Summary: Human turned Pokémon have suddenly started disappearing without explanation. Their teammates and loved ones are left to scramble about in worry and wonder as to where their missing friends may be. However, the arrival of Celine, a newly human turned Pokémon, suggests that the Pokémon world is in danger once again. As she sets out on her journey, she is blissfully unaware of the darkness that follows her and her team…
-x-x-x-x-
Chapter 16: The Trials of Their Hearts
Everyone was both excited, yet nervous of their trip. Excited because, if everything went well, they would grow stronger, and nervous because they didn't know what to expect. Sparkling Grove was unexplored territory, and there were hardly any reports on what type of pokémon lived in the cave and what dangers that they may or may not face. Plus, there was that slight fear of whether or not the enemy learned the location of the place and was either there, or beat them to it. Though Celine was certain that they weren't there. Especially after hearing about what Team Poisonix wanted.
Along the way, they faced little to no danger. Drexel or a member of his team, Rumi or a member of her team, Celine, or Aiden quickly smothered what danger they did face. Though, for the most part, Nova remained out of the battle as Lizette was snoozing away on her back.
Rumi spent her time near her teammates. Not only did she worry that her friend Nova was in over her head with carrying the injured feline on her back while continuously flying, but also she worried about her friend from Post Town.
When she first came to the world, she didn't know what to expect, what to do, or what was going on. But when she found out that she was an eevee, she did not freak out. Instead she just squealed out of happiness saying that the improvement was most welcome. Of course, this made Donte, the one who found her, worried about her sanity. It wasn't until she explained her vague memories of home that he found out she didn't live in this world, but lived in another. Eventually she was introduced to Nova and the two hit it off immediately. It wasn't long after that the trio made their own rescue team.
During their pursuits to find out why Rumi was called down into the pokémon world, they heard of a growing paradise in the outskirts of Post Town. They went there and met with the two leaders of the team. Sniven, a male snivy with a rather outgoing personality, and Tyrella, a female axew who came from the human world with a heart of gold. There they learned that Tyrella wasn't much different from Rumi in terms of not understanding why they were called down to the world. It was disappointing for the normal-type, but comforting at the same time to know that she wasn't alone. Since then, Sniven and Tyrella kept in touch with her.
While she mused about her first moments in the pokémon world, Donte kept an eye on her. He knew that she felt horrible for their friend's loss, and knew that the small pokémon pledged to find Tyrella. He just hoped that Rumi would come out of this entire thing okay.
"You all right?" Grovyle asked, snapping the two out of their thoughts.
Rumi nodded eagerly. "Of course. I guess I'm just a tad bit nervous of what to expect."
She eyed the necklace around his neck with Team PokéStars badge. "What's your team's name?"
"Team PokéStars, though I'm not the one who came up with the name."
"Wait, the Team PokéStars?" Donte asked, surprised to see members of the well-known exploration team.
Grovyle nodded with a smirk. "My friends, Annabelle and Vivian, created the group and it's name."
Donte looked over to the absol ahead of them. He was idly chatting away with Fiona and Celine, both laughing occasionally when a joke came up.
"Were they…?"
"Yes," he said, his voice low. "Annabelle was first, then they took Vivian."
"Wait," Rumi started, trying to piece things together, "I thought they were only capturing human turned pokémon. I haven't heard much about your team, but I did hear that it was led by a leafeon, who was once human, named Annabelle and her partner, Vivian. Isn't Vivian a normal pokémon?"
"And what just what do you mean by 'normal?'" Grovyle snickered. "Vivian was far from normal, that's for sure. But yes, she is a regular pokémon. Though I'm not sure why they took her as well."
"Things just keep getting more and more complicated," the noivern sighed.
Rumi didn't say anything. Her resolve only grew stronger when listening to Grovyle's words. She wanted to help everyone. With her head held high, she walked with determination laced in her eyes. That was it. She was going to help Celine and Drexel, stop the ones responsible, and restore the balance of this world even if it meant her own life.
While she became stronger in her conviction, Celine was a little worried about hers. Drexel would handle the Tower of Geoma and Rumi would handle the Tower of Spirals, and Celine would handle the Dark Army. After what Zoroark told her, it was hard to remain positive.
Fate was cruel, or so she felt. She got the hardest mission of all, yet she was the weakest out of the three humans. Plus, there was the pressure of being the one to save all the other human turned pokémon. But not just regular human turned pokémon, heroes. Heroes who stood up to the challenges that they were meant to face and overcame it.
She jumped a little when she felt Aiden put a paw on her shoulder. She looked at him worriedly, but offered a small smile. She rested her hand on his and sighed. "Aiden, I'm scared."
"I know," he said. "But you have no reason to be. I'll be there with you."
"I'm the weakest though. How could I be tasked with facing an entire army?" she asked, her ears drooping. "And if my dreams are right, then they aren't just an ordinary army either."
He squeezed her shoulder. "We'll figure that out when we cross that bridge."
A similar scene was taking place with Drexel and Fiona. Fiona was frowning, each step closer to their destination making her more and more nervous. She was terrified of a repeat performance of the incident at Rocky Hills. Granted, her small talk with Silver and Celine moments ago had cheered her up a little, but it still didn't fill the uselessness she felt in her heart.
"What's wrong?" Drexel asked, snapping the flower-pokémon out of her thoughts.
"Nothing," she lied.
He raised an eyebrow, obviously not believing her lie. "I can sense your uneasiness, Fiona. Now tell me, what's wrong?"
"What if I get captured again?" she murmured. "And don't tell me that you'll rescue me again because I know you will. I just don't want to be a damsel in distress all the time."
She gasped slightly when he lifted her off the ground and settled her on his shoulder. She looked at him with surprised and noticed the faraway look in his eyes. "Remember that one time you saved me?"
Fiona blushed slightly. "Y-yes, I do."
The incident he was speaking about was when he was still just a froakie and Fiona was still a flabébé. It was during one of their first outlaw missions. Everything was going so well until the outlaw became desperate. The outlaw, not wanting to go to jail, got lucky with one of his hits and knocked Aldous out and Drexel into near unconscious. Fiona had managed to dodge the attack, but she was horrified to see two of her members down. Unfortunately the outlaw noticed her distraction and used it to knock her into near unconsciousness.
She remembered watching the outlaw approach Drexel with the intent to kill him. She'd been so terrified that she screamed for him to stop, unknowingly taping into her inner strength and summoning a grassy terrain. It caused the outlaw to stop and stare at her as the petals of flowers flew around her, engulfing her in a light. When the light vanished, she was no longer a flabébé, but a floette, and a severely angry one at that. With her newfound power she called upon the flowers for more strength and defeated the outlaw, thus saving Drexel from his death.
The memory caused her to blush. "I was just protecting you…"
He smirked in turn. "And that's exactly what I'm doing for you. I wasn't kidding what I said before I evolved either."
Her blush deepened, thinking back to when he evolved into a greninja.
The impact of their fall had knocked the wind out of the flower-like pokémon and momentarily stunned her. Gothitelle was fighting with Drexel, making sure she stuck close to the downed pokémon. When she had knocked him far away enough, she grabbed the fairy-type and attempted to make him surrender. Instead of making him surrender though, she infuriated him. He called her a coward and a petty loser, growing more infuriated when he noticed that Gothitelle had summoned a psychic blade and pressed it against the floette's neck.
Fiona had never seen such rage from Drexel. He was shaking uncontrollably with anger. He growled at Gothitelle, telling her that she had a lot of nerve to point a weapon at the neck of someone he loved. However, he was nearly beaten down with the onslaught of psychic moves the psychic-type flung at him in her attempt to knock him out. Just when she thought it was over, a light engulfed him and allowed him to evolve. But Gothitelle never had the chance to see his next evolved state because he was in the shadows. From there, he continued his barrage of attacks, effectively releasing the fairy-type and causing the gothitelle to stumble back.
Tears were welling up in Fiona's eyes as she hugged his neck. She didn't mind his slight confession in the slightest. "Thank you so much, Drexel."
"No, thank you Fiona. Because without you I'd still be lost." She smiled at him, her heart swelling.
Aiden clearing his throat brought the two out of their moment. She slowly turned to see Celine, Aiden, and Aldous staring at them. Aldous and Aiden were grinning like fools while Celine smiled with a small blush, winking at the fairy-type.
Fiona's face was redder than the petal she flew on, and looked away with a shocked expression. Drexel didn't seem to be bothered by any of it, but if they could see his mouth, they could see that he was smirking.
-x-x-x-x-
Once night had fallen, the group decided to stop for the night. After everyone ate, they told stories about their adventures. Soon, one by one, everyone went to sleep.
Rumi was not one of those asleep. She had her eyes glued to the night sky, watching Donte as he twirled around in the sky gracefully. There was something about his graceful movements in the sky that entranced the normal-type.
She'd always seen Donte and Nova flying in the air, gracefully moving along with the will of the wind. Both of them were aerial specialists and knew how to work effectively with the wind, both in battle and in grace. It was so captivating in the normal-types eyes.
The eevee closed her eyes, dreaming of wings growing on her back so that she could dance with her friends in the sky. She dreamt of many things; the wind blowing in her face, the thrilling feeling of flying over a beautiful landscape, and the way the wind felt beneath her wings.
Opening her eyes she desperately wished that she could fly.
"What's with the sad face?" Rumi, startled, turned her neck to see Celine walked towards her. She was smiling apologetically for startling her.
Rumi looked back to Donte. "I wish I could fly. I wonder what it feels like… to have the wind carry you. Flying-types make it look so easy."
"They do, don't they," Celine said, looking towards Donte.
Rumi sighed dreamingly. "Donte especially knows how to fly gracefully. When he's in the sky, he's free. He loves that feeling more than anything." She smiled fondly at an old memory. "When we first met, he showed off. It was a beautiful display. Especially when he added a few visual effects."
"Do you like him?"
The question caught the normal-type off guard. "Like him?"
"As more than a friend, I mean," Celine said.
Rumi didn't answer at first. She looked back to Donte, wondering exactly what it is that she felt for him. "…I think I might have a crush on him. I'm not entirely sure. I'm trying my hardest not to fall in love."
"W-why?" Celine asked, surprised by this.
"Some humans remained here in the pokémon world, while others were forced to return home. From what I heard from Nova and Donte, there are a lot of human turned pokémon in this world. Eventually…" her face fell and her ears drooped. "…Some of us won't have the choice to come back."
"They made the decision to stay in the human world, didn't they?" Celine asked.
Rumi shrugged. "I don't know. But in the end, does it matter? We have families back in the human world, right? A mother, father, sibling…maybe even a lover. Won't they miss us? What happens to our bodies when we're here? Have we completely faded from the human world? There's just so much that I don't understand. And I don't want to have to hurt anyone for my own happiness."
"Are you saying that us staying here will eventually tip the balance of the world in the wrong direction?" Celine asked, having never thought of the things that Rumi brought up.
Again, Rumi shrugged. She looked conflicted. "I don't know, to be honest. But what if we don't have the choice that others have? What if we can't come back? We'll be leaving this world behind, and all the pokémon that we've come to love and work with. Our leaving will hurt them because they know they'd never see us again."
Neither of them spoke for a while. She'd never thought about those things. She had just assumed that she would be staying in the pokémon world once her job was done. Her heart ached at the thought of leaving Aiden once their job was over. He would be crushed, devastated even. Even Fiona would be as well, once Drexel left.
Rumi noticed the crestfallen look on the braixen's face, feeling guilty. "I'm sorry for crushing your hopes. We still don't know what will happen."
"No, you're right," Celine said after a moment. "None of us knows what will happen once we're done. I just assumed we'd be staying like the other human turned pokémon had."
"We still might," Rumi said, thinking positively. Celine looked at her curiously. The eevee smiled warmly. "Didn't the wish to be with their partner enable them to stay? I'm sure both the human and their partner had to go through a trial to ensure their stay in the pokémon world. When you think about it that way, then there's a chance for us to stay after all."
What the eevee said instantly erased Celine's sadness and replaced it with hope. "Yes," she said, the thought of it welcoming, "there is still hope!"
-x-x-x-x-
Finally, after four days of walking, the large group stood in front of the entrance of Sparkling Grove.
The area around the grove was beautiful. The trees were all colored in a dark blue with white and yellow flowers. Some of the trees were meshed with dark blue and purple with red, yellow, and white flowers. Even the grass was in odd hues of color. Some parts were colored a dark green, while other spots were a light blue. It almost looked like they were in outer space.
The trees framed a perfect entrance into the small cave known as Sparkling Grove. Just like it's name stake, the cave was covered in jewels that sparkled whenever the light touched them.
Aiden stood in front of the group with his hands on his hips and his eyes locked on the entrance. Drexel was beside him, also sizing the place up. "Be ready for anything," he said to Aiden.
Aiden eyed him from the corner of his eyes before nodding. "The same to you. We have no idea what to expect in this place. Do you think it would be best to travel in one whole group?"
"I'm not sure," Drexel answered. "We don't know if our enemy is here and we don't know what to expect inside."
"H-hey!" Both male pokémon turned to see all the girls laughing or giggling at Lizette's expression. Aldous was in front of her with a flower and a big smile, and if Drexel looked hard enough, a small blush.
Lizette looked away with a mock scowl, her face obviously turning red. "What the heck are you doing trying to woo me at a time like this?"
"To see if my tactics work and prevent you from hurting yourself any further," Aldous answered.
She looked back at him with an eyebrow raised. "Are you saying that I'm a damsel in distress?"
He gulped when she approached him with an eyebrow twitch. He backed away, still holding the flower in front of him. "O-of course not! I'm just trying to make sure that you'll be okay!"
"I'll be fine!" she huffed, folding her arms in front of her. "I could kick your butt ten times over if I wanted!"
He looked away, grumbling, "I highly doubt that."
Since they were so close the feline heard and her eyebrow twitch increased. Aldous cried out in fear as he was lifted off of the ground. He saw Lizette's ears slightly raised and her eyes glowing red. "Okay, okay, you can kick my butt!"
She dropped him with a big smile of victory. "Thank you."
He lay there on the ground with the flower landing in front of him. He pouted. Lizette, seeing this, lifted the flower and examined it. She smiled, blushing once more before kneeling in front of Aldous. "But thank you for your concern," she said, kissing his cheek and moving away.
Drexel rolled his eyes when he saw Aldous' face lit up with a goofy grin. "Will you stop goofing off?"
"Sure," he said, still smiling goofy as he got to his feet. The rest of the girls giggled at his star struck expression.
"I think you broke him," Fiona whispered to Lizette. The feline only smirked and walked away proudly, as if it had been her plan all along.
As much as Aiden enjoyed the small display of the group having fun, he knew it was time to get to business. "Alright, everyone, we're here. Before we go in, what do you guys all think? Should we travel as one large group or break into our own teams and explore the cave?"
"Wouldn't we be going in the same direction?" Lizette asked, fixing the flower to stay nestled next to her ear. "If we are, then I don't think it matters."
Celine rubbed her chin. "I agree. I really don't think we would have to separate since we're all going straight."
"Both of you are forgetting that this is a mystery dungeon," Drexel said. Fiona floated over to him and eyed the cave with a skeptical look.
"Are you so sure of that?"
"No, but-"
"Then we don't know that," she smirked up at him. "It's probably best we stick together anyway. That way we can switch if someone gets injured and needs the time to heal."
"I agree with that," Lizette said. "We don't know how strong the pokémon are in this cave, nor do we know the types of pokémon inside. They could really damage us. So, if we travel together one of us can switch out to attack the pokémon before it can do any real serious damage. Plus, if we were to go separately, one of our teams could be knocked out and the rest of us would have to come looking for them, thus wasting more time."
"Okay," Drexel said lifting up both his hands defensively. "We'll stay together as a group. Now, if we're all done chatting away and wasting time, let's get going."
-x-x-x-x-
The rotation plan was a major success. The enemies were indeed powerful, but they weren't strong enough when they were paired up against a pokémon that had an type-advantage of them. Since the cave was full of water-types, rock-types, and poison-types, Lizette (though only brief moments before Aldous jumped in and continued the attack), Celine, Aiden, and anyone else that was effective against these types did most of the fighting.
They were finally reaching the end of the cave when Celine, Drexel, and Rumi felt off. Their partners felt this and became even wearier.
"What's wrong?" Fiona whispered, floating up to Drexel's face to hear him better.
She could see the slight pain in his eyes. "I don't know," he whispered softly, "something isn't right. And apparently I'm not the only one feeling this way."
The duo looked over to see Celine leaning against Aiden with a sickly look on her face. Not far behind her Donte was hovering to the side of Rumi, constantly asking if she was all right.
"There's something ahead… and it has a lot of power," he continued. Fiona looked at him worriedly. "Though, if my senses are right, it's sleeping."
"Hopefully we won't have to fight then…"
When they reached the end of the cave, they were astounded. The cave, still sparkling with an unknown light, had brightened considerably. There was a large altar at the end of the room with a lot of stones with strange symbols on them.
Celine, Drexel, and Rumi all felt drawn to them, as if the stones were calling out to them. Suddenly, the trio blanked out, causing their teammates to call out their names and surround them in sheer horror.
-x-x-x-x-
Celine groaned, opening her eyes slowly to see nothing but darkness. She sat up immediately and looked around for her friends and team, but when she found none she started to panic.
Don't worry, human, your friends are safe. A voice spoke, startling the braixen out of her wits. She got to her feet and looked around frantically for the pokémon that spoke. She was greeted with the sight of a yellow floating orb.
I'm so happy to see that you've finally made it here, the orb spoke, pulsating whenever it did so. I've been waiting for you and your companions.
"Who are you?" Celine asked.
You will soon discover, human. But first, do you know the purpose of which you were called down to face?
"Purpose?" Celine asked, furrowing her eyes together in thought. "You mean the challenge of facing the Dark Army?"
The orb seemed to pulsate greatly, the atmosphere filling up with happiness. Yes! I'm so relieved that you know! I was worried that you'd never make it here, and I was especially worried that you'd come here without knowing why you were called. That makes things so much easier…
However, the voice began, the friendly atmosphere disappearing once again, you have much to learn, and a trial you must overcome.
"What do you mean?"
I cannot tell you everything. First, you must overcome your worst fear before you can earn the stone of the guardian.
The scenery quickly changed around the braixen. It wasn't a very welcoming scenery either; the sky's were a dark grey, threatening to release rain and thunder. She was surrounded by barren land with a looming castle in the background. She was about to ask the voice what was going on when a familiar pokémon appeared in front of her. "Aiden!"
Aiden stood in front of her, but something was wrong. His fur was discolored and his eyes void of emotion. "Aiden?"
Suddenly he charged up an aura sphere and shot it towards her. With a squeal she barely managed to dodge. "Aiden! What was that for?"
He fired another aura sphere in her direction. Having no time to react she endured it. The impact sent her flying back a couple of yards before hitting the ground with a hard THUMP.
She sat up slowly with a groan. She stared at Aiden as he approached her. She scrambled away in fear. "A-Aiden! What's wrong? It's me, Celine!"
Aiden paused for a moment, but continued his onslaught. Celine endured the hits or either dodged them, refusing to fire an attack at him. She was crying, begging for him to snap out of whatever was wrong.
-x-x-x-x-
Rumi was going through a similar scene. She was running away from Donte who followed after her fiercely. Like Aiden, he was discolored and bent on killing the small eevee he chased. All the way, Rumi was sobbing.
"It's because I said I only have a crush, isn't it?!" she shouted, dodging a shock wave attack from the flying bat pokémon. "Look, I'm sorry! I never knew just saying that you have a crush on someone would tick you off! Or is it because I said I'm trying so hard not to fall in love with you?!"
She let out a shrill cry as he swooped down and caused the small pokémon to lose her balance. She hit the ground with a hard thump and looked back up at Donte. He was flying around her like a vulture with a predatory gaze.
"Did I do something to anger you?" she whispered, staring at him.
-x-x-x-x-
Drexel dodged each of the attacks that the floette in front of him was throwing. He had no problem with dodging her attacks, but he certainly did have a problem attacking her. He was trying to figure out why Fiona was acting so aggressive towards him. She was never like this, even on her worst days!
"C'mon," he nearly shouted, "Fiona, knock it off! This isn't funny!"
He winced when one of her razor blades cut into his skin. His reflexes saved him from another barrage of petals. Fiona glared at him and shifted the angry attack in his direction.
Knowing that he would be unable to avoid the attack, he summoned a blue shield that protected him from the barrage. He landed gracefully once the attack was done, but had no time to rest. He narrowly dodged her vine whip attack.
What the heck is going on? He thought, staring at the discolored version of Fiona. "I'm not fighting you, Fiona, so please stop it!"
In his slight moment of distraction, the floette used it wisely and grabbed him with her vines. He struggled to get out, but winced when he felt his strength quickly fading. She was absorbing his health!
He was losing his strength quickly, and he couldn't figure out any other way out of this besides attacking her. The thought of attacking her, however, did not settle well over his heart.
As he felt his vision blur out and the darkness over take him, he thought of the fond memories the two shared.
Your worst fears are to raise your weapons against those you love, huh? The voice echoed.
He opened his eyes slowly, seeing the ball of light from the corner of his eyes. I can't bring myself to raise my weapons against Fiona. She's saved me far too many times, and I'm more than positive she's unaware of it. As cliché as it may sound, she's made me smile whenever I've felt sad. Her smile provides me with all the strength I need to fight. Without her, I'd be lost.
Apparently the voice had heard his thoughts as well as the other two. Then tell me, humans; would those you love strike you intentionally?
Drexel winced as the vine whip around him tightened. He immediately thought no, but if she was controlled, then that was most certainly a different story. If his voice couldn't break through whatever was controlling her, then how could he even save her?
Is this how far your own love for them would go? The voice asked. You would not dare to stop them as they slowly kill you, even if they were trying their hardest to fight whatever was taking them over?
This revelation made Drexel look back at Fiona. He saw nothing in her eyes, but then he thought about what the ball of light had said earlier. This was a trial, and he was facing his greatest fear: facing off against his partner if she ever found herself controlled.
But in the recesses of his minds, he realized something. Fiona would never willingly strike him, even if a force took over her. He would see the fire of defiance in her eyes. He thought about what she would want, and he knew for a fact that she would never want to fight him and if it ever came to it, would want him to personally stop her before she did anything she would regret.
With this newfound strength he snarled at the fake Fiona in front of him. He broke free from his binds and did a backflip to avoid another swipe of her vine whip attack. He landed gracefully with four water shurikens surrounding him.
He would fight. He would not let her down.
-x-x-x-x-
Rumi was thinking over the words of the ball of light. Despite their short time together, she knew from the back of her mind that Donte would never willingly attack her. The whole reason behind his evolution was to protect her. He had risked his life for the small eevee, despite not knowing her so well in the short time they spent together.
When he was evolved, he told those who faced off against him that he would never ever let anything harm her. Even if they tried turning him against her, he would never give up and fight till the death. If he ever heard her voice, he would follow it until he found her and broke free of whatever dared to get in his way.
And even though it was silly, he had promised something to her. When everything was over, he promised to teach her the art of flight.
She knew it was impossible, and that their promise was silly, but it meant a lot to the young pokémon who had no clue why she was called to the pokémon world.
Struggling to get to her feet, she decided that she would stand her ground. This was not the noivern she knew. And she'd be damned if she was going to let some fake noivern tarnish her friends name!
-x-x-x-x-
Celine was still hesitant to attack, even if what the voice said had logic behind its words. This was Aiden, the strong-willed, but headstrong lucario that had earned her affections. She winced when she raised her arms in front of her to block one of his attacks.
Through her arm block she watched him desperately. Was this what Zoroark meant when he said that she was the weakest out of the humans in both mental and physical strength?
Then the dreams of her nightmares returned. The discolored pokémon army! They were in the exact same state that Aiden was in!
She yelled out in pain when one of Aiden's attacks breached her defenses and hit her squarely in the face. She stumbled back, but received a strong punch to the gut, making her double over and cough in pain. Then with a roundabout kick, he sent her flying.
Celine groaned as she struggled to get up. She was aware that if she didn't fight back soon, she would be defeated. But was the point behind this trial besides making her fight against Aiden and conquering her fear? Was it another way to show her on how to release the pokémon in this kind of state?
Her eyes flashed red dangerously. This had to have the answer! This wasn't just a trial, this was a way of conquering her fear of having to face Aiden and provide a hint on how to release any type of pokémon from this state of mind.
She whipped out her stick and it immediately ignited. The fake Aiden saw this and paused where he stood. "I don't ever want to fight you," she spoke, "but I will not let those ruffians tarnish your mind and corrupt you! I promise you that I will save you and those other pokémon!"
As soon as she said this, there was a pillar of light that landed in front of her.
With a conviction as strong as yours, the voice boomed, you are ready to harness the power of mega evolution!
I know this is a bit late, but I just noticed that I've been describing Donte as his final evolved form and not his pre-evolved form. Whoops. Sorry guys! Hopefully it doesn't confuse anyone too much. If it does, I'm terribly sorry. I had written this with him as a noibat in my mind.
Psychotic Sic: Oh yes, I agree with your statement completely. That's why it always took me so long to write stories – I was worried I wasn't improving, but I can plainly see that I have improved a lot since my first few stories. And I will always keep looking back on the mistakes I made and improve upon them. Also, it's because of people like you and November Red Angel that I continue writing. Every review, follow, and favorite truly does inspire and shows me that I do have the ability to write.
So once again, thank you both Psychotic Sic and November Red Angel!