Author's Notes (Please Read):

Hi there! Welcome. This story is inspired from the anime Tsubasa Chronicles, where the main characters go on an adventure to different worlds and dimensions.

In regards to this fic, think of something like the Infinite Realms episode, but with different series, and without the Infi-map. And don't fret if you don't know anything about the world they're going into, because things will be from the DP gang's perspective (mostly from our resident half-ghost, probably), and they'll be clueless about most worlds, so things will be explained along the way.

Also, Danny is a little shit in this story sometimes. Serious Danny is cool, Angst Danny is awesome, Clueless Danny is cute, but Little Shit Danny makes me so happy.

PP didn't happen. (cough)

Sorry for spelling and grammatical errors that you may see. Please enjoy!

Crossing Dimensions

-x-x-

One:

Beginning of the Journey

Danny was on the verge of murdering someone.

That sounded bad, he realized, but really, he was just so tired. Today was his fourth day with not even a single wink of sleep. The dark circles under his eyes made him look like a zombie, or perhaps a student stressing out because of a deadline on a paper or some shit—he didn't know what's worse; looking like the undead and knowing the irony, or looking like he'd been busy with school when it was the last thing on his mind.

Thank the Ancients for small mercies; at least he didn't look beat up. The ghosts had been popping all around Amity Park non-stop, and he suspected that they planned to tire him out by terrorizing the town a lot more often than usual, so that when he was exhausted enough, it'd be easier to defeat him (Hah! As if he'd let them win! Bunch of idiots), or as Skulker liked to say, capture the halfa and put his pelt on the wall. Ugh, gross.

Unfortunately for the ghosts, their plan was backfiring on them. Danny was tired, indeed, but the constant attacks were pissing him off, his anger only building up, making his attacks increasingly furious and even more violent, to the point that Danny actually enjoyed using physical assaults more than ecto-blasts to release stress. While he was aware that he did prefer punching and kicking, especially when he first started out, this time, he had gotten more vicious and had been skipping the witty banter in lieu of a quick fight, since there were so many ghosts lining up to take a chance with him. Now, on his fourth day of what Tucker had dubbed as the 'Furious Danny Attack Mode,' a lot ghosts had finally backed off for fear of getting more beat up in what would no doubt be a one-sided battle. Though he still didn't get any sleep last night, he was able to finish the assignment for Math and for Lancer's English class.

A wisp of blue escaped his mouth.

"BEWARE! I am the Box Ghost!"

Scratch that—the more intelligent ghosts backed off.

Danny glared as he paused in walking and looked up at Boxy. He quietly pondered if he should use the blue ghost for misplaced aggression again; but was it really misplaced aggression when it was the ghosts popping out like that that was causing him to wig out?

The halfa saw the Box Ghost hesitate at his glare. Oh? Very nice. His glare was steadily becoming more deadly the longer he was in Furious Danny Attack Mode. He took on a more neutral expression as he continued to walk to school. Perhaps Boxy suddenly gained common sense to steer clear?

Or not. Danny paused again as the Box Ghost sent a barrage of boxes in his direction. Where the hell did he even get those? The halfa had a deadpan look on his face as he dodged the flying things, barely even moving from his spot. Boxy flew closer to him and shouted, "Beware the might of my—"

"Oh, shut up," Danny said, "I'm not even gonna bother to put you in the thermos. I just want to go to school!" With his right hand, he sent a punch towards the blue ghost as soon as he was in arm's reach. The Box Ghost was a blur from the strength in the halfa's attack and he crashed into a nearby dumpster, not even having time to turn intangible. There was a pained groan, and then nothing. Danny sighed, taking a note to apologize to Boxy for being too rough on a later date (the blue ghost wasn't so bad, after all; he was just really annoying), but right now, he didn't even care if someone saw the wimpy Danny Fenton 'miraculously' sucker punch a ghost and knock it out.

There was an impressed whistle behind him. Fudge buckets! He cared about it, after all.

"Uh," he mumbled awkwardly, turning around and seeing Tucker grinning at him. Danny sighed in relief, but also felt mildly irritated that he was too tired to notice that his friend was there; normally, he would be able to sense someone approaching him. He really needed to sleep for a couple of hours. Or several hours. Maybe a day. Spending an hour or two in the Ghost Zone and basking in the miasma of ectoplasm didn't sound bad either.

"Hi Tuck," the halfa greeted his best friend, who, predictably, was holding his precious PDA. Danny didn't know which one it was—Selene? Charlotte? Rebecca? Karen? Tiffany? Just how many PDAs did Tucker have? And why were they all girl names? Bob sounded okay, or maybe Jimmy. Timmy? Hmm. Why was he even contemplating this? He didn't even have a PDA.

"Hey man. You feeling better?" the techno geek asked as he and Danny resumed their walk towards Casper High.

"Yeah. There are less ghost attacks this morning compared to yesterday. I hope it continues to lessen, because I don't know how long I can take this ridiculous shit before I snap," Danny said, looking up at the sky and glaring at the sun.

"Yeah, that wouldn't be good," Tucker replied, "Wouldn't want you to accidentally demolish the whole town or something."

Danny clicked his tongue. "I might as well. I mean, look at the property damage from these past few days. These ghosts are nuts!" The halfa saw Tucker level him with an amused look, as if saying, 'Really, dude? Are you not part of the destruction? Furious Danny Attack Mode, remember?'

The halfa waved off the look—after all, if it hadn't been for the restless attacks, he wouldn't be pushed into F.D.A. Mode. Geez.

"Where's Sam?" Danny asked. Usually, the three walked to school together. More often than not, though, it'd only be Sam and Tucker because darn those pesky ghosts!

Tucker shrugged, not looking up from his PDA. "Maybe she overslept? Last night, she kept mentioning references from some anime or other in the group chat, so maybe she binged-watched and forgot to sleep."

Danny hummed in agreement; it wouldn't be the first time that the Goth stayed up late to watch a series. Heck, he'd been roped into an anime marathon one time when he and Tucker slept over at her place; they'd watched Attack on Titan, and Tucker had fallen asleep after the fifth episode, while he'd managed to stay awake until maybe the twelfth, listening to Sam's disgusted comments like, "Those naked Titans are almost worse than Tucker in being meat-eating monsters!"

Thankfully, they reached Casper High with no further incident. There was still about half an hour before the first class started, and for Danny Fenton to be early in school was extremely rare, so the curious and disbelieving looks he got from the other students were understandable.

"What do we have here? Fenturd is actually early!"

Danny bit back a groan; he was so not in the mood for one of Dash's wailing sessions. And it was only morning!

Rough hands forced him to turn around and he was slammed into the lockers. The halfa looked at the blond jock's smirking face with a bored expression, but silently relished the fact that he was an inch or two taller—thank you, puberty.

"Hey Dash," Danny said flatly, trying his damned best to ignore the incredible urge to slug the jock, "You're really close to me right now. Ever heard of personal space? Or did you really miss me that much?" He heard Tucker cover a snicker with a cough.

Dash seethed, "You shut your mouth, Fentonia, or I'll—"

"Or you'll what?" someone growled. All three boys turned to the voice and saw a grumpy looking Sam, but all Danny saw was a vengeful angel who came to save him. He could even swear that he saw an ethereal light behind her and heard a choir singing a high note, but he was pretty sure the stress had caught up to him and he was starting to have hallucinations. Would he see some unicorns next? Unicorns were pretty cool. Perhaps he'd see some leprechauns! Would he finally have good luck?

"Stay out of this, Goth freak," the jock retorted, grabbing the front of Danny's hoodie and slamming him on the lockers again for good measure. F.D.A. Mode prevented Danny from doing his usual act of pretending to be hurt.

Sam scoffed at the blond. "Whatever. You're a disturbance. Get your hands off of Danny, or I'll introduce your crotch to my steel-toe boots and take away your ability to reproduce."

Every male within hearing range winced and eyed the Goth's combat boots. The halfa once again reminded himself to not get on Sam's bad side ever again—he had received the pain of her boots on his shin before, and he hoped to never ever know how it'd be like on a more…sensitive place.

Dash visibly paled from the threat. The jock faked an angry huff and let go of Danny before getting the hell out of dodge. Good riddance. The onlookers quickly turned away as well and continued on to whatever they were doing.

Danny sighed and slung an arm around Sam's shoulders, smiling. "Thanks," he said, "You saved me from trouble."

"Yet again," Tucker quipped, ignoring his male best friend's glare and focusing on his PDA.

Sam wrapped an arm around the halfa's waist and let out a small snicker. "Well, I saved Dash too. You're still in F.D.A. Mode, right? We don't want him to end up in the hos—"

"Don't you dare say the H-word!" Tucker snapped, glaring at the girl and looking freaked out, like he just witnessed some kind of scandal. Then, the expression melted into a creepy looking smile. "I mean, I'm sure you meant that we wouldn't want Dash to end up in a modeling agency, right?"

Sam rolled her eyes and Danny smirked. "Again, how is it that I have the ghost powers and you're the weird kid?"

Tucker waved it off and started walking away. "I'm just gonna go to class with Jessie now. Better catch up before you're late, lovebirds."

"We're not lovebirds," the pair deadpanned and let go of each other. Really, it was an improvement—they weren't exclaiming their denial anymore.

Was he really in denial, though? Danny mused. It was more of a lie. It wasn't like he was unaware of his feelings, after all.

"Jessie. A new addition to his PDA collection?" he wondered out loud as they followed their beret-wearing best friend.

"New member of his techno-harem, you mean," Sam corrected, and the halfa barked out a laugh.

The rest of the day flew by quickly. Danny only had to slip out once to pummel a school of vicious twelve-foot ghost piranhas, and he slept through history class. The fifty-minute nap wasn't enough to snap Danny out of his F.D.A. Mode, but he still felt a lot better.

After school, the trio went to Fenton Works to do homework (read: hang out and play video games). Sam was lying on Danny's bed, reading a review for the newest Dead Teacher movie on her phone. Tucker was on the floor, Danny beside him. Cujo, who was adopted in the Fenton family when the parents hesitantly approved after Danny performed some serious begging and whining ("Mom, please! I've always wanted a dog! He won't ever get mutated due to ectoplasm because he is ectoplasm! I promise I'll look after him!"), was sitting on the halfa's lap, contentedly snoozing. Both boys had a look of concentration as they furiously pushed buttons on their PlayStation controllers.

Danny narrowed his eyes at the screen. They were playing the new fighting game that came out just last month, and right now, the health bars of his and Tucker's characters were reduced to almost the same amount. The halfa punched in a combo move and smirked; he was about to win and whoop Tucker's ass and gain bragging rights for maybe a minute before his best friend would no doubt demand a rematch—

A cold sensation shot up his throat and his mouth released a blue mist.

Shit sticks! Danny bit back a groan as he dropped his controller, ignoring Tucker's triumphant yell. He would so pummel this ghost into next week for distracting him and making him lose!

Danny placed Cujo on the floor and stood up, earning the attention of his best friends. Sighing, he ran a hand through his messy hair. "Gotta go. Duty calls," he murmured tiredly, but before he could summon the familiar rings of light, a green blur phased through the wall and flew right into Danny, making him stumble a little.

Small arms clung to the halfa's torso in a desperate hug. "Phantom! Help me!"

Sam and Tucker stood up as well, both looking curious and mildly concerned. Cujo growled at the intruder and promptly transformed into a larger dog. Danny shook his head at his pet to calm him down, and then frowned as he placed a hand on the other specter's back. "Youngblood? What's wrong?"

Youngblood looked up at him with a panicked expression. The young ghost let out a small whimper and said, "Hide me! Shove me in a thermos, or something! Just hide me! Please!"

What the hell?

Danny gave the ghost a comforting rub on the back. "Calm down and tell me what happened."

"And where's that skeletal parrot of yours?" Tucker asked.

Youngblood's lips trembled, and the halfa sat down on his bed, the two humans in the room quickly sitting beside him. Cujo, now a puppy, leapt up and sat on Sam's lap. The young pirate ghost sniffled and his eyes prickled with tears. "Parrot! He's—he's gone! The Box Ghost too! And it's all that woman's fault!"

Danny's brow furrowed. "What do you mean they're gone? What woman?"

"You should start from the beginning," Sam suggested.

Youngblood gulped and stared pleadingly at the halfa's icy blue eyes. "I was with Parrot in the Ghost Zone, and we were just looking for treasure—it's a pirate day for me, you see. A-and then, we bumped into Boxy, and he looked really annoyed and he said it was because you defeated him so easily. Then Boxy mentioned that he was going to get a box that would grant him power, or so he'd heard. I heard about it too, it's called Ava's Treasure, and no one knows what's inside it…"

Sam sighed. "Let me guess, you went with the Box Ghost because it's 'treasure'."

Youngblood pouted and buried his face on Danny's chest in shame. "Well, yeah. I mean…" He looked up at the halfa and continued, "The box is located at this creepy mansion lair that no one's been into in centuries, I think. Ghosts are too afraid of it, and it's said that the ones who went there never returned."

Danny's eye twitched. "And you still went there. That's just stupid, Youngblood." He steadily ignored Tucker's whisper of, "Gee, dude, remember what you did with the Fright Knight?" Hmph. It wasn't like he wasn't able to fight off the ghostly knight. Pshh.

The young ghost's cheeks flushed green. "But I got back!" he argued.

"But Parrot and the Box Ghost didn't," the half-ghost retorted.

Youngblood shivered and glared at him, unshed tears in his eyes. "I know, I know! Stop rubbing it in! This is so not cool. Parrot…he's gone…" He sniffled, and the tears fell.

Danny's lips pursed into a thin line. He felt bad for Youngblood. The skeletal parrot was the young ghost's partner, and he knew that it'd hurt like a bitch if Sam or Tucker were to—

Were to what? What happened, anyway? He realized that he still didn't know what gone really meant.

"Sorry," he apologized, his expression softening as he wiped away Youngblood's tears with his thumb, "Continue what you're saying."

The pirate ghost kid took a cleansing breath and said, "W-we figured it was okay to go, you know? It's been so long since someone disappeared from that place! Well, no one else was there when we arrived. We found the box easily. Boxy opened it and there a really weird and really long necklace with black beads. It didn't do anything at first, but then the beads glowed white, and then they scattered and disappeared! We didn't know where they went, I swear! Then this scary lady came and screamed at us! She was super pissed! Next thing I knew, Boxy was gone! Parrot and I flew away, but she got him too…"

"From what I'm gathering, this ghost is called Ava, right? What do you know about her?" Sam asked, absently petting Cujo.

"Not much. Only that she's the owner of Ava's Treasure, of course," Youngblood murmured, and then whined pitifully at Danny. "Phantom, hide me already! She might come for me!"

"You do realize that, by helping you, we're gonna be put in danger too, right?" Tucker said, raising a brow. "As much as I don't want to deal with an angry ghost lady, I know Danny's hero complex will come forth, so I'm just hoping she's at least as hot as Ember."

Danny rolled his eyes, but said nothing. Tucker was right, anyway. He couldn't just leave Youngblood like this, especially since he'd become one of his allies, somehow.

He summoned a thermos from his pocket dimension—he still didn't know why he had it nor how it really worked, but he wasn't complaining—and was about to say something, but a blue mist came from his mouth.

Danny's eyes widened as a heavy sensation hit his chest. "Fuck!" he hissed, and stood up quickly, his friends following his action. Youngblood squeaked in surprise as he got thrown off from his seat on the halfa's lap and darted behind the group.

"What? What's wrong, Danny?" Sam gasped, and Cujo struggled in her arms a bit before landing on the floor and letting out a growl as he grew in size.

"If what I feel is Ava, then she's insanely strong!" the halfa clenched his fist, "I could probably handle her, but it's gonna be a long fight. I refuse to turn my bedroom into a war zone, so let's get the hell out of here—"

"That's right, Halfa," an echoing female voice replied, "You are going to get out of here once I'm done with you."

The room temperature dropped, and everyone tensed as a dark blue mist appeared and swirled around the room, until it stopped in front of them, taking a shape of a figure. The mist grew thicker, becoming opaque, until more colours faded in, revealing a woman with long wavy blonde hair and light grey skin. She was wearing a long silver dress and a midnight blue cloak, a blue aura surrounding her. She stared at the group before her with her glowing, orange eyes.

Danny frowned and wordlessly changed into Phantom. "You're Ava," he stated, "Leave Youngblood alone."

The newcomer smiled sardonically, "Indeed, I am she. And you are Phantom, the Halfa, as well as Pariah's Bane. Cast your worries away, I do not wish to fight."

Danny wondered if there was even a ghost who didn't know him anymore. Would've been nice. Well, at least his bedroom would be spared from destruction, or he would have had to crash at the couch. Or Tucker's. Or Sam's. The last choice didn't sound so bad, to be honest…

"However, I'm afraid I cannot just let this go," Ava continued, "That young ghost and his merry friends has caused my greatest creation to disappear before its completion. Punishment shall be carried out in order to fix the damage."

"Bring Parrot back!" Youngblood cried out from behind Tucker.

The female ghost chuckled, "Not to worry. You will soon meet with him." She turned back towards Danny and clasped her hands together. "As for you, Your Highness, you will be joining him. Search for the missing beads, and bring them back to me."

Danny's eye twitched at the formal address. "Why should I?"

"Well, you are our prince, are you not? Therefore, you must gain even more invaluable experience before you are crowned as king. I am sure that this journey will provide just that," she eyed Sam, Tucker and Cujo, "I'll even have your retinue join you."

"We don't have to listen to you," Sam hissed.

"Oh, but you have to," Ava said, and her eyes glowed white, obscuring her pupils completely, and she stretched out a palm, where a small ball of white appeared, making everyone tense.

Danny prepared to lunge at Ava, but silver tendrils shot out from the ball and wrapped themselves around his torso, wrists and ankles.

"Danny!" Sam and Tucker exclaimed in alarm, but they found themselves bound by the same tendrils.

The halfa saw his best friends, as well as Cujo and Youngblood, get trapped, and he growled and tugged at the bonds. It was no good—the restraints were too strong. Even going intangible didn't do a thing.

Ava was muttering under her breath, and as the bonds glowed brighter, Danny realized that she was chanting some kind of spell. He struggled harder and mouthed off some cusses, hoping to distract her.

Holy cheese crap. The glow was becoming more intense, and Danny could feel a pull on his body. He wondered where they would end up, but he quickly dismissed the thought as he eyed the thermos that fell on the floor. Concentrating, Danny saw a soft green glow envelop the thermos. Telekinesis wasn't his strongest ability, but he could do basic things with it—like lifting a thermos to his hand so he could suck in a nut crack ghost lady.

Just as the beloved Fenton device touched his hand, Danny heard a voice echo loudly in the room.

"Time out."

Danny blinked, and suddenly, everything was quiet. He looked around. His room was tinged blue. Ava was unmoving, her mouth open in mid-chant. His friends were still as well. A familiar medallion rested above his chest. A cloaked figure floated at his side.

"Clockwork," Danny sighed in relief, and his tense form relaxed, although he was ticked that he still couldn't break free from Ava's power. "Please. Please tell me you're here to rescue us."

The halfa knew that that wasn't the case. Clockwork barely meddled unless it involved a drastic change in the future, where everyone's safety could be put at risk.

Would this event lead to something like that? Or was this somewhat akin to a warning, since it could change his future? Maybe the Time Master just felt like visiting at the most inappropriate time for amusement—it was something Danny wouldn't rule out, especially since he got to know Clockwork better after going under his tutelage.

"I would be lying if I tell you that, Daniel," the ghost replied, "I know what you're thinking, and yes, this is merely a warning. This trip may or may not change the future of this timeline, but it will certainly change something about you and your friends."

Danny pursed his lips. "How long will this take? We just have to retrieve the beads of Ava's necklace, right?"

"For you, it will take a quite some time," Clockwork said, "And I'm sure you know this, but things won't always be as easy as 'shoving the Box Ghost into a thermos.'"

The Time Master was being a cryptic bastard again. Damn it. The halfa let out a breath; these confusing things were making him even more exhausted. And he still hadn't slept in four days! "For me, you said. Does that mean that time will move differently here?"

"Yes. When you get back, only several hours would have passed here, so you have nothing to worry about. A ghost bear will attack in the mall in an hour and thirty six seconds from now, but your parents will deal with it efficiently. Skulker would look for you at quarter to midnight, but Valerie Gray will chase him away."

Danny blinked. That was detailed. Clockwork really wanted him to go to this trip with no worries, huh? He rolled his eyes. "The future is not set in stone. Are you sure everyone will be safe?"

Clockwork smiled and patted the halfa's head. "You are learning. Indeed, things may happen differently from what I've told you. But do not worry, everything's the way it's supposed to be."

The half-ghost groaned. He'd expected his mentor to say that infernal phrase sooner or later. "Anything else you'd like to warn me about?"

A chuckle escaped the ancient ghost. "Just a few. You would be sent to different dimensions—"

"What?! I thought the beads scattered to different timelines!" Danny exclaimed. He could feel panic rising again. Different dimensions. Dimensions. The implications made him want to hit his head on the wall several times until he passed out—he could handle past, future, or an alternate timeline, but a different dimension would be too risky. They could all end up a world completely different from their own. Although he was certain that he and his friends have the ability to survive, things would be rough if they have no knowledge of anything about the dimension that they'd be thrown in. What if they ended up somewhere where aliens lived? And what if those aliens have super powers that could eradicate planets? What if they ended up in a realm where gigantic gods exist? What if they—

"Daniel, calm down," Clockwork sighed, "Let me finish explaining. When Ava was alive, she was abused and locked in for decades. Now that she's a ghost, she wants nothing more than to see the world, but her obsession took it a step further—she wanted to see other worlds as well. She aims to create an inter-dimensional transporter, you see, which is why she is known as Ava the Dimensional Sorceress in the Infinite Realms."

Danny nodded. He understood how obsessions could affect a ghost—he knew from his mentor's lectures and from memory of him…

The desire to not feel anything. The need to erase everything.

He mentally kicked himself. Now was not the time to reminisce about an alternative future, as ironic as that sounds.

Clockwork continued, "The placing of dimensions are in layers, or levels. Each bead of Ava's necklace represents a dimension from the same 'layer' that this world comes from. Her necklace has to represent a certain number of those in order for it to be powerful enough to open portals to other universes from a different level. However, the beads are now lost in the dimensions they are supposed to represent."

"And we have to get them back," Danny stated flatly, "I'm curious, though. Why did they even scatter?"

"The necklace was yet to be stable. The box holding it had the power to keep the beads from being lost."

"Box Ghost, that idiot…you'd think he learned his lesson from Pandora's Box," the halfa murmured and sighed, "Just great. Are we supposed to just search all over the place? Because I have a feeling that we're not going to have a single idea on where to start finding those stupid beads."

"Fate will lead you to it. Trust me," Clockwork smiled that knowing smile, and Danny let out a breath.

"This is gonna be so troublesome…"

"Indeed," the Time Master chuckled, "Ava is not heartless, however. She will leave small gifts to aid you."

"Very reassuring," Danny deadpanned.

There was a moment of silence. Danny could feel the coolness of the thermos' steel on his palm. It was probably too late to suck Ava in his favorite Fenton tech. He didn't know if he'd even be able to; he was still a bit stuck in the weird, glowing binds. He looked around and stared at the shocked and panicked faces of his friends. He wanted to reach out to them.

Only one thing could make everything worse. "We won't be separated, right..?" he whispered, turning back to look at his mentor.

"You won't," Clockwork replied, his face turning somber, "Danny…"

The halfa blinked. The Time ghost rarely used his nickname; he only did when he was really serious. Or emotional. One would assume the opposite—Clockwork was strange like that. "Yeah?" Danny asked softly.

"I've seen the worlds you'll be in. Some of them are pleasant. Some of them are not. This journey will change you in some way," Clockwork said as he floated closer to his student, "Be strong."

Danny was silent for a few moments. Change him? Physically? Mentally? He suspected the latter. What would he and his friends see? He felt a slight trepidation about the fact that it was highly possible that he and his friends would see worse horrors than from what he'd already seen from the ghosts, especially if it would 'change' him.

Although, really, what was worse than the horrific thought of the Box Ghost and the Lunch Lady getting together and doing the deed? Or even seeing Mr. Lancer with no shirt on? He still blamed Jazz for that image. The Fenton Peeler worked way too well.

He shook away his silly thoughts and gave a small smile at his mentor. "Are you worried about me?"

Clockwork smiled back and patted Danny's snow-white hair. "Of course. I am your guardian, and you're my responsibility."

The halfa leaned in to the touch. "Thanks for looking out for me." Clockwork rarely interfered with the timeline; that much he knew, but he cared. Danny didn't know how he deserved the fondness of a powerful and ancient ghost, but it was comforting to know that time was on his side.

"Are you ready?"

"As ready as I can be."

Clockwork stepped away and raised his staff. The halfa closed his eyes.

"Time in."

-x-x-

Chapter End

And that's chapter one. I hope you like it! Chapter two will come in soon. Thanks for reading!