Author's note: Major injury warning - blood and injury warning - faint of heart should definitely beware
Shadows of red and black
It was warm.
The heat was unbearable, the sun shining down relentlessly, without remorse and without mercy. Sweat was rolling down his forehead, clumping his fur together unpleasantly, his mouth dry from the lack of water as the pants that escaped his mouth was prof of his discomfort.
He had no idea why he had ventured here; let alone why he thought a ton of sand would be interesting. It stretched far and wide before him, like a never-ending picture one hill after the next, making more sand appear in the horizon.
A pale-yellow color was all that was in front of him, in a wave pattern which he destroyed with his feet dragging themselves forward, almost stumbling with every step. There was nothing here but that – besides a plant which grew straight into the air, but he had quickly determined that it wasn't edible or useful since it had both long and small needles growing on them, making it impossible for him to try and take a bite of it.
Though food was the least of his concern right now, being well aware that the pounding headache was demanding liquid instead. He still questioned whether or not this had been a good idea. But then again, it would either be this or the forest which he had been travelling through yesterday. A part of him had believed that this area hadn't been so big, and it was too late to turn around now.
He missed the forest now, remembering how beautiful everything had been, and now wanted to go back there more than anything. Sleeping arrangements had been interesting, the silver hedgehog trying to figure out if he should settle down in a tree or on the ground. The branches were uncomfortable to sleep on, and he hadn't figured out how to make a fire since there had been no usable branches around, so the ground had been cold despite his small blanket and the oil lamp. It had been difficult to fall asleep.
He had missed the comfort of his bed, but then remembered why he had left it. Did he regret leaving in the first place? He wasn't so sure anymore. He didn't know if he would rather have his lonely room and wait for something to happen or walk around in this seemingly endless forest of sand. How it was so warm here was beyond him, running a hand over his brow, swiping away the sweat despite it being replaced seconds after.
The sack over his shoulder was a burden more than a blessing at this point, the food long gone and everything else in there was supposed to keep warmth rather than keeping him cool. His back was sweating, and a part of him wanted to take off his gloves and boots just to try if it would cool him off. Though he refrained from doing it, since he didn't know if he would stumble upon anyone and had to run, despite the idea seemed like paranoia more than wariness.
He was too tired to be flying in the air, any kind of activity that involved his power took a lot of energy, and right now he could feel that it was at its lowest, everything just feeling utterly horrible. He was slightly dizzy, had no idea if the sand in front of him was moving or not, since the wind that played with the tiny grains made it seemed like it was in constant movement.
He blinked to get it out of his eyes, had stopped brushing it off his fur at this point and instead embraced the misery and pushed through it without thinking too much about it. There weren't a lot he could do out here, other than think about turning around or use what energy he had left to get into the air and get an idea as to where the Chaos he was. Though he didn't have the capacity to even think about the options, rather stumbled across the sand but got his footing, standing on top of a hill.
A sigh escaped his lips as he looked across the landscape, waves of sand and sand stretched in front of his view, nothing being in his sight. His tongue was dry, his entire mouth feeling like the sand he was walking on, as he licked his lips to catch the saltwater that cascaded down his face. It only made it worse.
He looked around himself, trying to see something in the horizon, a tree, a rock, something that was anything but sand. As he turned to his right, he caught something on the top of the next hill, squinting his eyes and shielded them with his hand. It was really blurry in the heat, but he thought that he could see something dark blue or black or something. It was moving slightly but it looked like it was wavering, like flowing water.
Water? Could it be!
In a desperate attempt, he stumbled down the hill and began running, ignoring that his lungs were hurting as he began panting heavily, making it to the bottom and began running up where he could see the blurriness. It was apparently much further away than first anticipated as he stumbled up the next hill, landing on his hands but got up again, the prospect of liquid being too good to ignore.
As he made it to the top of the hill, he frowned and looked around, being very sure that it had been standing right here. He looked around, walked in a circle but there was nothing here. He looked up again, and at the next sandy hill he saw the same blurry dark blue thing, looking like it was a river or something else.
He blinked, rubbed both knuckles into his eyes but it was still there. He was going crazy. He was sure of it. The heat was getting to his head, he knew it. And before he knew it, he would most likely start to see other things here! He was going to go crazy; he was insane, he was going to- no!
In a desperate attempt to calm himself down, he put both arms over his head squinting his eyes shut and shook his head. Calm down. He couldn't panic now, or else he wouldn't get out of here a…alive.
He needed to concentrate, take a deep breath and continue walking. If he stood still, he would get nowhere. He opened one eye to look if the blurriness was still there, and surely, he could see it mocking him. He was seeing things. There was no water there. How would there be water in a place like this.
He opened the other eye as he let his arms fall, felt drowsier than before as he made it down the hill again, preparing to travel up the next. He lost his balance, regained it, moving a hand to his head as the dizziness increased. The sweating had decreased, a part of him wondering if his body maybe had just accepted the heat, his fur and skin feeling slightly itchy instead.
He looked over his shoulder as he panted heavily, frowned at the zig-zag pattern he had made despite remembering that he had walked in a straight line. At least, he thought that he had. He shook his head as he turned around, took a step forward only to land on his hands. The sudden tiredness overwhelmed him, coughed at the sand he got in his mouth, as he began crawling. This was pathetic, and he knew he needed to get up or he might never get up again. But it was tough. His arms and legs felt like lead, it got more and more difficult to breathe as he could feel everything shaking.
Dark spots started to appear in his eyes, tried to shake his head to make them go away, though they remained. He made it to the top, swallowed nothing into his throat as he looked ahead of him. His head fell on top of the sand, still panting, the sweating having stopped as he could feel his eyelids being heavy. He though he could see something in the horizon, tall-like buildings, or something, but he was pretty sure that it was just him again.
That was the last thing he remembered, as his head fell sideways, landing on the sand, his eyes closing and remained in a black limbo.
How he did it he had no idea. He was extraterrestrial Tails was positive of that fact. Nobody – nobody could run that fast without throwing up their lungs.
He was on the verge of doing that himself, his heart ready to jump out of his chest while panting and resisted the urge to sit down. His tails were thumping slightly from overuse, wiping a hand across his forehead to remove the sweat that had appeared there. Leaning on his knees and staring into the ground, he licked his lips and swirled a tail in front of himself, finding the water bottle he had hidden there. He eagerly unscrewed the cap, swallowed a good amount of water, and threw some of it into his face before screwing the cap back on.
His legs were slightly shaking but it was the kind of vibration that felt good, being well aware that he had been using his muscles, the pure thrill of running so fast making all of this worth it. Though he wondered how the hell Sonic did it. He looked in front of himself where Sonic had run ahead of him but knew that he would be running back for him.
He swallowed something in his throat, slowly taking back control of his breathing and his beating heart, looking at his left hand. His glove wasn't dirty or brown, meaning that the wound hadn't reopened itself. It had looked good this morning, and a part of him was pretty sure that it was going to look good as new with a couple of days healing. Wherever they were at that time.
He frowned at the thought, briefly looking at the pine trees around him. Where would they be? Where would he be? As far as he knew there was absolutely no village around this forest, since they had stumbled upon no signs of civilization let alone signs of anybody even living in the forest. Everything had been undisturbed, the two of them most likely being the first trespasser in these parts of it.
It was denser, no significant road around them, like the area had been abandoned for years. If he didn't know any better, he would have thought that it was illegal for them to be here, since it felt like they were walking on sacred ground. Everything was undisturbed, even the river looked like it had been crooked and had no visitors for years. He wondered if that was the case, biting his lip at the mere thought of what they were going to see and experience in that mountain region.
He highly doubted that there would be any villages or something of the sorts there, giving that mountains didn't exactly hint at flat terrain. He did wonder however, what it was like to walk around on such a platform. He had read in a book what they were, gigantic, elevated crusts of Mobius with steep sides which is at least 650 feet tall. If it were tall enough, snow would appear on the top from the drop of temperature, and the air supply would be less because of the low air pressure.
It had been one of the books that he had had to leave behind simply because it had been too big, and only Chaos knew if it was still in that wooden chest back in Croford. Somebody had probably already raided it by now.
He didn't get to ponder about it for too long as he suddenly saw a blue streak headed for him, didn't even have the time to flinch before the mobian stopped in front of him, not even stumbling or panting but had a wide smirk on his lips.
"We're almost there!" Sonic enthusiastically explained, pointing at something behind him.
Tails swallowed spit in his throat, was breathing normally at this point as he stood erect, looking at what the hedgehog was trying to show him. It was only now that he noticed the white tips, dark grey stone towering tall over the pine trees in front of him, crooked and asymmetrical, almost disappearing into the clouds that had appeared above them.
His mouth hung open in surprise, eyes widening upon the sight – he had had no real concept of how tall above 650 feet was, but that was most definitely taller than that! There was no way they were going to make it to the top of those, how were they going to walk around there?
"Just a little longer and we should get into the area," Tails turned his head towards the prisoner's inquiry, ears flicking in confusion as he waved a hand towards the gigantic beast.
"How do you suppose we make it up there?" Sonic had turned his head back towards him, blinked in perplexity before he snorted loudly, his eyes telling the pick pocketer that he found the question amusing.
"We're not walking all the way up there," he said in an obvious tone. "It's a mountain region, meaning that its most likely a mountain range, which means there's tons of mountains there. Small and little which we can walk between."
The fox frowned at the explanation, looking back at the snow tipped mountains he could see, wondering that if Sonic stated that there were more than the ones he could see, then there were either hidden between those he could see or was much shorter.
A part of him wanted to fly into the air to check if he could see them but refrained from doing it. Sonic hadn't said anything bad about his flying, he had actually seemed surprised more than anything, though he didn't want to push it too much. He secretly loved doing it but wasn't comfortable yet with doing it around others.
"C'mon – if we want to make it to actually search for the emeralds, we gotta juice," Tails looked back at Sonic who had winked at him, standing in a pose that indicated that he was ready to run ahead.
"Wait hold on," the fox stopped, making the hedgehog blink, and stood normally again, a confused smile on his lips though his eyes were still warm. "How do we even find them?" He questioned, looking at the mountain tips again before his glare returned to the one, he had been following.
The prisoner gave him an honest shrug, putting his hands on his hips as he looked at the snow covered tops as well.
"Dunno. But I could 'feel' that other emerald back in Kroxburg right? Which means I should be able to 'feel' these ones too," He finger quoted with a slight frown, the pick pocketer being able to read the perplexity that occurred from his own explanation, as if the word 'feel' wasn't the right description for it.
He let it slide nonetheless, skeptically crossing his arms over his chest.
"If you say that there's a mountain range in there was a lot of short and tall mountains then that could take days," he complained, waving a hand towards their direction. "If we don't have a solid plan then we could be looking for a long time," he simplified, seeing the confused expression on the hedgehog. He looked back at the mountain, blinked, and looked back at the fox, just as perplexed.
"What do you suppose we do instead?" He asked, quirking a brow at him, though it wasn't in amusement but more skepticism and the lingering confusion. Tails opened his mouth to answer, then closed it again, coming out blank.
"I don't know. But you said that you've been travelling the world so you must know something about it right?" Tails questioned yet again, could feel his behind appendages starting to move agitated, a slight annoyance appearing in the back of his head.
Heading in there without any solid plan, running around like idiots and having no idea where they had been and where they haven't been, was plain stupid. They needed to have some kind of plan.
"I have," Sonic confirmed, before the smirk grew wider on his lips, the confusion gone with his own conclusion. "But I haven't visited a mountain range before. I'm sure it'll be fine though, what's the worst that could happen?" Sonic shrugged, before nonchalantly turning on his heel and started walking, apparently believing that the conversation was done. Though the fox thought otherwise.
"We could get lost," Tails threw out, frowning as the irritation emerged. "We could run out of food or water, have no place to shelter for the night and have no idea where we're going. We can't just walk in there!" He emphasized, throwing his hands into the air thinking how idiotic the hedgehog was behaving.
How could he have survived this long, walking – or rather running – into unknown areas without any solid plan. The fox always had plans, always had something prepared in case something should happen – walking in blind was ridiculous.
"Dude it's going to be fine," Sonic reassured, turning slightly on his heel to face the fox, the lips now smiling at him.
"Don't you trust me?"
Tails had opened his mouth to say something else, though he halted at the question. He closed it again while he blinked, the same happy and carefree grin on Sonic's face that made him feel utterly warm and welcome inside was plastered there. Though, the longer the silence lingered the more it fell, the hedgehog slowly realizing what it meant. The fox bit his lip, a small part of him feeling just slightly guilty.
But he didn't. He didn't trust him yet. For this very reason. Running straight ahead like an insane mobian was idiotic and could be deadly. Would he hurt him? No, he was pretty sure of it, but would he trust him to be his forever-guide? Not – completely.
He had taught himself never to trust anybody, always had an emergency plan in the back of his head in case something happened. He only took care of himself and didn't let himself become a burden to anyone. He would take care of himself. Despite wanting it differently.
The sigh Sonic let out, Tails felt more than anything, the hedgehog rubbing a hand against his forehead.
"Never mind that. Okay listen, I promise that if we get lost or something I'll-"
Tails had been listening, could both see and hear the slight disappointment that were there, as well as annoyance that had occurred, originating from impatience, but something behind the hedgehog had caught his attention.
His ears perked up, looking at a cluster of needles in the top of one of the pine trees that was behind Sonic. Something was sitting there, crawling closer to the branch but was sitting in the shadow. It wasn't a bird it was too big; it didn't look like an animal at all.
His eyes widened when he suddenly realized what it was, at the same time that something, or rather someone, suddenly jumped down from the branch towards Sonic, something made of metal shining in the sun.
"Watch out!" Tails yelled at the same time that he had sprinted towards the hedgehog, hurling himself at him and made the two of them stumble and roll on the ground, at the same time that someone hurled a weapon into the ground where Sonic had been standing seconds beforehand.
The fox shook his head, turning his head around to whoever had just tried to murder his travelling partner.
"Not bad," he whipped his head towards her, recognizing the voice immediately as the mobian got to their feet, a knife ready in their hand. They were female with wide curvatures around her hips, a feminine figure no doubt.
A black body suit completely covered her body, a pink heart on her chest and small pink hearts on her toes, a tall heel making her taller. Her pristine white fur was only visible through a slit of her suit on her face, a pair of green eyes looking at them. The ears on her head and the wings on her back told him immediately that she was a bat.
She stood erect, one hand casually sitting on her hip while leaning onto one foot, standing as if she was casually talking to somebody. But he could read the sharpness in her eyes, senses on high alert in case of a sudden attack, being well aware that she had done the first move and couldn't back out of it now. Despite the relaxed exterior he could read the tense body and the fingers that slightly fidgeted, being completely on her guard. She was confident, knew what she wanted and did not take no for an answer. It was practically screaming out of her.
Sonic had already jumped to his feet, looking at whoever had just tried to stab him, eyes flashing between mild anger before it transformed to complete confusion.
"Dude! Where'd you come from?!" Tails' head whipped towards Sonic at the same time that he got to his own feet.
That was the question he asked? That was the only thing he wanted to know about her?
He looked back to read her answer nonetheless, an unamused shrug on her shoulders, though her gaze was held onto the both of them.
"I fly quickly honey," she stated, started playing with the knife in one hand, the untrained eye concluding that she was bored, though he could read the opposite.
It clicked in his mind when she had spoken again, couldn't stop the gasp in time.
"It's you," she stopped playing with her weapon, her green eyes focusing on the fox, could feel his own hands shaking from the memory of their first encounter. "You're the assassin from the sewers."
"Really?" Sonic immediately, asked, Tails not concentrating on trying to read him, but kept his gaze fastened onto the bat, being aware of what she could do. A flash of surprise passed her eyes, before they narrowed slightly, age old experience making him aware that she was challenging him.
"Got a good hearing huh sweetie? Well, I can tell with certainty that I remember you too," she explained with a sweetness to her voice that wanted the fox to cringe, a part of him wanting to rush forward from the nickname alone.
Though he kept his composure, being aware that if he attacked her suddenly, she was more than prepared for it. Though her gaze slowly switched from him to the hedgehog, still standing in the same casual pose.
"You've travelled a long way from Croford. What brings you all the way out here hon?" She asked, though Tails could see the uninterest in her eyes, making him narrow his own eyes, could feel a bubbling anger start to erupt in himself. She was toying with them, playing with them.
Sonic shrugged his shoulders without being alarmed, crossing his arms over his chest, though Tails noticed his stance tensing up a bit, his quills rising in the back of his head.
"Just travelling. Croford was boring, and we wanted to see the world," he shouldn't bother lying to her, since she already knew what they were after.
She had gotten surprised once Sonic had used the emerald back in the sewer, and her question told the fox that she was well aware where they were going and what they were doing. Yet she didn't call out his lie nor did she correct him, instead he could see the fabric on the mask where her lips were move, indicating that the grin she had widened just a bit.
"You were bored huh? Well, let me just say that I can make this trip so much more interesting than it is right now," she casually stated, standing erect again, all of her weight standing on both feet. "There's a good amount of money on your head honey – more than what those posters want, something that I'm very interested in."
Tails' ears perked from the information, his hands fisting at his sides. More than the posters? Which meant that there were other people after Sonic, people that specifically didn't want him to find the emeralds. Or use them. And it must be a lot considering that she had left her territory in Croford and all the way out here in the middle of nowhere. And guessing upon her attack without warning, he guessed that the money only counted if the hedgehog was dead. Something that he would much rather didn't happen.
He read her face, could see the amusement sitting in her eyes, still on her guard and body tense, though she found the situation to her liking. She could had forewent telling them that information, kept it to herself and not giving away that someone else was after Sonic. She liked to gossip, start drama for the sake of it and make conversation that she found amusing. They could use it to their advantage.
"Who send you?" The bat turned her head back towards him upon his question, eyes still amused than quizzical. "It must be an important dealer if you travel all the way out here," he poked, potentially raising his brow at her, trying to provoke the behavior.
What he instead got was a huff and the bat crossing her arms over her chest, putting weight on one foot again.
"If I were you, I would stay out of this cub. I only have one target in my job description," Damn it – she was smart too.
"But - there is a good sum on your head too," she played with the knife again "Dead or alive as far as I remember," she winked, making the fox frown and could feel his heart beating in intensity, being aware that she was toying with them again.
"Hey, hey nobody's killing anybody today," Tails watched as Sonic took a step forward, making a 'calm down' gesture with his hands.
"Look, if you just fly away and tell your boss that you couldn't find us then nobody will get hurt today alright? I don't wanna punch a lady," he compromised, having a lopsided grin on his lips, like it was that easy.
Tails looked back at him before concentrating on the bat, seeing that her eyes narrowed dangerously, stopped playing with her knife and stood in a battle-ready position. He tensed himself, his tails whipping behind him as his heart began to beat. She wasn't going to be easy.
"Looks like your morals will have to be challenged today," she sugarcoated, and suddenly disappeared.
Tails registered her lunging towards Sonic with the knife in her hand, though the hedgehog sidestepped and ducked emitting a 'wow' as he jumped back a step. She was fast however, had already jumped towards him again, a trained hand swinging the knife around his throat and chest, the hedgehog merely dodging at first. He backflipped to get his distance, his eyes wide from pure surprise, haven't expected her to be that fast.
Neither had the pick pocketer. But she didn't expect him either.
With a quick step Tails ran forward, swinging both tails around to knock her out, though she jumped into the air, sending a kick towards him which he dodged, trying to throw a punch though she jumped away.
"Dude don't hit her!" The bat turned towards Sonic, swishing her knife around the air, the hedgehog dodging but didn't manage, emitting a single 'ah' as the knife touched skin. He turned his face away before focusing back on her, a small slit on his cheek making blood pebble through. He swiped a glove across the small slit, seeing the crimson color on his glove. "Okay, never mind," He said, his eyes narrowed and quickly kicked her.
The speed surprised her, sending the bat into a tree, almost dropping the knife. Tails saw his chance and went to kick her onto her back, though she was already out of the way with a somersault, the fox turning around and managed to dodge a swipe with the knife, swinging a single tail instead. She stumbled from the hit, avoiding a punch from Sonic as she turned around towards the hedgehog, swung the knife but backflipped herself, gaining distance.
Tails could feel his hands shaking and heart beating, knew that she was fast and light on her feet, being able to concentrate on two opponents at once. Her eyes fastened onto Sonic again, lunched towards him with a cry which he avoided, somersaulted, and kicked her in the back to make her fall.
Though she didn't, instead turned around and hit a punch square in the hedgehog's face, making him drop his guard as she kicked him in the calf. The force was much greater than anticipated, as Tails could hear something crack, the hedgehog letting out a cry as he fell onto the ground face first, the bat lifting the knife into the air, ready to stab him in the neck.
"No!" He ran towards her and stumbled into her, the two of them rolling on the ground before he got to his feet, swinging both tails around in rage, no tactic but pure adrenaline and instinct taking control, the bat avoiding everything.
"You're fast," she complimented, though he could hear the sarcasm in her voice, as her arm was thrusted into his collarbone, forcing him against a tree behind him, knocking out his breath.
"But not fast enough," he didn't register getting pushed against the tree, feet trying to frantically kick her out of his way, tails whipping and trying to get a hit on her when he felt the impact.
His pupils shrunk, his breath seemingly leave his system as he felt a tingle, almost an electric shock go through his body.
Then the heat, a burning intense heat that seemed to scorch his skin and tear the flesh apart.
Then he felt nothing.
Until she pulled it out.
He screamed, as the pain hit. It hurt. It really hurt.
A fierce, intense burning pain that stung through his entire body, as he landed on his right side, his left side being the victim. Then Espio's words penetrated his mind. Words of wisdom, telling him that if he ever gets stabbed then push tons of pressure on the wound and then scream. Someone will hear him and help him. He doubted it, however, his breath returning as he curled in on himself, his right hand pressing onto the wound, having no idea if it was deep, if it was big, he just knew that it hurt. It stung, it burned, it made tears appear in his eyes as it Chaosdamn hurt!
"Tails!" He didn't look after Sonic when he called out his name, since he could feel the liquid, the ooze as his glove got wet, pressing as hard as he could onto the wound, not wanting it to pass by his hand, as he pressed the tip of his finger into it.
It stung more, making him yell out again, as his eyes saw the black figure of the female lean towards him, but suddenly disappeared in a dash of blue.
He didn't know what was happening, trying to take deep breaths, trying to pass through the pain that stung, that burned, could feel the blood ooze past his hand and down his side, biting his lip. His ears were perked towards the fight, could hear them grunt and swipe at each other when a female yell made it all stop. He hissed, his heart beating as he put more pressure on it, could feel his hands shaking.
It was oddly quiet for a couple of seconds, the fox only hearing his own pulse in his ears, yelling out again as the pain controlled his movements.
"This isn't over!" He had no idea what had happened, merely heard the flap of bat wings, and assumed that she was gone since it slowly disappeared. Suddenly he saw Sonic, the hedgehog kneeling beside him, eyes wide and looked panicky, hands hovering over him.
"Tails! Oh, Chaos this is bad!" He wanted to scream at him that 'of course it chaosdamn was!' but yelled out again, the blood continuing to pass his hand, clenching his eyes shut in pain alone. "Okay, okay. Easy alright! I'm taking off your cloak we need to stop the bleeding,"
"No!" He yelled out, for no reason, couldn't concentrate, had no idea what was happening other than the pain increased and it wouldn't stop!
"Tails trust me!" He couldn't see Sonic, but could hear the clear determination in his voice, a tone that practically said that it was out of discussion as his cloak was removed from under him.
He felt the tears go down his cheeks as his ears picked up the sound of fabric getting torn, trying to use both hands to stop it but it kept going. Something wrapped around his stomach, hands prying his own hand off as his presumably former cloak was getting pressed hard onto the wound, a couple of layers making his stomach hurt but it would do. He pressed onto it again with both hands, for now no more blood penetrating it though he knew it was a matter of seconds.
"You're gonna be fine okay? You'll be fine, you'll be okay," He opened his eyes, blinking away the water that sat there to look at Sonic, seeing the hedgehog having a panicked expression, clearly having no idea what he was going to do.
He wanted to yell, he wanted to scream our or lash out at him, but he was getting dizzy, his vision starting to blur, and his mouth was getting dry. He had lost blood. Apparently Sonic noticed it too, since his eyes widened and one hand began shaking his shoulder, despite still having his eyes open.
"Stay awake! You can't sleep now okay?" It wasn't reassuring one bit, let alone something that he took comfort in since Sonic's eyes were shaking from panic and fright, could feel the hedgehog's other hand press onto his own, trying to keep the blood inside.
He didn't know if it were working, he just knew that dark spots started to appear in his eyes, the pain starting to dim, could feel his heart beating and his lungs working.
Was this it? Was this how it felt when it was the end?
He didn't know, instead let the tears run down his face as he saw Sonic's expression morph into complete worry as the dark spots in his eyes got larger and larger before it was total blackness, the last thought penetrating his mind that wondered whether he was going to turn nine this year.
Or not.