After helping Wendy calm down, Sora took a deep breath as she turned to see how everyone else was fairing in the opposite corner of the room. Her aunts seemed to be helping Mofupsi understand a little about what had happened to her after making sure she and Wendy would be okay.

“Wendy,” Sora whispered, hovering closer to her sister as she continued to try to maintain her human form without much success; it would only last for about a minute before collapsing.

Corporeal state collapsing, Wendy groaned. “I’m trying, Sora—”

“No, heh, not that; I wanted to know if you’re good with me bringing Emi here for a second. I just need to show her why we’ll be a bit late.”

“Oh, yeah!” she swiftly hummed, pulses of Null-Void echoing around Sora as she spun in embarrassment, pages creasing a tad, but it was the tiny reverberations and quivers she emitted that caught Sora’s attention.

Interesting… It’s as if I can see her holding up her hands and telling me to go; she’ll be fine.

“Okay, be back in just a second!”

“No rush! I’ll be… mgmmg—trying to get this stupid human body thing down—and not explode… Why can’t I hold it?! Mmh… I’m getting so tired just trying.”

Giggling at her frustration—a tad confused herself since it hadn’t been that challenging for her—Sora expanded her duplicate ring and shot through it, accelerating her instantly to rocket through the vast training room to the other party.

Flipping around to land on the wall beside them to slow herself, she waved at Mofupsi. “Welcome back to the world of the living!”

“Mistress,” she chimed, fiddling a little with the choker Sora had made her. “I have been enjoying a lovely conversation with your aunts. Lady Nari has illustrated the important differences between Mistress and Master, giving me expert instruction on the duties of a slave—including the quite unusual importance of desserts. I had no idea.”

Sora hissed as her golden-haired aunt gave her a toothy, innocent grin, holding up a peace sign. “What… have you been teaching her, Aunt Nari?”

“Only the necessities! Hehe. I mean, she is somewhat a part of the family now, even if it is in imprinted Essence only.”

“What does that mean exactly?” Sora questioned, glancing back at Wendy with her failed attempts to retain her human figure. Diane made herself as invisible as possible, standing off to the side.

Her dark-haired aunt crossed her legs the opposite way as she floated in the air, leaning forward to smile at the bright, lime-eyed Vulpes. “Mmh, that is a complicated discussion, Sora; perhaps it would be best to inform Emi of the changed circumstance?”

“Right, hehe. Two new aunts to add to her collection! Erm, Eyia, you doing okay?”

The Valkyrie had become quiet, silently examining the bracelet around Mofupsi’s wrist. “Hmm? Oh, Sister, I apologize! I… am distracted by the powers resonating between the two—I have not been able to feel these waves since I left the Island.”

Jin nudged her friend’s side. “Don’t worry about this blockhead! You want to keep training, Eyia? You were going to try that thing.”

“Mmh, yes… that thing—I… have a new theory after experiencing this transformation,” she whispered, summoning her spear to examine it. “Yes, we should continue our fight.”

The Nordic girl smiled at Sora. “Please, ask Emi to be patient with her instructor; I will taste her wonderful sweets before her day’s end! I have been enthralled by her talent in the baking field, and she has assured me of becoming my master at the art.”

Sora could see her little twelve-year-old puffing up her chest and proudly proclaiming she was the premier expert in all things sweets. She was getting a pretty big head over the last few weeks regarding her culinary abilities, not that any of her items were bad, but when you worked with highly-refined, magical ingredients, it wasn’t the same as developing something on earth.

“Alright, see you guys later!”

“Peace!” Jin grinned. “Glad we are getting things going.”

Eyia took one last look at the bracelet, so infatuated by it that she seemed to forget almost everything else and vanished with the Dragon.

Nari floated around to smile at her. “Want me to bring Emi here?”

Sora shook her head. “I’ve got it.”

Duplicate ring spinning around her side, Sora expanded it off to their right, and doing the same with her other chakram near Emilia, she had it flow down as her other moved up. Tola and her daughter’s ears were straight in the air as the weapons acted as a portal, changing their locations.

“Hey, Emi!” Nari waved. “Welcome to the training grounds!”

“M-Mom! I was getting things set up—why are… Hmm?!”

Her daughter ducked behind Sora as she caught sight of Diane and Mofupsi. “Umm—Mom?”

“Hmm-hmm.” Guiding her around with her tails to meet Mofupsi, she put her hands on the girl’s shoulders as she presented her. “Mofupsi is like your new aunt after you helped plant that Seed inside of her—Wendy, too!”

“B-But wasn’t it supposed to take—umm, a lot more time? Are we… We don’t need to leave yet… Do we?” she hesitantly mumbled, ears pulling back as she looked between Wendy and Mofupsi. “I still haven’t learned enough from Miss Tola and White… What about their relationship?”

“Don’t worry,” Sora chuckled, not expecting this response from her daughter, but it made sense after thinking about it. “We’re not going anywhere for another few months. It just means I get to help Wendy, and you get to spend time teaching Mofupsi more about you! She’s going to be joining your lessons a bit.”

“I am, Mistress?” the woman questioned, head tilting with interest as she pondered the declaration. “What lessons would those be?”

“Mom!”

Sora bent down as Emilia motioned her down, giving the Vulpes a side-long look; Seiōbo and Nari appeared thoroughly amused by their niece. “Psst! Mom… I don’t even know her—how is she my aunt—I don’t get it.”

Seiōbo promptly motioned to an expansive patio that appeared out of nowhere, complete with comfortable chairs. Emilia and Wendy glanced up in shock as the whole area became a stunning high-rise mountain clearing overlooking a bright spring valley.

Tola bowed to them, not giving an explanation before disappearing to likely take care of another task; Sora was sure she’d be back in time.

“Why don’t we sit and discuss this; Wendy can sit nearby, and I will provide a space where she can rest without fear of harming anyone.”

Sora shot a glare in Diane’s direction. “Can you move her… somewhere else?”

Emilia hovered up to hiss in her ear, hot breath making them twitch. “Who is she, Mom—a homeless lady?”

“You don’t need to worry about her,” Sora promptly replied. “Aunt Seiōbo?”

“Sure. Why don’t you clean yourself up a little,” she suggested, flicking one of her tails for the witch to be yeeted away without a word.

Coming to the conclusion her aunt sent the woman to the baths, and not wanting to give her a second thought, Sora guided her daughter’s attention to the chairs. “Go find a seat; I’m going to grab Wendy.”

“Okay… The Festival, though…”

Nari took the girl’s hand to lead her over. “No need to fret, my Little Princess of Sweets; I’ve accelerated time in this room to the point it will be as if you never even left!”

“Cool! So—so I won’t miss much time today? I don’t want to miss all the people and festival stuff!”

“Nope!”

“You’re the best, Aunt Nari!”

“Mia-ha-ha! I win again, Bobo!”

“The Vulpesanity,” the older sister mumbled, rolling her eyes.

Mofupsi glanced down at her clothing before snapping her fingers to replace it with one of her more traditional, low-cut robes she seemed to enjoy, pipe appearing in her hands. Sora puffed out a long sigh upon seeing her breathe it in.

She’d forgotten the woman was addicted to smoking something that damaged her spirit; at least that had been mitigated by the new strain of plant that had been growing in whatever space it was in.

“I am grateful for what you have done for me, Mistress,” she bowed her head, cleavage easily seen as her white-highlighted, copper locks draped over her face.

“Eh-heh, I forgot how awkward you make things, Mofupsi.”

“Hehe. It is not my intention.”

Sora laughed with her, eyeing the collar around her slender throat. “If you really want to be my servant, I don’t know if I can stop you, but how about being more like our maid of sorts? I had maids and caretakers growing up, so that’s less… stigmatizing, heh, I suppose.”

A moderate smile lifted the woman’s lips as blue smoke blew through her lips. “Whatever you wish, Mistress.”

“Right. Meet you over there.”

Unsure how else to speak to her after that, Sora zipped over to Wendy, giving them questioning looks. “Hey!”

“Yo, eh… what’s going on?” her friend-turned-sister asked, having given up on trying to maintain her human form.

“Wendy?! Where are you—I don’t see you!” she snickered, looking around.

Her pages ruffled, binder half open and unamused by her joke. “Oh—haha! So, erm, what is everyone doing?”

“My Aunt Seiōbo is making a place for you to come and sit and listen; you won’t need to worry about hurting anyone—eh, should I get rid of those undies and clothes for now?”

Wendy’s book sealed tightly shut as it tilted in the air to glare at the items left on the grass. “Ugh… Thanks, Sora… I’m just kind of stuck like this.”

Sora’s brow furrowed as Wendy’s voice trembled a bit. “Umm… Will it get easier, Sora? I’m not trying to complain or anything—it’s just—I didn’t think I’d be, well… a book.”

Moving forward, Sora gently pulled the metallic volume against her breast in a soft embrace. “We’ll work through it, Wendy… We really are sisters now. Okay? Let our aunts explain it; heh, maybe half-sisters or whatever, but we’re still sisters!”

“A book sister. Haaa… Okay, Sora, let go!”

“Hmm-hmm!” Sora kept tight to Wendy as she floated to join the others. “We get to spend more time together.”

“Don’t change the subject. I can walk—eh, fly!”

“Not from where I was floating!”

“I’m getting the hang of it…”

“C’mon, let your big sister help her little sister.”

“Excuse me, I’m the one that’s older than you!”

“Who can really say after all this time magic stuff; heh, we don’t know how long I was in the 13th dimension or whatever, too!”

“Fair point…”

“So, let’s make it official—you’re my little sister! Sound good?”

“Sure…”

Settling her on the couch that Seiōbo directed her to, Wendy settled in, seemingly feeling much better. Sora took her place by Emilia, looking to her aunts for the younger to clear her voice and begin.

“Ahem! Class of the ultra-complicated Essence replacement examination and explanation is in session; all rise and bow to Professor Bobo!”

Seiōbo’s head lowered with a soft sigh; Emilia and Mofupsi were the only two to comply, the little girl always feeding into the blonde bombshell’s antics. “Right… Let’s be swift in this; no need to go into the finer details.”

Folding her fingers together and adding a smile, she glanced between Mofupsi and Wendy; Emilia listened intently, as if in class.

“What this artifact has done is create a harmony between the two Seeds that reflect and stabilize one another. In short, Mofupsi’s Essence, or the fundamental force that is generated and spread throughout your spirit and physical body—the machines that operate your existence—has been restructured to follow a blueprint.

“Think of the Seed as the worker with instructions on how to modify the base function that powers your Intelligence—the absolute Inner Core of your being within your Oltera Nexus—and thus, you have inherited a semblance or mutation of Sora’s since Essence cannot be truly copied.”

Mofupsi hummed, releasing another small cloud of sapphire steam. “We could be seen as relatives to Sora’s family, as I understand it; not true Founders or these Null-Void creatures, but cheap replicas?”

Nari put her hands into an X shape with a low hiss. “Not ‘cheap’ replicas; it’s simply something similar, but by no means should you see yourselves as ‘lesser!’ You are something new, and how you should look at it is like Sora is one parent—a parent Essence—and your other half is what you were before.”

“A Vulpes,” Mofupsi slowly nodded, “which is why I drew more to the Founder area and Wendy this Null-Void weapon?”

Wendy’s pages ruffled a bit, only heard by Sora. “Humph. If you can call a book a weapon…”

“So…” Emilia’s eyebrows pulled together. “Wendy and Mofupsi are like… Mom’s half-sisters—no, are they my sisters if Mom is their parent—I’m so confused!”

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

Nari giggled, vanishing to appear on the girl’s opposite side to nuzzle closer to her. “So adorable! There's no need to overthink it; they’re basically like us—maybe not ‘traditionally’ but more like distant aunts.”

“Hmm… Okay. Umm… So, what can Wendy do—she’s a book, so… does she read people to sleep?”

“I’d like to know that!” Wendy huffed, bouncing left and right.

“Is she talking, Mom?”

“Hehe. Yes. Eh—I don’t suppose you know why she can’t keep her human form, Aunt Seiōbo?”

Wendy hovered up a little, drawing eyes to the shimmering patterns on her front. “Great question! Please, help me not be a freaking book forever—I don’t even have many pages—eight, eight pages!”

“Easy now!” Seiōbo chuckled as Null-Void flames lit around the volume. “Hmm… Try to make a corporeal form real fast, Wendy.”

Everyone leaned forward to watch, but the girl’s binder snapped tighter.

“I—I can’t… Everyone’s looking at me, a-and I’ll be naked…”

“Eh-heh, she’s worried about being naked.”

“You would, too!”

“No, I totally would! Hehe, chill; I’m just telling them what you’re saying.”

“Sorry! Sorry! I’m just… Sorry…”

Seiōbo waved her hand to weave a bamboo screen around her. “No need to fret… Better? I don’t need to see you to analyze how you respond to Existence.”

“Thanks, A-Aunt Seiōbo—can I say that, Sora?”

“Totally! We’re sisters now, so, umm… Aunt Seiōbo, could you check out Wendy’s life with mine—we both grew up so close—so it shouldn’t be that hard to see how we both grew up.”

“Absolutely! Hmm-hmm. A quick glance at the Universal Bead you were in gives me an overview of the amount of time you two spent together, and heh, you won’t find Nari or I complaining about our family’s continual growth.”

“Right!” the blonde-tailed girl grinned, tail wagging back and forth. “We get cute little nieces to spoil and extort chocolate from! Mia-ha-ha!”

Wendy sank into her chair, sending embarrassed vibes to Sora, yet there was a relief mixed in it that she wouldn’t be left alone. “Thank you…”

“Hehe. It’s as if you’re a broken record, Wendy! All I hear is ‘sorry’ and ‘thank you’ since you woke up.”

“I—I’m just so… overwhelmed. Everything’s so bright—I have to close my eyes, or I get dizzy from seeing everything in focus… My stomach still hurts a bit, and trying to keep my pages still is like trying to stop my leg from thumping from my ADHD! Gah, how do you handle it?!”

Her daughter tugged on her dress. “Is she okay, Mom?”

“Hehe. Yes, Emi—she’s having a rough time… heh, being a book, but we’ll get through it as a family!”

“As a family!” Emilia smiled and nodded.

“We keep growing, huh?”

“Mhm! I want to see what she has written inside of her—woah, could I read her mind?” she snickered in a hushed tone.

“Maybe!”

“Hehehe!”

“What are you whispering about?”

Sora winked across the room at her, tongue playfully sticking up before she yelled, “Oh, can’t hear us, Wendy? Hehe. Maybe you should learn more about your new Vulpes side!”

“She can’t hear us, Mom?” Emilia asked, peeking around her.

“She doesn’t have fox ears!”

“Poor, poor, Auntie Wendy!”

“Sora?!”

Nari, Seiōbo, and Mofupsi chuckled.

“Fine, whatever… This is what happens when I try to become a human…”

Sora could feel the gathering concentration of Null-Void, and after precisely thirty seconds, it collapsed, being absorbed by the magical defenses of the barrier Seiōbo constructed.

“Mmgm! See!”

Seiōbo leaned back with a thoughtful hum, thumbs rubbing against each other as her focus turned inward. “Fascinating… You have a far more anchored existence than Sora. Moving past the complicated bits, you’re roughly sixty percent grounded in Existence with your human and Vulpes Spiritual Essence being your ‘pass’—if you will—to evade the defensive protocols set in place, whereas Sora is half and half.”

“I’m a Vulpes, too?”

Sora repeated her question, making Nari chuckle and answer.

“Uh-huh! Think about it like… you have Sora here, providing an equal amount of Essence from the base structure of Null-Void and Founder—the blueprints and base materials to build the machines needed in your little Cores. Right?”

They nodded.

“Mhm! And that bracelet you wear took all of that ‘collective material’—harmonizing it between both of you—to delegate eighty percent of that Null-Void to you, and for Mofupsi twenty.

“In reverse, she took eighty percent of the Founder Essence—again, the bracelet drawing it out of you—and funneling it in the most synchronizing manner to instantaneously stabilize these little workers in creating those machines to be mixed with your one hundred percent human Essence and Mofupsi’s Vulpes.”

“Oh…” Wendy’s tight-binding eased up a little as she created her corporeal form to respond. “So, I still have some human in me… I’m human, Founder, and this Null-Void stuff? Is that why I’m having trouble keeping this—dammit!”

Seiōbo calmly waited for her to settle down before glancing at Sora. “Precisely. What would you say if I confirmed her issue is not a product of Existence but of her own personal image of herself?”

Emilia scratched her cheek. “I don’t… understand all of that.”

Rubbing her daughter’s knee, Sora thought about the explanation and came to an answer; everyone’s focus on her, she cleared her throat. “Let’s see… If she’s not fully human anymore—I have trouble turning into anything but what I am, and I’m a Vulpes, as well, so…”

A smile brightened her cheeks, making Wendy float up a little. “What, Sora?!”

“Hehe. You’re also a Vulpes, Wendy; you need to get rid of your human ears and add a tail and fox ears!”

Emilia gasped. “Foxy Wendy! Yes! Become Foxy Wendy!”

“Do I just—I only know what I look like, Sora. Mmgm, so—just think of myself with ears and a tail?”

“Heh. I can’t change into anything but my fox form—”

“To snuggle with me at night!” Emilia chimed in.

“Mhm! And this—” she said, presenting herself and drawing her daughter’s sudden scrutiny.

“Mom… That’s not my dress!”

“Oof. Eh-he-he. We can talk about it later.”

“What did you do to my dress? Did you eat it?! What about… No, my pendant is still okay,” she mumbled, leaning over to hold up the flaming necklace.

Wendy’s energy grew behind the curtain until it was completed; Sora couldn’t tell what she looked like, but at least the girl maintained the form.

“Ohh! Is it working?” Emilia mumbled, eagerly awaiting the reveal. “What’s my Aunt Wendy look like? Will she have blue eyes like me—o-or will it be green like Mom and Aunt Mofupsi?”

“She seems to be maintaining it,” Sora hummed, leaning forward with everyone. “Want to show us, Wendy?”

“Why do I—how do you control this thing… Wha—it, heh, tickles! Ugh… It’s so big!”

“Mmh?” Sora smirked. “Big, huh?”

“Way too big! Gah… Can I get some clothes now, Sora? Please!”

A sly smirk lifted her lips, playful nature stimulated; Sora fashioned a black undershirt, oversized white sweater, and black thigh-high stockings with undies and tossed them over. “Hehe.”

“Sora! C’mon…”

“Show us!” Emilia giggled.

“Fine… Mmmm!”

Seiōbo snapped her fingers to make the visual barrier vanish, showing a red-cheeked, sixteen-year-old girl, super-fluffy, brown-furred tail pulled between her legs to hug against her chest, ears twitching as her gradient, teal-blue eyes glared at Sora.

“Happy?! Can I please get some proper clothes now—shorts, at least—a bra would be nice?”

Nari whistled, floating around her, and Emilia rushed forward with a squeal to tackle Wendy and bury her face in the mass of soft fur.

“So fluffy! Mom! She’s fluffier than Aunt Kari!”

Mofupsi rose into the air, long nine tails pulling around to collect into a bundle. “Possibly as thick as mine when all together; impressive, Mistress.”

“Her, too?” Sora forced a chuckle, watching her daughter maul her stunned new aunt.

“I am a slave of you and your family, after all.”

“What! Mom!” Emilia didn’t release her fluffy-tailed aunt; Wendy was visibly doing her best to not collapse into a Null-Void supernova while glaring at Sora. “Slavery is bad! We don’t have slaves!”

“Is that right?” Mofupsi mused, giving her a warm smile. “So, my mistress is on the evil side?”

“No! She’s forcing me to be her master—eh, mistress!”

“Not cool, Mom! We’ll free you, Aunt Mofupsi; my mom won’t have control of you forever! We’ll save you!”

“Yeah!” Nari cheered, and Sora wasn’t sure if they were joking anymore or thought she really had some control over the nine-tailed Vulpes. “The Tower of the Infinite Abyss of Nari Part Two!”

“Yes!” Emilia shouted, pointing a finger at Sora. “My queenly mother has become evil and captured Aunt Mofupsi.”

The white-highlighted Vulpes put a feigned look of misfortune on as her free hand came to her cheek. “My goodness; what ever shall I do?”

“Wait for rescue! Oh, Mom—can they help me with my, umm—my chocolate stand?”

“Heh… I’m the bad guy next, huh? Sounds about right.” Getting up to pull her off the suffering book, Sora sighed, and the second Emi was away, Wendy’s form collapsed.

“Aww…”

“Let Aunt Wendy breathe a little, my little hug-cub. I need to help her learn how to not hurt people.”

“Okay… Aunt Mofupsi—where did Lady Tola go, too—I want to show her my new aunts?”

Returning to their seats, Wendy breathing hard and trying to collect herself, Sora motioned for her daughter to sit next to her. “Aunt Mofupsi needs some private lessons, so—”

“Actually,” her dark-furred aunt interjected, “White will have a more challenging time teaching the things Mofupsi requires. I recommend I set a study guide for her in the form of a temporary Intelligent Construct.”

“Yes! So she can come, Aunt Seiōbo—Lady Tola and Aunt Mofupsi?”

“Mhm! I am not nearly as efficient at it, as my mother merely taught me the basics, but this should be more than enough to get the finer details across so she may join White.”

Sora held up her hands. “You’re the expert! If that’s the case, then I hope you guys have fun. So… Tola?”

Nari’s lips pulled into a half-smirk. “Taking the opportunity to scout out a better place for Emilia’s booth to garner the most traffic. Things are changing rapidly with how many people are flooding the city.”

“Ooh! Yeah, that’s true,” Emilia hummed. “So, umm, can we go join her, Mom? You and Aunt Wendy are going to be training for a while, right? How long with the timey-wimey, wibbly-woobly stuff?”

“Not long at all,” Seiōbo assured. “It would be best to keep a consistent time zone and schedule, meaning your mother should resume her previous time-accelerated venture to maintain a healthy chrono clock, but we can push it a bit for today.”

“Awesome! So, they can join us after?”

“Mhm!”

Sora reached over and hugged her daughter. “We’ll be out soon with a bunch of stories to tell you about your new Aunt Wendy’s powers.”

“My big-sister aunt and my bookworm aunt!”

Wendy choked at the comparison, pages slicing through her chair to ping-pong around the barrier Seiōbo maintained.

“Oof—Aunt Bookworm needs some work,” Emilia hissed, wincing at the flurry of pages. “Good luck, Mom!”

“Hehe.”

Sora waved her family off as Nari took the initiative of teleporting them back to the city, leaving Wendy with her. “Aunt Bookworm, huh?”

“You know I always doodled at school!” Wendy mumbled. “I’m not a bookworm; I like to draw…”

“Right!” Sora rose into the air to hover around her sister as she formed her body again. “Were you always so adorably cute—the way you hug that tail, too, haha! I bet Liz would have covered Aiden’s eyes—scratch that—100% she would have!”

“Stop it… You’re embarrassing me,” she mumbled, hugging her tail again to obscure her naked body, cheeks bright red. “Real clothes?”

“It doesn’t matter, heh, if you keep slipping out of them!”

“Help me not then! Gah… having a tail is so… odd—it’s so sensitive.”

“Welcome to the world of tails and ears; seriously, though—you’re more of a squirrel with a tail like that instead of a Vulpes!”

“Yeah, yeah… Make fun of me all you want… Heh, I do have a big tail, though.”

“Right?!”

Getting into their training, Sora let her go wild with her Null-Void, as she’d done at the start, as well, which was more than a little telling.

Her pages could act like miniature versions of her chakram, slicing and cutting things, but were far more vulnerable; running into Sora’s body was like slamming face-first into a wall—tears were had at one point—the pain pretty intense, apparently, making Sora feel guilty.

She really didn’t seem to be that offensively capable like Sora, and while her Null-Void beams didn’t hurt Wendy, they did put a lot of pressure on her, so it was less damage and more like a water hose spraying in her face, further annoying the brown-furred, Null-Void Vulpes.

After a few hours, they rested for a time, and Wendy experimented more with her pages—as it turned out, she could mentally draw images on them—and it was from here that she learned her true powers.

Sora could generate quite a few interesting things with her Null-Void, but Wendy accelerated in something she lacked—imagination—and feet kicked in the air, bushy tail swinging left and right with her black panties absently on display; Wendy hummed to the music Sora put on, refining the picture on the page hovering in front of her.

In her fox form, Sora posed for Wendy’s artistic project; all it took was her mentally drawing the lines across the page for them to appear and color to dot the parchment. Once it was finished, she fed Null-Void into the artwork, and her page was brought to life, folding up to become the image.

Sora returned to her human form, eyebrows drawing together as she saw the little blue, white, black, and violet-hued nine-tailed little fox cub as he stretched out and yawned.

“What… looks nothing like—”

Wendy squealed as she darted forward to lift up her little pup as he chirped. “He’s the cutest thing ever; I made a little cute, foxy boy!”

She gave Sora a dull look. “You were only the inspiration for what I wanted to make. I wanted to make someone Emi could cuddle at night; my first gift as an aunt!”

As the little guy shifted in Wendy’s arms, Sora's vision narrowed in question when he gave her a smug smirk. Why are you looking at me like you’re the cutest thing since puppies… Like I don’t stand a chance?

“What do you think about Vix-chu?”

“Chu!”

“His name?”

“Mhm! He can shoot little Null-Void balls from his tail, like… heh, like pew-pew-pew!”

“Uh-huh…”

“Chu…”

Are you calling me a hater? Sora internally mumbled as he turned away from her.

He floated in the air as Wendy pointed to some of their targets. “Get ‘em, Vix-chu!”

“Chu!”

As advertised, his nine tails shimmered and sent balls of swift Null-Void bullets at the targets; they were actually pretty strong compared to Wendy’s normal attacks—of course, nothing compared to Sora’s, but that was beside the point.

A slight smirk lifted her lips as the fox was huffing and puffing on the ground, out of gas thirty seconds into the barrage. “Hmm? Done already, Vix-chu?”

“Humph! Chu-chu!”

He forced himself up on one knee, as if the protagonist in his own story, and brought his tails in a fanning motion to meet in front of him. “Chu!”

Watch your power, huh?

“Yeah! You’re not done, Vix-chu!”

A basketball-sized sphere charged up before releasing his ultimate attack, creating a small explosion of Null-Void; he slowly fell to the side, lifting a thumb into the air as if saying, I’m the best!

“Oh, no! Eh-heh, I have to feed him more Null-Void. Well, what do you think?!”

“Well, eh… He certainly has a personality. Wait… Did you make him to be kind of like—like Emi’s guard-dog?”

Wendy looked up, pulling her bangs out of her eyes as she nodded, book attached to her back, just above her tail. “Yeah. I wanted her to have a little friend she could hang out with and have fun—erm… I always wanted a puppy…”

“I remember,” Sora mumbled, kneeling down to stroke the pup’s fluffy white stomach as he rested. “Your mom wouldn’t have it, even if we paid for his food, and my dad didn’t want one ruining all the furniture and stuff… That’s so sweet, Wendy.”

“Do you think she’ll like him? I think you can feed him, too. Heh, he gets stronger the more we charge him up! Isn’t that cool?”

“Yeah… That’s a really cool power. So, you can make pets to fight for you?”

“I think so. Can I help you with that? I could make a really strong one—I think.”

“No—don’t worry about that; we just need to get you used to all of this. Ready to keep training?”

“Mhm! I’m not—no… I say it, and then I slip right now of my clothes! Grah!”

Laughing, Sora gathered the items off the ground as they moved to the changing room they’d made. “You’ll get it! I’m glad to have you back, Wendy.”

“Me, too! Umm… I, eh… Do you think Kari and I could be friends, too?”

“Yeah! Absolutely! She’s just going through her own stuff right now. We can talk about it as we go—we’re gonna have so much fun!”

Wendy’s teeth flashed, showing her slightly fox-like canines. “I hope so. It’s been a while since we’ve really had fun—well, me, anyways… I’m sure you’ve had fun since I was comatose!”

“Not like this! I’ve—” Tears bubbled up, emotion filling her breast that she’d suppressed. “I’ve missed you, Wendy. Now we can be sisters—real sisters!”

“Mhm!” Wendy closed in to hug her, liquid in her own eyes. “I’m sorry I a-abandoned you when things got hard with Kari… I’m sorry…”

“That’s not even a problem—okay? It’s in the past!”

“I’m just… I’ll make it up to you! I promise!”

“Don’t… We’re sisters now; let’s just be sisters and be there for each other.”

“Okay…”

“I love you, Wendy.”

“I love you, too, Sora… Thank you—”

She didn’t have to finish it as they cried in each other’s arms, washing away old scars.