, I added that he was a horrible kisser and my grandfather assumed that he had kissed me."

"And you just let him believe it," Ursa added, shoving Vixen back so that she landed heavily in a nearby chair.

"He asked for more details," Vixen continued, "and I told him about Tummi catching us. From then on, grandfather just added the details to suit him." She looked up at Ursa miserably. "I didn't think that things would go this far. They never have before."

"So why didn't you just tell Morlin the truth?" demanded Ursa.

"I couldn't," Vixen cried, "besides, he wouldn't believe me."

"Is this what happened with that other guy you accused – the sailor."

"His name is Lee," Vixen said, bitterly, "And we were in love. He was going to take me far away from New Gumbrea, far away from my grandfather. We were going to run away right after this trip, but Grandfather caught us kissing down by the dock. I tried to tell him that Lee and I were in love, but he wouldn't listen. He said that Lee had tricked me, taking advantage of me or something like that, and that he didn't really care. But nothing really happened to Lee! Grandfather just told him to never come around me again."

Vixen stood up and walked across the room. "It hasn't been easy for me," she insisted, "growing up with my grandfather. I heard that my mother died because something like this happened to her, but that still not fair! My grandfather thinks that I'm his daughter sometimes instead of his granddaughter. He even calls me by my mother's name, Violet, every now and then. I can't get close to anyone without him getting suspicious. He thinks that every guy is out to hurt me."

Ursa sheathed her sword, but her expression was cold. "You act like you're the innocent victim," she began, "but you're not. You're a user of the worst kind and I think there's a lot more than you're telling me. You knew how suspicious Morlin was, but you still went out of your way to kiss Gusto. And I don't think you accidentally mentioned the kiss to Morlin. I bet you were just mad at Gusto and knew this was the best way to get revenge." She walked over and grabbed Vixen roughly by the arm. "Come on," she commanded, "You have a confession to make."

"But I can't!" Vixen exclaimed.

"Oh, you can and you will," Ursa responded, pulling her towards the door, "I'll see to that."

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"What happened?" Zummi asked anxiously as Gruffi came down from Morlin's room.

Gruffi shook his head angrily. "I just can't believe that guy!" he yelled, "I think he's knows that Gusto's innocent but he still wants to punish him."

"What can we do now?" Sunni asked.

"I think I have a solution," Ursa announced as she walked towards them, dragging Vixen by the arm. "It seems that Vixen here has a bit of a confession to make."

"What happened?" Gruffi inquired, surprised.

"Nothing much," Ursa answered nonchalantly, "Me and Vixen has just been having a nice little girl talk. It seems like the guilt has just gotten to be too much for her."

Gruffi barely held back a laugh. It was just like Ursa to go straight to the root of the problem and apply a little force as needed. No wonder Vixen looked so afraid. He would have been apprehensive to approach the situation that way, but it looked like Ursa's idea had worked. "That's great," he said, "I guess I should go get Morlin and tell him that his 'sweet little angel' has something to tell him."

"Gusto will be so happy," Sunni said, "Hey, where is Gusto?"

As they looked around Ursalia, Gruffi realized that he had not seen Gusto since Morlin had mentioned the trial. Everyone searched diligently, hoping that he had just stepped away, but Gruffi already knew the truth.

Gusto was gone.

End Part 4

After working with this story, I definitely want to write more stories with and about the Barbics. I never had before, but I'm especially enjoying working with the character of Ursa. Anyway, I hope everyone liked this chapter. Part 5 (the final chapter) will soon be on the way!