Chapter 7

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I sat under a tree, hugging my knees and crying my eyes out. I felt my hair and right eye slowly return back to their original colors. It was starting to get chilly and my long sleeved dress wasn't keeping me warm. That's when I felt something being draped around me.

I checked what it was and saw that someone had put a black coat around me. I looked up to see Celest with a soft and worried expression on her face.

"Skyler, why did you run off?" She asked. I didn't want to talk to anyone right now, but it seemed very rude to not respond to the governor's fiancé.

"I... don't know..," I replied truthfully, "I guess.. I was clouded by my thoughts.." "What thoughts?" Celest asked while sitting next to me, "About never seeing your family again?" I nodded.

"You and Diane aren't... going to let Marmalade adopt me, right?" She seemed surprised by my question, but relieved me by saying, "Of course not. Neither Diane nor I care that your family is a gang of criminals. At least they have taken care of you for the past 4 years."

I slightly smiled at the answer, but that just made me remember my family being taken. "Where is that truck taking them?" I asked. "S.C.U.M. Where all criminals go to," Celest answered.

I then bursted into tears again. "Hey, hey! There's no need to cry! Diane's went to go get them back," Celest reassured, trying her best to comfort me. I sniffled before asking, "R-really..?"

She nodded her head before looking away. I wiped away my tears before asking another question was on my mind. "Celest, I may or may not have overheard you, Diane, and Daddy's conversation back at Marmalade's place," I began.

It got her attention because she looked back at me. "And I was wondering what Diane meant by how a wolf, fox, and bunny aren't so different." She thought about it for a moment before sighing and turning back to me.

"Well, Sky, Diane and I aren't the goodie two shoes you and the others might think we are," she told me, "In fact, I've always been a troublemaker most of my life. My parents were sick of it, so they sent me to a boarding school for girls that misbehave. That's where I met Diane. Her parents also sent her there for the same reason. We got close and, ultimately, started dating. We would always cause trouble together and even started stealing stuff. We managed to steal almost everything and never got caught. Except for the Golden Dolphin."

I then widened my eyes. The criminals who were never caught, but didn't steal the Golden Dolphin? That could only mean one thing. "You're the Paw Ninja and Diane's the Crimson Paw," I realized.

She nodded her head again. "But why didn't you guys steal the Dolphin?" I asked. "We almost did," Celest said, "I mean Diane had it in her hands, but something stopped her. She said she couldn't do it and put it back. When we got out of there, she said that all she saw was the tricky fox and bunny that people always told us we were. So we started helping people, but we're still ourselves just the good side of us ourselves."

Wow, I never would have thought that the greatest criminals in the world would actually be able to turn good. So, maybe... there's hope for us. Celest then got up and held out her hand for me to take. "Come on, you can stay at me and Diane's place for now," she said, "Just until we can go and stop Marmalade."

I hesitated for a moment before slowly taking her hand. She then took me back to the gala where my ice was still everywhere, but everyone was gone. "You sure did cause a blizzard," Celest joked. I chuckled slightly at it before turning my attention back to the trail.

Time skip
We were now at Diane and Celest's place. It was small and simple and didn't look anything like what I imagined their home would be. "I thought you guys lived in a mansion," I told her. She chuckled before saying, "We like to keep a low profile."

That's when the door, suddenly, bursted open and Carrie came running out. "Mama! Did you find.." She then noticed me and immediately froze. "Oh.. y-you did f-f-find h-her.." she stuttered while smiling nervously.

And that's when a car pulled up to the house. Diane stepped out, now dressed in her criminal attire and then... Daddy stepped out! I immediately rushed at him and trapped him in a hug. "Daddy! I missed you so much!" I exclaimed happily.

He quickly wrapped his arms around me, returning the hug. "Oh my God! Princess! Im so glad that you're okay," he said. I smiled so big my cheeks hurt, but then I noticed something. The others weren't with him. I looked up at him and asked, "Daddy, where are Papa and the others?"

His expression quickly turned sad and he looked away from me. I looked over at Diane, who had a similar expression on her face. "Wolf, Diane, where are the others?" Celest asked in a serious tone.

Daddy placed me down and kneeled to my height. "Look Princess," he started hesitantly, "Daddy made a huge mistake that caused Papa and the others to leave." Oh no.. my worst fear had come true. I couldn't help, but burst into tears again.

"Oh, Princess! I know you're sad. I am too, but we need to go stop Marmalade," Daddy told me. And right on cue, we heard loud chittering. "Guinea pigs?" Carrie and I questioned together, which caused us to blush.

"Marmalade," the adults said together. "Let's bounce." We went inside Diane, Carrie, and Celest's home which was also very simple inside. "So this is the hideout of the great Crimson Paw and the Paw Ninja," Daddy joked.

Diane and Celest chuckled before turning their attention to the microwave. "Snack break? Okay, oddly timed, but you do you." Daddy and I then yelled when an automated voice said, "Identity verified."

The fridge then opened to reveal an elevator of some sorts. "What?" I questioned. "Welcome home, Diane and Celest." We all entered and the elevator took us down. When we got there, I was in awe at the so many cool things there was. "Whoa! Holy moly!" Daddy laughed.

"It's so good to be home," Diane said. "Are you kidding me? Laser-sighted zip line? The XM-2400 radar jammer? No way." "I actually prefer the earlier model," Celest said. "Agree to disagree," I said before turning to her. She was now dressed in the usual black ninja attire.

Carrie and I couldn't help, but giggle at Diane's blushing face. I then noticed something out of the corner of my eye. It was a black suit with gadgets hooked onto the belt. "Who does this belong to?" I asked walking up to it.

"Oh, that actually belongs to me," Carrie told me. "Really? I never thought of you as a criminal," I said. "Yeah, but I just stole minor things like cars and some pieces of jewelry. I never got to steal the majors ones like my moms. And besides you kinda took over as the greatest child criminal," she said.

"I guess so," I replied. "All righty, Marmalade," we heard Diane say, "What are you up to, you fuzzy little weirdo?" "We need eyes on the city. Let's see if we can't hack into the government's surveillance satellite," Celest said as she started to type away at the digital keyboard.

"But you're the governor. Couldn't you just ask?" Daddy asked. "Yeah, but.... the paperwork." "I am definitely picking up on suspicious activity here. Those are guinea pig heat signatures. Marmalade seems to be controlling them," Celest told us.

"But to do what?" Carrie asked. "There are no obvious targets. That's because they're moving targets." Diane then gasped before realizing, "His charity fundraiser." "He's gonna steal the money raised in his own name?" I asked.

"It's the greatest heist the world's ever seen. $1 billion inside trucks, on their way to charities all over the city," Diane said. "We need to cut off Marmalade's communication with his guinea pig army," Celest said. "If there's no signal..." Daddy started. "There's no heist," Diane finished.

Carrie and I then looked at each other and said together, "We have to steal the meteorite." We then blushed afterwards. "You know, that was very cute, that thing you two just did there," Daddy said. "Thanks," I replied. "All right. Put on your big-girl pants," Diane instructed, "We're gearing up."

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