Getting up early, Sora giggled at Mofupsi, who was already downstairs, preparing breakfast. “Predicted me again, huh?” she asked, straightening her silk pajama bottoms while sitting on the bar stool.

Her big sister smiled, making French toast and grinding down a special, sweet flower she cultivated in her own garden to surprise Emilia with. “Sometimes. I’m very excited to see what the young mistress thinks about my new powdered sugar; it warms my heart to have a cheerful morning.”

“I agree,” she whispered, knowing the woman had many lonely and breaking days to make up for. “Did you see Emi trying to steal my energy all yesterday?”

“Hmm-hmm,” her amused eyes shifted to give her a knowing look. “What I remember is you indulging in dozens of hugs and making the young mistress squeal about being drained.”

“Hehe. I only did it once, but she won’t let it go.”

Mofupsi moved two completed items to a plate. “Your mischievous side has been showing more recently, Mistress. Teasing the young miss is becoming a habit. Speaking of…”

“Guilty!” Sora grinned, tails weaving back and forth as she got up. “I should go wake up my adorable daughter. I wonder if she’s drooling again?”

“I’d say the likelihood is high,” the woman snickered, nine tails engaged in directing multiple other activities—breaking more eggs, mixing, dunking, making the powder, etc.— through her magic as if having a mind of their own. “Will the courtesy call extend to Mistress Fluff?”

Sora’s stomach shook with silent laughter while on her way up the stairs, knowing she was talking about Wendy, who took great pride in having the fluffiest singular tail; she was a little scared of how it would develop when she got more—she may have a whole bed behind her in a century.

“I’ll leave her to the little devil.”

“Cruel, Mistress,” Mofuspi chuckled. “I will prepare another ten French toasts for the stress eater.”

“Who’s cruel? Haha.”

She’d made sure her daughter’s room door was closed when going downstairs; Emilia had been leaving it open recently to not be the last one awake since the house was spelled to dampen all sound when a door was shut.

Walking down the hall, she passed Wendy’s room on the right to reach Emi’s on the left. Not wanting to risk her daughter’s sharp ears picking up the sounds of Mofupsi cooking, she had one of her copy chakrams leave her first tail; she expanded it to meld into the door, creating a field that would repel anything but herself.

Creeping inside the pure dark space, Sora tip-toed to her daughter’s bed, smiling at seeing her daughter totally spread out on her bed, belly down, with a goofy grin on her face. Taking in her short, fanned-out eight tails and blissful state, she took a mental picture—for posterity.

A wicked smile creasing her eyes, Sora brought the tip of her third tail around to tickle her daughter’s cheek, spiritually recording it to show the rest of the family and eventually her mother.

“Mmgm, no, butterflies… I’m a flower… Stop…”

Sora’s stomach shook. What are you dreaming about?

Taking a deep breath, she gently pulled up her daughter’s sheets and chimed, “Sailor Fire Mom Special Attack: Inferno Embrace!”

Emilia’s ears stood straight up, eyes flying open as Sora dove on top of her, wrapping the shrieking girl in the covering like a cocoon, trapping her. “Ahh! Mom! Mom?!”

Sora snickered, wrestling around with her daughter until they fell off the bed. “I’m here to suck your energy!”

“No! Noooo! Help, Aunt Moppy! Help! Mom’s gone crazy on power!”

“Blah! Blah! Nibble! Nibble!”

“She’s got my tail! Help! No, the door’s shut!”

“Hahaha!”

“Mom! You’re evil!” she cried as Sora let her go; she instantly flew out of the sheets, almost bumping into her bed and heading right for the chakram opening, where Sora phased through to tackle her again. “Wha?!”

“Thought it would be that easy, did you, young pup?!”

“Ahhh! Ugh… Mom… it, heh, tickles!”

Nuzzling her cheek on her carpet as they stopped, she giggled. “Ho-ho. I thought you were training, but I got past your door trap pretty easily, my undefended daughter!”

“Y-Yeah, well, tomorrow, I’ll get you!”

“I look forward to it,” Sora chirped, giving her a peck on the cheek. “Want to go tackle Auntie Wendy? Moppy’s got a surprise for you two downstairs; she’s been working on it for a while.”

“Ooh! Yes! Yes!” she giggled, tails wagging with Sora’s. “Can you do your ninja portal thing so I can super surprise her?”

Sora winked, sending her ring through the house to infiltrate Wendy’s room. “Already ahead of you!”

Her daughter gave her a slight glare. “You promised to teach me how to steal your energy today, too; that way, I can try to surprise you in the mornings.”

“Bold! You won’t find it easy sneaking up on your mom, but I promised to try.”

“I know,” she sighed, managing her hair as they separated. “It has to do with Null-Void, and I haven’t awoken that side yet. Oh! Did you figure something out with Grandma? She sent me a dream that said you guys talked the other day.”

“Oh, my sly mom sending you secret messages?” Sora mused, using another chakram to show Emi her sleeping aunt; it was harder not to make waves with Wendy since she could sense her energy. “What’s she been doing with you?”

Emilia shrugged, showing a sad smile. “It’s more like her leaving a phone message; I wish I could spend time with her again.”

Mouth drawing together, Sora hummed, focus moving to her bracelet, and a soft smile lifted her face. “Here. Keep this with you today, and tonight, after we do our training and have dinner, I’ll show you how to call your grandma with this so you can have a special time.”

Her daughter’s big eyes got bigger. “Really, Mom, I can visit Grandma tonight?”

“Mhm!”

Emilia dove forward to hug her. “Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!”

“Hehe. We don’t want to bother her too often since she’s really busy, but obviously, she wants to spend some time with you, too. Ready to become a predator?”

Her daughter’s face grew mischievous. “Hehe. From the mouse to the fox!”

Sora took on her vulpes form with her daughter, nuzzling cheeks. “Tackle her together?”

“Yeah! I’ll go for her cheeks, you hold her down!”

“Okay. What’s our special Sailor move?”

“Oh! Oh! Give me a sec… Hehe. Sailor Fox Unity Burst: Solar Embrace!”

“Oooh! I love it. Ready?”

“Let’s do it, Mom!”

Using her true chakram to empower them both with Null-Void, coating them in the off-chance Wendy freaked out and exploded, she mirrored her daughter, recording every second.

““Sailor Fox Unity Burst: Solar Embrace!””

Diving through, Sora sent her chakrams out to lock Wendy into a double ring prison—her third trapping a startled Vix—as Emilia licked her face as Sora tickled her stomach.

“Eeek! What?! Heh—w-why can’t I, heh, release my body?!” Wendy cried, wiggling and trying to turn her head away as Sora’s main ring locked around Wendy’s book, shutting her off from her abilities. “N-no way! Haha! Stop! Help! Hahaha…”

“We got you, Auntie Wendy! No one can escape the feared Unity Burst! Take my kisses!”

“Haha! Stop! Sora! Emi! Please! Haha!”

“Bua-ha-ha-ha! You’re our prisoner, Sailor Luna Scout! Your punishment is love!”

“No! Not the loves!”

“All the loves!” Emilia squealed. “Mia-ha-ha-ha!”

Settling down with laughter, Sora let go of them, Vix giving her a glare from his hanging position; he’d been collapsing on Wendy’s bed due to their long training lessons that had pulled him away from Emilia.

“You two are ridiculous,” Wendy wheezed. “So not fair, though, Sora! I didn’t know you could lock me out of my Null-Void abilities. How did you do that?”

Emilia gave her a knowing look. “She can do it because she’s evil! My mom can drain energy and trap people; she’s a total villain, hiding as my pretty mom.”

“Aww. Thank you for saying I’m evil and beautiful, my adorable daughter!” Sora cooed, rubbing heads with her daughter, both still in their fox forms. “I’ve just done a lot more experimenting. I’m sure you’ll figure it out later or have something even cooler. Ready for breakfast? Moppy’s making a ton for you to eat, heh, grumbly stomach.”

Wendy chuckled, rubbing her stomach and eyeing her hovering chakram. “I’ve just been using a lot of Null-Void recently. Ugh!” She dropped back onto her pillow with a pouty huff. “I can’t believe I was totally helpless, though. I gotta figure out how to counter your stupid powerful moves!”

“Join the club,” Emilia growled, falling next to her aunt to glare up at her. “My mom’s like… totally invincible!”

Wendy’s face tightened a bit. “Kari can do some damage to her, but I doubt I’ll ever be able to compete if I use Null-Void like you; It sucks that all the counters I’ve been developing got totally shut down by you nullifying my Null-Void… How does that even work?”

Sora flashed her teeth. “Try to figure it out! Hehe. I had to learn to counter myself since I don’t know if we’ll be fighting other Null-Void people in the future.”

“Fair… What’s for breakfast?”

“French toast.”

Wendy and Emilia’s eyes lit up at the news.

“Yes! Oh, something new with French toast?! Beat you two downstairs!” Emilia got up and shot into the air to be intercepted by her chakram.

“Eh?!” Creating a loop, Sora giggled with Wendy as she sent her rings to act as the door’s goalie, sending her back to the bed every time. “Mom! You are just… too overpowered! Ha!” she cried as Sora let her slip by to get to the door and spell it open. “I win!”

“This time, Sailor Sunshine!” Sora yelled as her daughter flew downstairs. “Next time, you won’t be so lucky!”

Wendy sighed, stretching out before getting up, book flying to her lower back, just above her tail, with a yawn. “Haaah. You know, Emi’s not wrong. You’ve been getting ridiculously strong lately. Is that why you’re trying to figure out your magic again?”

Returning to her human form, Sora walked out of the room with her sister. “I guess. I can do a lot more with my Null-Void than I first thought, but it’s nowhere near as versatile as True Vulpes Magic. I’ve been learning a lot more about it in the process of it, too. I’ll share what I’ve learned when I nail it down.”

“Promise?” Wendy asked, scratching Vix’s back as he slunk after them, clearly still exhausted.

“Yeah. We’ll do some personal training together… maybe next week? I think I should have some things worked out by then.”

Wendy giggled. “It’s a date. Meanwhile, I’ll keep trying to make my own breakthroughs.”

“I expect to be dazzled!”

Making it downstairs, Sora sat down and laughed with her sisters and daughter; it felt like a dream, and Sora momentarily reflected on where she’d been two years ago—down-beaten, bullied, and more or less alone—which showed how much could change.

Only three more weeks outside of the White Room until Emilia would have her first real birthday, and she had to make it a memorable one. She snickered as she stole one of Emi’s pieces of toast, making her balk and retaliate by taking one of hers.

She was a tad surprised when Tola knocked on their door when they were finishing up, prompting Moppy to make another plate for their guest; her surprise turned to shock when learning Mofupsi had given her an open invitation to spend time with her today since she figured White would be hiding from the woman.

Happy her maid slash big sister was feeling comfortable enough to invite people over to hang out, Sora waved them off while taking Emilia to the White Room, Wendy going to her own area. Emilia was practically vibrating with energy for today’s training, only for Sora to let her down with a giggle when her daughter learned they’d be meditating.

“Aww… No blowing things up or shooting Null-Void lasers?” Emilia mumbled, ears low and looking disappointed. “Vix can shoot nine lasers—they’re really cool—and I wanted to show him I could do it too; you know, tag-team combo attacks.”

Sora sat on one of the two circular rock foundations beside a waterfall—it was a cool setting—and motioned for Emilia to do the same. “Hehe. Want to know a secret?”

“What…”

“I’ve found that the biggest power increase comes from inside and not big flashy things. Honestly, it’s probably why your Aunt Wendy’s having trouble; your great-aunt Inari taught me really early how important the Outer Body Technique is. White’s showed you how to do the basics, right?”

She knew he had since she mainly used it to create custom clothes, but wanted Emilia to explain it herself, and she got flashbacks of being taught by her aunt.

Her daughter nodded. “Yeah… I don’t do many things with it, though. White said it’s dangerous to use without him or go into the darkness because there can be scary things inside. I usually use it to look at old memories or clothes. What else can I do with it?”

“Why don’t I show you,” Sora chirped, taking a deep breath. “I’m going to resonate with you and bring you into my Core; you’ll feel someone trying to pull you out of your Core, which can be a bit scary, but it’s just me, okay?”

“You’ve done it before, Mom…”

“Hehe. I know, but I wasn’t having you analyze what I’m doing before; I’ll be taking it slow, and that will help you understand it more. Ready?”

“Yup! Okay. Deep breaths… Huu-haaa.”

Sora smiled and drew into her Core before reaching her hands out to guide her blind daughter through the darkness to her. It was a slow process, and she saw her aunt reflected in the action; she could guide Emilia to better understand her own spiritual center by drawing her around multiple paths through each other’s Cores.

It was like walking a trail with unlimited paths, but she only needed to remember a few of them by heart to find her way on her own. She also helped her daughter discover weaknesses in her defenses and build them up. Her first goal was to make Emilia comfortable with the surface level of the technique.

The true genius that came with the Outer Body Technique was the ability to compress time further within themselves, maximizing their time together. They had to take breaks every hour, but one day—Sunday—was half a week in the White Room, while they could more than double that time by using the Outer Body Technique.

Emilia was left sweating and exhausted after each exercise; Sora laid beside her daughter during their naps, letting the special time they had together soak through her. If that wasn’t joyful enough, her daughter grew fruits, nuts, berries, and vegetables for them to eat whenever hunger struck.

Sora’s goal was to strengthen Emilia’s Intelligence, spirit, and body for her eventual Null-Void awakening. She honestly didn’t expect her to be able to activate that side of her yet since her aunt had forced it open before she’d fully been ready for it, which was why both sides were out of balance. It had been necessary at the time, but Sora wanted to do things slower with her daughter.

A few times, she snuck back to the house when her daughter slept to grab some milk or various juices since she knew Emilia loved it for breakfast, and it was fun to see her leery-eyed daughter question where she’d gotten it.

These special days with Emilia made her feel over the moon, and her daughter tried to surprise attack her a few times during the week; naturally, Sora let her daughter think she’d gotten her a few times to hear her giggle. Plus, it was Sora’s ‘punishment’ for tickling her nose at night sometimes.

Since she didn’t have her vulpes magic, this was the best Sora could do to strengthen her daughter, which was probably White’s forethought in leaving it for her to explore with her Emi; the kitsune really was an amazing man and mentor—her mother knew what she was doing when recommending him.

When the final day counted down, Sora mitigated Emilia’s disappointment that she hadn’t been able to learn how to drain her energy, or, the real reason, not unlock her Null-Void, by bringing her attention back to the ruby bracelet she’d let her daughter wear throughout the week.

“The whole night?!” Emilia breathed, ears and tails rising into the air again at the prospect of spending an entire week with Sora and then a night with her grandma.

“Hehe. Yup,” Sora smiled, stroking her daughter’s head to mold her hair into a braid after it got messed up during their nap. “As far as I know, that’s how it works. Your grandma will let you know when your time is coming to an end.”

“Over a whole week—like today with you and the Outer Body thing?!” she asked, tails tickling Sora’s arms as they wagged, and Sora split her locks to weave together. “Can Vix join me?”

“Sorry. And it’s more of a one night, and I think a one-person thing, but I know you’ve been a bit lonely with Vix training with Wendy; he’s trying to get stronger so he can protect you.”

“I know… Rayla and Luna are going to be coming over this week; we’re going to throw a surprise wedding for Tola and White!”

Sora’s fingers froze; this was the first time she was hearing about this in over a week with her talkative daughter. “Eh-heh. Maybe we should wait a little bit longer. This week is going to be really stressful for Tola and White; we may need to postpone lessons until Friday, which would mean…”

“More time with you?!” Emilia squealed, turning in her excitement. “Really, Mom? The whole week?!”

“I planned on it,” Sora laughed. “Tola and White have been… looking a bit ragged, but Thursday is when their bet ends. We don’t know what’s going to happen, so… maybe Rayla and Luna can join us with the Outer Body Technique. We’ll even be doing battle stuff once you get it down!”

“Yes! Real battle stuff, not the fake dummies White makes for us?”

Sora winked. “The big boss. You get to try to do everything in your power to try and take me down.”

“Ooh! Uh… I don’t know, Mom,” Emilia’s smile became strained. “You’re too strong! How can we stop you?”

“That’s up to you to figure out,” Sora giggled, kissing her nose and making it crinkle. “I’m the evil super mom that you have to stop from destroying the world! We can even have a play city I’m destroying and everything. Sound cool?”

“Really cool!”

“Great! You’ll want to talk about it with Rayla and Luna tomorrow, okay? I’ll talk to Tola and White tonight.”

“Okay,” her daughter’s brow set as if this was the most serious thing she’d ever do in her entire life. “I’m going to stop my evil mom with my friends; I promise, we’ll save the day!”

“Hehe. The Sailor Solar Scouts; want to come up with a story for me?”

“Leave it to me, Mom! Umm. What about Tola and White; aren’t they getting married?”

“Hehe. Anything can happen at this point; we’ll see at the end of the week. Ready to meet your grandma?”

“Ya! Let’s go home. I have so much to tell Auntie Moppy and Wendy!”

Giggling, Sora had the Realm Core warp them back; as she expected, her puffy-tailed sister wasn’t back, and she expected her to remain in the White Room until 11 p.m. or so, to Emi’s disappointment. Sora giggled when her daughter’s attention was swiftly taken by her maid auntie as she got their stir fry dinner ready.

Sora pulled Tola to the side, and she could feel her spiritual waves were a complete mess, having rebounded like crazy from her more stable condition the previous week; it was to be expected with the finish line so close.

“Is there something you need?” the woman asked, fidgeting with her light-blue bangs.

Sora sat on the couch in the front room, motioning for her to join her as Emilia chatted to Mofupsi about her week—more like two—and the woman hesitantly took the opposite side. “How was your time with Moppy?”

“Umm. Not as lively as I would have liked… I can’t keep my mind straight. It’s like every topic comes back to White… at least, my mind thinks it does, and it’s very confusing. I’ve tried meditating, but it doesn’t have the same effect as it did last week.”

“Ahh,” Sora smirked and nodded; she was head over heels. “I bet it’s driving you crazy. Do you want my opinion, which is probably going to make you faint?”

“Well, heh, I keep telling myself it cannot get worse than it already is, but somehow White proves me wrong every time. Oh, no…”

“What?” Sora asked, seeing her focus fixate on her copper tails.

“In my mind… I remembered your tails used to be white… and then… Ugh! It’s exhausting,” she moaned, rubbing between her closed eyes. “My body burns up and freezes randomly whenever something reminds me of him.”

Sora suddenly realized something, trying not to show the grin inside. “You’re hiding behind illusions, aren’t you? How long has it been since you’ve slept?”

“Two weeks… maybe two and a half… I’m losing count of the days,” she whispered. “I feared White would notice… Mmgm… my stomach again,” she grumbled, holding her belly as if she wanted to die. “He’d see past my illusions, so I’ve been forcing my body to remain calm through internal, spiritual manipulation.”

“No wonder you’re a complete mess!” Sora hissed. “Geez. I thought you were doing better, but you’ve just been hiding it, and really well, might I add. Yeah, okay… You and White need to work things out this week. I’ll take over lessons temporarily with Emi; I’ve already told her.”

Tola’s eyes faded before bugging out. “You… want me to spend the last four days… with White? It’s already hard enough to keep my mind straight, keeping my distance. How can I survive four days without… blacking out. I don’t trust myself—not after the last time my mind slipped, and I lost a few hours. I was standing right in front of him, and if I hadn’t regained control… Sora… What do I do?”

Heart going out to the struggling woman, Sora breathed out a long sigh, knowing White would only accept things if she lasted the full twelve weeks, and she scooted over to take Tola’s hand. “You will hold out… I know you will because you’ve lasted this long. Remember? You’re going to prove to White that he’s worthy of real love; you’ll endure, and you have a whole squad behind you.”

Tears welling up in Tola’s eyes, Sora opened her arms to allow her in for a comforting hug. “I’m so scared I’ll slip up… It feels like my heart’s breaking in two.”

Tola’s body was burning up, and Sora rubbed her back. “What if I extracted all of your magic—I can’t hold it all, but I can draw it out and leave you as a normal woman—no magical temptation or teleportation. I can offer the same for White. You’ll stay here at night and the days with White; I’ll make sure you get some sleep tonight. Okay?”

“Y-You can do that?” she asked, sniffling as Emilia ran in, hearing her cries and joining the hug.

“Mom can rescue you, Tola—she sucked out a bit of my magic, after all; she’s an evil genius! You can sleep with me tonight; I’m going to be seeing my grandma, so we can snuggle all night. My grandma’s lucky and will bring happy dreams!”

Sora figured it could be possible and agreed. “Why don’t we give it a try and see how you feel in the morning… Sound good?”

“Ack… Okay… Thank you, Sora… Thank you.”

Helping her outside, Mofupsi and Emilia joined her; Sora wasn’t positive she really could suck out the woman’s magic since she’d only tested it out on Emilia, who had an extremely similar spiritual wavelength as her, but she had to make it work.

“Ready?”

The shaking woman nodded, trying not to choke, and Sora allowed her Null-Void out of its cage, searching through the flavors around her to find the woman’s unique taste; it took a full minute before she was able to identify the flaming radiance.

Drawing upon it, she gradually increased her pull; it was difficult, even with Tola leaving herself open and the state of her chaotic spiritual system. True chakram hovering above the house, she was almost thrown completely off as Loral—the leader of the Vulpes Council and current Indigo Seat—teleported nearby, surprising them all.

“If you are going to release all of that, Sora… I would suggest not aiming it at one of our planets…”

“Oh-heh, my bad,” she chuckled at the leery-eyed woman and tilted her ring in the direction the woman pointed. “There?”

“That will do… Also, I am glad you are finally seeking help, Tola. I was beginning to worry. Have a wonderful night.”

She vanished, leaving all of them in a bit of a daze; it seemed Loral knew exactly what was happening throughout the realm she was in charge of, which put into context her own abilities.

“Heh. Let’s try this again,” Sora whispered.

True chakram extending to its full width, she sucked in the ocean of spiritual energy within Tola, releasing it in a massive surge that made Emilia squeak and duck; it made Sora’s throat a little dry, channeling the totality of Tola’s power, and, in a way, she could feel herself overheating as minutes passed, but the woman’s quakes were easing.

The beam lit up the sky, causing neighbors and vulpes strolling the evening streets to pause and watch as if it were some kind of show; 30,000 years of cultivation had given her a lot of power, yet Sora felt like she was only three times stronger than her once she’d finished. It was still fairly exhausting, making her arms feel numb with a few layers on her ring.

Tola fell into Mofupsi’s arms, passing out near the end, and the maid took her to Emilia’s room to tuck into bed. Sora went to rest on the couch as Emilia watched over the woman, with Moppy finishing dinner.

They ate in Emi’s room, and by the relieved smile on Tola’s exhausted, gaunt face, their efforts had been successful; without her magic presenting her as perfectly healthy, the woman’s true state was on full display, and Sora could see why White had maybe disappeared. He likely had noticed, and it was killing him to see his effects, yet Tola was too stubborn for him to reason with.

Everyone needed help, and Sora was happy to have a solution through her training; the problem was doing the same to White. She wasn’t sure it was possible, at least not in one go, and it made her want to redouble her training.

I still have a long way to go… but I’ve made so much progress. Hang in there, Tola, White. It’s almost over.

Putting Emilia to bed, she smiled as her daughter cuddled up to Tola, hearing the whispered prayer to her grandmother to help her beloved assistant teacher through her rough times. Closing the door, she went to bed, leaving her daughter to have a magical night with her mom while she allowed Tola a blissful rest for the first time in over a month; the woman would need her strength for the morning when temptation called.