Taril panted as she landed on the grassy ground from her flight and faced Classic Tails.
"I-I'm sorry, Tails. I don't think I can fly that fast like you."
Classic Tails softly patted the young vixen on her shoulder. "It's alright, Taril. Practice makes perfect. The more you practice, the better you can do."
"But...I just can't... Y...you seem way faster than me and you've been very fast longer than me."
Classic Tails gave a pity look. This poor girl must have been through so much and with this self-doubt of hers, it must be very hard for her to bring out her strength. He then gave her a warm hug. "There, there. Don't beat yourself up. It's nothing to worry too much about. Take it bit by bit and you'll be able to fly faster than before. You can do it. Trust me. I know you can."
True to his words, Taril leaned in closer to Classic Tails while returning the embrace, her eyes closed and half-smiling, and letting the other's words sink in. Just a few distances away from the two foxes, Ratchet and Clank stood there watching with grins on their faces-and Rivet and Kit on the other side just a few feet from Taril. Rivet, however, wore a small frown while eyeing her young friend's disheartenment. It was heartbreaking to see her that way and hard to forget that since the day she met the little vixen.
Ratchet approached Classic Tails behind him and placed his hand on his shoulder. "OK, Tails," he said, "it's time to go. Clank needs to get to somewhere after this before it's too late."
Classic Tails broke away from Taril after hugging her long enough, turned to face Ratchet, and nodded. "Yes, Ratchet."
The yellow Lombax flashed a smile and nodded back, then looked up at Rivet. "It's been fun having a picnic with you, Kit, and your new friend, Rivet."
"It was no problem, Ratchet," replied Rivet, putting up her smile while concealing her frown. "So where you guys heading off to next?"
"Well..." Ratchet began, scratching the back of his head with his hand. "It is me that need to go somewhere," Clank went before Ratchet could say. "It is a...secret. ...Can I get Kit to come with me as well?"
Kit thought for a moment. Where is this that she is going to with Clank? Perhaps it could be somewhere pleasant, since she was going to go with her interdimensional counterpart, and he would tell her on the way. "Yes, Clank. I will come with you," as she walked toward him.
Rivet watched as Kit walked up to the other three. "See you later, Kit, and bye, guys!" she said, waving.
"We'll catch up with you next time, Rivet and Taril!" Ratchet shot back as he, Clank, Kit, and Classic Tails left to Aphelion and Rivet and Taril watched as they flew up in the sky.
Shortly afterward, Taril turned to Rivet's direction, putting back on a discouraged frown. Rivet's smile was immediately replaced with the frown from before as she took notice of the other's dispirited look.
"I'm...going back to your hideout, Rivet," Taril told the white Lombax. "I'm tired."
As Taril began walking off to the direction of Rivet's hideout, Rivet had to think of a way to snap her out of her disheartenment. She couldn't bear to see her young friend like this. "Taril..."
The young fox heard Rivet called out her name and stopped to turn around. "Hm...?"
"I...I need to talk with you. ...Please."
"Huh...?"
The next thing Taril knew, Rivet walked up to her, kneeled, and plopped down onto a sit, also gesturing her to sit down with her. "What did you...want to tell me?" Taril asked with great curiosity.
Rivet paused for a moment, then said:
"Do you remember what I said to you the day we met: 'You can still have a chance to prove worthy of yourself and put that into use for the benefits, even yours?'"
Taril nodded. "Yes, I remember."
"'There is a time where you gotta change the way you are' and 'Don't let bad things assimilate you,' remember those as well?"
"Yes... But...what exactly are you trying to tell me?"
"Look at you. Look at how much you've changed while you were with me and Kit. You came from a poor childhood and grew into this fast, smart, lionhearted girl as time went by for you. Now that you've come here to my univers- err... dimension, whatever, you've become faster and stronger than before. This is your moment to shine. You shouldn't doubt yourself any longer and start putting your skills to good use. What if something bad happens and starts to overwhelm you? You run-push yourself faster than fast. You're fast and you can run, can't you?"
Something about those words from Rivet provoked a comforting feeling in Taril, but something else still obstructed that feeling. Sure she was fast and strong, but there was still some doubt about those skills being ready to put into beneficial use. She was a coward all her poor childhood and she still was, even with this new ability she was gaining from her alienation, and there was no way she could escape from that. "But Rivet, I... There's no way I can be as fast as Tails is. You watched me trying to fly as fast as I can, and I got so easily tired. It's just...so hard for me to handle... And you're stronger than me, too, and there's no way I can be as strong as you..."
As much as she tried to pull herself together, her disheartenment was unbearable as she nearly buried her face in her knees as though she was about to tear up from her timidity.
Rivet was extremely worried for the young fox. Even though she was trying her best to encourage her however she could, she was still falling toward her strain that had been there dragging her down in any way. Rivet had no choice but to reveal her own moment of strain. Something she wanted to forget about for long.
"Taril, I didn't want to tell you this, but... here is something that had been haunting me too ever since. It was a while ago when this universe was under total chaos. I was part of this resistance, fighting tirelessly to win back this universe from tyranny. There was terror everywhere in this city on another planet. It was used to be known as Nefarious City, named after a power-hungry emperor and our arch nemesis I had been dealing with for so long. But that's besides the point.
"I snuck my way to a tower in the Imperial Zone one time. I was hacking into a computer using a device to do the job, and little did I know that a Warbot caught me and was about to end me. I thought I was fast enough to run before something bad could happen to me right there and then. ...But I was wrong. So... wrong. I just...wasn't fast enough to get away unscathed. It was at that moment when I...lost my arm. But I managed to get away before it could finish me off. And I built myself this new yellow arm, so it wasn't all that bad, but that moment left a lasting memory in my mind."
Taril lifted her head up and turned to Rivet after hearing her own story. "Y...you weren't...very fast before...? And...you...lost your arm? That's...horrible. And that also explains your prosthetic arm there where your right arm used to be," as she looked over at Rivet's bionic arm.
"Yes..." Rivet replied. "And that was what happened with that lack of speed of mine then. It costed my arm...and that was when I grew to not trust robots until when Clank...and Kit came along."
"Wait, who was the Warbot that caused you to lose your arm?"
"...Kit. It was Kit."
"Kit...?!"
"As a matter of fact, yes. But don't be alarmed. I couldn't believe my eyes either when I found out that Kit was the one who took off my arm, but I soon realized that it was against her will and she never meant to work as one of the emperor's Warbots. And we both teamed back up together to stop the emperor once and for all and stuck together ever since, so it wasn't all that bad anymore."
"Whoa... I... I cannot imagine how much you had to undergo after losing your arm," Taril contemplated in shocking awe.
Rivet nodded. "Yeah, that's that... Now I'm giving you your chance to improve yourself. Be faster than fast, stronger than strong. You are only a kid, but you've changed, now that you're here with me. Don't let anything bad assimilate you like me there, I'll tell you over and over. If something happens, push yourself through as fast as you can. Run, fly away fast, whatever. Look at you when Tails was teaching you to fly fast there. You can out maneuver it because you're faster like Tails. You are on your way to courage, and I don't want anything bad happen to you like it did with me. You have the chance."
Taril was stunned. It was a pure shock to her from what Rivet had told her. Her own stressful moment of losing her arm and all, yet everything went OK at the very end. How awfully right she was with those words of wisdom. How powerful...and encouraging they were. With that, the young fox ceased her disheartenment for once and embraced Rivet. "Rivet, I... don't know what to say. Th...thank you," as she buried her face in Rivet's chest. "I...I will try my best."
Rivet let out a sigh of reassurance. "That's my girl..."
The two girls continued to warmly embrace each other before Taril decided to break away and stand on her feet determinedly. "I'll try out my flight boost again." And in the blink of an eye, the young fox took off in the sky, spinning her tail and pushing herself at full tilt.
Rivet gazed up at Taril flying at the speed of light in the late evening sky with a proud smile. "I knew you could do it... Taril."
My second FanFiction fanfic/one-shot featuring an OC of mine.
It's about time I wrote this one-shot. I had been overwhelmed lately since yesterday, due to schoolwork and such. Now I'm still somewhat in my hiatus from doing anything else like drawing and writing from that, but I'm energized enough now, albeit still need to finish up with some other work before winter break. Ugh... -_-
Anyways, I've been thinking about writing a one-shot involving Rivet encouraging Taril to be faster and stronger than before and put those skills into good use for Taril if something overwhelming happens in the future. This one soundtrack from this one creepypasta fan game ' Spirits of Hell Round 2' inspired me to plan out this one-shot, which was the Memory Fragment soundtrack, which I thought would make the one-shot feel like a memory.
I just love writing hurt/comfort stories featuring my favorite, relatable video game characters and sometimes adorable OCs of mine. They're always so consoling, even if I'm feeling down for whatever reason. *_* And I hope you guys find this consoling for you as well. ^^
Taril the Fox belongs to me
Ratchet, Clank, Rivet, and Kit belong to (c) Insomniac Games
