Chapter 2
Clap Trap and Dr Zed
XXXXX
"Next stop: Fyrestone Depot. Time to gather up your stuff! Who's getting' off the bus?" Marcus called back to his passengers.
"Don't be alarmed. I need you to stay calm and don't let on that someone is talking to you. Start making your way off the bus. You don't have any reason to trust me, but I need you to believe that I'm here to guide you – I'm here to help you find the Vault. In a moment, you'll be greeted by a funny little robot. Do everything he says. You'll know what I mean when it happens. I'll contact you again soon."
The Vault hunters were surprised when a voice suddenly spoke to them, but decided to keep quiet when she mentioned the Vault.
Unknown to them, Ichigo and Mikasa were watching them suspiciously with narrowed eyes, though both were thinking different things.
'Who is talking to them?" was what Mikasa was thinking.
Ichigo's thoughts were somewhere else. 'What are you doing Angel? I thought I'd told your father to keep you out of anything that had to do with Vaults.'
As the bus stopped, the Vault Hunters slowly got off the bus, leaving only Marcus, Ichigo, Mikasa and Chad the Skag pup. Rising from his chair, Ichigo walked towards the front of the bus, stopping next to the driver. He leaned forward until his mouth was right next to his ear and spoke softly.
"Make sure to update me on anything they do or what they buy from you when I'm not with them, understood?" The coldness in Ichigo's voice made Marcus sweat quite heavily in fear of this man.
Gulping, Marcus replied with a, "Yes sir, whatever you say."
The cold look on Ichigo's face quickly changed to carefree smile as he turned and exited the bus, followed by Mikasa carrying her weapon like a case, while holding the newly named Chad in the other arm.
Marcus quickly shut the door and drove the bus as quickly as possible out of there.
"What the hell was that guy?" he questioned himself before feeling the temperature in the bus dropped as a voice called from the back.
"What he is… is none of your business. So make sure you don't do anything stupid."
Marcus slammed on the brakes so hard the he hit his head on the steering wheel.
"Oww, FUCK ME!" he exclaimed in pain, rubbing his forehead to give it some relief before turning around to search for the voice.
"So, he doesn't want me to look into his friend. Fine I won't. But he never said something about getting someone else. I'll give Moxxi a call and tell her to keep an ear out for information."
Turning back to the front, Marcus started to drive off, hitting another Skag on the way.
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Ichigo watched as the bus drove off before turning around to see the Vault Hunters watching a little robot wave towards the bus, calling, "See ya next time," before giving a few rude gestures. He turned towards the group before rolling in front of them.
'A CL4P-TP huh? Wasn't expecting to see one of those to still be around. I thought that they were decommissioned after the incident of '77.'
"Welcome to Fyrestone! I am CL4P-TP; you may call me by my locally designated name, 'Claptrap'. Before continuing, please accept this ECHO communication device and heads up display provided free of charge by the Dahl Corporation!"
He brought out four little hand sized machines that must have been the ECHO devices before handing each one to the Vault Hunters. When he turned towards the last three, he realised that he didn't have any more.
"Apologies humans. It would seem the Dahl Corporation had not given me enough ECHO communication devices."
"That's okay, I don't need one anyway. And you don't have to worry about Mikasa there, she has her own ECHO." Ichigo told the robot before leaning down to get a closer look at it before standing straight again with a smirk on his face. 'Hmm, it would seem there's more to you than meets the eye, isn't there?'
As Claptrap turned back towards the others, Ichigo took Chad out of Mikasa's hold and started to stroke his back, resulting in the Skag pup purring.
'So skags can purr, eh? Nice.' He turned to watch the interaction between the Vault Hunters and the robot.
"Great! I detect that your Echo device is fully functioning! Now, I think it's best that I explain what your ECHO device is capable of. Your ECHO device has a health display module and a weapon display module. It has a digital bearing module, which will simply show you a compass. Your ECHO device is also capable of carrying a specific number of items as well as being a communication device, hence its name. There is also an experience point module that as it levels up will give you boosts. It is unknown how that part was made but I'm sure it's not going to be some surprising plot twist which results in someone's death."
Everyone but Ichigo, who had Chad on his back and was scratching his belly, was looking at the robot weirdly. Mikasa looked towards Ichigo and the Skag pup before sighing. 'Dumbass.'
"Okay! This way please." Claptrap turns to lead them away but before that could happen he ran straight into Ichigo, which had everyone confused as they had all seen him rolling around with the somehow tamed Skag.
Ichigo leaned down and patted the robot on the head before speaking, "Hang on little guy. Why don't you let our new friends check the depot for weapons and loot before you give them the tour, especially since it would seem they left all their weapons on the bus… which is long gone by now."
At this Ichigo gave them all a deadpanned look, as they all checked to find that what the man said was true before having sheepish looks on their faces. They were essentially weaponless, not counting their specials, which Ichigo decided right then were pretty unique and had garnered his interest.
'A Siren with a power to phase, a hunter with a creature that looks to have great potential, a soldier with a turret and by the looks of it, it has a shield and precision Mk 5 auto aim. He must be very good with it as he would have to designate what not to shoot and priority targets, impressive. Last but not least a guy with a lot of bloodlust, hiding under his skin. He's pretty much Kenpachi, if you convert his crazy to stupid.'
Ichigo turned and started to make small talk with the robot, with Chad running around in circles chasing his tail while Mikasa followed the Vault Hunters as they entered the depot.
Through the search, they had opened a couple of safes, giving them a total of $157. Opening a red loot crate rewarded the hunters with a Vladof assault rifle, which was handed to Roland, a Maliwan fire elemental handgun, which was claimed by Lilith, a Torgue shotgun, which was snatched right out of Mordecai's hands by Brick.
"I call dibs on this one." He exclaimed holding it up.
Mordecai looked disappointed as he realised that there were no more weapons. "Ah man, looks like I'll just have to rely on my machete and you girl." He spoke to his bird, Bloodwing.
"I found this one in another chest on the roof."
The sudden appearance of Mikasa startled them all as all they could see of her was the top part of her body hanging from the top of the doorway.
Lilith looked impressed. "Well aren't you a sneaky thing."
Mikasa handed Mordecai a Jakobs sniper rifle, receiving a thank you from him.
As the Vault Hunters checked their ammo and the condition of the weapons, Mikasa started to make her way out but was stopped by Roland's voice.
"You don't want any of the loot?"
At his question, Mikasa turned around and showed them her weapon. "This is all I need."
"What about money?"
Mikasa raised an eyebrow before jabbing a thumb in the direction of Ichigo, who from what they could see was eating popcorn while watching his new Skag pup chase Claptrap in circles.
"You might not have realised it but he did say he was a shopkeeper. You might not have also realised that the Kurosaki Shoten is a very popular shop throughout the galaxy and he has amassed a lot of money. I'm also his assistant, so I don't have to worry about money."
"Ah… well that makes sense, I guess." Mordecai spoke.
Mikasa was going to walk away before a thought crossed her mind.
"Do you guys know what brands specialise in what?" she asked.
"No/Nope/Nu uh/Yes!" were the answers of the Hunters.
"Really!? I didn't think you would have known Brick. So what does Torgue specialise in?" Mikasa asked with a suspicious look on her face.
"It… ur… goes bam?" Brick ended up asking nervously.
"You don't know, do you Brick" Lilith asked.
"No" Brick spoke with a soft and sad voice.
"It's all right Brick. But so you all know, Lilith, yours is made by Maliwan. They only make elemental weapons and seeing as that is your preferred type of weapon, I suggest that you only buy them. Roland, yours is made by Vladof. They specialise in giving their weapons a faster firing rate. Mordecai, yours is a Jakobs weapon. The weapon may not hold much ammo, but it's good for quick-firing. You never know when an enemy needs more shots to take down, especially if you need to get multiple head-shots."
Turning towards Brick, who still had his head down, she placed her hand on his forearm in a comforting gesture, "And your Torgue weapon deals explosive damage. The founder of Torgue, Mr Torgue, loves explosions."
As the Vault Hunters digested the information that they were given, Mikasa started walking back to her friend and mentor, shaking her head at his antics. It had appeared that he had somehow joined the chase, chasing after Chad as he had stolen his popcorn.
"Hmph, idiot."
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"What do you guys think of those two?" Lilith asked the others.
"She's definitely been a soldier before." Roland spoke.
Mordecai looked at the soldier before asking, "And how do you know that?"
Before Roland could answer, a beautiful woman's face showed up in front of their eyes in a small box, luckily not covering most of their view.
"It would be for the best to trust them."
"And why should we do that?" Mordecai asked suspiciously.
"Ichigo Kurosaki is the man that made the ECHO devices you have and payed out of his own money to get them provided to just about everyone. He would also be a good ally, as you can see he can survive on Pandora without a gun."
"Anything else?"
"If you run out of money, he'd pay for you. Looking at his account, I'd say that is highly likely. He… also likes drinking… a lot. Just occasionally buy him a drink and that should keep him happy."
"So, you're saying that if we spend a couple of bucks on his drinks occasionally, then he would pay for us if we go poor?" Roland asked uncertainly.
"He will… it would be for the best that you catch up to them as they have decided to go on without you."
The Vault Hunters turned around to see that the robot was leading the other two and the Skag away. They quickly ran to catch up.
As they caught up they saw the robot gesture dramatically towards a metal pole with red glowing lights in it.
"Step right up! This is the New-U station. When you use this device, your DNA profile is automatically identified and stored. Please activate the New-U station now."
The Vault Hunters looked at the New-U station suspiciously before Ichigo walked towards it and suddenly the red lights turned green.
He pressed a couple of buttons on it and everyone else watched amazed at the fact that his clothing and hair were changing colours. He pressed some more buttons and turned everything back to its normal colour.
'I feel like I've seen this design somewhere. I just can't seem to put my finger on it.' Thought Ichigo.
To ease the mind of what he considers his new friends, Ichigo told them. "It's used for customising how you look, pretty much."
The simplifying of what Claptrap said did indeed ease their minds, but they felt like he wasn't telling them everything.
Deciding to just go with the flow, they each walked towards the New-U station, taking turns getting the DNA profile identified and stored. Though they each decided to keep their own colour scheme.
"All right, now that you have successfully registered your DNA into the New-U station, it will automatically activate whenever you come across another station. Now we can head into the peaceful town of Fyrestone! I'll lead the way."
Claptrap led them to a closed off gate and started to input the code to open the gate when the sound of vehicles approaching reached their ears. Somehow Claptrap was able to show his fear without a face.
"Wait… is that? ...oh no, not again! Ruuuuuuunnnnnnn!" the little unit ran and hid inside a metal box, sliding another piece of metal to hide himself.
Everyone else watched as a bunch of vehicles jumped over the gate. One of them continued to do donuts before driving off.
Claptrap came out of his hiding spot, looking around nervously.
"Are… are they gone? Whew! Those bandits really have it in for us Claptraps. Using us as target practice is not part of our programming!" he started working on the gate again. "Aannnnnddd… open!
The gate slid apart and everyone continued through it cautiously, except for Ichigo and Chad, who were fighting each other by tugging on Ichigo's hat.
Claptrap hit his head, even though he was the smallest in the group and Brick chuckled.
Suddenly they were fired upon by three bandits, causing claptrap to run. The Vault hunters quickly got behind cover while Ichigo just stood there with Mikasa using her weapon as a shield to block any bullets aimed in their direction.
The hunters, using their weapons, quickly pushed back against the bandits until they killed all the ones in the immediate area.
They all moved forward and heard a bandit yelling out.
"Hey, you in there! Open the door! We need your woman to come out and… give us a hand! -'Hehehe'- You really don't want me to come back with Nine-Toes. Open the Door!"
Mordecai blew his head off with a quick headshot, causing more bandits to come out and Claptrap to panic even more.
"I don't like this… this is making me nervous. Take a deep breath- I can't breathe! This is just a recording of somebody breathing. It's not real! It's making me more nervous!
Before the Vault Hunters could do anything, Mikasa turned her weapon and held it without it changing and then jammed her fingers into its side. The weapon, without the barrel extended out, fired like a normal assault rifle. Though its bullets easily tore through the bandits and gave a reason for nobody to mess with her.
Ichigo chuckled before calling out, "BOOM! Headshot!"
They all looked at him.
"What? It was for Mordecai. I was just late calling it out."
Claptrap rolled towards a red chest calling over to them.
"You should open this storage device. There may be something inside to help against those bandits"
Roland was the one to hit the button, opening it. Inside it held pistol ammo and two guns, a Torgue RF Repeater and a Hyperion BLR swatter. Since Lilith already had a pistol and it had a small scope on it, Mordecai took the BLR Swatter. They thought about just leaving the other weapon until Ichigo walked over, grabbed it and slipped it under his coat. He spoke with a calm smile on his face.
"If you find any weapons or items that you don't need or want, just hand them over to me and I'll probably sell them and give you ninety percent of the profit. Never know when you're going to need the extra space."
The others agreed, seeing as what he said was true. You never did know when extra you would need the extra space.
As Mordecai was looking at his new pistol, Claptrap spoke.
"Wow! That looks like it could do some damage! Okay, let's get this gate open."
As Claptrap was trying to open the door, he noticed something was wrong
"These controls seem to be damaged. Have no fear. I'm sure I can do it!" it was still causing problems, making Claptrap decide hitting it would be better. "Arrgh! This isn't working!"
"Quick! This way!" Claptrap started to roll towards a part of the fence that led in another direction, only for a part of it to slide out of the way. But luckily it was bigger enough for Brick when he crouched.
The Vault Hunters were about to follow, only to notice Ichigo and Mikasa weren't following.
"Aren't you guys coming?" Lilith asked.
Ichigo looked towards them with a smirk on his face.
"You guys go on ahead. I'll see if I can get this door open." He told them.
"Oh… okay. What about you?" Lilith then asked Mikasa.
"No." was her curt reply.
The others quickly went through the open fence and when it sealed itself shut he dropped his smirk and a serious look replaced it.
"Okay, let's do this!" he spoke as he grabbed the gate and with little resistance, for him, slid the gate open easily.
As it opened the bandits inside turned in surprise at what they locked being opened without any trouble.
Mikasa stayed where she was as Ichigo took a couple of steps forward, his serious face giving way to a playful smile.
"Hiya boys, you wouldn't happen to have seen any Vault Hunters yet, would ya?" Ichigo asked.
He was a little surprised that they shook their heads but chopped it up to them still being in shock at how easily he opened the gate.
"Good, good. I guess they won't have to deal with any of you then." He said, and the bandits all felt a shiver run down their spines.
One of them was able to sum it up in the most simple of words.
"We are so fucked."
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The Vault Hunters followed Claptrap through the hole in the fence, leaving the shopkeeper and his apprentice behind to try and open the door.
Claptrap led them through a scrapyard of sorts, where the group found a surprising couple of hundred bucks.
As they went to another area, they heard some more bandits, causing Claptrap to run and cower in a corner.
"No, no, that's enough! That's enough! I swear I'll never do it again- hopefully… No, no more!" he spoke hysterically.
Roland killed the rest of the bandits.
"Man… did ya hafta kill them all?" Brick asked with a pout that did not fit on his face.
Roland looked at Brick and told him, "They're dead. Move on."
Brick was about to argue back, but Lilith's hands on their chests stopped them.
"That's enough boys… damn Roland, what are you made of?" Lilith asked.
"Uhhh…"
Before Roland could say anything to Lilith's horrible attempts at flirting, Mordecai spoke.
"Isn't it a little too quiet? Aren't we right next to Fyrestone?" the others noticed this as well and made their way towards the back entrance to the small town, almost leaving the robot who caught up to them.
Before they could answer, the Guardian Angel showed up on their HUD display.
I knew you were the right choice, friend. Now go. I'll contact you again.
"Wait!" Lilith said to what they believe to be an AI.
Yes?
"Why did you pick us?"
I cannot tell you right at this moment but I can tell you that the true start to your journey begins here in Fyrestone.
"You spoke as if you knew Ichigo." Mordecai said. "Do you?"
I… barely know anything of him.
"What does that mean and that didn't answer his question." Roland told her.
I'll contact you at a later time.
And with that, she cut communication.
"Might as well move one." Lilith spoke.
They decided to continue and enter the town, ready for the bandits inside, only to find around nine or ten dead bodies. They couldn't get an accurate count as all of the bodies were in pieces.
They heard the yapping of a Skag and turned to see Ichigo sitting on a chair, holding a ball as Chad tried get it off him. He let go of the ball once he saw them enter, allowing Chad to get the ball and eat it, and spoke to them.
"Hey guys, glad you could make it. You took your time, you know. Must have had a long conversation, right? Anyway, if you're looking for Mikasa, she's in that sorry excuse for a watchtower." He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the watchtower, which was only as tall as a two story building.
They looked and saw Mikasa, who was looking right back at them and gave a wave, which they returned somewhat awkwardly.
"So…" Mordecai started, "You did all this?"
Ichigo looked at the corpses before chuckling.
"No, I didn't do them, Mikasa did with her blades. I did the one on the water tower." He pointed at the town's empty water tower.
The Vault Hunters followed his direction and saw a bandit impaled through the chest with a metal pole into the water tower.
Brick looked impressed. "Damn. That is awesome."
"Thank you."
Before they could continue, Claptrap spoke to a civillian in a building.
"Attention citizen of Fyrestone! There is no cause for alarm. The new visitors have resolved the problem!"
"This is a small town." Lilith said.
Ichigo looked at her before telling her, "There's only one person living in Fyrestone."
"Really!?"
"Yep."
A voice came over the intercom, "Well shoot, I thought I was a goner that time! Damn bandits won't leave us alone. Had to lock the place up tight. I'll let ya in… Come on! Damn it. Blasted circuits are on the fritz again. Give it a go from the switch out there, would ya?"
Ichigo walked to the switch and tried it. It didn't work. He took a closer look and saw that a wire wasn't properly connected. Fixing it, he tried again. This time it worked.
They watched as a garage door of sorts opened, revealing a man wielding a bandit saw-axe, which he raised and then swung down at a dead body, spraying blood at himself.
They all watched this, only being distracted by Ichigo's voice.
"His name's Zed." They looked to see him holding a small rectangular piece of metal with glass on one side. He was swiping his thumb on the glass before continuing, "He also doesn't have a doctor's license anymore. Would probably be best not to go to him for medical help."
They all agreed with what Ichigo said and walked to the not licensed anymore doctor.
"Thanks fer openin' her up again. Name's Zed. They don't let me cut on folks anymore since I lost my license, so now I keep the med vendors 'round here up and runnin'. From the vendors you can buy all the healin' you could ever want from a real doc… thankfully without a 'the-vault-is-a-myth,-you'll-get-yourself-killed' lecture."
He looked towards the Vault Hunters before speaking, "I'll give you a couple hundred bucks to kill a couple of Skags that are just outside of town."
The group looked towards Chad, who had decided that he had enough exercise today and had laid down to take a nap. They then looked to Ichigo who gave them a look that said, 'don't even think about it'.
They started to walk in the direction of the exit of the town but stopped when they noticed that Ichigo hadn't come with them. Looking back they saw that he was still looking at the strange device with a strange look on his face.
Mikasa jumped down from her perch and walked past him towards the group as Claptrap joined her. They arrived at the group who looked at them with confused looks.
"What's that thing he's got?" Mordecai asked.
Mikasa sighed before speaking, "That is a mobile phone. And before you ask what it is, it is like the ECHO device as it can be used for communication. He uses that as it is safer and more encrypted than the ECHO device. He can also play games on it."
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On another part of the planet of Pandora, Commandant Steele of the Crimson Lance was pacing in her office, talking to herself.
"Damn it! What the hell is he doing here on Pandora? Did he follow me? But it was just one night! Did he come here for that?" she asked herself, looking at something hanging on her wall.
There were two bone white cases on the wall without a single scratch on them even though she had tried many different ways to open them without any luck, resulting in her giving up. The larger one was almost as big as she was, while the smaller one was as big as her torso.
"I really hope you don't get in my way. I'm opening that vault." She sighed before speaking in a more sombre tone.
"I need to find out more about my kind."
She picked up a note that had her name on it before continuing, "Though seeing you may actually be for the best."
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"Hey guys," Ichigo called out to the Vault Hunters. "I'm gonna go get some information about the area and the people. Mikasa? Can you stay with them?"
"Yeah."
"Thanks, and you all be safe now, alright?" With that Ichigo walked away.
EXTRA
Commandant Steele was sitting by herself in a bar when someone walked up to her and spoke.
"You look like you could use a drink?" he asked.
"I don't drink." She replied.
"Well… maybe you could use some company?" he asked.
Steele sighed, "Yeah I could."
He sat down across from her and waived down a passing staff member and ordered a scotch for himself and a glass of water for her. The staff member complied with his order, even though they weren't waiters. It confused Steele a bit.
"I helped fund the guy that made this place. He owes me." The stranger told her.
They sat in silence as they waited for their drinks. When the staff member returned with the drinks, receiving a thank you from the man, he took a sip and broke the silence.
"My name's Ichigo. Ichigo Kurosaki" he told her.
"Steele."
"Nice name. Sounds tough." Ichigo told her.
"Hm."
"You are a great conversationalist."
"Shut up."
"… Want to come back to my place?" he asked her.
Steele contemplated for a moment before nodding. They both got up and left for his place.
It was the next morning, when Steele woke up naked next to Ichigo, who had hogged all the sheets that she got up and went to his bathroom. Upon finishing her business, she came out and collected all her clothes before putting them back on.
As she left his room, making sure that she opened and closed the door quietly, she didn't see a young teen come out of another room a couple of metres down the hall. Both didn't see the other until they walked into each other.
"Oof!"
"Owch."
Steele looked at the young teen and asked, "Who the hell are you?"
"I'm Mikasa and I am Ichigo's assistant for his shop. And you?"
"I'm Steele, a member of a certain army." She didn't want to tell a total stranger about herself.
"I see. Ichigo sleeps very deeply, so he won't be up for a while. I'll make us some breakfast." She told her.
They went down stairs and as she said, Mikasa made both of them some breakfast of bacon and eggs on toast.
Steeled enjoyed the meal greatly.
Mikasa after writing a note and taking it upstairs, most likely to leave it for Ichigo, came back down and informed Steele that she needed to get to the shop and open it. Before leaving, she grabbed the leftovers and put them in a container, which she then placed in front of Steele with a small smile on her face.
When Mikasa left, Steele waited a couple of minutes before grabbing the container and heading in the direction of the door. Before she could leave, something in the room by the exit caught her attention. Sitting the container on down on a stand next to a light, she entered the room and what she saw took her by surprise.
Inside where blades of all different shapes and sizes. She walked around the room and admired all of the weapons, until a note with her name on it caught her attention. She picked it up and read it.
Steele
If you are reading this, then you got distracted by this room. I am currently writing this as you are getting ready for what we are about to do.
I noticed that your knife was in horrible condition, so I give you permission to take a couple from this room.
If you also want to, you can take a sword as well. Never know when you might need one.
If I am not awake by the time you leave, then I wish you the best of luck with whatever you do and that we can meet again in the future.
Maybe if it happens,
A love of some form,
Ichigo
Steele folded the note and put it in her pocket before she started to grab a couple of knives that she thought would be useful. As she was looking at the swords, she noticed something hidden under a pile of them. Moving the weapons, she saw two cases of different sizes.
Thinking not much of it, she grabbed them and left the room, making sure to grab the container before exiting the building.
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[A.N.]
So I got a couple of reviews about Ichigo's personality. This is the Ichigo of the manga, meaning that he has lived quite some time if he was able to travel to planets as far away as Pandora. I've also seen that some students pick up the habits and sometimes even the personality of their teachers. Ichigo is one of them.
Don't worry though, for you will see moments of the caring old Ichigo we both know and love. Especially since this is only the second chapter. Though you can credit most of how Ichigo is acting to it being the beginning of his journey.
Also that comment that the bandit made was from the game. It confused me as the only person in Fyrestone was Zed and I am pretty certain that he is a male. I can't remember if T.K. Baha was considered a member of Fyrestone or not. If you can please tell me, though it won't really impact the story.
Important:
I'd like to mention that the reviews that are the most creative will be mentioned in the next chapter and the reviewer will be able to make a suggestion that they would like to see happen and if it is in my power, I will make it possible.
Please review with constructive criticism, and if there is something you don't agree with in this story, please, and I repeat, please tell me why. Don't just say it's bad and not explain.
I would really appreciate it.