I deeply apologize for not noticing this mistake much earlier, please If such an event happens again please inform me, Thank You, and I hope this didn't ruin your experience.

-Ultrablockstar

-12-

A large vehicle arrived at ancient ruins east of Dragon Valley, as the vehicle stopped a large group of children exits the bus, including a basset hound and panda girl who observed in amazement the large crowd of people entering the ruins to pay tribute on the day before the autumn festival. The children remains attentive as their teacher speaks "Welcome children to Relic Maze, home to the Kingdom Stone." The adult feline introduced.

The children, including Milla remained still as the adult explains how the Kingdom Stone functions and it's history. However Norah became uninterested and retains a bored expression.

"According to legend, long ago a majestic dragon arrived at Avalice in a ball of fire, our ancestors were so captivated by it's beauty and power that they found three kingdoms in it's honor; who would like say the names of those kingdoms?"

One student raises her hand, "Shang Mu, Shang Tu, and Shuigang!" she replied with much pride.

"Very good! Who would like to tell the rest of class what happened next?" The teacher saw the distant hound and panda separated from the rest of class, "How about one of you girls?"

"Uh-" Milla spoke, however she didn't know much about her planet's history, Norah interrupted and answered for her.

"Once the cities were built the Dragon transformed into the Kingdom Stone, and with it's large source of energy the three kingdoms used it to power our technology while preserving peace and prosperity… sort of…" Norah explained in a rude uninterested manner.

The feline attempts to ignore the panda's tone, "Well... that is correct…" the teacher shakes her head in exasperation, "Anyways let's enter one of the crystal shrines and see how one would 'charge up'"

The group of children follows their chaperone, "That was mean!" Milla scalded Norah for her previous attitude.

"It's not my fault I already knew this, I came here to see how the Kingdom Stone works!"

"You could've at least tried to pretend you care." Milla began to whisper, "We may not be her students, but that doesn't mean we should be disrespectful!"

"If you want to be that way, then you can go without me!", Norah storms off leaving Milla with the rest of the children, the hound sighed and followed the school of students to one of the charge up stations.

Milla enters the crystal shrine and sees a large line of people leading to a large topaz crystal, at the end of the line was a person holding a smaller clear crystal. The person was instructed to place the crystal in a small chamber where the crystal was charged with a shining blue energy.

"The charge up stations are used to supply those specialized crystals with energy from the Kingdom Stone which is used to power our technology."

"For how long?" Milla naively asked without her panda companion around to interrupt her.

The feline makes a smile, "Usually for about a year, of course there have been some exceptions." the adult looks throughout the crowd of children and notices the panda girl's absence, "Hey where's your friend?"

"She… she needed to go pee." Milla fibs.

"Oh alright, well hopefully she'll be back soon."

"Um, may I please be excused, I need to go pee too!"

"Of course, make sure you come back with your friend."

Milla rushed out of the shrine and tried to maneuver her way past the crowd people, the hound made a deep breath and was able to vaguely identify the lost panda's scent. The scent led the hound deeper into the ruins, much deeper than any citizen is allowed, as she sneaked past the guards she found a hidden entrance with a set of stairs which led very deep underground. When Milla reached the bottom of the stairs she entered a large underground chamber consisting of massive pillars surrounding a large platform, sunlight beamed down to the center of the chamber from an opening at the ceiling. She sees Norah behind one of the pillars, the canine runs over to the panda, "Norah! What are you doing here?!" Milla whispers in a frightened tone.

"Oh Milla, you came! Look over there!" Norah says in excitement as she points towards something at the center of the chamber.

Milla squints her eyes and sees a large blue crystalline sphere mounted on a ancient stone pedestal, the hound was captivated by the stone's glowing energy, "I-Is that-"

"mhm, it's the one and only Kingdom Stone."

"Alright, we saw it let's get back with the others."

"No, we need a closer look!" Norah disregarded the basset hound's warning, and dashes closer to the Kingdom Stone with Milla following right behind her.

"Norah, please. We're not suppose to be in here!"

"Stop being so afraid, what do you think would happen if I touched it?"

"Norah, don't!"

Norah slowly gets even closer to the stone as she stretched her hand over to the energy rich sphere. The panda touches the relic, in response the stone made a faint glow which attracted both girls closer to it's beauty, however suddenly a sharp combustion blasts both girls away from the Kingdom Stone, thankfully the stone remained intact but the blast alerted the guards, Milla and Norah were left injured by the explosion, "How-" the panda girl said in disbelief.

Milla hears footsteps in the distance, "Someone is at the Kingdom Stone's chamber!".

"Someone's coming!" The hound calls, as she quickly gets up.

"I-" Norah remained speechless, she tried to get up but the explosion injured her more than Milla, "I can't move, Milla help me." the panda grunted.

The basset hound tried to help the panda on her feet however Norah was barely able stay up, "We're going to get caught!" Milla cries as she carefully let go of Norah.

"We'll think of something" Norah reasons desperately.

Milla began to panic as she hyperventilate, "I'm sorry Norah."

"Milla… MILLA?!"

"Your mommy is important, right? She can figure something out, you'll be fine." Milla reasons as she abandons the panda girl, the basset hound had tears running down her cheeks, I'm sorry…

"Milla… MILLA DON'T!"

Milla suddenly wakes up, breathing heavy and exhausted, she takes a quick look at the clock in her dorm as she adjusts her eyes to the faint moonlight shining down on her bed which stood next to the window, the clock read one-fifteen in the morning. The basset hound holds on to her head with one hand as she feels a sharp pain in her head, unable to relieve the headache she slowly gets up from her bed and carefully walks out of her room with only her tank top and capris on.

Exiting the dorms this late at night in the Dōng mén Dojo were forbidden, so Milla had to be careful not to alert anyone as she slowly sneaks into the girl's bathroom. In the girl's bathroom she turns on one of the sinks and splashes cold water on her face to wake herself up and relieve her migraine.

As the hound exits the bathroom she hears faint footsteps at the halls, she remains hidden in the small pathway perpendicular to the hallway.

"Hey, you don't have to hide. You're having those nightmares again… aren't you?" Milla hears a familiar male voice, she enters the halls and sees Zhao in a beige tank top of his own with beige shorts to complement his top.

"How did you know I woke up?" The hound questions.

"I didn't, I just found it strange how Kai told me how you haven't had nightmares for four months, especially when you would frequently have nightmares when you first stayed here for about a year ago."

"This one wasn't about that, though."

"Then what was it about?" Zhao ponders a moment, "Was it about Norah?"

Milla face becomes desolate and then filled with guilt, the thought triggers her headache again, she grabs on to her head in pain, "I! I guess it wasn't entirely her fault…" Milla starts to explain but her migraine interrupts her as she clutches her head in pain.

Zhao sees the hound's gesture, "Hey follow me to the infirmary." he suggests.

After the two canines enter the nurse's office, Zhao goes into the desk drawer, "The nurse would always tell me that health petals are best for physical injuries and pain otherwise herbs or medication is the better choice." Zhao explains as he finds a bottle of pain relievers, "I know you prefer herbal tea for this, but we can't exactly make tea this late at night, so these pills are your only option." the wolf squint his eyes to read the bottle, "Alright, it says it's about 250 milligrams." he tosses the bottle towards Milla, the hound stares at the container with indifference.

"Um, do I have to swallow one of these…" Milla asks.

"Actually you have to swallow two, well… it depends, how bad is your headache?"

The hound sighs in response and reluctantly swallows two pills, Milla is disgusted by to taste.

"I should've told you to use a cup of water instead of your saliva."

"Rrrgh, that would have been nice to know!"

"I'm sorry your naivety is kind'a funny." Zhao mocks, the wolf's tone suddenly becomes serious "We should be heading back to bed, I think it's best that you resolve your issues with Norah youself. Also I'm saying this because admittedly Kai already told me what he knows about you two."

"Thank you, for everything."

"Hey! It's no problem, we're friends and you helped out me and my siblings, it's only fair that I help you and your friends."

Friend? I- I haven't referred to Norah as my friend in years…

It was about eight in the morning and Norah had finished getting dressed for the day ahead, she hears a soft knock behind her door, "Come in." she responds.

Milla walks into the panda's room already dressed herself, she notices that Norah was also dressed, "Hi." she initiates.

"Oh, hi Milla."

"I- I want to say I'm sorry."

Norah immediately became stagnate from the apology, "S-sorry for what?"

"Sorry for everything, for abandoning you three years ago and for being mean to you…"

"Milla."

"...I really am though; you were right, I was cowardly and I should've helped you. In fact now that I think about it, when I met Lilac and Carol I wanted to be brave like them…"

"M-Milla."

"...What I'm trying to say is that I don't want to return to Shang Mu wi-"

"Milla!" Norah harshly interrupts, "I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have broken that promise and I guess my curiosity and pride got the better of me, you had no choice."

Milla was left stunned by Norah's apology "Why are you apologizing?!"

"Because of what Ginger told me, she said that you used to see me as the sister you never had."

Milla remains silent in a mixture of astonishment and emotional relief.

"Hey, let's start fresh!" Norah suggests with sudden exuberance, "My name is Norah!"

Milla playing along makes a large smile in response, "Nice to meet you Norah, my name is Milla!"

After both girls reintroduces themselves they both laugh in relief and exits the panda's dorm, they see both Zhao and Kai waiting just outside the door.

"I agreed that I will stay here to help out Jie with the dojo, so I'll just say goodbye now. Fang and Ginger are waiting at the train station to say goodbye too." Zhao explains, as Milla walks up to him and gives him a hug in return, "It was nice meeting you two as well." he continues, focusing on Norah and Kai.

It was ten o'clock in the morning, the party finally reaches the train station at the commercial district of Dōng mén, there both Fang and Ginger were waiting while the train to Shang Mu was awaiting the remainder of the passengers before it leaves as scheduled.

"Took you long enough, hurry the train is about to leave." Fang warns.

"Alright, let's go girls." Kai says in a monotonous tone towards Milla and Norah before focusing on both of the tibetan wolves, "C'ya later."

"It was nice to meet you too." Norah responds.

Milla enters the train with the other two youths, as they enter the train they find a booth, she sat next to the window with Kai sitting on the opposite side and Norah adjacent to her. The train begins to move as the basset hound sees both wolves waving goodbye, she waves her hand as she leans outside of the window in response, "I'll miss you!" Milla calls out as the train begins to exit the city.

The youths witness as their surroundings slowly transitions from the calm metropolis of Dōng mén to the atmospheric forests of Qin. After a couple of hours the train exits Qin territory, a few more hours later Milla sees the familiar deserts and canyons of Dragon Valley in the distance. It was now half past five o'clock in the evening and the youths looks outside the window one last time and sees the large skyline of several skyscrapers and large buildings across the massive lake.

After two years, Milla Basset have returned to the origin kingdoms.