Flare

* Splash Art
* Sprite

**Flare** is one of the Elite Puffles who appears in *Penguinronpa* after Chapter 4. He is a black puffle who specializes in breathing fire to fuse objects together, and his talent is the **Ultimate Welder.**

## Appearance

Flare is a black puffle that wears a small, rectangular dark blue visor. He normally wears it above his eyes, but covers his eyes with it when he welds. The fire he breathes is a light blue flame.

## History

### Main Story

#### Prior to the events of *Penguinronpa*

Flare was recruited to the Elite Penguin Force and trained by Paige to utilize his welding abilities. He was the third Elite Puffle that Agent met, and helped them solve the mystery of Operation: Robotomy. He is also a fairly popular puffle outside of the EPF, and is said to have a lot of friends.

#### Chapter 2

While Flare himself is not mentioned by name, the Elite Puffles as a group are first mentioned by Agent in Chapter 2 Daily Life when the agents are talking about the remote-control jet pack in the Puffle Training Room.

#### Chapter 4

The Elite Puffles are mentioned a few times throughout Chapter 4 Daily Life. They are first mentioned by Gary in one of Agent's nightmares, then by Dot when strategizing how to defeat Jet Bot, and finally by Dot again when talking about the lullaby that Paige used to sing to them.

In Chapter 4 Deadly Life, Flare makes a small cameo in the Operation: Robotomy recap video, where he is seen riding in a makeshift mine cart with Agent. Flare then makes his first real appearance shortly afterward in the Chapter 4 Execution to rescue Agent, where he uses his flame to break down the Sport Shop door. He breathes fire onto Monobert, causing him to fall to the floor. At the end of the execution, Flare appears in a fight cloud with the other Elite Puffles and Monobert, and is later called back to stand with the agents when Dot uses Paige's whistle.

#### **Chapter 5**

Flare appears to be confused along with the other Elite Puffles at the beginning of Chapter 5 Daily Life after rescuing Agent from Monobert. After Agent shuts down Monobert, Flare joins the other penguins and puffles in a big group hug, where he rests on Gary and Sam's shoulders. He is then introduced to Sam and Amy as the Ultimate Welder by Agent. After the other penguins go to their igloos for the night, Flare sleeps in the Sport Shop with Gary and the other Elite Puffles.

The next day, Flare is walked to the Coffee Shop with the other puffles by Gary, who is exhausted from taking care of the energetic puffles all night. Dot suggests that each of the penguins should choose an Elite Puffle to look after, so that they won't be distracted with playing with each other. Flare is the first puffle to be partnered, as Gary says he finds Flare to be quite helpful. From this point on, Flare is mostly seen sitting on Gary's shoulder. After Gary gives everyone a Spy Phone, he says he is going to take Flare to his office to work on fixing the phones' teleportation function. Later that night, Flare is seen on Gary's shoulder when Agent calls him on their Spy Gadget.

Two days later, Flare and Gary finally make an appearance to the rest of the group, as Flare is needed to fix the broken Robo-Locator. After doing so, he once again leaves with Gary to continue working on an invention. Flare then goes to the Pizza Parlor to have dinner with everyone. He is seen sitting in a chair next to Sam and Amy, where he is warming up a slice of pizza with his breath, and is later said to have played with them and the other puffles. Flare leaves the Pizza Parlor with Gary after he gets a sudden burst of inspiration to get his invention to work.

The next morning, the agents discover that all of the Elite Puffles are missing. Gary is nowhere to be found either, and in turn, neither is Flare. In their attempt to search for them, Agent, Dot, Rookie, and Jet Pack Guy discover the bodies of Herbert and Gary.

In Chapter 5 Deadly Life, it is quickly revealed that Gary, and therefore Flare, have secretly been cooperating with Herbert at his underground base for the past few days. Once the penguins' investigation leads them to the Wilderness, they discover Flare sitting by a tree stump, where he begins to cry after Gary's name is mentioned. Rookie then finds a key to Herbert's Base, but accidentally steps on it and breaks it. Flare attempts to weld it together, but is too sad for his fire breath to be very effective. Agent takes him to a nearby O-berry bush, and feeds him a berry, where he happily ignites on fire, and then fixes the broken key. Upon entering Herbert's Base, Agent carries Flare on their shoulder.

Shortly after the Dimensional Trial begins, it is revealed that the rest of the Elite Puffles are being held captive by the Ultimate Protobot 10,000- the true body of Monobert. Protobot shames the Test Bots for missing Flare, and teleports him into the ticket booth with the other puffles. During the security footage at Herbert's Base, Flare is briefly seen in the background watching Herbert get struck by Sam and Amy's lightning bolt. After Protobot rigs the trial to result in Amy being voted as the killer, a wrong verdict is reached, and Flare must be executed along with all of the other innocent puffles and penguins. Flare is chained to the others, and is nearly crushed by a giant tower, but is quickly rescued by Shadow Guy, and Flare escapes back to the Box Dimension. Flare is then saved again by the Test Bots from Protobot's lasers, and then is subject to a strange "restoration process" from a holographic video message from Gary.

### Bonus Content

#### Penguinronpa Holiday Special (2020)

Flare himself does not appear in the first Penguinronpa Holiday Special, but he is technically mentioned in the credits, as the Elite Puffles are given special thanks.

#### Penguinronpa Halloween Special (2021)

In the Halloween Special, Gary, Rookie, and Jeff travel to the Dojo in hopes of finding Flare so he can fix the key to the Lighthouse, but he is apparently trick-or-treating with the other puffles (Except for Loop), and is not seen until the end credits, where he is credited as a "Small Fuzzy Ball Thing That Probably Contributed To The Production Of This Cinematic Masterpiece In Some Way Shape Or Form". He and the other puffles are dressed as a Togedemaru, and are sitting next to Tofu.

#### 12 Days of Penguinronpa (Holiday Special 2021)

Flare appears with Paige and the seven other Elite Puffles on the eighth verse of the song, "Eight Elite Puffles". In the group photo, he sits between Gary and Rory, licking a puddle of spilt coffee on the carpet.

#### Penguinronpa Valentine's Day Special (2022)

Flare is seen in a pairing with Chill in the second Penguinronpa Valentine's Day Special. Pop says that "fire and ice make for a surprisingly good combo" and Loop calls their ship name "Chare".

## Quotes

* *"Flare! Flare!"*
* *"Fla..."*
* *"Floo..."*
* *"Flammm..."*
* *"FLAAAAARE!"*

## Trivia

* Flare's introduction code translates to "WATCHES FROM THE SHADOWS".
* Flare having a lot of friends is a reference to Mission 5 of *Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force*, where the player cheers Flare up with a letter signed by several of his friends.
* Flare apparently likes coffee, as he interrupts Gary to take a sip from his cup. He is also seen drinking coffee in *12 Days of Penguinronpa.*
	+ The sprites of Flare asking for and drinking coffee are called "GaryFlare\_ThirstyBoy" and "GaryFlare\_TakeSippy".
* Gary looking for Flare to fix the broken key in the Halloween Special was a reference to him fixing a key in *Club Penguin: Elite Penguin Force*, as well as to foreshadow him fixing a key in Chapter 5 Deadly Life.
* Flare's sprite of him on fire after eating an O-berry is called "Flare\_F-F-Fire!", which is a reference to a song from *Mother 3.*
* There is a plothole involving Flare appearing in the Wilderness outside of Herbert's Base, since the entrance to the base was locked until the penguins and Flare unlock it with the key. Tofu has said they were willing to overlook the plothole for multiple reasons:
	+ Flare's presence in the base had no impact on the deaths of Herbert and Gary.
	+ They wanted to parallel the encounters with the lone black puffle next to the tree stump in the PSA Missions.
	+ They wanted to give Flare more screentime, since he was with Gary for most of Daily Life and therefore had less appearances than the other Elite Puffles.
		- A possible explanation for the plothole that Tofu provided is that there is a crab-sized escape route for Klutzy to use inside Herbert's Base that Flare could leave through, but Herbert was too big to use it.
* Flare, along with Blast, are currently the only puffles whose penguin partners have died since they were partnered together.
	+ Additionally, the two are the only puffles to have sprites of themselves crying.