Chapter 36
Getting Down and Dirty
"So what happened next?" Takuya asked when Tai stopped talking.
"After going over the plan we all split up and soon Davis and Ken got into the first fight. So I'll let them take it from here." Tai explained as he signaled the two to start where he had left off.
"It was an awesome battle in which we dominated by…" Davis managed to get out before Yolei interrupted him.
"I'm sure he'd actually like to hear the whole story Davis." She commented before turning to Ken and encouraging him to tell the story. "You tell it Kenny."
"Well you see… Yolei please don't call me Kenny… ever again…" Ken said uneasily as a deep blush spread across his face.
"Sorry… hehehe…" Yolei said turning her head to the side and resting a fist on the side of her head while sticking out her tongue a little.
"…Right…" Ken sighed as the red in his face began to fade. "Tai had broken us all up into five groups and sent us after the different approaching digimon. Davis and I were sent after the one coming from the east and we didn't have to wait long before…"
"Hurry Raidramon! We've got to cut off that digimon and take it down as soon as we can." Davis yelled from his partners back as he leapt from one rooftop to the next.
"You've got it Davis!" Raidramon cheered kicking up his speed a notch.
"Davis, are you going to be okay with this? I mean we're going to have to destroy this digimon to stop it." Ken asked from his position behind Davis on Raidramons back.
"Yes… They chose their path and if we don't stop them they'll get the Sealed Digivice. If that happens, our world and many others will suffer for it." Davis said in a serious tone showing a very mature side of himself.
"Right Davis." Ken marveled at his friend's determination. When it came down to the tough decisions Davis never doubted himself; it was a quality Ken really admired about him.
"Davis I can see the enemy now… and you're not going to believe who it is." Raidramon announced to the three in a voice of disbelief.
"Where…?" Davis looked in the direction Raidramon had pointed and instantly stopped talking.
"Davis what is…?" Ken began to ask before he too stopped in mid-sentence as well.
There floating in midair a city block away from them was a small round digimon. Its skin was a light blue and it was covered in sharp spikes. The top of its head/body was covered in a metal helmet covered in shiny silver spikes; with a Mohawk of large black spikes running down the middle. The metal covered only the top half leaving two eye holes which looked like they had been carved out of the helm to reveal two red eyes. It only had arms, two very muscular arms, and no legs. The hands were covered in silver gloves attached to the wrist with red belts. In both of its hands it held silver brass-knuckles with three large spikes running down them. Behind it a tattered lighter blue fishtail stuck out the back with a much smaller one underneath it. Squeezing out from beneath the helmet was a puffy pair of lighter blue lips. All in all it resembled a large flying blue Puffer fish with arms.
"It's... It's… Pukumon." Davis stuttered. He could still remember how much trouble this little digimon had caused him years ago on Valentine's Day.
"It's been a while hasn't it boy." Pukumon laughed in a pathetic attempted to sound wicked.
"I guess you didn't learn from last time. You know when we all sent you running years ago." Davis laughed back; confident that they would claim a quick victory.
"On the contrary boy; I did learn something." Pukumon retorted.
"What was that?" Davis said slyly.
"That I didn't have the power at that time." Pukumon explained before continuing with a yell. "But now I possess that power."
As Pukumon roared his last line he exploded with an evil power. It manifested itself as a raging torrent of pale silver waves. They whipped around the evil little digimon before they turned and shot back inside Pukumon who began to pulse with sickening pale light.
"…" The two humans and two digimon partners stared at the sight that took place before them with a sense of foreboding growing within them.
"Do you like it humans? Do you like the power I received from him?" Pukumon laughed.
"Don't think that you can win even with whatever power you were given." Davis retorted in anger. Even he could feel that this wasn't going to as easy as he though; but he wasn't going to let Pukumon have the satisfaction of knowing that.
"Who gave you that power?" Ken asked seeing an opportunity to learn more about their enemy.
"I don't know who he is but he will give me even more power when I bring him the Sealed Digivice." Pukumon responded almost drooling over the thought of gaining more of the sickening power.
"What did he look li…" Ken started to ask before he was cut off by a yell from Pukumon.
"GLOBEFISH POISON"
As soon as Pukumon finished calling out his attack an orb made of a nauseating liquid shoot forth from its body and streaked towards the group on the roof.
"Move!" Davis yelled as the group scattered out in different directions, away from where the ball of poison was going to land. A second before the attack slashed down on the roof the four were able to jump to the rooftops of the adjoining buildings; luckily there were only a few feet between each of the buildings on this block.
The toxic fluid splashed all over the building coating everything in its appalling brown color. When it settled the rooftop began to emit a greenish smoke into the air.
"It's melting!" Ken yelled out so Davis and Raidramon on the rooftop on the other side of the original building could hear him.
The steel and concrete of the building turned into a brownish liquid and a green smog. The solution continued downward until it had dissolved three stories of the building. The level of the building had drop enough that Davis and Ken could see each other again.
"Damn! We're just lucky that building was abandoned." Davis announced as he stared at the scarred structure.
"Davis! We've got to take this fight out of the city. If another one of those attacks were to hit an occupied building a lot of people could die." Ken explained in an urgent tone.
"Yeah, but where?" Davis yelled back.
"There's one place that I can think of." Ken shouted back.
"Okay Raidramon and I will follow you then." Davis rejoined.
Ken raised his D-3 up to Wormon and it began to emit a bright light. A moment later Stingmon was hovering next to Ken. Wasting no time Stingmon picked up Ken and flew off in the direction Ken pointed.
"Where does he think he's going?" Pukumon said staring at the Stingmon as he got smaller and smaller in the distance.
"THUNDER BLAST"
A bolt of blue lightening streaked towards Pukumon who swung out his arm in shock managing to deflect the oncoming attack just in time; sending it crashing back into the ruined building.
"Wow! You'd think with all that power you wouldn't have been caught off guard like that. I guess you really haven't changed much." Davis laughed as he and Raidramon took off after Ken and Stingmon.
"You'll pay for that!" Pukumon roared before he flew off after them.
"Can I interrupt you for a moment Ken?" Takuya asked.
"Sure…" Ken replied unsure of what he could want.
"Davis what was your past with Pukumon?" Takuya questioned turning to Davis.
"Well it's a long and complicated story that I really don't want to get into right now. Maybe another time, man." Davis sighed as he thought about the incident where he had meet Pukumon for the first time.
"Okay I guess we can leave it at that then…" Takuya responded. He had plenty of stories that he didn't want to talk about, so he could relate. "Oh by the way. You did a really good job of getting Pukumon to follow you and forget about the Sealed Digivice."
"Th… Thanks!" Davis said surprised by the sudden compliment from someone he viewed as a rival.
"Okay Ken could you continue?" Takuya inquired motioning for Ken to pickup from where he had left off.
"Sure. We lead Pukumon out of the city to the local…" Ken began once more.
"Dump!? You lead us to the garbage dump!" Davis shouted while he and Raidramon stood atop a pile of trash.
All around them were massive piles of trash. The mounds of litter stretched out in all directions creating a landscape of valleys, canyons, and hills. Every so often an old rust car or large appliance stuck up out of the layers of waste creating crude structures and eerie monuments. It was difficult to see due to the areas size but on all sides of the landfill it was surrounded by a high wall to keep the trash in and trespassers out. Outside of the wall a small forest surrounded the area obscuring it from view and right in the middle of it all was Davis, Raidramon, Ken, and Stingmon awaiting Pukumons arrival.
"It might not be ideal… but there are no buildings or people around; and it doesn't matter what Pukumons attack melts since its all trash." Ken explained simply.
"Wow, that's really smart Ken!" Davis congratulated his friend; completely forgetting about his surroundings.
"Thanks Davis." Ken responded with an embarrassed smile.
"He's here!" Stingmon suddenly announced bring the group back to the situation at hand.
They all turned and looked towards the direction they had come from. In the distance a light blue spiky ball streaked towards them waving its arms in anger.
"He looks mad." Davis laughed, still a little happy that he could get under the enemies skin like that.
"Are you ready for this Davis?" Raidramon asked as the group watched Pukumon descend from the sky above.
"Of course!" Davis cheered. "What about you Ken?" Davis added turning to his best friend.
"Yes!" Ken responded with a determined nod.
"You four didn't run far enough. Now that I've found you I'm going to enjoy melting your bones." Pukumon cackled as he leveled himself with the two Digidestine.
"Sorry to disappoint you, but our bones are staying nice and solid! You're the only one that's going down here!" Davis retorted before positioning himself in a fighting stance.
"We'll see Puddle!" Pukumon shot back getting angrier and angrier.
"That's it! Raidramon attack!" Davis cheered his partner on after becoming enraged by the 'Puddle' comment.
"LIGHTNING BLADE"
Raidramon fired off a blade of blue lightning from his horn which quickly ripped its way through the trash on a crash course with Pukumon. In its wake the attack left a smoldering gash of burned garbage and blackened metal. A second before impact Pukumon placed an arm in front of his face and then swung it outwards sticking Raidramons attack. The impact sent a shower of blue sparks flying through the air and diverted the lightning blade off to the side. It continued to cut a path along the ground before sticking a large pile of trash and exploding in a flash of blue and smoke.
"Is that the best you've got?" Pukumon laughed marveling at his own power.
"No!" A voice from above Pukumon yelled.
Pukumon looked up just in time to see the glowing purple blade attached to Stingmons arm fall upon him.
"SPIKING STRIKE"
The blade struck the evil digimon squarely in the middle of his head; the force impacting the ground below the two kicking up debris from the floor of the dump. Stingmon continued to put more and more pressure on his target trying to drive the blade deeper into Pukumon; but he was getting a lot of resistance.
"Again is that it…?" Pukumon asked looking up the full length of Stingmons blade and arm into the partner digimons eyes.
"Impossible!" The four cried in unison. Not only had Pukumon survived the attack, but he was completely unharmed. The tip of Stingmons blade rested on the center of his helmet without even making a scratch.
"Stingmon get away from him!" Ken yelled but it was already too late. Pukumon grabbed hold of the arm Stingmon had used to attack him and pulled. Stingmon jerked forward under Pukumons strength before Pukumon pulled again and throw him into a pile of trash over a hundred feet away. The insect digimon slammed into the mound and sunk deep within it, casting off debris from the impact in all directions.
"STINGMON!" They all cried out hoping that he wasn't badly hurt.
"He wasn't anywhere near this powerful before!" Davis shouted to Ken.
"This must have something to do with that power he received." Ken rejoined still staring at the spot where his partner had disappeared hoping he would appear again soon.
"GLOBEFISH POISON"
Pukumon cast off another ball of toxin at Raidramon who quickly dodged and put some distance between himself and the two humans. If Pukumon was going after him he had to make sure Davis and Ken didn't get caught in the crossfire.
"GLOBEFISH POISON"
"GLOBEFISH POISON"
"GLOBEFISH POISON"
Pukumon continued to fire off one melting ball attack after another in an attempt to literally make Raidramon disappear. Raidramon had to do some fancy footwork, but thanks to the speed boost he received from his armored evolution he was able to stay one step ahead of the attacks. With each missed attack another pile of trashed smoldered and disappeared from the landscape; leaving only a rotting hole filled with a sickening brown slime.
"GLOBEFISH POISON"
"GLOBEFISH POISON"
"GLOBEFISH POISON"
Pukumons attacks continued without end or any sign of stopping.
"Stay still and dissolve!" Pukumon roared.
"Not going to happen, goldfish!" Raidramon retorted as he dodged another attack.
"I think it is." Pukumon laughed sending another attack at Raidramon. However this attack went way over the lightning digimons head and struck the ground ahead of him. It splashed down and turned another patch of waste into ooze.
"Are you blind? That attack was way off!" Raidramon laughed.
"Stupid trash!" Davis cursed as he tried to climb up the side a large trash heap; made more difficult by the fact that his foot holds kept crumbling and he would sink slightly. Beyond the hill he could hear Pukumon constantly calling out his 'Globefish Poison' attack in an attempt to take down Raidramon.
"Finally…!" Davis sighed after finally reaching the top. On the other side his partner was still dodging every attack Pukumon threw at him; the pock filled terrain was proof of that. As Davis stared down at the scene below he wished he could do something more for his partner. In the middle of his contemplation something horrible occurred to him; something was wrong with this situation.
"RAIDRAMON GET OUT OF THERE!" Davis yelled to his partner from atop of the high mound.
"What's wrong Davis!? I can easily…" Raidramon began to reply before he skidded to a halt. It was already too late.
"No!" Davis cursed under his breath.
Raidramon stopped dead in his tracks and stared down at the large hole before him. At the bottom of the hole a sickening mixture of trash and poison bubbled up, spewing noxious green fuses into the air; which rose up out of the pit warning of the putrid liquids toxicity. But Raidramon and Davis weren't looking at the pool of waste before him, but at the many holes filled with the same substance all around him. While Pukumon had been aiming at Raidramon he had also be turning the valley of trash they were fighting in into a landscape of deadly pitfalls.
"I told you, you would be holding still soon." Pukumon laughed taking a break from his attacks to tease his trapped opponent.
"Raidramon get moving he'll attack any moment!" Davis cried to his partner who began to turn towards the side aiming at a clear path through the holes.
"No! Don't!" Ken yelled from behind Davis. Down below Raidramon stopped any attempt to flee and stared up at the boy.
"What are you saying!? If he stays there he'll be destroyed by Pukumons poison attack!" Davis replied in shock.
"And if he tries to run along that path he'll fall into one of the pits of poison." Ken stated.
"What!? How!?" Davis asked becoming slightly panicked.
"While Raidramon can fit along that narrow path it won't hold him. The trash isn't held together very tightly and the holes are too close together. If he puts his weight down anywhere near one of the holes the surrounding ground will collapse and he will fall in." Ken explained as he stared down at the landscape below becoming more and more worried.
"What do we do than!?" Davis cried, hoping Ken could think of something.
"I… I don't know…" Ken stuttered his mind drawing a completely blank.
"It's time to end this pathetic game." Pukumon laughed.
"RAIDRAMON NO!" The two boys yelled.
"GLOBEFISH POI…"
Before Pukumon could finish his attack the ground directly beneath him exploded scattering trash into the air. From the center of the upheaval an arm of black with metal claws arose and gripped Pukumon in its hand.
"What!?" Pukumon cried as the fingers tightened around him as if he were a baseball.
"Got you!" A voice from below Pukumon growled. Due to the sudden shift in the surface area the ground below Pukumon collapsed revealing Stingmon with his arm raised, tightly gripping the enemy.
"Stingmon!" They all cried in shock happy to see the return of their friend.
"Sorry it took me so long to get back in the fight." Stingmon greeted them a hint of pain in his voice. This pain was brought about by the razor-sharp quills that covered Pukumons body; which were sharp enough to even pierce Stingmons armor causing him great pain. Despite this he held on tight not willing to give into the pain and allow this chance to take Pukumon down to slip away.
"Raidramon! Take Pukumon out!" Davis cheered his partner on.
Instantly Raidramon took off towards Pukumon at full speed; building up a charge as he ran. Pukumon on the other hand continued to struggle within Stingmons grip. He thrashed about and tried to lift Stingmon off of the ground, but using all of his strength Stingmon was able to hold out. He only needed to last a few seconds so Raidramon could attack; anymore time would be impossible due to Pukumons incredible strength.
"ELECTRIC BITE"
Raidramons mouth burst open revealing a large buildup of electricity cascading around in his maw. With a final lunge he shot towards Pukumon ready to end the fight. But it was not to be. Pukumon suddenly surged with the same grayish light from before and let out a wicked snarl.
"NEEDLE SQUALL"
Suddenly Pukumon inflated before he ejected the razor-sharp quills from his body, spraying them everywhere.
"RRAAAWWWWW" The two digimon cried out in pain as the needles pierced their bodies and blew them backwards.
"Raidramon! Stingmon!" The two called out to their respective partners.
Stingmon came to a quick stop when he impacted against the ground beneath him leaving him wounded at the bottom of the hole he had emerged from. The needles that were imbedded in his flesh smoldered with the same grey light that had engulfed Pukumon. Raidramon had been fast enough to avoid a fatal blow, but not the incredible amount of damage. He had been thrown backwards and slid across the ground digging a fifty foot trench in the surface. At the end of the trail Veemon laid in a Raidramon size hole; the same grey light seeping up from his injuries.
On top of the trash mound Davis and Ken had been knocked back by the pressure of the initial detonation which actually saved them from being skewered by the large quills. However it had left them with countless scrapes and tiny cuts. Painfully they rose to their feet and began searching for their partners.
"Veemon!" Davis cried as he slid down the side of the garbage pile and ran to his downed partner's side. Once he reached him he cradled his head and tried to get him to wake up. "Veemon please be alright… Please get up…"
"Hahaha… What did you think of that attack?" Pukumon laughed finally showing some signs of being tired. "Now it's time to die!"
"Not yet… SPINNING SPIKING STRIKE" Stingmon yelled as he lunged at Pukumon. He instantly released a flurry of rapid sharp kicks upon Pukumon. Unfortunately attacking in Stingmons weakened state Pukumon just laughed as each impact did even less damage them his Spiking Strike had done earlier.
"Stingmon…" Veemon murmured as he came around.
"Veemon are you alright? Does it hurt?" Davis asked turning all his attention on Veemon.
"I'm okay Davis…" Veemon weakly spoke while he labored to his feet.
"Veemon… You need to rest." Davis said in a worried tone.
"I can still fight Davis! I can't let Stingmon fight alone!" Veemon cried out to his partner.
"Veemon…" Davis said in a calm tone and stared at his partner. In this situation Davis would never give up so he couldn't expect Veemon to do any differently. After all they were all too similar to each other.
"Okay let's do it!" Davis said in a plain tone as he gripped his D-3 tightly in his hand and stood up.
"Veemon digivolve to…"
"ExVeemon!"
"Stingmon lets do this!" ExVeemon announced signaling that they were ready to DNA Digivolve.
"Right!" Stingmon replied stopping his attack and kicking off of ground to put himself closer to ExVeemon.
"ExVeemon…"
"Stingmon…"
"DNA Digivolve to…"
While the two began to combine the grey light seeped out of their contact point. It twisted and wrapped itself around the evolution. In a finally flash the digivolution exploded with a new power.
"DINOBEEMON"
What emerged from the light wasn't Paildramon; it was some new form. It had the legs and torso of Stingmon. In the back ExVeemons tail whipped around. While the upper half of the torso was Stingmons the lower half was ExVeemons waist. It had two sets of arms. One set from ExVeemon and the other from Stingmon. Coming out from its back were four insect wings while hummed away at an incredible pace. Around its neck it wore Stingmon's spiked collar. Its entire face was covered by Stingmons mask; but jotting out from the under the mask was a tuff of Stingmons hair and ExVeemons ears. The digimon as a whole appeared more insect/dragon like when compared to Paildramon.
"What happened…?" Davis asked as he stared at the hunched over form of their combined partners.
"I don't know. I guess something changed the evolution." Ken replied unable to arrive at any kind of answer.
"Why'd you stop Ken?" Takuya asked when Ken suddenly became quiet and stared at him.
"Well you've seen a lot of battles and digivolutions in you travels right?" Ken inquired of Takuya.
"Yeah… Why?"
"I was just hoping you would have some insight as to why Stingmon and ExVeemons DNA Evolution changed?" Ken finally asked.
"I'm not really sure but I have an idea. It might actually explain a lot of what's been happening over the last four days." Takuya explained after giving it some thought.
"What is it then?" Izzy jumped in and asked.
"After I've heard all of your stories I'll be able to make my decision. So for now I'd say it was most likely cross contamination with the power Pukumon was imbued with; and let's leave it at that for now." Takuya commented before motioning for Ken to start again.
"Dinobeemon come here. I have an idea." Ken called to new form. Dinobeemon quickly responded by flying over to his partners and landed between the two boys. Pukumon stared at the little meeting; watching as Ken explained something to the group.
"You got it?" Ken asked when he had reached the end of his plan.
"Yes. Now let's end this fight!" Dinobeemon suddenly announced in a buzzing voice.
"Right!" Ken and Davis answered; deciding to deal with the change after the fight was over.
With their partners encouragement Dinobeemon kicked off of the ground and shot into the sky. In a flash he was a good hundred feet above the battlefield using his new wings to hover there. Down below Pukumon stared up at the new digimon with an unimpressed look.
"So what are you going to do from all the way up there? Or are you running away from my awesome power!" Pukumon laughed in-between huffs of air.
"Laugh while you can Pukumon, because this fight is already over." Dinobeemon announced from above.
"MASQUERADE"
Suddenly Dinobeemon burst into a whirlwind of slashes. In the sky above there appeared to be many Dinobeemons; but in reality they were mere afterimages, testiments to Dinobeemons increased speed. Powerful blades of air crashed down from above striking the ground around Pukumon who's only defense was to shield his body with his arms. The incredible winds kicked up debris into the sky and distorted the air obscuring Pukumon from view.
After the attack stopped Pukumon slowly removed his arms from in front of his face. Before him the ground was covered in steaming large deep slashes and pieces of garbage continued to fall out of the sky. When Pukumon saw the range of destruction that Dinobeemon had inflicted on the surrounding area he laughed.
"All those attacks and you managed to miss me every time!?" Pukumon laughed towards the sky.
"That's what you think Pukumon?" Davis yelled from the top of the pile.
"Huh…!?" Pukumon mouthed confusingly.
"Dinobeemon do it now!" Ken yelled to the digimon above.
"IRRITANT BUZZ"
On command Dinobeemon released a sonic shockwave from its body that ripped through the air and crashed down on Pukumon. The attacked slammed him downwards against the layers of trashed and continued to push him deeper into the waste. As Pukumon sunk though the layers the trash were pushed outwards into a concave shape.
"This is nothing more than a minor inconvenience! Once this attack stops I'll destroy you!" Pukumon yelled as the sonic waves continued to push him downwards until he hit the putrid dirt below.
"You won't get the chance!" Davis announced.
"Now Dinobeemon!" Ken instructed the insect digimon.
With that order Dinobeemon sent out a final burst of waves at full power. The attack slammed hard against Pukumon; imbedding him deep into the ground. After that the attack stopped and complete silence filled the landfill.
"Once I'm free you are all dead!" Pukumon growled in a rage as he tried to free himself from the tight embrace of the ground.
"Not going to happen!" Davis laughed. "You see Ken noticed something during one of your earlier attacks. When Stingmon grabbed you; you stopped your Globefish Poison attack. If you had used it you could have melted his hand and freed yourself; but you didn't. That was because that poison attack of yours can melt anything. Including you." Davis explained.
"What!?" Pukumon said in shock.
Suddenly the sound of creaking surrounded Pukumon. A second later it was replaced with loud breaking sounds as the thin wall of trash created by Dinobeemons sonic waves exploded inwards. Behind the collapsing wall a brownish solution gushed into the bowl structure and barreled down on Pukumon. Dinobeemons earlier attack had linked all of the pits of poison Pukumon had created to trap Raidramon with deep slashes. These ravines combined all of the toxic fluid and pooled it in the moat that more of the attacks had created around Pukumon. The sonic waves had trapped Pukumon at the bottom of the large pit, and broken the barrier that held the poison at bay.
"NOOO!?" Pukumon screamed as he struggled to free himself before the venomous waves crashed down upon him. But no matter how much he fought, his fate was sealed. The waves broke upon him and began to eat away at his flesh and bones.
The large hole quickly filled up with a few feet of brown toxin and splashed against the sides. The fluid swirled and bubbled for a few minutes before it came to a rest. In the center where Pukumon had disappeared beneath the surface air bubbles continued to rise and burst on the surface. This continued for about ten seconds before it stopped and all was quiet once more.
"You think that's it Davis?" Ken inquired as he watched the bubbles finally stop popping. Behind him Dinobeemon landed and broke his evolution; leaving an exhausted DemiVeemon and Minomon.
"Of course it is. Your plan was perfect!" Davis assured his friend with a victories laugh
But Davis's celebration was cut short when bubbles once again began to rise out of the center of the poisons pond. Suddenly the tip of a steel spike poked out from beneath the surface and continued to rise. As it rose more spiked began to appear. It was obvious what it was; it was Pukumons helmet.
The four exhausted fighters lurched backwards in fear.
"You can't be serious! He's still alive!" Davis stuttered unsure that they could go another round.
The steel helmet was now fully out of the pool and slowly began to tip towards the four. When it was a full ninety degrees it tipped over and fell revealing that it was empty; Pukumon had dissolved away much faster than his steel helmet had. It bobbed up and down in the fluid for a few seconds before the center was eaten away by its surrounding, and it sunk beneath the brown surface once more. Moments later the pool of poison exploded into digital bits leaving nothing behind.
"Okay now we're done…" Davis sighed as he leaned back and fell into the trash behind him. He didn't care how dirty or bad it smell. All he cared about was that it was soft and allowed him to lay back and relax. It had been a long and tiring fight; and they had earned their rest.
However elsewhere in the city there were still other fights to be fought.
To be continued…