Author's Note: Well, after the exams, the vacation and two weeks of procrastination, this story is finally continuing. I'll try to go back to the weekly updates so don't worry about this, it was a one time delay. As always, have a good read.
An Unending Struggle
Chapter Twenty-One
The Fallen Paradise
After hearing from Cloud that Midgar was the capital of his world, and hearing the stories that Zack told, time and time again, the last thing that crossed Shin's mind was that Midgar would be a giant pile of rubble, but that was just what it was. Surrounded by a barren wasteland was what was a ruined city. Considering the size of the ruins and the number of fallen buildings, there was no doubt that this city was once a metropolis, but now it was just a sad sight to behold.
"Midgar, the glorified pile of rubble!" Zack exclaimed, jumping to the edge of the ship. "Certainly not as bad as it was after Meteorfall, but it could use someimprovements."
"The city was a complete wreck, we spent more than half a year just securing perimeter for the Shinrabuilding and we're still trying to close the Mako leaks." Cloud commented. "But the progress is there, the leaks are minimal now, plants started to grow in the outskirts after the Deepground incident and we've completed the first building in the city. Someday we'll get there." He finished, crossing his arms. Shin didn't know what to make of his expression, it seemed nostalgic, but hopeful, well as far as Cloud's expressions go. A normal person would see no expression on his face whatsoever.
"But I don't get it." Shin began as he reached a realization. "Weren't you supposed to live in Midgar?" He asked. No way they could live in that wreck.
"We don't exactly live there, we built a city after the destruction of Midgar in its outskirts. We called it…" Cloud sighed as he knew what was coming. "Edge…" Suddenly, and frankly, as expected, Edge landed near them.
"I didn't know I had inter-dimensional fame!" Edge joked. "But joking aside, are we there yet?"
"God you are just like a little kid… Behave like the middle aged man you are!" Rydia scoffed as emerged from the casino.
"And get a depression? No way!" Edge replied playfully.
"We'll be in Edge in no time, prepare for landing!" Cid shouted, making himself be heard in all of the ship.
"Let's get everyone together at the waiting room." Shin suggested, getting a nod from everyone around him. They headed towards the casino just to find Edgar getting stripped out of all his money… by the orphans.
"You bluff too much mister!" Katarin mocked as she gathered all the chips.
"And you really shouldn't try to always get a 21 in blackjack, I think you bust 90% of your games." Duane commented.
"Just… just take the money and leave…" Edgar replied as he threw a bag of gil onto the table.
"What are you going to do with it?" Terra asked her children.
"Dunno… maybe build a cradle for Leo!" Duane replied excitedly.
"He's already one year old Duane, it's a waste to do it now!" Katarin replied.
"Don't see you coming up with ideas…" Duane mumbled.
"What about just saving it? I might have an idea, but it'll take a while to accomplish." Katarin suggested, putting the bag in her pocket.
"Fine…" Duane caved in.
"Since you're done here, let's get to the waiting room, we're almost there." Shin said.
"It was a little hard to not hear that yell, so we're already good to go." Layle replied as he headed towards the waiting room.
"Well, get moving then! We're landing now!" Cid shouted from the deck.
"How did he hear… never mind, let's go." Layle scoffed.
After a few minutes, the waiting room was overflowing with kids and the other passangers of the airship.
"Everyone…" Cissnei began before noticing she wasn't getting any attention. Climbing on top of the blackjack table she shouted from the top of her lungs: "Can I get a minute of your attention?" Instantly stopping the blabbering. "Good. I've just spoken with Tseng, the president is currently on a meeting, he'll receive us in a couple of hours."
"Can't Rufus get his priorities straight? What's he doing on that meeting?" Zack complained.
"He's meeting with a diplomat that Cecil sent in his place, some Edward Chris von Muir." She replied. "I think it's important." She finished sarcastically.
"Fine…" Zack agreed. "What do we do until then?"
"Anything you want to do, just don't exit Edge and keep the communicators I'll give all of you that don't have telephones. Oh and Cloud…" She said turning to him. "The person we need is off-duty, do persuade her please. Also Fenrir is lodged in your garage."
"Fine… Seventh Heaven it is." Cloud mumbled.
As Cissnei had finished distributing the communicators to everyone in the room, the top door opened.
"Hey… are we late?" Locke asked as he emerged from the stairs with Celes.
"Locke… what were you doing?" Edgar asked with a devious smile on his face.
"Wha… huh… re-relaxing… yeah that's it! Relaxing!" Locke blurted, his face as crimson as Celes.
"Sure you were…" Edgar joked.
Soon after a large thud was heard as the airship became grounded.
"That landing was terrible!" Setzer was heard shouting from the outer deck.
"It's your own damned fault for having such an old fashioned junk!" Cid yelled.
"That's it! The only way you're ever touching the steering wheel again is over my cold, dead body!"
"Like I need that! I'll get my Shera and be off!"
"Oh really…?"
"Let's just leave them at that…" Cissnei suggested as she headed to the exit.
Everyone nodded and followed her quickly.
Edge was by no means a glamorous city. Built after Meteorfall by the people of Midgar that wanted to run away from the mako leaks and the devastation it was a small, hastily built city in the middle of a harsh environment. To make it worse, any plans of further development had been halted because of Midgar's reconstruction.
"It's not much, but it's our home for now." Tifa commented.
"It's not so bad… you should see Mobliz." Duane replied before being smacked in the head by Katarin. "It's the truth!"
"Anyway, I'm going to the Seventh Heaven. Anyone who wants to come, feel free, the rest just hold on to those communicators." Tifa informed.
"We'll just take a walk around the city." Locke said as he grabbed Celes hand and pulled her out of the group.
"May I rest in your home?" Fusoya asked.
"Feel free." Tifa responded. "So you're all coming heh?" She asked as she saw everyone still standing there.
"I want to see the kids!" Terra chirped.
"I'm going with Terra." Edgar said.
"I'm going to protect several unsuspecting women from a certain person." Sabin said.
"Not like we have a lot to do… No offense, but I… Oh for Pete's sake…. where's Luso?" Layle asked as he looked around, not finding any of the younger members. "Scratch that, we'll be looking for the brats." He said as he ran off.
"Call us when you're done." Tifa said before signaling the rest of the crew to follow her.
"You stay here and be a good chocobo." Terra asked, petting Stardust in the head.
They arrived shortly after that at a small building in the middle of a busy street. Double doors at the entrance had a "Closed" sign on them. The party was not unnoticed, especially Tifa.
"Tifa! You're opening the restaurant again?" A passerby asked.
"Not yet, but I will as soon as I can." She answered.
"Alright! Take care." The man said as he strolled down the street.
"Pretty popular…" Cloud spat.
"Oh Cloud… finally getting jealous?" Zack mocked.
"Let's just go in…" Cloud spat as he opened the doors, only to be greeted by a tied up man in a red cloak.
"Vincent! What happened to you?" Tifa asked before ripping the ropes apart with her bare hands, freeing the black haired man.
"Nothing serious… just a bunch of kids being kids." Vincent replied as he adjusted his golden gauntlet. "You should really pick better babysitters."
"What do you mean? Denzel would never… Yuffie!" Tifa shouted from the top of her lungs, almost making the house shake.
"Sup!" A raven haired girl asked as she suddenly appeared behind Tifa.
"Don't sup me! What have you been doing all this time?" Tifa asked with a dangerous look on her face.
"Nothing.. just having some girl time." Yuffie answered casually.
"Girl...? Denzel!" Tifa yelled before getting interrupted by Yuffie.
"He's fine… Marlene begged me to let him go." Yuffie said before lowering her tone. "Those two are awfully close, if you get what I mean."
"What I don't get Yuffie, is what the only one that I trusted in this house was doing while this happened." Tifa spat.
"She's on it too." Vincent replied.
"What?"
"It's true…." A orange haired girl said as she descended from the upper floor. She looked no more than twelve years old but her eyes were as cold as ice, much like Cloud's. "You all told me to try new things… that's what I did."
"Yuffie you poisoned Shelke with your idiocy!" Tifa shouted, trying to grab Yuffie, who escaped by disappearing in a puff of smoke.
"Heh, snails." Yuffie mocked from the roof of the building in front of the Seventh Heaven before feeling a hand on her shoulder.
"Sorry kid, hail to the king!" Edge said, increasing the pressure on her shoulder. "Now do you want to go down, or will I have to drag you down?"
"Fine…"Yuffie said, resigning to her fate.
Taking her attention off Yuffie for one second Tifa ran upstairs into Denzel's room, only to find the young boy watching television with a young girl leaning on his shoulder. The boy had slightly curved brown hair and what seemed to be brand new clothes. A violet sweatshirt and blue jeans. The younger girl had a darker shade of brown in her hair that was tied up with a pink ribbon in a single, large braided pony tail. She was wearing brand new clothing as well, you could almost smell it from the pink dress she was wearing.
"Denzel! You're alright!" Tifa exclaimed.
"Quiet Tifa… Marlene's asleep." Denzel whispered.
"Yuffie didn't mess with you, did she?" She asked.
"No… She even took us shopping." The boy answered.
"Look, can you wake her up gently?" I'd like to say hello before I go." Cloud asked.
"Where are you going Cloud?" Tifa asked.
"I'll tell you in a bit." He answered.
"Anything for you Cloud." Denzel responded. "Hey Marlene… Cloud and Tifa are here." He ushered on her ear, making her slowly open her eyes.
"Cloud… Tifa?" She asked as she turned to Tifa, jumping into her arms. "I missed you!"
"I missed you too honey." Tifa answered.
"So Cloud, what happened out there? Tell me all about it!" Denzel exclaimed excitedly before noticing the rest of the crew. "Cloud, who are they?"
"Friends…" Cloud replied. "I'll tell you about it later."
"But that guy… Spiky black hair… it can't be." Denzel stuttered.
"Zack Fair, in the flesh! I'm famous I see!" Zack bragged as he flexed.
"But that's impossible you're…" Denzel began.
"You WERE dead. That's the correct way to say it. Long story." Zack replied.
"If he's alive, the that means…!" Marlene exclaimed.
"It does not!" Cloud blurted in a burst of anger, scaring everyone in the room and outside of it. "I'm sorry… I need to go." Cloud said as he left the room quietly, everyone still staring at him.
"I'll go too." Zack announced. Cloud did give him a glare but Zack just retorted. "I broke a promise too." In a calm, completely serious and somewhat depressed expression, the opposite of his demeanor.
Cloud nodded and headed toward the garage, followed by his best friend.
"Hey Cloud! What about the persuasion?" Cissnei yelled. After hearing no response and the sound of a engine started she ran to the garage just to see Cloud ride away on the Fenrir.
"He'll never get over it…" Tifa lamented, quickly regaining her composure because of the kids.
"Guess I'll do it myself." Cissnei commented, turning to Shelke. "We need you at Shinra today."
"I'm on vacation for the first time since you hired me, nothing will take me off this place." Shelke stated.
"Nothing? What about this?" Cissnei asked, pulling a piece of paper from her pocket and giving it to Shelke.
"Is this what I think it is?" Shelke asked in disbelief.
"Yes, a blank check. It's the first time Rufus ever passed one of those. Do what you can about this job and it's yours, you can even fail for all I care." Cissnei answered.
"Please Shelke…" Tifa pleaded.
"I just to get this clear, I'm not doing this for the money." Shelke replied as she tried to give Cissnei her check back.
"Keep it, you guys deserve it, saving the world and all." Cissnei replied as her phone started to ring. "Cissnei here."
"Report at Shinra HQ in an hour, the meeting is ending." Tseng's voice informed before ending the call abruptly
"Well that was quick… Well you heard the man, I'll call the others, you guys just get ready." Cissnei said, leaving the building.
"Tifa, you're going away again?" Marlene asked saddened.
"Don't worry Marlene, I'll be home in time for dinner!" Tifa reassured. "And you can get to know some new friends!" She exclaimed as she pointed to the orphans, the majority of them were hiding behind Terra's legs.
"Don't be shy… they are like you." Terra said.
"My name is Marlene, and this is Denzel! What's your name?" Marlene asked as she grabbed a the hand of one of the orphans.
"M-Maria." The orphan that Shin saved answered. She had no visible scars left, much to Shin's relief.
"Nice to meet you!" Marlene exclaimed.
"We've got it from here…" Duane said. "You go do your stuff Mama."
"Right, I'll be right back!" Terra said.
"Well, now where too?" Edge asked.
"Let's go get Cloud and Zack." Shin suggested.
"I don't think that would be a good idea... Cloud doesn't take it kindly when you interrupt him." Tifa sighed.
"But what's he doing?" Shin asked.
"Nothing…. That's just it, he's doing nothing." She said, leaving the others to think about what was Cloud doing.
"I've come to visit…" Cloud mumbled as he knelt down besides the pool of water inside the ruined church. The building had certainly seen better days, almost no ceiling remained and it was a miracle it was still standing after all those years.
"Cloud… I thought you were over this." Zack commented. "You seemed fine after we left you two years ago.
Cloud remained silent as he watched his reflection on the water, as if expecting someone to come out.
"Cloud, what's the problem?" Zack asked, approaching him.
"You're the problem!" Cloud shouted, drawing his First Tsurugi and pointing him at his supposedly best friend.
"Cloud! What the hell?" Zack asked dumfounded.
"Why are you alive? Why isn't Aerith alive?" Cloud shouted, swinging his sword downwards at Zack, who merely dodged by jumping back. The impact that the sword caused when it hit the floor made petals fall.
"Cloud, I'm not going to fight you… not here." Zack replied as calmly as he could before needing to dodge another swing of Cloud's sword. "Just stop it Cloud! What do you hope to gain from this?"
"Nothing!" Cloud spat.
"Why do I have to put up with this crap…?" Zack lamented. "Cloud, you seem like a smart guy, so answer me this: If Aerith was gone, what would happen to the Lifestream?" He asked, getting no response from the enraged SOLDIER. "Stop being in denial Cloud! You know what would happen, Sephiroth could just waltz in and corrupt it again. It's not that she can't come back, it's just that it would selfish of her to come back, it would be putting herself in front of the world, and you know her…."
"So you're telling me that… Aerith can't come back because Sephiroth exists?" Cloud said, a mix of fury and despair in his voice.
"Cloud, stop it. Going on another solo quest to destroy Sephiroth isn't going to cut it now." Zack replied, trying to cut off Cloud's line of thought.
"What do I care? Whether I win or lose I…" Cloud started to say, being interrupted by a straight punch across the face by Zack.
"Why don't you spit on her grave while you're at it?" Zack shouted angrily. "Do you really think that dying is the best way to solve this? This is the last time I try to reason with you Cloud, you're a lost cause." Zack continued, his voice getting calmer but still retaining its edge. "I'm just going to warn you this one time… I made a promise to keep you safe, and if that means that I have to break your legs in order to stop you… then I'll do it. Now you can stay here and mope, I'm going to SHINRA." He finished, leaving Cloud to himself in the ruined church.
"So, any ideas how to get to the city?" Yuffie asked. "I'm NOT about to run there!"
"Tsk, and you call yourself a ninja…. Back in my day…" Edge began.
"Can it, old man!"Yuffie retorted.
"Old man? Oh I'll show you the old man!"
"Kids… stop it!" Rydia shouted.
"Kids…" Edge and Yuffie mumbled before going silent.
"What about Setzer?" Terra suggested.
"He can't, Cissnei is using the airship to find the others, apparently Locke and Celes don't have communicators, because they arrived too late at the meeting." Tifa explained.
"The chocobo stable is has branched recently, what about we go to Edge's stable?" Vincent suggested.
"I can't really put a finger on how can every world have such different flora and fauna but have the exact same species with just minor differences." Terra pondered as she followed Tifa towards the stable.
"Just don't tell Locke that, those conspiracy theories are getting annoying." Edgar replied.
"Oh miss Tifa! What a wonderful surprise, are you here to check on your chocobos?" The chocobo stable's owner asked.
"Your chocobos?" Shin asked.
"Yeah… Cloud was quite the breeder. The chocobos felt safe with him." She replied.
"Well, he had good camouflage!" Edge exclaimed.
"Alright old man!" Yuffie exclaimed, highfiving him.
"Okay Albert, I'm here to rent some chocobos. Now let's see… Me and Shelke can share one, Edge, Yuffie, Vincent, Rydia and Cuore can also share one, Edgar, Sabin, Fusoya, Shin and Terra…. That's ten chocobos." Tifa explained.
"I'm sorry, but we only have eight chocobos as the moment, their popularity has increased dramatically." The owner informed. Suddenly a familiar wark was heard from inside the stables, rushing in they found some chocobos swooning while others warked in envy as a Golden bird stood in the middle of the stable.
"Is that… a Golden Chocobo?" The owner asked, dumbfounded.
"Bad chocobo!" Terra exclaimed, jumping and waking Stardust on the head, earning an apologizing wark from the bird. "But I guess I'll let you off this time. You did come in a good time." She replied, energy returning to the bird.
"How much for the eight chocobos?" Tifa asked.
"They're yours Tifa, I would never charge you. My business evolved because of you." The owner replied.
"As good as that sounds… here's eight thousand gil, it's only half their price for a day, but it's all I have with me right now." Tifa responded, giving a bag of coins to the owner. "Well, now we're set!"
"Wait, wait, wait! There's nine chocobos and twelve of us, and to my understanding normal chocobos can't take two adults. So, who rides Stardust with Terra?" Shin asked, soon wanting to have not as all of their eyes turned to him. "No! No, nein, nao,non, insert negative response here! I'm not ridding that crazed bird!"
"I don't know what's wrong with Stardust, but I'll ask a friend." Terra said, pulling out a feather from her pocket. A blue aura surrounded her as a bright flash covered the stable. As the flash dimmed Choby stood in the middle of the stable.
"Hello everyone!" The bird greeted, shocking almost all of the room.
"Oh right… forgot to tell them about talking Chocobos. Anyways, Choby can you let Shin ride you? It won't be for long." Terra asked.
"Sure thing! Huh… can you stop staring at me?" Choby said, feeling the pressure of a thousand eyes on him.
"We'll explain on the way." Terra said, jumping to ride Stardust. "Let's go!"
"Hey, kid, are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Choby suddenly asked in the partway to Midgar.
"Kid?" Shin replied offended.
"Don't be offended, I am old enough to be your grandfather though." The chocobo informed, taking Shin aback. "Now, can you see her? She's beautiful!" It said with dreamy eyes.
"What the heck is this guy looking at?" Shin asked himself before looking in the direction the bird was looking. The bird was staring directly at Terra, flying on Stardust's back in the vanguard of the group. "Well, I guess I can't blame him…"He mused before shaking off the thought. "I have to get my mind out of the gutter for one second! Is a chocobo hitting on Terra?"
"Hey, Choby, who are you looking at?" Shin asked, trying to be sure of what he thought so he would not make a fool out of himself.
"Can't you see that golden beauty?" The chocobo swooned.
"This bird is crazy!"Shin thought, alarmed. "Hey, I don't think you…" He began.
"And those dreamy feathers…." Choby continued, completely breaking Shin's line of thought.
"Feathers?" Shin exclaimed confused.
"Yeah feathers! Terra's chocobo is beautiful!"
"Hum, not to be rude or anything, but this is sounding REALLY wrong, if you know what I mean. Not that there is anything wrong with that, but what if he doesn't "swing that way"?" Shin asked, trying not to sound alarmed by the situation.
"You seriously didn't notice that Stardust is a female?" Choby asked in a "you can't be serious" look.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?" Shin yelled, alarming everyone in a ten mille vicinity. Most of the others stopped dead in their tracks whereas Terra, being so far away, turned back and landed on the middle of the group.
"What was that noise?" Terra asked.
"Nothing… just the sound of my pride as a man shattering." Shin explained, almost trying to hide his face from everyone. He remembered all the times he clung to that wretched bird, almost crying like a girl, begging it to slow down, and now he know that the "he" was a "she".
"I hope I'm not interrupting anything, but we have twenty minutes to be in the SHINRA building, we should hurry up." Tifa pressured, after spending so many years with Cloud she had grown tired of getting late.
"Let's just go…" Shin mumbled, signaling them to go.
When the other Chocobos where at a safe distance Choby turned his head back and slyly asked. "If you didn't know stardust was a female… who were you thing about?"
"Shut up and drive… run… whatever…"
After a long run they finally arrived at the former metropolis. The level of destruction was even more breathtaking when viewed from the inside. The fallen reactor's destroyed any trace of organization around them and, while the city was almost void of Mako leaks, an intoxicating stench filled the air.
"This is awful, it's hard to believe this is ever going to be habitable again…" Terra lamented. "No life at all…"
"That's not exactly true!" Zack exclaimed from the top of a pile of rubble, jumping into Stardust's back, causing the Chocobo to deliver a revenge peck. "Calm down boy!" Zack shouted, unaware of its true gender. "As I was saying, you can clearly see some weed growing!"
"How reassuring…" Terra replied.
"Actually Terra, it is. For years Midgar and the area around it was nothing but a barren wasteland, the fact that you can see plants inside the city wall is a huge improvement." Tifa said.
After seeing them so happy with so little, Terra finally understood how serious was the situation they were in. It was as bad as or worse than the one her world had to face, and all of this because of one man's madness… It was so similar it pained her to think about it.
"But Zack, where's Cloud?" Tifa asked, seeing as Zack had come alone.
"Long story short, he'll be here… probably… in an undetermined amount of time…" Zack said, scratching the back of his head. "But we don't want to be late do we?" He asked, trying to change the subject as fast as he could.
"Fine, but don't think you're getting off the hook."
After a few minutes of walking they arrived at the newly rebuilt Shinra HQ. It was rather strange to see such a giant building in the middle of a completely wrecked city, but they had to start somewhere.
"Well, you guys can go now." Tifa said as she patted her Chocobo. It and the other seven warked and ran off into the distance, returning to their stable.
"My job here's done, see you guys!" Choby exclaimed, disappearing in a bright white flash of light.
"What about Stardust?" Terra asked.
"Oh Stardust can stay, it's not like Rufus can order us around." Tifa replied as she opened the double doors to the inside of the building.
"You guys where sooooo slow!" Luso whined as he saw them arriving.
"Says the guy who thought it would be a good idea to play Hide N Seek with us." Aya replied harshly. "And that goes for the two of you as well!" She continued, this time turning to Locke and Celes.
"We're the last ones here eh? Guess it's only natural, they flew here." Edgar commented.
As he finished saying that, a person's coughing was heard from the top of the stairs.
"First of all, welcome to Shinra. My name is Tseng, and I'm the leader of the Turks. I believe you know Cissnei, and these are Reno, Rude and Elena." The man with the black ponytail said, pointing to a red, spiky haired man, a bald tall one and a short blonde haired woman, all of them wearing the exact same uniform as Cissnei. "The president will call you shortly, meanwhile you can ask anything to my associate, I'll call you when the president is ready." Tseng explained, entering the elevator and leaving the rest of the Turks behind.
"That Tseng… he can't loosen up for one second." Zack joked. "Well, I guess we're stuck with the rejects."
"Tifa… no hard feelings huh?" Rude asked softly.
"As if! You tried to kill me how many times already?" Tifa spat back, shattering Rude's heart.
"The very thought of leaving you guys alone with Rude and Reno scares me… but unfortunately I have to take Shelke to the computer room. So please, try to behave." Cissnei pleaded. "Now Shelke, come with me."
Shelke followed Cissnei through the other elevator, leaving the group behind with the Turks trio.
"So… where's Grumpy?" Reno asked casually.
"Oh right… Zack, time to cough up." Tifa ordered.
"Fine you see…" Zack began.
Stopping at the 41st floor, the two gingers left the elevator to findthemselves in a room with a giant computer.
"The technology is hard to reproduce with our resources so pardon me if it's a bit underdeveloped, but do you think you can SND with this?"Cissnei asked, turning to see that Shelke was no longer there and was instead already inspecting the machine.
"A bit archaic, but it should work fine, do you have my suit?" She replied.
"Of course." Cissnei answered, pointing at a tiny room. "The suit is there, you can change there as well."
"Never thought I'd have to do this again…" Shelke lamented as she changed into her blue, body tight sit with silver stripes, a platinum breastplate protecting a part of her chest.
"Oh and Shelke, I'm sorry but we still haven't found your sisters capsule…" Cissnei said with a pang of guilt in her chest.
"Figured as much, she probably returned to the planet already." Shelke stoically replied, leaving the chamber and approaching the computer.
"Sometimes I'd like to be that rational." Cissnei commented. "You can inspect the machine while they are at the meeting if you like."
"Better be safe than sorry."
"System activated." The metallic voice announced.
Meanwhile, in the middle of Zack's explanation Reno's telephone rang. Reaching for it Reno heard just what he was expecting.
"Hey guys, not to interrupt or anything, but the prez's waiting."
Next Chapter:
"You've got to be kidding me."
"A crystal, so close by?"
"No doubt about it."