Yep. A new story. Almost entirely different than Seven and Counting in a variety of ways.
SaC, more than anything, was a practice run for me. Before I get into the meat of it, I would like to address those of you following me because of SaC. I really want to thank you from the bottom of my heart. In all honesty, though, it's a mess compared to where I want to be as a writer.
Don't get me wrong, I'm proud of certain aspects, characters, and devices used in SaC, but I feel as if the overarching plot and narrative structure in general has just derailed entirely. I started writing it my sophomore year of high school with only a vague direction of where I wanted it to go, and I couldn't imagine then how complex and, admittedly, convoluted, it became.
I'm saying all this because I want to do more. I want to rise above my mistakes. SaC was my first real attempt at writing, and in the sense that it helped me better myself and guided me to a degree of skill necessary to get a few short stories and poems published, it was an astounding success. This new world, story, and cast, however, will hopefully allow me to come full-circle and produce something of length I can truly be proud of.
For now, I only plan to post the first chapter of this new fic in the hopes I can entice a new audience while I continue and finish SaC. I've had this world in the works since just after I imagined SaC, so now I feel it's time to put it on paper.
If you're new here, or just here because of SaC, I can only hope you'll enjoy this all the same. Thank you.
Chapter I
Her world was nothing but mechanical screeching.
The ear-splitting sound sliced through her mind, shattering each and every half-conceived thought without prejudice. She fumbled in the darkness behind her eyelids for some sort of leverage—a handhold, anything—all while attempting vainly to claw her ears shut. The wail reverberated within her head, creating a pressure strong enough to bring her to her knees.
How she'd come to be in this pitch-black hell nor any means of escape reached her. All thoughts were effectively drowned in the perpetual screech.
She wanted it to end, though. She could figure that much. Trying desperately to hold on to sanity amongst a mad world, she reached out and gripped the desire with vice.
Stop… Stop it…
She tried remembering what had happened promptly prior to the predicament she found herself in. Whenever she tried focusing, however, the tone only sharpened further, climbing rapidly to unimaginable pitches.
She felt as if her eardrums were going to burst. Her head was going to implode.
She curbed her instinct to try and make sense of the situation, learning each and every attempt at remembrance brought an exponential increase in the agony.
She quivered helplessly, refusing to think, refusing to learn, refusing to remember.
"Ma'am? Do you need a doctor?"
Her breathing was out of control, eyes clenched as she did her best to hold her head firm.
"Ma'am?! Ma'am!"
She sucked in as much air as possible, feeling as if she'd just surfaced from spending an hour underwater. She began coughing intensely.
Splotches of color, a dull yellow, began forming in her vision. The darkness soon dissipated, slowly fading out of existence entirely. Replacing it was a lightheaded feeling, as if her brain lacked the oxygen to function properly.
"Ma'am, answer me!"
She managed to calm her breathing enough to notice the screeching had entirely vanished, a ringing in her ears the only evidence it had ever existed.
"W-wh?"
"Ma'am, are you alright?"
Noticing her hands were covering her eyes, she slowly raised her gaze to face a white and brown-colored bipedal figure, obviously female if its voice was any indication. A name popped into her mind just then, a name she refused to let slip from her mind.
Smeargle.
The Smeargle, obviously irked, raised her tail from behind her back. The end of said tail bunched together in the shape of a paintbrush, steadily oozing a natural, black ink. She stood behind a desk of sorts, papers scattered across its surface.
"I asked you for your name, ma'am, not for all the extra fanfare. Now, are you going to give it to me, or do you need to leave?"
"What… What're you-"
She looked around the room scrutinously. Beige-painted walls were covered with framed papers and images, seemingly miscellaneous. The floor beneath her feet was an unpolished wood, definitely in need of a sweep.
"Your name," she reiterated, lips curling into a scowl.
She opened her mouth while backing up ever so slightly to answer out of fear. No words came. Instead, as if the Smeargle had conjured the noise herself, the high-pitched screeches and whines decided to reappear.
"No!" she yelled, painstakingly forcing it back down into the depths of her mind. Was only she hearing it?! She looked around frantically as if to confirm this thought. Pokemon of all different kinds stood in a line behind her. While a few shared a concerned look on their faces, none seemed all too eager to get any closer.
"Huh," the Smeargle stated simply, letting her tail loose and crossing her arms. Rather than continue in her previous fashion, however, the Painter Pokémon simply turned behind her and raised her voice.
"Doc! We got another one! Seems… a bit more out of it than normal."
She looked at the Smeargle oddly before taking a glance at herself. Nothing seemed amiss. Despite not harboring any memories within the small, green and red body she inhabited, she felt normal. She raised a three-digit hand to inspect. No, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, but Smeargle had reacted as if something were deathly wrong. Did she hear the screeching? Had anybody?
In the next instant, a shimmer had overtaken her body, outlining her otherwise-green skin in a pale blue. It almost looked like filtered light in how it twinkled at the edges, but she innately knew otherwise. She tried jumping back in shock, only to find she no longer had control over her movements. Every subsequent attempt at escape was rendered meaningless as the unnatural glow held her in place.
All thoughts of the Smeargle and memories of the metal screech took a backseat as she struggled for the next few moments. She tried kicking out against the force and calling for help, but she found neither or her legs nor her jaw were shown any leniency.
The shimmer, without further hesitation, proceeding to lift her in the air. Her thoughts once again reached terminal velocity as her feet left the ground, suspended in the air by what she could only imagine was telekinesis.
The Smeargle, seemingly apathetic, watched her float away for just a moment before calling out, "Next!"
What's going on?!
She felt it coming again. The ringing was on its way, summoned by her stray thoughts. She immediately did away with any and all questions regarding her situation, only slightly satisfied when it seemed that she would be spared the agony.
"Alright, let's have a look here."
She was so occupied in thought as to not notice she was in another's presence. Moving her eyes to follow the male voice, she saw a figure, obviously preoccupied, talking to her as she hovered towards a lone chair in the middle of the room. The room itself, like the one previous, featured beige walls and a rudimentary wooden floor, though slightly more cleanly. Bookshelves lined all walls but one, in which there stood a massive desk kept entirely tidy.
As she tried remembering the species' name, she was quickly derailed by a sudden, external pressure placed on her mind. She clenched her teeth and tried pushing back, thinking it to be the mysterious screech acting up once again.
Yet, almost as soon as it had started. It stopped.
"Hm, unfortunate. At the very least you got nothing else to worry about. All healthy."
The creature finally turned around from the pile of papers on his desk and resigned to begin speaking directly to the confused Pokémon.
"Do you know what I am?"
"Uh… W-where am I?"
"I will tell you. Answer the question."
She looked at him oddly for a moment. Tall, yellow, brown, and rather lanky, the creature's face looked like a star with how pointed his ears were. He stood slack, his entire demeanor screaming indifference. In his eyes, she could see the delicate balance of impatience and curiosity, and chose to answer soon thereafter.
"A-Alakazam?" she asked tentatively, swallowing.
"Your species?"
"... Treecko?"
"Alright. Tell me your name."
"I—ack!"
She found her movements still constricted as she tried to writhe around in pain when the shriek returned. Her surroundings were just about drowned out entirely.
However, the Alakazam's voice seemed to permeate through the incessant agony in an attempt to soothe her.
"Calm, calm. Don't think. It goes away faster if you just let those thoughts drift away. Don't try and grab them."
Eventually she was able to wrench herself out of her own mind, clenching her eyes shut. She felt as if she was about to burst into tears.
"There we go," the Alakazam said in an almost routine manner. "Now, was it more like a buzz, or a screech? High or low pitched?"
"Both," she responded shakily, refusing to open her eyes. "A-and high pitched. Really, really high."
"Well, it is a nasty one, I'll give you that… No, not any normal block at all. This is a work of art."
She was unresponsive, simply wrinkling her face in what could be taken for a confused sense of sadness. The Alakazam hadn't kept his promise to tell her where she was.
"Alright, let's get the basics out of the way then. If at any time you feel your block coming, just try and get your mind on something else. Thinking of something is always better than thinking of nothing."
"B-Block?"
"Right… The screech, the ringing. Basically, what's in your head right now, if you didn't already know, is a psychic block placed on your memories. Like many of your brothers and sisters under the banner of Our Great Kingdom, you found yourself captured by the enemy and sent back out into a world you had no memory of ever living in. It's an awful thing, really. Sadistic as you'd believe."
"Enemy…? No, I don't-"
"They erase memories in the hopes that they cripple any allegiance to Our Great Kingdom. It's brave souls like you, though, that let us continue on and move closer each and every day towards victory. Choosing to enlist despite your uncertainties about the world around you, it takes guts."
Everything sounded rehearsed, artificial, even, like it'd been said dozens upon dozens of times before. The Treecko's brow creased as she pleaded with the Alakazam to slow down.
"You're moving too fast… I can't—"
"Your memories… In essence, they're there, but they're inaccessible. Hence why it's called a block. Whenever you try to go and find a memory, the block will stop you, scream at you. A block of this caliber is gonna do anything in its power to make sure you stop trying to remember. Got it?"
No response. The Treecko was shaking now, head between her hands. The Alakazam sighed.
"I'd take it out for you if I could, but I'm afraid it's not that simple. You knew that already though, didn't you?"
"Wh-what? Just tell me where I am!"
"Calm down, collect your thoughts, and remember for yourself. There's no reason to be flustered."
"I-I…"
The Treecko noticed the Alakazam roll his eyes ever so slightly before she felt the uncomfortable pressure of his telekinesis return to her jaw. She tried opening her mouth to bemusedly ask him more about her situation, but soon found it was pointless.
"I want to help you. I do. But sitting and asking about nonsense is no way to go about this. You really should have been better prepared."
"Mmmmm! MMMMM!"
The Treecko felt tears welling up. What could she possibly do? Nothing made sense. Couldn't they tell she was suffering?
"If you ever want your memories back, then you're going to have to get used to not being in control of everything. That's the unfortunate circumstance of war. We can't all be commanders, can we?"
What is this? What the hell is this?
She couldn't hide her face as tears rolled uncontrollably down her face. Was it fear she felt? Uncertainty to the degree of insanity? She couldn't even determine what she herself was feeling, let alone make an assessment of the situation itself.
"In any case, let's see what you got going for you so far. If you would do me a favor and just think about how you came to arrive here today, it'll make my job a lot easier. You'll be out of here in no time, promise."
As she once more felt the Alakazam's psychic presence pushing into her skull she tightened up. She again attempted to give another response, but her only answer was the soul-crushing squeal of her block. The Alakazam recoiled suddenly, as if he himself had felt it.
"What the…"
The Treecko was writhing in her chair, the Alakazam's psychic hold preventing her from moving her arms or crying out for help. She felt these restraints immediately loosen as the Alakazam leaned in, placing his hand on the back of the Treecko's head.
"Hey, hey, just ride it out. You're okay. You're good…"
It wouldn't stop. The Treecko tried, again and again, to avert her thoughts. Any such attempt did seemingly nothing. It felt like the block was going to tear her apart.
"Count with me. Count! One, two, three, four, five, six…"
The Alakazam's words were a beacon shining through the turmoil of the Treecko's mind. They let her ground herself back in reality, and soon she found herself, whether voluntarily or inadvertently, counting with him.
"Ten, eleven, twelve… Thirteen…"
She could do nothing but sigh in the few moments after the last bit of ringing left her head. The Alakazam removed his hand as she brought her face to her knees. His restraints were evidently no longer in effect.
"Counting helps. Remember that. If you're ever in a situation where you can't get out of your own head, counting is something we all know how to do on an instinctual level. It helps to ground your thoughts without creating new ones."
After that, the Treecko took to muttering numbers under her breath. She'd been so helpless in those few moments. What would've happened if the block was allowed to continue unobstructed?
She was shaking uncontrollably, positively terrified the block would return. She had, in essence, completely shut off her mind. It was obvious she couldn't control her thoughts, meaning it had to be so much easier not to think entirely.
The Alakazam, surprisingly, waited for about a minute as the Treecko gathered her thoughts. It was only when she sent him a small glance out of the corner of her eye did he believe it was acceptable to continue.
"So, no memories before waking up in the recruitment line. Can't say I've heard of that one before, but hey, everything about this block seems to be… unique."
The Alakazam, opting to leave the Treecko for a moment, stepped back over to his desk. After dipping his entire hand in a jar of ink, he went to work jotting something down. Using different patterns, he stamped his hand repeatedly until the seemingly random scribbles evened out into legible runes. After perhaps thirty seconds of this, he signed it with a simple handprint, dipped his ink hand into a nearby bowl of water, and crossed back towards the door.
"It's just something you're going to have to learn to deal with in time. Maybe it'd be different if you were the only one with a block, but unfortunately, that's not the world we live in."
The Treecko, during the last thirty seconds, had been absentmindedly watching the Alakazam go about his business, up until he left to hand the paper to the Smeargle she'd previously encountered. She'd hoped that by emptily watching him go about his business, that she wouldn't become too preoccupied with her own thoughts. He returned just a few seconds later. Her breathing was shallow, pupils shrunk to tiny points.
"Sorry about that," he said, acting as if nothing was amiss. "Shall we continue?"
"Please, please just tell me what's going on," she mumbled quietly, fear of misspeaking manifesting itself fully on her face. "Where am I? Who are you?"
"None of that's really important right now, is it? You said you wanted to get your memories back, and here I'm giving you really the only option you have."
"Plea—"
"Fight for us. You're smart, you're headstrong. Even if you don't know yourself anymore, I can see it all. It's right there, in your head. Potential just waiting to be unlocked. Don't you want your memories back? Fighting is the only option you have if you want to have an effect on whether or not you might one remember who you really are."
Treecko's block initiated yet again, prompting her grip to tighten as she banged her head against the back of the chair.
"Well, it would make sense, wouldn't it? I don't exactly have the time to go through and explain every little detail about the war, but all you need to know right now is that the enemy stole your memories. If you serve dutifully and we win, then that's that! It's just as easy as finding who among the enemy's raiding force put that block in your head, and making them remove it."
"..."
It made just as little sense as it sounded. The Treecko whimpered to herself.
"Let me put it to you this way," the Alakazam said, leaning in. "It's a tough world out there. I know you're confused and flustered about all this, but take a moment to consider what I'm offering here. Out there, nobody knows about you or what you've been through, but in here, you got a whole load of them. People like me, who are really, really determined to help you through this. Isn't it better to think about the necessities? Food, water, shelter?"
It was a bit fast to be thrust into servitude, certainly, but at least she could be guaranteed somewhere to stay. Food to eat, water to drink. Truly, the basic necessities outweighed whatever concerns she may have had about the brevity of it all.
Either way, it was obvious she was getting nowhere with the Alakazam if she were to continue with her normal line of questioning, and pondering past events to try and paint a picture was out of the question. Perhaps it was possible to get some answers if she simply played along.
"W-what would I have to do?"
"Not much, I'd think. We'd teach you to fight, to work in a team, to follow orders… From there it's basically just a matter of taking orders and following directions until this whole thing sorts itself out."
"What if it's a mistake?" she asked, hopeful. "M-maybe I just hit my head on something. This'll all just go away soon."
"I can see inside your mind, miss. You definitely didn't hit your head. We'd be having a very different conversation if you did."
She choked up, the odds of her avoiding whatever hell she'd found herself in dwindling by the second.
"Why… Why did this happen to me? Why can't I… W-who am I?"
The Alakazam leaned even closer, his voice nothing more than a whisper. It was almost soothing in a way, grounding the Treecko before her thoughts wandered far enough for the block to return.
"We can help you figure that out. To do that, though, I need you to say it. If you want to make a change in the world in order to get yours, and countless others' memories back, if you want to stay warm and well-fed, then I need you to say you're willing to enlist. I understand there's not much you can trust right now, but I promise this won't be a mistake."
Could the situation possibly get any worse from the get-go? The Treecko was being cornered with no conceivable means of escape. She knew nothing of the world outside the building she found herself in, nor how accepting of her the Pokémon that inhabited it would be.
"I'm scared."
"We all are, sometimes. Many Pokémon have dominion over the world around them, but the hard part is conquering our own selves. For the sake of your memories and your life, though, are you willing to overcome your fear? That's the question."
The Treecko started at the Alakazam, reluctance shining above all. In the end, however, was there anything to do but blindly trust him? Truly, the situation couldn't get much worse, and it wasn't as if she had the resources to inform herself on the correct decision to make.
"O-okay… I'll do it."
"That's the spirit. Most people around here call me 'Doc' nowadays, but my name is Adj. I'll tell you right now that I'm one of the doctors on base here in Whiteridge. You'll probably have forgotten about me in a little while, anyways, but you're surely a special case. I'll make sure to schedule a few followups."
The Treecko shot the Alakazam a stare full of the closest thing she could manage to resentment. Of course he had waited until after she said she'd enlist in order to answer even her most simple questions.
"Hey, don't be like that," Adj said, raising the Treecko's chin with a hand. "This is exciting, remember? Aren't you excited to get your memories back?"
She said nothing, unsurprised regarding her instant regret of her agreement. Why had she let him overcome her better nature and pressure her into a cause she knew nothing about? What was really going on?
Adj, after absorbing her answer, or lack thereof, sighed for a moment.
"Here, let's get your number."
"Number?"
"Basically an identification. You can come up with your own name for yourself in however long you want to take, since you can't remember your given one, but your number will serve a more… official purpose"
"I'm having trouble catchi—"
"Can't follow along, yeah… Can I tell you something?"
She looked at Adj for a moment as he crouched beside the tilted chair on which she still laid.
"I want to help you, just like I want to help everyone who comes through that door with a block. Sadly, you're not the only one with a condition like this. There are thousands, maybe even tens of thousands that the enemy has hurt in the exact same way. And, I know it might sound scary, but you'll be a lot better prepared for what's ahead if you don't stop yourself so often to say 'I don't know', or 'I don't understand'. Sometimes, and I know this is going to sound stupid, but sometimes it's better just to jump in headfirst and ask questions later. That's how I survived, anyways."
"You had a… a block?"
"Well, no… It was something else, but that's probably a story for another time, huh? Yeah… um, let's get you that number?"
Jumping in headfirst… She thought about it for a little bit as Adj turned and fiddled with a few papers on his desk. How could she possibly move ahead without knowing the basics of the situation she was getting herself into? Was it too late to back out?
"Here we are. I think you'll do just fine there. Which would put you at…"
Adj was holding a stack of papers, flipping through them one at a time until he came to a singular one, which he read closely.
"26130504252, seems about right. You wanna know the details about every little number in there?"
The Treecko looked at Adj oddly.
"26th Legion Thirteenth Cohort Fifth Company Squad Four. I know it doesn't mean a lot to you right now, but you'd do good to memorize it as quick as possible. Just know for now you'll probably get called 252 by most of the higher-ups. It's your species identification number. All technical stuff, nothing to worry about."
As Adj moved around her, tinkering with various files and other objects, she became quickly worried she'd made the wrong decision. At perhaps the most inopportune time, however, her stomach decided to growl, reminding her of one of the main reasons she'd halfheartedly gone along with this in the first place.
"Here you go."
252 had hardly noticed the Alakazam was holding his ink bowl until after it was right in front of her, next to a piece of paper filled with footprint runes. She felt as if she could understand the words, but her brain didn't make the connection.
"Sign here?"
"What's that?"
"Oh, only the enlistment contract. Just something to keep on record."
"..."
252's feelings of suspicion flared up again. This wasn't right. None of this was right.
She looked up at the Alakazam, however, and the reassuring face he had plastered on. Food, water, shelter. She needed those, and he was probably right in saying not many others would be too keen on caring for her as she got accustomed to the world around her.
So, biting her lip and without further words, she dipped her right hand in the ink bowl and tentatively pressed it against the paper. The ink was sticky and didn't drip, yet completely dissolvable when Adj offered her a bowl of water.
"I got you in the company that's supposed to be finishing formation tonight, if that makes you feel any better," Adj said with his back turned. "Last of the members are trickling in, and the orientation's scheduled for later on."
"Orientation?"
"Yep. You'll get to learn with everyone else about all the little, nitty-gritty stuff. How we work around here, stuff like that. You'll get it down in no-time, promise."
For the next part, Adj opted to give the Treecko a look out of the corner of his eye. "You're not as alone as you think. Everyone's a bit nervous to be here, but you're going to be strong, right? Strong for your memories?"
She wasn't in much of a position to object. Now, her mind was almost entirely on food. She was feeling rather hungry, after all, as if she hadn't eaten in days.
"Really, though, above all else, we all want to thank you for your service to make Our Great Kingdom a better place. You're a whole lot braver than I am."
"U-uhh…"
"Hey, if you remember one thing from your old pal Adj, remember that stopping everything to ask questions doesn't fly very well. A lot of people don't like it when things around here get questioned. Especially when they're the ones being questioned."
"Adj?"
"Yeah, kid?"
"If the block comes back and starts hurting again…"
It was the only thing she could think to ask with an answer Adj may have actually been willing to give. She didn't even need to finish the question.
"I'm gonna be straight with you. You're probably not gonna meet anyone else around here that'll hurt as bad as you do when your block activates. The thing is, though, that you eventually get a hold on it and can control it. Your head just starts filling up with all-new, good memories that you stop thinking so much about what happened before all this. Until then, just keep counting. If you can get your hands on a Payapa Berry, I also heard those help numb the pain. But either way, the only way to move is forwards, right?"
"I… I guess so…"
"Now, are you ready?"
"Ready?"
"Ready to fight for your memories? I want you to be excited. Just remember that, even when the going's tough. It's worth it, as long as you can get that stupid block out of your head, right?"
"Ok. I'm… Ready?"
Adj smiled and chuckled for a moment before reaching out and giving the Treecko a pat on the shoulder. "Work on your confidence. You're gonna need it."
Just then, an odd figure stepped through the opening to the Treecko's right. Seemingly levitating off the ground, the creature was mostly black and looked to be made almost entirely out of clay. Multiple, wide, red eyes made a complete circled around the creature's head, all in a level line.
"Got another one ready, Doc?"
She subconsciously flinched as she felt the creature's grating voice inside her mind… Telepathy. After discerning the ability, she made an attempt to recognize its species. Thankfully, the name came to the forefront of her mind after only a few seconds of thought.
Claydol.
"Go on," Adj encouraged. "Say you're ready."
"I'm ready…"
"Good, good… Now, 344 here will take you to where you'll be staying."
Adj willed the Treecko to rise from the chair with an expectant stare. He had an irreplaceable charisma about him; she had already failed to tell him 'no' multiple times. Something in her head told her that this made him good at his job.
So she went, unsure and still quite dazed, with the Claydol. Adj held a small slip of paper in front of one of the creature's eyes for a moment before receiving confirmation.
She turned apprehensively once more towards the Alakazam once she was by the Claydol's side, but Adj's attention already seemed to be elsewhere.
"Stick close to me, hm?"
"Yeah…"
252 timidly followed as the Claydol took the lead, leaving the established building through the door in which he'd come. 252's senses were quickly overcome, however, as she got a look at the world just outside.
It was an entirely different world, Pokémon bustling about every which way without a given pattern. Hundreds of conversations converged to create a constant, noisy buzz, only accentuated by the creak of unseen wooden carts and the occasional yell of command. The only similarity was the packed dirt floor beneath 252. The ground outside, too, had been tread on so often as to completely solidify it.
The air was hot and musty, and a look at the sky around camp provided no clue regarding its whereabouts. She could only make assumptions of the geography based on the lack of hills. Everything seemed flat.
Tents and temporary shelters were strewn about on either side of 252 without any obvious pattern, used apparently for a wide variety of reasons. They ranged in size from a few feet tall to large enough to accommodate multiple creatures the size of a Tyranitar. One of such creatures, an Aggron, narrowly missed crushing 252 as she did her best to stick to 344 while taking in her surroundings.
252 noticed something odd about each creature to pass her by, however, from those as small as the Joltik to the Onix. 252 didn't recognize this as a part of a normal Pokémon's anatomy.
It was a badge, or at the very least some sort of emblem, seemingly embedded into each of the Pokémon's skin. A simple crescent moon, gold in color set against a warm purple sky. The entire badge was circular, the trim of which she deduced to be bronze initially before catching glimpses of the stray silver every so often. A ranking system, perhaps?
It was all nearly too much to take in. The sights, the smells, the sensations. The ground beneath 252's feet had been tread thousands upon thousands of times for thousands of reasons. As 344 broke off from what seemed to be the main area of traffic and traveled towards what seemed to be a more residential side of the camp, 252 could only pose a single, real question.
What did I just get myself into?
Chapter length is going to be much shorter with this story as compared to SaC. Just thought I'd put it out there.
I have a few other chapters of this story just about done, but I was tentative about publishing this in the first place. Just know, if reviewers do, in fact, end up liking it and I choose to continue, there won't be a normal update schedule. SaC will take precedence as I continue in Act III and eventually conclude the story, but I still wanted to get this story out there and maybe have it catch a few eyes.
I would really appreciate any and all reviews, seeing as I'm still somewhat tentative about this. I need criticism here, so any you can provide would be great. Or, if it's more your cup of tea, just let me know whether or not you liked it. Again, any and all reviews are appreciated.
Cheers!
