Viteros demands reviews! So do I! Review!! Or else we shall be forced to
send Angel out to get you! And you don't want that...
Disclaimer: We don't own FFIX. Squaresoft does. Praise be to them! We own our characters, though.
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Chapter Six
Kuja stumbled down the corridors, unable to see. Apparently, to halt his pursuer, Angel-Black had guttered the torches and now the hallways were filled with darkness. Kuja was too weak at the present moment to cast a light spell, so all he could do was feel the way with his hands.
"Angel! Come back here! I am not finished yet!" Kuja cried, beginning to feel desperation rising in him. He would collapse soon, he knew it was inevitable. His face was bleeding, he was exhausted and in pain. He had to stop the seraph before he passed out.
"I believe you may be. For I am not blind, as you are, in the presence of such darkness. You see, I was born to shadow."
Kuja cried out as Angel's face appeared in front of his own, the light of Angel's magic throwing eerie shadows over his face. Kuja stumbled back, frightened, then recovered, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"You cannot, nay, will not, defeat me. I am the Angel of Death."
"I never knew an angel of death to be so pathetically weak," Angel remarked casually, leaning against a wall, examining his nails, which appeared as though they had never seen battle or blood. Taking the index finger of one slender, pale hand, he ran it over his other palm, tracing his life lines.
"I am not weak," Kuja hissed, wiping more blood from his face and snarling. Angel went far beyond simply annoying.
"Oh, but you are."
"Give me a reason!" Kuja snapped back, nearing the end of his temper. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly felt the exhaustion again and leaned against a wall. Angel laughed a little.
"Do you not understand? I beat you, so therefore I am stronger." A small twitch of pain and sorrow passed over his face, quickly stanched by his otherwise cool and calm composure. "And since he says that I am weak, that must mean you are more weak than I."
"Who is...'he'?" Kuja asked, intrigued, his curiosity rising. Angel turned to him and Kuja backed away, frightened of the animosity he felt coming from Angel.
"You need not interfere in my business!" he snarled, taking Kuja's collar and lifting him from the ground. Kuja struggled, his strength failing once again. He was not physically strong, only magically. This being had both physical and magical prowess. His sorcery probably was more than likely stronger than Kuja's at the moment, due to Kuja's utter exhaustion.
"Please...Please..." Kuja gasped, trying to breath, gagging at the same time.
"Tell me where the Angel is!"
"I do not...know..."
"Tell me where she is or I kill you here! I cannot fail again!"
Angel threw Kuja to the floor and stood over the pale, huddled, shaking Genome. Kuja winced when he heard the sound of the blade being unsheathed.
"Please...I swear...I do not know the whereabouts of Sephira at the moment."
"Would you tell me even if you knew?" Angel blinked a couple of times as he saw the expression in Kuja's face, which was a mix of sorrow, pain, terror and love.
He shook his head. "No," Kuja whispered, then glanced down again.
Angel snarled, sheathing his katana, then Kuja saw that his pale, slender hands clenched, going, if possible, even whiter. Angel cried out and pounded a fist against the wall, then turned and took off at a run. Kuja staggered to his feet to follow.
Realizing that he couldn't move any longer, Kuja collapsed to his knees, crying out in desperation. Leaning forward until his forehead touched the cold metal ground, he gave into his sorrow and despair, sobbing in hatred at the seraph, who kept running.
"I will not let you!" Kuja shouted, enmity laced into his every word.
Angel, at theses words, halted and turned, gazing down the dark hallway where a bright reddish-pink light lit up the immediate area around it. Realizing it was Kuja, Angel arched an eyebrow.
Kuja stood, stumbling a little, then regained his composure. Glancing down at his hands, which were laced in a red glow, he gazed at the rest of him. He seemed to have merged with the clothing he wore over his chest, the fabric still there, but it ran into his skin. The train which had covered his backside was in tatters and the cloth which had covered his arms was shredded almost to pieces. Most of him was covered in coppery feathers and, when his ran a hand over his face and hair, he felt that many more feathers had apparently sprouted in his hair, which had also gone a coppery red.
Angel watched as Kuja began to stride towards him, his eyes shut, as though he didn't need to see where he was going. He began to talk as he walked.
"Do you know what has happened to me?" Not waiting for an reply, he answered his own question. "It is called Trance. It is brought on by a strong surge of emotion, be it anger, hate, love, despair. You caused all of these emotions to surface, so now you must pay the consequences. You are seeking to harm someone I love, the only one in this world I trust." He halted in front of Angel, a hand resting on his hip, almost as though he were mocking the seraph, who was slightly shocked by what was happening around him. Angel-Black was a little nervous because of the fact that Kuja still had his eyes closed, as though he were sure enough that he didn't need sight. He spread his arms a little, confidently.
"Weak, you say?" Kuja remarked, a slow, small smile rising on his lips. Kuja's eyes suddenly snapped open, his smile faded and he fixed his eyes, which had gone coppery, on Angel's.
Angel took an unintentional small step back, biting one of his lips in anxiety.
"We shall see who is the weak one."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They separated to cover more ground, and kept hunting for Kuja.
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Zidane ran into a small room with a few soldiers in it. A few extremely large soldiers. "Uh, sorry…bye!"
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Sephira ran down a hall, and was attacked by a group of Genome soldiers. Concentrating energy into a white ball of light, she fired and incinerated them, and then kept up the search.
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Tripping over the cloth, Viteros-Kuja ran down the hall and fell. "This is so, so utterly not fair." Kicking and flailing, he got up only to hear the sounds of shouting and the unmistakable sounds of combat.
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Zidane, setting off a smoke bomb to escape the soldiers, suddenly ran into the middle of a melee. Staring, he watched as a strange figure with red, feathery hair fought an angel. Shaking himself, he shivered when he saw the determination in the red haired one's face and the dead rage in the angel's. Suddenly, Sephira ran up beside him, and Viteros on the other side of the hall.
Sephira stared in amazement. "Kuja…?"
The two, Kuja and the angel, fought hard, the angel wielding a massive katana blade, Kuja dodging and hitting with psychic blasts. They were evenly matched, with Kuja in his powerful state, but then suddenly-
"Shadow Nightmare!"
Everyone, even Kuja, flinched at the demonic sound of the dead voice and a huge, flaming blade whirled through the air and hit hard, dead center on Kuja's chest. He fell without even a groan, without even any blood.
Zidane ran forward. He shouted at the angel, "Hey! What do you think you're doing!"
The angel turned his baleful glare at Zidane, and he involuntarily gasped. The magenta eyes were filled with hate, rage, and pure sadistic pleasure.
"What? It should be obvious what I am doing…"
Zidane was about to shout a challenge when he heard Viteros' voice. "Angel- Black! You business is with me now!"
Angel whirled to face Viteros, back as himself and back in his black cloak. "Remember me, Angel?"
Angel smiled. "I remember you, Devil Nine."
Viteros stepped forward, fist raised. "And do you remember Outer Heaven 3?"
The man smiled even wider, the insanity reflected in his eyes. "I remember. You are worthy of your name, Devil. But do you remember that you couldn't ever beat me?"
Devil raised his right hand, his 'normal hand', and Zidane could see that it was now also sheathed in metal like the left, but completely. Long, sharp, cruel claws glinted at the ends of his fingers, and Viteros growled, "I was under handicap then. You can defeat him, but can you beat me, in your weakened state?"
Angel merely waved his hand lightly through the air and flame slammed into Viteros, sending him flying. Angel laughed and stood there, completely relaxed, hand on his hip. "You cannot beat me! Neither can your allies! And you overestimate your self importance, Devil Nine…"
Angel walked over to Sephira and stood over her, as she crouched on the ground next to Kuja. He smiled and turned back to Viteros. "This is what I'm after. You, Devil Nine, are completely unimportant, a mere obstacle."
Viteros smirked. "A mere obstacle, Angel-Black? An obstacle? Perhaps I am merely an annoyance, but that one," he said as he pointed at Zidane, "and those ones," he said, pointing towards Kuja and Sephira, "they are the ones who will defy you, overcome you, defeat you, and send you off to be consumed by time. You, on the other hand, are little more than a psychopath. Like a cruel child with a gun."
Angel shrugged, but still grinned. "Perhaps. Maybe so, maybe I will be beaten. But I -will- kill you first. I can kill you right now!"
Viteros narrowed his eyes. "Don't delude yourself."
"I know you think I'm being foolish, but I'm right. I know your exact chemical makeup, down to the smallest cell in your body. Every single DNA strand of yours and hers are completely part of me! I know part of the DNA of them as well," he said, referring to Zidane and Kuja, "I know all your weaknesses! I know everything about you. Like you would say back among the Khamrask, knowledge is power, Devil, and I knew it then, I know it now. You cannot-"
Viteros spat at him. "Don't delude yourself, Lashramakogosk."
Suddenly, Angel's relaxed face narrowed into dangerous anger. "Never call me that."
"What, it reminds you of the past, Lashra? Are you afraid?"
"Don't call me that!"
Angel ran forward and backhanded Viteros, who merely fell and stood up, still grinning through a bleeding mouth. "You think you can do better, Lashra? You weakling?"
Angel screamed in rage and lifted his hands, and suddenly a spectral, glowing violet blade appeared in his hands and he brought it down on Viteros, who dodged and still smiled. "You missed, old friend."
This time the seraph merely opened his hand in his enemy's direction and a blue bolt of energy arced through the air and hit Devil, who flew and this time shouted in pain, unable to repress it.
He stood up, wiping his mouth, the blood staining his hands and arms. "Good job there, but now it's my turn. Auto fire."
Angel's eyes widened slightly in recognition and he quickly dodged, jumping through the air, as Viteros' metallic metal hand came out and jumped wildly as it shot at his opponent. The banging noise was loud and painful, the smell of fire in the air, and the walls were riddled with bullet holes, but still Angel wasn't hurt at all.
Zidane, mesmerized by what was happening, was brought back to the present when Sephira shook his shoulder and shouted over the gunfire, "Help me get Kuja to safety!"
Grabbing Kuja by the feet while Sephira gripped his shoulders, they quickly took him away, or tried. But then Kuja himself waved to them weakly. "No, wait...we need to see this…"
"Why? We have to get you to-"
"No…watch. We need to watch. We need to see how strong he is."
Viteros was still shooting, and ran forward. "Die! Do you think you can escape from the best hunter in the business?"
Angel spun, dodged, ran forward, and slammed a brutal kick into Viteros' stomach as he passed. "Former hunter, you mean."
The only sign of the pain was gritted teeth, Viteros spun to follow with the gunfire. "No, I mean hunter. All of your ideas follow the path of complete destruction, with no thought for consequence. While I, Lashra, think of what could happen. We were both to be stealth killers, you know it."
Angel stopped and stood there smiling. "No, Viteros, I don't think so. We are both capable, but are we meant to be that way? We were both born in shadow, one to ascend to divinity, one to sink below darkness. You call yourself a stealth killer, but then why did you make that massive, audacious attack on the Invincible with the sliding down the cables and all that? Kind of theatrical, wouldn't you say?"
Zidane felt a chill, and Viteros seemed to reflect his thoughts. "How long have you been watching us?"
"Who do you think attacked that little village? Who sent Terisas' soldiers to reclaim the lost, elusive prodigal Devil Nine?"
"So…you want me back?"
"Once again, you overestimate your importance. You are the only one in possession of the last copy of the Devil Agenda book. We don't need you personally. Remember the cloning operations that you destroyed at OH3? Did you forget Outer Heaven 2, or 1, or…what…8?
"Eight?"
Angel grinned and crossed his arms. "That is correct. Eight. No more, no less. I don't think you could ever destroy them all."
"And why are you telling me this?"
"Well, we have to be fair…"
Viteros laughed. "Fair? Fair? Since when did war have rules?"
"Every game has to have some rules. And this is the best one yet!"
"Game…"
Angel turned and walked to a wall. He turned his head, still smiling. "Well, it was fun catching up. Ah…Devil? You should probably explain the situation to them…"
Viteros growled and leveled his still-smoking gun. "I don't think so. You didn't fulfill your objective, Angel-Black. Doesn't that make this mission a failure?"
"What, you want me to take her?"
Viteros' smile was back and he steadied the gun with his other arm. "Just try."
Disclaimer: We don't own FFIX. Squaresoft does. Praise be to them! We own our characters, though.
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Chapter Six
Kuja stumbled down the corridors, unable to see. Apparently, to halt his pursuer, Angel-Black had guttered the torches and now the hallways were filled with darkness. Kuja was too weak at the present moment to cast a light spell, so all he could do was feel the way with his hands.
"Angel! Come back here! I am not finished yet!" Kuja cried, beginning to feel desperation rising in him. He would collapse soon, he knew it was inevitable. His face was bleeding, he was exhausted and in pain. He had to stop the seraph before he passed out.
"I believe you may be. For I am not blind, as you are, in the presence of such darkness. You see, I was born to shadow."
Kuja cried out as Angel's face appeared in front of his own, the light of Angel's magic throwing eerie shadows over his face. Kuja stumbled back, frightened, then recovered, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
"You cannot, nay, will not, defeat me. I am the Angel of Death."
"I never knew an angel of death to be so pathetically weak," Angel remarked casually, leaning against a wall, examining his nails, which appeared as though they had never seen battle or blood. Taking the index finger of one slender, pale hand, he ran it over his other palm, tracing his life lines.
"I am not weak," Kuja hissed, wiping more blood from his face and snarling. Angel went far beyond simply annoying.
"Oh, but you are."
"Give me a reason!" Kuja snapped back, nearing the end of his temper. Taking a deep breath, he suddenly felt the exhaustion again and leaned against a wall. Angel laughed a little.
"Do you not understand? I beat you, so therefore I am stronger." A small twitch of pain and sorrow passed over his face, quickly stanched by his otherwise cool and calm composure. "And since he says that I am weak, that must mean you are more weak than I."
"Who is...'he'?" Kuja asked, intrigued, his curiosity rising. Angel turned to him and Kuja backed away, frightened of the animosity he felt coming from Angel.
"You need not interfere in my business!" he snarled, taking Kuja's collar and lifting him from the ground. Kuja struggled, his strength failing once again. He was not physically strong, only magically. This being had both physical and magical prowess. His sorcery probably was more than likely stronger than Kuja's at the moment, due to Kuja's utter exhaustion.
"Please...Please..." Kuja gasped, trying to breath, gagging at the same time.
"Tell me where the Angel is!"
"I do not...know..."
"Tell me where she is or I kill you here! I cannot fail again!"
Angel threw Kuja to the floor and stood over the pale, huddled, shaking Genome. Kuja winced when he heard the sound of the blade being unsheathed.
"Please...I swear...I do not know the whereabouts of Sephira at the moment."
"Would you tell me even if you knew?" Angel blinked a couple of times as he saw the expression in Kuja's face, which was a mix of sorrow, pain, terror and love.
He shook his head. "No," Kuja whispered, then glanced down again.
Angel snarled, sheathing his katana, then Kuja saw that his pale, slender hands clenched, going, if possible, even whiter. Angel cried out and pounded a fist against the wall, then turned and took off at a run. Kuja staggered to his feet to follow.
Realizing that he couldn't move any longer, Kuja collapsed to his knees, crying out in desperation. Leaning forward until his forehead touched the cold metal ground, he gave into his sorrow and despair, sobbing in hatred at the seraph, who kept running.
"I will not let you!" Kuja shouted, enmity laced into his every word.
Angel, at theses words, halted and turned, gazing down the dark hallway where a bright reddish-pink light lit up the immediate area around it. Realizing it was Kuja, Angel arched an eyebrow.
Kuja stood, stumbling a little, then regained his composure. Glancing down at his hands, which were laced in a red glow, he gazed at the rest of him. He seemed to have merged with the clothing he wore over his chest, the fabric still there, but it ran into his skin. The train which had covered his backside was in tatters and the cloth which had covered his arms was shredded almost to pieces. Most of him was covered in coppery feathers and, when his ran a hand over his face and hair, he felt that many more feathers had apparently sprouted in his hair, which had also gone a coppery red.
Angel watched as Kuja began to stride towards him, his eyes shut, as though he didn't need to see where he was going. He began to talk as he walked.
"Do you know what has happened to me?" Not waiting for an reply, he answered his own question. "It is called Trance. It is brought on by a strong surge of emotion, be it anger, hate, love, despair. You caused all of these emotions to surface, so now you must pay the consequences. You are seeking to harm someone I love, the only one in this world I trust." He halted in front of Angel, a hand resting on his hip, almost as though he were mocking the seraph, who was slightly shocked by what was happening around him. Angel-Black was a little nervous because of the fact that Kuja still had his eyes closed, as though he were sure enough that he didn't need sight. He spread his arms a little, confidently.
"Weak, you say?" Kuja remarked, a slow, small smile rising on his lips. Kuja's eyes suddenly snapped open, his smile faded and he fixed his eyes, which had gone coppery, on Angel's.
Angel took an unintentional small step back, biting one of his lips in anxiety.
"We shall see who is the weak one."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
They separated to cover more ground, and kept hunting for Kuja.
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Zidane ran into a small room with a few soldiers in it. A few extremely large soldiers. "Uh, sorry…bye!"
--------------
Sephira ran down a hall, and was attacked by a group of Genome soldiers. Concentrating energy into a white ball of light, she fired and incinerated them, and then kept up the search.
--------------
Tripping over the cloth, Viteros-Kuja ran down the hall and fell. "This is so, so utterly not fair." Kicking and flailing, he got up only to hear the sounds of shouting and the unmistakable sounds of combat.
--------------
Zidane, setting off a smoke bomb to escape the soldiers, suddenly ran into the middle of a melee. Staring, he watched as a strange figure with red, feathery hair fought an angel. Shaking himself, he shivered when he saw the determination in the red haired one's face and the dead rage in the angel's. Suddenly, Sephira ran up beside him, and Viteros on the other side of the hall.
Sephira stared in amazement. "Kuja…?"
The two, Kuja and the angel, fought hard, the angel wielding a massive katana blade, Kuja dodging and hitting with psychic blasts. They were evenly matched, with Kuja in his powerful state, but then suddenly-
"Shadow Nightmare!"
Everyone, even Kuja, flinched at the demonic sound of the dead voice and a huge, flaming blade whirled through the air and hit hard, dead center on Kuja's chest. He fell without even a groan, without even any blood.
Zidane ran forward. He shouted at the angel, "Hey! What do you think you're doing!"
The angel turned his baleful glare at Zidane, and he involuntarily gasped. The magenta eyes were filled with hate, rage, and pure sadistic pleasure.
"What? It should be obvious what I am doing…"
Zidane was about to shout a challenge when he heard Viteros' voice. "Angel- Black! You business is with me now!"
Angel whirled to face Viteros, back as himself and back in his black cloak. "Remember me, Angel?"
Angel smiled. "I remember you, Devil Nine."
Viteros stepped forward, fist raised. "And do you remember Outer Heaven 3?"
The man smiled even wider, the insanity reflected in his eyes. "I remember. You are worthy of your name, Devil. But do you remember that you couldn't ever beat me?"
Devil raised his right hand, his 'normal hand', and Zidane could see that it was now also sheathed in metal like the left, but completely. Long, sharp, cruel claws glinted at the ends of his fingers, and Viteros growled, "I was under handicap then. You can defeat him, but can you beat me, in your weakened state?"
Angel merely waved his hand lightly through the air and flame slammed into Viteros, sending him flying. Angel laughed and stood there, completely relaxed, hand on his hip. "You cannot beat me! Neither can your allies! And you overestimate your self importance, Devil Nine…"
Angel walked over to Sephira and stood over her, as she crouched on the ground next to Kuja. He smiled and turned back to Viteros. "This is what I'm after. You, Devil Nine, are completely unimportant, a mere obstacle."
Viteros smirked. "A mere obstacle, Angel-Black? An obstacle? Perhaps I am merely an annoyance, but that one," he said as he pointed at Zidane, "and those ones," he said, pointing towards Kuja and Sephira, "they are the ones who will defy you, overcome you, defeat you, and send you off to be consumed by time. You, on the other hand, are little more than a psychopath. Like a cruel child with a gun."
Angel shrugged, but still grinned. "Perhaps. Maybe so, maybe I will be beaten. But I -will- kill you first. I can kill you right now!"
Viteros narrowed his eyes. "Don't delude yourself."
"I know you think I'm being foolish, but I'm right. I know your exact chemical makeup, down to the smallest cell in your body. Every single DNA strand of yours and hers are completely part of me! I know part of the DNA of them as well," he said, referring to Zidane and Kuja, "I know all your weaknesses! I know everything about you. Like you would say back among the Khamrask, knowledge is power, Devil, and I knew it then, I know it now. You cannot-"
Viteros spat at him. "Don't delude yourself, Lashramakogosk."
Suddenly, Angel's relaxed face narrowed into dangerous anger. "Never call me that."
"What, it reminds you of the past, Lashra? Are you afraid?"
"Don't call me that!"
Angel ran forward and backhanded Viteros, who merely fell and stood up, still grinning through a bleeding mouth. "You think you can do better, Lashra? You weakling?"
Angel screamed in rage and lifted his hands, and suddenly a spectral, glowing violet blade appeared in his hands and he brought it down on Viteros, who dodged and still smiled. "You missed, old friend."
This time the seraph merely opened his hand in his enemy's direction and a blue bolt of energy arced through the air and hit Devil, who flew and this time shouted in pain, unable to repress it.
He stood up, wiping his mouth, the blood staining his hands and arms. "Good job there, but now it's my turn. Auto fire."
Angel's eyes widened slightly in recognition and he quickly dodged, jumping through the air, as Viteros' metallic metal hand came out and jumped wildly as it shot at his opponent. The banging noise was loud and painful, the smell of fire in the air, and the walls were riddled with bullet holes, but still Angel wasn't hurt at all.
Zidane, mesmerized by what was happening, was brought back to the present when Sephira shook his shoulder and shouted over the gunfire, "Help me get Kuja to safety!"
Grabbing Kuja by the feet while Sephira gripped his shoulders, they quickly took him away, or tried. But then Kuja himself waved to them weakly. "No, wait...we need to see this…"
"Why? We have to get you to-"
"No…watch. We need to watch. We need to see how strong he is."
Viteros was still shooting, and ran forward. "Die! Do you think you can escape from the best hunter in the business?"
Angel spun, dodged, ran forward, and slammed a brutal kick into Viteros' stomach as he passed. "Former hunter, you mean."
The only sign of the pain was gritted teeth, Viteros spun to follow with the gunfire. "No, I mean hunter. All of your ideas follow the path of complete destruction, with no thought for consequence. While I, Lashra, think of what could happen. We were both to be stealth killers, you know it."
Angel stopped and stood there smiling. "No, Viteros, I don't think so. We are both capable, but are we meant to be that way? We were both born in shadow, one to ascend to divinity, one to sink below darkness. You call yourself a stealth killer, but then why did you make that massive, audacious attack on the Invincible with the sliding down the cables and all that? Kind of theatrical, wouldn't you say?"
Zidane felt a chill, and Viteros seemed to reflect his thoughts. "How long have you been watching us?"
"Who do you think attacked that little village? Who sent Terisas' soldiers to reclaim the lost, elusive prodigal Devil Nine?"
"So…you want me back?"
"Once again, you overestimate your importance. You are the only one in possession of the last copy of the Devil Agenda book. We don't need you personally. Remember the cloning operations that you destroyed at OH3? Did you forget Outer Heaven 2, or 1, or…what…8?
"Eight?"
Angel grinned and crossed his arms. "That is correct. Eight. No more, no less. I don't think you could ever destroy them all."
"And why are you telling me this?"
"Well, we have to be fair…"
Viteros laughed. "Fair? Fair? Since when did war have rules?"
"Every game has to have some rules. And this is the best one yet!"
"Game…"
Angel turned and walked to a wall. He turned his head, still smiling. "Well, it was fun catching up. Ah…Devil? You should probably explain the situation to them…"
Viteros growled and leveled his still-smoking gun. "I don't think so. You didn't fulfill your objective, Angel-Black. Doesn't that make this mission a failure?"
"What, you want me to take her?"
Viteros' smile was back and he steadied the gun with his other arm. "Just try."