Hello everyone! It's been a while, but I've finally finished another chapter!
I'm hoping to get more done writing-wise this year, but of course, I can't make any promises. At the very least, I can confirm that the next few chapters are currently in-progress, and I'm looking forward to sharing them with you guys.
For now, here's chapter 63. I hope you guys enjoy it!
Chapter 63: Then we just gotta find Palkia!
It was another quiet night in Fenix Town. Inside the town oracle's house, Malefica was watching as Bow prepared dinner. Bow was hoping to be done before Stella and Samara returned from scouting out a fitting location for the plan to capture Erebos.
"Phew… Almost done," Bow said, looking up at Malefica. "Malefica, can you set the table?"
"Sure, I can do that," Malefica responded, nodding slightly.
Malefica giggled as she made her hair stretch out, waving the stands around like tentacles.
"Do I look like a Tentacruel when I do this?" Malefica asked.
"Um… A little?" Bow responded, chuckling a little.
Malefica grabbed the plates with her hair, carrying them to the dining table.
"I suppose it is a good thing her hair is made out of the same ghostly energy as the rest of her body," Bow thought to herself as she watched Malefica. "No need to worry about it getting into the food."
Just as the two finished preparing dinner, Stella and Samara entered the house.
"Ah, welcome back!" Bow said, smiling at her mother and Samara.
"Ooh, perfect timing!" Malefica commented, grinning.
"Good evening, girls," Stella said, smiling back at Bow and Malefica. "Have you had a nice day?"
"Yes, I think so," Bow replied, nodding slightly.
"And you didn't get into any trouble?" Samara asked, her question mainly addressed at Malefica.
"Not today," Malefica responded, rolling her eyes.
"Hmm… Very good," Samara said, smiling.
The four of them all gathered around the dinner table, and helped themselves to the food Bow and Malefica had prepared.
"So, how about you two?" Bow asked, looking at Stella and Samara expectantly. "Have you found a good location?"
"Yes, I believe we have narrowed it down quite a bit," Samara responded, with a thoughtful look. "However, the bigger question is how we'll get Erebos to go where we want him to be once the trap is ready."
"Indeed," Stella replied. "It won't be easy to get Erebos to let his guard down at this point."
"That's true," Bow said with a thoughtful expression. "I wish I could help…"
"Don't worry about that, sweetie," Stella responded, smiling at Bow. "Samara and I will figure something out."
"Oh, I'm sure you will," Bow replied, nodding slightly. "Don't worry, I'll keep watching the house in the meantime, and helping out any Pokémon that might need help while you're away!"
"No such Pokémon have stopped by, though," Malefica commented, casually grabbing a berry piece with her hair and tossing it into her mouth.
"But if anyone does show up, I'll do what I can to help!" Bow said with a confident smile.
"… Why are you getting so hyped about the prospect of doing work?" Malefica asked, tilting her head slightly as she looked over at Bow. "I don't get that."
The four of them continued to talk as they ate dinner together. Over the course of the conversation, Stella and Samara returned to the topic of how to lure Erebos into their trap. Bow listened to the two of them quite intently, while Malefica seemed more interested in stacking the remaining berry slices on her plate into a small tower.
Despite everything that happened the day before, Sera felt somewhat refreshed as she woke up the next morning. Perhaps it was because Flare had let her sleep next to him and use his tail as a blanket during the night. Or maybe it was because she had finally been able to collect her thoughts, and now had an idea of where to start in her search for a way to save Chiaki.
"Good morning, Sera," Flare said, noticing that she was awake. "Did you sleep well?"
"Yeah, I think so," Sera replied, smiling at Flare. "Thanks for that."
"Anytime," Flare responded, smiling back at Sera. "So, have you managed to figure out what to do about whatever it is you need to do?"
"Well, not quite," Sera replied, shaking her head. "But I think I know who to talk to in order to get the answers I need."
It seemed so obvious now. If Chiaki was one of the Axis Tower crystals, then they needed to know more about them.
Blitz slowly opened his eyes as the sun shined through the windows. He glanced over at Chiaki, wondering if the Mienfoo had managed to get a good night's sleep despite everything that was happening. Learning the truth about Chiaki yesterday was quite the shock. Blitz got up and stepped over to Chiaki, gently nudging him with his paw.
"Chiaki?" Blitz said, nudging him a few more times.
Chiaki slowly opened his eyes and looked up at Blitz.
"Oh, Blitz," Chiaki said, yawning. "Good morning."
"Good morning," Blitz replied. "Sleep well?"
"I guess so?" Chiaki responded, sitting up.
"How is your arm?" Blitz asked.
"Ah, well…" Chiaki responded, beginning to unwrap the bandages so they could take a look.
Examining Chiaki's arm, they noticed that things had changed a bit since yesterday. A few more tiny crystals had formed on the wound, and ones close to each other were seemingly merging together.
"Hmm… Seems they're starting to form a layer of crystal over the wound," Blitz commented, examining the state of the crystals. "The rest of your arm is still unaffected."
"That's… good, right?" Chiaki responded, waving his arm a bit.
"We'll just have to keep an eye on it these next few days," Blitz replied, his steely expression making it difficult to tell what was going through his mind.
"R-Right," Chiaki responded, nodding slightly.
Chiaki covered up the crystal-covered part of his arm once more, before he and Blitz headed outside. As they made their way towards the town plaza, Sera came running up to them.
"There you are!" Sera said, gesturing for them to follow her. "Come on, let's find Elina!"
"Elina?" Chiaki responded, tilting his head slightly. "Why?"
"Well, we gotta do something about this, right?" Sera said, glancing towards Chiaki's arm. "I don't know what to do, but Elina used to live in Axis Tower, so maybe she can help us think of something!"
"Sera…" Blitz responded, sighing.
"Don't give me that look!" Sera replied, with a strained smile. "We won't know until we try, right?"
Blitz was about to say something else, but realized he probably wouldn't be able to get through to her in her current state. After all, Sera was the kind of Eevee who didn't easily give up once she had set her mind to something. He also didn't want to get into an argument with her in front of Chiaki. Perhaps it was best to just go along with it for now.
"Well… Where do we find Elina, then?" Blitz asked, glancing around.
"Um…" Sera replied, tilting her head slightly. "… Chiaki, any ideas?"
"Hmm…" Chiaki responded, holding a paw to his chin as he thought about it for a moment. "Um... Oh! Maybe Kala would know? She taught Elina about telepathy, after all!"
"Oh, good thinking!" Sera replied, wagging her tail. "Let's go see Kala, then!"
Sera quickly began walking towards the town plaza to get to the rescue team HQ, Blitz and Chiaki following closely behind.
"Well… Kala is an adult," Blitz thought to himself as he followed Sera. "Maybe she'd be able to bring Sera back to her senses?"
Arriving at the rescue team HQ, Sera quickly ran ahead of the other two and headed down to Kala's room. She ran up to the sleeping Abra, and began shaking her shoulders.
"Kala! Wake up!" Sera shouted.
Kala groaned as she slowly lifted her head and opened her eyes slightly.
"You don't have to be so rough…" Kala complained, looking at Sera.
Blitz and Chiaki stepped inside as Sera stepped away from Kala. Kala sat up and looked at the group.
"So, what do you need?" Kala asked, yawning.
"We need to talk to Elina," Sera responded. "Do you know where she might be?"
Noticing Sera's impatience, Kala then looked over to see Blitz and Chiaki's expressions.
"… Oh," Kala said, stretching out her arms. "She told you the truth, didn't she?"
"You knew?" Blitz asked.
"Yeah," Kala replied, nodding her head slightly. "She told me the day before you returned from the mission at Wyvern Island."
"Do you know where she is now?" Sera asked.
"Hm… Not really," Kala responded. "But I could probably find out where she is… or send her a message via telepathy to let her know you want to talk to her…"
"Yes! That would be good!" Sera replied, nodding her head.
"Thanks, Kala!" Chiaki said, smiling at the Abra.
"No need to thank me," Kala responded, looking over at Chiaki. "You guys must have a lot on your minds right now…"
"Uh… Yeah," Chiaki replied, touching his bandaged arm.
Kala nodded slightly, and closed her eyes, concentrating. Her body began faintly emanating a green glow as she telepathically tried to reach out to Elina. After a few moments, Kala suddenly opened an eye slightly.
"Ah… There we go," Kala said, holding a hand to the side of her head.
"So, you and Elina are in telepathic contact right now?" Blitz asked.
"Yes…" Kala replied, closing her eye and continuing to focus on the conversation with Elina.
"Well, what is she saying?" Sera asked impatiently.
"Sera… Don't disturb her," Blitz said, gesturing with his paw for Sera to quiet down.
The group continued to watch as Kala sat there while in telepathic contact with Elina. After a few moments, the glow faded and Kala opened her eyes once more.
"Okay… Told her you needed to talk, preferably somewhere private," Kala said, looking over at Chiaki. "She said she'd be waiting for you in the spot where she first let you talk to her."
"Oh… That place?" Chiaki responded, remembering the somewhat chaotic events of the day when he first tried to reach out to Elina. It felt like such a long time ago now. "Um…"
"I can teleport you there if you'd like," Kala said. "Elina visualized the place, so I think I know just about where to send you…"
"That'd be nice!" Sera responded, tapping her paw on the floor eagerly. "Come on! Let's go already!"
"Thank you, Kala," Chiaki said, smiling at the Abra.
"You're welcome…" Kala responded, nodding slightly. "All right, I'll send you there now."
Kala's eyes began to glow once more, as she warped Blitz, Sera and Chiaki away in a green flash of light. Once she was done, Kala sighed and laid back down onto her pillow.
"Wonder if they're going to be okay…" Kala mused while she tried to find a comfortable position.
Appearing in a quiet area outside of Fenix Town, Chiaki and his teammates looked around. Indeed, it was the same place where he asked Elina if she knew something about his identity back then.
"Elina? Are you here?" Chiaki called out.
"Yes, I'm here," Elina responded telepathically, as she approached the group.
"There you are!" Sera said, walking up to the Elgyem. "Elina, we really need to talk to you."
Elina quietly looked over the three of them for a moment.
"From your expressions, I'm guessing Chiaki has told you the truth?" Elina asked.
"Well, things happened, so… I kind of had to," Chiaki explained, tugging at the bandages on his arm.
"Oh?" Elina replied, tilting her head slightly.
"Here, I'll show you…" Chiaki responded, beginning to remove the bandages.
Elina's eyes widened in shock as she saw the layer of crystal that was forming on the wound on Chiaki's arm.
"This is…" Elina gently touched part of the crystal layer.
"I think the Axis Tower crystal wants to return to its original form," Chiaki explained. "At least, I think that's what's happening."
"Ah… I guess that makes sense?" Elina responded, still a bit perturbed from seeing the strange condition of Chiaki's arm. "Still… I didn't imagine something like this might happen…"
"Isn't there a way to stop it?" Sera asked.
"Hmm?" Elina replied, giving Sera an inquiring look.
"I know we need to return all the crystals to the tower," Sera said, ears drooping down. "But that means Chiaki will…"
"Sera, stop it," Blitz suddenly interrupted. "We won't be able to…"
"Don't be like that!" Sera responded, glaring at Blitz for a moment. "Shouldn't we at least try to put our heads together and see if we can find another solution?"
"Another… solution…?" Elina replied, blinking a few times. "I don't think…"
"Oh, how about this?" Sera said, ears perking up. "If we made another Axis Tower crystal, then Chiaki could stay as he is!"
"Make… another crystal?" Elina replied, even more bewildered.
"… Sera, you do remember that according to the story, those crystals were created by Palkia, right?" Blitz said with a deadpan expression. "How would we re-create something that was created by a legendary Pokémon?"
"That does sound difficult," Chiaki commented.
"I see…" Sera responded, thinking for a moment before a grin appeared on her face. "Then we just gotta find Palkia!"
"Huh!?" Elina replied.
"What?" Blitz responded, his grim expression changing to that of confusion. "Did… did you just say we should look for Palkia?"
"If we could find Palkia, we could explain the situation to them and have them make a new Axis Tower crystal for us!" Sera stated confidently. "Problem solved!"
"Would that work?" Chiaki asked.
"Whoa, hold on!" Blitz said, shaking his head. "Sera, that's… oh, where do I even begin with that one?"
"What?" Sera responded defensively. "We won't know until we try!"
"Sera, we can't just find Palkia!" Blitz replied, a few sparks of blue electricity rippling through his fur. "Palkia is said to live in the space between dimensions! How would we even reach such a place!?"
"Uh… Maybe Kala could…?" Sera began, her ears drooping down slightly as she realized that probably wasn't the right answer.
"I don't think Kala can help you there," Elina replied, shaking her head. "To get the best results when teleporting, you need to have a clear picture in your head of where you want to go. That's why most Pokémon with the ability to teleport can only use it to travel to places they've been before."
"So, Kala has visited every location she teleports rescue teams to?" Chiaki asked.
"I think so," Elina responded, nodding her head. "From the time we've spent together when she was teaching me how to communicate via telepathy, I learned that she apparently spent some time travelling around the region before she ended up in Fenix Town. I don't know that many details, though, as she'd tend to doze off while talking about her experiences."
"Uh, guys? We're getting off track here!" Sera interjected. "We need to figure out how to find Palkia!"
"Sera! We're not going to find Palkia!" Blitz responded, more sparks rippling through his fur.
"Blitz! Why are you so negative?" Sera replied, glaring at him. "Don't you want to help Chiaki?"
"I do want to help him!" Blitz responded, glaring back at Sera. "But this isn't the way! You're only making things worse!"
"Shut up!" Sera yelled, trembling a bit. "You're stupid! You're so stupid, Blitz!"
"Stop it!" Chiaki suddenly shouted, stopping both Blitz and Sera in their tracks as they turned to look at him. "You shouldn't be fighting!"
Sera gasped and took a step backwards. Blitz looked down sheepishly, realizing he had lost his composure. Elina quietly floated over to Chiaki and placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him.
"… Sera, I…" Blitz began, before being interrupted.
"I'll go talk to Stella," Sera said, turning around. "Maybe she'll know how to find Palkia."
"But Sera…!" Blitz called out, but it was too late. Sera had already run off.
"Ah, there she goes…" Chiaki said, looking over in the direction Sera ran off to.
"Ugh… Sorry, Chiaki," Blitz said, looking over at Chiaki. "I didn't mean to get so riled up…"
"You were just concerned about her, weren't you?" Elina responded via telepathy, looking over at Blitz. "I'll admit, seeing her act like that... I'm worried for her too."
"Should we follow her?" Chiaki asked.
"I don't know," Elina replied, shaking her head. "Perhaps it's best to give her some space?"
"I'm not sure that's a good idea," Blitz responded, giving Elina a skeptical look. "I'm worried she'll end up getting herself in trouble if she stays like that."
"What do you mean?" Chiaki asked, looking concerned.
Blitz frowned, unsure what to do. While leaving her alone in her current state felt like a bad idea, going after her likely wouldn't yield any better results either.
"Well… If she's headed for the town oracle's house, then maybe the town oracle would be able to reason with her?" Elina suggested.
"But isn't Stella busy with the plan to seal Erebos away?" Chiaki reminded them.
"True…" Blitz responded, nodding slightly.
If Stella was home, perhaps she would be able to reason with Sera, as Elina thought. However, if she wasn't home, would Bow be able to calm her down? Blitz remembered how Bow once helped him realize something important, back when Sera and Chiaki learned about his past.
"… Hey, guys?" Chiaki suddenly spoke up again.
"What is it?" Blitz asked, looking over at him.
"Well…" Chiaki hesitated a bit, unsure how Blitz would react to what he was going to say next. However, he felt the need to ask. "Maybe… there is a way?"
"Huh?" Blitz responded, tilting his head slightly.
"I mean… Sera is acting strange right now, but… maybe she's not wrong?" Chiaki suggested, looking down at his arm. "A way for me to stay with you guys and still return the crystal?"
"Chiaki…" Blitz replied, looking down. "It's okay to be scared. I know you probably want to believe that there's a way for things to stay as they are, but… well, no matter how I look at it, it seems impossible."
"I know I can't be two places at once," Chiaki responded, nodding slightly. "But… maybe Sera is on to something?"
"What?" Blitz replied.
"Making a new crystal… didn't seem like a bad idea," Chiaki responded, holding a paw to his chin. "And even if that can't be done, maybe Stella does know of something we can try?"
"Uh… I don't think…" Blitz began, before pausing. He blinked a few times, before looking over at Elina.
"Well… The possibility that there may be another way never occurred to me," Elina responded via telepathy. "I guess… I can't say for certain that such a way doesn't exist."
Blitz sighed, and began pacing back and forth. Chiaki watched him, wondering what was going through the Shinx's mind now. Then, Blitz suddenly stopped.
"Was I… wrong?" Blitz asked. The question didn't seem directed at either Chiaki or Elina in particular. "Was I… too hard on her?"
Chiaki wasn't sure how to respond. Elina gestured for him to wait, while looking at Blitz expectantly.
"I just thought… she'd feel worse if she got her hopes up for nothing," Blitz said, looking over at Chiaki and Elina. "That it'd be better to just accept what'll happen, and… then it wouldn't hurt as much."
"I understand," Elina replied telepathically. "You just wanted to protect Sera and Chiaki."
Blitz nodded his head, before looking over in the direction Sera ran off in. He wondered if she had made it to Stella's house by now?
Malefica hummed to herself as she looked over the pieces on the board game she and Bow were currently playing, trying to decide her next move. After thinking it over for a few moments, she grabbed one of the pieces with her hair and moved it to another square.
"There we go," Malefica said, looking over at Bow. "Your turn!"
However, Bow seemed lost in thought.
"… Bow?" Malefica called out, hovering over to the Gothorita and examining her face for a few moments. "Hello? Bow?"
As it became clear that Bow was too deep in thought to pay any attention to her, Malefica decided she needed to snap her out of it. She chuckled mischievously before licking Bow's cheek.
"Gyaa!" Bow let out a startled yell, nearly falling out of her chair.
"Welcome back!" Malefica said, grinning.
"Ugh…" Bow rubbed her cheek, trying to wipe away the saliva. "What are you doing?"
"Figured it was the fastest way to bring you back to reality," Malefica responded. "What were you thinking about, anyways?"
"Well, I was trying to think of something that would help us catch Erebos," Bow explained.
"Right," Malefica replied, nodding slightly. "And how's that going?"
"Not well," Bow responded, shaking her head. "Something that would get Erebos to lower his guard… I can't think of anything…"
"Well, then why don't you just forget about it and leave it to the grown-ups?" Malefica asked. "Your mom even said she and Samara would figure it out!"
Bow was about to respond, when Sera suddenly came running inside the house.
"Stella! Are you there?" Sera shouted, looking around. "I need to ask you something!"
"Sera?" Bow said, walking over to the Eevee. "What's wrong?"
"Ah, Bow," Sera responded, walking over to the Gothorita. "Do you know anything about Palkia?"
"Huh?" Bow replied, tilting her head in confusion.
"Palkia," Sera repeated, looking into Bow's eyes. "Do you know anything about them?"
Bow wasn't sure what to make of Sera's urgent request for information on Palkia. Even so, she thought it over for a few moments, before suddenly remembering something.
"Oh! I think I have something!" Bow said.
"Really?" Sera replied, wagging her tail.
"Just wait here for a moment," Bow said.
Sera watched as Bow floated upstairs, before returning a minute later with a book in her hands. She then offered it to Sera.
"Here, maybe this will help," Bow said. "It's a book on legendary Pokémon."
"Thanks, Bow," Sera responded, taking the book in her mouth and carrying it over to a nearby table to read it.
As Sera began flipping through the pages, Malefica curiously floated over to see what Sera was reading.
"Let's see… Ah, here it is," Sera said, finding a page depicting the spatial Pokémon, Palkia.
"Ooh," Malefica said, admiring the illustration of Palkia.
"Palkia lives somewhere between dimensions… capable of distorting space…" Sera muttered as she read through the page. "I already know this stuff…"
Sera continued closely examining the page. However, no matter how many times she read through the page, she couldn't find anything that would help her reach Palkia.
"Hmph," Sera's ears twitched slightly as she glared at the page. "If you care so much about the fabric of space, then why aren't you doing anything about what's been happening here?"
"Sera…?" Bow said, tilting her head slightly as Sera snarled at the page. "Are you all right…?"
"Aw, she's cute when she's angry!" Malefica commented, giggling.
Sera began rapidly flipping through pages, looking to see if there was anything else in the book that could help Chiaki.
"Hmm… Jirachi…" Sera mused, pausing to read through the page about Jirachi, the Wish Pokémon. "Can grant any wish… aw, only awake once every thousand years? We don't have that kind of time…"
Sera sighed and shook her head, before continuing to flip through the pages.
"Hmm?" Sera stopped at a particular page. "What's this?"
"… Those aren't legendary Pokémon," Malefica commented, before looking over at Bow with an uncertain expression. "… Are they?"
Bow walked over to take a look at the page.
"Ah, the Unown," Bow said, looking at the illustrations of a few Pokémon resembling black letters. "I don't know that much about them, but they are said to have mysterious powers."
"Oh," Malefica responded, looking over the page. "Says here that a single Unown does not possess much power, but when a whole bunch of them combine their powers, all sorts of things can happen! Cool!"
"Can the Unown be found anywhere in this region?" Sera asked, looking over at Bow.
"Um… I don't know…" Bow responded, tilting her head slightly. "According to the book, they tend to appear in certain ruins…"
"I see," Sera replied, nodding slightly. "Ruins, huh? I should ask Kala about that…"
Sera stepped away from the book, seeming to have calmed down a bit.
"Are you done with that?" Malefica asked, beginning to flip through pages without even waiting for Sera's response.
"Yeah," Sera replied, nodding her head slightly. "Thanks. I'll be going now."
"Um… Glad I could help," Bow responded, still seeming a bit concerned.
Sera quickly ran outside, while Malefica in the meantime was admiring an illustration of the legendary Pokémon Giratina.
"Cool…" Malefica said, grinning. "Hey, Bow? Have you seen this?"
"… Huh?" Bow responded, blinking a few times before turning to Malefica. "Oh, sorry, I wasn't listening..."
"What is it now?" Malefica asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Well, it's just… Sera was acting really strange just now, wasn't she?" Bow replied with a concerned look.
"Yeah, she certainly was," Malefica replied matter-of-factly. "So, have you seen this cool drawing?"
Bow looked over at the drawing.
"Ah, yes, that is quite impressive," Bow said, chuckling a bit. "Very detailed."
"I know, right?" Malefica responded, excitedly floating around. "I wonder how the artist did it? Like, did they ask Giratina themselves to model for the drawing?"
Bow tried to pay attention to Malefica's speculation about how the illustration in the book came to be, but her mind wandering back to Sera and her odd behavior. It didn't seem right to just leave it alone, but she didn't feel like she could just chase after her either. So, what was she supposed to do, then?
"Bow!" Malefica shouted as she suddenly flew right up to Bow's face. "Are you still listening?"
"Ah, y-yes!" Bow responded; a bit startled.
"No, you weren't!" Malefica replied, pouting.
"S-Sorry…" Bow responded, looking down in shame. "I didn't mean to be rude to you."
"Uh, hey, don't look so sad!" Malefica said, seeming a bit perplexed by Bow's reaction. "I'll forgive you, so just… stop spacing out."
"All right," Bow replied, nodding slightly. "I'll put my worries aside for now, and when night comes, I'll look to the stars for answers."
"Hmm… Sounds good to me!" Malefica responded, grinning. "All right, so what should we play next?"
After making their way back to the town plaza, Chiaki tried to find Sera. He and Blitz first stopped by the town oracle's house, only to find that Sera had already left. Asking Bow and Malefica about it, they found that neither of them knew where Sera had gone. So, they tried checking the café, where Azure and Frederick were busy with work. Sera hadn't been there, so Chiaki and Blitz went out to search somewhere else. Chiaki tried to think about where else Sera might've gone.
"Did she go home, maybe?" Chiaki wondered out loud, before looking over at Blitz. "Uh, Blitz? Have you ever visited her house?"
Blitz didn't respond. He'd been really quiet the whole time while they were looking for Sera, staring off into space. Chiaki walked up to him and tried to get his attention.
"Hey, Blitz?" Chiaki said, waving a paw in front of Blitz's face. "Are you listening?"
Blitz blinked a few times, before turning to look at Chiaki.
"Ah, sorry…" Blitz responded, looking down at the ground. "Um… Should we call it a day and go home?"
"Huh? But what about Sera?" Chiaki replied.
"She probably doesn't want to talk to me right now," Blitz responded, shaking his head. "I don't want to make things worse."
"But…" Chiaki was about to protest when Blitz turned around and began walking away.
"Come on," Blitz said, motioning for Chiaki to follow. "Let's go home."
"… Okay," Chiaki responded, reluctantly following behind Blitz. "But you'll talk to her tomorrow, right?"
"Yeah," Blitz replied, nodding slightly. "I will."
"All right, then," Chiaki responded, sighing in relief.
Later that night, Blitz was laying awake in bed. After a while, he slowly got to his feet, making sure not to make any noise that could wake up Chiaki. He quietly made his way over to the door, glancing back at Chiaki who was still fast asleep before heading outside. Blitz glanced up at the sky, trying to discern what time it was. After observing the night sky for a moment, Blitz began making his way to a different part of the residential district. Upon arriving at his destination, he walked up the house and knocked at the door.
For a few moments, there was no reply. Blitz was about to turn around and head home, when suddenly Hercules opened the door.
"Blitz?" Hercules said.
"Hey…" Blitz replied, rubbing the rings on his forelegs together. "Um… Sorry if I woke you up, but… I… I couldn't sort these thoughts out on my own…"
"… Come on in," Hercules said, stepping aside to let Blitz inside. "Now, tell me what's going on."
Blitz could only give a partial explanation of what had happened between him and Sera, since he couldn't bring himself to tell Hercules the truth about Chiaki without Chiaki's permission. Hercules listened closely, trying to understand the situation as best as he could.
"Well… As far as I can tell, I don't think you were necessarily in the wrong," Hercules said, petting Blitz's head. "There are times where there isn't a right or a wrong way to deal with a situation. We all just have to deal with those situations in our own way."
Blitz nodded his head slightly, staring at the floor.
"Without the context for exactly what caused the fight between you and Sera, I'm not sure what else I can tell you," Hercules continued. "So… I guess maybe the best thing you can do for now is to go home, get some sleep and talk things out with Sera tomorrow when the two of you have both had time to think things over?"
"… I guess so," Blitz responded, looking up at Hercules.
"All right, then," Hercules replied, smiling at Blitz. "I'm sure the two of you will be able to patch things up quickly."
Blitz began heading towards the exit, when he suddenly stopped.
"Hey…" Blitz said, glancing over his shoulder. "Am I a coward?"
"Huh?" Hercules responded, tilting his head slightly. "Where's this coming from?"
"Well, all of this has got me thinking…" Blitz began explaining. "I kept saying there was nothing I could do to change my destiny, but… maybe I was just making excuses."
"… Go on," Hercules responded.
"If I tried doing something about it, if I went against everyone's expectations for me to become the next leader of the pride, but for whatever reason, it didn't work…" Blitz continued, sighing. "Then, wouldn't it be better to just surrender to fate? Convince myself that nothing was going to change, so there was nothing I could do about it?"
"… I think I see where you're coming from," Hercules replied, nodding slightly. "It is true that sometimes things happen that we have no control over. Even if we try to do something, it's not always enough to make a difference."
Blitz turned around, looking at Hercules expectantly.
"However, if there is something you can do, I still believe you should try," Hercules said. "That way, even if things don't work out and you are left with regrets, at least you'll know that you did everything you could at the time."
Blitz stood there for a moment, just letting Hercules' words sink in. After a few seconds, he looked up at Hercules and nodded his head slightly.
"Thanks, Hercules," Blitz said. "I… I think I may have needed to hear that."
After finishing their conversation and saying good night, Blitz began making his way back home. As Hercules watched him walk away, he thought to himself about how Blitz had changed since coming to Fenix Town. While there had certainly been some issues along the way, Blitz and Sera had helped each other grow. Hercules was certain that the two of them would be able to support each other no matter what might happen.
"… Hey, Sera?" Flare whispered, trying not to wake the others as he looked over at his younger sister.
"What?" Sera whispered back, opening an eye slightly. "I have plans for tomorrow, I need my rest…"
"Sorry, I… I'm just worried," Flare responded, glancing around at his other siblings. "Actually, we're all kind of concerned. You seemed really worked up when you came home today, and…"
"Thanks for your concern, but I don't have time to talk now," Sera replied. "I have something important I need to do. We can talk afterwards."
"… All right, then," Flare responded, sighing. "Just… promise me that you'll be careful, whatever it is you need to do."
"Mm-hm, I promise," Sera whispered, yawning and closing her eyes. "Good night, Flare."
"Good night, Sera," Flare whispered back, closing his eyes and trying to ignore his uneasiness. Just what was Sera planning to do?
End of Chapter 63
