Chapter 137 - No More Hope

"Awoo!" the wolf cried while running after Monica's raven which Venedette heard and immediately reacted to.

"Mom, no." Von held his mom and pushed her back. "We need to take Gem and Fily back," he said, surprisingly focusing on the task that was given to him.

"But that's the wolf!" 

"And Monica, yes. But we've got our own task to do, Mom. So let's go!" Von said and pushed his mom to where he left Fily and Gem at.

"Monica? The General's daughter? But isn't she dead?" Venedette asked in confusion.

"Yes- I mean no, she's not dead, yet. We're trying to save her, actually," Von said while leading his mom to Gem and Fily..

"Gem! Fily! I just saw the wolf! Thank goodness you're alright," Venedette said while landing softly beside the two.

"We need to get there immediately!" Gem said which Von nodded to and picked her up right away.

"We're going to go ahead, mom," Von said while carrying Gem in a bridal style.

"Okay-" right before Venedette even got the chance to finish her response, Von and Gem had already launched into the air, heading straight to the mansion where all the magic would happen.

"I don't know if I can do this," Gem whispered to herself while clasping the black pearl in her fists tightly.

"You can do it, I believe in you," Von said while focusing on the path in front of them.

"Von! Gem! You're here! Where's Petunia?" Lei said, greeting them near the swimming pool where they promised to meet.

"She went to grab the rest of the ingredients from her lab," Gem said, landing beside Lei and went ahead to examine the pups inside a cage.

"We're going to save you guys, no matter what." Gem said to them while patting their head inside the cage.

"Where's the big wolf?"

"They haven't arrived yet, but if it did, it's most likely being held by the guards in the right gate," Lei answered Gem's question which made Gem realize what to do next.

She stood up and headed straight to the swimming pool.

'Do I go in the pool or is this good enough?' Gem asked her systems for help while holding the black pearl and standing on the edge of the pool, but neither of them answered her question.

'Guess I'll just have to rely on my guts then, I hope this works.' Gem closed her eyes and took a deep breath before moving her arms like the water to pull out all the energy slimes from this black pearl.

'Will this be enough? Am I doing it right? I hope this black pearl works the same way as my Salamandite, please do work.'

There were a lot of thoughts running inside Gem's head at that time, but the most prominent one was her desperation in saving the kids. 

Venedette was there when she needed her the most, and now, she wanted to be the one that these kids will look up to. Just like Venedette, she happened to be here when they needed her the most, 'And I don't want to disappoint. I may not have a family waiting for me, but these kids do, and I'm going to help them go back to them.'

"So please work," Gem wished for the last time before taking another deep breath and ending her stance with a calm final note. 

"Ahhh!"

Suddenly, Gem screamed when she was met with a strong current of water-like substance that was glowing in faint blue. This current happened so close to Gem that she couldn't dodge the strong attack and just went away with the overwhelming wave of water to the wall.

When both Von and Lei saw this, they immediately ran and called for help.

"Gem!" Von and Lei shouted while running to her.

"I-It worked," Gem whispered to herself with the last of her energy and curled her lips into a smile before passing out.

"Gem!!" 

"What do we do, Sir? The pool is being filled with that weird glowing liquid!" one of the guards beside Sir Graham stood in their offensive stance.

"Let it be," Sir Graham said while raising a hand on them, signaling them to stop and do nothing.

'I didn't know that girl could make Energy slimes. I sure got lucky here.' Sir Graham thought while watching the spectacle from a distance.

"Awooo!" 

All of a sudden, the big wolf's loud howl started ringing in their ears, which was then followed by the little pups' own version of their little howls.

"Papa! Papa, do you hear me?! I'm going back to you so wait a little longer, okay?" Monica said while passing through her father and heading straight to the pool.

"Watch out!" The guards shouted to each other after seeing the big wolf leap over them, including Sir Graham beside them.

"Huh? Why is the wolf here?" a guard questioned the kid's plans again, but only one look from Sir Graham, he would immediately shut his mouth and look away to avoid more trouble.

"Sorry," he said before moving back.

"Didn't you listen to what that kid Lei just said earlier? They're reversing the curse or whatever, just let them be, okay? This is an order from your higher up," Sir Graham ended the conversation with a reminder of his power.

"Petunia, where are you?" Von whispered while looking at the sky.

And just as the wolf ended up being trapped inside the pool for marveling at the familiar liquid, Petunia suddenly fell from the sky and jumped off of her gummy cloud, using it as leverage to maneuver her body in another direction and shot it to the swimming pool full of Energy slimes that would dissipate everything and multiply their effects to three-fold.

"Petunia!" Lei called her and she immediately went to him while crying.

"What's wrong-?"

"Lei! Help me push these pups into the pool, quick!" Von suddenly interrupted, giving him no time to ask the question to Petunia anymore as they both immediately headed to the cages and carefully let go of the pups, even throwing the others into the pool who did not want to swim.

"My cloud, my formula, everything's gone," Petunia whispered between her sobs, "there's no more hope for me."