A magnificently tense read! You did a great job :D

I dont think there could have been a better ending to this arc :D, Im now extremely curious to where the next arc will lead these guys.

This was a really good arc of the story, despite how dark it is, I am happy that it does have a happy ending~.

a very satisfying ending. i'm glad you found a good way to end that arc, and despite its darker tone, I think this (and the previous) chapter still fits in with the rest. It still felt like part of the same story, and not a spinoff.

I am excited for what comes next, but can understand if you want to take a small break from Spice of Life (if this gave you a hard time to come up with, i'd actually recommend one, it helps prevent a burn-out).

Hahah, delightful. I'm glad you were able to get a satisfying ending for this arc, and I am definitely looking forward to the future. It certainly has been interesting seeing your characters develop.

I'm not sure why I predicted a Spice vs. Jasper showdown in my previous comment, but I'm very glad to be wrong about that one. What we did get in the end... I wouldn't wish on anyone what Spice and Cyn had to go through. It was made explicit that they died every time they lost a Seed, and how painful it was to go through... over ten lives each...

Happiest of all is the resolution of last part's conflicts. To me, not quite the happiest ending, but I don't think I'd take it too well if they were still against each other. But now that this chapter's over, this all really has me worried about Pepper now. She has a Lense of her own, right? I'll be honest, when they mentioned the stolen Lense at the end a few chapters ago (which I checked back after reading this to clear up some questions I was having), I first thought they were referring to hers, not this one. And there's no doubt its dungeon's had even more time to get even more dangerous...

I originally made the experience a lot more visceral, but fortunately my friends gave me the critique I needed to hear and I turned it down a notch. I'm glad that the fridge horror is still there though, Seed Rushes are no joke (even if it's how I solved the later levels in the pmd games).

I originally had the ending a lot more saccharine, with the Winners getting Silver Rank, Malus being freed from the list and congratulations from the Guild. It felt like the characters hadn't been punished for what they had done, essentially destroying an ecosystem and ruining a lot of lives. The Amity list idea came to me and while I didn't like it at first, I'm actually excited for what I can do with it. What does it mean for Cyn? is she going to have someone assigned to her like Auric was assigned to Malus? What feat could she perform to clear her name? There's a lot more I can do with it as a plot point than the team getting what they wanted.

When it comes to Pepper, I have some ideas though so far it's all been about the 'before' rather than the 'after'. It's true she still has a dungeon in disrepair because of her, though fortunately it had only just emerged when she stole the lense so there's not quite a need to restore it quickly. Perhaps she'll hear of the Winners feat and ask for their help when she's finally ready to give up the lense for the greater good. Either way, lots of adventure ideas x3

You were right. This was a lot better story without vore getting in the way.

I wonder about the story's effects on the Den though, something I expected would be mentioned near the end. Without a lense, their supplies already used, and the guild unhappy about everything, there aren't going to be many, if any, reviver seeds around. Cyn wants to stop the team from being just a front to the club, but does that mean shutting the Den down?

It was sort of mentioned briefly, basically the Winners are now using missions as a way to get Reviver seeds like they did in the time before they had the Rainbow Lense. I suppose the difference now will be that the stock of seeds is going to be shaky, unless they can find a dungeon where the seeds spawn more often than not. Perhaps that will be their next adventure, but for now they're just going to have to deal with the Den being a bit slower unless Pokemon bring their own seeds.

Excellent read. A great ending for this arc, and an excellent way to set up the excitement for what's to come. Also great choice for a new team slogan!

the end?

Read my new years journal for more details on that

“I wouldn’t be so sure. We mostly relied on Jasper to get us through,” The feline noted, scratching his neck awkwardly. “Without his strength and my knowledge of the Dungeon we’d have probably ended up in here with you and Spice.”
Of course having an Archanine helped! Clearly they should've contacted the Flame Knights to help. Never mind the entire Dungeon would've resembled the surface of Venus before they were through; they'd get that trinket to the bottom in no time!


Hurray! Arc complete. I guess we can go back to the more slice-of-life chapt-WAIT A FUCKIN' MINUTE! Those Hypocrites in the guild still have multiple stolen lenses! Community service my ass...

And so ends Spice of Life and the Rainbow Lense arc. It's been quite a ride, and I'm glad I could offer Kaiser to be part of that.

These past two chapters have been quite intense, but the edits you made to this one from the first draft were well deserving and well done. Good action, nice suspense, and a heartwarming ending - all this, while managing to work vore out of the scenario. and all the better for doing so imo, that stuff would have just gotten in the way.

I look forward to seeing what comes next, whatever that might be.

I thought death was what the feels would be.

YOU FOUND A WAY DAMNIT MAN. I WAS BAITED!

*Nobody who doesn't know me will get the meaning of this and i'm not sorry.*

This is just an amazing read, and once I started, I just had to keep reading till the end, even though it made me stay up later just to finish it.
And I just have no words to describe how good this one was it was just beautiful and wonderful and I enjoy reading all of your stories so far.
But I just had to tell you how good this one was even though I don't usually wright comments that often.

woiw
wow... just wow. no further wordes needed.
I loved it. (no furthey words after THIS)

I'm still very glad you let us check this out for you first so we could help make sure you had a good finale for this arc.

I really appreciate all the help you guys gave me with this one, I couldn't have done it without you.

best ending! i can't wait for season 2 (or 3)
will kaiser ever trust cyn again?
will malus or cyn get amitized?
has spice truly begun his days as a TRUE hero?
will mary ever get to be apart of the winners?
how will auric spice things up? (pun intended)
i can't wait!

And thus it's over. I apologize for never getting around to finishing this story, but now that I've caught up on it... Absolutely well done. The tension from the last chapter continued to rise, and the battle against Carrion was honestly pretty damn intense. I wondered if there'd be a final boss fight for this story, and I am not disappointed in the slightest. The lingering will of how he warned about what Spice did before joining the team, and how he was cursed due to that behavior, was also rather intriguing to see, and the fact it was ultimately defeated showed that not only did Cyn accept Spice for who he was, but that Spice was accepting himself as a better person now than he was as a Contest Pokemon, giving me the feeling that if his trainer were to suddenly show up to the town a day after this story, Spice would outright reject him and say no, due to his new outlook on life.

That and, as another thing I noticed... This was the first time Spice used all his power to save someone else. Usually, he'd prioritize himself, even if it was to get help for later, but now he felt willing to pass the torch to save the one he loved. That in tow, I feel, closed his arc nicely and made him whole for the very first time, hence how the darkness was defeated. Stunning job all around! I'll have to see the crossovers over people have made, to see their adventures continue, and once I catch up with my own story, maybe I too, will have them come around to aid Firecoil...