Okay, this is going to be pretty AU-ish since I haven't seen the show in years and there are no episodes to be found on the web--anywhere!! Anyway, this story is going to be written in parts and hopefully will be an alright tale. For future referance--I may be calling Ol'skool 'Marcus' in later chapters, just to let you know.
I don't own Get Ed or any of the characters that relate--only the plot do I own.
Part 1—Chapter 1—
"What part of no, don't you understand Bedlam?"
It was a simple enough question that needed a simple enough answer, but Marcus knew that he wasn't going to get it. Bedlam had always been after what benefited himself, so he wasn't going to tell Marcus the answer to the question when Marcus already knew full well the answer and he didn't like it.
"I told you, after the last incident, that I had given up on cracking that damned code," Marcus said stubbornly, hoping to get Bedlam off of his back about it. "Why else would I create the Dojo team?"
"Yes, the children are quiet talented," Bedlam said, his normal icy tone always getting Marcus infuriated for no apparent reason.
"Guessing that your DNA lackeys are obsolete now?" Marcus punned, but Bedlam only frowned slightly, his eyes unnoticeable behind the glasses.
"They are easy enough to upgrade, humans, however are forever flawed," Bedlam answered. "We will put you out of business soon enough."
Marcus smirked at his former partner and only shrugged; nothing wrong with a little friendly competition, so long as Bedlam let up on that stupid project.
"Looking forward to the challenge," Marcus said, quickly turning the vid-screen off before one of his couriers saw it.
Bedlam was up to something; he never called just for a chat. Could it be that he knew Marcus had, in fact, never given up on that code? Marcus shook his head. That was ridiculous.
He would know if Bedlam knew, still, there was the creeping suspicion that never left the man as he got up from the chair and strolled over to his desk. The notes were carefully laid out on top and formed almost complete nonsense, but at the same time, it was something—he just had to figure out what. He knew it was important, but he also had to be careful. If anyone got their hands on this, it could very well be bad news for the city—maybe even the world.
"Ol'skool?"
Marcus looked up as one of the kids used his customary nick name around the Dojo. Burn was slightly amused that he managed to startle his mentor out of his meditation, than he caught the notes on the desk.
"What is all of that?" he asked.
"Some personal project," Marcus said, shoving the papers into a drawer. "Nothing to concern you. What is it Burn?"
"Lugie and Deets are at it again."
Marcus rolled his eyes and sighed heavily. He had a good team, too bad they weren't too much of a family.
Lugie was . . . different was a good word to put in the blank. His thinking was rather eccentric and off track to that of a normal person. He found the mundane things rather interesting and he could be rather . . . creative with anything he got his hands on. Or rather hand since one of them was taken up by the catfish puppet known as Dr. Pinch. No one knows why he's there, just that he's attached to Lugie for some strange reason and he never comes off, and he was rather annoying when he wanted to be.
Deets was a nice girl with a troubled past. She was a good team member, but she was also a girl, one of two out of the two other boys on the team, and she wanted her space. Deets did things that all girls did, Fizz was much too taken up with her machinery to do anything girly, so naturally Deets could feel out of place. She tried to get along with the guys, but Lugie pushed her to her limits sometimes.
Deets was rational, Lugie was rather chaotic. He didn't mean anything by it, but Deets would take it personally and then the fighting would start. The fights lead to the whole team taking sides, or avoiding everyone at best because of the tension, which meant nothing got done right on the job.
"Lugie! Give me my lipstick back!"
Deets's shrieking could he heard throughout the Dojo quiet clearly. Fizz came running into the room just as Marcus and Burn did from the other end of the building. They saw Lugie swinging from something he had attached to the ceiling and was dressing Dr. Pinch with Deets's makeup kit. Deets was on the ground, running after him, but having no luck in retrieving what was hers. Fizz shook her head and went back to the garage; Burn only looked at his mentor, not saying a word as the old man shook his head.
"Can't you guys get along for two minutes?" Marcus asked as he grabbed onto Loogie and pulled him from the ceiling.
Loogie fell with a thump on his head and Mr. Pinch on top of his chest.
"Tell me again why you decided that string cheese was a good rope tool," the puppet asked of his host.
"I thought it was your idea," Loogie interjected, not wanting all of the blame on himself.
Deets swiped her lipstick away from them while they argued and grabbed her other things that they had pinched from her room.
"You come near my room again Loogie and you'll be spending the rest of your life with your head in the wrong position!" she threatened darkly before stalking away.
"That does not sound very comfortable," Dr. Pinch observed after Deets left.
"You guys just stay away from Deets for the rest of the day," Marcus said.
"What are you doing to my ride!?"
Marcus sighed again. It was Burn and Fizz at it again. Fizz was always doing something to the rides to make them more efficient, but sometimes, they didn't turn out that way. Burn didn't like his cycle messed with so naturally he became hostile when Fizz even looked in its direction. Marcus went to go calm that storm as well.
The day ended with three more arguments and everyone going to sleep rather angry at each other. Marcus was fed up with it all. The Dojo didn't get along and the balance was all off for the team. The kids loved their jobs, but if they couldn't get along soon, he would have to call the whole thing off. He knew it would break their hearts but team work wasn't team work if you weren't a team.
Marcus sighed as all of these thoughts ran through his head. Then there was that little call from Bedlam. That made him unease and he knew he had to check up on . . . the thing he told Bedlam he had stopped messing with.
On the contrary, Marcus had broken the code and began to work on the instructions—for that was what the code was—to make something even he thought impossible: a genetically engineered being.
He had just let the subject out of containment yesterday after sitting in stasis for almost six months. This had been three long years of work for Marcus and he was excited to see what was going to happen.
He took the exit of the building through his own room and walked over to the building just next door. He entered the code to open the door and walked in after the entrance swished open for him. He skipped the lab completely, since he wasn't needed in there that night, and went to the room next door where his greatest find was still sleeping on the cot.
"Hey, wake up," he gently coaxed the being back into consciousness.
The subject woke up rather groggily, never having to do it before, and silently looked up at Marcus with large navy-blue eyes that held confusion and wonder.
"Welcome to the world guy," Marcus told him, but it was clear the subject didn't understand what was going on.
He sat up on the cot and looked at his hands as if he had just noticed them. He looked them over and brushed them against each other, surprise evident on his face when he felt the other with his skin. His fingers roamed up to his hair and he was again shocked to feel it. He tried to tug it down for his eyes to inspect, but since it was rather short, he only managed to pull out a few strands. He winced and rubbed the spot where he had pulled his hair out, tossing what he had accidently gathered off to the side.
Marcus chuckled to himself as he watched the being explore himself, trying to get his bearings.
"You'll need a name," Marcus thought out loud, catching the boy's attention.
He had been so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he hadn't noticed the other entity in the room with him. He gazed at Marcus was such expectancy and curiosity that the man was left almost flustered.
"Don't stare at me like that please," he asked of the boy, but of course, words were lost to him—he didn't understand them yet.
"What did I get myself into?" Marcus asked himself. "Oh well, names first, contemplations later."
He thought while the boy explored his legs, pulling them off to the side of the cot and swinging them back and forth in the air with great pleasure at finding a use for them.
"How about Ed?" Marcus asked him; naturally, this caught the boy's attention and he stopped what he was doing to look at Marcus again. "I always liked Edward and you look like an Ed."
The boy only blinked at him.
"Well Ed, you'll call me Ol'skool and I'll introduce you to the others when you're ready."
Ed blinked again, confusion and doubt plastered on his face.
"I'm not getting through to you am I?"
Ed shook his head.
"Well, at least you understand a little of what I'm saying."
The newly named Ed, yawned widely and his eyelids began to droop again. He wasn't sure what this sensation meant, but he wasn't going to give into it. He wanted to explore, to find out what this place was that he had appeared in, he had a desire to know everything possible; unfortunately, his body had other ideas.
"Whoa now," Marcus caught Ed right before he fell off of the cot. "You might sleep more comfortably up here."
Marcus helped (actually put) Ed back to bed and watched as the boy sighed deeply and snuggled into the covers.
"Now go back to sleep, I'll see you tomorrow."
Ed watched—Ol'skool right?—exit the room just as he turned out the lights, and just before he fell back asleep.
Part 1—Chapter 2—
Ed woke up to something shinning on his face. He frowned as the flash disturbed his sleep, not understanding what was going on. He pulled the blankets over his head to try and keep the light away from his face, but it wasn't worth much effort. The blanket was thin—since it was summer time—and didn't protect his eyes much.
He shoved the blanket off and forced his eyes to open. The light was coming in from a hole in the wall, but it was covered by some sort of invisible barrier. Ed thought that was stupid—who would want to punch a hole in their wall then cover it up with something that didn't hide the hole at all?
He sat up, completely awake now, and swung his legs over the edge of the cot again, like he had last night. What did he do now? He vaguely remembered someone coming in last night to see him, and they had—what was the word for it?—walked out on their own and around the room as well.
I can do that, no problem! Ed thought.
He pushed himself off of the edge of the cot without hesitation. He managed a few seconds of balance on his feet before his weak knees gave in and his face met the floor quite nicely.
There were many sensations going through his head that he didn't understand, but he mainly focused on the odd and unpleasant tingling that ran up his nose after he hit the floor. He didn't want to do that again, the feeling was very . . . unwanted.
He pushed himself to his knees and rubbed his sore nose. When he brought his hands back, he saw slight traces of red running down his hands and felt something hit his lips. He was unsure whether to panic or not.
"Ed!"
The boy turned at hearing his name, surprised to see the same man he had seen last night standing there, looking horrified.
"What did you do to yourself?"
The man took his hands and wiped the red stuff off with his shirt. Ed only watched in curiosity as to why the man seemed to be trembling. From what limited knowledge that had been programmed into his brain, he knew that when people trembled, it meant that something was wrong. He also had a very uncomfortable feeling from the trembling, but he wasn't shaking himself. In fact, he was perfectly calm.
"I guess we figured out the hard way that we aren't ready to be walking on our own yet," the man grumbled. "Figures that on the first day of your life, you go break your nose."
Ol'skool, for Ed now remembered his name, helped the boy to his shaky feet by pulling him up by the shoulders. The man supported Ed as he tried to lead the boy out the door and down the hall to the lab where he could get Ed cleaned up and checked out easily. There were a few stumbles but Ed managed to get his legs to work as Ol'skool helped support his upper body. Once in the lab, Ol'skool picked Ed up gently and set him up on a table so he could look the boy over.
Nothing was broken, thank goodness. Ed had just ruptured a few blood vessels in his nose when he hit the floor. They were already closing up since Ol'skool could see that Ed had stopped bleeding.
"That is bad Ed," Ol'skool said, trying to make it as simple as possible. "Bleeding is bad."
Ed took in his words, but his nose still felt odd and he rubbed it to show his discomfort, not knowing what else to do.
"Oh, that feeling is called pain," Ol'skool said upon seeing Ed's look. "Not very pleasant is it?"
Ed shook his head, but now something else caught his attention. It was the dry feeling in his mouth and the odd emptiness in his middle that was making him uncomfortable again. He jumped when he heard a grumbling sound from somewhere and he looked up, trying to find the unknown source.
"Relax Ed," Ol'skool said, walking over to a different table that had a bag resting on it, "you're just ready for breakfast. Up to feeling brave?"
Ol'skool thought, considering it had been the boy's first real meal in his entire life, it hadn't gone so bad. Ed seemed to have enjoyed breakfast immensely—unfortunately, he had also made a mess. He didn't know how, but the boy had managed to get the entire table dirty along with the front of his shirt. The boy was also looking a little sick, his skin paling and clutching his stomach as if in pain.
"That's called a stomach ache," Ol'skool informed him. "That happens when you eat too much. Come on, we have to clean you up."
Ed had been introduced to the shower. Surprisingly, the boy hadn't gone berserk on him and just stood while Ol'skool cleaned him up. Ed even turned the water off himself and was given the towel to dry himself off with. The boy learned incredibly fast; Ol'skool knew he would, but he hadn't expected this level of intelligence from him. It would probably make this whole learning experience easier—for the both of them.
Ed helped Ol'skool clean up the mess, by making a mess with the cleaning supplies, and then helped clean that one up, but properly. After that, Ol'skool walked around the lab, showing Ed everything and explaining how he was different from others, from the people on the outside of this building. Ed listened intently, understanding every word that the man said, but he wasn't deterred by it. His programming told him that everyone was different, so him being different wasn't unusual. It was just by how different he was that he couldn't fully grasp.
By mid afternoon, Ed was walking on his own and he also recognized that empty feeling again when lunch time rolled around. Ol'skool had been skeptical to try and eat again, but Ed was determined to try again. He did much better, only spilling his drink a few times. Ol'skool contemplated on starting him out on a sippy cup instead. After cleaning up lunch, there wasn't much Ol'skool thought Ed could do, but the boy coaxed him continually to say something, but never said a word himself.
"Alright," Ol'skool said, giving in, "but I have to be over at the Dojo soon. The team is going to be back any minute now."
Ed waited patiently, but Ol'skool could tell that he wasn't very good at waiting.
"Alright Ed, listen to me really fast. I run a courier team, Dojo Deliveries. What we do is we deliver packages all over Progress City, kind of like a mailing service, but we handle the dangerous and fragile stuff. You know, stuff people don't want stolen. The team I run doesn't know about my late night escapades with you, so they in turn don't know about you. I'm going to think about letting them know tomorrow, so you'll have to spend one more night here alone. Do you get it?"
Ed's brain quickly put the message together and he nodded. He didn't want to be left alone, but if it was just for one more night, he guessed it was okay.
It wasn't.
Part 1—Chapter 3—
Ed knew what a storm was, he had just never experienced one before, and he was frightened out of his mind. He yelled and jumped every time the thunder and lightning showed itself. The wind was making an odd sound that sent shivers down his spine. There was nowhere to hide from it and he was scared—petrified—to walk out of his room. He wanted Ol'skool there; the man always knew what was going on.
Ed whimpered again as the lightning flashed and the thunder soon followed. He clamped his hands over his ears and curled up in the corner of his room. He couldn't make the pain in his chest stop, but he didn't know how to get rid of it either. When another lightning bolt caught him by surprise, his mouth opened and it felt like his insides exploded as he hickuped out of fear. Tears sprang to his eyes and he was starting to get worried. He felt liquid on his cheeks and thought it was the red stuff again. Ol'skool told him that it was bad for that to be on the outside of you. He tried to keep in his tears, but he didn't know how. He tried squeezing his eyes shut, but every time he hickuped, he had to open his eyes and the tears came out more from his discomfort and fear.
He tried to yell for help, but it was no good. There was no one around to hear him and the storm was blocking his pleas from being heard. He felt helpless and he was scared that he was going to die. The fear sparked something in his brain, more of an instinct for him. He knew how to use it and hoped that it worked.
Fizz sat bolt upright in bed. She swore she thought she had heard someone calling for help. The feeling didn't leave her though as she turned on her bedroom light to look around in the darkness for anything unusual. Following the feeling, she got out of bed and exited her room. She came into the main room and found Ol'skool along with the rest of the Dojo standing there as well.
"So, everyone else heard it and feels it?" Burn asked, a little freaked out.
Lightning flashed and sent sharp shadows across the room, making Fizz look at Ol'skool. The man looked completely worried and panicked, not something to expect out of him since Ol'skool was always so calm and collected.
"Oh snap, Ed!" he yelled, running for the exit of the Dojo.
"What just happened?" Dr. Pinch asked of the group as the teens stared at the exit.
Fizz was the first to get her legs working again and ran after Ol'skool. It was a minute before the others followed her lead and ran outside.
It was pouring gallons on them, soaking them clean through their attire the minute they stepped foot out of the Dojo. Fizz managed to catch the open doorway of the building next door, but she thought it had been abandoned, at least Ol'skool said it had been.
"Come on," Burn said, taking the lead when he saw what Fizz was aiming for.
When the four got inside, they gaped at how it looked nothing like the outside.
"This is creepy," Deets said, walking down the hall and spotting the lab.
"I didn't know Ol'skool had all of this," Fizz said in wide-eyed wonder.
"I bet you would kill to have this tech, right Fizz?" Burn asked with a teasing smile on his face.
"I'm a mechanic Burn, not a biologist," Fizz said frowning with irritation at him.
"This is so monkey!" Loogie exclaimed.
Everyone only stared at him in confusion.
"Wait, so where's Ol'skool?" Fizz asked upon remembering the reason why they all were currently there.
"Guys, in here!"
They heard his voice in the next room over and rushed to find him. Ol'skool was on the floor, holding a rather distraught boy in his arms.
"Who's he?" Burn asked.
"We need to get him to the Dojo," Ol'skool said, ignoring the question. "I had to use a light sedative on him, else we wouldn't have been able to get this close to him. Burn, help me carry him out."
Burn did as he was told, taking the stranger by the arms. Together, they managed to get the boy inside the Dojo and lay him on the couch. He was soaking wet and on the edge between consciousness and oblivion.
"Did you say a 'light' sedative Ol'sckool?" Fizz asked, looking at the guy laying limply on their couch. "He looks ready to pass out."
"His body isn't use to all of this stress, the sedative probably relaxed him a little too much," Ol'skool said, observing the boy more closely. "Loogie, get some towels to dry him off with, I don't want him getting sick. Deets, grab the extra blankets in the hall. Burn, get him some water to help with those hiccups. Fizz, you stay with me."
Everyone rushed to do what was asked of them. Ol'skool kneeled down by the boy's head and felt his skin.
"Good, he isn't catching anything yet, but he's shivering like mad."
"Who is he?" Fizz asked. "And why was he hiding in the building? I thought no one was allowed in there."
"Well they weren't, not after I told them not too," Ol'skool said. "Listen Fizz, I have to wait until morning to explain everything—I was hoping to tell you all tomorrow but I guess I have to change my plans now."
"Can you tell me his name?"
"Ed, his name is Ed."
Ed, upon hearing his name, opened his eyes, but Fizz saw that they were all clouded from the sedative still in his system. His eyes wondered aimlessly until he saw Fizz by the corner of his vision. He stopped and stared at her, his eyes trying to focus on her. The others came in at that moment and handed Ol'skool what he had asked for. They stayed in the room, watching Ol'skool handle the kid as if he was a fragile vase that he couldn't stand being broken. Fizz continued to stay the closest to them, being the center of Ed's attention the whole time.
"Ed," Ol'skool prodded the boy to sit up, "I know you're tired, and you can go back to sleep right after you drink this. Slowly remember?"
Ed took the cup gingerly and slowly sipped it, as if he was afraid he would spill it all over himself. Ol'skool took it away from him when he had finished and helped wrap the blankets around the stranger to the Dojo. He was asleep within seconds.
"Who is he Ol'skool?" Burn asked again, whispering so he wouldn't wake the kid.
"I'll explain that in the morning," Ol'skool said, getting up from his crouch. "The rest of you need to go back to bed. I appreciate your help, but you're going to want to be fully rested tomorrow to hear this particular story, because you aren't going to believe it."
Part 1—Chapter 4—
Ed stirred quietly under the covers, his mind slowly becoming un-clouded as he felt the comfort of the cushions underneath him. His mind registered that this wasn't his cot. He opened his eyes to see that he wasn't in that room at all, he was somewhere else completely.
"Morning sunshine!"
Ed freaked out when the fish-faced puppet appeared upside down before his eyes. He accidentally fell off the couch in his haste to get away, but he stopped to look above him. There was Loogie, in all of his magnificent and shining . . . difference, with Dr. Pinch on his hand, bending over the armrest of the couch to get a better look at Ed.
"What? Was it something I said?" the puppet asked, sounding annoyed, if that were possible.
Now Ed might have been classified as 'alive' for only two days, but he knew the difference between alive and unanimated. He knew that the puppet had no business talking to him since it didn't have a conscious mind of its own—but the jury is still out on that one—so he was somewhat uncomfortable with this situation.
"About time you woke up kid," Burn came into Ed's point of view and the boy turned his head to get a better look at the courier team's leader. "Mind telling me what you were doing in a building that was off limits?"
Ed got the feeling of hostility from this guy, as if he was invading in his territory without permission. Ed also thought it was none of the guy's business to be asking those kinds of questions in the first place.
"No," was Ed's clipped answer, and he was kind of surprised that he had talked in the first place, but this guy was making him feel funny, and he wasn't sure that he liked it at all.
Burn of course, wouldn't have known that was Ed's first word ever, so the significance was lost on him. It was not however, lost on Ol'skool, who just happened to get into the room after hearing Ed's startled scream.
Ol'skool saw the other two boys hovering over Ed. The man figured that Loogie decided to give him an overly-warm welcome, and by the look on Ed's face right now, Burn was making him mad for some reason. That would explain the little outburst a moment ago, but Burn wasn't having it.
"What did you just say to me?" Burn asked, his voice rising, only succeeding in getting Ed worried and somewhat frightened.
"That's enough you two," he said, making his presence known.
Ed heard him and quickly got to his feet, dashing over to hide himself behind the one thing that he recognized in this strange place.
"Burn, don't judge until you know all of the facts," Ol'skool warned the boy with a pointed look. "I'll get some breakfast together and we can wait until the girls wake up. Ed, stick with me."
Ed didn't waste any time in following Ol'skool to a different room. Ed took up the chair that Ol'skool proffered him and the man took the chair right next to him. Loogie took to sitting on the counter top and Burn stood in the doorway, arms crossed angrily.
"Ed, I need you to tell me something," Ol'skool began. "Do you know what Elcto-energies are?"
Ed's pre-programmed brain could define the term without a problem, but it was hard to explain it properly.
He nodded, but added, "Hard to explain."
"That's okay," Ol'skool reassured, "I kind of guessed that you already knew. You think you could show me what you can do with it?"
Ed nodded, a little unsure of himself as he did so. He closed his eyes and strained to do something, his face becoming red as he concentrated.
"Ol'skool, what's going on?" Deets asked, coming into the room.
Her mouth dropped open when she saw the table floating a few inches in the air. Loogie ohed and awed over it, Burn was wide-eyed and taking frightened steps backwards. Ed let the table go and gasped when the energy suddenly left him. The only one not doing a thing, was Ol'skool.
"Thank you Ed, but I suggest you get some practice in before doing that again," the man said rather calmly.
"What just happened?" Deets asked, frightened and staring at the boy sitting with Ol'skool.
"Well, not that you're all up," Ol'skool said, looking as Fizz dragged herself in the room, rubbing sleep from her eyes, "I can tell you exactly what is going on."
Fizz took a seat by Ed and folded her arms on the tabletop, unaware that it had just been suspended in the air for a few seconds.
"I'm waiting, I could barely sleep," Fizz said yawning.
"Well, to be honest, I really don't know where Ed's story begins, but I can tell you what I do know. About four years ago, I was partners with a guy named Bedlam."
"Not the Bedlam!?" Fizz gasped.
"Yes, that same Bedlam. You see, we found some rather strange artifacts underneath the city years back and we had been working on cracking some sort of code for years. Eventually, Bedlam cracked the first part and started to do what it instructed. It was sort of like a recipe, and of course, it promised great power. So Bedlam began, but he didn't know how to finish. Eventually, he left his unfinished experiment hanging. I continued on with the work, only because I had cracked the last half and I knew Bedlam couldn't find out what it was. After three more years of work, I finally finished it."
"And what was it?" Deets asked.
Ol'skool looked across the table at Ed.
"Him, the code was a written-out process of a genetically-engineered being's DNA coding. When I found this out, I knew Bedlam was going to let something die when he abandoned his experiment. I couldn't let that happen. It took a while but I managed to save Ed's DNA strands, the ones that had managed to stay stable enough to not disintegrate. Then I began working on the rest of him, doing just as I was instructed, following the blueprints and everything. To keep Bedlam off of my back about it, I decided that I needed a cover to throw off suspicion, and a little extra money wouldn't hurt either, so I started the Dojo, working on my side project at night."
"So, how long has Ed . . . been around," Burn asked lamely.
"I brought him out of stasis two days ago. He's been technically alive for only 48 hours."
"What was with the circus act this morning?" Loogie asked, having been listening with an oddly patient air.
"Ed can generate and sense something called Electo-energy, I don't really know what it is, but I'm guessing it's sort of like an energy that surrounds objects. That's my best theory. If people can harness this energy, there's no telling what could happen, but Ed is the only one who can do that, and I hope it stays that way. It's too dangerous to mess with, unless you know what you're doing."
"Interesting," Fizz said, thinking while she looked at Ed, "so, what exactly are you going to do with him?"
"He's staying with us," Ol'skool said simply. "I'm hoping he can become a part of the team when I can train him."
Burn seemed to fume at this, not liking the idea at all. Ed could feel the distress in the room from the others and he showed it in his shifting in his seat.
"Well guys," Ol'skool said, seeing Ed's nervousness, "you got drops to make and I got errands to run. Fizz, do you mind staying behind with Ed today and make sure he stays out of trouble?"
"Sure, I can work in my shop some more," the girl said, happy to be away from Burn for once.