Tekai hauled herself out of the water again. She was trying to get the new brace onto Spirit's tail but every time she tried, Spirit would thrash her tail away and knock her into the water.

"That's the fourth time." Tekai grunted. "Spirit just hold still!" Spirit was floating alongside the lagoon edge, facing the glass panels while Tekai put the brace on. But what Tekai didn't know was that Branch was standing by the panels, he turned his back to her and swished his tail so that Spirit would copy him and knock Tekai in the water as a prank. Branch did it again and Spirit copied, but narrowly missed Tekai. That was when she spotted Branch by the panels. "Hey! I saw that Branch!" 

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Branch snickered. Tekai rolled her eyes as she finally fixed the brace onto Spirit's tail. Unlike the last brace she made for her, which was gray to match her fur, this one was brown just like Spirit's original brace. "How does it feel?" Tekai asked Spirit who moved her tail in the water to try it. She squealed in happiness as she nodded. "Good! How about you test it out by splashing Branch?" She whispered to her. Spirit obeyed and swam over to Branch who was still by the panels, talking to Poppy. He had no idea what was coming. Poppy saw Spirit behind him through the glass

"Uh Branch?" Poppy started to say until she saw Tekai putting a finger to her lips telling her to be quiet. Spirit flipped upside down, raised her tail out of the water and smacked it on the water surface, launching water directly at Branch, completely drenching him.

"That'll teach you Tough-Tail!" Tekai laughed. 

"I guess I deserved that." Branch rolled his eyes as he rung his hair out. Spirit stuck her tongue out at Branch and made a squealing sound. 

"Why don't we test it out for real?" Spirit asked Branch. She stuck her tail over the glass panel for Branch to grab onto. He climbed up Spirit's tail to get onto her back, but suddenly Branch felt a tug on his own tail.

"Don't think I'm not coming with you two!" Poppy said as she pulled Branch's tail to get up. He took her hand and helped her up onto Spirit's back. Spirit swam towards the back of the lagoon, keeping her head and her back on top of the water surface to keep Branch and Poppy above water. Askar noticed Spirit swimming and went to join her.

"You got a new brace!" Askar exclaimed. "Looks great!" He bumped his side against Spirit's. "Let's see how fast you can go!" Askar suddenly swam as fast as he could and overtook her.

"Come on, girl! Let's show him what you can do!" Branch said as Spirit took off. She could swim so much faster now. Branch held on to the fur on the back of Spirit's neck and Poppy wrapped her arms around Branch's torso to hold on. She let out a loud cheer, enjoying herself. They caught up with Askar soon enough, but before they knew it, Storm showed up beside them.

"You think you can race without me?" Storm laughed. They noticed that Iris was on top of Storm's head.

"Sibling race!" Iris called. 

"Oh you're on!" Branch yelled back. The three lykars started swimming faster and faster.

"Ha! You're going down, Iris!" Poppy yelled.

"Correction, you're ALL going down!" Tekai also showed up beside them on top of Ali with Corkscrew and Ula catching up behind them. "First one to that rock wins!" She pointed at a far away rock. Tekai and Ali zoomed passed them, overtaking everyone.

"She's gonna be so sorry she made you this brace!" Branch said to Spirit. 

All the lykars swam as fast as their tails could carry them, reaching closer and closer to the rock. Spirit suddenly had an idea.

"Hold on, you two!" Spirit called to Poppy and Branch. She dived down underwater with Poppy and Branch on her back, swimming faster and faster now she didn't have the splashing water pushing her back. Branch and Poppy looked up and saw that they were overtaking the others, but Spirit wasn't done yet. She started to swim closer and closer to the surface, Branch knew exactly what she was going to do. 

'Oh no!' Branch thought to himself. Spirit leaped high into the air, Branch was screaming while Poppy was cheering. She landed feet-first onto the rock but the force of it threw Branch and Poppy straight off her back and they landed into the water.

"Oops! Sorry." Spirit apologized as her ears flattened. Branch rolled his eyes as he chuckled. The others reached the rock and the lykars panted, exhausted from the race. "I think we can safely say, the brace works perfectly!" 

"Dang it, made it work too well." Tekai grunted. Spirit jumped into the water with Poppy and Branch, splashing them. Tekai and Iris jumped off of the lykars and joined in. Branch eventually climbed back onto the rock and Spirit rested her head on the rock. 

"You know, now that I'm staying here for good, we've got a lot of exploring to do!" Spirit said to him.

"Well...there can be some unknown dangers out there and-" Branch was cut off when he saw Spirit looking up at him with big eyes and gave him 'the puppy-look'. Branch tried to look away but couldn't resist. "Alright alright. I guess there are some places we can go explore." Spirit's face lifted as she wagged her tail and licked Branch's face. "You're my good girl." Branch smiled at Spirit as he nuzzled his face against her's.

Branch and Spirit were finally reunited once and for all. Nothing could tear their friendship apart, not even the vastness of the ocean. 

And no matter how far apart they were, they're friendship will always guide them home.

The End