There was a dead weight on my chest.

Groaning, as I groggily came back into consciousness, I forced my eyes open. All I could see was black. For a second, I panicked, convinced I had lost my sight completely, but after a few moments, my eyes began to adjust and pick out shapes in the distance. I breathed out a sigh of relief, happy I wasn't blind at least. As I lay there trying to get the courage to get up, a sudden, strange thought invaded my head.

"I sure do pass out a lot…"

The thought almost made me chuckle, albeit, a little humourlessly, but the oppressive weight leaning on my chest made even breathing difficult, let alone laughter. I groaned, trying to sweep the dead weight off me. I had expected it to be rocks or debris of some sort, but as my hand came into contact with it, I gasped as my fingers touched something soft, furry and warm. I had to bite back a scream as the thing then hissed angrily and leapt off me.

A few seconds of intense panic later, common sense finally hit me. I pushed myself up, ignoring the vicious twinges of pain that coursed through me in the process, and whispered into the dark expanse. "Monty…?"

Seconds later, I felt a soft head bump into my arm. I whipped my head around and caught sight of two glowing, disembodied eyes staring straight at me. They were undoubtedly Monty's. I let out a squeak of relief.

"Thank God you're okay," I said, blindly throwing my arms out in front of me and pulling the Persian into a haphazard hug. However, the quick movement sent pain screaming through my arms and shoulders, accompanied by a shock of pain to my head. I moaned, slumping forward onto Monty who meowed, almost worriedly.

"I'm… I'm fine…" I breathed out heavily, trying to wait for the pain to ease. My hand grappled for my belt until I found Kiba's Pokeball. I let it drop to the ground, the simple act of even attempting to throw it too painful. With a momentary flash of light, the Pokeball opened and Kiba jumped out. He began to bark, but his harsh, grating woofs hurt my head even more and I quickly shushed him.

"Easy, Kiba…" I placed a hand on his side, and he immediately began to whine, obviously sensing something was wrong. I quietened him again. Even the sounds of his whines were painful, like someone dragging their nails across a chalkboard. "Can you give me some light or something?"

A second later, a blast of fire streamed out next to me. It illuminated the cave for only a few seconds, barely enough time for me to even glance around, before the fire died down, plunging everything into darkness once again.

I blinked rapidly in the sudden inky blank, even though it made the pain even worse, trying to readjust my sight to the charcoal surroundings. "There's no way you can… maintain a flame, Kiba!"

He whined softly. I sighed in frustration. It wasn't Kiba's fault, I knew that, but I still found myself angrily wishing that Kiba's flame could just be a little more helpful.

Quickly banishing those thoughts from my mind, I focused on trying to get to my feet. The place was eerily silent, the only noise far off in the distance, sounding like the steady drip-drip-drip of water. I still couldn't see, and my mind quickly began to recall that I had had other people with me! Grimacing as pain shot through every iota of my body, I pushed myself to my feet wearily. I had to find the others. If I was injured, I knew there was every possibility the others were too.

"Come on guys, stay close…" I murmured to Monty and Kiba. With my arms out in front of me to catch any obstacles in my way, I started to take a few tentative steps forward. For a few moments, I walked unobstructed, until my foot trod on something soft that let out an indignant yelp. Startled, I leapt back as a burst of flame ignited, and then a soft light was cast into the inky black expanse. In the dim light I could make out a figure.

"Sulphur!"

"Qui! Lava! Lava!"

"Are you okay?" Using the steadily strengthening light of Quilava's flame, I checked him over for cuts and injuries. Seeing he was relatively unscathed, I moved on to Monty. He too was unharmed and I let out a sigh of relief. Still trying to ignore my own niggling pain, I refocused myself on the more pressing issue at hand. "Hey, have you seen the others, Sulphur?"

Sulphur shook his head sadly. "Lava…"

I immediately felt a stab of worry, but I pushed it aside, not wanting the Pokemon to pick up on it. "It's okay," I whispered, trying to sound upbeat and encouraging. "We'll find them. Come on."

I straightened up, wincing, and looked around me, finally able to use Sulphur's dim light to somewhat make out the layout of the small cave I was in. I gasped in shock when my eyes touched on a thick barrier of fallen rocks and boulders completely blocking the pathway into the main tunnels. I backed away, horrified.

"Are we trapped in here? "I thought in terror, my heart banging painfully against my ribcage.

I didn't have time to dwell on it, or panic about it, as all of a sudden, a low, pained groan sounded from somewhere behind me. I pivoted around at once, glancing in every direction, my heart thudding even harder. I couldn't see anything, and for a second, I thought that I had simply imagined it. However, as I began to calm down, it came again, louder and this time I could identify the vague direction it was coming from. It was further in the shadows of the cave, to my extreme left. However, with no light coming from that part of the cave, it would be impossible for me to find whatever it was that was making the noise.

I turned to Sulphur, praying the Pokemon would listen to me in the absence of his trainer. "Sulphur, do you think you could shine some light up there?"

"Lava! Lava!"

To my pleasant surprise, without even hesitation, Sulphur grunted and obediently intensified his fire, the light slowly creeping along the dark ground. I motioned for the three Pokemon to follow me, and as we got closer and closer to the source of the groan, the light eventually fell on a dark, blocky shape.

"Oh my God!" I gasped as Sulphur's light fell on the shape, revealing its true and horribly familar identity. "Bailey? Jasmine?"

Lying in a heap only a few feet away from me were Bailey and Jasmine, lying on their fronts and with their heads down. Bailey's arm was thrown, almost protectively over Jasmine's slim back. For a second, I thought the both of them were unconscious, or for one terrible moment, something worse, but then a low groan emanated from Bailey's figure.

"Bailey?" I hissed, getting down onto my knees and shaking him to rouse him further. "Are you okay?"

"Sie…Sienna?" he mumbled as he slowly raised his head. His round face was riddled with open cuts, but other than that he seemed okay, if still a little dazed.

"Are you okay?" I asked immediately.

"I think so…" he said slowly. "Nothing feels broken."

It was then that he seemed to realise Jasmine was lying next to him. He gave a start, whipped his arm from around her back, sat bolt upright and gasped in shock. Only seconds later he had leaned forward again, his face practically nose-to-nose with hers. "Jasmine! Jasmine? Are you okay?

She responded with a slight, muffled mumble that was totally unintelligible.

Terrified something more sinister was wrong; I raised my voice and tried to shake her awake. "Jazz! Jazz! Are you okay?"

After a couple more seconds of incomprehensible low mumbling, she stirred. "My… my head hurts…"

"Look at me," I instructed her, and she obediently raised her face weakly to look at me. Even in the dim light it was impossible to miss a giant gash, bleeding heavily, from the right side of her face. Thinking fast, I whipped off my jumper, ignoring the twangs of pain that went with it and applied it firmly to the side of her head. "Here, this'll stop the bleeding. How are you feeling?"

"Like a mountain fell on me…"

"Close enough," I said with a smile. "I think those Onix must've gone mental and destroyed the cave. The exit's completely blocked. Considering how crazy they all went, we're all in pretty good shape…"

"I know…" Jasmine said weakly, barely even able to support her own head. "I think I'd have come off a lot worse if it wasn't for—" She suddenly stopped, her face slowly turning to look at Bailey. "If…" her voice caught and broke off.

"If what…?" I pressed her.

"Did you… Were you the one that pushed me out of the way of that Onix?" she asked Bailey in a low voice.

"Well gee…" Bailey looked a little nervous and I noticed him recoil back slightly. "You… you didn't see it coming…"

My heart inexplicably leapt in my chest.

"Why?" Jasmine demanded.

"I couldn't let you be crushed…" Bailey answered, his voice barely audible above a whisper.

For a moment, Jasmine said and did nothing. Then, her face suddenly twisted. "You—!" she started, sounding angry, making Bailey recoil in fear.

However, she broke off, and seemed to soften after a few moments. For a further couple of seconds, she said nothing, visibly trying to restrain herself. All of a sudden, she let out a deep sigh, and sunk her head into her arms. "You didn't have to do that…"

I blinked in surprise as Jasmine's uncharacteristically soft and gentle tone. Judging by the look on Bailey's face he was just as shocked as I was. He caught my eye, flashed me a confused expression, and then slowly reached out to touch her back. She flinched at his touch, but to my surprise gave no other reaction, and allowed his hand to remain there.

"Yeah… I kinda did…" he said.

I had to strain my ears even harder to hear Jasmine murmur softly "Well… thanks, Bailey…"

"Aww, how cute is that!" I squealed inwardly, but quickly came back to earth when I heard a frightened voice calling my name.

"Nikki?" I hollered, immediately recognising the voice. "Are you here?"

"Sienna?" her voice came again, sounding closer this time and laden with relief. "Blaze, quickly, light up the cave as much as you can!"

Seconds later, a beam of light appeared in my peripheral vision. Turning around, I saw a glow slowly approach us, Nikki's unmistakable silhouette masked in the orange light. As soon as she and Blaze entered the main cave, she broke into a run and collapsed down next to us, looking concerned.

"Are you guys okay!"

I nodded hastily, casting a look back at Jasmine, who was still crumpled in a heap on the ground, and Bailey knelt down next to her. "Yeah. Mostly," I said truthfully.

But before I could even get the last syllable out of my mouth, Nikki let out a little shriek. "No! Sienna, Jazz! You're both bleeding!"

I'd almost forgotten about my own injuries, and I felt my still throbbing head experimentally. As soon as my fingers hit my forehead, I felt my hair sticking and crusting to my face, held together with a warm and sticky liquid. My heart thudded, knowing it was blood, but the light-headedness had passed, and the pain was just about tolerable, so I put it to the back of my mind. "I think we'll be okay… we should just get out of here as soon as possible." I paused for a moment, suddenly remembering with a slight stab of panic that we were still two people short. "Where are Elliot and Scott?"

Nikki stopped dead. She slowly turned her face to look at me. Her eyes bulged in panic. "You mean they're not with you!" she cried shrilly.

I shook my head slowly. "N… no… I thought you were with them…"

"Oh my God!" Nikki cried, her hand flying to her mouth. "I thought they were with you!"

At this revelation, panic instantly spread. Nikki very quickly embarked on the edge of hysteria, her concern immediately rising for her fourteen year old brother. Bailey let out a gasp of fear. Even Jasmine paled and expressed frightened worry, peppered with onslaughts of curses. Panic gripped my heart, ice crystals burst all over my skin, a million scenarios, each more horrifying than the last, echoed through my mind and I felt like I was going to be sick.

However, a little voice at the back of my mind somehow managed to make itself heard over the panic and commanded me to calm down and keep a level head. Quickly, I shushed everyone, telling them to calm down. Immediately following, I pulled out my phone and dialled Elliot's number, horribly aware of the three pairs of worried eyes watching my every move.

"We're sorry, the number you have called is una—"

As soon as that chirrupy, electronic voice sounded at the other end of the phone, all the panic I had tried to suppress came bubbling back, this time with a vengeance. I let the phone fall limply to my side. The others seemed to know just by my face that this endeavour had failed.

"Will they be all right!" Nikki cried, sounding like she was about to burst into noisy tears.

My voice faltered and cracked, but I tried to say what I had to with confidence. I'm not sure it was altogether convincing however. "E-everything will be fine. Elliot and Scott may be a lot of things, but stupid isn't one of them. They can look after themselves,"

"Whether they can or not, we still need to find them," Bailey said in a strangely commanding and decisive manner, pushing himself to his feet as he said so.

"But how are we gonna get out of here…?" Nikki asked worriedly, her eyes touching on the obstructive barrier of rocks blocking the way out. The barrier was too tall and dangerous to even attempt climbing over, and it looked so dense and the rocks were so thickly stacked on top of each other and packed together that I knew it would be too dangerous to attempt to tunnel through.

"What about the way you came from?" I asked Nikki.

She shook her head sadly. "I've already been up and down those tunnels. They all lead to dead ends…"

I grimaced. "Then what—?"

"We could see if we could find an opening there, in that big pile of rocks" Jasmine suddenly said, gesticulating at the barrier of rocks blocking our path.

"I doubt it," I deadpanned immediately.

"Well, what about creating an opening!" the tone of Jasmine's voice suggested she'd just had an epiphany. "We've got strong Pokemon! Any one of them could knock a hole into that and let us get past."

"That's too dangerous," Bailey said even before I could. "If we knock even one wrong rock out of place, the whole thing could come crashing down and crush us."

I winced at the thought. "D-don't be so morbid!" I chastised him with as much feeling as I could. "We're going to make it out of this okay, all right?"

Nikki nodded firmly. "We just have to!" she said bravely.

"But how?" Jasmine, ever the pessimist, wanted to know.

"I'm not sure…" I said truthfully. "But you know… when there's a will, there's a way."

With little other option, the four of us split into two groups, each taking a fire Pokemon with us to explore the rock wall blocking our path, hoping to find some manner of escape. Bailey and I, aided by Nikki's Charmeleon, Blaze, investigated the left side, whilst Nikki and Jasmine took charge of the other side.

"This is impossible," I said after ten minutes, my hands raw and sore from attempting to tug at small rocks in the hope of them being lose enough to pull away. "There's no way we can get through this…"

"Whatever happened to "when there's a will, there's a way"?" Bailey asked in his normal cheerful way.

My eye twitched and I couldn't help but frown. I didn't understand how Bailey could be so perpetually optimistic all the time. When I challenged him on this, his response surprised me.

"Someone has to be the optimist, right?"

I frowned. "Well, maybe, yeah. But then why does it have to be you all the time?"

In the dim light, I made out him shrug. "Well… someone like me is kinda expected to be cheerful and optimistic, right?"

I frowned again, deeper this time. "What do you mean?"

"Well, this…" he swept his hands down his body. "My weight. You know how people assume blondes to be dumb, red-heads to have bad tempers—"

I found my cheeks tingeing that time. I was glad of the dark. Being a red-head myself, I knew all about that particular one from experience. I bit my tongue however, and let Bailey continue.

"...and all that kind of stuff. Well, it's the same for people like me." He said, a little sadly. "People think fat people don't have anything to offer apart from to be happy, cheerful and funny. You know, to compensate for the fact that our weight is a barrier to social relationships."

I detected a little hint of bitterness in his voice at this point.

"I'm not exactly a funny guy. Anyone I know will tell you that," Bailey said with a sigh. "All I've got going for me is that I know how to listen and give advice. That's not enough. People…" he hesitated. "People like being around people that are happy and optimistic. And for someone like me who doesn't have many friends, that kind of trait is invaluable."

"Oh Bailey…" I murmured sadly. "I'm so sorry. For what it's worth I don't think—"

I was cut off by an ominous crack sounding somewhere above our heads. Seconds later, a huge clump of rock dislocated from the top of the barrier and slammed into the ground, only feet away from me. I screeched and backed away, almost falling over Blaze in the process. Bailey caught my elbow and steadied me, a smile erupting over his face.

"Maybe we should move away a little?" he suggested casually.

"I think that would be the best idea…" I said weakly, shuffling over a few paces. I glanced at Bailey, another thought coming to my attention. "Are you sure you still want an Onix after all this?"

Bailey grinned. "Yeah. I'm pretty sure."

I gulped nervously. "You do know they're meant to be impossible to catch, right?"

Bailey only laughed delightedly. "When there's a will—"

"There's a way…" I groaned back. "Touché, Bailey."

Nothing further was said at that point, as we joined up with Nikki and Jasmine immediately afterwards. However, as we went over possible solutions to escape this hell-hole of a cavern we were trapped in, my mind couldn't help but tick over what Bailey had said. What he had said about stereotyping people had been undoubtedly true, and it made me feel strangely sad to hear it spoken so bluntly but yet with so much meaning behind it. I just wanted to go up to him and give him a hug, but some part of me knew that the others would think me totally insane if I did, especially with no obvious reason behind it.

After a few moments of discussion, we all realised we had no other choice but to break down the rocky wall if we ever wanted a way out. After a lot of arguing over the best and safest way to go about this, we eventually decided to send Aurora in for the job.

With Aurora standing a far enough distance away from the rock wall, and the rest of us squashed against the opposite wall, and my hand holding out Aurora's Pokeball just in case, we were ready.

"Okay, Aurora!" I felt my voice rise in pitch at my nervousness, but I tried to regain control of it once again. "Give us a Water Gun into those rocks!"

I tensed as Aurora sent forth the powerful jet stream of water and it collided straight with the barrier of rocks. I knew that Aurora was the only Pokemon likely to have water attacks strong enough to even put a dent in that wall, and I was quickly proven right. I cheered as the water blasted straight through the rock wall, scattering boulders, rocks and debris everywhere. With a noise that sounded like a building coming down, the whole rock wall collapsed and fell in on itself, flattening and levelling itself completely.

"Yes!" I cheered, punching the air with my fist. "Good work Aurora!"

She barked happily, clapping her fins together, looking very pleased with herself. Swiftly, I recalled Aurora, Monty and Kiba, replacing their Pokeballs on my belt. With only Sulphur and Blaze now to lead the four of us through the cave, we picked our way very slowly across the cavern. Crossing the pile of shattered rocks proved hairy to say the least, and everyone had to hold onto each other to get over in one piece. In one instance, I saw Jasmine stumble as she lost her footing and cling onto Bailey for support. My heart leapt as I wholly expected her to shout at him, but instead, she used his arm to balance herself, mumbled a quick, almost embarrassed "thank you" and continued on her way. I stopped, momentarily flummoxed, before making myself push onward.

Eventually we cleared the pile of rocks. Now faced with two different ways to proceed through the cave, we were stumped. I had the vague notion that one way would lead back the way we came, and the other would lead to the way out. However, this whole cave had had a disorientating effect on me, and I didn't know which way was which, or which way Elliot and Scott were likely to have taken.

Eventually, we took the path leading to the right. Our footsteps echoed loudly down the strangely empty passageways, and for a few horrible moments I thought we had gone completely the wrong way, until we found the familiar, and oddly comforting, pool of water that Elliot had said to follow to find the way out.

After ten minutes of walking, somewhere, far in the distance, we heard a roar.

All six of us, including Blaze and Sulphur, stopped dead in our tracks.

"You've got to be kidding me…" was all I could say.

"What is that…?" Nikki whispered, her voice barely audible.

"Judging from our luck, it's probably another Onix…" I said, straining my ears to see if I could pinpoint where the roar was coming from. However, instead of a roar, another sound reached my ears.

Someone screaming.

"But that sounds like…"

"Scott!" Nikki cried out in horror. "Blaze, come on!"

Before any of us could protest, Nikki had broken into a run, her Charmeleon hot on her heels, taking away half of the already limited light we had. I cursed, and motioned to the others. "Come on!"

We ran up the narrow cave passageway, our feet pounding on the hard ground, sounding like a herd of rampant Mamowsine. In the distance, I heard another roar, followed by a deafening crash, another rough yell and then an ominous rumble that reverberated through the passageway. My heart constricted more and more with every horrifying noise that reached my ears, and I started to pray inwardly.

"Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay!"

With a burst of energy, I cleared the end of the passageway and caught up with Nikki and Blaze, who had stopped in their tracks in the upcoming cavern.

I found out why soon enough.

A giant Onix that was so massive it took up almost the entire height and width of the cave was roaring and thrashing its snake-like body against everything it came into contact with. The noise was deafening and the rumbles going through the ground beneath me were so strong I could barely even stay upright. My eyes scanned the small cave and I let out a scream of fright when I saw the crumpled bodies of Scott and Elliot at either end of the cave.

"We've got to stop that Onix!" I bellowed, my hand flying for a Pokeball just as Jasmine and Bailey reappeared behind me. "Go, Aurora! Water Pulse!" I ordered, throwing the capsule forward.

"I'll help too," Bailey said, tossing a Pokeball forward. "Go, Corsola!"

"Me too," Jasmine said, removing her own Pokeball. "Go, Mizu!"

The Onix immediately stopped in its tracks as soon as it laid eyes on the three Water Pokemon squaring off in its direction. I whipped my head around to face Nikki as soon as Aurora's powerful Water Pulse slammed into the Onix, catching it off guard. "Get to Scott and Elliot and see if they're okay!"

Nikki nodded, her eyes wide before rushing off to Scott's side. Watching only her just long enough so I knew she was safe, I turned around to face the battle. My heart leapt to my mouth as I saw the Onix use Rock Throw. Corsola and Mizu were light and agile enough to dodge the rocks, but Aurora wasn't. I had to think fast!

The answer came to me in a wondrous flash of inspiration.

"Aurora! Use Water Gun to shoot those rocks down!"

Aurora did as she was asked, and with the precision of a prized archer, shot each and every rock that came her way with such a powerful jet of water that it knocked them straight to the ground, useless.

"Nice one!" Bailey called over, sounding impressed.

Jasmine laughed, tossing her long blonde hair over her shoulder. "If you think that was good, try this on for size! Mizu, Bubblebeam now! And aim for the eyes!"

"Zumarill!" Mizu cried, opening her mouth and letting loose a vicious stream of huge, fast bubbles that honed in to the Onix straight away.

I couldn't help but be surprised! I'd never seen a Bubblebeam that strong before. And the idea of aiming for the vulnerable eyes was always a good strategy. I smiled. Jasmine did certainly know what she was doing. This was cemented even further when the Onix roared in pain and recoiled sharply as the bubbles hit it.

"Corsola, you use a Bubblebeam too!" Bailey cried out.

Bailey's Corsola's Bubblebeam was nowhere near as strong or as fast as Mizu's had been, but it still seemed to cause the Onix some considerable amount of pain. The Onix thrashed around blindly for a few moments, causing yet more rocks to fall around us. One landed only a few feet from a still unconscious Elliot. My heart leapt. This was getting too dangerous now to simply try and keep the Onix at bay.

"This thing is too dangerous! We have to stop it NOW!" I hollered. "Aurora, use Water Pulse, quickly!"

"Water Gun at the same time, Mizu!"

"Corsola! Help them out with another Bubblebeam!"

The three Water Pokemon somehow synced together their attacks, and the impressive, dazzling display of the combined attacks slammed straight into the Onix's body. The Onix roared as the water sprayed into it relentlessly. Once the water finally subsided, the Onix was considerably weakened, and probably past the point of doing damage, but I wanted to end it. I didn't want to take any chances whatsoever.

"Aurora, finish it with an Aurora Beam!" I ordered.

It was over as soon as the rainbow hued beam came into contact with the Onix. It let out one last weak roar of pain and collapsed onto the ground, completely unconscious. I didn't even wait to see what happened next. I broke away from Bailey and Jasmine, who were celebrating their victory loudly and collapsed on the ground next to Elliot, who was still unconscious.

"Elliot!" I cried, pushing back his locks of brown hair. I gasped when I saw a gash even deeper than the one Jasmine had sustained in his upper right temple. "Are you all right?"

"I… I think he's just unconscious," A voice came from above me, and I looked up to see Nikki standing over me. "Scott's unconscious too, but I think they'll be okay."

"Thank God…" I exhaled deeply, slipping my hand into Elliot's and squeezing it, trying to rouse him. As I did this, he let out a little mumble and began to stir. My heart soared with relief, and I started to speak to him softly, trying to bring him round.

However, a noise from the back of the cave startled me and I whirled around in the direction of it, automatically on guard in case it was more danger. Thankfully, it wasn't and I was just able to see a Pokeball bounce off the unconscious figure of the Onix, open, and trap the giant beast inside. The Pokeball dropped to the ground, and rolled once, twice, three times and then that oh-so-familiar ding rang out in the muffled silence of the cave.

I turned my head in surprise just in time to see Bailey scoop up the Pokeball and hold it aloft proudly above his head. He caught my eye, grinned and mouthed "When there's a will…"

"There's a way…" I murmured softly, garnering some quite confused looks from Nikki in the process who obviously didn't have a clue what I was talking about. I ignored them however, a wide beaming smile erupting over my face at the amusing way this whole thing had turned out.

As Elliot and Scott finally came around, we filled them in on what they'd missed while being unconscious (Scott was unusually embarrassed and offended when we told him he'd been unconscious) and continued on our way, finding the exit to the Union Cave after clearing only two more short caverns.

As we stepped out into the cool air once again, I let out a sigh of relief, breathing in as much fresh, calming countryside air as humanly possible, immensely glad to be out of that musty, dark, oppressive cave. With Bailey helping to support Elliot, and Nikki attempting to support her stubborn and proud little brother, we began the short walk along Route 23 that would bring us in to Violet City before nightfall.

My heart thudded in anticipation. Violet City, which housed the upcoming Battle Tournament and the third out of the four Gym Badges that I needed, was definitely going to be a challenge. My mouth suddenly dried and I felt a slight stab of some kind of nervousness that I couldn't explain. I glanced upwards at a darkening sky, noticing thick clouds rolling in over the horizon and suddenly felt rather uneasy. Something almost felt slightly foreboding, and I cast a worried look back behind me, suddenly getting the strangest feeling that someone was watching me…

Author's Note

Merry Christmas everyone :)

I know it's technically only Christmas Eve, but still :)

Now, two announcements...

1) The next chapter starts the beginning of the OC tournament. It's going to be a very long arc, so please be patient with me in that respect :)

2) This one is a little sadder. I've actually decided that when Free Spirits is concluded, which I'm anticipating to be next June sometime, I'm going to retire from fanfiction writing. I'll still use the site to read fanfics and talk to all the friends I've made, but I won't be updating. I'll need all my time to focus on university and I'm aiming to try and get published for real, so I need to devote all my attention to that. So yes... once Free Spirits is concluded, OceanSpiral will be retiring. It's a hard desicion to make, but it has to be done :(

Now, to my wonderful reviewers. Thanks very much to Sniper Mudkip, WarriorSwift, Shadow Serenity 57, TwewyReaperGirl, Zoeten and Aeroga.

Please Read and Review if you can find the time :3 Thanks guys :) And have a wonderful Christmas when it comes!