Truth in Darkness

I don't own Digimon or Dragonball Z

"Darkness! You think some illusions are going to stop me!? They won't! I'm going to find the Ultra-Divine Water, and you can't stop me!" Daisuke shouted, clenching her fist as the illusion of the wasteland where the final battle against MaloMyotismon took place vanished and Daisuke found herself in a dark cave. "Now to find the Ultra-Divine Water and get the hell out of here." Walking off, she suddenly found Yajirobe laying on the floor nearby and ran towards him. "You okay Yajirobe?" The samurai who groaned and opened his eyes.

"What happened?" he asked, sitting up.

"We got chased by that ice monster and fell down the cliff remember?" Daisuke told him while helping Yajirobe to his feet.

"Okay. But now where are we?"

"No idea. But we need to keep moving if we want to find the Ultra-Divine Water," she said. Yajirobe nodded and both walked off. Daisuke jumped onto large rocks and looked around as they walked.

"What a boring dump," Yajirobe said as he stopped walking and looked towards Daisuke. "Do you really think that you'll be able to defeat King Piccolo?"

"I have to try, I can't just give up and run like a coward," Daisuke answered, jumping off a rock and landing in front of him.

"Didn't you say he killed a friend of yours?" he asked her and she nodded.

"My best friend Goku."

"Then why don't you be glad you're still alive, and keep on living?" Yajirobe asked her before walking off. Daisuke followed until they ran into a fork in the path. "This is where we say goodbye."

"Well goodbye then. And if you get out of here tell Korin I'll find the Divine Water no matter what." She ran down the path she had chosen. "Good luck!"

"Good luck yourself fool," Yajirobe muttered to himself before walking down his path. Daisuke ran down the path and jumped onto a rock before leaping across a chasm and landing on the other side with ease. Continuing to run, she suddenly skidded to a stop and sniffed; something was coming. She hid behind a boulder and heard footsteps heading her way. Her ears twitched as the sound of footsteps got louder until she saw a shadow. Jumping out from behind the boulder, she kicked whoever it was knocking them to the ground. As he eyes focused on the fallen figure, they widened.

"Ow that hurt."

"Goku…?" Daisuke asked, and sure enough, Goku was on his butt now with a bruise on his cheek that he was rubbing.

"What did you do that for Dai?" he asked standing up. "That hurt."

"Goku, is that you?"

"Who else would it be?"

"But I saw you die when Tambourine killed you?" Daisuke told him.

"Ah I wasn't killed, just really hurt. What're you doing down here anyway?" Goku asked with a chuckle, and Daisuke could have sworn she heard another voice laughing under Goku's.

"I'm looking for something called the Ultra-Divine Water. Have you by any chance seen it?" Daisuke asked.

"I've seen something. Follow me," Goku told her before walking off. Daisuke followed, but slowly and keeping her distance. Everything was wrong about this situation. She knew Goku was dead, and in the incredibly small chance he wasn't there was no way he'd be here.

With Yajirobe, he was not having a fun time. "Stupid Daisuke, leaving me in the middle of nowhere with no food or anything." Those were the current thoughts going through Yajirobe's mind as she crawled up a steep part of the cave. He made it to the top of the climb where he saw a large green reptile in front of him. "Scary monster, it looks delicious." He began to drool before he chased after the monster that ran off. "Come back lunch! Come on, I wanna dip you in some gravy," he told the creature, which only made it run faster.

Down below with Daisuke she was following Goku although she wasn't right behind him as he ran through the cave. "Come on Daisuke, it's just down here," he said, turning a corner as Daisuke followed before she skidded to a stop.

"Alright that's far enough Goku." She watched as Goku turned to look at her.

"What do you mean Daisuke? We're almost there."

"Cut the crap Darkness. I know you're not Goku, and it sickens me that you would use the image of my best friend to try and trick me." Daisuke replied snarling, and Goku gained a cruel and dark look on his face.

"So you figured it out huh?" he asked, his voice now sounding deeper and echoing through the cave.

"Of course I did. You think that I would fall for another illusion after the stunt you pulled with my team and their digimon?" Daisuke asked back clenching her fists. "Now stay out of my way or I will kick your butt." She then turned and began to walk away.

"Stop right there Daisuke Motomiya," Goku said and Daisuke looked back at him. "Take one more step, and you will leave me no choice but to kill you."

"Go ahead and try it Darkness. You don't scare me," she taunted. Goku smirked as he roared and the ground before him cracked. He lifted his arms and the rubble around them followed. With a gesture, he hurled them towards Daisuke who smirked and held her hand out. A sphere of Ki appeared.

"Hadoken Barrage!" she shouted, before firing rapid fire Hadoken's at the rubble destroying each piece that flew towards her.

"The Ultra-Divine Water is sacred. It is not meant for humans, you taint it with your presence. Leave this holy place or you will die!" Goku shouted at Daisuke.

"Never!" she replied dodging more rubble that Goku threw at her. "None of this is real anyway. And you are not my friend Goku!"

"Fool!" Goku shouted at Daisuke. "I am Darkness! I am all of your insecurities and fears. I am both your weakness and your strength. You cannot defeat me!"

"If creating an illusion of Goku is the best you can do, this fight is already over," she retorted. A nasty smirk crossed the fake Goku's face.

"Foolish." His body dissolved into shadows before it grew and reshaped itself. The darkness polished itself into a monstrous combination of flesh and metal, towering above Daisuke in a very familiar form. A form of terror and death. A form that haunted Daisuke's nightmares to this day.

"MaloMyotismon," Daisuke snarled. "I defeated him once before Darkness, you're stupid if you think that I will lose again!"

"This fight is very different," MaloMyotismon purred. "Allow me to demonstrate. Screaming Darkness!" The two heads placed on his shoulder blasted a familiar beam of darkness at her, forcing her to fly to the side. Even so, the force of the attack rattled her. A quick glance behind her caused Daisuke to blanch. Everything the dark attack had struck simply vanished, leaving nothing behind.

"Just how is this different?" Daisuke shouted, turning her attention back to her foe. "Hadoken!" A sphere of Ki was shot at MaloMyotismon who effortlessly turned it aside, causing her to grit her teeth.

"Attacks of that strength cannot harm me. You cannot harm me. You are weak, girl."

"This 'weak' girl defeated you once before!" Daisuke shouted.

MaloMyotismon chuckled. "Wrong. You didn't defeat me Daisuke, you were but a small cog in the cause of my defeat. MirageGaogamon. The other DigiDestined. Their own Digimon partners. Even the hopes and dreams of the children whose despair I feasted off of. They were the cause of my defeat, and they are not here. You cannot defeat me alone Daisuke, and that's what you are; alone."

"Shut up!" she shouted. She charged towards him, ready to strike his unarmoured face. He smirked and swung a claw at her, causing her to duck under the strike. Leaping up towards his head, MaloMyotismon's sharp-toothed maw only grinned.

His razor tail lashed out at Daisuke, forcing her to abort her attack and raise her arms to shield herself. The tail crashed into her guard and threw her dozens of feet backwards. "Screaming Darkness!" he shouted, and two black beams from armoured jaws on his shoulder flew towards her tumbling form. Her eyes widened.

"Wild Echo!" Daisuke used the force of the attack to propel her out of the incoming blast's way, and she felt the attack's heat scorch the surface of her flesh as it passed beneath her, obliterating a cave wall completely. "I'll just need to use stronger attacks!" she shouted. She immediately began charging. "Ka-me-ha-me-ha!" With amusement on his face, MaloMyotismon allowed her to finish charging her attack, and the blue Ki beam flew towards him.

"Screaming Darkness!" Again the black attack burst forth and this time it collided with the Kamehameha wave. With barely a pause, it immediately began to push through Daisuke's beam towards her. With wide eyes, Daisuke could have sworn her life flashed before them as the Screaming Darkness carved its way towards her.

Knowing that she would be killed if the attack reached her, Daisuke curve her beam downwards to propel herself into the air while maintaining the attack. Manipulating her movement through energy attacks had already worked once after all. It worked again. For a second time the Screaming Darkness burned its way beneath her, completely cancelling her own Kamehameha.

She landed, panting. MaloMyotismon laughed again. "You fail at everything you do. You were separated from your home, lost your partner, lost your friend, and even almost lost your life. You are broken Daisuke Motomiya."

"That's not true!" she shouted. "I succeeded in beating you! I escaped from Gero! I won the tournament! I beat Tambourine! And I swear that I will beat you too!"

"Foolishness!" he boomed. "Minor accomplishments. Since losing your true home you have not truly accomplished anything of worth. You are adrift in a strange world. You don't belong."

Daisuke hung her head, shoulders shaking for a moment. A second later, she looked up at her foe, eyes glaring viciously. "Maybe that was true at first, and maybe I still miss my home, but I've become a part of this world. I have friends here, accomplishments, and one day I will have a place of my own. You're the real failure MaloMyotismon." Though Daisuke knew that this was not truly the monster that plagued her nightmares, the shadow she fought still reached her heart.

Daisuke began to race towards the dark digimon a second time, but this time three copies sprung into being around her, each of them leaping in a different direction to approach him.

"Crimson Mist!" he roared, and the maws on his shoulder each spewed out a red mist that immediately engulfed one of the Daisukes, causing her to immediately burst into particles.

A second Daisuke leapt from behind, charging a huge Hadoken in her hands. Without even turning, MaloMyotismon's tail lashed out and impaled her, causing her to burst as well. From above fell a third Daisuke with a shout. MaloMyotismon glanced above in disdain. Even as his shoulder cannons glowed with energy, Daisuke put her hands on either side of her head. "Solar Flare!" MaloMyotismon roared in fury and covered his face with his claws, releasing a blast that atomized that Daisuke. After a moment or two, he tentatively lowered them to reveal a surprising sight.

Daisuke hovered right in front of him, hands back and glowing with Ki. "Kamehadoken!" she shouted. Before he could react, a white beam of energy blasted his face, causing a huge explosion that hurled Daisuke into a distant wall where she fell, coughing a bit.

"That showed him," she chuckled. "Take that you monster!" The blood in her veins froze as she heard another familiar voice.

"Do you think it's really over?" The smoke cleared to reveal a humanoid figure with dark green skin and withered wrinkles. Demon King Piccolo. "I am Darkness. You cannot defeat me."

Daisuke climbed to her feet. "Then I'll just keep beating you down again and again until you don't have any more forms to take!"

"We will see." Piccolo raised an arm and instantly dozens of rocks that had been broken from the ground and walls by the previous battle lifted into the air and streaked towards Daisuke. She barely managed to avoid or deflect the rubble, but even as she evaded the initial barrage, more rocks lifted into the air or burst from the walls to batter her.

Gritting her teeth, Daisuke charged her hands with energy to repeat an attack she'd used previously. "Hadoken Barrage!" A flurry of Hadokens burst through the rock attack and converged on Piccolo who only smirked.

The Hadoken's collided with an explosion, but Daisuke had no intention of simply waiting. If this Piccolo was even half as strong as the real one, that attack wouldn't put him down. But even as she began to charge her next attack, two thin beams of energy streaked out from the cloud where Piccolo had stood. Daisuke had no time to dodge and cried out as they lifted her off her feet and slammed her into a wall. The smoke cleared, revealing a barely injured Demon King.

"If you can't protect yourself, how can you hope to protect your friends?" Piccolo asked cruelly. "You failed to protect Goku from my servant, you failed to protect Roshi and Chiaotzu from me, and even now are failing to protect the others. What do you think you can accomplish?"

Daisuke pushed herself slowly to her feet, grunting in pain before she refocused her attention on Piccolo. "It's true that I've failed to protect some of my friends, but that's exactly why I need the Ultra-Divine Water! I don't have the power to save them from you now, but I know that once I drink that water I will. You may be the shadow of Piccolo, but you're still in my way."

"You will fail them," Piccolo countered. "I will kill you here and now, and then they will die."

Daisuke responded with a roar as she charged at him. She faltered as she was hit with a telekinetic blast, but Ki raged around her as she slowly pushed through. Step by step she got closer to Piccolo, whose eyes widened with disbelief.

"No way, how are you doing this?"

Without responding, Daisuke continued to move forwards until she was final within arm's reach. With a battle cry she hurled a punch at the shocked Piccolo, but he had mastered the arts of fighting before Daisuke's parents had been born. His surprise was not enough to prevent him from catching her strike. He immediately let up on his telekinetic push and tried to ram an elbow into Daisuke's ribs, but she managed to deflect the strike into her stomach, causing Daisuke to bend over slightly.

Immediately capitalizing on the opening, Piccolo hurled a kick into her chest, lifting her off her feet. Daisuke would have gone flying, but had caught the Demon King's leg and used it to root herself. "Got you," she rasped. "Hadoken." Light flared up and an explosion broke Daisuke's grasp on Piccolo's leg and threw her backwards. Even as Daisuke was sent flying, Piccolo roared in pain and rage.

A moment later the dust settled, revealing him standing gingerly, one of his legs very badly burnt. "You worm! You're nothing, your friends are nothing, and I'll kill you!" Piccolo opened his mouth and a brilliant green energy blast was sent towards Daisuke.

The blue-haired girl blanched; that attack was almost as strong as MaloMyotismon's and would certain kill her if it hit. She had no time to dodge and little time to charge an attack. But there was one thing she could do. The green beam impacted her location, creating an explosion that shook the very cavern.

After a moment, Piccolo chuckled. "She got a couple of good blows in, but in the end she fell." He turned away just too suddenly feel a power flare behind him.

Dust was blown away to reveal a surprisingly uninjured Daisuke, hands together and glowing. "Chew on this! Kamehadoken!" A white beam of energy shot towards the surprised Piccolo. He immediately responded with another green mouth beam, and the two attacks collided with a burst of thunder. They pressed against each other fruitlessly for several seconds before the clash began to slowly be pushed back at Piccolo.

"Impossible, you can't be stronger than me! I am Demon King Piccolo, I am unstoppable!"

"Even the real Piccolo can be stopped," Daisuke countered, "and you're weaker than him. Hah!" With a final burst of exertion, her attack collided with Piccolo, creating another huge explosion and causing Daisuke to cover her face. A smile crossed it. That had been close, if she hadn't used a Wild Bark to both push her out of the way and shield her from the attack, she probably would have died. But now was not the time for celebrating, she still had yet to see what Darkness' next trick would be.

When the last of the clouds caused by the explosion cleared, there stood Goku once more, his face hard. Daisuke opened her mouth to speak, but Goku pre-empted her. "Why Daisuke?"

Daisuke sighed. "Why what?"

"Why did you let me die? Why didn't you beat Tambourine? I saved you, and died in the process." Daisuke flinched. These were accusations that rang through her own head again and again since that moment. But she knew, deep inside, that this was…

"You're wrong," she said confidently. "I should have been strong enough to save you. You shouldn't have had to sacrifice yourself for me. But it wasn't my fault. Now I need the power to stop the others from being killed, and you're in the way."

Goku's face twisted. "Then just die!" He rushed forwards and engaged Daisuke in a vicious hand-to-hand battle. "Even if you gained this strength, you would still fail! The others would die just like me. Because you're a failure. Every large goal you've had since coming to this world you've failed in. This won't be any different. Give up and leave Daisuke. You'll live. You might even get to go home one day."

Daisuke's brow was furrowed in concentration. While the other shadows had been weaker than their originals, this Goku might have been even stronger. It was taking everything she had to keep up. Even if she had the room and time for another Kamehadoken, she didn't think she had the energy. The attack was powerful sure; there was a reason it had finished off her previous two opponents after all; but it was tiring. She was reaching her limits.

Managing to gain a little room with a shove, Daisuke kicked Goku in the chest, sending him skidding back. He looked up to see Daisuke jump into the air and dive towards him. Punching him in the jaw, she sent him off his feet and skidding across the ground until he stopped near the edge of a cliff. Daisuke then landed before charging at Goku, and she threw a punch but Goku caught it. She attempted to follow up with her other hand, but caught that attack as well. Face twisting into an expression that she never wanted to see on Goku's face, he chuckled evilly.

Up above Yajirobe was still chasing the creature until he grabbed it with both arms. "I got you now tasty. You're coming home with me," he told it walking off, but he didn't see the cliff edge in front of him. Eyes widening, he walked off the cliff and screamed as the creature managed to escape before falling down with Yajirobe. The fat samurai fell until he landed on Daisuke, sending both himself and her rolling off the cliff. Daisuke managed to grab hold of the ledge with one hand while grabbing Yajirobe's ankle with the other.

"You picked a bad time to just drop in Yajirobe," she told the screaming samurai with a tight voice. Daisuke looked up to see Goku standing in front of her. "Oh great. Look, let Yajirobe go, your fight is with me Darkness."

"Why don't you let him go?" Goku asked, stomping on Daisuke's hand causing her to shout in pain while Goku chuckled darkly.

"Nobody let go!" Yajirobe shouted.

"Save yourself Daisuke. If you drop him you stand a chance." Goku told her, twisting his heel into Daisuke's hand causing her to scream in pain before gritting her teeth.

"I will not let go!" she shouted. She tried to fly into the air, but to her horror she wasn't able to. She could feel her Ki, but could not use it to lift herself into the air.

"Happy landings." Goku told her, removing his foot before kicking Daisuke in the face hard. To his surprise, Daisuke did not let go of the cliff. He then began to kick her repeatedly in the face, but she still wouldn't let go.

"Stop wiggling around up there and pull me up!" Yajirobe shouted to Daisuke.

"Fool, just let go!" Goku told Daisuke as he went to kick her again, but Daisuke leaned to the side bit down hard on Goku's leg, causing him to shout in pain. "You'll pay for that." He held his right hand up and gripped his wrist with his other hand before his eyes glowed yellow. Daisuke screamed as she felt an electrical current surge through her painfully, and her hand holding Yajirobe spasmed. Goku's eyes glowed again and Daisuke screamed as she was electrocuted again and again. Her hand holding Yajirobe began to bleed and was becoming bruised from the electricity surging through it.

"I will not let go! Do you hear me?" Daisuke shouted, and Goku looked down at Daisuke before he turned into a ball of light and slowly vanished as the entire cave began to shake. The piece of the cliff Daisuke was holding onto broke off and she screamed before noticing something peculiar.

"I'm too young to die. I'm so tired of falling!" Yajirobe shouted before he too noticed that now he and Daisuke were on solid ground beside a lake of black water.

"What just happened?" Daisuke asked confused when the water began to rise up and form into a face shrouded in darkness. "Darkness!" Daisuke clenched her fists.

"Yes. I am Darkness and you have proven yourself worthy," Darkness replied.

"Hey what's that, do you see it?" Yajirobe asked pointing to the side where Daisuke looked to see a table with a small cup and a teapot with a bright light shining down on it.

"This is the Ultra-Divine Water?" Daisuke asked, walking over to the table. She was still furious with Darkness over the mind games it had tried to play, but now wasn't the time for grudges. Especially since her goal was literally within reach.

"The Sacred Water is very dangerous. One must be both physically and mentally strong to survive it. For the unsuited, it means certain death." Darkness said.

"Come on Daisuke, let's leave." Yajirobe told her.

"It'll make me stronger right?" Daisuke asked.

"It is uncertain." Darkness answered. "The Ultra-Divine Water takes advantage of the special powers within you. If you have no power, nothing will change. Only those with the special power become stronger, the others will die."

"And how many people have drunk this?" Daisuke asked him.

"Thirteen."

"And how many survived drinking this?" Yajirobe asked.

"None who drank the Ultra-Divine Water before survived." Darkness answered, shocking Daisuke and Yajirobe.

"Nobody survived?" Daisuke asked stunned.

"Than that means it's just poison. What kind of powers do you get from drinking poison!?" Yajirobe asked angrily standing up.

"I'll do it." Daisuke said.

"Are you nuts Daisuke!?" Yajirobe asked her. "It's one thing to play the hero, but drinking this stuff is just plain suicide. For some dumb reason you always want to play the hero, but please Daisuke I'm begging you there's nothing in that pot but poison. You drink that and you will die." Yajirobe told her.

"That is a risk I'm willing to take. Yajirobe there is nothing else that we can do," Daisuke replied as she poured some of the Ultra-Divine Water into the cup. She looked at the purple liquid. "Kampai." She put cup to her mouth and drank the Ultra-Divine Water. After swallowing it, her eyes widened and she dropped the cup which shattered and vanished. What felt like electricity surged through Daisuke's body, and she dropped to her knees holding at her throat as her life flashed before her eyes and she screamed.

"Daisuke! Don't die on me!" Yajirobe begged Daisuke, kneeling down to her while Darkness watched on. Soon though Daisuke stopped screaming and panted before pulling herself to her knees. After a moment she fully stood up. "I can't believe it….you're alive." Yajirobe said, not believing what he was seeing.

"Neither can I," Daisuke whispered.

"It is done. You must leave," Darkness told both of them before sinking back into the water without a sound.

"He's right, let's go." Daisuke said as they saw a path leading back to the place they came in and the two ran off. "Hey Korin, you up there still!?"

"Daisuke! You're alive, and did you find Yajirobe?" Korin's voice echoed around the area.

"I found him and the Ultra-Divine Water. Now pull us both up."

"Hold on tight you two." Korin told them when suddenly Daisuke and Yajirobe were pulled upwards. They both emerged from the pot in Korin's tower and landed in a heap. "So you found the Ultra-Divine Water?" Daisuke nodded.

"I did. And I feel stronger than ever now. I'll be able to fight Piccolo right now, in fact I bet I'm even stronger than he is," she answered. "This power… it's incredible. Piccolo won't stand a chance."

"Before you do that, there is something you might want to look out." Korin said, bringing over a pot of water. Daisuke and Yajirobe looked into it to see a bipedal dog with glasses and wearing a suit.

"Who is that?" Daisuke asked.

"That's King Furry," Korin answered.

"Citizens, I come today bearing important news. This is a…um great and joyous time of change," the king said. "This change will affect us all in…wonderful ways. I have proudly given my throne over to the great King Piccolo."

"What!?" Daisuke shouted in disbelief.

"Citizens, it is all lies! King Piccolo is not to be trusted, we must find a way to stop him before it's too late!" King Furry shouted before he was picked off the floor by Piccolo, and Daisuke gasped at seeing the now young King Piccolo.

"Stick to the script mutt," Piccolo told the king before throwing him to the ground and looking at the camera. "People of Earth, I am King Piccolo and I am your new ruler. You bow down to me. Do not think of this as enslavement. In fact, I will encourage your freedom, every freedom. By now you all know how powerful I am, but what you don't know is what a loving king I can be. So the first decree will be to the people I love the most. Of course that's the criminal element. We will begin by eradicating the police, those wicked people who would stomp on your freedom and put you in chains for merely seeking the lives that you desire. Theft, violence, as well as murder, nothing will be illegal in this grand new world. Come out from the shadows, your king understands your pain. This is your time, our time, order is dead and chaos reigns, so says King Piccolo."

"This guy is a complete mad man!" Daisuke shouted. "At least I know where he is now. Though strangely I sort of already felt that. How could I sense his energy?" She shook her head. "That doesn't matter right now. He's young again, so he'll be stronger than ever. I just hope his power hasn't risen too much, or even this new power might not be enough."

"Alright then. It's time for a gift." Korin said making Daisuke look over at him. "Flying Nimbus!" he shouted.

"Nimbus?" Daisuke asked, and before her very eyes a massive yellow cloud began to rise up to Korin's Tower.

"What is that thing?" Yajirobe asked shocked.

"I thought the Nimbus Goku had was the only one." Daisuke said, looking at Korin.

"Nah, that's just an old model I gave to Roshi who gave it to him years ago." The cat replied. "Jump in and pick one that suits you," he told Daisuke who nodded as she jumped off the tower and landed on the giant cloud. She picked one and jumped on it.

"Found one."

"Nice choice kid." Korin told her.

"You want a ride Yajirobe?" Daisuke asked him.

"What? No way, I like living too much."

"Suit yourself. Thanks for the Nimbus Korin," Daisuke said.

"So where are you going now?" Korin asked her.

"To Piccolo, it's time I end this madness once and for all." She took off on her new Nimbus; not point in spending energy flying there when she could just ride. Meanwhile, going in the same direction as Daisuke was Tien Shinhan in his plane.

"Come in Tien Shinhan." Tien heard the radio crackle to life with Yamcha's voice.

"This is Tien Shinhan," Tien replied, pressing a button on the console.

"Where are you Tien?" Launch asked him.

"I'm off to give a gift to our new king for his coronation," Tien answered.

"Than that means…" Krillin said.

"Yes, I have mastered the Evil Containment Wave. It's time to use it. Don't worry what happens to me. This isn't about that, this is about the bad things in my life that made me no different that King Piccolo. This is about atonement and I only hope this is enough. Goodbye my friends," he said before he pulled a lever and the airplane sped off through the sky towards King Piccolo. Both he and Daisuke wanted to finish off the tyrant themselves before any more lives were lost.

The end of the chapter

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