Adel had been holding back on her reaction to Valerie's usual antics, hoping to catch him off-guard and find out what he had been hiding from her. And finally, after days of waiting, he finally slipped up, and she found what she needed.

"Valerie! What is this?" Adel exclaimed as she stood in the doorway of D'arquien's place. She, Isuka and Valerie were sitting around the table in the room's centre. At least Valerie had been, right up until Adel spoke up and terrified him, even more so when he saw the small vial she was holding between her fingers to him.

"Ah, Adel!" Valeri exclaimed as he turned to her and frantically felt his pockets when he saw the vial. "I- I can explain. I just-"

"This is truth seed oil!" Adel roared, causing Valeri to flinch, and D'arquien and Isuka to look in surprise.

"Oh, that's pretty rare. Where'd you find it, Valerie? Isuka asked with a laugh.

Valeri did not look amused as Adel continued to demand answers. "Who did you use it on, Valerie! You know truth seed oil is dangerous on its own to peoples bodies and-,"

"Alright, I get it!" Valerie suddenly called back, stopping Adel from continuing for a moment as he continued. "I didn't use it by itself, I mixed it into a drink okay, there's no worry of danger. I also diluted it just to be sure!"

"Who did you use it on?" Adel asked again, looking extremely cross.

"The little green haired floppy ears." Valerie said with a sigh. "When the Hero was off sulking I knew someone would come by and I figured it'd be her. With what we saw happen to him with the star reading, I figured she'd need a push to help him, so I mixed it with some orange juice and gave it to her as a drink. Its effects should've only lasted an hour or so just long enough to make Floppy Ears a little more honest with the Hero when she found him."

"Trying to cover your ass, huh!" Adel glowered as she began walking forward and pulled out her gun, causing Isuka to begin chuckling to himself as D'arquien sighed.

"Hey, everything was fine so what's the big problem!" Valerie complained as Adel stepped forward and placed her gun against Valerie's head, just as the outer door opened and Yukikaze came in.

"Lady D'arquien I- . . . oh, am I interrupting something?"

"It's fine, Yuki. What happened?" Darquien asked, causing Adel to scowl and holster her gun before backing away from Valerie.

"We got a letter from Tatsumaki. Éclair is in Shinku's world and is staying with him and his mother. Apparently they say that she'll be able to come back here on Shinku's break!"

"Well, that's excellent!" D'arquien said with a smile.

"Yes. Yuki, did they say anything else in the letter, like the name of Shinku's mother?" Isuka suddenly asked with a slight smirk.

"Um, no why?"

Isuka forcibly stopped smirking and took a drink from his cup wondering if she was the person he thought she was. "No reason."

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"So that is what happened. These kids got caught up in some minor gang warfare. We were just lucky enough to break in and save them when we did." Chantelle explained as she sat with Sherry, Shinku, Rebecca and Éclair in the living room of Shinku's home.

Sherry nodded and let out a sigh of happiness. "I'm just thankful everyone is safe. " Shinku, could you and Éclair escort Rebecca to her house while I thank the officer here?"

"Okay, we'll be back!" Shinku exclaimed as he, Rebecca and Éclair quickly left the room, and once the sound of the door closing echoed into the living room, Sherry glanced at Chantelle, her expression instantly changing from one of a thankful housewife, to something more.

"So, what was it actually, Chantelle?"

"I knew you'd notice I was putting up a front to make the kids feel better. No point in worrying them after all, especially when you don't want them to know about some of the things going on."

"Chantelle . . . "

"Relax, Sherry, I was getting there." Chantelle said as she leaned forward on the couch where she sat in her full combat gear. "It was the same organization that those two Robert showed you were part of, and we finally have a name for it now. The WRP."

"WRP, what kind of acronym is that and what does it mean?"

"It stands for World Revitalization Project. As far as we can tell its a group that knows about other worlds such as Flonyard, and is attempting to make contact with them for the sole purpose of taking them over to use them as resource plants for Earth."

"Sounds like a ridiculous prospect, like declaring war on aliens before you even meet them."

"Exactly, but what we've been able to figure out, that's their thing. We're still figuring things out, and have raided six hideouts connected to them in the last week, four here in Japan, and two in Russia."

"That sounds . . . . . how many were at each hideout?"

"Less than a dozen each, but each time they managed to destroy their equipment and computers before we could stop them. They are terrible at hiding their people, but very good at destroying any leads we could use against them."

"That sounds problematic."

"It is. But I think the pressure we've been putting on them recently should make them think twice before doing anything for a while."

"Like kidnapping perhaps?"

"Uh, look I'm sorry about that. It was a minor oversight in our information net and-"

"Relax I don't blame you Chantelle. I blame my son for not doing the intelligent thing and informing the right people when he was contacted by them."

"Thanks for that, and sorry about the edging on the Dais."

"Oh, it's no problem. Now that I know you've been on the hunt I don't feel so inclined to complain." Sherry admitted with a sigh. The two women were silent as they sipped tea, but after a few minutes, when Sherry finished hers she spoke up again, her voice sounding unsure. "Chantelle, can I ask you to do something for me?"

"Of course, what do you need? If it's a gun or twelve I get you them no problem. It's not like you don't have the permits for them anyway."

"No, it's the opposite actually. If I give you the old clothing of mine from when we all were in Flonyard, could you get someone to refashion them for me?"

"That old combat uniform? I could but why would you. . . . . . . . . You don't think it'll come to that do you?"

"I hope not, but I have asked Robert to have my blade re-forged just in case. Better safe than sorry after all."

"I suppose so . . . . Yeah, give me it and I'll have it refashioned. For you. I will need some measurements though to have it done." Chantelle explained as Sherry walked across the room to a closet and opened it, doing something inside that sounded like undoing locks before she pulled out a brown cloth bag and tossing it behind her onto the coffee table.

"I'll send you my measurements tonight then. Everything should be in the bag."

Taking the bag Chantelle looked inside, nodded and then tossed it over her shoulder and stood up. "Alright, I'll make sure it gets done for you."

"Thank you, I'm sorry for keeping you, Chantelle."

"Nonsense, it's been far too long since we were able to just talk." Chantelle said as she turned to the doorway out of the living room and stopped, suddenly making the room feel colder as she turned around and spoke up. "There is one other thing you should know though."

"And that is?"

"Xavier has disappeared. No one's been able to find him, his apartment was empty and his bank account drained."

" . . . . I see."

"We're looking for him, but at this point, and with how effective these people have been at eluding us . . . ."

"Don't say it, let's not jump to conclusions." Sherry said as she walked Chantelle to the door.

"You're right. Well, I have to get back to work, so I'll see you later, Sherry. And good luck keeping track of your kid and the girl."

"Thanks. I think I might need it soon."

Authors note : For those that are forgetting, back in disillusionment, Valeri gave Éclair some juice before she went out and found Shinku, so yeah, he was manipulating people!