ACTUALLY IMPORTANT AUTHOR'S NOTES

This isn't really much of a chapter, this is just an important update. I put in a quick little story bit at the end.

Nothing too important, just a small little goofy thing. Almost completely irrelevant to the rest of the story. You know, just out of obligation to follow the site rules and so that anyone seeing the update isn't disappointed by a complete lack of any new content.

With that out of the way: Hello there, people! The time has come. It seems to happen to many stories eventually, and this one won't be an exception.

This chapter will be the last posted for Opposing Hearts before I start on the rewrite. I was ready to do this a chapter or two ago, but I've finally made up my mind completely.

As much as I hate to dump this on y'all just around the end of the first act, this rewrite will be happening for many (hopefully) good reasons that I will list here.

First of all, I've not been satisfied with the quality I've put into many of the chapters. They're not horrible by any means, but they could be a lot better.

Secondly, set-ups. Oh boy, the set ups. I've been failing to set up things I should have long ago, setting up things I ended up loathing the payoff for, and much more.

Third, things are beginning to diverge from the initial outline a bit, and I'd like to get a second chance to outline things before the story concludes.

Fourth, there's a few character relationships and similar such things I haven't established properly. Lots of forgetting, shuffling, and putting off until too late.

And, finally, I'm going to try to loosen up on my "Show everything" philosophy. For some reason, my smooth little brain gets upset when I don't show every little interaction every character has, or if I make timeskips in any way. I feel this is the biggest problem with most of my stories.

Unnecessary detail that, yes, creates a stronger understanding of the story, but at the sacrifice of pretty much everything else. I'm a very rambly person, and I like very rambly stories, but I fully accept that many wouldn't agree.

I'm not going to tell anyone that they absolutely have to re-read everything once the rewrite comes out, but I would highly recommend it for an improved experience. As well, it will eliminate any potential confusion that comes as a result of added/removed/modified elements of the story.

On a slightly less exciting note, I'm making new cover-art.

Of course, before we get onto this micro-chappy: thank you to Bomul for the review.


"Why? Oh, why'd it have to be me?"

"Oh, come on, Ronikins! Don't be that way!"

Roni clung to the tree branch for dear-life, his entire frame shuddering as he gazed to the ground below.

A group of ten children, plus a childish nickit, looked up at him. All but the latter were yelling up at him incoherently.

"Easy for you to say! They aren't making you get the ball!"

Soot put a paw to her muzzle to mask a snicker. The kids were getting increasingly rowdy as Roni failed to climb any higher.

"Do you need a boost?" Soot finally asked, the crowd of kids parting as she wandered forward toward the tree. Her eyes remained anchored on Roni, head tilted upward.

Roni's pupils shrunk to pin-pricks.

"No, no! I'm good!"

"Okay, here it comes! One... Two..."

Soot initiated a quick-attack, darting up the tree's trunk until she slammed into the branch that was supporting her umbreon companion.

The branch surged upwards, then snapped, sailing through the air and taking Roni with it. The umbreon's shrieks were heard trailing behind him as he finally landed up higher in the tree.

The place had fallen silent. Everyone leaned in close, their ears perked as they waited for any sign of life.

"Okay, I got the ball," came Roni's voice, followed by the object in question falling and bonking Soot's head with a smack. "How do I get down?"

The nickit rubbed the now sore-spot on her skull as she hummed thoughtfully.

"Oh, I got it! Jump! I'll catch you!"

"You're half my size, Sootsy."

"I'm strong!"

"I know."

Pondering things further, Soot reached a second conclusion.

"Wait! What if I jump, and you catch me?"

"I'm up here, and you're down there."

"You're up there, and I'm down here!"

There were a few audible thunks from above, not too dissimilar in the nickit's mind to when Roni would slam his head against their shared desk.

The kids all looked to each other, shrugging. Having their ball, they saw no reason to care, and began to walk away.

Soot gasped, as one final idea hit her like a ton of bricks. She had known from experience what that was like.

"Wait! If I climb the tree, we'll both be up there!"

Soot took a few steps back, taking a deep breath. She pawed at the dirt slightly with her chest to the ground, tail swaying in concentration. With an impressive burst of speed, she initiated a second quick-attack, sailing up the trunk and into the tree-tops.

Soot leapt off the trunk, beginning to spin through the air. She began falling back toward the ground, but her velocity was soon halted as Roni caught her by the fore-leg.

He pulled her up onto the branch with him, scooting to give her more room toward the trunk-end of the branch.

"Okay, so, how does this help at all?" Roni questioned, looking down into Soot's eyes.

"Well, now you have me, and I have you! We are reunited, once again partners-in-justice."

"You didn't have any plan to get us down?"

Soot's demeanor quickly shifted, a blush coming to her cheeks as her ears splayed back.

"No... Sorry, I didn't think that far ahead."

Roni took in a breath, held it for a few seconds, then released it.

"It's fine. At least I've got company until someone comes to save our sorry-flanks."

Roni pulled the nickit into a warm embrace, who returned it with a giddy squeal. The two friends looked over the rolling green fields from above, as the children played and the town bustled with life in the distance.