Luffy laughed joyfully, paying no heed to his distressed passenger and astonishingly rapid descent down the rocky wall that led into the jungle. XLR8 was keeping pace with him, enjoying the fresh air that whipped at his face from the fast velocities he was moving at.
"Gomu Gomu No…" Luffy began lowly just as they were about to impact the jungle floor, Luffy took a huge intake of air that inflated his stomach to enormous proportions.
XLR8 looked on in surprise at the expanding volume of Luffy's stomach. He'd assumed that Luffy's abilities were similar to that of the Kraaho, a race of aliens who could also extend their arms to abnormally impossible lengths. Though, by the looks of it, Luffy's extension abilities stretched further than the hero had presumed; quite literally.
"FUUSEN!" Luffy finished as his body made contact with the jungle floor, crashing with a loud thud. The shape of Luffy's expanded body acted a cushion of sorts, softening the impact that would have otherwise been a lethal fall. Margaret was flung to the side from the impact, landing on her rear with a yelp. Poor girl looked like she was only moments from a heart attack with her hair somewhat disheveled and her breathing laborious.
Luffy casted a look at XLR8 who had already transformed back to normal and waited with his arms at his sides. In his excitement, the rubber man hadn't seen how the odd looking blue lizard had made it down the rocky cliff without any bodily harm, but was more curious as to who the weird man was. He had the shape of a fighter, that was for certain, but the man with a weird looking watch exuded a cheerful aura that reminded Luffy of himself in a bizarre way. Luffy mentally shook his head from his ramblings. Far too much thinking involved.
"Who are you? And how did you turn into that weird monster?" Luffy asked in his usual blunt and straightforward manner.
Ben raised an eyebrow, a bit annoyed by Luffy's perhaps rude attitude. "Name's Ben Tennyson. As for how I turned into that monster," the hero raised the Omnitrix so Luffy could get a closer look. "It's called the Omnitrix. It allows me to turn into these monsters. That raptor you saw, who I call XLR8, is just one of them.".
Luffy edged closer to the hero, tentatively reaching out with a finger. Ben watched the rubber boy with an almost lost expression as he proceeded to prod at Ben's device. To Luffy's surprise, the hourglass symbol on the Omnitrix glowed green a bit. "Shishishi. So it's a mystery watch," Luffy laughed heartedly. Ben saw the boy's gleaming dentures that nearly spit across his face as he smiled and soon, he joined in the amused boy's laughter.
Off to the side Marguerite observed the behavior between the two men with a wary yet curious eye. Her current position as captive to these men made her apprehensive, yet apart of her, the more inquisitive and innocent side of her was puzzled. Being a female Kuja on Amazon Lily meant that she and her fellow females lived an isolated life, separated from any outside influence that extended past the large island. Males were prohibited from entry into Amazon Lily as per the traditions of the Kuja. Here, women were appalled by man. From a young age, they were taught that man would bring nothing but destruction to their peaceful and prosperous land, thus the reason for their state of self-imposed isolation from the outside world.
Marguerite shared these feelings of animosity towards men, though unlike her fellow peers Margaret was a rather curious creature. Despite the fact that her people were taught to despise and loathe men, Marguerite had yet to actually meet a male in person. Never in Amazon Lily's history had a man stepped foot on their shores, and now suddenly two such males had appeared without any forewarning. Perhaps now she would be given the chance to see exactly why males were so feared and tabooed by her people's culture.
It was made abundantly clear that the two males had never met each other until today, yet they laughed together in a manner that old friends or comrades would when they shared something they found comical. The younger male with the straw hat was indeed strange. Never had she seen an individual stretch to such lengths. His abilities incited both fear and excitement in the young Kuja warrior. This 'Luffy's' powers reminded Marguerite of the mystical abilities that Hebihime-sama and her sisters, Sandersonia and Marigold possessed. Did that mean that Luffy was plagued by a similar curse that afflicted her people's most revered sisters?
The Kuja warrior craned her neck skyward up the mountainous wall, gasping at the sheer height of the fall that Luffy had daringly leaped from. "To jump from that height without sustaining any injuries…" the blonde murmured to herself under her breathe. Had Luffy not intervened, she would have surely died from the fall's impact.
"My names Luffy and I'm a rubber man." Monkey D. Luffy introduced himself as he pulled on his right cheek and stretched it outwards, proving his statement.
"So how do you stretch like that?" Ben questioned idly. "I've only met a race of people that can do something similar but not to the extent that I've seen you show."
"Ehhh?" Luffy exclaimed in surprise. "You know people who can stretch like me?"
"Yeah," Ben hummed in affirmation, a far off gaze in his eyes. "They're called the Kraaho and I've had a few run ins with them when I was young."
"Crap Holes?! What the hell kind of name is that?" Luffy shouted with mirth and unbridled confusion laced in his words.
Ben deadpanned at that. Never had the Omnitrix wielder heard anyone so horribly misinterpret a name, " Don't let any of them hear you say that. A old friend of mine who is a member of that race would maim you if she heard you making fun of her people." Despite the way that Ben portrayed his words as a joke, Ester may indeed have attempted to eviscerate the rubber boy for tarnishing the name of her people in such a decrepit manner.
Luffy huffed, unflinching of the prospect of bodily dismemberment to his person. To Luffy, only his old coot of a grandfather could invoke any real fear through his usually indomitable will. He still hadn't a clue as to why the aged Vice Admiral's punches could hurt him despite the fact that his body was made of rubber. His body should've made him immune to any kind of physically concussive attack, yet that didn't derail gramps iron fist in the least.
"How is that you can stretch anyway?" Ben questioned. He new for sure that most humans didn't have the capability to extend their body in such a manner. At least Ben presumed that Luffy was human based upon the boy's physical appearance. Then again, alien races like the Osmosians bore a remarkably similar resemblance to humans with the exception of horns; so there was the slim possibility that Luffy could be from a alien race with strikingly distinctive human features.
"I ate a Devil Fruit called the Gomu Gomu no Mi," Luffy spoke as if that alone was sufficient enough to answer Ben's question. It served the opposite effect and only further fueled Ben with more confusion and questions.
Ben scratched the back of his head, befuddled. "What in the world is a Devil Fruit?"
Luffy staggered back dumbstruck. "You don't know what a Devil Fruit is? They give you these awesome powers when you eat them, but they taste like shit." Luffy cringed at the memory of consuming the cursed fruit. It was known by every Devil Fruit user that the fruit itself bared a horrid taste that would likely make a person visibly sick after just one bite. Luffy had the displeasure of eating his fruit whole, nearly suffocating himself in the process.
It was truly strange that this Ben hadn't heard of the Devil Fruits before, especially being in the Grand Line where much more of the fruit users dwelled. Even the farther sections of the sea such as North and South Blue knew of the mystical fruits that bestowed supernatural abilities, or at the very least rumors of its existence.
Ben shrugged his shoulders with a clueless expression on his face. "Never heard of such a thing? By the way, why did you bring that girl with you?" Ben gestured towards the forgotten Kuja warrior who flinched at the sudden mention of her presence.
Luffy took a few pauses to register everything before the cogs in his head finally pieced everything together. "Oh yeah!" the boy cried, smashing a fisted hand into his other in a eureka gesture. Luffy rushed off in front of a startled Marguerite, who brandished her sword threateningly in front of herself.
"Stay back!" Marguerite commanded in a panic, obviously not comfortable or willing to let the boy get too close to her again. "I heard you men carry all sorts of diseases." No way was she running the risk of possibly contracting some foreign and potentially deadly virus from a male of all things.
Luffy pressed forward, unfazed or uncaring of the blonde Kuja's threat. "As far as I know I'm not carrying any diseases, but never mind that. There's something I need in the pockets of my old trousers. Can you give them to me?" He held out his arms pleading and desperate.
Marguerite hadn't a clue what possessed her to do this but for some reason she felt compelled to comply with the man's wish. Shuffling through the pockets of the boy's trousers, Marguerite made certain to retain sight of both males. What she found within the pair of pants actually poked at the curious side of the Kuja female. In her hand she held out a perfectly square piece of paper with what appeared to be a person's name inscribed onto the small parchment.
"AHHH! That's it!" Luffy exclaimed excitedly, snatching the thin sheet of paper away from the blonde Amazon's grasp. With a delicate touch, Luffy held it in between both his palms, inspecting the paper for any damages. "Thank god I didn't lose it! Without it I'd be doomed. Thanks so much for taking care of it!"
Marguerite blinked before attaining a slightly bashful expression. It was felt so odd to be thanked so earnestly by a man of all things, but to her utter surprise it didn't feel as wrong as she initially would've presumed. "I assumed it was important since there was something written on it."
"Mmhhmm, look!" Luffy held out his hand for Margaret and Ben to get a better view of the mysterious object. To the Kuja tribeswoman's fascination, the piece of paper seemed to move of its violation without the aid of the wind.
"How mysterious…" Marguerite commented airily, transfixed by the almost sentient like piece of parchment.
Luffy positioned himself into a comfortable cross legged position, eyes fixated onto the paper in his palm. "Yeah…a lot of stuff happened and me and my nakama all got blown into the sky. But all of us have one of these so we should be able to find each other again. We're strong after all." Luffy explained with an expression of fondness in his eyes as he mentioned his beloved nakama.
"Man, I guess I have a lot to thank you for. Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Well…" Marguerite began, recalling the events of the earlier morning. "Could I have a look at your family jewels?" she asked with innocent curiosity, holding out her hands expectantly.
"I TOLD YOU THEY DON'T COME OFF!" Luffy's voice wailed, scaring away the nearby birds that had perched themselves nearby on tree branches or nests.
Ignoring the boisterous response from the straw hat boy, Marguerite sat down on the large trunk of one of the fallen trees that had long since toppled over. Green moss littered its dead husk, creating a somewhat comfortable cushion padding to sit on. Marguerite had begun to grow used to the men's' presence; enough to relax herself somewhat but she still firmly kept her sword within arm's reach.
Ben took a similar position, content with listening to the two talk. Ben enjoyed how Luffy shared his stories with such animated expressions and gestures. It was obvious in the way he spoke about his nakama that he cared for them deeply.
Luffy briefly spoke of his companions, whom by their description alone sounded like quite an unusual band of individuals. This Franky guy reminded Ben a lot of the Synthroids back in his world. He only hoped that the human/machine hybrid didn't have no care or remorse for beings who are alive and destroying the Earth as the ones he had the pleasure of knowing in the past. And this Brook character. How a singing skeleton could be even a thing in the first place was beyond him, but the deceased man sure sounded like a nice guy. Each of the Straw Hat's crew brought on their own string of strangeness and slew of abilities. But most importantly, at least to Ben; the pirate crew sounded like they all shared a great deal of camaraderie with each other.
After hearing of Luffy's crew and a few recounts of some of the adventures he'd already been on in his crew's relatively short time of existence, Margarette began to open up about herself and the island they were on. Margarette told them that the ruler of Amazon Lily, the Empress Boa Hancock was also a pirate captain with her own crew. Though, the woman wasn't just any other pirate, but something known as a Shichibukai; a fact which surprised Luffy greatly. It seemed that Luffy had dealt with several Shichibukai in the past, and never once on good terms.
Ben had to admit, he was rather impressed. From what he'd heard from Luffy and Marguerite, those who had attained the title of Shichibukai held incredible power that was far above the average level of a normal pirate. Marguerite herself was one of the many Kuja warriors that strived to one day join their precious Hebihime-sama's pirate crew, where only the empress's most powerful band of Amazonian warriors were allowed to join.
It had become all too clear that Ben really had been transported to another universe. At the very least, the reality that he'd been suddenly cast into was somewhat like Earth, if with a few defining differences. A piece of information that Ben had picked up on that distinguished this new world from his own was that it seemed to be dominated by pirates; the kind of pirates that lived by no concrete laws and scoured the seas for treasure. Luffy's proclaimed dream was to search for widely sought after pirate treasure of One Piece, though Ben was iffy on the details.
Ben surprised himself with just how well he had been coping with being whisked into this new and foreign world. Of course he felt that nagging feeling of guilt and sad emptiness at being separated from his friends and family, but he knew that everything would just work out. However, one thought that was lingering in the back of his mind was if he was here, did that mean Maltruant and Eon somehow ended up in this world too? That was something he didn't want to think about considering how much damage they could do if left unchecked.
"There, all done!" Marguerite's voice broke the hero from his reverie. A few snips later and Ben noticed that the frills that had originally occupied his black and white shirt was gone. In his musings, Ben had momentarily forgotten that he'd asked Margaret to remove the alterations that she'd made to his favored uniform.
"Thanks!" Ben cheered as he did a once over his outfit, craning his neck to the side in attempt to look at his back. Marguerite made a few unintelligible murmurs that sounded remotely like a pout as she slipped the remainder of the flowery frills into her satchel.
Marguerite sauntered over to a nearby tree vine that stretched across the underbrush and intertwined into the thick branches overhead. Swaying over the improvised laundry line was the Kuja warrior's cape. It had gotten wet when she had jumped in the ocean after Luffy, who had nearly drowned under the water's crushing force and waves. In an attempt to seek out and rejoin his fellow nakama, Luffy had hastily erected together a ramshackled boat that he'd planned on using to sail out to sea. Paying no mind to Margaret's warnings, Luffy's impromptu raft had quickly sunk within less than a minute. The fact that his entire body would clamp up as if weighed down by a tremendous force certainly didn't help Luffy's case.
It had come as quite a shock to Ben when he'd learned that Luffy couldn't swim. Apparently, anyone who had consumed a Devil Fruit would also suffer the inability to swim ever again; a prospect that left Ben dumbfounded. Considering that Luffy spent a lot of his time as a pirate sailing the seas.
Meanwhile, Luffy heaved for air on the ground, out of breathe from his ordeal. Marguerite shook her cape to rid itself of the remaining droplets of water that still clung to the cloth, a deep and thoughtful expression on her face, as though disturbed by a sudden revelation. "If only you could just get out of here…far away." She whispered lowly so that no one would hear her. Ben was able to pick up on Marguerite's sudden turn in behavior.
Without warning, the Kuja tribeswoman brought out her bow and arrow, the tip of her weapon positioned squarely in Luffy's face. "WHOA! What are you doing Marguerite?!" Ben shouted, his body reactively tensing to the danger.
"I can't keep being friendly to you both, or else I'll get too attached. My people's law forbids it." Marguerite spoke with finality, though with a hesitant lack of enthusiasm. Her somber tone spoke volumes of the inner turmoil that her decision was causing.
Before either Luffy or Ben could get a word in edgewise, Marguerite released her arrow which launched straight for Luffy's head. Luffy barely managed to react in time, pushing himself off the ground and narrowly avoiding a fatal blow. The arrow plowed into the ground, shattering stone and rock on impact.
Marguerite cursed her aim and lined up another set of arrows which she fired off at both Ben and Luffy, who were forced to dodge less they get impaled by a storm of arrows. None of the arrows found their destined target, crashing into the trees, which were easily bifurcated and torn apart from the seams.
"Those arrows! Breaking down stone walls and stuff. How are they so ridiculously powerful?!" Luffy questioned aloud, picking up one of the fallen arrows off the forest floor and inspecting it. "They look just like ordinary arrows." To prove his point, Luffy snapped the arrow in half with relative ease. Ben too, was confused, though he had presumed that it had something to do with the metahuman ability that all of the Kuja warriors seemed to possess.
"What are you talking about?" Marguerite questioned, hands already in motion to line up another set of arrows. "It's only natural for arrows to have such strength when imbued with Haki," she told the two men as though it were obvious. And to her people it was. All of the Kuja tribe were naturally born gifted with the capacity to utilize Haki with ease that was uncommon outside of their island and village. The use of Haki just came natural to the Amazonian women.
"Haki?" Luffy pondered the foreign word, unfamiliar with the term as was Ben. The rubber boy threw an inquisitive look at his unconventional companion who shrugged his wide shoulders in an 'I dunno' expression.
Marguerite merely assumed that the two men were faking their ignorance, but if they were then they were uncannily good at it. Though, the Kuja teachings had foretold of man's deception, so maybe they truly were that proficient at feigning ignorance.
"There they are! Marguerite's alright!" a feminine female voice shouted, spurring her colleagues attention towards the three individuals locked in an awkward stalemate. Just as the group of Kuja tribeswomen greeted Marguerite, both Ben and Luffy had taken off into the jungle's foliage with the former transforming into Jetray, knowing that if they stood there then the Amazonians would surely fire upon them at first sight. Marguerite assured her fellow female warriors that she'd been unharmed during her captivity and even dutifully declined one of the Kuja woman's offered help to cleanse her body of any diseases that she may have contracted from being in such close proximity with the males. Despite her conflicting feelings, Marguerite couldn't stop herself from feeling uneasy about the way in which she treated the men, and what would surely become of them the moment that they were finally captured. After all, without a boat or other form of transportation the two were confined to the island. And eventually they'd run out of places to run to.
A brush from Aphelandra spurred the blonde Kuja from her inner musings. "Y-yes, I'm sorry. What did you say?" Marguerite managed to word out.
Aphelandra, an unusually tall but nevertheless, attractive woman gave Marguerite a worried look. "Since you've been in captivity, news came back from the village. Hebi-hime sama has returned from her voyage, she's back!" An undertone of panic swelled through Marguerite's body. Normally, Hebi-hime sama's return would've been heralded with joyous welcome and celebration, but with two unknown men on the loose, the snake princess would be enraged. Like any Kuja, Boa Hancock held a strong hatred for men, but her fury with the opposite sex was infamously unparalleled. Once word had reached of the men's existence, Hebi-hime sama would fall into a distraught rage, relentlessly hunting the males down no matter the consequences, despite any casualties that may befall her own people. The way things were moving, it looked as though things would get worse before they got better.
"Hmm, what do you think we should do Luffy?" Jetray asked as flew alongside his newfound companion, honestly stumped and out of ideas.
Luffy made a humming noise of deep thought, racking his brain for a solution to their predicament. Despite only knowing each for several hours, the two males made a nonverbal agreement to work together. They both sorely needed the others aid if they wanted to get off the island; Ben especially since he lacked any real knowledge about the world he'd stumbled into.
Shortly after escaping the group of Kuja warriors that had been hunting them down, the pair had made their way back towards the outer wall of the Amazon Lily. An outpost landing circled around the circumference of the village, where usually a small contingent of Kuja warriors would be stationed on watch duty, overseeing for any oncoming enemies that may attack the unsuspecting village below; not many actually believed that anyone would be smart or stupid enough to infiltrate and attack a highly trained race of warriors with an adept talent with Haki, especially when they're leader was a Shichibukai sanctioned by the World Government.
It was indeed odd that there was no one stationed to guard the village's perimeter. A sizable contingent of warriors were tracking them down in the surrounding jungle, but that still left the entire rest of their population uncounted for. But these minute details were lost to the unobservant Luffy and Ben.
"Well that girl said that they had a pirate ship. We just need to borrow it." Luffy spoke his thought aloud. Suddenly he felt dejected. "But Nami isn't around. Without her, I'll get lost out sea." Oceans normally were precarious to travel, but the waters of the Grand Line were altogether a different thing. On a good day, the seas in that region were downright hazardous to traverse. The waters would suddenly and dramatically take a turn for the worst, bringing about near unpredictable weather conditions that ranged from frigid cold climates to raging storms. Then to top that off, there were the constant threat of being devoured whole by the mountainous Sea Kings that lurked beneath the ocean's depths, waiting for unsuspecting travelers.
Nami, the Sunny's navigator had an extremely high aptitude for predicting weather patterns, making her a vital addition and companion of the Straw Hat crew. Without her, the crew would've undoubtedly been sunken by some catastrophe or another. Luffy, on the other hand had no directional or navigational skills to note of. In fact, before Nami had been admitted into the pirate crew, when Luffy had just began his journey to find the widely sought after treasure of One Piece, Luffy had absolutely no idea of how to navigate through the ocean; only knowing perhaps the basic necessities of how to steer a boat, but not to maintain it. This left him with the choice of merely leaving his sails to catch whatever wind he could get and drift off into any random location, praying that eventually he'd either find land or some form of hospitable civilization. It was a miracle that the boy hadn't been swallowed by the dangers that had devastated so many others. It was like fate itself had bestowed an impenetrable luck upon the rubber boy, safely guiding him towards his goals and dreams.
"But…do you think they'll just let us take their ship? I don't know if I'd be comfortable with just taking their ship without permission. We don't want to give them more of a reason to kill us." Jetray stated.
Luffy hopped onto the square shaped cemented ridge of the catwalk, balancing himself on the edge. "I suppose ya got a point there. It'd be better if they just let us borrow it. I wonder if they could send me back to the Shabondi Islands."
"I got it!" Jetray shouted, startling Luffy and throwing his posture off balance. Luffy tittered on the edge of the ridge, trying to gather his balance back less he fall back into the village's entrenched crater, which would be an exceedingly long fall.
"What if I can make us a ship? One of my other aliens can do the job in a snap," Jetray continued on, oblivious to his companion's near death fall.
Luffy finally managed to regain his bearings, and then turned towards Jetray with a righteous fury, his infamous temper peeking out. "IDIOT! You nearly knocked me off the ledge!" Jetray barely had time to blink in surprise before an elongated fisted hand of Luffy's crashed straight into his abdomen, rocketing him off the safety of the encircled ridgeline.
The sight of his newly found companion falling off the ledge snapped Luffy out of his encompassed rage. "Ah oops." Luffy weakly managed to breathe out. "Hang on weird monster guy!" Luffy bellowed, propping his legs into a crouch and leaping off the ledge without hesitation.
Jetray wasn't as hurt by the blow that Luffy dealt him as much as startled. The alien honestly hadn't expected to be hurtled off course so suddenly and by Luffy no less. Had he done something to offend the rubber boy? the Aerophibian's rattled mind centered back onto the fact that he was still tumbling down towards the rapidly enlarging sight of a large compound in the village. The compound itself was enormous and held the majestic architecture of a royal Chinese palace.
In another green flash, Ben switched to Cannonbolt sheltering his entire form by curling into a sphere. The hero's descent began a rapid decline in velocity. Finally, Cannonbolt touched down onto the tile pallets of the palace's roof, shattering a few of the tiles that he'd landed on, but otherwise preventing any injuries or mild headaches. "Phew…" Cannonbolt heaved a relaxed sigh. "That was a close one. Could've done some damage there." Cannonbolt wasn't entirely referring to himself. The fall would've rattled his brain from the crash, but he would've otherwise been fine. He was honestly more worried about damaging the Palace itself. The ruler and her people probably wouldn't have taken too kindly if their ceiling suddenly collapsed on them. That would make things even more difficult with them as it is.
"LOOK OUT BELOW!" The familiar voice of Luffy roared against the rushing wind. Attracted by the loud and impending voice, Cannonbolt looked up. The Arburian Pelarota had just enough time to let out a surprised scream himself before Luffy's fast-moving body slammed into his, elapsing a mighty THWAPP sound from their impact. The force blew them both straight through the tiled plates of the roof and inside the palace.
Ben felt the discombobulating sense of vertigo that he had grown well accustomed to whenever he was struck hard in the head sent tumbling end over end through solid objects, be they large boulders or buildings. "Awww man! It feels like Vilgax slammed me through Mount Rushmore again." Ben vividly remembered that fateful battle with his old nemesis. Though, back then, he at least at the opportunity to brace himself for the inevitable impact. That wasn't the case this time.
Next to the hero, Ben could see Luffy screaming and flailing around like a fish out of water. It was at that point that Ben finally realized that they were standing in warm water. Hot steam enveloped them, obscuring Ben's vision and preventing him from seeing anything within the room.
"WATER! HOT! HOT! IT'S BOILING HOT!I'M GONNA DIE! I'M GONNA DROWN! HELP!" The rubber boy shrieked with intensified volume. Ben was just about to assist the boy when all on his own, Luffy came to the realization that he was standing and not drowning. The water level barely came up to his knee caps. "Oh, I can stand. Hey, are we in a bath?" he pointed out lamely.
"A MALE?!" a feminine and heavenly sultry voice whispered loudly, her voice penetrating through the hot steam and managing to reverberate throughout the room. Splashed of water was heard just as the fog-like steam slowly dissipated to reveal a naked woman. The woman in question had striking beauty that outclassed even the most alluring females that inhabited the island; which was a feat in itself. She had an incredibly slender form, fair and smoothly unblemished skin. Her dampened long black hair cascaded over her frame and shadowed her voluptuous breasts.
Ben felt captivated, though not just by the appearance of her naked form, nor her obvious beauty. What truly ensnared the wielder of the Omnitrix's interest was the fire in her deep, dark blue eyes; eyes that filled with such malice, such contempt that Ben may have actually combusted in flames from her hardened gaze. The sharpness of her stare and anger that was practically palpable made the hero actually take a step back. Ben had long since learnt from the many times that he had ticked off Gwen or Julie.
"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned."
AN: Next chapter is when we get into the real action, so be sure to read and review!