Chapter Eight
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"It's you!" The battling red heads cried out, looking towards the double doors that had just been opened. Standing triumphantly in the doorway was a young man with spiky brown hair and a tan complexion. He posed for a moment, thinking to himself. He thoughts included, Nurse Joy, if you could see me now. He imagined a Nurse Joy—no, a hundred Nurse Joys—rushing through the halls to see him: Brock, the great savior of women. He would travel all distances, go through all means of torture and pain, so long as he could save the girl. Or Ash. Friends made a close second, behind girls, after all.
So thought Brock, self-proclaimed "savior of women."
So thought Brock the Mighty.
So thought Brock, in his last moments before being knocked over by a girl about 11 years old and a younger black haired boy.
"Where's Ash?" The boy wondered looking around frantically. He looked up and noticed one of the females. He lifted a hand and pointed accusatorily at the taller woman. "Team Rocket!" The boy shouted.
The girl sighed.
"No kidding, Max. We find a letter telling the reader to come here, written by Team Rocket, and it's such a big surprise that Team Rocket's here." She shook her head, as did Misty and Jessie. "Sometimes I wonder, Max...you seem to be turning into such an—" The brunette was cut off.
"—Ash." Misty said wistfully.
"—twerp." Jessie said at the same time, nauseated. Hearing each other speak at the same time snapped the girls out of their break in proceedings. They immediately went back to glaring furiously at each other.
"Hey, Misty!" Brock called out from the background, hurt at being so quickly forgotten. "How's it been?"
Misty looked over at her longtime friend, obviously thinking to herself, "is he serious?" The ex-Cerulean Gym Leader glared at Brock. He sweatdropped.
"Sorry, standard question. Besides all this, you've been alright?" Misty shrugged.
"What can I say? I've been working with Wallace, and it's been fun traveling around. But then this morning…" Misty's eyes widened and she faltered. Puzzled by Misty's sudden pause, Brock looked around, wondering what his friend was looking at. Brock groaned, putting his face in his hands.
"Not this again..."
Jessie followed Misty's gaze. Noticing what she was looking at, her eyes widened and she shouted into her headphones. "Meowth! James! Do you see what I see?"
The Team Rocket members, now both in the control room, looked at the screens. James squeaked. "I think so, but..."
Meowth finished for him. "...how could she have it? Isn't dat de twerpette's..."
"It couldn't be..." Misty muttered.
Four voices spoke in soft tones at once, questioning what was before their very eyes.
"...Togepi?"
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Pikachu gasped. It could have sworn it just heard a bunch of people say "Togepi." And then, the electric type could have sworn it heard a familiar Togepi's voice. But, Pikachupi hadn't had Pipipi when Pikachu had visited today. Then who...?
Running quickly down the hall, Pikachu missed seeing a window. It scurried back and noticed a small ledge in front of the window. If it could just…Pikachu jumped up and clawed at the wall beneath the window until it got a good grip on it. The Mouse Pokémon could now see clearly, and what it saw shocked it sufficiently, making it so Pikachu didn't utter another word for a great portion of the remaining time.
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"Th - tha - that's impossible..." Misty finally spat out. May furrowed her brows, and took on a stormy appearance.
"No, it's not. I found this Togepi in the woods, and battled it. I caught it in a Pokéball, and it just doesn't like going inside, like Ash's Pikachu. It's perfectly possible. Why doesn't anyone get that?" Brock and Max sweatdropped and slowly stepped away from May, who was still crackling with anger at the fact that no one believed she was able to catch her own Pokémon. She hugged Togepi tighter, and the Spike Ball Pokémon looked up, wondering what was wrong with this nice lady who had found Mommy, just as Togepi had hoped.
Max's eyes wandered around the room as he avoided his sister's deadly gaze. He caught sight of a projector with its light shining brightly at the wall behind him. Max slowly turned around, wondering what Team Rocket or whoever had owned this place before would bother to put on a wall. Upon noticing the projection, Max's eyes widened; this was caused by his immediate recognition of the people in said projection. He pulled on Brock's vest, unsure if he had gone insane, or the picture was for real.
"Brock," he whispered. "What is that?" When Brock looked down at Max, confused, the Pokémon enthusiast pointed upward, and Brock's eyes moved in the direction Max pointed. His own eyes widened, and he chuckled.
"Yeah, Misty," he called out. "What is that?" Misty looked at what he was pointing at and blushed; whether it was from embarrassment or from anger was unsure. "That's what I thought it was," Brock said, muffling his laughter. The Pokémon Breeder glanced up at Jessie. "I assume Wallace send you a copy too?"
Misty blushed deeper; this time, it was most definitely anger. "He sent you one?" She growled to herself and clenched her fists tighter. "He is dead," she promised in a low voice.
Far off, in another part of the building, a Pokémon trainer's face grew incredibly warm as he noticed Misty's reaction. 'What is wrong with me?' Ash wondered. 'Why am I acting so strangely? Why is Misty acting strange too? What's going on...?' The boy simply could not understand how he was so embarrassed now, though he had been perfectly calm when the action now captured on film happened.
Brock continued to question, ridicule, and tease Misty about the moment until she muttered something about a reminder from the past. Max, pretty sure he had had enough of Brock's teasing a new friend for one day, yanked Brock down to his own level by his ear in an attempt to shut him up. Misty smiled at her unknown protégé, then glared at Brock, who was now silent.
Jessie, who had been growing steadily more annoyed with the conversation interrupting her battle, coughed loudly, which effectively snapped Misty out of her anger. She sweatdropped, embarrassed, and brought out a Pokéball.
"Let's finish this, Jessie. Go—" A white surge of energy popped out of Misty's red backpack as she enlarged the Pokéball of her choice. She gasped and quickly reduced the size of the Pokéball in her hand. Joined by Brock and Pikachu, Misty slapped a hand to her heads and sweatdropped heavily as the energy began to take its form on a float as yellow as the Pokémon species it was revealed to be. The Duck Pokémon cocked its head to one side and supported its head with both hands, standing in a familiar pose as it cried out a familiar name.
"Psy...duck."
Jessie burst out laughing. The twerpette's second to last Pokémon was her stupid duck? "This will be too easy!" The Team Rocket member guffawed. "You have such poorly trained Pokémon that they come out when you don't want to call them out." May looked more sympathetically towards Misty, remembering how annoying Skitty was when it escaped from time to time. She glared at Jessie, who wasn't even paying attention to anyone, too busy acting holier-than-thou towards Misty. "Well," she continued, "mine are much different. Jessie calls on—"
"—Wobbu wobbu!" A blue blobby Pokémon popped out of nowhere and saluted its trainer as Jessie facefaulted. Misty, May, Max, and Brock burst out laughing, Misty and May more wickedly than the others perhaps because Jessie had just had her own speech thrown back in her face. Pikachu was rolling on its back out in the hallway. Jessie could even hear Meowth and James stifling giggles over their microphones. Unable to shout at the people around her without looking ridiculous, Jessie took her misplaced anger out on her psychic Pokémon.
"That was possibly the worst timing you've ever had in your entire miserable little life, Wobbuffet!" The Patient Pokémon looked bemusedly at Jessie, unaware of the embarrassment it had caused her. Brock walked to the midway of the field and transformed into his battle referee mode, calling out for all to here, "This round is Psyduck vs. Wobbuffet. Let the match begin!"
Misty was determined that Psyduck would not fail her. Whenever it came out during a battle before, it always found a way to save her skin. "Let's go, Psyduck!" Psyduck jumped boldly into the air, ready to battle...
...at least, until it started flailing in the water. Misty sighed, muttering, "And to think I'm relying on Psyduck..." Eventually, Psyduck got back up, and stood once more in a fighting stance.
Jessie waited; Wobbuffet could only counter attacks, not create its own.
Brock waited.
Max waited.
May waited.
Pikachu waited.
Ash waited.
James waited.
Meowth waited.
Togepi trilled happily.
Misty waited, forgetting to command her Pokémon.
All of them waited...
And Psyduck slowly turned around and cocked its head, its wings holding its head in the familiar position. "Psy...duck?" Everyone fell on their faces except Togepi, Psyduck, and Wobbuffet; Misty, Jessie, James, Meowth, Brock and Ash muttered, "Oh, Psyduck..." Misty got up quickly, recovering from her moment of inactive battle-watching.
"Use Scratch!" Psyduck leapt over the water and quickly moved its wings in front of Wobbuffet.
"Counter!" Wobbuffet glowed blue and Psyduck was scratched right across its face. It seemed to be in great pain, which gave Misty an idea.
"Keep using scratch Psyduck! We have to save Ash, and all his Pokémon!" The yellow Pokémon nodded, determined to save Ash and itself from being taken by Team Rocket. Jessie was slightly taken aback, but didn't mind the girl letting her take the easy way…to defeat, that is.
"If you want to lose your boyfriend and your Pokémon, twerpette, it's no skin off my nose." Jessie half-scoffed. She turned her attention back to the battle. "Keep using Counter, Wobbuffet!"
As Psyduck continued to be hit with its own attack as well as electrocuted because said attacks weren't water type attacks, Brock smiled. He recognized this strategy, and he supposed Ash would too, if he could see the battle wherever he was. Max looked up at Misty confusedly. Why was she so confident when her Pokémon kept getting injured over and over again. Pikachu, out in the hall, hoped desperately that Misty's strategy would not fail, and that Psyduck would do what was required of it before the pain grew too much.
The electric type needn't have worried; Jessie's smirk of victory turned to a frown of worry soon enough. Misty wore the smirk as Psyduck began to glow blue. "Now, Psyduck," she cried out triumphantly, "use Disable!" Wobbuffet glowed an unearthly blue as it was lifted into the air. Jessie panicked. This was an upset she most definitely hadn't seen coming. How could she have forgotten what this dumb Pokémon could do?
"It's been too long since we've seen the twerpette battle, hasn't it?" she muttered quietly, half-aware Meowth and James could hear her clearly through her microphone. "I forgot all about the powers of that duck of hers."
Meowth shook its head from side to side, claiming "Meowth didn't." Jessie started to grow red; partly because she was angry Meowth hadn't reminded her, and partly because she was the competent member of their team; shouldn't she have been the one to remember the truth while the others forgot?
Deciding to add his two cents to the conversation, James said, "I didn't either, Jessie. It's quite difficult for me to forget how it feels to be lifted by nothingness into the air, or being tossed into oblivion by that duck's—"
Jessie stopped short of shouting at the two, suddenly reminded of what it had felt like for her when that duck went all out, and that such force was still standing right in front of her. Since the battle had not yet ended, Misty had taken some opportune time whilst Jessie was arguing to take full control of the battle. The twerpette had tossed Wobbuffet to the ground, and Psyduck eyes were still glowing blue, showing to the world that it was completely able to perform one of the twerp-group's most infamous attacks on Team Rocket not counting Pikachu's many painful electric attacks —
"—Psychic!" Psyduck's eyes glowed brighter than usual for a moment, and betwixt its outstretched wings, a bright, multicolored beam of light appeared. Psyduck charged up the energy a moment longer then pushed its wings forwards, letting the concentrated energy flow outward and straight for Wobbuffet. Jessie watched, speechless, as her Pokémon was hit, not thinking to attempt to avoid or block the attack. It was rather hopeless; Counter and Mirror Coat only protected to a limit, and it was obvious to all who could see it that this specific attack was far too powerful to be blocked.
Nevertheless, Wobbuffet held out its arms and cried out its name in the moments before being engulfed in the wave of energy.
"No!" The female Team Rocket member watched her Pokémon go down—and come up, only partially damaged. Then she remembered; her side of the field was protected from attacks that were powerful enough to knock out a Pokémon in one single attack. And who knew? Perhaps Wobbuffet had instinctively performed Mirror Coat, lessening the damage even further. The twerpette had apparently only just remembered the shield-like qualities of Jessie's side of the battle field as well, based on the expression on her face.
"It still did some damage, Psyduck, so…use Psychic again!" This time, Jessie was ready. Instinct or no, Wobbuffet could use a bit of ordering around for now.
"Oh no you don't! Mirror Coat, Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet shimmered white and the powerful attack at least, what remained of it after being filtered through Jessie's side was sent back at Psyduck. At twice the power, almost no Pokémon could stand up to the attack. Misty quickly ran through her possibilities. There were few, so she came to a conclusion quickly enough, the speed of which was possibly one of her more endearing qualities as a trainer and gym leader.
"Um…use Disable to lift yourself into the air, Psyduck. Escape the Psychic! Hurry!" Psyduck concentrated, and was soon afloat in the air, glowing blue. The duck Pokémon collapsed onto the ground quickly, managing to avoid all but the last bit of the attack. The blue light vanished from its eyes, and Psyduck was its normal, confused self once more. Misty and Jessie watched as their Pokémon, both exhausted, stood up shakily. Misty knew Psyduck didn't have the strength for another attack…all it was good for now was raising a panic, but that would mean…
Not caring about the risks, Misty decided to take matters into her own hands, and force Psyduck into a frenzy. Even if the only way was quite possibly the most desperate technique she had ever used. But hey, can't a girl be a bit desperate when trying to save her best friend from possibly mortal peril?
"Psyduck! Cannonball!" Psyduck looked back at Misty, obviously unwilling. Seeing she wouldn't give up on forcing the attack, Psyduck sighed and jumped into the air with its last bit of energy. It landed with a nice, resounding splash in the pool space right at the edge of the water section of the field. Brock wondered what Misty was thinking; she and he both knew Psyduck couldn't swim, and its abhorrence of the water was made evident when Psyduck began to thrash about and cry out the moment it resurfaced.
The splash, combined with Psyduck's flailing, soaked everything and everyone in the vicinity: Misty, Brock, Max, May, Togepi, Jessie, and Wobbuffet, as well as the entire field and a good portion of the floor surrounding it. Because the maneuver technically wasn't an attack at all, the electric shock, triggered by its programming, traveled along the path of least resistance. In other words: through the water. To summarize a quite gruesome scene and some inhuman language, every human and Pokémon in the room was badly charred by the electricity. When they could see straight again, Psyduck was out cold. Wobbuffet was swaying dangerously, but was still conscious.
Brock coughed up some soot, then sadly announced, "The round is over. The winner is Wobbuffet." He looked up at Misty, wondering what she could possibly pull out of her sleeve this time. "Choose your next Pokémon, Misty."
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Ash couldn't believe it, though he had only just finished seeing it. Whenever Psyduck came out during an important match, it had always came through. It always defeated its opponent, whether that opponent was Team Rocket, or a Bike Gang, or even Ash himself. And yet there it was, lying unconscious on the ground. It seemed like there was no hope left, unless...Ash's head snapped up. He had an idea. A crazy idea, but an idea nonetheless. He squeezed his eyes shut. Who was he kidding? Misty was down there, and he was locked up tight. There was no way to tell her, and he would never have the chance to tell her the idea if she lost. Everything seemed...so...hopeless...
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Misty's eyes closed and pressed together tightly. "I can't, Brock." Brock, thinking Misty must've been affected by the psychic energies, began talking slower and reminding Misty of the steps of choosing a Pokémon for battle.
"Sure ya can, Misty. Just choose your last Pokémon. It's very eas—"
"—I'm not a child, Brock! And it's not that simple!" Misty's eyes were open once again as she glared angrily over at him. The Pokémon Breeder held back a gasp; Misty's eyes were shining—with tears. "There's too much at stake! If I lose this, I lose everything!" Brock jumped back a step.
"What do you mean, everything?"
"They might as well take you too, Brock. If I lose, I lose—" She choked, unable to get it out.
"—she loses her twerp boyfriend, her Pokémon, and her twerp boyfriend's Pikachu." Jessie shouted triumphantly. "She has too much at risk here. So I'll make a deal, twerpette. You give up now, and I'll let you keep your Pokémon. We don't need weak Pokémon like yours in Team Rocket, anyway." Brock, Max, and May looked over at Misty for conformation. After muttering something about Ash, she nodded sadly. "Well, twerpette? What'll it be?"
"Isn't it obvious, Jessie? I have no choice..." Blocking out the desperate pleas of Brock, Max, and May, Misty squeezed her eyes shut. 'I need an idea,' she thought desperately. 'Ash, if there was ever a time I needed one of your crazy strategies, now would be it.' She sighed. Who was she kidding? Ash was locked up tight, and there was no way to find him. And yet, if she didn't find him, he would be taken from her. Everything seemed so...so hopeless...
Suddenly, Misty's eyes shot open, and they started glowing with a golden amber tone. Jessie, Brock, Max, and May backed away from her, shocked at what they were seeing. Pikachu, out in the hallway, shocked the door and burst in. Pikachupi needed its help, and Pikachu would do whatever it could. Meowth and James, up in the monitor room, jumped away from the screens. They could barely see a thing, so bright were Misty's eyes. Ash would have squinted to see better if his eyes hadn't been shining with an aqua blue light themselves.
Max gave a little shout of surprise as Pikachu brushed past his legs. Misty had turned to it, her eyes still radiating a brown color, and smiled a sort of crooked half-smile at Pikachu. About to jump up to Misty, it paused. Pikachu knew that smile, but not on Pikachupi's face. "It's alright, Pikachu." Misty said, but not in her normal voice. It seemed—deeper, somehow. Pikachu murmured something inaudible as Misty turned to face May, who recoiled slightly before Misty's sight. "May," she said, "I need Togepi." May was surprised to say the least. And she wasn't alone.
"What?" Brock shouted. "Misty, you're going to rely on Togepi to save your Pokémon, Ash, and Pikachu?"
"Umm...Brock? Pikachu's right here. It doesn't need saving." Max said calmly, tugging gently on Brock's vest. Brock sweatdropped, but Jessie cried out in his place.
"You can't use a Pokémon that isn't even yours, twerpette!" She cringed as Misty turned to her, eyes glowing bright and brown. "My name is not 'twerpette.' And Togepi is mine. I still have its registration papers." Misty reached into her backpack and pulled out a few sheets of paper. She tossed them over to Jessie, who looked at them worriedly. She was confirmed of their authenticity quickly.
"Dey're de real deal, Jess. Dey say dat Togepi's hers 'til six months from now." Jessie tossed them down angrily. "Fine," she yelled, frustrated. "Fine! Use the stupid egg if you want to! See if it makes a difference!"
Misty turned back to May. "Well, May," she said, "it's all up to you...will you let me have the chance to win, and save Ash and my Pokémon? Or will you keep your illegally gotten Pokémon, forcing me to lose?"
Max straightened his glasses. "Gee, Misty. When you put it like that, there really isn't much choice." Misty slowly turned to him, as she had the others, the brown tone slightly overcome by a tinge of blue green before speaking. "And yet that's how it is..." She turned back to May. "Well, May?"
May lifted Togepi up in her arms and looked at it. It was trilling, happy as always. Then she turned it to Misty. Immediately, Togepi's face turned as serious as May had ever seen it. It held out it little arms and stretched out, trying to reach its Mommy. May frowned. Ever since she had found out that Togepi had once belonged to a friend of Ash and Brock, she had been afraid of this. Even though she had attempted to disbelieve it, no matter how impossible she made it seem, there was no way to deny Togepi would want to go back to its surrogate mother. And now, it was time to choose. May smiled sadly at her newest Pokémon, realizing that her own wants were far less important than the needs of her friends. Deciding, she gently placed it down on the ground.
"Well, Togepi," she began, "I only just got to know you today when I caught you, and now it seems like I have to let you go already. Ash and Brock told me what it was like to let your Pokémon leave, but," she sniffed, tears starting to slowly trickle down her cheeks, then continued, "I had no idea it would be this bad...anyway, go where you need to be, Togepi." She stood up and left Togepi standing quietly on the ground. May backed up behind Max and Brock.
Togepi looked up at where May had been. Now she was crouching on the ground, shaking slightly and being consoled by Pikachu, who knew what it was like to lose a Pokémon near to your heart. Even though May knew what she had done was right, it still hurt to let go of Togepi so soon. Then it looked over at Misty, her eyes a steadily intense russet glow. Togepi thought for a long moment, then, to everyone's shock, lifted itself into the air. May, having calmed sufficiently, pulled out her Pokédex, which announced monotonously that Togepi was using Confusion, though the Pokédex was confused as to how. Misty didn't seemed surprised, and Togepi landed on the leaf green float to the side of the pool closest to the exit.
"Now then," Misty said, her eyes narrowing slightly. "Let's get this thing started."
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Review response time!
wolf-girl87: Yay, you reviewed! And no fake flaming, either. -smiles- Well, I'm glad you're better, and sorry for the confusion; I went back and added in the dividers when I realized I had forgotten some. -sweatdrops- Totally my bad.
RoseRosa: I suppose you know who "you" is now, no? Well, with finals over and most of the work for my Silver Award done, I felt I had some time on my hands to post another chapter.
WeirdDutchGuy: I try to answer as many questions as possible. Thanks. -smiles- I like long reviews myself, unless I'm reviewing at two in the morning. Then I just tell the author the chapter was good and to update soon. But that's just me.
Ah…not very safe to be working with electronics during a storm, though, is it? I think that storm of yours is either coming in soon or just got through; we've got a weekend of storms ahead, and I'm not looking forward to it very much myself. I assume school didn't burn down (though I suppose it could happen).
So…you can't see Misty losing, but you can see Team Rocket winning. -sweatdrops- Okay, then…Pikachu didn't escape earlier because it was tired from attempting to shock its way out. It only thought of using Iron Tail to escape when its energy had been restored. Pikachu, then Brock-maybe, and now Brock-for-sure? Well, I suppose you know if you're right or not know, no? -smirks- I love writing that line; I think "know, no" is just funny. But back to the review…
Ah, finals. I know for sure I got an A to A+ in Geography, which is good, and a very low A- in Comp. Apps and Math, but this was expected, so I'm alright with it. Now, I've got my hardest classes on the last day of testing; how fair is that? Thank you for attempting to empathize with me; any support is greatly appreciated.
-later- Turns out I got at least a 90 in every subject. I guess I'm lucky; that kept me in highest classes. Highest score was the one I studied hardest for; yay me, I guess.
PS. If you say so…how often do you get bored? ;P
Ri2: Wow. I mean, wow. I know I shouldn't review your story in a review response, but that was really good. And it also explained a criticism a reader had on SPPf; I had no idea the gym was on a different island from the town, or that it was inside a mountain/volcano-thing…
I imagine I'll alter the story to fix that, once I'm done posting all of it.
You did? I just sort of got the idea from 'Battle for the Badge,' where they gave no explanation as to how they rigged the gym so Ash would get shocked…I just kind of went with the idea, but for the field instead of the stand. And since it's electric, it could be conducted through the water being rained by Gyarados, actually turning against Jessie (once again, similar to BftB). There wasn't really much of a boost for Team Rocket, just a really big decrease for Misty. You know, with the anti-one-move-knockout-shield and the electric junk.
Bittersweet as in…well, I should reveal it, but if you really want to know, send me an e-mail. It'll totally ruin the reading experience for you (IMO), but if you want to know, I'll tell you. Just know that no one dies. It's just sad, sort of. For a character I introduce in PotS, and for Ash and Misty's relationship. Of course, it's sort of a good thing…and sort of sweet at the epilogue, which I'm gonna make just for the heck of it to sum everything up and have Misty's promise from the Togetic episodes, though they never occurred in this story, come true.
And that's all I'll say unless you request more information.
They had a general idea of what they were looking for, Brock knowing where Team Rocket usually hides out. And it wasn't all that fast; I didn't bother to write out about half of the battle with dialogue, so it appeared to be shorter than it actually was.
IMO, yours was much nicer. Mine is very quirky, though there actually is significance behind some of the odd actions no one has seemed to notice. Yours is an all-around nice guy, who gives boyfriends swells of egos and girlfriends blushing compliments. I really liked one of the comments he made when someone (I forget who) said he looked nice even after being in a closet for three days. It was like "yes, it's one of the reasons why the fan girls love me," and I thought it was the funniest thing ever.
You are kidding me, right? May is fantastic in your story! I'm trying to make her better in my own, but the way you portrayed her…-sighs- that was a fantastic chapter…I hope you know which one I meant.
I read them, and as I reviewed, I really enjoyed that twist.
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Peoples, read Ri2's story! "Latias' Journey" is very good!
So says the author, who has decided to tell readers to read certain stories each chapter from now on because she is quirky like that!
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Ja!