Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon.
"Cinccino, tail slap, quick!" Lia commands.
Cinccino nods affirmatively and charges towards the Ursarings. She winds up her first sweep and performs a quick stroke, but that didn't seem to have any effect. Intimidated as a result, Cinccino scurries back to her trainer.
"Use ember, do it Quilava!"
"Qui!" Quilava breathes a fire of ember at the raging Ursarings, but his flames flicker as he shudders in fear, the sheer nervousness caused Quilava to misaim his ember as his fireball lets loose, crashing at the bushes instead.
One of the Ursaring scurries towards the Cinccino in its twos with its arms winding up high. Ursaring wallops out a crushing slam towards the ground, lowkey missing Cinccino within inches as the shockwave knocks her out a distance.
"Cinccino! No!" Terrified, Lia scurries another few steps back and quickly grips her other pokeball. "Larvitar, help!" She hurls the pokeball near the distance to the bears, sending Larvitar out. "Use rock slide now!" She commands.
"Quilava, use... use, aaahh!" Gabriel attempts to order Quilava a move, but the sheer menacing size of the bear sent him so nervous to the point that he cannot decide a move. He grasps his head in panic.
"Qui!" Quilava yelps in worry and darts his eyes at his trainer, knowing that the stressed Gabriel is overwhelmed. He backs off a step away from the Ursarings in fear and quickly unleashes a ball of fire again towards the charging Ursarings out of pure instinct, this time, it hits one of the Ursaring's belly but blocks it with its thick elbow, causing it to have little effect towards the Ursaring.
"Don't your Quilava have better moves other than ember." Lia exclaims and cocks her head.
Gabriel nervously rubs his chin and drifts his eyes to the ground for a brief moment, trying to remember the other moves but cannot. Clueless, she darts at Lia instead, "Yeah, uhh, I don't know, I just couldn't re-" He interrupts himself and darts back at the action, seeing a troubled Quilava near the Ursaring about to be mauled by its hammering arms. "Wooo-oah, Quilava, get back here!" He exclaims, seeing the shuddering Quilava quickly scurry back to him and squirts out bursts of flames flying on his back which sent Ursaring flinching.
"Larvitar, please don't be too cocky!" Lia exclaims on the other side as Larvitar intuitively side-steps and fiercely counterattacks with another sludge of rocks rushing towards Ursaring's arm from the one of the Ursaring's thrashing attacks. Larvitar then leaps back to Lia. Suddenly, one more Ursaring pops out from the bushes to the scene. "Oh gosh, there's more?!" Terrified, she exclaims again, planting a few steps backward in great fear.
Gabriel tries to devise a plan, but one of the Ursarings stomp a few steps near towards Gabriel's reach as it cries in aggression. "Oh Arceus, help!" His plan abruptly ruined, he exclaims in a shuddering helplessness despite his Quilava just on his side. He felt like running, but the sheer aggressiveness by the looks of those Ursarings further petrified him. Ursaring plants one more step, closing the distance between Gabriel that sent him into a panic. "Help! Help!" Gabriel exclaims, seeing the Ursaring about to wind up his arm on Gabriel's reach and quickly builds up momentum.
Shortly, a barrage of rocks approaching from the side pelts Ursaring back a few steps, sending the bear pokemon flinching his front. Gabriel, surprised, takes a quick glance at the direction, seeing Lia's Cinccino instinctually firing her rock blast behind a few feet from him while Larvitar is still countering the Ursarings with ease. Then as he saw that Cinccino, a memory dawns on him as his jaw drops in further surprise. "So you were the girl that knocked all my pokemon out with that Cinccino." He exclaims in astonishment.
"Umm yeah, we don't have time for talking!" Lia yells, darting back at her Cinccino. "Cinccino, use rock blast again and again on each of those Ursarings."
Despite Cinccino showing a creasing fear from the sheer size of the Ursarings, she diligently nods affirmatively. She quickly forms a barrage of rocks circling around her scarves as she rapidly spins her body counter-clockwise, hurling clusters of rocks towards the Ursarings within a distance from her flaunting scarves. Ursaring approaches Cinccino, attempting to close the distance as Cinccino gracefully pounces skywards to behind the Ursaring and side to side in attempt to confuse him.
Lia takes a quick dart back at Gabriel, he looked confused and overwhelmed. "Come on Gabriel, help yourself." She exclaims.
"Yeah, but... Huh?" He gasps in a ring of cluelessness as he absently stared at those Ursarings in a half-dead state. Then as he saw Quilava once again in trouble with the Ursarings on the distance of him, it finally snapped back to him in awareness.
"Qui! Qui!" Quilava exclaims in panic, trying to avoid the Ursaring's rapid hammering hands left and right as he nimbly dodges side to side while waiting for Gabriel's orders.
"Quilava! Dodge, dodge now!" Gabriel exclaims as he remembered a familiar move. Seeing Quilava dodging in sheer panic, he then waits for the perfect timing as he tries to stifle his anxiety. "Use eee-e... Use brick break!" Gabriel exclaims under pressure of nervousness.
Quilava approaches the Ursaring and passes between its stubby legs as he scurries away a distance, but met with a rocky cliff that plunges steep below to the ground ahead of him. Seeing Ursaring curving and charging at him aggressively, Quilava had no choice but to defend himself, he charges his attack as he builds up his momentum. Shortly, fear builds up on him due to the sheer size of that Ursaring, Quilava instinctually hesitates to close the distance, and in fear, darts past between the Ursaring's legs in a panic and back to Gabriel's side.
"Quilava, what happened?!" Gabriel exclaims in confusion, not knowing why Quilava hesitated his move. He was spitless. Suddenly, a shadow appears on the front of his sight as it turns out to be the same Ursaring that confronted Quilava. "Waaah!" Gabriel screams in a burst, lurching careless steps away from the Ursaring with both of his arms winding up as if he was about to strike. Quilava runs alongside Gabriel as well, passing him in front of the distance. Shortly, barrages of rocks pelts Ursaring's face, sending him dazed as he quickly collapsed as a result. Turns out, it was Cinccino defending Gabriel beside him just before he was about to realize.
"Don't worry, I got you!" Lia exclaims as she's on the side of Gabriel as well.
"Ugh, thanks..." Gabriel grasps his head again, his brow felt numb.
"You don't have to say dodge every time an attack is approaching, Gabriel." Lia gestures her pointer.
"But w-" Just as Gabriel almost mutters out his comment, he was shortly interrupted.
"Watch out!" Lia exclaims and darts behind, seeing another Ursaring confronting them
"Aaaah!" Gabriel screams. It was too late for them to escape, seeing the Ursaring already closed their distance between them. Quilava, Cinccino, and Larvitar had the perfect chance to attack, but they all shuddered, eyes popped out in fear.
Suddenly, a concentrated beam of fire rushed towards Ursaring's back just before he almost crushed Gabriel and Lia along with her pokemon with his walloping arms pointed skyward. His whole back toasted with black burns, Ursaring heaves out a whooping groaning sigh as he collapsed to the ground.
"Woah..." Gabriel exclaimed in astonishment as the tight chains of anxiety began to loosen up.
"What, just happened?" Lia exclaims in sheer confusion, followed by a burst of coughs and having no clue where the beam of fire came from.
The smoke permeated their sight as they coughed within the blinding fog of smoke. Fortunately, they were able to escape as their view gotten clearer. Within their line of sight sees a tall man along with his Ninetales sitting next to him.
"Why are you kids here?" The man said in a quiet yet powerful intimidating tone, standing up in an erect posture as he furrows down an intimidating look on his face.
"What? I'm not a kid, I'm a teenager!" His face flushing in mild red, Gabriel exclaims in a flustered tone as he backs off a few steps, terrified by the looks of the tall slender man.
"I'd love to have a straightforward answer." The man eases up his brow and relaxes his frown to a discreet smile in attempt to ease out Gabriel's nervousness.
Gabriel, still intimidated and confused, he gawks at the man for a solid five seconds before saying a word. "We were just... trying to find our way out."
"Yeah... We're not trying to harm anyone or anything. It was those Ursarings that confronted us out of nowhere." Lia rolls up her eyes.
"Ah... I see. Perhaps me and one of my pokemon can offer you two a free ride?"
Lia grits her teeth as her brow arches an inch down in an unpleasant crease. Just by the thought of it, her face wrinkles to a disgusted wince. "A ride? Umm, that sounds creepy. All we really ask is directions, so that we can go back in track."
"He meant that he's going to bring us back to town, or whatever." Gabriel shrugs.
"That's right, a safe ride back in town. Don't you guys want a quick trip?" The man twitches a modest smile and twitches up his eyebrows, gripping his pokeball as if he's about to send something out.
The creepy smile of the man leaves Lia further nervous to the point that she cringed as her eyes blink rapidly. "Come on, can't you just provide us directions instead? At least a map would be great." She sighs.
"Lia, you're missing a good opportunity, why don't we just agree instead of rejecting the offer. I had enough of getting further lost." Gabriel irritably gestures his arm with his fist pumped in stifled anger.
Feeling pressured, Lia gawks blankly at Gabriel, feeling trapped by the decisions they were offering for her. "Fine, fine. I guess I'll give it a go." She reluctantly agrees as she began to shudder in immediate regret.
Satisfied, the man's smile spreads to his cheeks. He sends out his Rapidash towards the duo as he climbs up to his steed first. "Wonderful, hop in." He subtly gestures his arm as the relieved Gabriel and a fearful Lia joins in the ride. "So, where do you guys want to go?" The man asks, casually picking his nose in behind the two.
"We're heading to the... city? I forgot the name, but it's a capital city, do you know?" Gabriel asks.
"So you want to go to Galice City, right? That's the capital city of the region."
"Oh, yeah, yeah, that's right. Also is this trip free?"
"A small payment will do."
"How much?"
"A hundred-fifty."
"Wow... Okay?" Gabriel mutters in a hesitant tone. He slowly digs down his pocket and pulls out a handful of cash, carefully counting each of them before giving the cash to the man.
"What's taking so long?" Lia cocks her head, arching her neck forward a glance as she stared at Gabriel's money.
"Oh, it's nothing, just needed to count to make sure." Gabriel casually hands the cash to the man despite thinking that's expensive.
"Are you sure you want to do this?" The man asks, shaking his head.
Gabriel gawks at the man for a moment before formulating back his reply. He wasn't expecting this. "Uh, yeah? Why?"
"You guys might be aware that most of the city buildings are heavily damaged. I'm afraid you may be unable to find a good place to stop by. Why don't we head to a town that's safer?"
"Uhh... I don't know any place of this region, just take me to a pokemon center; the city definitely must have many of them, thanks."
"I'll see what I can do." The man nods.
"Great." Gabriel smiles, handing the cash over to the man.
"Thank you." The man smiles again, taking Gabriel's handful of cash as he elegantly shoves the money in his purse.
Just as Gabriel handed the money to the man, he shortly felt a rush of remorse, thinking that he should've not done this. "Man, why did I waste too much money on this." Gabriel mutters to himself, disappointed.
Lia snorts and lets out a brief chuckle. "Pfft, you think that's expensive?"
"No, it's just that I only have no more than a thousand left..."
"Alright kids, hold tight now." The man mutters as he gestures his arm at a direction. "Rapidash, head to this way." The man taps Rapidash's muzzle.
The Rapidash neighs his cry and gallops slowly as he builds up his speed. Rapidash scurries towards a different route concealed by the bushes that sharply curves to the right, next to the dead end. Despite the bushes squeezing their way, they were able to traverse with ease.
"Wait? I thought there was a dead end." Gabriel's eyes slightly widen in surprise.
"There's a hidden shortcut not many people know that heads right, it heads straight to the city just a few miles away."
After all these confusing minutes being completely lost, Gabriel heaves out a sigh in sheer relief. "That's great, phew."
"Hold on, rough terrain ahead."
They finally exit the forest and gallop down the steep downhill slope as Rapidash began to decelerate. Slowly but cautiously, Rapidash gallops with gingerly trudging steps, trying to avoid the stone obstacles protruding from the ground in front of them. Ahead of them, a plethora of farms meet their way as they kept following the trail. The more miles Rapidash galloped, the city gradually becomes more visible at the distance, just concealed by the horizon fog.
"Are we still going straight?"
"Yes, this is the route that goes straight to the city."
Going further, the rural area quickly transitions to the suburban districts; the main outskirts of the city. The road widens as the buildings from side to side get more compact. Few more blocks galloped, the road starts to narrow as the townhouses gradually became tighter. It was that moment they realize; a dead end meets them ahead which stops their tracks. This was unexpected in between the three.
"What?" Puzzled, the man gawks at the dead end for a good five seconds, trying to figure out what direction he took. "Oh... I was wrong, very sorry about that guys." Snapping out of his confusion, the man mutters in a slightly disappointed tone. He steers his Rapidash slowly but steadily towards the opposite direction they galloped.
"Yeah, it's fine." Gabriel nods.
Rapidash gallops back. The man pulls out a wide thick map of the city, trying to find the right track. On ahead of them, the trail forks into three. He halts his Rapidash on the middle and takes the right direction. Ahead of them were many trees and plethora of greenery covering most of the view. The trail was very narrow, to the point that some of the overhanging leaves on the way block their front view. Despite that and the rough terrain, the trail was easy to traverse as Rapidash adapted with the terrain with ease.
"Wait, that's another shortcut? Or this is heading back to where we've started?" Gabriel tilts his head and arches a confused brow.
"Now, now, don't worry. This is actually another shortcut." The man glances at Gabriel and creases a mild yet reassuring smile.
"Ah, phew." Relieved, Gabriel flicks off his sweat. "Do you know where the pokemon centers are?" He asks.
"I'm not really sure about that, so you have to find it yourselves."
"I see..." Gabriel nods subtly with a slight worry creasing his face. "Man. Thanks for the trip." Gabriel lets out a shallow sigh in subtle disappointment, but tries to stifle that emotion so that the man won't notice. Otherwise, despite sounding pissed, he felt thankful for the trip regardless.
Just before Gabriel was concealing that disappointment, Lia noticed the irritated side-look on Gabriel's face, leaving her in concern. "What's wrong Gabriel?" She asks, leaning and cocking her head forward to the left.
"Oh, it's nothing." Gabriel shrugs.
Exiting the shortcut, the trees and greenery fade as the land transitions from the lush landscapes to the steel jungles. They are now met with five story buildings ahead over the entrance of the city, covering side to side as the trail widens.
"So this is the city." Lia mutters, taking a breath of the rusty air and skims her eyes around her surroundings.
"Yeah. I guess so." Gabriel nods as his face wrinkles in worry, judging by the appearance of the buildings.
Rapidash slows down his pace, taking the time to look around the middle of the district. Everything looked barren and abandoned; not even a single presence of a person hanging around the sidewalks, and bits of rubble was scattered everywhere. The surroundings gave a strong post-apocalyptic vibe.
"Never seen a city that ruined... What happened?" Lia mutters with her jaw and eyes popped slightly open. She looked quite astonished, yet terrified from the looks of the city.
"It's because of the meteor maybe." Gabriel wonders. "Never thought that this damage is worse than expected." His brow slams downward puckered in worry, glancing at the ground and seeing shattered glass everywhere.
"Indeed, not because of the asteroid, but the natural disasters that were triggered in almost every parts of the world. Every place within a five-hundred-mile radius or more suffered minor to severe damage from the impact, according to the global news. You'll see forest fires ravaging the landscapes as well."
"Damn." Dissatisfied yet mind-blown of what the man said, Gabriel nods side to side with a sigh that wondered. "How are we even going to survive this?" He adds in a worrying tone and absently scratches his head.
"Only if my dad was here." Lia rolls up her eyes.
"What's with your dad?" Gabriel darts at Lia with a subtle squint on the eye.
"Umm, he was a survivalist. Well, he didn't taught me that much. Only if he wasn't that strict to me."
"It's much more easier to survive on any kind of place if you manage to tame a good Tropius, especially when the times go difficult." The man said, raising his head up and nods elegantly.
"A Tropius?" Gabriel rubs his chin, not having a clue of what that pokemon is.
"You'll see what I mean. Any grass pokemon is essential to survival, especially the ones that provide a sufficient amount of food." The man gestures his pointer finger upwards.
"Umm, you sound like some kind of survivalist, are you one?" Lia cocks her head at the man.
"No, not of any kind. I used to be a grass gym leader on my local neighborhood."
"Oh." Lia mutters.
"Well, seems like we've reached your destination. Hop down kids, I better go now. I need to go back and watch my property. If you need me, here is my contact number just in case. Be sure to keep it." The man whips out a pen and paper as he elegantly jots down the note, he hands it to Gabriel.
"Wait, you're just gonna drop us on the middle of nowhere? Where there are almost no people standing by?"
"You requested to go to this city, and I provided exactly what you needed. What else do you want, young man?" The man furrows down an eyebrow and narrows his eyes slightly.
Gabriel sighs. "I, I don't know... Just bring us to the pokemon center, that's all I'm asking."
"I'm afraid that I don't know any pokemon centers here, nor any places that weren't affected by this terrible disaster. I thought that it was the best decision to drop you both here, since I don't know any routes of this city." The man arches his lips in a downcast crease in attempt to emphasize his explanation.
Gabriel sighs in disappointment. "Fine by me, I guess." Displeased by the abandoned surroundings of the district, Gabriel reluctantly climbs off Rapidash and plants a gingerly step on the shattered surface.
"I must go, good luck." The man adjusts his head at Gabriel, giving a look with a reassuring nod. He gestures his arm, commanding Rapidash steering away from their distance, leaving Gabriel and Lia behind on the middle of the wasteland.
"Eugh... Why did I chose to travel in to this place..." Gabriel's face wrinkles in disgust; the aroma of the smoke residues quickly permeated the deep of his nostrils as if he was not expecting this such appearance of the surroundings.
"I guess it's your fault. You didn't expect the damage either." Lia shrugs, she felt unpleasant by the environment as well.
"Eh, let's just find a way to get to a good place. I think... We should take a peek forward." Gabriel mutters as he takes a step forward but is suddenly hit with a pang of confusion as he saw four directions around his sight, he didn't feel the motivation to go anywhere. "Man... It feels like I'm still lost here, nowhere to go. Honestly, I should've stayed in town, but I guess almost everything is damaged but either way..." Gabriel heaves a long sigh, he should've took the time to consider his choices.
"Yeah... We lost our hometown anyways. But as my uncle said if I lose everything, I'd be free. Maybe he's right, but I don't know." Lia sighs as well. She was quite disappointed as well due to Gabriel's half-thought decisions.
"I'm not free from this hell." Gabriel sighs. "Whatever."
Gabriel and Lia both take the step forward, but they didn't expect guarantee of hope to find a pokemon center or at least a good place for settling down.
"I should've payed attention to the man, I knew I was told this city was damaged, but why did I tell myself to travel here?" Gabriel sighs. "This is a scam... They say every city has a pokemon center and yet he's saying there's no pokemon centers in this city?" Sounding flustered, Gabriel bursts out puff of his nostrils to the point he's about to snap.
"Umm, he didn't really say that exactly. Just because he doesn't know where the pokemon center is, doesn't mean that it's his fault. We could always find a way." Lia shrugs.
"True, true, guess you're right." Gabriel nods.
"Phew, good thing that man didn't lead us somewhere else. That man looked really... ew." Lia stares in disgust, at the street where the man had taken with his Rapidash. "I guess trusting random strangers isn't so bad after all." Lia sighs in a slight relief, but still felt creeped out by the man's suspicious demeanor.
"At least he saved us from that... Ursaring fight. He didn't seem creepy at all, what's so bad about them?" Gabriel rolls up his eyes.
"You know, didn't your parents taught you about trust? They can do really messed up stuff..." Just by the thought of it, Lia begins to cringe in fear, imagining the possibilities how trust can be exploited. Lia, seeing Gabriel as a naive person, she plants a step back of his distance as she gave an unpleasant look.
"My parents thought me that?" Sounding clueless, Gabriel furrows down a brow in confusion. Delving back to his memories, he didn't remember a single piece of quote from his parents.
"Aw sweet innocent, you're gonna learn later on." Nodding from the naive-like personality from Gabriel. Lia slams her eyebrows down and twitches a smug smile.
"What do you mean? I have no idea what you're saying. Just tell me."
"Best not to engage with a stranger." Lia shrugs. Her eyes absently dart to the huge busted pokeball logo at the right section of the buildings. As her sight suddenly snaps focus into that, she realizes that they have just passed the pokemon center without knowing it; it was just concealed by the residues of the ruined buildings. "Umm, wait. We just passed the pokemon center, behind us." She points to the pokemon center and curves behind.
"Wait, really?" Gabriel's eyes widen as he darts behind. At his angle, he didn't see any hint of a pokemon center in presence.
"Don't you see it?" Lia glances at Gabriel in confusion.
Gabriel shifts a few steps at the right and kept glancing behind, given the better outlook, he finally sees it, although the protruding debris conceals its view. "Ah, thank Arceus. I hope there's some people nearby." He heaves out a long relieving yet hopeful sigh. He thought, he was not so lost after all.
Turning around, they steadily trudge a few blocks through the rough residues as they approach to the pokemon center entrance. Fortunately, the building is still intact, although the ridges of the roof and the walls are chipped off. They peek through the entrance, and find everything inside is shattered into debris, despite the pokemon center barely damaged on the outside.
"Aw man. I knew it." Gabriel sighs in a great disappointment, he did lowkey expected the pokemon center to be damaged the time he had slowly acknowledged the damage and poor condition of the city "I should've not wasted my money on this trip."
"Yeah... What a misfortune."
Gabriel, thinking of going back where they started, he glances behind, but sees a swarm of police cars and ambulances scattered across the line of his sight, lights flashing and blocking the road. Strangely, those vehicles weren't there when the man and his Rapidash had brought the duo here in the first place, it's like they suddenly appeared without their knowledge.
"What are those policemen doing?" Gabriel mutters in a brewing suspicion and plants a step back away from their distance. "Man, haven't seen police cars in a long time. Let's get out of here before they catch us in trouble." Gabriel nags Lia as he was struck by the aura of paranoia.
"Wait, there's a sign map saying that there's another pokemon center, and it says it's open. Just take a quick look, Gabriel" Lia exclaims, looking at the sign just barely pinned swaying on the broken glass of the entrance door of the pokemon center.
"Where?" Gabriel darts at Lia and sees a worn off poster just beside the sign of the pokemon center. He then scurries towards the poster as he skims over the map and text. "Phew, please tell me it's really open." Gabriel heaves out a slight sigh of relief, but he was still paranoid that they may find the other pokemon center closed and end up wasting more time than they should.
Lia whoops in a sharp sudden gasp as her eyes dart on staring at the street.
"Did you see something?!" Suspicion rises up and rattles Gabriel's spine, he darts at the side where Lia is looking at. Ahead of his sight was just light gray fog, but that had put them into further suspicion. The strangest thing he noticed is, the police cars and ambulances somehow disappeared, including those that weren't obviously permeated by the fog in the first place.
"I, I don't know? I just felt this..." Nervousness brewed over her sense of logic, she wasn't able to explain of what she's feeling.
"What are you doing around here, get out!" An infuriated raspy voice suddenly exclaims that came from the fog, followed by a series of muzzle flashes within the fog that pierced Gabriel's ears. A SWAT agent with a M9 handgun suddenly appears from the fog which petrified the duo. All the gunshots missed in purpose, and that signaled a warning.
"Aaggh! Lia, run!" Gabriel exclaims as he runs away from the fog in great strides.
"Qui!" Quilava yelped in panic as he instinctually bursts out his flames. He pounces out from his shoulder and scurried away in front of his sight.
The SWAT agent continued shooting his pistol at the wall ahead of Gabriel with terrifying intent.
Surrounded in grave fear, Gabriel stoops down and grits his teeth hard as if he's about to trip to the ground. Due to the fright that flooded his senses, he had no choice but to scream despite his pokeballs just in front of him that were lodged in his belt. "Quilava, no! n-" Suddenly interrupted, his desperate call for help abruptly muffled into silence as he felt a deep pierce of agony that entirely numbed his head. His vision flashes into black. All that he can hear is the high-pitched screams that called his name before his ears gave up to the inevitable void of eternal death.
Author note: I decided to stop this story here (for now). I know most of you won't read this, but to anyone who's reading this story and managed to reach in this chapter, I am utterly sorry, and for the unexpected ending, but I suddenly started to lose interest in the pokemon franchise as well as this novel fic. Thus, I eventually saw myself dissatisfied whether I wanted to write this fic; I cannot explain this dissatisfaction or why I suddenly had this disinterest in pokemon, and it has slowly started to take a toll on my mental health. To anyone who had the balls to review this fic, I'd thank you for that. But for now, I need a moment to breathe...
Everyone will eventually start to move on in life. I started writing this pokemon novel for the sole purpose of improving my english. I might abandon this fic permanently, or eventually return someday, but who knows?
Also Note: This story was originally created in 2018 but was originally published in around very late 2019, but something happened so I had to reupload this entire fic.