Part 2 of MudkipBrony's story, happily brought to you by Kiki2328! :D Enjoy!
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"Stacy!" I called out, stepping out of my hiding bush into the forest clearing.
Her head whipped around to face me.
"Stampy!" She yelped, a look of worry and guilt on her face as she stared into my eyes, then down to her bear arms, then back up to me. "It's... this... uh..."
"You lied to me." I said, my voice soft with heartbreak. "I trusted you, and you lied. You lied about who you are."
Stacy was quiet, still staring at me, sadness starting to well up in her expression.
"You LIED!" I suddenly shouted, a surge of anger rushing through my body.
I don't think Stacy liked that.
"Well, what was I supposed to do!?" She angrily retorted. "I couldn't have told you, you never would've stayed with me on our deal!"
"I'd personally much rather prefer you be honest! I was starting to consider you my best friend!" I yelled back, a growl rising in my throat.
"Maybe I never should've never accepted that deal!"
"Maybe I never should've offered it!"
"I wish I had just sold you that first day when I found you, so I wouldn't have to be dealing with your stupid crap now! I hate you, Stampy!" Stacy screamed at me, her chest rising and falling rapidly when she finished as she regained her breath. I took a step back, tears forming in my eyes. That was it. The argument was over. It was short, but it was over.
I turned and ran to camp as fast as I could, not looking back. But I could feel Stacy's presence not that far behind me, I guess she was heading back to camp, too.
Since I arrived back to camp before Stacy, I quickly jumped behind her tent where we had been sleeping and curled up on the ground there, getting comfy on the lush grass. The moonlight illuminated my little spot perfectly, and as I lie there, I heard Stacy re-enter the tent and settle down for sleep.
I wiped the tears dripping down my cheeks, then transformed into an orange tabby house cat, so I could sleep on the grass more comfortably. And then, after a good ten minutes of silent crying, I fell asleep.
---
I awoke to the sun blinding me as a thin ray of sunlight filtered through the branches above me, shining right in my eyes. I sat up and stretched the way cats do, where they lean on their back legs and stretch their front ones out as far as they can, then transformed back into my regular self.
I stood up and walked out from behind the tent to see Dan, Lizzie, and Stacy all packing up the tents and supplies to keep moving.
"Good morning." Dan said. He was the only one who actually greeted me.
"Morning..." I mumbled, still half-asleep.
"We're just about done packing, so get ready to keep moving." He added.
I nodded quickly, then turned to Stacy. "Stacy..." I began. She didn't say anything, completely ignoring me. "Fine." I grumbled, turning away from her again. I heard Lizzie snicker, then noticed her scoot closer to Stacy out the corner of my eye. I bit my lip to keep myself from growling. After all, I was still mad at Stacy. She lied to me about her identity!
---
Stacy and I didn't say anything to each other the whole way back to the city. She grumpily stalked ahead, leading the group, but not close enough to talk to anyone. I lingered in the back, just as grumpy.
As Lizzie kept closer to her, Dan slowed his pace just a bit so I could catch up with him, then he leaned in.
"What happened between you and Stacy?" He asked quietly, genuine concern in his voice.
"I..." I glanced forward, then looked back down at my feet. "I'll tell you later... I don't wanna talk about it right now..." I sighed, unable to spit it out for the moment.
Dan nodded in understanding, then reached over and patted my shoulder.
He seemed like a nice person, he was a good friend. I mean, I consider him my friend, but I don't know if he considers me his friend. But even if he doesn't, I couldn't think about it right then, my mind was too clouded with everything that had happened last night.
---
"We're here!" Lizzie shouted from up front. She grabbed Stacy's hand and pulled her in for a hug, then yanked her through the city entrance.
I once again got that little urge to growl at her, but I didn't.
After some more walking we arrived back at Stacy's house, where me and her had been living together for quite some time now.
"Well, thanks for going hunting with us." I said quietly, not making eye contact with either Dan or Lizzie. "Bye..." I turned to walk into Stacy's house, but she grabbed my tail and yanked me back, causing me to yowl and whip around to face her.
"Ow..." I complained. "Wh-"
"You're not staying in my house any longer." Stacy said, her eyes narrowing as she stared me down. "Our deal is done."
I opened my mouth to protest, or yell something back, but I felt Dan's hand on my arm before I could speak.
"It's okay Stacy, Stampy can stay with me." He said, giving her a slight nod. He obviously didn't want to see any more arguing.
Stacy was quiet for a few moments, looking down to the ground.
"Alright." She said, nodding. "Thank you, Dan." She gave me one last scowl before walking in her front door and slamming it behind her.
Lizzie snickered to herself. "Looks like you and Stacy's little love story is over. Now there's room for ours." She gazed lovingly at her front door, and I couldn't argue. I was too upset at the moment, and I just wanted to get to Dan's house.
As I began following Dan and Lizzie to wherever there house was, my heart broke. I really cared about her. Really, really cared about her.
And even though Stacy had lied to me, yelled at me, and now kicked me out of her house and left me to eat off someone else's energy, I realized at that moment...
I'm in love with her.
---
"Welcome to my house!" Dan said cheerily as he pushed open his front door.
I stepped in behind Lizzie and stared in awe. The house was extremely... blue.
"I'm guessing you like the color blue?" I asked aloud.
"Yup, my favorite!" Dan grinned.
"The place could use a bit more pink..." Lizzie scowled. "But it's home."
I couldn't help but smile. The house was not too big, but not too small. It had simple but pretty pieces of furniture everywhere, and I immediately saw where I wanted to sleep. Right in front of his light blue couch, there was comfy-looking light blue circular rug that looked really fluffy. I ran over to it and jumped toward it, changing into an orange tabby cat in mid-air, then landed on it with all four of my paws. I curled up in the center of it, then Dan came over and sat on the ground next to me, running his hand down my back in a gentle pet to give me energy.
Lizzie was busy cooking something, I could easily smell it.
This is my home now. I thought to myself. Gosh, I miss Stacy...
---
And that's how it went on for a couple weeks. I lived there with Dan, me and Lizzie both feeding off of his energy, and we were pretty happy. Although, we hadn't heard anything from Stacy the whole time, I think she was avoiding them because she knew I was with them. Until the one morning we woke up and Dan couldn't get out of bed.
I woke up from the rug, stretched, then transformed back into my demon form.
I noticed that Dan wasn't sitting at the counter, waiting while Lizzie made breakfast like he usually did.
"Good morning, Lizzie..." I yawned.
"Morning." She responded, flipping the bacon.
"Hey, have you seen Dan yet?"
Lizzie stopped for a moment.
"I... I haven't." She said wistfully, turning to the stool where Dan always sat, patiently awaiting his breakfast.
"I'll check in his bedroom." I walked down the hallway then leaned in the bedroom door, gasping at what I saw. Dan was still in bed, his face gruesomely pale, and his eyes had dark bags under them. "Dan!" I yelped, running to his side, my eyes wide. "What's wrong?!"
"I'm okay..." He said weakly, then started violently coughing. "I just... can't... move..."
And then I realized what was wrong. His body couldn't take two magical beings feeding off his energy. My consumption added to Lizzie's was making him horribly ill.
"Oh Dan, I'm sorry..." I whispered, and then I quickly explained to him what was happening.
"Stampy, it's alright, I'll be okay..." He put his arms under him and tried to push himself up, but he collapsed a moment later. "I'm... fine..."
I ran to the kitchen, quickly explained to Lizzie, then grabbed his plate of breakfast and brought it to him. As he ate, he immediately began to look better, and by the time he was finished, he could finally stand up again, but I made sure to help him into the living room.
Lizzie and I took good care of him that day, all the way up to me tucking him in that night. Lizzie slept in his room, so I said goodnight to the both of them, then gently closed the bedroom door. As I stepped back into the living room, I took a glance at my rug, then to the front door. I knew that I couldn't stay there any longer, or Dan might die.
So I ran away.
I slipped out the front door and ran out into the neighborhood streets, the dim streetlights illuminating the sidewalk being my only path. I didn't know where I was going to go, but I just knew I had to go somewhere where I couldn't hurt anyone anymore.
As I ran through the streets, a black van whizzed past me with writing that I couldn't read in the darkness. I stopped and turned to look back at it, in which it had pulled off to the side of the road and stopped. I cocked my head to the side and stepped forward to get a closer look as a fat man in a blue jumpsuit uniform stepped out of the driver's side, holding a long pole with a large net attached to the end.
"There's one!" He yelled. Another similar-looking man stepped out of the passenger side with a flashlight and a strange-looking device I couldn't discern, and as he turned the flashlight to face me, it briefly lit the side of the van I had been trying to see.
Demon and Angel Control.
I pivoted away from the men on the heel of my paw and leaped into the air, transforming into a cheetah, then took off running as fast as my feline legs could take me.
"Shoot!" One of the men yelled, I couldn't tell which.
Something struck me right in the center of my left flank, and I felt myself being forced back into my regular form, then collapsed to the ground, unable to move my limbs. As I turned to look at what was in my leg, I gasped, seeing it was some kind of dart. The man with the flashlight must've been holding a dart gun.
As I lay there in the middle of the street, both the men approached and crouched over me.
"That one's a demon." The man with the net said, beginning to scoop my body up with it.
"I haven't seen one like that before, though..." The other man said, obviously confused. "He's got cat parts."
"Facemeat doesn't know, Slab." The first man said, now holding my body in the net. Was he referring to himself in third-person? Facemeat was really his name? "Let's just get him back to the center."
"Agreed." Slab nodded.
He flung open the back doors of the van, then Facemeat roughly tossed me in, then slammed the doors behind him. The two men loaded back into the driver and passenger seats, then began to drive off, talking about something to do with lunch.
I couldn't care to listen, I was too scared. But as I curled up there in the net in the back of that scary van, I eventually drifted off to sleep.
---
It was my first morning in the adoption center. I had been unloaded from the van and moved into a cage in the main area the night before, and it wasn't very sanitary or comfortable. However, I wasn't alone.
"Nice to meet you, I'm CaptainSparklez, but you can call me Sparklez." Said the man in the cage directly in front of me. He was an angel, I could easily tell by his fluffy white ears and matching wings.
"I'm... I'm Stampy." I smiled slightly, then reached through the bars of my cage to shake hands with him. He reached through his own cage and happily accepted it.
"So, how'd you get here, kid?" He asked.
"I... I was kicked out of the demon realm for not being evil enough..." I whispered. "I don't want to eat souls like the other demons! It's just not in my nature, I want to be friendly!"
Sparklez nodded. "I see..."
"No way, you were kicked out for not being evil enough either?" Came a strange female voice from the cage next to Sparklez. A muscular girl leaned out from the shadows of her cage. Her most striking feature was definitely her brown hair in childish pigtails. "I'm Emily, by the way. But everyone calls me Em." She said, her voice slightly raspy and kind of deep for a woman. Her demonic features identified her as one of my own kind.
"I'm telling you man, they made the wrong choice when they sent you down there." Came another voice from the cage next to me. It was another female, with long blond hair in beads. "I'm Nell, radical to meet you, dude." She nodded her head towards me in greeting. "Em here is my best friend, we were in the angel city together, but then they kicked her out for not being nice enough. Then, the demon realm kicked her out of there for not being mean enough! Like, what the heck, man?"
I chuckled slightly. "Sounds like you're a mix of behaviors."
"Yup." Em responded. "Kinda like Ivor over there, it's just that he was too mischievous even for the demon realm, so they sent him out. And of course, he wasn't nice enough to be accepted into the angel city, either."
The cage on the other side of Sparklez contained this person now identified as Ivor, who had gray skin and silky black hair that had been pinned up into a man-bun. He also had a matching black beard, which he was currently stroking, eyeing me carefully.
"Hello." He said formally, grinning strangely, then returning to his beard-stroking.
"Okay, okay, now we've all formally met each other." Sparklez smiled.
I smiled back, then felt my face drop as I fell into deep thought.
"I need to get out of here..." I said after a moment.
"What's wrong, my dude?" Nell asked.
"My best friend, her name is Stacy, we had a fight, I need to apologize... I'm in love with her... I need to make things right." I said, straightening up from my slouched position.
"Nice!" Em grinned. "We've been trying to break outta here for a while now, so we'll help. Right guys?"
"Right on, dude!" Nell cheered.
"Of course." Ivor nodded.
"I don't like breaking the rules..." Sparklez sighed. "But I'll do it for you guys. You don't deserve to live like this."
I smiled widely. "Wow... you guys seem like great people."
"Alright, so let's figure out the plan..." Sparklez began.
---
Night had fallen at the adoption center, and all the employees had packed up and gone home, except for the night guards, which there were only three of.
We were ready to escape.
I sat back in my cage as Sparklez reached through the bars of his, grabbed on to the lock on mine, then yanked back with all his might, bracing himself against his own cage for leverage, and using his strong angel wings to pull. Luckily enough, the lock broke off with a snap, and my door easily swung open. I stepped out and morphed my arm into a tiger's leg, then used the sharp and skinny claw to pick everyone else's locks.
In minutes, Sparklez, Nell, Em, Ivor and I were all standing in the cage section of the center, and the door was mere feet away from us.
Ivor peeked out the window quickly, and ducked back, terrified. "There is a guard right outside this door! If we step out, we will all be caught!"
"I thought they were only around the back..." Sparklez sighed, putting his head in his hands. "I'm sorry, guys..."
"It's okay." I said, patting his shoulder.
"I know what to do." He said suddenly, looking forward at the door.
"...Sparklez?" Nell whispered. "What are you doing, man?"
He suddenly flung himself out the door.
"Run, guys! I'll distract them!" He yelled, running the opposite direction from where we were supposed to escape.
"Sparklez!" We all gasped as he ran out there, risking his own freedom for ours.
We all leaped out of the doorway and took off running as fast as we could. I didn't turn into a cheetah or anything so we could all stick together.
Behind us, all the guards were chasing after Sparklez, unaware that we were escaping behind their backs. We made it into the clearing in the woods where we were safe, and Sparklez came running out from the other side of the center, he had gone all the way around the building and was now running to join us.
"Sparklez, come on!" I yelled, reaching my hand out.
But it was too late.
A guard came out of nowhere and tackled Sparklez to the ground.
"No!" We all gasped, horrified.
"We've got you now, buster." The guard cackled, holding Sparklez down, who merely sighed sadly. He looked over at us in the woods and smiled.
"Go." He mouthed to us.
But suddenly, a blinding light came from the sky right above him. The guard on top of Sparklez was forced away as the light descended upon him, and as it came closer and closer, I realized that it was carrying a golden ring... Sparklez was getting his halo back.
"What a noble act." Ivor sighed. "Sacrificing his own freedom for ours. Definitely worthy of the angel city..." He paused. "Pffbt, nothing I would ever do." He chuckled.
"He'll be okay, man." Nell said, putting a hand on my shoulder. "He's going home."
"They're distracted, let's go!" Em urged.
Indeed, all three of of the night guards had crowded around Sparklez and were watching in awe as he spread his angel wings and slowly ascended into the clouds up above, where the angel city was waiting with open gates.
We all turned and ran through the woods, we ran and we ran, and we didn't stop running until we found Stacy's neighborhood, and by then the sun was slowly appearing over the horizon.
"I need to find Stacy and apologize." I said, turning to my new friends.
"We're not leaving you now." Ivor smirked, stepping beside me.
I smiled, then turned and continued running, all of them right behind me.
After a few more minutes, we approached Stacy's house. I stopped for a moment, turned back to look at my friends, then turned back towards the door. I took a deep breath, then marched up the front door and knocked.
"Stacy!" I called out. "It's me, Stampy... Listen, I'm really sorry for everything that happened, can we just talk?"
No response.
"Stacy!" I yelled again. "I understand if you don't want to talk to me, but can I just something, please? Stacy!"
Still no response.
"Stacy?" I said again, a little quieter and more worried now. I reached for the rock to the right of her porch, which was where she kept her spare key. I unlocked the door then stepped inside, the others right behind me.
The house was empty.
"Oh no, I hope she's okay!" I gasped, already worried about her well-being, even after everything she had done.
"Hey Stamps, is this important?" Nell asked, pointing to a book that had been left lying open on the table.
I hurried over and quickly read the note aloud to everyone.
"Today is the day I end it all. I'm tired of the demons being shackled to shadows by our ruler. Today is the day I will summon Romeo and destroy him, along with all the pain we demons have to go through. We deserve as much love and respect as the angels get. Today is the day we're getting it. I'm going to the volcano down south, and that is where I will end Romeo once and for all."
I gasped and covered my mouth as I finished it.
"She's gonna summon Romeo and try to kill him!"
"She can't do that, it's impossible!" Ivor grunted.
"Exactly, I need to save her!" I shouted.
"Well, I'm not abandoning you." Em said. "It's not like I have a home to run to, and I'd much rather be helping my friends."
"Same here, man." Nell nodded.
"Well, I already said I wasn't leaving you." Ivor agreed.
"Alright, then." I smirked. "First, I need to get some more friends."
---
"She WHAT!?" Dan and Lizzie shouted in unison as I finished explaining everything that had happened since I ran away.
"We need to go save her!" Lizzie said, quickly standing up. I growled softly, knowing what her intentions with Stacy were.
"Of course we're in, we need to go now!" Dan agreed.
And so my hero team assembled in front of Dan and Lizzie's house. There was Dan, Lizzie, Ivor, Nell, Em and I all prepared to go rescue Stacy from something that hadn't even started yet.
Then a cloud descended from the sky and landed in front of us, and a familiar face stepped out.
"Sparklez!" I gasped, running forward and hugging him.
"I heard the whole plan from above." He smiled, patting my back as we embraced. "I figured I should help out, and the angel city leader gave me direct permission to come down as a guardian angel for you guys." Him and I broke apart, then the others who had been in the shelter ran up and hugged him one by one. He briefly introduced himself to Dan and Lizzie, then we all headed south. If were too late, then this would be the fight of our lives.
---
After a full day of travel, including stops for food and rest, we arrived at the base of the volcano. As a strong breeze blew past, I caught a hint of a familiar scent on the wind.
"She's here." I whispered, recognizing it as Stacy's scent. "She's probably already a good way up the volcano.
"Then let's start climbing." Dan stated, already climbing onto Lizzie's back so she could carry him. Nell and Sparklez worked together to lift Em, and I transformed into a mountain lion (so I could easily traverse the rocky sides of the volcano) and let Ivor ride on my back.
We flew/climbed for hours, until I could see the top of the volcano in the distance. There was smoke steadily rising from the opening, and I grimaced. The summoning ritual was already in progress.
We hurried up the last bit of the volcano as fast as we could, and as the top was only a few yards away, I yelled out.
"Stacy! Wait! Don't do this! You don't understand how powerful he is!"
"Stampy!?" She gasped, turning to me, and for a moment, I saw a flicker of emotion in her eyes. But then she quickly turned back to the volcano. "What are you doing here?" She asked as we flung ourselves onto the brim of the volcano next to her.
"I just want to say-" I began, but it was too late. A gush of lava burst out the top of the volcano, and when the flow stopped after a few moments, there was Romeo, the demon ruler, hovering above the swirling fumes of heat.
"Ah, it's you." He grinned evilly, laying his eyes on Stacy for a moment, then me. "The hybrid and the weakling. Didn't think you'd be the ones to try and defeat me. What a shame that I'll have to destroy you both." He flung his right arm up, forming a red magical spear, then flung it down at us both.
"Stacy, look out!" I pulled her with me as I dove out of the way, but the spear never struck the ground. Sparklez, Lizzie, and Nell had all formed a line and were combining all their angel magic to form a type of shield. The spear bounced back and fell into the lava below, with which Romeo growled.
"Great, they have friends. Now this'll be mass murder." Romeo rolled his eyes and quickly generated two more magic spears, which he threw at us in unison. The first one bounced off the shield again, but that weakened the angels, so the second one broke through and narrowly missed striking Dan right through the head.
"That's it!" I gasped. "That's how we kill Romeo! We need to stab him in the head!"
"Find something to use!" Stacy said, running to the other side of Romeo to distract him.
I quickly looked around the battlefield, but found nothing to use against Romeo.
Lizzie stayed on the ground to protect Dan, and Sparklez and Nell flew up to either of Romeo sides and used bursts of angel magic to disorient him. Ivor and Em used the distraction to throw rocks at Romeo, which all harmlessly bounced off him, but were enough of a distraction to let Stacy get around the back of him.
Romeo growled at the rocks, then shot another spear down at them. Luckily, both Ivor and Em made it out of the way.
I suddenly got an idea.
"Hey, throw me that!" I yelled, holding my hand out. Em ripped the spear out of the ground, then passed it to Ivor, who chucked it at me. I jumped up and caught it. "STACY!" I shouted at the top of my lungs. "CATCH!" She turned to me and held out her hands, and I launched the spear at her as hard as I could. She successfully caught it, then was immediately lifted up by Lizzie wrapping her arms around her waist and flapping her wings to bring Stacy up to behind Romeo.
Dan was down on the ground with Ivor and Em now protecting him, screaming and hollering to distract the demon ruler.
"Hey~" Lizzie smirked as she cuddled Stacy close.
"Stop it." Stacy muttered.
Lizzie sighed, and I couldn't help but chuckle. I ran around to the front of Romeo, standing there with Dan, Sparklez, Ivor, Nell, and Em.
"Behind you!" We all shouted tauntingly.
Romeo whipped around to see Stacy holding his own spear tight in her hand.
"Go to hell." Stacy whispered, then jabbed the spear right through Romeo's forehead before he could react. He screamed in pain, then went silent moments later, his body falling into the depths of lava in the volcano below.
Lizzie fluttered down to the ground and gently set Stacy next to the group, then took her own position next to Dan as we all watched Romeo melt into the molten rock below until his body was nothing.
The volcano shifted underneath our feet as the hot opening slowly sealed itself up, turning into nothing more than a peaceful mountain. The dark gray clouds above us cleared, letting the bright blue sky and yellow sun shine through.
We all began smiling and laughing, cheering and hugging each other. At that moment, the strongest friendship bond any of us had ever had was formed between everyone in our group.
After a couple minutes of celebration, me and Stacy faced each other.
"Listen, Stacy..." I began after a few moments of awkward silence. "I'm sorry..."
"No, Stamps." She sighed, placing her hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry. For everything. I was in the wrong." She moved her hand from my shoulder up to my cheek, and I smiled, leaning against it.
"And even after this whole time I was an awful jerk to you, I realized something after you left..." Stacy looked down, her cheeks pink. "I"m... I'm in love with you..." She whispered.
I put my hands on her hips and pulled her against my chest, my cheeks red. She's in love with me...
"I love you, too." I grinned sheepishly. "I have this whole time."
"I could always tell they liked each other." Dan smiled from the sidelines of our happy moment.
"Whatever..." Lizzie muttered, crossing her arms, and I laughed inside of my head.
"Aw, I love couples!" Ivor grinned.
"Me too, man, the cutest." Nell smiled cheekily.
"Yeah." Em smiled, happy tears in her eyes.
Sparklez only smiled and nodded.
I moved my hands around to Stacy's back, and she wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me against her for a kiss. As our lips met, I happy-screeched in my mind.
So this is what love feels like...
It's nice.
---
EPILOGUE
---
"Honey, I caught a whole deer this time! I'm getting better!" I cheered as I ran into camp, tightly holding the fat carcass of a whitetail deer over my shoulders.
"Good job, Stamps." Stacy said, ruffling my hair and kissing my cheek as I approached her, lying the deer down in front of the cooking fire.
"Nice catch!" Dan congratulated me, stepping out of his tent. "Everyone, come check out Stampy's hunt!"
Lizzie, Sparklez, Ivor, Nell, and Em all came to see me from their different places around camp.
"Wow!"
"Great job!"
"Yummy!"
The compliments showered me, and I chuckled.
Why are we in the woods? Well, me and Stacy had tried to have a loving relationship in town, but no one accepted us, everyone still thought Stacy was a human, so the thought of a human and a demon in love was disgusting, apparently. So, Stacy and I moved out into the woods, and Dan and Lizzie had joined us. Nell, Em, and Ivor also joined because they had no homes to go to, and we were their only friends outside of the adoption center. Sparklez had gotten special permission to permanently stay with us as our "official guardian angel", so he was also happily living in the woods with us. Therefore, we are all a happy family, living carefree, happy lives. I have the love of my life, the best friends I could ever ask for, and a home I'm comfortable in.
Anyway, after all those compliments, Stacy leaned up and kissed me again, this time right on the lips. We all joined together, demons, angels, a hybrid, and a human, in a group hug, expressing our bond that would never be broken.
Sisi ni sawa, we really are the same.
---
THE END <3
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Hope you enjoyed! Thank you so much @MudkipBrony for doing this collab with me, I had a lot of fun! You're an awesome writer! ^^
-Kiki2328