[Pokémon] Deadly Sins

[ShadowGS]

Author's Note: Welcome to the first chapter of my story. It's my first time writing a Pokémon fic, but I have written a couple of other stories as well. I must add that I'm not a native speaker, so if you notice a misspell, don't be shy and tell me.
Be critic.

Warnings: Despite the title, I don't intend this to be such a serious story. There's an OC (original character) so if you're not a fan of them, my apologies. I have tweaked with the anime's plot a little bit, again if you're not fond of this, sorry.

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon or anything related to it.

Chapter 1​

For the majority of kids who wanted to start an adventure, they waited eagerly for the day to pick their first Pokémon. Their first interaction with those interesting creatures who possessed mind-blowing abilities.

For Dawn… it wasn't all that great.

"Eh? So they seriously took all the Chimchar!?" the blue-haired girl exclaimed, her shoulders slumping and her face down, an aura of negativity surrounding her, "I should've come yesterday, shouldn't I?"

Professor Rowan addressed the girl with a sympathetic look. He knew her and understood just how much she over-thought the decision, "I'm really sorry Dawn"

The girl quickly stood up and waved her hands frantically, "No, no! It's my fault!" Her graduation class picked up their Pokémon yesterday and she felt a little intimidated. Before entering the Pokémon Trainer School she helped the Professor with his studies and that took all of her time. She couldn't socialize with her classmates and thus became an outcast.

Don't get it wrong, Dawn was far from an antisocial. She was very kind and cheerful… but Pokémon intrigued her a lot. The girl prioritized their study over her friends. In fact, she prioritized it over almost everything!

Rowan, an old professor and the only one in Sinnoh, came to deeply care for Dawn, his granddaughter. He admired her dedication. And because of that, he felt bad for her… sadly, there was nothing he could do.

"I can get you one…" the Professor began, both hands inside his lab coat's pockets. Dawn looked up happily at that, but with the next statement her depressing aura came back, "Though, you will have to wait another couple of months"

"Months?…" The blue-haired girl repeated, all of her hopes of getting a Chimchar shattering… again, "I can't wait that long… my classmates should be at Jubilife and you know I dislike traveling alone"

Her grandfather shook his head. She was still a kid after all…

The opening of the laboratory's door got their attention, postponing the conversation a while…

"Oh, sorry for the intrusion…" The unknown voice of a young man spoke and Rowan searched in his brain for some kind of recognition… all of the kids should've gotten their Pokémon already, "This is Professor's Rowan laboratory, I assume"

When the man saw the boy's face, all doubt erased from his mind, 'How could I have forgotten? That man's son…'

Standing a few inches above Dawn was a hand-some looking boy. His navy hair covered half of his right blue eye. He wore a royal-blue suit, matching his hair and eyes while giving him a very fancy look. He walked with extreme grace that captivated the girl and his voice seemed to caress her, "Hello Professor Rowan, my name's Ciel. It's a pleasure to meet you" at this point he noticed the gaping girl and gave her a charming smile, "Oh, hello lady"

Dawn blushed bright red from just his voice and turned around, "H-Hey…"

The stern Professor nodded and gave out his hand for the boy to shake, "I wasn't expecting you this early Ciel…"

The navy-haired boy shook his hand, chuckling, "Hmhm, Sinnoh is really amazing like they say"

"You still have a lot to see" The Professor said, a little smile crossing his face. He turned to a fidgeting Dawn and placed a hand on her shoulder, an action that made the girl jump, "This is my granddaughter Dawn. Dawn, this young man here is Ciel, a Pokémon Trainer from Unova"

Dawn tried to make eye contact, the keyword being tried because as soon as he looked at his beautiful blue orbs, the girl lowered her gaze quickly, "Umm… a p-pleasure to meet you…"

"She's a little timid" The Professor commented and the boy chuckled, Dawn feeling her embarrassment growing to higher levels.

"I don't mind" Ciel suppressed his laughter, realizing they troubled the girl.

Rowan cleared his throat and spoke in a more serious tone, "You're here for your Pokémon, right?" the boy nodded and the Professor continued, "I'm sure he will be in safe hands, you have a reputation as a great trainer"

Ciel scratched the back of his head at the unexpected praise.

The old man turned around to enter his Pokémon storage, but his granddaughter stopped him, "Mm? What is it Dawn?"

"I have decided…" Dawn said softly and steeled her eyes, "I want a…" her voice turned into an unbearable whisper, so the Professor bent down a little,

"Mm? Sorry? I didn't catch that"

"A…"

"What?"

"A PIPLUP! I want a PIPLUP!" Tired of repeating herself, Dawn exclaimed and quickly covered her mouth.

"A Piplup?" Ciel asked, walking towards the girl, "That's awesome. I chose a Piplup as well"

"A-Ah? R-Really" Dawn spurted out, blushing, "I-t's a-awesome… with his little beak… and blue stuff…" the girl trailed off, staring at the ground.

Rowan sighed and shook his head, before continuing on his way to get both Pokémon. When he came back both teenagers were still talking, Ciel hearing a more relaxed Dawn talk about Sinnoh.

"Wow, mystical lakes?" The navy-haired boy questioned in wonder.

Dawn nodded excitedly, "Yeah! There's one near… to the west. Lake Verity. It's said Mesprit, the legendary Pokémon, lives there" engrossed in talking with him, she didn't hear her grandfather entering the room again, "I… I can show you later… if you want to…"

Ciel smiled and agreed. It sounded like a good way to explore the new region, "Indeed, I'm looking forward to it"

Dawn grinned. It seems she made her first friend! And a hot one at it!

"Ahem" The girl jumped again at Rowan placing a hand on her shoulder while Ciel simply turned to him. On his left hand he held two PokeBalls, which he handed carefully to them, "This Pokémon will not only help you in battles, he will also become your friend… and will depend on you entirely" he spoke seriously, with the expression and voice that won him his reputation, "They're your responsibility Take care of them"

Dawn nodded and stared at her new PokeBall, 'My responsibility...'

"Create bonds, see things you never dreamt of seeing, push your limits… and more importantly, accomplish your dreams" with that Professor Rowan finished his speech and Ciel repressed the urge to clap.

The blue-haired girl was about to leave when her grandfather called them again,

"Wait Dawn, we're not done yet" She turned to him and saw his extended hand, a red device she wanted for so long on it, "You forgot your PokeDex" she took it gently and stared at it, much like her Pokémon, "And your 5 PokeBalls"

The Professor gave the same things to Ciel who bowed in thanks,

"Now before you go… Ciel, I have something to ask of you" Rowan said and Dawn looked up, "Please, take care of my granddaughter" the blue-haired girl took her time to process what he just said before blushing.

Ciel for his part chuckled, hands inside his pockets, "I shall Professor Rowan, I'll do my best" with that, the navy-haired boy left with a blushing Dawn following him.

(Sandgem Town)​

As soon as they exited the laboratory, Dawn took off to the nearest PokeMart. Who knew she would be such a worry-wart and careful girl?

"And this… let's see… 10 Potions, a couple more PokeBalls… antidotes for poison, paralyze heal for paralysis, burn heal for burning, ice heal for frostbite and awakening for drowsiness!" She sorted a lot of potions in her bag, organizing them by types.

"Hey…" Ciel stared at her with amused eyes, "Are you sure you want to carry all that stuff? Isn't it heavy?"

The girl caught the playing tone and laughed, "Don't worry, don't worry. It's alright…" she bought everything she needed and now felt a little more confident. On the other hand… "Hey, aren't you going to buy anything?" the boy had a small bag where he put away his PokeBalls. Ignoring the capsules, he was completely unprepared.

"No, I'm fine" The navy-haired boy said simply with a wave of his hand.

Dawn thought it was a bit reckless, but didn't comment on it. How was he going to take care of his Pokémon without medicine? He seemed like a responsible guy… well, he was a trainer too. Perhaps the world wasn't as dangerous as she thought?

The girl came back to her senses when she heard a little snap of fingers, "Are you alright? Dawn? Are you even there?"

"Oh, ah, uhm, y-yeah… sorry, I dazed off…" the blue-haired laughed awkwardly and took her town-map out. Not that she needed it anyway, "So… are we going to the Lake Verity? It's just a 15 minutes walk from here"

"Sounds like a plan" with that, they set off to their new destination.

(Route 201)​

The pair walked at a constant speed, Ciel holding off quite a bit to avoid making his companion to overwork herself. The same line of thought occurred to Dawn as well, so she leisurely followed the boy's lead. He was at front, despite the fact that she had the map AND the experience to travel through this lands. Men's pride.

The boy looked around at the scenery with hidden curiosity. The road seemed empty, but the sounds of different Pokémon told him otherwise.

Meanwhie Dawn took her time to stare at him. He, despite his height, had a very child-like face. His eyes were big and round, giving him a cute appearance. Concentrating even more, she realized that his looks were girly. But a gorgeous girly.

"There aren't many people around here, hm?" Ciel broke the comfortable silence and Dawn shook her head.

"If you had come two days ago, this was full of young trainers… Even yesterday" The boy nodded. It made sense now,

"So they are your classmates?" Ciel noticed the depressed expression she made and swiftly changed topics, "You know, Unova's Routes are always full of trainers, travelers, tourists… it's so noisy. I could get used to this serenity"

Dawn appreciated he didn't press on the classmates matter and giggled, "Enjoy it while you can, Jubilife City is the most modernized place in Sinnoh… and the loudest too. Our next destination"

Ciel's shoulders slumped and he spun to walk backwards, "Do we really have to go there? Right when I'm getting used to such calm silence?"

The girl nodded seriously, "We have to. There we will get our Trainer Cards and possibly, if we are lucky, win a Pokétch"

The boy knew about the Trainer Card. Professor Rowan had to register every new trainer on the system so they could challenge the gyms and later on participate on the League. He already had one, he just needed to update it. But the Pokétch? "What is a Pokétch?"

At Ciel's question, Dawn almost stopped breathing, "You don't know what is a Pokétch?" the boy shook his head slowly and she felt like face-palming. Of course he didn't knew, he was a foreigner, "Pokémon Watch or Pokétch for short, a small device made for trainers. It makes everything easier. It has a map, the status of your Pokémon, a step counter, memo pad, calculator and other useful apps" the girl explained excitedly.

The navy-haired boy had an amused face, "Sounds useful… are you alright?"

Dawn took deep breaths to get air back to her lungs and gave the boy a thumbs up, "Yeah… I'm okay… I just got a little bit excited"

Ciel chuckled, "I can see that"

After a few minutes, they finally arrived at the lake. The teenagers halted their conversation immediately when they saw a tall figure staring at the cavern in the middle of the lake. His spiky blue hair waved with the wind. Ciel frowned.

He couldn't see the man's expression, but he felt like he was smirking, "You arrive at last, Ciel…"


Author's Note: So yeah, first chapter. Perhaps it seems a bit rushed? I don't know, tell me what you think. Be critic and merciless.

 

[Phantom1]

I am noticing a lot of issues with dialogue punctuation, I'd suggest working on that. In a lot of places your either missing punctuation or are using the wrong kind.

Also note what sort of actions are speaking actions. For example, 'sighing' is not a speaking answer, neither is 'giggling'. They are their own actions. You'd say something like 'she said with a sigh' or something similar.

Not to say that it's bad. For a non native speaker it's well done, and dialogue grammar is an issue that a lot of native speakers have.

It does feel a little bit rushed. They seem to barely spend time in one place for long. Plus there is a bit of a lack of description and a lot of telling not showing.

Keep writing though, you'll only get better with time. :)

 

[ShadowGS]

A/N: Thanks for reading! I really appreciate your review.
I think I got the speaking answers... somewhat.
You can say I'm a little self-conscious with the grammar.
Anyway, this time I concentrated in dialogue. Well, more than previous chapter.
Also, I slowed the pace a bit. One place per chapter sounds cool?

Chapter 2​

"You arrive at last, Ciel…"

The man spoke in an even voice without turning around. Dawn looked from Ciel back to the unknown man, wondering if they knew eachother, oblivious to the tension hanging in the air.

The navy-haired boy had one hand inside his bag, grasping one of his PokeBalls as his muscles tensed and prepared for battle. Something about the man made him uneasy, "Who are you?"

At that moment Dawn noticed Ciel's serious tone. Gone were his kind and playful eyes, replaced by cold ones that made her shiver. The girl unconsciously placed herself behind the boy, her human instinct searching for some kind of protection. She was terrified. The thought of using Piplup never crossed her mind.

"...The flowing time... The expanding space... I will make it all mine soon… Cyrus is my name. Remember it... Until then, sleep while you can, legendary Pokémon of the lake bed...." the man now known as Cyrus spoke enigmatically. Turning around, he addressed the two teenagers. His eyes were the same colour as his hair, light-blue, but didn't hold any radiance. They were dull, set in a permanent scowl.

The boy was rooted in the same stance, debating if he should use his Pokémon or not. In the end, he tried a more peaceful approach and decided to not act harshly… as long as Cyrus didn't make any suspicious moves.

Cyrus began walking towards them and Ciel's muscles tensed again, "Pardon me. Step aside…" despite being an order, he said it politely. The boy felt Dawn's grip on his shoulders and she nodded slowly to him. They stepped aside and the mysterious man took his leave.

With the odd stranger out of the picture, Ciel allowed himself to relax. The blue-haired girl released a loud sigh, "Do you know him?" he asked and made the girl jump slightly at his tone.

"Ah? Oh-uhm… N-No… I was going to ask you the same thing…" Dawn replied quickly, "I've never seen anyone like him… I would surely remember…"

The boy breathed deeply. His sharp gaze faded into his previous playful one and he smiled at the scenery. The sun's reflection in the clear water made for a beautiful sight.

Meanwhile the girl stared hard at Ciel's back. Was he bipolar or something? At one second they're talking cheerfully and the next he's all serious and cold. Dawn shook her head and dismissed it with a simple conclusion, 'He's probably stressed from the trip… and the man did give out a weird atmosphere'

They both lost themselves looking at the lake, their eyes unfocused and cloudy. Dawn was the first to break from her stupor and sighed, "Oh, sorry I lost track of time" the girl's voice woke Ciel up, "Let's go back-"

A sudden white flash surprised Dawn and made her yelp. She quickly covered her mouth, embarrassed, and puffed out her cheeks cutely,

"What are you doing?" Ciel smirked in answer and petted his Piplup. He was laying on the ground with his head resting on a tree trunk, the small penguin chirping at his side, "We're going to be late…"

"For what?" the boy asked simply as he took out his PokéDex.

"W-Well…" Dawn realized he wasn't paying much attention to her, instead checking the device on his hands. She sighed and resigned herself. He was just like her grandfather, stubborn as they came. The girl knew that whatever she said, Ciel wouldn't change his mind, "Good grief…" she swore under her breath, but soon her eyes shone brightly with excitement, "Time to meet my new partner"

Enthusiastically, Dawn threw her PokéBall and stared intently. It opened in a spectacle of sparkles and revealed a blue Piplup, stretching its wings, "Piplup"

"A-Amazing!" The girl squealed happily and ran over to her Pokémon, "You're so adorable! My name's Dawn and I'm your new trainer!"

Piplup chirped in response.

Ciel chuckled at the girl's antics and turned to his own Pokémon with PokéDex in hand, "Well hello little fellow, name's Ciel. You're officially my first Pokémon of Sinnoh. Your name will be Royal" the device made a beeping sound, indicating it successfully registered his new Partner in his database, "Hmhm, let's see… so you're a male, ability torrent… moves, hm… nice" he muttered while checking Piplup's info.

Dawn's Piplup ran towards Royal excitedly. Perhaps they knew eachother from the lab? The girl's Pokémon seemed full of energy. On the other hand, Royal ignored his happy cries and lazily plopped down next to his trainer. Her Piplup looked crestfallen at being ignored and Dawn giggled, "Your Pokémon's probably lax… or relaxed. In that case you should concentrate in his speed"

"Ohh… you sure know a lot about Pokémon" Ciel commented as Dawn sat down next to him.

The girl blushed slightly and nodded, "I do know some things…"

The boy smirked, "Stop being so humble. I was top student when I graduated and… I certainly don't remember anything about Natures…"

Dawn smiled at him, "I'm top student as well, but I didn't learn about Natures from school. You could say it's a little more… advanced. My grandfather taught me all about them"

"So if a Pokémon is as lazy as he is" Ciel said while pointing at Royal, who was already asleep and snoring on the ground, "His normal speed is decreased?"

"His base speed, yes" Dawn agreed, but quickly added, "And his base defense is increased. In my case…" she turned to her Piplup angrily chirping at his reflection in the lake, "he possesses all the qualities of a bold Pokémon, from what I've seen. That means I'll have some trouble working on his attack"

Ciel nodded. He wasn't expecting this, learning things from someone younger than him. His past self would probably be annoyed… but now, that naïve kid was gone. He knew and accepted that out there, or even near, were better trainers than him.

"It's just an assumption though" Dawn's voice interrupted Ciel's thoughts, "I could be wrong… I'm not particularly good at guessing a Pokemon's nature"

"At least you're not as cocky as I was" Ciel spoke while rubbing his cheek.

"What do you mean?" The girl tilted her head to the side and Ciel shook his head,

"It's nothing"

Dawn waited for a more elaborated response, but apparently the boy didn't have anything to add, "Did you know Professor Rowan?" since he didn't press in the classmate's matter she decided she would do the same and respect his privacy. After all and despite her curiosity, they met only minutes ago.

"Mm… kinda… we never talked face to face though. He and my father are acquaintances" he spoke just as Dawn's Piplup fell into the water and chuckled a bit, "I reserved my Piplup a couple of months ago"

The girl nodded in understanding and looked at Royal, "So is he older than mine?"

"No, they are about the same age. He was still an egg when I talked with your grandfather" Ciel replied swiftly with one of his right eye closed. He would allow himself to enjoy the surroundings while he could.

"I see…"

The pair fell into a comfortable silence, savoring the clean air, hearing the beautiful chirps of some passing Starley… but Dawn broke it, curiosity finally getting a hold of her.

"Mind me asking… what does your father do?" Such a simple question, yet it pondered inside the girl's mind for the last few minutes. The reason for this was simple, 'Ciel said that his father and my grandfather are acquaintances… could he be… that man?'

She remembered Rowan talking about an imposing friend of his, whose strong personality clashed with his own. This clash gave birth to a long rivalry, ignoring age and distance. Her grandfather respected the man a lot… he described him as 'A man with a steel and powerful voice, enough to tame any wild Pokémon without the use of a PokéBall'

"My father…" Ciel began, a hint of venom in his voice perhaps for the fact that he enjoyed the silence, "…he breeds Dragon-type Pokémon. His business got popular when Lance, one of the most famous Pokémon trainers, openly admitted that his Salamance wasn't trained by him… but by my father"

Dawn had a surprised look. Scratch that, she was absolutely shocked "Lance… the Lance? Johto's Champion?"

Ciel nodded and continued, "This of course raised controversy and what not. The fact is Lance paid for his Pokémon, so it's rightfully his…" Dawn made a clearly disapproving expression and the boy finished, "Plus, the rest of his team are trained by him. At that level one Pokémon doesn't make the difference"

The girl saved the topic for later; right now, they were talking about Ciel's dad, "That's amazing… I've heard Dragon Pokémon are one of the hardest, if not the hardest type of Pokémon to train"

The boy spent his entire childhood dealing with these kind of Pokémon, thus could prove that this popular belief was legit "Indeed, that is true. They won't obey trainers that lack character. Dragon-type Pokémon only listen to those they respect"

Dawn understood why Professor Rowan admired Ciel's father so much, "And what about you Ciel? Do you have any Dragon Pokémon?"

"I do… but I won't use him until later on" The boy answered while he stared at the ground and Dawn's interest was picked once again.

"Ehh? Why?" The question didn't come out as Dawn wanted; she sounded like a whining child, but before she could rectify it Ciel replied.

"It would be an overkill…" he said seriously and explained, "Using any Pokémon of my old team would be an overkill. I want to win the League, yes. I want to challenge the Elite Four, yes… but I want to have some fun too"

'Wow' Dawn was surprised by how confident he sounded, not a single hint of doubt or hesitance from his part "I want to become the Champion too… does that make us rivals?"

Ciel chuckled and the girl huffed indignantly.

"Why are you laughing? I can be a worthy rival, you know"

"Yeah, yeah" The boy contained his chuckles to avoid problems and smiled, "I guess we are friendly rivals"

The girl seemed angry for the next couple of minutes, but eventually she looked at the boy with a frown, "You're mean"

"I'm sorry, I'll try to control myself a little more" Ciel said apologetically with a sheepish grin.

"Anyway" Dawn let her anger recede and smiled "You told me about your father, what about the rest of your family?"

The atmosphere changed drastically for a few seconds and Dawn's breath hitched in her throat, but just as sudden as it came, it disappeared. Despite this, Ciel's voice was calm… in fact, Dawn noted, calmer than his previous one "Well, I have an older brother. He's a Pokémon trainer like me. He should be at Kanto for the time being… his third region"

"T-Third?" The girl was distraught by the weird event, but managed to spurt out a word.

Ciel glared at the ground, "Third. He already challenged Unova's and Hoenn's elites" Dawn was having problems calming herself and the boy took the silence as a 'keep going' signal "I know you must be thinking 'He's really powerful'…" he scowled "You're right. He was stronger than me. We fought three years ago in Unova's Championship and he crushed me… utter and complete defeat…" his fists began shaking, "But I've trained. I spent years training. I won't lose this time"

The girl finally regained her bearings at the middle of his speech. Determination was dripping from Ciel's voice and eyes and Dawn couldn't do anything except admiring him. She decided against commenting about the strange event since Ciel didn't notice, but she wondered what it was.

"And… my mother" This time his tone was more sombre and dark, "She's deceased"

"I'm sorry" Dawn gave her condolences softly, noticing the sadness in his eyes. She changed the topic immediately "Well, you know my grandfather. He devoted himself to a life of studying Pokémon. My mom lives in Sandgem Town and she's a former Coordinator"

"Coordinator? The people that participates in Pokémon Contests?" Ciel asked in a more placid tone.

"Yeah. She was a great one… she even won the Grand Festival and became a Top Coordinator" Dawn spoke with a reserved smile "I wanted to be a Coordinator when I was young but… well… I lack certain qualities" she laughed half-heartedly "Like confidence or elegancy… plus, I prefer studying Pokémon"

The girl remembered something and began rummaging inside her bag while Ciel looked at her questioningly.

"Oh, here it is…" she pulled out a beautiful golden Ribbon and show it carefully to the boy "This is my mom's first Ribbon… she gave it to me as a token of good luck"

The boy smiled at her "That's great, she wishes you success in your journey"

Dawn nodded and placed it back inside her bag "I know… but… I'm not sure if I can make it…"

Ciel snorted and stood up, waking Royal in the process "Of course you're going to make it. You have me as a partner" the boy exclaimed proudly and laughed.

Something… made Dawn believe in him. Ignoring the fact that they were strangers hours ago, now they were companions. Perhaps not friends yet, but the girl was more than satisfied with that.

She stared at a hand close to her face and blushed when she realized that Ciel was offering his hand, "Come on, let's go. We're going to be late"

Dawn didn't suppress the laughter as she held the boy's hand and stood up "Yeah! Sinnoh, get ready for us!"

"…" The boy shook his head and chuckled "That has to be one of the most cliché phrases I've ever heard"

The girl puffed her cheeks and looked away, but this time with a smirk on the corner of her mouth "Shut up"


A/N: Thanks again for reading. This chapter was very simple, I introduced a couple of characters and explored my OC's past a little bit.
Like I said, I wanted to concentrate in dialogue.
If you can leave some feedback and criticize my work, I'll appreciate it very much. Be critic and merciless.

 

[Nolafus]

Okay, an interesting story, but unfortunately I don't have the time for a full review right now, so I'll just leave a couple comments.

"What are you doing?" Ciel smirked in answer and petted his Piplup. He was laying on the ground with his head resting on a tree trunk, the small penguin chirping at his side, "We're going to be late…"

"For what?" the boy asked simply as he took out his PokéDex.

"W-Well…" Dawn realized he wasn't paying much attention to her, instead checking the device on his hands. She sighed and resigned herself. He was just like her grandfather, stubborn as they came. The girl knew that whatever she said, Ciel wouldn't change his mind, "Good grief…" she swore under her breath, but soon her eyes shone brightly with excitement, "Time to meet my new partner"

I think you messed up who was speaking here. I got a little confused.

There are some definite strong points, and some things to work on. One of the things I feel like you're lacking is the showing v telling aspect. Unfortunately, that's one of the hardest things to learn, let alone master, and it requires a lot of explanation to really get a grasp of it (at least I needed a lot of help, I'm a little slow like that), so I'll be back to add more detail in that. In the meantime, I really like your dialogue. The conversations flow very evenly and what the characters say doesn't feel like it's robotic.

Overall a nice job and I'll probably be back to provide more in-depth feedback as I'm punched for time right now. I'm extremely forgetful though, so please don't feel insulted if I forget, because that seems to happen a lot...