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“Help!”
The sound of people and Pokémon screaming in the streets of Fennmont below startled Tifa out of her sleep, leaving the poor woman a bit off kilter as she tried to get her bearings straight. And despite being peeved about the interruption, she did not complain one bit. Not about the situation nor her ringing ears, and so, Tifa stood up from the tree she was in, cursing all the while as she reached into the depths of her dimensional pocket to retrieve a pair of well-worn Dragonscale Gauntlets that had an iridescent sheen to them and slid those bad boys on without a word.
“Nooooooo!”
“Help me!”
“Somebody! Please, help us!”
Thankfully the ringing stopped, allowing her to catch the new set of words that came from a new group down there.
“Halt!”
“Stop right there, you hooligans!”
Tifa narrowed her eyes at that.
Trouble? Here?
“Help!”
Well, I better get down there and see what’s going at least, Tifa decided before throwing all caution to the wind as she let out a quick, sharp whistle above her, while making her way over towards the edge of the tree branch. Hopefully it’s those thieves I need to catch for my client since he asked me to get back an important item they took from him.
And then without any hesitation whatsoever, she jumped, taking that leap of faith down below as calm as she could be.
“Was that really necessary, little one?”
The voice snapped the young woman from her thoughts, and she looked up to see a colorful trio of blurs materialize by her side in a rainbow-esque flash.
“Just leave her alone, my friend. You know how she can be sometimes. Asking why or telling her to stop will not change a thing.”
One blink later, they shot past her falling form, right as she was able to register who was who in her brain by their voices and colors alone even.
“........”
“He’s right, you know.”
“...Yes, I’m aware of that, you overgrown flying lizard.”
The silver and black one was, of course, the Spirit of Time, Chronos, while the rainbow-esque one was the Spirit of Heart, Verius, and the dark gray and purple one belonged to the King of Dragons, Bahamut.
She smiled as all three of her summons broke away and scattered themselves in different directions.
“This will not take long at all,” the humanoid spirit mumbled as he and Verius moved even further away from each other and flew past their comrade, who instead decided to wait for Tifa, in order to reach the ground faster. “Do whatever you want, Bahamut! Verius and I will go on ahead!”
The King of Dragons growled back in answer before fixing his gaze onto the human that was steadily approaching him.
Ah! There they are! Tifa said, easily spotting the ones causing all the trouble—a group of people in cloaks and masks as they ran from the authorities chasing after them, with a slim leather briefcase in hand that contained something so powerful that she could easily feel it through the bag from up here. Yep. They certainly match the description he gave me over two weeks ago.
“Alright, you two, you know what to do next...”
Oh no, her eyes grew wide in panic at the sight of them ordering two of their lackeys to stay behind and take care of the authorities, plus the remaining civilians and their Pokémon in the area, while pulling a gun out from who knows where. Shit. I need to help them out! And fast, she said through gritted teeth as she landed on the back of her dragon safely.
Sensing the woman’s intention, Bahamut turned his head and gave her a brief look.
He was waiting for a sign, she realized.
C’mon, Tifa. You got this, Tifa took a deep breath and calmed herself before patting him softly on the head with a light smirk growing on her lips. “Charge in as bait, please,” she whispered, then jumped off his back to command her other two summons who had just finished touching the ground a safe distance away from the criminal group. “Chronos! Verius! Go after the others and take them out.”
The Great Spirit of Time and the Great Spirit of Heart nodded their heads and went in for the kill, while the King of Dragons made a beeline towards the two lone crooks like a speeding bullet.
“What the...!”
Too startled by the dragon’s appearance to even shoot, the men didn’t realize someone materializing behind them and attacking them from behind.
SWISH!
The weapons were knocked out of their hands, making the two yelp and whirl around in surprise.
“Who the fu—oh...”
A flash of white teeth accompanied by a familiar pair of red-violet eyes greeted them in return.
“You...!”
“W-wait—”
“...Too late.”
Then, the feeling of heat came, which soon morphed into molten fire that bloomed a fiery path across their chests, making them cry out in agony, only to be outdone by the ones not too far up ahead, their screams creating an eerie harmony that sounded so painstakingly loud that it nearly made Tifa want to cover her ears.
But she didn’t.
“Ahhhhhhhh!”
“Good Night—” with a snap of her fingers, the fire was now gone, “—and sleep tight, you two. Sweet dreams...”
Unable to take it anymore, they fell to the ground one by one in a crumpled heap. Burnt to a crisp almost.
And just like that, the area went completely silent.
✦ ⬖🔸⬗🔹✦🔸✨🔹✦🔹✨🔸✦🔹⬖🔸⬗ ✦
“W-whoa...”
A wave of shock left them all rooted in place, until the feeling of something similar took over about a second or two later, and the sight of Chronos stepping away from the men by Verius’ paws as he then flew over to the woman flicking the blood off her claws in slight disgust has left them feeling a bit unnerved more than anything else.
But still...
“That was awesome!” someone, a student from the Talim Medical School, shouted.
...This did not negate the feeling of gratitude they now felt for the woman who saved them.
“Yeah!” two others, a pair of older teenagers this time, cheered in agreement.
“Kids... You gotta love them,” a middle-aged man mumbled, shaking his head, while one of the authority figures next to him nodded in concurrence.
Appearance wise, the woman looked cool yet somewhat intimidating with those wicked and demonic-looking gauntlets she had on. And that five-foot-eight stature of hers reminded them of a certain Chimeriad Leader they all knew and loved, a man who stood just as tall as, if not taller than, the lady in front of them.
And as for the clothes on her body? Well, they thought it suited her pretty well.
A black-blue and purple tail-coat jacket with green accents and a faux fur hood, plus a blue crescent moon that was split down the center of the garment and silver pauldrons that had the symbol of a wolf embedded in them, hugged the off-the-shoulder purple crop top she wore on her upper half with a black sleeveless mock turtleneck tank top underneath it.
Then next up below that, the woman wore a pair of black denim shorts with two vertical green stripes on the side, held together by the Leather Crescent Moon Buckle Belt that was wrapped around her waist, and had on a pair of black thigh-high socks that complimented the black-blue and purple boots she wore on her feet.
All in all, it was a pretty badass outfit despite being composed of a lot of dark colors, which looked really attractive on her. A fact that they couldn’t just easily ignore (even if some of them had wanted to).
“Don’t worry, everyone, they’re not dead!” the busty woman finally spoke up, fully aware of their lingering stare as she pulled the hood of her jacket off, and then kneeled in front of the toasted bodies to inspect the leather briefcase next to them—but not without giving the Great Spirit Chronos a nod of acknowledgement and magicking the gauntlets away first.
Long tailbone length hair. Raven black in color with a dark brown hue and mahogany streaks running all throughout her side-swept bangs and ends. Red-orange markings surrounding the corner of her eyelids and red-violet eyes in the shape of a wing.
Great Maxwell, everything about her looked so...familiar. Even the piercings she had on her ears from what they could see struck a chord in them.
And the sheer amount of these notable details left the group in shock once more.
“Well then...” the woman lifted her gaze for a moment, then told the great spirit next to her something with just a single look alone, before shooting her attention back to the briefcase on the ground.
This woman... She’s—
“If you insist, little one,” Chronos sighed out, obeying the silent order his summoner gave him as he got on one knee and tapped the case softly with his claws.
Nothing.
Curious, Bahamut leaned down to pick it up, and shook it without warning.
Gently.
A small tink was heard inside, resembling what a gem would sound like when making contact with something hard and solid.
The woman and the Great Spirit of Time shared a smirk, as if pleased by their findings, before rising up from the ground.
“Umm...excuse me, Miss?”
While Chronos reached over to take the briefcase from Bahamut, the young woman looked up to face the speaker.
“Yes?” she said in a calm voice, eyeing the officer standing between his two fellow men in uniform and next to the four Rashugal soldiers they brought along as backup with great intent, and then asked him, “What can I do for you today, sir?”
“Uhh...” he chanced a quick glance with the rest of his group before looking back at her and clearing his throat to try again, “You...wouldn’t happen to be King Gaius’ niece, Tifa Luna Lockhart, would you? An honorary member of the Chimeriad who also trained under the former Imperial Knights, Yuri Lowell and Duke Pantarei, in the art of swordsmanship, right?” he inquired, making the woman blink then narrow her eyes at him.
“Yes, that is me,” she nodded in confirmation, giving a small introductory bow to the seven authority figures as she did so. “Tifa Luna Lockhart. At your service,” she finished, rising from her bow several seconds later.
Relief as well as awed-excitement seemed to radiate off the group as they thanked the young woman for her assistance. They were not at all miffed about the fact that she came out of nowhere to stop the criminals since she was, in a way, like an authority figure herself. A warrior and Pokémon Trainer who held just as much power as their Rieze Maxia King and the other Chimeriad members did.
“As always, Lady Tifa, we feel very honored to be in your lovely presence.”
Not wanting to feel left out from this, the civilians and their Pokémon spoke up to express their thanks as well.
The young trainer scratched her cheek, while waving more than a few of their praises off with her other hand, feeling a bit shy from all of the attention they figured.
“Ah...sure. No problem, you guys.”
The woman then moved her gaze over to the briefcase in Chronos’ arms and took a moment to smile at the other great spirit walking towards them all before dropping her hands at her sides.
“To be frank,” she began, turning around to face them, “I only came down here to stop those thieves and retrieve an item they had stolen from my client—which I’ll be leaving the city soon to take the gem right back to him.”
The first officer dipped his head in a nod, while the second one chimed in to say, “Who is your client if you don’t mind me asking, Lady Tifa?”
“The Governor of Sharilton.”
He along with everyone else perked up at that. “Oh! Well, carry on then. I wish you a safe trip to Sharilton, Lady Tifa.”
“We’ll take care of everything from here, milady,” one of the Rashugal soldiers added before saluting the woman.
Shortly after that, the others followed suit.
“Right. I will leave the rest to you, gentlemen.”
✦ ⬖🔸⬗🔹✦🔸✨🔹✦🔹✨🔸✦🔹⬖🔸⬗ ✦
As they went about rounding up all of the criminals on the ground, the raven-mahogany haired woman moved away from the group and dismissed Verius, who in return nodded and reverse summoned himself back to the Spirit Realm.
Alright. That’s done, Tifa turned to stick her left hand out to Chronos, who handed the briefcase over without a fuss, and said, “Are you heading back home, too, Chronos?”
“Yes,” he replied, putting his back to her.
“Okay. Take care then.”
The great spirit raised a clawed hand in response to her good-bye, and then disappeared from the area in a flash.
A few good-byes from the crowd reached her ears once she got done with getting on Bahamut’s back. But instead of saying anything, or turning around to face the group, Tifa went ahead and gave them her own good-bye in the form of a small peace sign.
“Miss Lockhart!”
They were hyped up now, it seemed.
“Farewell, Lady Tifa!”
She supposed that was to be expected, with her being (somewhat) famous around here and other parts of Aselia and all.
“Come visit Fennmont again someday, Lady Tifa!”
“Yeah!”
Unbeknownst to them, however, those last two answers pulled a fleeting smile from her.
And just like that, Tifa and Bahamut took off into the night sky, leaving behind a cheering crowd of people and Pokémon waving at their backs.
Now then...let’s just hope that Cline will be home when I get there and hand this gem over to him.
✦ ⬖🔸⬗🔹✦🔸✨🔹✦🔹✨🔸✦🔹⬖🔸⬗ ✦
“Tifa, look.”
“Hmm?” Tifa said, raising her head up, and her eyes brightened when she saw the mansion come into view up ahead. “Oh good. We’re finally here.”
“Can I leave now?”
Knowing how impatient he could get sometimes, she said yes, relieving the Gaian dragon of his duty.
Bahamut gave a pleased rumble once he leaned his head down to nuzzle the woman, and with a rare showcase of affection that he hardly ever displayed in full public view where anyone could see him, the dragon licked the side of her face gently in good-bye before returning back home to the Spirit Realm.
Tifa smiled while rubbing the spot her summon licked. Here we go, she breathed, then tightened her grip around the handle of the briefcase as she began to proceed forward. It’s time now.
“Lady Tifa!”
“Arf!”
“Lie!”
“Bish!”
“Py!”
Oh right. Judging from the four guards and their Pokémon partners she had passed, and greeted with a nod, it turned out that Lord Cline was indeed home.
“Hi Cli—Driselle?”
...Or rather his sister was, considering she had been the one to open the door and welcome her inside instead of him, along with a hug that Tifa immediately returned.
“It’s so good to see you again, Tifa. I like what you did to your hair this time. The mahogany highlights add a nice touch to it.”
The compliment made her flush a bit. “Thank you, Driselle.”
Driselle giggled, finding the woman’s behavior quite adorable in her eyes.
“..........” thankfully the blush disappeared from Tifa’s cheeks, and that made her all more relieved since she did not want to be red in the face when meeting up with Lord Cline.
I can just imagine the kind of questions he’ll have. Wondering what’s wrong with me and all that.
She sighed inwardly and shook her head, watching her light blonde haired friend lead her through the living room. And she continue to do so while also scanning the place, taking in the same furniture and paintings decorating the area as she listened to Driselle talk about the stuff she and Cline have been up to lately, until her eyes fell onto the the new picture on the wall above the sitting space not too far away from the stairs leading up to the second floor balcony.
“Is there anything on your mind that you would like to talk about, Tifa?”
She flicked her gaze over to Driselle and saw the concern swimming in her blue-green eyes. “Not really,” she said with a shake of her head, smiling to reassure the younger woman that everything was alright.
Despite not believing the older woman, Driselle decided not to push it after seeing the look in her eyes, and instead, gave her an okay in the form of a nod before moving on.
“Since you’re here for my brother, Tifa, I would suggest checking the backyard first.”
Tifa furrowed her brows in confusion. “Why? Is he out there right now?”
“He should be.”
“I see. Thank you for the suggestion, Driselle. I really appreciate it.”
“It was no problem at all, Tifa,” she bowed her head in return. “I’ll be over in the den with my friends in the meantime should you have need of me for anything else.”
Friends? Oh dear, she must have guests over then.
Damn.
Feeling bad about the interruption now, Tifa tried to give the lady four years younger than her an apology, but she shook her head in refusal.
“There’s no need to apologize for something you were unaware of, Tifa. I’m sure they’ll understand once I tell them that my older brother has been expecting someone to drop by soon.”
Wow. He must’ve had that much faith in her to finish the mission fast without calling to check up on her or ask for some kind of progress, huh?
She honestly felt a bit flattered by that.
Even after knowing him for a good decade and two years now, that man never ceases to amaze me still. He really is a good friend to me and a wonderful person overall. Just like everyone else is.
Tifa smiled again before turning back to Driselle once more and saying, “Okay, I’ll take your word for it then, Driselle.”
A twinkle flashed in the twenty-five-year-old woman’s eyes before she bowed her head once more and left the room.
Not long after that, Tifa shot one last look at the picture on the wall again, which had the Sharil siblings shaking hands with Reeve and Rufus, who were standing next to Reno, Rude, Tseng, Elena, and Cissnei, and she wondered when did this photo get taken?
I guess I’ll save that question for another day.
Or not.
She frowned before shrugging her shoulders.
Eh, I'll think about it later.
With her mind now made up, the twenty-nine-year-old turned her gaze away from the picture and walked right past the stairs, leaving the front room area without so much of a backward glance.
✦ ⬖🔸⬗🔹✦🔸✨🔹✦🔹✨🔸✦🔹⬖🔸⬗ ✦
It did not take her long to find Lord Cline at all as her eyes spotted him near a tree close to the pool, and she shut the door behind her at once before making her way over to him.
From what she could see, he was talking about something important to a couple of people sitting at the big picnic table.
And low and behold, it was a combination of people who she knew plus the ones who she had either heard of before or seen in pictures somewhere in the world, causing her to nearly trip over her own two feet, and Tifa knew for a fact that she would have if she hadn’t caught herself in time—which spared her the embarrassment of making a fool out of herself in front of the man and his guests. Especially her senpai and two of his friends, who all looked up to the sound of her approach and blinked in surprise/curiosity.
“Excuse me, Cline?”
“Hmm?” he turned around to face the newcomer, while everyone else from the group moved their attention from him to her. “Yes. What is it—” the man paused, as if surprised by the woman’s sudden appearance, before closing his eyes and greeting her with a smile, “Tifa! You’re here, I see. How are you?”
“Tired. But I’m doing okay,” she admitted while averting her own, mainly to avoid the gaze of one person in particular—and that was none other than Rufus himself, who sat on the Imperial Princess’ right and stared at her with the burning intensity of a thousand suns. “I...actually decided to stop by and return this to you before heading home for the day.”
Correction, ‘I completed your request and retrieved the gem like you asked for’ is what she really meant with her words. But Tifa didn’t want to risk it by saying that in front of everyone else, which he totally understood the second he opened his eyes and moved them to the briefcase she had in her hand.
“Alright,” he replied solemnly before looking over his shoulder at the group. “Now, if you’ll excuse me for just a moment...”
Reeve, who sat between the Leader of Brave Vesperia and Yuri-senpai near the end of the table, took the initiative to speak up first. “It’s fine, Lord Cline.”
“Yeah. We’ll just...wait right here while you handle whatever business you need to take care of, yo,” Reno added, waving at the guy despite shooting a playful wink at Tifa, which caused his boss to turn and narrow his eyes at him and Yuri to roll his own, much to the latter’s friends’ confusion and the amusement coming from the rest sitting with them.
Tifa refused to snort at his and everyone else’s reactions, especially Rufus’ since he looked to be in a bad mood of sorts (which was something that amused her to no end on the inside, she would admit), but the young woman ignored it along with everyone else like they weren’t even there and moved her red-violet gaze back up to Lord Cline.
“Thank you,” he bowed in appreciation to the group.
When Tifa saw him straighten his posture and turn around, then motion his head to the bench sitting under another tree—the one closer to the door and not the shed over in the corner she realizes, the young woman signaled him to take the lead.
“As you wish,” he walked past her.
Moments later, Tifa started to follow after him.
Once there, he took a seat in the middle, face racked with worry despite the tension marking his back as he leaned it against the trunk of the tree.
She plopped down beside him. “Are you sure they won’t be able to hear us?” she voiced her concern in a whisper.
“Yes, I’m sure,” he answered, keeping his voice about the same as hers.
Well she felt very relieved by that now.
“Okay.”
The look of reassurance on his face was extra comforting, including the laugh he threw in about a second later, before she noticed the man’s gaze moving over to the briefcase sitting in her lap.
“I take it the gem is located in there, right?”
She cracked it open, and what he saw inside resulted in a sigh of relief from him.
A huge one.
“Thank you,” he whispered, relaxed.
“You’re welcome,” she mumbled, watching the man reach inside to take the gem out.
Small in size. Blue in color. A diamond.
It was an honest to god sapphire blue diamond.
And she—
What the...!
—nearly jumped away from the sudden spark of energy that had managed to reach her.
Touch her.
Wait, a second look had her checking and staring at the thing in disbelief now. Oh my god.
This was a diamond that not only spoke of great power, but it was a brilliant cut gem that resembled the likes a...
“Yes, I know what you’re thinking, Tifa,” Lord Cline interrupted, as he went to show her the gem in its full glory by turning it around slowly in his hand. “It’s exactly what you think it is,” he added, smirking when that had seemed to snap the woman out of her shock.
Tifa just stared at him for a long time.
At that, he decided to stop—to drop his hand at his side and flick his blue-green eyes down and away from hers.
“Where in the world did you get a Chaos Emerald at?”
By God did she wanna scream, or slap a seal over it and move as far away from the gem as possible, despite how ridiculous that sounded to her.
Though to be fair, she almost did it before in the past when that one object she came across on the road nearly blew her up, and last she’d checked the Chimeriad and Uncle Gaius along with Aerith, Dawn, and the rest of her friends did make a point of mentioning to her the strange power she had with attracting items of interest from all over the universe—which included powerful artifacts or sentinel objects like the Devil Arms as well as the Infinity Stones and the Blastia.
Gaia... It just had to be my luck that the gem I ended up retrieving from those thieves turned out to be a not-so-ordinary gem after all.
The clearing of a throat brought the young woman back to reality, and she looked up to see her friend place those blue-green eyes of his back on her own red-violet ones.
“Well...” Lord Cline began with a heavy sigh as he slid the Chaos Emerald down into his pants pocket, “Let’s just say that Boltund and I found it one day during one of our daily morning walks.”
Before Tifa could even open her mouth to ask him where, he shot her a look that basically said ‘I will tell you more another time when we are not in the presence of other people in the area’.
Oh right. That made total sense to her.
Tifa nodded her head. “I see,” she said before moving her attention to the briefcase still in her lap. “That is a pretty neat find there, Cline,” she closed it while letting the man know how lucky he was.
“I know,” he mumbled, smiling, as they both got to their feet.
“So... What should I do with this briefcase then?” she held it up in question.
“Leave it here,” he said, and she did so without a word, before reaching into his other pocket to take something out. “And as promised, here is your payment.”
A bag of gald and a light blue stone with a snowflake trapped inside of it.
Tifa couldn’t help but do a double take at the second item he gave her.
Lord Cline slowly averted his gaze.
Despite being left speechless once again, she still managed to put them away and look at the Governor of Sharilton in slight awe.
He cleared his throat again and tried to say, “I know you mentioned a while back about you looking high and low for an Ice Stone to evolve your little Vulpix with, so I decided to add it in with your pay—”
Tifa threw her arms around him in a hug, startling the man with her sudden bout of affection.
Behind them in the background, a cough along with a choking sound was heard, followed by an immediate “Whoa!” that came after, and then a phone or two hitting the table with a loud thunk.
“You didn’t have to do that for me, you know,” she mumbled near his ear. “I’m sure it must’ve cost a lot of money to get one.”
He returned the embrace without hesitation. “Not at all,” he chuckled softly before releasing the young woman from his hold. “I won it from a tournament back in the Terca Lumireis Region over three months ago. But since neither of my Pokémon had any use for it, I figured giving it to you would be the next best thing.”
“Cline...”
“No,” he shook his head. “Just think of it as a gift. From your friend.”
Tifa contemplated the look on his face, as if now just realizing how serious he was about this whole thing, before relenting and thanking him for the gift.
He returned her thanks with a nod, while lacing his hands together behind his back. “I take it you will be leaving now?”
“Yeah. I have to get ready for my trip tomorrow.”
“Where?”
“Earth,” she answered.
A look of understanding flashed in his eyes. “Ah, that’s right. You mentioned something before about Zack and Aerith taking you to go see a play in the Johto Region, yes?”
“I did. We’re going to meet up on Gaia and take care of a few errands there, first, then leave to go to Earth after that.”
Another nod. “What transportation method will you be taking in the morning to your former homeworld, Tifa?”
She thought about it for a moment. “The...train, I guess,” she decided quietly.
His eyebrows furrowed at that. “That is...surprising to hear,” he couldn’t help but say, making the woman snort under her breath. “You don’t feel like using any of the planet’s secret wormhole locations, do you?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged, while adding, “I don’t feel like wasting any time hunting one down since they tend to either move elsewhere or shut down for a couple of days.”
I thought so, he shook his head, amused. “That’s fair.”
“‘Course it is,” she snorted again and gave the man one last hug before stepping away. “I’ll see you some other time, Cline. Have a great evening, okay?”
“And I wish you the same as well, Tifa.”
Right after that, the two went their separate ways.
“You finished?” asked a semi-bored Rufus.
“I am,” Lord Cline responded, keeping his voice neutral, as he silently wondered what was up with the Shinra President and that other tone hidden behind the bored one he took just now.
“Finally! I thought you two were gonna take forever, yo. But then again... I can see why. I don’t blame you for wanting to stick with Tifa a little—”
“Shut up, you idiot!” scolded Elena.
SMACK!
“Ow! What the fuck was that for, Lena?!” barked Reno.
“Don’t play dumb! You know exactly what that was for!”
“No I don’t!”
“Yes you do!”
Lord Cline hurried to hide the laugh he wanted to release behind a cough. But Yuri and Karol on the other hand had no problem releasing their laugh, considering how amused they were by the two, while the other four sighed deeply in the background.
Leave it to Reno and Elena to start an argument over the littlest of things, Tifa remarked, resisting the urge to sigh herself, as she reached for the door and slid it open. But still... I do find their fights pretty amusing to watch or listen to sometimes, even if some others may not appreciate it.
Instead of going inside, however, the young woman paused to look over her shoulder and stare at the group.
She took in how Rufus looked to be so fucking done with the arguing pair, a red tick mark growing on the side of his head as he went to lay his chin on top of his folded arms, eyes closed in exasperation, and then caught the image of Yuri-senpai and...Karol Capel, she believed his name was, goading the two Turks on with Estelle Sidos Heurassein frowning at her friends, Cissnei giving both Reno and Elena an unimpressed look from behind her phone, and Reeve covering his face up in complete embarrassment.
Gaia, the scene in front of her was a hot mess. There was no better way to describe it other than thinking how wild and chaotic the two Turks were.
...Well, at least compared to the other Turks who were more...a little tame, you could say, in comparison.
On second thought, it’s not that much considering how Tseng, Rude, and Cissnei have their little...moments as well, she backtracked. They’re not infallible to the shenanigans they land themselves in due to the fault of their own or their colleagues’ troubles.
And she had seen enough of it to be true.
“Too many times in fact,” Tifa mumbled with a quiet snort as she banished those thoughts away at once, then turned herself back around to face the sliding patio door.
However, she completely missed the way Yuri-senpai, Reeve, and Rufus looked at her when she did that.
I better hurry up and get home, so that I can go to bed early tonight.
Without giving any attention to whoever was watching her, she went inside and shut the door behind her with a soft click.
✦ ⬖🔸⬗🔹✦🔸✨🔹✦🔹✨🔸✦🔹⬖🔸⬗ ✦
“You’re leaving now?” Driselle called out to her as she entered the room.
Tifa looked up and said, “I am. I have a long day tomorrow that I have to get ready for.”
“Okay,” Driselle walked over to give the older woman a hug. “Enjoy the rest of your evening, Tifa.”
“I’ll try,” she returned it with a soft smile. “And I wish you good evening, too, Driselle.”
As she was not the type to shirk her duties or forget her manners, the younger Sharil offered to walk Tifa out the front door, and then have at least two of her and her brother’s guards and their partners standing outside to take her home.
The offer gave Tifa a bit of a pause.
“Don’t worry about it, guys. I’ll take it from here.”
She along with everyone else turned to see Yuri walk out the door with his sheathed sword in one hand and an Ultra Ball in the other one, while giving the surprised men and their Pokémon on either side of him a nod of acknowledgement.
“Senpai...”
Yuri turned his head slightly to the side and looked at Driselle, who now stood leaning against one of the pillars that was closest to the door. “Well?” he said, making a silent gesture between Tifa and himself with just his eyes alone.
“Go ahead, Yuri,” there was no hesitation in her decision as she said this.
Yuri nodded and turned back around to face the path up ahead. “Alright. That settles it then. I’ll be back later before you know it.”
The guards and their partners sighed to themselves, like they were disappointed or something, while Driselle said “Okay” and went back inside the mansion.
“You ready, Tifa?”
Tifa blinked, feeling the familiar weight of her senpai’s hand on her back, as she raised her red-violet eyes to stare up into his calm gray ones.
“Y...yeah, I guess so.”
A raised eyebrow followed by a smirk were the only two things she had received in return before he dropped his hand away from her, then called his trusty Solgaleo out of the ball, and clipped it back onto the second belt he wore underneath his tunic.
The Sunne Pokémon said not a single word when he glanced at his trainer, then Tifa, and got the message. He just turned around and lowered himself to the ground and waited for them to get on.
Deciding not to waste any time, Tifa jumped onto the lion’s back and sat in the middle, while taking a firm yet gentle hold of his fur as Yuri got on behind her about five seconds later.
“By the way, Tifa...”
From the note of inquiry in his voice as well as the pointed stare he gave her head, specifically the mahogany highlights in it, she knew exactly what he was curious about.
“I got them done at the salon about three weeks ago. I thought it was about time I got my hair dyed or at least have some highlights added in to make it...pop out some more, you could say,” she explained before shyly adding, “What do you think...Senpai?”
His response was immediate, “Not bad at all. They look good in your hair” and he picked up a highlighted piece to observe the mahogany color mixed in with the black more closely. “Huh. It actually suits you...and this new look I see you trying to go for,” he continued before letting her hair go and wrapping up his speech in a softer tone of voice. “If it makes you happy, then by all means keep the color in your hair. Embrace the change if you like it.”
Tifa looked down and mumbled a “Thank you. I will” to him, touched by the man’s sincere words.
Then suddenly, they heard...
“See you around next time, Lady Tifa!”
The raven-mahogany haired woman looked over her shoulder and around her former mentor’s frame to see the guards and their Pokémon (Arcanine, Liepard, Bisharp, and Pyroar) waving at her. “Sure thing!” she smiled, waving back at them. “Have a great evening, you guys!”
Yuri waited until his former student finished turning back around and adjusting her position in front of him to pat the legendary psychic/steel type’s back. “Okay. Let’s go, Solgaleo.”
“[Right, Yuri,]” a wormhole was summoned into existence by his power, crackling in place as the wind ruffled his fur along with Yuri and Tifa’s clothes.
Then with a growl, Solgaleo stood to his feet, and dove straight into the portal before closing it behind him.