Hey everybody! Whew, things have been really busy with school and stuff, more than I expected, really. Thankfully, things seem to be getting sorted out now, but enough about that.
Today is my 22nd birthday, and I thought, why not celebrate with a brand new chapter of Reflecting Balance? That is right, Chapter 26 is finally done! Hope you all enjoy it!
Chapter 26: I think he's really sorry about what happened back then.
Another day had begun in Fenix Town, and things were busy as usual. It was looking to be a somewhat cloudy day, with a chance of rain. Understandably, Megara the Magmar wanted Mirage to hurry up and finish preparations so their rescue team could head out before it could start raining.
"Calm down, we don't even know for sure if it's going to rain today," Mirage said. "For all we know, it might not rain until tomorrow."
"The mushroom wouldn't mind some rain," Cordyceps commented.
"All right, but I still want to get going soon," Megara said, looking around and noticing two Shinx and a Mienfoo walking by. "Oh, hey guys!"
"Hi!" Chiaki replied, waving to the other rescue team.
"Blitz, good to see you," Mirage commented, smiling. "I heard from your teammates that you'd gone missing the day before."
"Yeah," Blitz responded, rubbing his forelegs together.
"Well, good to see you made it back okay," Mirage said, before turning back to her teammates. "All right, let's get going!"
"Finally," Megara muttered as the three of them left.
Blitz, Lita and Chiaki also kept walking towards the café, where they were pretty sure that Sera and Azure would be waiting for them. And as they stepped through the door, they spotted the two girls, plus Frederick, sitting and talking at one of the tables.
"Ah, there you are!" Azure said, grinning. "Good morning, guys!"
"Good morning!" Chiaki responded, smiling back.
"Hi Blitz," Sera said, seeming a bit unsure of what to say. "So, um… Did you… sleep well?"
"Uh, yes… Very well," Blitz responded, nodding his head slightly and rubbing his forelegs together. "And you?"
"Sort of, I guess," Sera replied, nodding her head with a bit of a nervous smile.
"That's… good," Blitz said, clearing his throat. "So… What's the plan for today?"
"Oh, well… I was sort of thinking that maybe… maybe you should take today off, and spend some time with Lita?" Sera suggested. "You know, since she's only really staying for a few days, I figured it might be nice for the two of you."
"That sounds like a great idea, doesn't it, big brother?" Lita asked, smiling up at her brother.
"Hmm… Well, I certainly would like to spend some quality time with Lita," Blitz said, looking somewhat doubtful. "But Sera, will you be okay without me?"
"I'm sure I can handle it!" Sera replied, nodding her head.
"Are you… sure?" Blitz asked.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Sera responded, doing her best to reassure her teammate. "I've got Chiaki and Azure with me, and Frederick offered to come along as well!"
"Is that so?" Blitz asked, looking over at Frederick.
"Uh-huh," Frederick responded, nodding his head. "Azure convinced me to give it a try!"
"Hmm… Okay, then," Blitz said, giving Sera a small smile. "Just… um… when looking over missions, don't pick anything that looks too difficult…"
"Sure, if that makes it easier for you to relax," Sera responded.
"All right," Blitz replied, before turning to Lita. "So, what do you want to do today?"
"Ooh, there's a lot we could do, but I don't know what I want to do the most," Lita said, smiling at her brother. "Of course, as long as I get to spend time with you, it's not that important what game we play."
"So, how about we go for a little walk then while you think about what you want to do?" Blitz suggested.
"Okay!" Lita responded, nodding her head before following Blitz out of the café.
"Have fun, you two!" Sera said, waiting until they were out of earshot before sighing. "I just hope I really can do one mission without Blitz…"
"Don't worry, you've got me, Chiaki and Frederick with you," Azure commented. "I'm sure that we can handle this one together."
"All right…" Sera responded, taking a deep breath. "Well… Let's head up to the HQ and find ourselves a mission."
Sera, Chiaki, Azure and Frederick began heading for the rescue team HQ. Azure noticed that Sera seemed a bit lost in thought, walking slowly and somewhat unsteady.
"Hey, Sera?" Azure said. "Did you give Blitz the day off so you wouldn't have to talk to him about what happened just yet?"
"Huh?" Sera responded, looking over at Azure. "Oh, um… Not really, although I do need some more time to think about what to say to him…"
"All right, just checking," Azure replied, nodding slightly.
"I know I should talk to him soon, but it's not easy figuring out what to say," Sera said.
"Well, he probably hasn't figured out what to say to you either," Azure responded. "Don't worry about it too much."
"I'll try," Sera replied, nodding. "It's kind of difficult not to think about it, though…"
For once, Amethyst was not doing the various chores to be done alone, as Sirena had offered to help her. Amethyst was surprised Sirena had offered, but was grateful for the extra help as it would likely allow for things to be finished sooner. Still, despite being a psychic type, Amethyst wasn't entirely sure about what had compelled Sirena to help out all of a sudden.
"Hey, why do you keep giving me that confused look?" Sirena asked, having noticed how Amethyst kept glancing over her shoulder at her.
"Huh? Oh, I'm sorry," Amethyst responded. "I was just wondering why you suddenly decided you wanted to help me with the chores today… I figured you'd have better things to do."
"Well, don't you remember what you said to me when we were out looking for Sera's friend yesterday?" Sirena asked.
Amethyst blinked a few times, trying to remember what the two of them had talked about yesterday…
Despite her psychic powers, Amethyst wasn't having any better luck than the other groups at tracking down Blitz. Sirena kept enviously looking up at her older sister, Amethyst eventually glancing at Sirena as she noticed the stares her sister was giving her.
"… Is there a problem?" Amethyst asked.
"No," Sirena replied, looking away. "I just wish I had your life, you know? I mean, you're like, the favorite of the family because you're good at like, everything!"
"Well, I suppose my life seems pretty nice," Amethyst responded, sighing. "Of course, being the favorite can be difficult at times… Always having the most responsibility, always having to look good… It can be a burden."
"Is it?" Sirena asked, tilting her head slightly. "You don't look like you have any problem with it."
"I hide it pretty well," Amethyst responded, before suddenly stopping. "Oh, I've said too much…"
"Um… Hey, don't worry about that now," Sirena said, somewhat unsure of what to make of this.
"You're right… We need to focus on finding Sera's friend," Amethyst responded, nodding her head slightly. "Let's keep looking around for any traces of him."
"All right," Sirena replied, nodding and helping Amethyst look for anything that might lead to the missing Shinx.
"… Ah, that's right…" Amethyst said, blinking a few times as she remembered what she and Sirena had talked about yesterday.
"Well, don't you worry about it, big sis!" Sirena exclaimed, grinning. "You don't have to carry that burden all by yourself!"
"Sirena… I appreciate the thought, but you really don't need to do this," Amethyst said. "I've been able to handle it myself all this time, after all…"
"Hey, it's no problem," Sirena responded, smirking. "I take half the burden from you, and in return I get to take half the credit for the work!"
"But… I…" Amethyst stuttered, unsure of how to handle the situation.
"Well, I intend to help you out whether you want it or not!" Sirena said, grinning. "So, you might as well just accept it!"
Amethyst sighed as Sirena cheerfully continued cleaning up around the living room, feeling rather upset that she had admitted to her weakness after trying to hide it away from her family for so long in order to keep the image they had of her intact. However, Sirena's reaction wasn't quite what Amethyst had expected. In fact, her current behavior was almost the exact opposite of Amethyst's expectations.
With how much Sirena seemed to resent her for being "perfect", Amethyst would've thought this revelation would make things between her and her sister worse, but that wasn't what was happening. In fact, it seemed as if Sirena liked her better now. Amethyst didn't really understand it, but at the same time, it was somewhat of a relief.
"Sirena… Thank you," Amethyst said, smiling to her sister.
"It's no problem," Sirena responded, grinning.
"This is… just between the two of us, right?" Amethyst asked. "There are some things that I need to think about… Until then, don't tell anyone else what we talked about yesterday?"
"If that means you'll let me help so that you don't get all the credit, sure," Sirena responded.
"Okay, I guess that works for me," Amethyst replied, nodding her head slightly.
The two sisters continued doing the work together, not noticing that a certain Flareon had been listening to their conversation, with a small smile on his face.
Chiaki and Azure were looking over the bulletin board, and were eagerly discussing amongst themselves trying to decide on what mission they would do. Frederick just listened to the two of them, trying to hear if there were any of the missions that sounded good to him.
"Gee, I wish I could read those missions too," Frederick thought to himself, while occasionally nodding his head to Chiaki or Azure when they suggested another mission.
Sera wasn't really paying attention, seeming rather lost in thought. It was difficult for her to focus on anything else as the current situation between her and Blitz kept consuming her thoughts. She just had to think of something she could say, some way she could prove to Blitz just how much their friendship meant to her.
"Sera? Hey, Sera!" Azure shouted, shaking Sera. "Snap out of it, will you?"
"Huh? What?" Sera responded, looking over at her teammates. "Oh, I'm sorry. What is it?"
"We can't make up our mind on what mission to take," Azure said, pointing to the board.
"Sera, what do you think?" Chiaki asked, looking at Sera expectantly.
"Oh, um… Let me take a look," Sera said, looking up at the various missions on the board.
There were plenty of missions at their current skill level to choose between, but the letters on the different missions just seemed to blur together as Sera began losing focus again.
"I wish Blitz was here," Sera thought to herself, before shaking her head and trying to clear up her clouded mind. "No! I can do this… I've picked out missions without Blitz's help before, so it's not like I don't know what I'm doing…"
Sera sighed, and looked closely at the various missions. She could tell just how used she was to Blitz's presence that she caught herself almost wanting to ask him for advice. Instead, she took a deep breath and mentally told herself that she couldn't rely on Blitz all the time.
"So, anything look good to you?" Azure asked.
"Well, um… There are two up there in the corner that are in the same dungeon," Sera said.
"Ah, yes," Azure responded, nodding slightly. "Chiaki, can you reach those?"
"Yep!" Chiaki replied, cheerfully jumping up and grabbing the two missions off the board. He then looked over them. "Let's see… The first one is a request from a Shieldon, asking to find a missing Cranidos, and the other is from a Skitty who apparently got lost after escaping some wild Pokémon."
"So, we've got two rescue missions," Azure said, glancing over at the outlaw board as another rescue team walked away from it. "Should we check the other board too?"
"Huh?" Sera responded, before shaking her head. "No, I think these two rescue missions will be enough for today."
"Okay, then," Azure said, grinning. "Well, if everyone's ready, let's head out!"
The four Pokémon headed over to the room behind the purple curtain, where a certain Abra seemed content with dreaming the day away as usual. Of course, she also had work to do, so she simply had to accept that rescue teams would shake her by the shoulders until she woke up for them.
"All right, tell me where you want to go so I can get back to my dream…" Kala muttered, rubbing her eyes. "I was just about to knock the moon out of the sky with a giant spoon…"
"Let us know how that turns out," Azure responded, before showing Kala the missions and pointing out the location to the sleepy Abra.
"Okay, no problem… Good luck, be careful and all that…" Kala mumbled, before teleporting the four Pokémon out of the room and going back to her nap. "… Yes, I know… I've only got one shot, so if the moon misses its target…"
Kala snickered a little in her sleep as she turned over on her side, mumbling something in a satisfied tone.
Blitz and Lita were taking a walk, neither of them really saying much. Blitz wasn't really sure what to say, and from the looks of things, Lita wasn't sure what to say either. It looked she wanted to say something, though. Perhaps she was just trying to think of how to say what she wanted to say? Blitz noticed that they were walking right past the dojo, but just looked away from it.
He knew that just like he and Sera would have to properly talk about what had happened, he would also eventually have to talk to Hercules about it. Hercules had broken his promise and revealed Blitz's secret, but had done so out of concern for him… Blitz wasn't really sure what to really make of that. So far, he didn't see how anything good was going to come out of it.
"Hey, Blitz?" Lita said, looking up at her older brother.
"What is it?" Blitz asked, meeting his sister's gaze.
"I, um… Back home, Charge has been asking about you," Lita responded, looking away.
"Huh?" Blitz replied tilting his head slightly.
"He wondered how you've been doing since… that incident," Lita explained. "I think he's really sorry about what happened back then."
"Wait, how would you know that?" Blitz asked, looking rather confused.
"Well… You see, it'd been a while since you left, and I was having trouble finding the courage to approach the other Shinx," Lita said, blushing slightly. "I was just too shy…"
"Um… I see," Blitz responded, still rather confused. "But what does Charge have to do with any of this?"
"I kind of ran into him, and when I told him about my problem, he said the best solution was to find a certain item in a mystery dungeon," Lita explained. "He said it'd build my confidence, and offered to go with me to help me get that item."
"He did?" Blitz asked, surprised at this sudden turn of events. "Why would he do that?"
"I wondered why he'd do that too," Lita responded. "I thought it might be a trick, but he really did help me get that item, and then I thought that maybe he felt sorry for what he did to you, and was trying to make up for it by helping me be more brave?"
"Huh… I thought that Charge would've hated me for what happened back then," Blitz said, rubbing his forelegs together.
"While I don't know if I've really gotten any less shy around the other Shinx, I become friends with Charge, surprisingly enough," Lita replied, smiling at her brother.
"That… certainly is surprising," Blitz responded, blinking a few times.
"So, when he heard I was going to be visiting you, he asked me to let him know what you'd been up to and how you were doing over here," Lita explained. "I think the other Shinx miss having you around as well, from what I've heard."
"Oh, um…" Blitz glanced around, before looking down at the ground and rubbing the rings on his forelegs together again. "I guess when you go home, you can tell them that I'm doing okay, and that my training has been going well?"
"Sure, I can do that!" Lita responded, grinning. "Of course, I want to make sure that you really are okay before I leave, though!"
"What do you mean by that?" Blitz asked.
"Since I'm your sister, don't I have to make sure my brother is okay?" Lita responded, tilting her head slightly. "
"Oh, um… You really don't have to worry too much about me," Blitz replied, rubbing his forelegs together.
"You think I should leave all the worrying to you just because you're the older sibling?" Lita asked, shaking her head. "I don't think so."
"I'm sorry…" Blitz responded, looking away. "A lot has happened lately, and I'm still trying to figure out how to deal with it all…"
"Well… How about you forget about that just for a moment?" Lita asked, smiling up at her brother. "Come on, let's play together like we used to! How does hide-and-seek sound?"
"Uh… Sure, sounds like fun," Blitz replied, giving a small smile.
"All right, then!" Lita said, smiling. "Close your eyes and count to twenty-two, while I find a good hiding spot!"
"Okay, sis," Blitz responded, nodding his head and closing his eyes as Lita ran ahead and began looking for a hiding spot. "One, two, three…"
Sera, Chiaki, Azure and Frederick were slowly making their way through the mystery dungeon, and were getting close to the floor where the Pokémon of the first mission needing rescuing was. While things were going well, Sera couldn't help but feel uneasy. Everything that had happened over the course of the past few days had been rather stressful for her.
She had to push the thought of how to solve things between her and Blitz out of her mind so she could focus on the mission. At least Azure's good sense of hearing and Frederick's good sense of smell allowed them to help alert her to possible dangers.
"I see the stairs!" Chiaki exclaimed, cheerfully pointing to the stairs leading to the next floor.
"Oh, okay," Sera replied, nodding her head slightly. "Let's go, guys."
The four Pokémon moved onto the next floor, and began looking around for the first of the two lost Pokémon in the dungeon. Azure listened closely, while Frederick tried to pick up the missing Pokémon's scent. It didn't take long before they had a lead, and were able to track down and send the lost Pokémon back to Fenix Town.
"All right, just one more to go," Sera said, taking a deep breath. "We can do this…"
Sera felt somewhat reassured by the fact that one Pokémon was now saved, and they just had to find one more. Of course, she still had to stay alert, and focus on the mission. After all, she had experienced before that even if the mission was close to being completed, things could still go wrong on the way there.
It didn't take them too long to reach the floor where the Skitty they had to rescue was, however, they soon noticed something rather odd about this particular floor.
"Hey, Sera? Don't those walls look kind of strange?" Azure asked, glancing around.
"They look… distorted…" Chiaki said, noticing that a few of the walls looked much like water rippling.
"Huh, I guess this floor must've been affected by the distortions," Sera commented, looking around. "Hope the Skitty we must rescue is okay."
"Yeah…" Azure responded, nodding and looking a bit nervous as her ears picked up on something in the distance. "Um… How do you think this might be affecting the wild Pokémon on this floor…?"
Before Sera had the chance to respond, she noticed several shadows flying above them, and glanced up to see several black crow-like Pokémon with features on their head in a top hat-like shape. It didn't take long before eight Murkrow landed in front of the rescue team, staring at Sera and her teammates.
"Those Murkrow… don't look so well…" Chiaki said, feeling rather unnerved by the almost empty look in the wild Murkrow's eyes.
"Maybe we can walk right past them…?" Azure suggested, glancing around. "I mean, even though they're looking right at us, I'm not entirely sure if they actually know we're here?"
"I don't get it, what's going on?" Frederick asked, not really understanding what the others were talking about since he couldn't actually see that there was anything wrong with these Murkrow.
"Um… Let's go, guys…" Sera said, slowly starting to make her way towards one of the other paths. "We need to find that Skitty."
Before Sera could reach the path, one of the Murkrow flew over and blocked it. Sera nervously stared into the Murkrow's eyes for a few moments, before the crow Pokémon suddenly cried out and attempted to peck her. Sera gave a startled yelp as she barely dodged the Murkrow's attack, and as she glanced around she noticed that the other Murkrow were headed for her teammates.
"Sera, we could use some help here!" Azure said, using her tail to swat one of two Murkrow currently trying to nip at her ears aside.
"Oh, right!" Sera responded, nodding her head before using her Helping Hand move to power up her three friends.
"Thanks!" Azure replied, smirking as she knocked the other Murkrow out of the way.
"I could use a little more help here…" Chiaki said, trying his best to use Detect to dodge the attempts of three of the Murkrow to Peck or hit him with a Wing Attack.
"I'll be there in just a second!" Frederick responded, while attempting to hit a Murkrow he was fighting with Dragon Rage, but it continued to dodge his attacks. "Hmm… Or maybe two seconds?"
"Hey, Sera? Don't you have an item or something that can take care of these guys?" Azure asked, trying to fight off the two Murkrow that had gotten back up and were trying to grab her ears again. "Like, an orb, maybe?"
"Oh, right… Good idea," Sera responded, trying to get enough distance between herself and the Murkrow that kept trying to hit her so she could check what items she had. Luckily for Sera, one of Frederick's stray Dragon Rage attacks hit the Murkrow, knocking it down. "Oh, thanks, Frederick!"
"Uh… You're welcome!" Frederick replied, nodding his head. "I… totally meant to do… whatever it was I did!"
Sera quickly looked through her bag, hoping to find something she could use to stop the Murkrow.
"Hmm… Petrify Orb? Nah, I should save that one for a bigger emergency…" Sera muttered to herself while examining an orb before putting it back into the bag. "I know one of these other orbs should work, though… Ah, maybe this will do!"
Sera smirked as she pulled out an orb, and tossed it on the ground. Upon activating, the orb sent out a wave of sound that made the Murkrow stumble around dizzily, while Sera and her teammates were unaffected.
"All right, it worked!" Sera said, happily wagging her tail.
"Well done, Sera!" Azure responded, nodding her head slightly. "Now let's get moving before the effects of the Totter Orb wears off!"
And so, the four Pokémon quickly exited the room, and kept moving, only to run into even more wild Pokémon in the next room they entered.
"Oh, no…" Sera muttered, as she glanced at the wild Pokémon.
"Hey, I think I can smell the Skitty…" Frederick said, sniffing the ground. "Yeah, I think he or she is in here somewhere…"
"Well, in that case… I guess you should go find them while the rest of us deal with the wilds?" Sera suggested, sounding uncertain about whether she thought it was the best course of action or not.
Frederick began moving forward, sniffing the ground to find out where the scent trail would lead, with Azure walking next to him on one side, and Chiaki on the other, with Sera following shortly behind them. As wild Pokémon began moving closer, Sera used her Helping Hand to power up her teammates, while Azure used her Bubble Beam attack to hit opponents from afar to keep them from getting closer and Chiaki did the same using his Swift attack.
"Just a little further…" Sera muttered, only to feel something snag onto her tail. "Ah, let go!"
A Pokémon appearing to be a spherical mass of blue vines had grabbed onto Sera's tail by extending two of its vines, and was attempting to pull her back. There was a pink Pokémon with flower-shaped spots on its body floating next to the Tangela, its small oval eyes having a multicolored glow as it charged up a psychic attack.
"We're coming, Sera!" Azure shouted, glancing over at Frederick. "You find the Skitty while Chiaki and I help Sera!"
"You're talking to me, right?" Frederick asked, tilting his head slightly. "Wait, of course she's talking to me. I mean, she mentioned herself and the other two guys, so by process of elimination, I'm the only one she could be…"
"H-Hello?" a soft female voice called out. "I-I'm over here…"
"Oh, right!" Frederick said, making his way over to the source of the sound, a tree with a small opening in it that the pink kitten Pokémon had crawled inside.
"You came to rescue me, didn't you?" the Skitty asked, peeking out from her hiding spot.
"Yeah, sort of," Frederick replied, nodding his head. "My friends will be here in just a moment to do the teleport thing with the badge!"
Chiaki moved to dodge multicolored beams of psychic energy fired from the Munna's eyes, before Azure eventually managed to hit the floating psychic type with a Bubble beam attack. While the Munna took a moment to recover from the attack, Chiaki took the opportunity to run up to the Tangela, and managed to successfully catch it off-guard with a Fake Out attack while the grass type was distracted trying to drain Sera's energy.
The Tangela flinched from Chiaki's attack, and let go of Sera.
"Whew… Thanks, Chiaki…" Sera said, stumbling a bit. "That Tangela drained some of my strength, but I think I'm okay."
"Are you sure?" Chiaki asked.
"Yeah," Sera responded, nodding her head slightly. "Let's just finish this and get out of here, already."
Sera then quickly tackled the Tangela before it could grab her again, sending it stumbling back. Chiaki was quick to follow up with a Swift attack, knocking out the Tangela around the same time as Azure managed to finish off the Munna by hitting it with her tail.
"That was fun!" Azure said, smiling. "Wouldn't mind fighting a few more, actually!"
"Uh… I think we've had enough battles for one day," Sera responded, sighing and letting her ears droop down slightly.
"Guys, I found the Skitty!" Frederick said, cheerfully walking back over to his friends with the pink kitten Pokémon following him.
"Thank you for coming all the way here to rescue me!" the Skitty said. "All of a sudden, the wild Pokémon here started acting really weird, and I had to get away, but I couldn't find the way out. So, I had to send out a request for help, and find a place to hide."
"Well, let's get out of here before any other wild Pokémon show up, then," Sera responded, seeming tired, but also relieved that the mission was over.
And so, all five Pokémon disappeared from the dungeon in a flash of golden light.
After picking up their rewards at the HQ, Sera and the others met up with Blitz and Lita, and went to the café to talk about the events of the day. Blitz watched as Sera quickly drank up a glass of berry juice, before giving a content sigh with her ears drooping down slightly.
"Whew, I needed that…" Sera said.
"You don't usually get as worn out as this after a mission," Blitz commented looking somewhat concerned. "Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine…" Sera responded, nodding her head slightly. "Just… those wild Pokémon kind of caught us off guard…"
"I see…" Blitz replied, rubbing his forelegs together. "Guess that's something one couldn't really have predicted… As the distortions keep spreading, I guess it'll only get harder to predict what might happen…"
"Hey, let's talk about something else," Sera said, with a small smile. "How was your day off?"
"Oh, yeah… It was nice," Blitz responded, nodding his head slightly. "Lita and I talked about some stuff, and then we played hide-and-seek."
"Yeah, and Blitz kept finding me pretty quickly," Lita said, giggling a little. "He's always been good at that game."
"Glad to hear you had fun," Sera commented, smiling.
"So, Frederick, did you enjoy going on a mission with us?" Azure asked, nudging her Deino friend.
"Yeah, it was pretty exciting, getting to go on a mission with everyone," Frederick responded.
"I know, right?" Azure replied, grinning. "You should totally join the rescue team too!"
"Helping that Skitty did feel nice…" Frederick commented, thinking for a moment. "All that walking made me hungry, though…"
"Oh, but doesn't food taste better after a day of adventuring?" Azure asked.
"Um… Maybe," Frederick responded, shrugging slightly.
Chiaki was glad to see that Blitz seemed to be in a better mood now after his day off, which he had probably needed. Still, Blitz and Sera hadn't yet sorted everything out between themselves, so things weren't quite back to normal for the rescue team just yet. At least they were talking, and seemed to be getting along well enough.
"I hope they're able to talk things out soon," Chiaki thought, with a small smile as he looked at his teammates.
Eventually, the six Pokémon had to head home for the night, and they managed to get to their homes before it started raining. Sera was greeted by Flare upon returning home, but she barely had anything to say. She just went straight to bed, and fell asleep.
"Today's mission must've been a tough one," Flare whispered to himself, smiling as he walked up to Sera and gently petted her on the head with his paw. "Sleep well, sis."
End of Chapter 26.