Chapter 26
Garurumon hadn't been this frightened in a long time. His friends were all incapacitated, surrounded by some strange dark aura, and he was left alone to fight an abnormally strong ultimate. SkullBaluchimon began to take slow steps toward them, its gaze fixed on Flamedramon. The poor armor digimon had collapsed to the ground with his hands gripping his head. He was closest to it when the attack came, making him an easy target.
Taking action, Garurumon began his attack on the advancing digimon. His 'Howling Blaster' made contact but barley seemed to faze SkullBaluchimon who was completely zoned in on his prey. Out of desperation, Garurumon ran at the other digimon, fangs bared.
Faced with a new opponent, SkullBaluchimon focused on Garurumon and soon forgot about Flamedramon and the others.
With the skeletal digimon distracted Matt, Tai, and Davis ran over to the three semi-conscious digimon. Tai stood next to MetalGreymon and was talking quietly to him, trying to get some kind of response. The big digimon lay on his stomach with his eyes clenched tightly. He gave an occasional twitch, but other than that he didn't even acknowledge his partner's presence.
Flamedramon was in the same boat. No matter how much Davis shouted and shook his partner he couldn't wake him up.
Since Garurumon was still awake, Matt decided to check on Takuya. The warrior of fire was kneeling with his head resting in his hand while the other formed a fist.
"Takuya?" Matt shook the warrior's shoulder gently not wanting to hurt or startle him. Up close, Matt could see that Takuya was mumbling something. He could see his lips moving but he couldn't make out anything he was saying.
This time, Matt grabbed both his shoulders and shook him violently. Takuya kept mumbling incoherently to himself. Now that Matt could see his eyes, he noticed that they were blank and glassy. He needed to somehow snap him out of it. He talked to him and shook him a bit more, but nothing worked.
Without much thought, he gave Takuya a solid right hook, knocking the poor guy to the ground. Matt had actually hit him more out of frustration, but it seemed to do the trick. He watched in amazement as the dark aura slowly faded away from him.
Agunimon was lying flat on his back, he groaned as the last wisp of dark energy dissipated. "Oww, what gives?" Takuya sat up rubbing his slightly swollen cheek.
Agunimon stood up and took in the scene. Unlike Matt, Tai and Davis were unsuccessful in waking their partners. SkullBaluchimon and Garurumon were still fighting. For being weaker than the other digimon, Garurumon seemed to be doing quite well. Garurumon was fast enough to evade the claws and fangs of SkullBaluchimon. But he still hadn't found an opportunity to attack yet, due to his constant dodging. If he got caught, it would be all over.
"Thanks, I guess," Agunimon glared lightly at Matt. He didn't need to hit him so hard just to wake him up. Agunimon rubbed his sore cheek before running over to help Garurumon. SkullBaluchimon lunged forward snapping his jaws at Garurumon, only to miss him by a few inches. Before it could turn to chase its prey, SkullBaluchimon was stopped from multiple fireballs colliding with the side of its face.
The force of the impact caused the skeletal digimon to stumble and almost lose its footing. After digging its claws into the ground, SkullBaluchimon gave its head a hard shake and turned to growl at Agunimon. Giving up on chasing Garurumon, SkullBaluchimon turned and headed toward Agunimon instead.
Agunimon smirked and charged head on toward the large ultimate. Before the enormous jaws could close in around him, Agunimon attacked back landing multiple fiery punches on the digimon's face. Agunimon laughed as the other digimon reared his head back, snarling in pain. But his amusement didn't last long when SkullBaluchimon's clawed paw slammed into him throwing him back.
The force of the blow caused him to roll across the ground before skidding to a stop. "I think I rather get punched by Matt again," Takuya grumbled. He rubbed his aching head as he sat up slowly. The first thing he saw when he regained his senses was SkullBaluchimon soaring through the air, directly at him!
He gasped and braced himself for impact. But it never came. Luckily for him Garurumon tackled the larger digimon knocking him away. The two tumbled over a few times before coming to a stop. Garurumon was lucky that he wasn't crushed by the much heavier ultimate. Not wanting to be this close, Garurumon scrambled away and made sure to put some distance between them.
"Thanks I owe you one," Agunimon said. The two of them stood standing side by side, preparing themselves to fight the very angry digimon. SkullBaluchimon stood, shaking the dirt and rocks from its body and roared angrily at them. "I'll try to hold him off, see if you can wake the others," Agunimon instructed.
Garurumon was a bit reluctant to leave the warrior fighting alone. But if they could wake the others, it would greatly increase their chances of winning. "Alright, be careful," Garurumon said, before turning and sprinted off toward MetalGreymon.
When he got there Matt was standing next to Tai with a still unconscious MetalGreymon lying next to them. "Not luck yet?" Garurumon asked.
"Nothing," Matt shook his head, "It's not like I can punch him like I did Takuya."
Garurumon tilted his head to the side thinking. Matt and Tai might not be able to wake him up, but he may be able to. He walked around to the other side of MetalGreymon where his bare arm was. Garurumon was a bit hesitant at first, but a cry from Takuya as he was tossed across the clearing again forced away his doubts. Without a moment to waste, Garurumon bit down on MetalGreymon's arm.
At the sudden sharp pain, MetalGreymon's eye shot open and he shot open. He sat up abruptly with a roar of pain. He glared at Garurumon who was still hanging limply from his arm. Garurumon immediately let go and dropped to the ground. Once he landed, he began to apologize profusely.
"Now we know how to wake them up," Tai chuckled.
"Sorry but I didn't really have a choice," Garurumon hung his head sadly.
"I guess it's alright," MetalGreymon complained, as he lifted his arm to inspect the teeth marks. In a way, MetalGreymon was glad that Garurumon managed to wake him from the nightmares that plagued him while he was under. "I'll wake up Flamedramon, you can go back to help Agunimon," MetalGreymon instructed. Garurumon nodded and ran back into the fray.
MetalGreymon looked at the still unconscious armor digimon and debated the best way to wake him up. Smirking slightly, he lifted his tail and thumped Flamedramon squashing the poor digimon. Tai and Davis winced slightly as they watched.
Takuya wasn't as quick as Garurumon and was struggling to keep away from SkullBaluchimon. It seemed that the other digimon wanted nothing more than to squash him flat. He was sure he saw his life flash before his eyes on more than a few occasions, where his opponent's 'Grave Bone' attack missed only by a slim margin. Not one to back down, Agunimon attacked back with blasts of fire. His attacks scorched the bones that made up SkullBaluchimon's body, but it only seemed to anger it more.
"How you doing?" Garurumon asked, coming to stand next to Agunimon.
"Don't ask," Agunimon growled out between clenched teeth. While they were talking, SkullBaluchimon began to charge at them. Agunimon and Garurumon simultaneously attacked the other digimon. SkullBaluchimon charged forward, only to get a face full of fire. It coughed and sputtered trying to rid its face of the burning sensation.
Seeing an opportunity, Agunimon quickly followed up with a 'Pyro Tornado'. He smirked when his kick connected with the side of SkullBaluchimon's body. But his victory was short lived when he was swatted to the ground, SkullBaluchimon's 'Grave Bone' finally connecting. Now that he was pinned SkullBaluchimon began to put more weight effectively crushing Agunimon into the ground.
Agunimon shut his eyes tightly from the pain, and could only manage shallow gasps. The earth around him began to crack as he sank deeper into the ground. He couldn't even scream in pain, the larger digimon's paw keeping his chest from expanding. If could very well die from suffocation if he wasn't completely crushed first.
Garurumon's eye widened in horror, as Agunimon was trampled. MetalGreymon and the now awake, and slightly bruised, Flamedramon ran up to him and gasped at the sight. Trying to free their friend, all three of them sent their best attacks at SkullBaluchimon, who was solely focused on crushing Agunimon to dust.
As the attacks met their mark, SkullBaluchimon grit its teeth and flinched in pain but refused to give up its prey. After the attacks stopped, the skeletal digimon lifted its head to glare at the other three digimon. With a roar it unleashed another 'Deadly Fear' attack. Not wanting to get hit a second time, everyone quickly darted out of the way.
Takuya gasped for air and tried to wiggle out from under the foot of SkullBaluchimon, but it was no use. SkullBaluchimon was way to heavy and too strong, and Agunimon was quickly loosing strength. In a last ditch effort he shut his eyes and reached into his very soul, begging for more strength. His prayers were answered by a warm tingling sensation taking over his body. He felt like his body was heating up until he suddenly burst into flames.
The flames began to lick at SkullBaluchimon's leg. Finally, the heat became too intolerable forcing it to release its captive and back away from the fire. The fire continued to grow until it was almost the size of MetalGreymon. Everyone, including the humans backed away, not knowing what to expect. Then enormous orange feathered wings burst from the flames.
With a single flap it extinguished the flames, revealing a large armored dragon looking digimon. BuringGreymon let out an ear-splitting roar as he emerged from the dying embers. Everyone slowly backed away from the newly evolved digimon.
SkullBaluchimon was the first to move, charging head on at BurningGreymon. The others shouted words of warning, but BurningGreymon ignored them and glared at the charging digimon. With only moments left, he raised both arms and readied the guns strapped to his arms. SkullBaluchimon was stopped dead, the searing pain caused by BurningGreymon's 'Pyro Barrage' forced it to stop its attack and back off. The skeletal digimon glared at them from a distance, its face and chest covered in burns.
"Nice job," MetalGreymon complimented as he landed next to BurningGreymon. He wasn't expecting a tail to slam into his gut knocking him backwards. BurningGreymon turned to snarl at the astonished MetalGreymon.
"What's he doing?!" Davis shouted. Everyone in the clearing was shocked, including SkullBaluchimon. Just what was Takuya thinking?!
MetalGreymon sat up and held his arm across his aching stomach. "What was that for?" He glared at BurningGreymon.
In response, BurningGreymon growled at him and raised an arm. The gun pivoted to point directly at MetalGreymon's face. The ultimate gasped; there was no way he was actually going to do it. But they didn't have the chance to find out. Flamedramon slammed his body, which was engulfed in fire, into BurningGreymon's side, causing the two of them to topple over.
But the attack didn't seem to bother the beast of fire at all. The fire that surrounded Flamedramon didn't even tickle. With a simple swipe of his claw, he easily swatted the armor digimon away.
"This is what happened last time," Matt said darkly. The others looked at him with a slightly confused look. "Takuya can't control his beast spirit, just like Kouichi couldn't that one time."
"But Davis and I are here!" Tai exclaimed, "This is not supposed to happen!"
BurningGreymon rose to his feet and let out another roar, making the three humans clamp their hands over their ears. The beast then faced Garurumon, who unfortunately was standing the closest to him. His body erupted into flames and with a sharp twist of his body, sent the flames barreling toward Garurumon.
Not wanting to get caught in the flames, Garurumon immediately turned tail and ran, making sure to put a lot of space between him and BurningGreymon. But the attack didn't stop there, BurningGreymon rose to the sky with a single flap of his wings.
From there, he surveyed the area. No one in the clearing was safe. Because SkullBaluchimon was the most separated, BurningGreymon decided to pick him off first. He dove toward the ultimate, surrounding his body with flames on the way down.
SkullBaluchimon glared at the incoming fireball. It dodged at the last second, causing BurningGreymon to shoot past him igniting some of the grass along the way. Not at all deterred by his missed attack, BurningGreymon turned sharply and continued his charge. Expecting something like that, SkullBaluchimon made sure to position itself just right. This time when it dodged, an unsuspecting Garurumon was standing in BurningGreymon's path.
The impact caused Garurumon to get thrown backwards. He lay in a crumpled heap on the ground, his breathing coming in heavy gasps and his fur slightly burnt. Without hesitation, Matt ran over to his partner. The sudden movement caught BurningGreymon's attention, who then focused his blood red gaze on Matt.
Seeing that their friend was in imminent danger, Tai and Davis began shouting and waving their arms trying to draw BurningGreymon's attention from Matt, who seemed oblivious to the danger. When Matt had finally reached Garurumon, he knelt down and gently brushed his partner's singed fur. Garurumon was unconscious and didn't respond to his partner's gentle voice as he tried to speak quietly to him.
A deep growl caught Matt's attention making him freeze. Looking over his shoulder he saw BurningGreymon taking slow predatory steps toward him. Matt turned around and pressed his back against his unconscious partner. Looking past the approaching digimon he saw MetalGreymon and Flamedramon running in his direction.
But his rescue was interrupted when SkullBaluchimon ran between them separating the two digimon from BurningGreymon. The skeletal digimon grinned at them; this was turning out to be very interesting. Why focus all its energy on wiping them out when their own ally would do it instead. SkullBaluchimon jumped at Flamedramon and sent out its dark aura toward MetalGreymon, forcing them to put more distance between them.
Matt felt the blood drain from his face as he watched SkullBaluchimon chase the other two away. Now it was just him and BurningGreymon. The beast was nearly on top of him now, only standing a few feet away. BurningGreymon bared his fangs, small wisps of fire leaking from between his teeth. But before Matt was burnt to a crisp a large rock sailed through the air and hit BurningGreymon in the back of the head.
The metal helmet protected the digimon from such a pathetic attack, but it was effective in diverting his attention. Turning away from Matt, BurningGreymon faced Davis and Tai who continued to chuck rocks and sticks at him. With an angry roar, BurningGreymon flew toward them with amazing speed. He landed directly in front of them, sending small tremors through the ground with his abrupt landing. Without any warning, BurningGreymon opened his mouth wide, releasing a large flamethrower, bathing them and the surrounding the area in fire. The fire grew to surround both boys and the large big digimon.
Matt, MetalGreymon, and Flamdramon froze; as they watched the flames grow and obscure the three of them. SkullBaluchimon threw his head back and laughed at their inevitable fate.
Davis and Tai threw up their arms as the flames came toward them. All they could hear was the crackling of the fire and the roar of BurningGreymon. They both waited for the flames to come and devour their bodies, but nothing came. They lowered their arms to find themselves in a totally different place. Instead of the clearing they were just in, they were in the middle of a burning forest.
"What happened?" Davis said as he looked around franticly. They were surrounded by burning trees and plants. But something was off. There was fire but no smoke and the fire continued to burn even if there was nothing left to fuel it.
"Not sure," Tai said, "But it's not safe here." They immediately tried to find their way out of the burning forest. It was difficult to maneuver themselves around the burning trees and shrubs. Luckily they managed to find a space between the flames to escape.
They ran along the path looking for the end of the inferno. "Look out!" Davis grabbed Tai's arm and yanked him back, causing the two of them to get knocked to the ground. Right where Tai was headed, a burning branch fell across the path. To their amazement, the fire grew and created a wall of fire that reached even higher than the trees.
"Thanks," Tai gasped, he had come that close to being crushed and then probably burnt to a crisp. "We better get out of here fast." Tai stood back up on shaky legs and reached a hand out to help Davis to his feet.
Once on their feet, a loud cracking noise made them jump. On their left, a huge tree crumpled to its side exposing another path. "Something really freaky is going on here," Davis said, as he watched the flames in that direction as they begun to die. A new path was created giving them a safe place to walk.
"Something wants us to go this way," Tai said taking a few brave steps forward with Davis walking tentatively behind him.
"It could very well be a trap," Davis murmured. He quickly looked into the flames on either side of them, expecting something or someone to jump out at them.
"We don't really have a choice," Tai said, "This is the only way we can go without burning to death."
They continued to travel through the forest. The fire still burned brightly all around them, but for some reason it wasn't hot. They were stuck in the middle of a forest fire and it was relatively warm, where it should have been sweltering. This defiantly wasn't an ordinary fire.
Davis was really tempted to touch the flames that lined their path. But decided against it after realizing they really didn't know how much longer they would be walking around. And adding third degree burns to their little adventure didn't sound very nice.
"Is it getting hotter to you?" Tai asked. Davis tore his eyes way from the fire and looked ahead.
"Now that you mention it, it has been getting hotter since we've been going in this direction." Davis just wanted to leave this forest with its weird logic defying fire. Soon enough the two boys were wiping sweat from their faces.
After a few more minutes of travel, they came to a small chest high wall of fire. This time they could feel the heat coming off of these flames, like a real fire.
"It's that Takuya?!" Davis pointed past the flames. Sure enough the warrior of fire sat in the middle of what appeared to be a huge circle of fire. He sat in the center with his knees pulled up to his chest and his back pressed to a scorched black stump. He had his head down, resting his forehead on his arms that were crossed over his legs.
Both Davis and Tai shouted trying to get the other boys attention, but he didn't seem to hear them. Suddenly a huge shape landed in the circle, causing the ground to quake. The figure was made of molten lava, and took the outline of BurningGreymon.
'Look at you,' a voice sneered, 'you think after all this time you would have grown up some. You are still the reckless weakling that no one can depend on.'
The figure began to circle Takuya, continuing to taunt and put down the boy.
'Your friends don't need you just like before. If Kouji wasn't there, you would have led all of your friends to their deaths.'It paused to laugh darkly at him. 'And now, you are just as bad. You try to help your friends, but you blindly put yourself and others in danger constantly.'
'You are of no use to anyone.'
'Usless!'
"Who the hell do you think you are? Thinking you can say stuff like that about him!" Tai shouted. Immediately the dragon turned to face him. It took a few steps closer to the wall of fire that separated them. Tai stood his ground bravely, while Davis took a careful step back.
'I've known him much longer than you have. Yet you think you know more about this kid's failures that I do?'
"Everyone makes mistakes, it's just a part of life. Sometimes things don't turn out for the best, no one is perfect," Davis argued. The dragon snarled at him making him jump, but Tai remained rooted to the spot. How was Tai so brave? He didn't even flinch. Not wanting to look weak, Davis staid where he was, trying to support both his friends.
'Some people are insignificant. No one would even notice they were gone,'the dragon argued. 'This boy is a special case, it would be better if he never existed!' The dragon turned back towards Takuya and shot a stream of fire towards him. The fire landed directly in front of him, it began to slowly creep across the ground.
No matter how much Tai and Davis shouted, Takuya seemed to be unable to hear him. He was unaware of the blaze inching closer and closer to him.
'How ironic it is for the 'Warrior of Fire' to die from a simple flame.'
Finally fed up, Tai rushed at the flames. Shocking both Davis and the dragon he leapt through the fire and landed in a rolling crouch. Ignoring the dragon, Tai ran straight towards Takuya and began pulling him away from the fire.
He could hear Takuya mumbling to himself. It was hard to make out the words but it sounded like he was repeating what the dragon had been telling them.
"It would be better if I never existed," Takuya mumbled over and over. He lay limp against Tai, his head hanging low.
"That's not true. What would your team do without you?" Tai said in a gentle voice. Davis and the dragon watched attentively as Tai talked with Takuya. But no matter what he said nothing seemed to be getting through to him.
"My friends don't need me, no one does." Takuya clenched both hands into tight fists. At the same time the fire around them grew bigger.
The dragon began to laugh, 'Give up! You are wasting your time on him. Even now all he does is cause trouble for others.'
"Oh shut up!" Davis yelled. Taking a running start, Davis leaped though the flames trying to get to his friends. His landing wasn't as graceful as Tai's, and he ended up setting the sleeve of his shirt on fire. He let out a panicked yell and repeatedly hit his shoulder trying to extinguish the fire. Once the fire was out, he sighed deeply and began walking towards Tai and Takuya.
"You may have made a few mistakes, but so what. I've made a ton of them," Davis smiled. "But everyone can grow and change from their mistakes so they aren't entirely a bad thing."
"Davis is right," Tai said, "And you may not think you're important, but Davis and I, and all our other friends think you are. Don't let a couple of bad experiences get you down."
The fire around them began to die and pull back as Takuya put his head up. "You don't know what happened. Kouji and everyone else could have died because of my stupid ideas. I couldn't even hold off that big skeleton thing for you guys, I just got my ass handed to me."
"Hey that's better than what we could do if put in your situation," Davis argued, "You don't need to take things on all on your own, when you have all of your friends ready to back you up." Tai nodded in agreement. He was proud of Davis; he seemed to be finally growing up.
"Everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses. Everyone is unique," Tai finished.
"Thanks guys. I needed that," Takuya finally smiled. Tai helped him to his feet and the three of them turned to face the dragon.
The fire around the area was almost completely out, leaving only small patches still burning. Tai and Davis were expecting the thing to start spewing more insults, but it just stood there. After a moment of thinking, it slowly nodded his head.
It chuckled lowly. Taking in a deep breath, it reared its head back and released a huge torrent of fire. Tai and Davis yelled as the fire spread out around them. To their amazement Takuya started to laugh. "Thanks again!" He gave them a thumbs up as he was swallowed by the fire.
The fire surrounding Takuya rose up and created a tornado. The two boys were completely surrounded by fire on all sides, and stuck next to a swirling vortex of flame. Before they were burnt to a crisp, a familiar roar filled their ears. BurningGreymon burst from the center of the tornado.
Tai and Davis immediately tried to put as much space between them and BurningGreymon as they could. But the beast of fire didn't try to attack them like he did earlier, he didn't even approach them. He seemed different somehow. His eyes; they were no longer a deadly red, but a deep blue.
BurningGreymon smirked at them. With a flap of his wings all the fire around them was extinguished. They were no longer in the burning forest, but back in the clearing where their battle was currently taking place.
While the three of them were occupied, the battle with SkullBaluchimon was still in progress. MetalGreymon and Flamedramon were trying their hardest. Both of them were panting heavily, and the skeletal digimon was covered in burns and scorch marks.
Flamedramon charged in, his body surrounded by flames. Before his attack could connect, he was swatted away by the larger digimon's boney paw. But SkullBaluchimon was not expecting two of MetalGreymon's missiles to hit him straight in the face.
The attack caused a cloud of smoke that concealed their enemy. Before the smoke could clear, SkullBaluchimon jumped out of the cloud and pounced on MetalGreymon. SkullBaluchimon snarled and attempted to tear out MetalGreymon's throat. But MetalGreymon was ready. He blocked the attack with his metal coated arm. SkullBaluchimon's fangs clamped shut around the metal appendage.
By now Flamedramon was back on his feet and firing blast of fire at the back of the digimon that had his friend pinned to the ground. SkullBaluchimon tried his best to ignore the attack and bit down harder, making MetalGreymon flinch.
Tired of watching, BurningGreymon lifted into the skies and stopped directly above SkullBaluchimon. His 'Pyro Barrage' combined with Flamedramon's 'Fire Rocket' dealt some serious damage to SkullBaluchimon. The evil digimon released MetalGreymon's arm and howled in pain. Flamedramon took his chance and tackled the ultimate off of his comrade.
The two of them tumbled over the ground. Once they stopped, SkullBaluchimon tried to crush Flamedramon with his paws. It would have succeeded, if BurningGreymon hadn't managed to scoop Flamdramon up and into the sky.
Now that SkullBaluchimon was preoccupied, Matt left his partner and ran over to the two other boys. Tai and Davis were still frozen in place as they tried to take in everything that had just happened.
"What happened? Are you guys alright?" Matt asked. Tai and Davis shared a look of confusion before answering.
"Yeah were fine," Tai said slowly. "I'm not too sure what happened though."
"You were surrounded by fire and cornered by BurningGreymon and you don't know what happed?!" Matt was frantic, he was so worried about them and all they could do was stand around looking dazed. "How did you survive? I was so sure he was going to kill you."
"Would you believe us that we were teleported into Takuya's brain and saved him from some flaming dragon thingy?" Davis said cheekily.
Matt raised an eyebrow as he stared at Davis. "I guess weirder things happened to us before."
"Whatever we managed to do seemed to help Takuya," Tai said. He turned away from them and looked up to where BurningGreymon was struggling to hold onto a flailing Flamedramon. "We don't need to worry about him anymore."
Davis nodded enthusiastically and followed Tai's example, and turned to watch the fight. Now that he was sure they were fine, Matt ran back to Garurumon, who was still unconscious.
"Lemme go!" Flamedramon began to thrash as he and BurningGreymon rose farther into the sky.
"Hey cut that out! Unless you want me to drop you."
Flamedramon recognized the familiar voice and immediately stopped struggling. "Takuya?"
"Were you expecting someone else?" BurningGreymon teased. He smirked at him, revealing a row of rather scary looking fangs.
"But earlier you-"
"Oh that," Takuya interrupted, "Well, let's say I was having some personal issues, but I'm all good now. Let's cut the chatter and end this already." Flamedramon smiled back at him and nodded. Together they descended upon the rather tired SkullBaluchimon.
BurningGreymon dropped Flamedramon off next to MetalGreymon, who had just managed to climb to his feet, with all three of them in position, the begun their attack. Surrounded on all sides, SkullBaluchimon could only watch as the attacks reared him. In a last ditch effort to win, he released all the dark energy in his body in one last 'Deadly Fear' attack. The collision of attacks caused a large explosion, accompanied by a cloud of smoke that blanketed the area.
A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope everyone enjoyed this last chapter. This one took a different turn from the last few beast spirits, they can't have it easy all the time :P