Hey there people! I’m Iduabren and this is my first time uploading ANYTHING to this site. I hope you like this story
Honestly, I don't know. I just know that I started a new game of PMD: Explorers of the Sky and I just couldn't hold myself back! The memories after years without playing the game! The musics, most of all the damn musics! Ooooooooh! I was smiling like an idiot hehe. And well I decided I couldn't wait to come up with a fanfic bassed on the game... However! I have changes planned for this, and I hope you like them!
Wellp. One more thing, I just ask you to be patient since I'm not the best at writing in English and I might skip some mistakes as I read this before putting it up. But enough of my ramblings about how terrible I am.
Here’s the chapter! I hope you enjoy it!
Oh wait! One more thing! Have YouTube ready! This isn’t only about reading -smirk-
Now, enjoy!
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Chapter I
At the ocean’s mercy
He had to move. He had to do it right then and there. He was settled and determined to do it. He just needed to concentrate and activate the gem. The forest he was in, was like a blur to his eyes as he ran through it, looking for the place he’d been told to go to. The grey trees and leaves looking like statues in front of him. Or they would be if he wasn’t running.
He kept at it. After a little while, he finally reached the place. Now he just had to concentrate, activate the gem and-
“Why?” A voice suddenly echoed around him. “Why did you do it?” It asked. “Don’t you trust me?”
He recognized the voice. It was the voice of a good old friend. “No… Please not again!” He said out loud. The echoes of the voices continued and only more voices started sounding. Making it a cacophony of echoes that only disturbed his ears. “Please… Just… Shut up…” He begged, covering his ears, trying to block off the noise, but it only grew more and more, no matter what he did. “Shut up!” He called again. “SHUT THE HELL UP!” He roared.
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He’d been there for a few months now. Exploring and investigating about something he was looking for. This investigation had been unsuccessful whatsoever. It was time to go to another country to investigate. It didn’t matter which one, he just had to keep looking. The problem was that he was running out of time. The more he spent with no clues or hints, the more pressure he felt. He was a Riolu with green eyes, thinner than the average, with silver fur collar and pretty average for the rest of his fur coloring; he also had sharper shaped bones on the back of his paws and always had a black martial arts belt tied around his waist.
He needed to find a way to reach another region. The problem was that he had no money at all. All his research had been done studying at that city’s library, as well as in other cities, and going out to explore the different territories of the region, and it wasn’t like one would find money lying around on the floor waiting for the first that comes by to pick it up. He needed to find someone that would be willing to strike a deal or something. He came out of the old building he’d been using as his base and went towards the port. There he found some ships and asked if they could take him for a ride in exchange of work. All of them denied him, either telling him that they weren’t interested on having children working, and he wasn’t able to convince any of them; or on the other side they say they didn’t travel between regions.
The Riolu didn’t understand those that said no because of him being a kid, yet he kept on looking. The whole day passed and he hadn’t got any luck on getting a ship to take him. Seeing as he wouldn’t find anyone there, the Riolu started looking on other places. He went into bars at the port and out of that place, around the city. He didn’t find anything.
In the end he went back to the building, sighing. Deciding to call it a day, the Riolu laid down on the floor after setting up a nice campfire that he had there from the last night, having something to keep warm while he slept.
He woke up a little while later, the sound of steps into the building woke him up with a start. His senses instantly sharp as he stood up. The Riolu walked out of the room he was in. He looked around, ears raised and eyes focused for a moment, but he couldn’t see anything. He concentrated for an instant, then his eyes filled with energy, his green pupils turning to a glowing silver color as the energy of his aura filled his vision, allowing him to see his surroundings in a short distance, since he was still using his eyes just in case.
Riolu walked down the hallway of the building. He didn’t see anything and using this ability this way was starting to strain his eyes, so he opted to close them, increasing the range of his aura sight as well. After inspecting the only floor of the building that was accessible and not finding anything nor anyone around he decided to go back to sleep.
However, when he came back to his spot, he got into a fighting stance, as he saw someone crouching by the fire he’d made up and warming up. “It’s so kind of such a young Pokémon like you to share his fire with a fellow homeless.” The intruder spoke, with a recognizable female voice, as she kept her paws close to the fire. For some reason she was covered in clothes, which made it harder to recognize her species.
“Who are you?” He asked, his voice sounding slightly raspy, but he didn’t let it get to him. “And I haven’t invited you here.” He said.
“Oh. But of course you have not.” She said, only now did he notice that her voice sounded elderly as well. “But you wouldn’t kick out an old Lady such as myself, right pup? I present no threat to you nor do I intend to steal anything you might have.” She said, making him feel stupid for keeping ready to fight and he blushed, relaxing.
“Sorry, ma’am.” He apologized.
She chuckled lightly. “My. My. So mannered and respectful.” She said, and he blushed more. “Here. As you shared your fire with me, I shall share my water with you.” She said, lending him a waterskin. He was about to refuse it when she smiled. “Don’t be shy, boy. We should help each other in such dire situations, and right now, you need the water more than I, take it.” She said.
He shut his mouth at those last words from the old lady and took the offered water, taking a few sips of it. It was fresh, and the liquid trickled down his throat, making him just crave for more as he became aware of how thirsty he was. He had been all day to and fro through the city without being able to take a sip of water anywhere. By the time he realized it, he had emptied the waterskin, “Oh, my! You sure were in need of it, pup.” She chuckled again, sounding amused but not offended, even then he apologized again, ashamed of what he’d done, and went to give back the borrowed recipient. “Keep it.” She said, and he could see as mile under the cloth that covered her head thanks to the light of the fire, her golden eyes shone with kindness and tenderness, he couldn’t deny her request and kept it. “I hope you don’t mind that we share this fire tonight.” She asked. He didn’t say anything but nodded and saw as the other Pokémon laid down. He sat by the fire and put some more sticks into the fire to keep it raging.
At some point, he must have fallen asleep, as he woke up by morning, the fire turned into ashes that were still warm, which meant that the fire had died off not that long ago. He found himself laying down and he stood up. He was surprised when the old Pokémon wasn’t there anymore. At first he thought he had dreamed it all, until he saw the very same waterskin that the old lady had given him last night, only it was filled up again with fresh water. ‘Hmm? What the…’ He thought as he shook the recipient and heard the water. ‘She might had refilled it but… why didn’t she take it back?’ He wondered as he stood with it in hand, after looking at it for a moment he decided to take it with him, hanging it from his shoulder.
The Riolu had another long day ahead, again looking for someone to take him to another region. He decided that he didn’t have time to dwell into last night’s visitor. He spent the whole morning looking, but without success again by midday. To get something to eat, he did some favors to the merchant Pokémon of the marketplace as well. It was when he came back from one of the favors he’d made that a Garchomp shopkeeper asked him. “So. I’ve heard that you are trying to hire a ship to get to another region, offering yourself to work as payment?” The dragon type asked, a male, as he stocked up a bag full of apples and some berries. Riolu looked at him for a moment, surprised.
“Yeah. Why?” He asked the dragon.
“Well. I’m just saying. They think kids are too inexperienced and weak to do any of the hard work that a ship needs to be done.”
“I can adapt to anything I have to do and I’m strong enough.”
“Well. If you are so sure of yourself then you should go see Matthew The Crimson.”
Riolu looked at him for a moment, confused. “Sorry. I’m not from here. Who is this Matthew guy?” Riolu asked.
“Captain Matthew The Crimson Gallade. He’s the captain of The Windshear, a cargo ship that navigates between the continents, transporting things between the regions and one of the bests at it. He also sometimes takes Pokémon as well, or so the rumors say. He might listen to your offer. I’ve also heard he has a kid working for him.”
“Thank you, mister.”
“Don’t thank me kid. In fact I should thank you for your help today. Here’s what you asked for.”
And with that, Riolu got a bag full of food, that he immediately started to sate his hunger on. “Oh! One more question: Where can I find him?” He asked before getting too far away.
“Matt? He seems to frequent the Shimmering Jar, a bar at the port, when he’s not near his ship checking on the cargo for his next trip. You’ll recognize him when you see him.” And with that, Riolu was off, back to the city’s decks.
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Riolu came out of the bar. ‘I’ve gotta have the worst luck in this damn world!’ He thought as he had found first the Cargo Ship that the Pokémon he was looking for was the boss of, but the Gallade wasn’t there, nor anybody for that matter to ask. Then he found the bar that that Garchomp had told him, and asking around they told him that he wasn’t there nor had they seen him in the whole day. ‘It’s best to go back to the ship and wait there, after all he works with it right? And it looked like it’s ready to depart.’ He thought as he walked the way back to The Windshear.
The ship didn’t look bad. It was a medium sized ship with only crewmembers on it, made out of oak wood and thoroughly reinforced. It had eight cannons, four on each side, to protect itself from the attack of pirates before they could approach the boat, the ship had two masts with two sails each, which were a clean white, yet they had some patches. The name of the ship was proudly written at the side of the prow, over the captain’s room’s windows at the poop and also at the side of the said room’s door, carved on a piece of wood. The figurehead was just the head of a falcon with sharp eyes looking forwards. The Riolu decided to wait out of the ship. Not wanting to give the impression that he was trying to steal anything, and so he sat down and waited.
Someone approached after a while, it was a Garbodor. Riolu stood up upon seeing that the Pokémon was approaching the ship, but when the other stopped and didn’t say anything he found it strange if it was part of this ship’s crew. “Heh. I see that Gallade got a guardian for his boat. But just a simple kid? Does he really think you can protect this ship from thieves?” Her voice was clearly female.
{ The Battle - Dark Cloud 2 }
Hearing this, Riolu looked at her with a more firm gaze. “Whatever you’d want. I won’t let you get anything from this ship.” He said as he got into a stance, legs spread, one hand raised up and the other extended forwards as he waited for her.
She only laughed. “Come on! don’t make me laugh, kid!” She said.
“You already did.”
“Ok. That’s it! I’ll show you not to respond to your elders.” Her amusement was gone, turned into anger as she growled and took air, spitting a lot of rubbish balls at him.
Riolu dodged them with a speed unnatural for his age and then shots forwards with even more speed, the Garbodor was taken by surprise as she got a solid kick to her body that made her stumble backwards a bit. Riolu just kept with another attack, a quick uppercut to her face, making her go straight again and took her down, backing away as she got back up, an infuriated look on her face.
“You’ll pay for that you pipsqueak!” She roared as she breathed again, this time a thick, purple fog surrounded her and hid her in a cloud of poisonous gas.
Riolu immediately closed his eyes and activated his aura sight to see her, while keeping distances with the cloud. As long as she was in there he wouldn’t be able to do much. However, all of a sudden he felt someone grab him and pick him up as whomever it was held him tightly and with a lot of strength. The Riolu struggled against the hold but he was unable to break free. “Let go!” He barked, trying to headbut whomever was holding him, but failing.
“You really think that’s gonna work?” The Garbodor asked. “You might want to hold your breath as much as you can… either way you’ll die at any moment so.” She said, her tone now confident and cocky as she teased him while walking into the purple cloud. The Garbodor had somehow tricked him with a substitute. That had been what he had seen within the purple mist, and it was what distracted him for her to get him.
Riolu filled his lungs with air before she took him into that lethal trap, and then tried to hold it as he kept trying to break free. Whenever the poisonous cloud was about to dissipate, she would just recreate it with another Poison Gas. Riolu started to need air after a few minutes, struggling even harder to break free, but she always managed to tighten her grip around him and keep him trapped. “Oh. It would be so good to breath, right now, wouldn’t it?” She said, teasing him. “Your lungs are burning for air. Just a little breath and then you can keep thrashing and struggling.” She said, starting to feel his fighting grow weak. “Come on. Just a little breath so you can keep going.” She kept on, even breathing soundly.
His mind was starting to go numb and the impulse to breathe was overwhelming. He just couldn’t hold it anymore and breathed in the cloud of poison. The venom intoxicated him in mere seconds and it made her laugh. However, this was her downfall. As she laughed her hold loosened, and he took the opportunity to pull himself free from her arms and quickly kicked her before running out of the cloud of gas. However, it was too late, he could feel it running through his system, slowly sapping away his life as he was on his paws and knees, coughing slightly and panting, but he still could fight.
Garbodor also came out of the cloud, her enraged expression back and she attacked, aiming at him with her arm and shooting three yellow balls of liquid. The Acid Spray nailing him dead on as he wasn’t able to react in time, and burning his fur and skin, making him growl in pain. But he stood up, even with it and went back to the fight. This time, he launched himself at her, even faster than last time, hitting her with a series of kicks and punches, like some martial artist master, almost sending her flying back, then he ran with the same extreme speed behind her, as to avoid her getting near the ship and summoned a silvery sphere of energy that he threw at her, the ball exploded on contact and this sent her flying past a group of Pokémon that were watching the fight unfold and stepped aside to avoid her as she flew, ending defeated and unconscious after smashing against a wall.
{ Music stops }
Riolu was panting. Actually the fight had been nothing for him, but moving so much and so fast had made his blood run, and so did the poison, draining him even more. He tried to get to his backpack, having seen some pecha berries in it, but he couldn’t, falling down on the floor, victim of the venom, he tried to reach for the bag but the intoxication was now too strong, and ended making him lose consciousness. Before he lost it completely he saw someone running to his back and looking inside, but by the time this someone came with the Pecha berry he needed, he was already out of it.
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He woke up with a jump, gasping for air. After a moment if recovery he looked at his paws, he could feel them, so he wasn’t dreaming. ‘I thought I was dead.’ He thought as he then looked around, seeing that he was in a room with a lot of hanging hammocks. He was laying on the floor, on top of a pile of furs and covered with one of them. His bag of berries and his waterskin where near. Feeling hungry and thirsty he reached for them and started eating. ‘Fill stomach first. Questions later.’ He said to himself as he ate a few apples.
“I see ya finally decided to wake up.” A voice said.
Riolu immediately looked at the source, finding himself looking at a scarred Gallade of white and red body and green chest plate. The Pokémon approached. “You’ve been in luck, kiddo. Hadn’t you been carrying such treasures as Pecha berries you’d most likely be bait for the sharks by now.” He said as he sat down on a wooden box.
Riolu stood looking at him for a moment, forgetting about the big apple he had in his paw. “Are you… Captain Matthew The Crimson Gallade?” He asked.
“That I, boy. I see I’m famous even away from the seas!” He said, suddenly proud, which made the blue jackal laugh a bit.
“Nah, I just heard about you from a Garchomp at the marketplace.”
“Aaargh! There goes ma’ joy sinking towards the depth.”
“By the way. Thank you for the help with the poison.”
“Ah! That was nothin’, kiddo. Ya made sure that thrash bag couldn’t step foot on ma’ girl. Helpin’ you was the least I could do.”
“Sorry. Your girl?” The Riolu looked confused, which made the Gallade laugh a bit.
“Yap. This ship. She ma’ deary loved girl.”
The Riolu didn’t say anything after that, not understanding very much why the fellow fighting type said that. “I… I need a favor, Captain.” He said all of a sudden.
“Ask away, boy. Ya deserf anythin’ ya want.”
“I need to get to another Country.” Riolu said.
“Yer askin’ me to take ya to other waters? Yer welcome aboard, kiddo. But what can ya do in turn?”
“I can work. I swear I’m strong and learn fast.”
“Yer strong, that true. The boys and I watched ya fightin’. Ok. I trustin’ ya in this, kid. We’ll take ya to other Region, ya’ll work as a crew mate durin’ the trip. But, now ya must keep restin’ so stay down and get some mor’ sleep if ya can. By the way what yer name, boy?”
“I’m Azay Riolu, Captain.”
“Ok, Azay. I Matthew Gallade. As known as The Crimson, and captain of The Winshear. Ya’ll meet the rest of the boys when yer able to stand and get to work. For now rest.”
With that, the captain left the Riolu alone. The blue jackal lied back down and let himself slip off back to sleep as he heard the captain shouting orders to his crew to set sail already. It wasn’t long before they did.
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A thud woke him up from his sleep. It came with a lot of pain to his face as well. He opened his green eyes to find himself face first on the floor. Letting out a groan, the Riolu stood up, fixing his belt a bit as soon as he was back on his feet. “Yo! Kiddo! Get yer ass movin’ and get onto the deck!” A Feraligatr, not any different from any average one, big blue reptile with red crests all over its back and strong looking, called to him as Azay turned to look at what was his bedding, seeing the water type holding the hammock so he would fall off of it. At least he was glad he was sleeping on one of the lowers, so it was closer to the floor.
He was still half asleep as the Feraligatr left the room, but his senses recovered quickly, allowing him to feel the movement of the ship, and hear the rain outside. “Hm?” He let out, then headed to the hatch leading to the deck, the rain’s water immediately hit his face as soon as he was under the grate. He went out, to be met by the blowing wind and the rumbling of thunder in the distance.
“Oi oi! See who’s up and movin’!” A new voice said, coming from a Shinx that was sitting by the grate. “I say looks like good old Johnny wants some company. Do your chores, Azay. We have this boy to keep floating.” The electric type said with a smile of excitement and patting the deck’s floor with a paw, probably referring that they had to keep the ship navigating through the storm.
In the few days he had been aboard, Azay had gotten to know a bit more of a few of the crew members, basically having to work with them. The thirty year old Feraligatr was Andy and was the counter master and helmsman of the ship, and also one of the carpenters that repaired it. And the Shinx was Lex, he was just fifteen but had spent ten years living and working at that ship; he also was the mirror of the average on his species, black and blue fur, four tipped yellow star shaped tail tip, yellow paw-brands-like pattern around the front wrists and black claws.
Even with the Shinx being that young, Azay hadn’t questioned anything. Everyone does what they want with their lives. And at that moment, they had to keep theirs so he immediately got ready to do his part of the job. The captain had decided that they’ll navigate through the storm since they were falling back on schedule and they couldn’t afford any more holdups.
It wasn’t long before the ship was under the storm. Everyone doing their jobs nicely. Azay was making sure all the cargo was secured and also helping out with what he was asked. Andy was at the helm, trying to avoid the ship going around out of control. Lex, along with some other members of the crew, was making sure the sails were secured and worked properly. Even Azay was helping out on that.
The storm wasn’t that strong at first. However, as they navigated further under the black clouds, the thunders started to fall and the winds picked up. The tides came bigger and started to bend the ship. Andy had to direct the ship towards them and call everyone to hold onto something when a big wave almost broke on them. The weather was a chaos. Captain Matthew kept calm on this situation, inspecting everything and ordering when to unfurl or strike the sails to catch the wind and keep the ship moving. It was tiring but the crew managed it. Until a thunder fell on one of the masts, hitting one of the crewmembers, who fell headfirst down to the deck, the Machoke staying still on the wooden floor. “No time for mournin’ now, boys! We hav’ ta get outta here!” The Captain called after seeing this and that his boys stood still in place.
The sails were unfurled and secured then, the winds moving the ship once more while Andy kept it going as much in a straight line as he could. On the mast, Azay and Lex were holding together onto the wood posts, unable to move after the job because the ship started to move harshly because of the wind. It wasn’t a good idea to try and run away from the storm when they were already so far inside. And this was proved when a wave hit them then and Andy couldn’t turn the ship in time towards it. The ship was bent to the side, almost flipped over but it went back upright.
“Fuck!” Azay heard all of a sudden Lex’s voice, which made the blue jackal look at him. The Shinx was dangling from the post, trying to get back on it but having troubles with the wet wood and the winds making the sail move harshly. The Riolu immediately forgot his own grip and jumped to hold the electric cat with both paws while using his legs to hold himself on the mast, until he managed to pull the other male up and the quadruped held tightly onto the post.
“Are… Are you okay!?” The Riolu asked. The Shinx nodded and tightened his grip before another strong wind could send him overboard. However, Azay wasn’t able to hug the post in time and was almost thrown down towards the seas when the ship ended again almost on its side because of it, Andy was trying to stabilize the ship while the rest of the crew were striking the sails again to help on that.
The Riolu was tired, and the grip he managed to get was slack so he started to lose it. Lex quickly held onto the one that had saved his life with his own paws. “Come on, mate. Don’t let go now!” he called as the ship slowly went back to position as the sails were folded. Some of the crew, mostly bipedal Pokemon, went down to the lower decks to row the ship forwards. However, another wave came crashing on them, bending the ship to the other side. Azay lost his grip there and held as hard as he could onto the Shinx’s paws. “No! Don’t let go!” Lex yelled as he tried to take the Riolu back up as the ship once more went back to normal. The thunder kept on falling and rumbling. One thunder struck the ship again, breaking the front mast and setting on fire the point where it struck and the wood broke.
The front sails fell to the seas, as well as the crew that were hanging on that mast. Some managing to swim back to the ship and climb up, but most getting tangled with the ropes and the sails and drowning not long after. Or others, like an infernape, who saw death the moment it saw itself falling into the water, as their fire was extinguished as they submerged. It was a discouraging moment for everyone, but Lex kept up, sucking it up and trying to help the Riolu up. “Just a little longer… Come on! Hang on!” But he was losing his own grip.
In the end they both fell down, but instead of falling into the seas, Azay could hold onto the railing of the ship with one paw and onto Lex’s tail with the other, keeping them both out of the water for now. Captain Matt immediately went for them, but even if he moved fast through the to and fro movements of the ship, it gave him trouble. “N-n-no! I can’t… hold on…!” Azay muttered as he tightened his grip to keep his hold on the railing. Before they fell, tho, the psychic and fighting type reached them and held onto the Riolu’s arm. But nature hadn’t said her last word. Two more thunders fell over them, and then a massive wave hit the ship, making it shake as Andy rode the wave to save the ship. The Gallade’s hold on them slipped and the two young Pokemon fell to the dark waters, just in time to see how one massive thunder fell down on the ship.
“Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!” They cried while the fell.
The two youngsters were lost. And his ship was on fire, the thunder leaving a huge scorched dent on the deck where it had hit. Gallade had lost a lot that night. All because he thought they could cross the storm. The last thunder lit up more fire on the deck. That fire lasted long enough to ignite the powder by the cannons. And, just mere seconds afterwards. The ship exploded, got tore in two and sank down into the depths of the seas.
In the water, Azay managed to get him and Lex over one of the fallen masts, not that far behind the ship, and both of them had seen what had happened. Lex roared out with all his voice… His entire life lost in hours. Azay on the other side, didn’t say anything and didn’t even shed a tear.
The Riolu went to the Shinx after letting him a few moments. “Lex. We have to move.” He said. The Shinx looked at him, the blue jackal couldn’t tell if his eyes were wet because of the rain or another thing, but they had to move and reach the shore. Lex nodded and both got to work, Azay tying a rope to the Shinx’s body and doing the same with himself, so they could pull the other up in case they fell to the water.
The waves didn’t hit as hard the fallen mast as they did the ship, thought when they reached vertical positions it was very hard to keep balanced, those were the moments they both hugged the wood in order to not fall off. The storm was taking its toll on them. The battle against nature was tiring them as they kept trying to move towards the closest shore. The lightnings were their only source of light, and thanks to Lex they weren’t that dangerous, thanks to them, Azay could see a shore near, and both Pokémon headed in that direction, panting after hours of fighting the storm, which kept on raging above them, and enduring it on the remains of the ship was very hard. However, they managed to reach their destination, though it was for the will of the seas.
The currents helped them approach a beach, and one big wave carried them over the sand. The mast was torn into pieces as it collided with the sand, freeing the rope that tied them to it and to each other. Azay fell on top of a rock, getting the air knocked out of him as he landed on his belly, while Lex ended half covered in sand and with the remains of a sail covering him, except his paws. Both Pokemon were defeated after all the effort they’ve made, and the adrenaline running through their bodies was wearing out and so, the both of them succumbed to slumber.
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Me: Well. That’s all for this chapter, folks. I ho-
???: MA’ SHIIIIIIIIP! Y-y-ya blew ma’ ship and sent it to Johnny! What ya done ye bastard!
Me: uuuuh… Sorry?
???: Oh! Ya’ll be sorry, that for sure! -electricity crackles-
???: Lex, calm down.
Lex: I jus’ los’ ma’ life, Azay! How ya want me to be calm!?
Azay: uh…
Me: D-don’t worry! You’ll get a new work soon. Promise!
Lex: Ya better do, boy. Else I show ya how lightnin’ feels!
Me: eeeh Yeah, yeah. Well… As I was saying, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and had a good time reading it. I can’t promise anything about the length of the chapters or about having a stable schedule of uploading, so yeah, follow, read and leave a comment. And stay tuned for the next chapter!
Byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
My god this was hard to edit! having to add all the BBC so it was all nice. wonder if there is a BBC for a straight horizontal line... that would be great for separating scenes that are not connected.
