This has officially become a monthly story, and I hate that XD.

Anyway, let's answer some reviews:

1.) Nobody245: I assure you, I will try make your reading worthwhile.

And now, to the chapter!

Meanwhile with the ground team, they returned to the park, allegedly the last place a Twilight Crack was spotted, and began looking for hints to the Twilight Fox's whereabouts.

"So, Clyde," Lisa blurted. "You got any hypothesis as to why the cracks expand when they're touched by a former Aura?"

"I think It's just a simple matter of incompatibility," Clyde replied. "The Twilight World and our world work on a fundamentally different level; trying to cross it as a normal people causes it to malfunction, and the cracks could represent it being "damaged" somehow by the action."

"And it returning our Aura powers to before the sealing?"

"An attempt to fix the incompatibility."

"I see, so therefore, we're facing a dimensional instability whose attempt to correct itself is to revert Auras back to their selves, without considering how the main issue, the cracks, remain unaffected-"

Then, Darcy giggled

"I really missed Lisa's habit to speak in big words and long sentences."

At this, Lisa lowered her eyelids and turned to the brunette. "Darcy, have you found anything we could use to find the creature?"

"I mean, I'm pretty sure nobody has found anything yet-"

"Darcy, yes or no," Clyde plainly asked.

"...No."

"Then we gotta keep looking."

With that said, the rest of the group continued their search while Darcy stood still, scanning her surroundings with a neutral expression.

"Darcy?"

The girl turned around, and smiled upon seeing Lisa walking up to her.

"May we talk in private?"

Darcy's smile quickly vanished.

Next thing she knew, she and Lisa were sitting on a bench, the latter folding her arms as she looked around the scenery.

"You know, it feels nice to see some actual color again," she remarked with a little smile. "The Twilight World's dreary monochromatic color scheme gets boring after a while."

"Well, I'm glad you're enjoying the colors," Darcy scratched her head. "So, how's the Twilight World?"

"Honestly, just a monochromatic version of our world with magic and magical creatures added in," Lisa scratched her chin. "Actually, come to think of it, the only real magical creatures I've encountered are those who resemble my and Lincoln's plush forms."

"Oh really? How are they like?"

"Pretty much funny-looking cat-puppies: sometimes they're sweet like puppies, but other times, they're pompous like cats."

"Huh... interesting..."

A long silence came, which stayed until Lisa spoke again:

"Okay, now that we've softened each other up with this idle chit chat, let's get to business."

Darcy clasped her hands tightly.

"Darcy, you know that as soon as all of this is fixed," Lisa frowned. "I'm gonna be heading back to the Twilight World?"

Darcy flinched, but regained her composure quickly enough to calmly nod.

"And you don't want me to go back, do you?"

Darcy fell silent.

"Sabotaging the search won't convince me to stay. In fact, screwing around with the search could potentially endanger our world more than it's already been before."

"I know."

"Which is why I need to ask you, and I need you to answer honestly: can you really help us with the search?"

Darcy scratched her chin and took a deep breath, doing her best to avoid looking at Lisa as she gave her answer:

"It's... upsetting."

Lisa raised an eyebrow.

"For ten years, my best friend was nowhere to be found. For ten years, the last real memory I had about you, was the fact that not only did you create the entire "magical girl" idea to give your little sister something to play with, but that you and your brother chose to stay behind in the other dimension instead of helping everybody recover from the mess you caused."

"Well, there's the fact that Dawning Dusk, if left unchecked, could return and wreck havoc, just like with Tetherby, and the portal would supposedly close forever with no way in or out... but, considering I'm a genius, I probably could've made my own portal to the Twilight World regardless..."

With that said, Darcy let out a couple chuckles before stating, "You're the dumbest genius I've ever met!"

Lisa smiled. "Good to know someone shares my opinion."

The girls shared lighthearted laughs for a while, until they stopped and paused for a few minutes...

"So, Darcy, what will you do?"

"I'll help with the search. Just... give me a few minutes to rest and get my head straight."

Lisa nodded, and flew back to continue with the search for the twilight fox, Darcy watching her leave as she did. And as she got further and further away, Darcy's smile slowly vanished.

"You have to let her go if you hope to get anything done."

"I know, but-" Darcy felt a shiver go down her spine. "Wait, who said that?!"

Darcy turned around, but the only other living being around was the white fox creature that hung around with Clyde. And until this point, there weren't even any hints that they were sentient.

Then again, Lincoln and Lisa managed to pull off a similar illusion as Gemini and Divisu, so...

"Did..." Darcy leaned back. "Did you just talk?"

"Yup" replied the creature without opening their mouth.

The scream that escaped Darcy's mouth shool the very ground, followed by the girl leaning back away from the creature.

"Are you a friend or a foe, magical talking dog-cat-weasel-fox-thing?!"

"I assure you, I'm an ally; why else would I follow Clyde everywhere?" the creature spoke. "I didn't talk until now because, given past experience with Lincoln and Lisa, there was a high chance you wouldn't trust me once you knew I was more than a silly little pet."

"Well you were pretty spot on!"

The creature sighed and shook their head. "I know. And I hate being right."

This made Darcy grow slightly less scared of the creature, but only slightly. She took a couple moves forward, then asked:

"Why did you choose now, of all times, to talk? And to me of all people?"

"Well, I guess I saw a bit of myself in you?" the creature tilted their head. "You can refuse to believe me if you want, but I too had issues letting someone go a long time ago."

"Is that the reason why you're now a living plush doll?"

The creature's ears drooped. "Yeah. Not my proudest decision."

It was then that Darcy had an idea. "Wait, since you can talk now, maybe you can help with the search for the Calculus Mule Pens."

"Crepusculum Vulpes," the creature clarified. "You can always just call it Twilight Fox if its proper name is too difficult."

"Right, sorry."

"No worries."

"So, will you help the search for that thing?"

"You did hear me say that if anybody else sees me talking besides you and Clyde, they're gonna try kill me, right?"

"Well, Clyde and I can help prevent everybody from doing that! Just, you gotta help us, if you can."

The creature stared at Darcy for a moment, then scratched their ear as they answered:

"Well, what the heck, It's worth a try."

"Yay!" Darcy grabbed the creature and lifted. "Let's go!"

"But on one condition: you'll work on letting Lisa go. Otherwise you're gonna end up like me."

Darcy lowered the creature, and after thinking about it for a while, she simply nodded.

"Alright, let's go."

Darcy's smile returned and she hugged the creature tightly, keeping them in her grasp as she ran back to the team...