Hello everyone! Welcome back to the story.

We left off with Wilfre, Roselyynn and Thunder attempting to find Maelynn and the others as well as overall find the camp of the Whiteclaw Gato. Let's continue from there.

I own nothing but my OCs.

Here's chapter 9!

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Chapter 9: Searching for Cats

Upon heading into the Rockin' Ruins area of Watersong, Roselyynn and Thunder could only really see one obvious problem when it came to finding their friends. This problem in particular was the fact of how exactly they were going to find the place when so far, this area looked exactly the same as it was when they last came to it.

Plus, they could only look in the area before the underwater cave section. In some ways, it was like trying to find a needle in the haystack, or maybe vice versa. If the Gato weren't trying to stick out, then it would also be like finding a certain tree in a forest where all of the trees looked the same, and that one tree was the only thing that was different.

Wilfre was beginning to figure out that Roselyynn and Thunder were good at finding secret areas when they were obvious and were looking hard for it, but they weren't good at finding changes to areas.

It's not like they really expected to come back to Watersong on another adventure to save the world again (except from a different Raposa and not Wilfre. Roselyynn and Thunder still couldn't entirely trust him). It seemed likely that Watersong didn't really expect it either, noting how upset the citizens were about the whole situation. Their city was being ravaged by cats! Buildings were being violently destroyed (by missiles, which was unnecessary force to use), the Watersonian Raposa were likely bring torn out of their homes, and there was also battling between two tribes of Gato they suddenly had to deal with.

It most certainly did not give any outsiders a good first impression of the Gato and their lifestyle. This sudden appearance made them look like savages!

Because of their limited knowledge on the Gato race, at this point, Roselyynn and Thunder were just looking for an anthropomorphic cat and any signs that would indicate that a cat was there somewhere. They wished that Maelynn, Rikki or Aurora were here and weren't captured as they seemed to have the most grasp on the concept of other races existing other than the Raposa and their common behaviors based upon their lifestyle.

In fact, it seemed like the Renard Raposa were generally wiser about the world around them and were more forgiving when it came to past events. They weren't involved at all during the Isolation and during both of Wilfre's attacks as well as Circi's. They were impacted by it, yes, but they didn't seem very upset that these events took place.

The only event the Renard Raposa seemed to be directly involved in was with Circi and the Giant Scribble Monster when ink flooded the Raposa Village. When I say flooded in this circumstance I mean 'flooded' as there was so much ink from that incident that there was a waterfall of it. It likely spread to the Renard Village as the Giant Scribble Monster took a lot of time, even with three heroes working to take it down before Wilfre's next attack came.

Now that Roselyynn and Thunder were off-topically thinking about it, the Isolation caused a LOT of destruction in multiple aspects. Even though the rest of the world was cut out, it didn't necessarily mean that they didn't experience it. They were merely spectators to the series of unfortunate events that had unfolded.

Unless they were also unaware of what happened. Then again, it seemed unlikely.

Upon remembering that they really needed to get back on topic and find the Whiteclaw Camp, Roselyynn and Thunder looked a little more frantically. Upon even more observation and putting 2 and 2 together, Wilfre found that these two obviously did not know what they were doing. This wasn't how you tracked down another creature.

"…You two have no idea what you're doing, don't you?" Wilfre asked, crossing his arms and appearing unamused with the both of them.

Roselyynn was going to be prideful and say "Oh no, we do. We're fine". However, Thunder decided to be honest about the situation because acting like you knew how to do something when you really didn't was worse than not knowing at all.

"We don't. Maelynn and the others have more knowledge on the Gato tribes than we do. They were able to pick up which ones were here by their symbols and have a better idea of how they work than we do." Roselyynn bit her lip and proceeded to smack Thunder on the head. Quickly after, she turned her head away and narrowed her eyes.

Her lilac eyes glared at Thunder's smaller, rounder ones upon moving her eyes back over to him with a quick shift of her head. "Thanks a lot, Thunder. You made us look completely incompetent." Roselyynn mouthed at Thunder before huffing and looking away.

Still, Wilfre wasn't all that surprised that they didn't know. The idea of cat people was a completely new concept to him and (though he didn't want to admit it) he didn't really know about them either.

This was a situation where everyone KNEW what they were looking for, but knew so little about what they were trying to find that they'd only lead themselves in circles. Roselyynn sighed and clasped her hands together, praying to the Creator that maybe, just maybe, that in her grace she'd give them some kind of sign to find the Whiteclaw Clan's camp.

There was a few seconds, and the trio waited. And waited for a little longer. And waited for even longer. And then, half an hour had passed by and it seemed like the Creator wasn't answering them and letting them find the Gato clan on their own without any clues.

Until they received that sign, because upon hearing sudden, but faint noise, they saw what appeared to be White Blaze and the other two who took their friends heading back to another location. Roselyynn wanted to cry in joy, but she couldn't.

Mainly because as soon as she looked like she was going to, Wilfre and Thunder proceeded to shush her. And, they also needed to be quiet and not draw a lot of attention because who knows what would happen if they made too much noise? Wilfre, assuming that it was safe (seeing figures of other Raposa made him nervous), switched back into his shadowy form.

Now that they knew where to go, the only thing they really needed to do was formulize a plan and figure out how they were going to sneak after them without making much noise. The Gato likely had really sharp hearing, so being quiet in an area like this would be hard.

Wilfre decided that maybe, if they snuck after them in the shadows, then they could go after them undetected.

So, upon suggesting the idea, Roselyynn and Thunder agreed upon it until Wilfre was about to literally hide them in the shadows (like Penelope had done) and move to sneak after them. Now, Penelope doing that was freaky and bothersome, but Wilfre doing that was a big no.

Well, it was in Roselyynn's opinion. Thunder was chiller than she was when it came to this, and he was getting used to the concept much faster than the pink-headed heroine ever would. It ended up relying on a majority vote, and noting that Wilfre was the tiebreaker, it would rely on Thunder.

Roselyynn ended up being the odd man out, because Thunder voted in favor of going into the shadows and Wilfre was going to do the thing anyway because it was the only way they could stealthily move.

The three proceeded to slink after the cats and the others in the quiet where they couldn't be seen.

XxXxX

Being dragged to the Whiteclaw's current camp was a long walk. Despite such, Penelope, Maelynn, Rikki and Aurora didn't mind it all that much. Walking was an essential part of life, even if you were being dragged back to a cat's tribe against your will.

Penelope could picture how Mari would be reacting to this. She'd probably be upset and be like "Oh, Roselyynn, Thunder and Penelope are probably going to save me! Or Jowee is! Just you wait!" Well, technically, Mari didn't really talk like that, but she would probably be going off about how the heroes would be saving her. Or that the Creator would help somehow.

The instance when she was 'captured' by Wilfre was the only exception, however. Penelope was well aware of what happened during the events of the last adventure, despite she wasn't necessarily 'present'. Her knowledge didn't come from being conscious of the fact Roselyynn and Thunder could go and tell her the story all day (they tended to tell her their epic all the time if they were reminiscing about the 'good ol days that were kinda recent').

Penelope didn't know why she couldn't get Mari out of her mind. She was worried about her and all of the other Raposa from the Village, yes, but at the same time, Penelope felt like this was karma. In fact, she kind of felt like they deserved this to happen, though it was cruel to think of it like that.

Now, the Raposa didn't deserve anything that was happening to them. It WAS cruel to think that they 'deserved' to suffer.

However, then came the problem of how the village was in difference in the aftermath to the three prior incidents and to now, and also what happened with the heroes in that time.

In the aftermath of the first incident, the village was trying to repair itself after the late Mayor, Mari's father, died. Mari, despite that she had been training, was also working with the heroes and the Creator to better understand how she could improve her leadership and her newly-assigned role. As a result, she had Circi become her deputy to help her with her responsibilities.

In the aftermath of the second incident, they had to rebuild and repair the village once again after the wedding that took place and after the feast. Mari also had to figure out how to adjust her leadership without Circi. There wasn't as much change needed like with the first time.

Lastly, the third and the final incident. This time, the Raposa of the village thought Wilfre was truly dead and the world was also disconnected (making everyone on the planet at the time believe they were dead until they realized they actually weren't). This instance was a completely different change, because now, the Raposa thought they were in peace. This allowed for prosperity, which drew into laziness.

The heroes understood why they were there for the first two times as well as most of the third. However, once Mike disconnected, the Raposa didn't need the Creation Heroes. Wilfre was supposedly gone and they were at peace. The heroes didn't need to protect them and they should've gone back to the Creator, but the Raposa of the Village still clinged to them.

Because of it, and the fact the heroes were being misused and disrespected, they ended up leaving, and then, out of sheer coincidence, the Raposa of the western village got attacked again and now everyone was gone. There was also the fact that now that parts of the world weren't left out of the incident this time, and now Watersong was being attacked, everyone in the whole world was involved this time and not the Raposa Village and some other select areas.

Obviously, the Whiteclaw Gato had no intention to harm the Raposa even though they were directly involved in the fighting. All they intended to do was stop their foes and make them go back to their village and back to their old ways. The Blackpaws, however, seemed to want to destroy Watersong and attract attention to them.

Or at least, that was how White Blaze explained it. In fact, she and the other Whiteclaw Gato had arrived at Watersong second, but before Maelynn and the others did.

Penelope couldn't help but wonder how Mari and the others would react.

The big reason the rabbit was thinking was because of how Maelynn was trying to negotiate with White Blaze and explain to her what was happening, and that this wasn't just a tribal war. This was because of how White Blaze and her clan assumed that the Blackpaws were trying to stir up trouble and were trying to also bring the Raposa into this mess.

…And White Blaze continued to be ignorantly stubborn and deny the truth in contrary to what they assumed to be going on. In fact, while they were walking and Penelope was considering just how the hell they got to this point in the first place, the Gato Chieftess and the Renard Mayor were arguing with each other.

Rikki and Aurora had started a completely different conversation with Elanor and Aelius at this point because listening to the two leaders argue wasn't helping with anything. Penelope wasn't talking at all as she was trying to tune out the argument and the conversation while trying to figure out what to do.

As they started nearing the camp, Penelope felt something familiar nearby. She couldn't hear what it was, or really see it, but she knew it was there and wasn't invisible. However, Penelope could practically smell it, even though everyone else around her was unaware of what it was.

It felt like shadow essence in Penelope's opinion. She had started to learn how to pick it up between the events of the first adventure and especially at the end of the second adventure when they first encountered the Giant Scribble Monster (yes, that was the thing that they fought at the end of their second adventure. Penelope didn't like remembering it, and Roselyynn and Thunder especially didn't like remembering it. That encounter was practically the stuff of nightmares).

The only problem with Penelope detecting shadow essence was the fact that only three individuals to her knowledge were possessed by it and could use it. Penelope could use it, but in minor doses; Circi could also use it, but she was limited in what she could do, and it was unknown how far the extent of her power went (it also didn't help that she was captured either); and Wilfre was also able to use it. He boasted immense amounts of control over it as he had been possessed by the shadow goo for so long.

That brought up three potential conclusions in this scenario. The first was that there could've been trace amounts of shadow goo in the area that Penelope was unaware of. The only issue with that conclusion was the fact that it was highly unlikely. The only area that still had trace amounts was the Raposa Village, as well as the gates around it that led to other areas. The Renard Village didn't have any trace amounts as the village was left (mostly) untouched by the Isolation, excluding what happened with Circi. Despite that there was a flood of ink, which contained shadow essence in it due to what Circi was trying to bring back, the thing that had the most shadow goo at the time was the Giant Scribble Monster.

The second conclusion was that someone else who she was unaware of was using or had used shadow goo in the area. The only problem with that was the fact that there should've only been three individuals, including Penelope. The Creator would inform Penelope if anyone else could use it, but at this time, it was only those three.

The last conclusion was that somebody that she did know was using it at this time. It wasn't Penelope, as she was worn out and it could be too dangerous for her to use her power again. As said prior, it couldn't be Circi because Circi was currently captured and had very limited use of her power from her knowledge. Penelope knew Circi could change into a shadow form, but she didn't know what power Circi had in it.

The only one that could be following them was Wilfre. Penelope had been picking something up while they were in Jivin' Rooftops, but in Watersong in general. It had felt like someone had been closely following them, though it was hard to tell who as Roselyynn, Thunder, Maelynn, Rikki and Aurora couldn't pick up shadow essence. Penelope had influenced them to it, but it didn't harm them due to its purpose and the fact Penelope wasn't trying to harm them with it.

Of course, Penelope could've been wrong, but she was certain it had to be Wilfre. Even if so, she didn't know why Wilfre would be following them (somehow). He might've been using a similar technique that she used when she was moving in the shadows.

This thought was slightly distracting Penelope as they were moving into camp now. The Whiteclaw Clan's current camp was secluded in the smaller tropical forest area of Rockin' Ruins. They hid their camp well to protect themselves, but due to straying away from their common lands and going into Raposa territory, it was evident they had issues of adapting.

White Blaze led the currently-captured Raposa and Penelope into the central tent (which appeared to be the fanciest, as it was decorated with images of fire, and there appeared to be phoenixes emerging from the flames on the front sides of the tent by the entry way. There wasn't a legitimate "door", but cloth used to cover up what would be the door was present. Elanor and Aelius lifted it up for White Blaze and the 'prisoners' and allowed them to go in.

The general suspicion was confirmed when they came in, because yes, this was White Blaze's tent. The circular area seemed a little unorganized and erratic, like she hadn't been having the most pleasant time in Watersong. The first thing they noticed was a bedroll covered with furs. Some appeared to be knocked off by the bedroll and some were still there.

Then, there was some scrolls. They looked like they had been tied up, but they seemed to be scattered all over in one corner like Blaze had been trying to find a certain one, and if it wasn't the right parchment, she'd throw it into the "rejected corner" of the room. There technically wasn't any corners in here, as it was a circular room, so they just assumed that maybe those were thrown in what the Gato called a 'corner'.

There was something in this area that wasn't a mess, being a variety of weapons White Blaze had. There were mostly spears, but each one had something different about it as each spear had a different color, had something different attached to it, and the blades appeared to be made of slightly different material. There was also a rapier, a cutlass, and a basic sword, but they seemed to be unused.

The spear White Blaze had with her at this time had similar feathers adorning her hair around it as well as red ribbon. The handle was made from a strong, red wood, and the blade on it appeared to be made from silver, but also looked as if it were crafted by the scale of a dragon infused with silver. It was a peculiar combination, but none of the 'prisoners' uttered a word about it.

The last thing of notice was that there was a pair of warmer and lighter clothes White Blaze had in another 'corner', but there wasn't any other capes. The cape that Blaze wore at the moment seemed worn, but well loved.

"Ok, so we're here. What do you want now?" Maelynn asked, as White Blaze motioned for Elanor and Aelius to throw Rikki, Aurora and Penelope in the room. Aelius and Elanor left as soon as they were done with their duties and went outside to guard the front of the tent.

The chieftess motioned for her four prisoners to sit down on what appeared to be cushions arranged in a circle in the center of the room. They all hestitantly sat down, and White Blaze did the same. Her robes were almost like a blanket as she seemed to cuddle into her cape as she submerged into the cushion.

Maelynn rolled her eyes out of impatience and decided to repeat her question. "So, Whiteclaw Chieftess. Would you be so kind to tell us why you bothered to kidnap us? We were trying to figure out what was going on so we could help the Watersonians with their Gato epidemic."

"Like I previously said, I wasn't kidnapping you." White Blaze replied, sounding irritated but somewhat offended. "I was taking you out of harm's way. The Raposa aren't to interfere in matters between Gato. Like I also said earlier, the clan of the Raven have shifted off their trail."

Maelynn frowned. "But if I recall what you said earlier, Miss White Blaze, you also said that they've allied with a Raposa. If this Raposa is whom I think it is, this situation may be bigger than a little clan warfare."

White Blaze's ears perked up, and she looked irritated and quite offended by Maelynn's statement. "The conflict between the Raven and the Phoenix is NOT a little clan warfare! Battles between tribes is in the culture of the Gato! The Raven and the Phoenix are rivals!"

"So you always fight, and can never agree?" Aurora chimed in, causing White Blaze's face to flush red. "My mama told me that it is better to make peace negotiations than fight wars."

"My Creator, just how ignorant are you Raposa?" White Blaze suddenly asked out of exasperation. Maelynn and Aurora proceeded to shut their pie holes. "Despite we are rivals, we don't always fight. Raven Feather and I were in a period of peace between the Whiteclaws and the Blackpaws until she decided to ally with a Raposa, break Gato code, and then attack Raposian villages! Why do you think we're fighting them now?"

Penelope's ears perked up, and she proceeded to stop Maelynn and White Blaze from talking with a question. "So, I'm going to butt in now. I hope you don't mind my informalities, White Blaze, but what triggered you to start fighting the Blackpaws this time around? Simply allying with a Raposa would probably be untraditional, but acceptable, so it seems unlikely that you wanted to fight them over that."

White Blaze's ears twitched. She sighed upon taking a long look at Penelope once again. "The worst offense that the Blackpaws have done was practically an attack upon the Creator herself. They attacked one of the holiest villages in the whole world—the one holding the Book of Life. Doing such is a crime to the Gato—no…all the inhabitants of this world!" The Gato chieftess was really passionate about talking of how outraged she was by this. And Penelope knew that something had to be done about it.

"So, like Mayor Maelynn was leading on to, this truly is something interconnected. We know who the Blackpaws are allied with, and though it may go against your traditional ways, I think that there's an urgency to team up." Penelope calmly explained, crossing her short, stubby arms.

Her rabbit ears twitched, and White Blaze closed her eyes. She seemed to be pondering long and hard about what Penelope suggested. However, Penelope felt a chill down her back as the aura of shadow was close. It radiated powerfully, and overwhelmed her senses. However, it also made it look like Penelope was having a panic attack as she was trembling and her eyes were wide.

Rikki looked concerned of his ally. He leaned over and whispered to her. "Hey Penelope, are you ok? You're suddenly not looking so well." Penelope seemed to pale up upon the natural reaction of feeling Wilfre's aura really close.

Her voice got lower and deeper upon speaking next. "He's here. I can feel his presence radiating around us." The lack of context that Penelope had didn't make much sense to anyone around her at this time. And she didn't seem to be trying to make sense either, which Maelynn found to be odd.

White Blaze looked around, trying to figure out what Penelope was saying. "Who? Why are you suddenly changing topics from one thing to another?" Upon saying that, the room went dark. It was an unnatural darkness, which startled all but Penelope. Aurora summoned balls of light in her paws to illuminate the room, and there was suddenly the sound of something scurrying around and a rattling from about where White Blaze's spears were.

Maelynn and Rikki were confused as to what was going on, but they pulled out their weapons on instinct as they tried to make sense of what was going on. Two other light sources came into the room as soon as Penelope felt a paw on her head. The first was the glow of eerie, white eyes. The second was a flame, which appeared to be floating.

Penelope wasn't as scared as she could have been despite the creepiness of the situation. In certain aspects, like darkness, the rabbit heroine was basically desensitized to fear.

She also didn't freak out as soon as she heard a familiar voice speak that caused a variety of mixed reactions from everyone around her. "Hello Penelope. It's a pleasure to see you again."

Maelynn, Rikki and Aurora gasped from someone talking, and the flame that was floating seemed to glow. White Blaze's face was revealed from the fire, and she was understandably angry. She looked like a tiger about to pounce on her target.

"Turn the lights back on, Color Stealer!" The Chieftess ordered. There was a snap, revealing an unimpressed Raposa-like figure whose body looked as if it were made from shadow. Then, Roselyynn and Thunder were there, with weapons drawn. The fact that Roselyynn and Thunder were there was the only thing that actually surprised Penelope despite the awkward situation they were in now.

The shadow Raposa looked somewhat irritated with White Blaze. "Firstly, that was incredibly rude. Tell me, is that how you commonly address others when you first meet them?" White Blaze used no words to respond to him. Instead, she gave him this look like she could care less about how she firstly addressed him and that it truly didn't matter to her HOW he was addressed.

With a roll of his eyes, the shadow Raposa took it as a firm 'yes'. He then proceeded to ask another question. "Secondly, what I did a while back in terms of stealing the world's color was justified in aspects. I'm unsure how someone such as yourself would know how I went through with it, seeing that you are of a different race, but I have a name."

"Even if the draining of color from the world was during the Isolation, it is completely unacceptable with how you've gone against the Creator, and brought shadow and demons of such kind into this world." White Blaze replied. "I also could care less about your name. I know it, most should know it, and nonetheless, you're a monster whose name shouldn't be uttered."

It was obvious to Maelynn, Rikki and Aurora that this was Wilfre. Most Raposa in these parts of the world would've been frightened and enraged to see him in the flesh noting whom it was and what he had done. Plus, there was also the fact that he 'should have been dead'.

Wilfre's presence wasn't frightening to the three Raposa in the slightest. Maelynn appeared to raise an eyebrow at Wilfre, and she proceeded to address him. "It's curious that no matter how many times you've been struck down, in some aspects, you're like a phoenix, Wilfre. You can't seem to die."

White Blaze's ears stuck up when Maelynn freely uttered Wilfre's name and also compared him to a phoenix in the same sentence. Her voice was in a stutter when she spoke next. "P-phoenix? Him? How dare you insult the Phoenix by comparing it to such… such…"

Roselyynn butted into the conversation and decided to be frank with White Blaze. "No, kitty, I think Maelynn was well justified by comparing Wilfre to a phoenix. He does not seem to die. He looks like it, and everyone assumes he's dead, but then it's immediately found out that no, he's not. He's appeared to 'die' twice now." White Blaze's face started to flush red. She kept her phoenix feather spear's tip aflame, like she was going to stab Wilfre with it and give him a nasty burn if he dared step too close.

This whole situation was strange, no matter how many angles that one would look at it, really.

And at the moment, it looked as if Wilfre and White Blaze were about to get in a fight as Blaze raised her spear threateningly.

Penelope quietly prayed to herself that this didn't escalate into a fight.

Because right now, especially with the state of Watersong, they needed as much help as they could get.

-o-o-o-o-

As much as I love writing the Three Heroes, DAMN. This story can be really hard to get back into with writing due to a variety of factors. I'm plenty inspired to write this, but getting it across is hard.

Also, for this part of Watersong, we only have a few chapters left before we move onto Lavasteam and then the Galactic Jungle. As for White Blaze, will she turn out to be friend or foe?

We'll just have to see.

Like usual, please review if you'd like, please try to refrain from flaming and please tell me how I can improve.

I will see you all in the next chapter.

Ciao!