A/N: Hey guys Captspeed here with a new update :D

Thank you for sending the Gym leader characters so fast, that was really surprising.

Ckbrothers: I was happy that you lost some of your time to make a char for the story and because you are always giving some precious feedback, I'll consider in having your char in the story :) You still broke the rules tho, submitting an OC through review is kinda lame and let's hope that noone noticed that. Just create an account Ck it would be easier for you as well to keep track of your favorite stories and writers.

Remvis: Thank you so much for the feedback and I hope that you keep enjoying the story. Btw the Gym leader character was appreciated :3

JJun: Yeah Jun, Kori decided to join those three for now :O we both know that Neo is the lone type, let's see how that develops :3 Ohh you meant Lyon? (instead of Tyler?) Yeah, Lyon will indeed give Neo some hard times xD thank u for the reviews and the char bud

crankiestnebula: Miss you bud, you've been busy for too long... Come back! xD I'm glad that you like my battles :D

666funtimes: Thank you as always for the sincere feedback funtimes :D I'm glad that you guys showed interest in the way that I wrote the battle scenes since I was afraid, thinking that it was somewhat long and maybe boring.

Koraru Kinomoto: Of course I'd use your char Koraru :D this is a SYOC story after all and I hope that you keep enjoying it.

RagingKoopatroopa: Thank you some much for the reviews Rage, as always I try to do my best with the writing, but this is a teamwork between me and KomoriRin so cheers for him as well :D I'm glad that you liked the chapter and thanks for the GL character!

sonofthetrigod: trigod I'm glad that you enjoyed the battle, cuz to be honest, at first I was kinda afraid to know how the readers would react.

Like always, thank you for your support on the story and a special thanks to everyone who loses some of their time creating chars for the story and of course your feedback is also appreciated.

I hope you enjoy!

Hoenn, Oldale Town, Neo's POV

The bus ride went quickly, as always. The three of us arrived at my aunt's to find her sitting lazily on the sofa, wearing some revealing shorts.

I had called to warn her that I was bringing guests, but she didn't really care.

This was her normal behavior and I was used to it. Don't get me wrong, as a teenager I too had some trouble blocking my aunt's charm.

I had to almost carry her back to her room, where I told her to change.

Heading downstairs, I had to apologize to my guests. "Guys, I'm sorry. My aunt is kinda carefree, but I promise she isn't a bad person."

At my explanation, Korianne started giggling. "It looks like your roles are reversed."

I sighed. It was partly true. My aunt didn't really know how to take care of herself and I was a bit worried about leaving her alone when I went on my journey.

Colt was still astonished at what he had seen. "Damn, bro, your aunt is something else..." He said, blushing in embarrassment.

I facepalmed at his reaction. I could understand it, but if my aunt heard him say that she would've probably boasted about it all night and incessantly tease him.

"Colt, believe me, she's scary... I think it's best if you don't tell her that." I said with my most serious face. Well, it was my natural expression, but I added something extra to scare him.

Colt lifted an eyebrow, showing on his face that he clearly believed my lie. He knew about her past as a highly ranked officer in Team Galactic, and, knowing that the woman had been exiled from her region, made my lie seem very believable.

"Don't tell me what?" My aunt Mars shouted as she silently entered the living room.

I saw Korianne and Colt freeze in fear. Now I was feeling bad for my bad choice of words. "Oh, I said that Colt shouldn't tell you that he was from Johto," I said as I reached my aunt and kissed her cheek. "Because I know that you would have asked him to bring some honey next time."

My aunt scoffed and said, "Well, you know me too well. It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Colt. I mean, I had already seen you many times since Neo almost broke the replay button while watching your battles."

I saw Colt cheeks puff. He was holding in a laugh- I just knew it. My aunt had to go and spill the beans.

"It's a pleasure as well, Ms. Mars! Thank you for taking care of Neo until now," Colt said, maybe a little bit too formally.

I sighed in annoyance. Why did he have to say that last part? It wasn't like my aunt was the one who was looking after me. It was the other way around from the beginning.

"Oh please, Colt, you flatter me too much!" In my aunt's face there was a proud smile and I couldn't help but grin at as well.

I saw that Korianne was having trouble trying to figure out a way to introduce herself.

Being very sharp with this type of thing, my aunt immediately tried to tease her. "And who's the young lady? Are you Colt's girlfriend?"

Colt gaped at this joke and couldn't really find the right words to say. He was probably surprised to find out that the stories I told him about my aunt were true.

"Aunt, please don't tease them too much. It's not like that." I tried to ease the situation as I hung our coats in the entry hall.

"Y-Yes, Neo's right. I-I'm Korianne and I'm just their friend. T-Thank you for having me!" Korianne said, trying to stay as calm as possible.

My aunt looked at me in surprise and said, "N-Neo! Y-You have a girlfriend!" She faked a sob. "I'm so proud of you! I thought you couldn't talk to girls. Ah~ you've grown so much." She finished, while ruffling my hair.

Hearing this made Colt finally lose his fake composure and he started to laugh along with my aunt.

Despite still being embarrassed and a little bit intimidated, Korianne started to feel more at home with this display of silliness.

I was about to scold my aunt, but there was no fixing her trickster ways. At least now everyone was starting to warm up to each other.

Seeing that it was almost dinnertime, I headed towards the kitchen, getting ready to cook something quick.

I was not the best cook in town, but at least my food wasn't paper-flavored like my aunt's dishes.

"What do you want for dinner, guys?" I asked from the kitchen door.

"Cook some meat, Neo! Ah and bring me some beer, please!" My aunt shouted happily and then proceeded to offer some alcohol to my friends as well, which they refused quickly.

I was starting to get everything ready when someone entered the kitchen.

For a second I thought that it was my aunt's Purugly, getting ready to tackle me once more, but when I turned around I was surprised to see that Korianne was the one approaching me.

"Lemme help you, Neo!" She said cheerfully, picking up a kitchen knife and starting to cut some potatoes.

"It's ok, you don't need to bother yourself, Korianne. You're the guest here, so just relax in the living room." I said, feeling a tad guilty that my guest was the one helping me instead of my aunt.

"It's okay, Neo. I don't mind!" Korianne said kindly. "I always helped my big brother in the kitchen when he was taking care of me." Saying this, I noticed that her expression changed quite a bit. Now she had this pained look on her face.

The nostalgia from this scene was probably bringing back some sad memories. Maybe she had some tragic event in her past.

I tried to shake these thoughts out of my mind, hoping that I hadn't stared at her for too long.

"And I told you not be so formal with me. You can call me Kori." This time, she scolded me as if I was doing something wrong. It wasn't the first time that she had done this.

During our bus trip, she had also tried to act as the peacemaker between me and Colt's friendly arguments.

I decided to go along with her. Kori's reaction made me want to laugh. She seemed to enjoy acting like a big sister. She was 19 years old, three years older than me.

I started to wonder if this was due to the fact that she was now living by herself. Maybe something bad had happened to her family.

She hadn't shared much about her past, but I knew that she was from Johto and now apparently, she also had an older brother.

I didn't find it strange that she didn't want to talk more about her own life. In fact, it was probably best this way. She didn't seem ready to talk about herself and I understood how she felt.

I decided to focus on cooking. There was no point in worrying about this now.

From the living room, I kept hearing my aunt's hearty laugh as she kept asking Colt to tell more funny stories about me.

I sighed and tried to ignore their laughter. At least the closest people to me were getting along just fine.

The night went by so fast that it was past midnight when we finally headed upstairs to get some rest.

After dinner, we spent hours talking in the living room about all topics imaginable.

My aunt seemed happy, always throwing in her sarcastic jokes and laughing a lot. This was probably because she kept saying to bring her more beer.

After the third one I noticed that her face was already matching her red hair so I had to act as the parent and scold her about it.

From this time we spent together, I also noticed that Kori enjoyed listening to people, since she kept smiling and observing Colt and I talking about our dreams and goals for this year.

Maybe this was how I looked whenever I was trying to read the moves of a trainer in battle.

Well it was a bit weird. No wonder people sometimes looked disgusted by my habit.

As we kept talking, Colt admitted that he wanted to leave for his journey early in the morning.

He was probably still mad because he couldn't get his first badge earlier. He was always a stubborn guy and I knew that this was probably bothering him.

I told him that the nearest Gym was one town ahead and if he walked at a fast pace, he would reach it in half an hour.

Colt's eyes started sparkling when I told him this. He reacted like a little girl who had just seen her idol. Soon, his competitive side started to show in our conversation and the subject changed.

He started remembering the challenge that he had proposed to me when we were kids. The one-sided promise that he made with me, that one day we would face each other on the finals and fight with all our might.

Colt kept telling me that I should go for the Conference, because he really wanted to fight against me. This wasn't really something new for me, I was used to this by now.

I simply told him that that wasn't really in my plans and, as usual, we started to have one of our friendly arguments about each other's objectives.

He kept insisting that I should face the Gyms, saying that it'd be a good experience, but I told him that this method wasn't the only way of obtaining strength.

As our argument started to get more serious, just like earlier today, Kori finally decided to barge into our talk and put an end into it.

She kept telling us that as good friends, we should accept our deferring opinions.

This was definitely something that we were working on, since our times in Kanto, but sometimes this would still create us problems.

Suddenly, I noticed that my aunt was sobbing weakly, murmuring something. She kept repeating that she didn't want me to leave her alone and that she would miss me.

I froze. "It's probably because of the beer," I thought to myself at the time.

Taking advantage of the strained mood, I suggested that we should all get some sleep and, with that, we all trooped upstairs.

I told Kori that she could have the guest room, since it would be weird to sleep in the same room as two guys she had just met.

I carried my aunt to her room and as soon as she fell into her bed, she went to sleep like a wild Snorlax.

Colt and I grabbed two sleeping bags and decided to sleep on the floor of my room. This was something that we used to do since our times in Kanto.

It was already very late but I was still not feeling sleepy. I kept turning around, trying to get comfortable, but my mind wouldn't settle down.

I decided to get up and cool my head in my room's balcony, walking as soft as I could, trying not to wake up my best friend, who kept turning around and mumbling something about battling.

I grinned. He was always like that. He really loved Pokémon battles. Even in his sleep he couldn't stop thinking about them.

Today, somehow, I had also grown fond of battling.

I didn't know why, but my heart was still pounding as I remembered my first Gym challenge.

Who would've thought that I would get so excited about something so trivial? I was acting just like Colt, getting seriously excited for each victory and challenge that I faced.

I sat on the floor in the lotus position and decided to meditate for a little while.

I needed to focus and quiet my mind, because at this rate I wouldn't be able to rest and I was getting somewhat tired since yesterday. I couldn't calm down either.

A few minutes later, after being able to settle down and become more aware of my surroundings, I heard some slow footsteps approach me and a small body seated itself next to me, imitating my position.

Opening one eye, while trying to maintain my focus, I noticed that the one sitting there was Ralts.

"Thank you for today. You were amazing," I said, praised my companion, which she seemed to enjoy, evident by her happy expression.

"I still don't know how you managed to avoid that attack... Did you make that decision yourself?" I asked Ralts, still intrigued about the fact that somehow due to her lucky dodge, we managed to win.

Ralts tilted her head in confusion and then shook it. She got up and climbed onto my lap, pointing towards my heart.

This time I was the one confused. Did this mean that she could understand my feeling or was it perhaps some type of telepathy?

I patted Ralts's head affectionately, receiving a happy cry in exchange and said, "Let's get some rest. We've got to have energy for the first day of our journey."

Ralts nodded and we headed inside, ready to finally sleep.

Hoenn, Route 102, Colt's POV

It was eight in the morning and I was already dashing towards Petalburg City.

As Neo had said yesterday, the city wasn't that far away from Oldale and if I was to speed up my pace, I would arrive there in less than an hour.

Of course I could always go slower and enjoy a bit more of my first trip through Hoenn's routes, but I really wanted to make sure that I would be the first one to challenge the city Gym.

I was feeling somewhat bitter for leaving Neo's house so early, but since I hadn't managed to win my first badge yesterday, I couldn't afford to lose any more time.

I thought that Neo would understand my point of view and he knew that I was also excited to start my journey off with a bang.

I had been a bit depressed. After that loss at the Kanto Conference all the pressure from my mother and the Clan wasn't helping.

However, today none of that mattered. Once again, it would be only me and my Pokémon, trying our hardest to accomplish something big.

Due to my best friend, who had a database on his head instead of a brain, I was already briefed on my opponent's background.

Apparently, my opponent was a woman known as Rusty Rusky who specialized in steel types.

After a few years of training under Norman's guidance, she took his place. The fact that his son Ruby was missing made the famous Gym Leader retire from his duties. He started to help Neo's father in the search for the missing Dex Holders.

Neo also warned me that the new Gym leader always used Aggron and Empoleon when fighting against stronger trainers.

I wasn't really scared about Aggron or any other Pokémon with weakness against water since I had moves of that type at my disposal.

However, the fact that she had Empoleon on her team could mean trouble for my trump card, Charmeleon.

She probably had the water and steel Pokémon to counter the team's weakness against fire types.

I sighed to myself. Unfortunately, I wouldn't be able to sweep her team with my fire type advantage.

I was still going to use Charmeleon, though. I knew that the lizard was close to evolving since our last battle and I was hoping that today I would finally be able to achieve that.

With that in mind, I was pretty confident about today's battle.

After hearing Neo's Intel on the Gym leader, I was sure that I would manage to win my first badge.

I had to hold the urge of bursting out laughing when I remembered Neo's seriousness as he told me about the Gym leader.

His awkwardness with people hadn't changed at all, but somehow he seemed happier than before.

I was surprised by the small changes in Neo's behavior, especially when I noticed that he was starting to lose that blank gaze that he had back in Kanto.

After seeing his relationship with his aunt, I realized that the woman's pushy personality was able to break through Neo's uncaring side.

As I always imagined, my little bro only needed some love and attention, something that he had never experienced with his parents.

They were always away, busy with their own agenda.

This made Neo become cold, growing used to having no emotional attachments while being forced to look out for himself.

But what I had seen yesterday was a completely different person. This year that Neo spent with Mars really helped him heal some old wounds.

The ex-criminal also seemed to be very attached to her nephew and that was clear to me when we had that little chat time, just the two of us, in the living room.

She wouldn't stop asking me about Neo's relationship with his parents and his friends.

I noticed that she was worried that Neo always seemed lonely, and the fact that his family sent him away for stupid reasons was really hard for her to believe.

When I told her the details about his parents' absence and the fact that Neo was pretty much an unsociable person since his early childhood, who only seemed to enjoy observing trainer's battles and reading, Mars almost lost her head and that was when she started to drink like crazy.

Now remembering her reaction, it was pretty funny, but totally understandable. He always had it rough and Mars couldn't accept that.

This was one of the reasons that I decided to approach Neo back in Kanto. Somehow we were similar in terms of our family background and I started to feel like somehow, we could each help heal the other's wounds and grow to understand each other.

I shook my head, trying to drive these sad thoughts out, not wanting to ruin my excitement for my first battle in Hoenn.

After a few minutes of walking, my eyes caught sight of some rooftops and soon after I noticed the sign indicating that I was now entering Petalburg City.

I sighed in relief, happy that I finally managed to reach the city. Now I was feeling grateful that I managed to stay awake to hear Neo's long and detailed information.

Hoenn, Rustboro City, Lyon's POV

I still couldn't believe what happened yesterday.

I was planning on enjoying my day with the rest of my classmates, when suddenly I got dragged into the Gym to watch some beginner fight.

One of my friends was super excited, saying that there was something big going on. Apparently there was a new trainer challenging Rustboro's Gym and the battle was about to start.

"A battle on the first day of their journey? That's impossible!" I remember answering that in shock.

However, my curiosity got the best of me and I decided put my pride to the side and check out what was happening.

This beginner had me interested. Who would do something so reckless? The trainer had to be pretty strong and confident.

That was the only explanation that I could find. Even though I was reckless, I wouldn't dare to do such a thing, the day I had received my starter.

When I saw the one who was battling, I was sure that my face must have turned paper white. It was that damned Neo!

He was the one challenging the Gym. That long haired guy who always made me go nuts without trying.

The stoic bastard who claimed he didn't enjoyed battling, but always seemed to do great without even trying.

The loner who spent most of his time reading or quietly watching the others battle.

That always made me really mad. I always figured that he thought of us as nothing but losers and that was why he never even tried to communicate with us.

When I looked at him, he always seemed bored and whenever we tried to talk with him, he always answered shortly with no emotions whatsoever and he would return to his daydreaming as soon as possible.

At the gym, I was surprised once by Neo, and again by someone else.

Some seats to my right, there was a rising star from Kanto, the Dragon specialist Colt. I couldn't believe my eyes.

I was frozen in excitement. Was Colt going to participate in Hoenn's Conference?

If that was his reason for being here, then I might be able to face him in a battle.

I really liked how that sounded. The possibility of facing Lance's son in battle and maybe even befriending him. That would be an honor.

I joined him and introduced myself, hoping to make a first good impression.

As I thought, he was a really nice guy and he was also pretty friendly, but as soon as I talked to him about his performance in the last competition, his confidence suddenly disappeared.

Trying to ease the mood, I changed the subject and asked him why he was there, watching a newbie fight.

He answered that he was there to watch him. Him, Neo the purple haired brat.

I didn't want to believe this, but he then ended up explaining that he was good friends with the psychic specialist.

"You guys are friends? Seriously?" I remember asking in shock.

He then explained me a bit of their story. Apparently they went to the same school back in Kanto, and, thanks to Neo's weird fetish for watching people, they met each other.

He asked me if I knew him and I told him that we were classmates, but we didn't get along at all. In fact, I kind of hated him.

The following words that he traded with me were serious and his tone became harsh. I remembered flinching at them.

He told me that back in Kanto Neo used to be treated pretty roughly, due to his family's past, and that was why he grew to be cold and distrusting.

Now his words were still resonating in my head. I never had thought that Neo had had such a rough past, and, when I heard that even his family were almost strangers to him, I became to regret some of my actions.

Only some of them. He was still an ass for not trying to get along with everyone and it was pretty much his fault for being such a weirdo.

But that wasn't important now. I was just exiting my old school, with the Poké Ball of my starter in my hand.

I was still pretty shocked that I managed to graduate at my first try. The fact that I was also able to score enough points to choose a Tyrogue just seemed too perfect.

My grades weren't that great and I got in trouble often, due to my bad habit of getting into fights, with or without Pokémon.

I couldn't care less for that stuff now. School was over, I had my starter, and I was just about to do something crazy as well.

Seeing that Neo was able to gain his first Gym badge on his first day, I couldn't possibly stay behind him and that was why I was now sprinting towards the exact same Gym.

"Tch! I can't possibly stay behind him! I'm going to show that brat how real trainers battle!" I mumbled to myself, while tightly holding Tyrogue's Poké Ball.

Hoenn, Petalburg City, Colt's POV

After walking around for a while, the city had made me become somewhat disappointed.

Petalburg wasn't really that amazing. The city was somewhat plain just like Kanto's cities.

The only major difference were the multiple lakes spread around the city, which gave it a more tropical ambiance.

After making a sharp turn, while headed towards the building with the orange roof, I bumped into someone.

"I'm really sorry! I'm in a hurry, bye!" I shouted as I kept walking, noticing that the guy was still standing, if a bit dumbfounded, but I thought that he would be okay.

Finally reaching the city's Gym, I grinned in enthusiasm and decided to step inside.

Hoenn, Petalburg City, Dillon's POV

It was so early in the morning and I was still pretty tired, almost dragging my feet as I got off the bus.

"I really shouldn't have stayed awake for that long." I started to regret staying up past midnight just to watch my parents' idol show.

Thinking again on what I had said to myself, I came to the conclusion that I had no reason to blame the show for my lack of sleep.

I really missed my parents, Yancy and Curtis, but I also knew that this was their lifestyle and I respected them so much for being able to move everyone with their performance skills.

I wanted to be like them. I wanted to make others happy, while using my interviewing gift.

Soon after graduating with a score of 563, I received many invites from TV producers and I ended up accepting a proposal from a Hoenn channel that allowed me to travel around the region, while interviewing and analyzing various trainers and battlers.

This was just perfect for me. My dream of hosting my own show where I could interview my guests and act as a commentator in their battles was now close to become a reality.

The channel president also said that if I did well with my TV show, he would allow me to be one of the commentators during Hoenn's Conference.

This was just so unreal to me. My head was still somewhere above the clouds, floating around in happiness. I, Dillon, would become a TV start in the first year of my career. Sounded amazing, right?

Everything was so great. Too bad that yesterday I had missed the new trainer that won a Gym badge the day he received his first Pokémon.

I was still depressed about this. "How come I missed this chance?" I kept asking myself, as I wondered how amazing it would be to make my first interview with such an interesting person.

Neo was the guy's name. When I heard the descriptions from the spectators I interviewed, the description matched exactly that one guy that was sitting quietly a couple of seats ahead of me, during the starters' selection.

When I dug some more into this guy's past, I found out that he was actually son of some well-known figures from Kanto and Johto.

This surprised me a lot. If I had noticed him earlier, yesterday I could have started my show with his interview.

Not only this, but I also found out that Lance's kid and Brawly's nephew were there watching Neo's battle.

This development was too good and unfortunately for me it also happened when I was busy in a boring meeting with the directors.

I would pay just to record some of those moments of those three rising stars.

People also seemed excited after hearing my news on what happened after Neo's battle. Apparently they became interested in knowing more about these three guys.

This was perfect. I had my audience excited and wanting to see my interviews on trainers like those three.

My show would definitely grow to be famous, since people always loved to watch gossip content, and if I was to add some battle action to it, the results would be even better.

I couldn't help but smile to myself, as I kept roaming through Petalburg, hoping that my deduction would pay off.

Getting access to some private information, I learnt that Neo was now living in Oldale and there were witnesses that had seen him, Colt and a girl taking a bus for that location.

Assuming that the experienced Colt didn't want to waste any time, I was counting on seeing him challenge this city's Gym today.

In my backpack was my favorite possession, my video camera.

Today, I wasn't going to miss my chance. I would definitely interview Colt and film his battle.

Being distracted with my thoughts, I suddenly felt my body collide with something. Someone had bumped into me.

The blue haired guy that bumped into me quickly apologized and kept running forward.

"Why is he running so early in the morning? Damn!" I mumbled to myself as I checked my back to see if my camera was okay.

Looking at my reflection in a shop window, I quickly adjusted my outfit. I needed to look good in case if I needed to start recording.

My pink shirt was a bit messy and my waistcoat was also out of place. Fortunately for me, my white jeans and pink shoes were still stainless and my hair was still looking cool.

Finishing my adjustments, I suddenly became aware of something. "Wait a second... didn't that guy have blue hair… just like Colt's?" I thought to myself as my brain finally awakened from its sleepy state.

"It has to be him! He's headed to the Gym! I have to hurry!" I shouted in distress as I dashed towards the Gym, hoping that I could find a seat to watch and record his battle.

Well guys this is it! I must apologize for not including a battle scene in this chapter, but I decided to build some more background on the three main characters for this Hoenn story: Neo, Colt and Lyon. I'm also trying to come up with good ideas to introduce all the new OC's, but I can't do that in one-shot, so you guys will have to be patient if your character is not having enough screen time.

Believe me when I tell you that I've been really busy with university/college stuff and both Rin and I are trying our best to come up with material for you guys, as fast as we can!

For this reason, I've decided to start updating more frequently using chapter with less words: probably around 2k.

Now I know what you guys are thinking: "But Captspeed! That's probably half of what you used to upload!" "The chapters will be lacking content and the story will be rushed!"

Something along those lines xD But as you guys noticed, I usually divide the chapters in 4 POV scenes (around 1/2k words each) and thanks to that I'll be able to transform easily the long chapters in to multiple small ones, which will allow me and Rin - my beta - to work and upload content faster.

I hope that you guys are not against this idea. I also wanted to tell you guys that I already made my mind about the objective for the bad guys. For those who paid attention on the introducing chapters, I've foreshadowed some of my intentions for this group and I finally decided that their goal will be to take down the League, in order to fix the messed up stuff.

1) Soon I'll tease you guys about the bad guys using Alpha, Omega and Delta! Those are good code names right? ;)

2) Are you hyped to read Colt and Lyon's battle? What do you think of these two characters so far?

3) Neo is also about to leave home as well and hopefully he'll get some action soon! What do you think of his personality and family background? Hopefully he isn't too boring with his awkward personality and lack of social interaction. When I thought of this char I pictured him being an autistic child that is only comfortable expressing himself when Pokémon are involved - I guess we can call him a Pokédere; that's new and I like it xD As an author, his analytical attitude and his constant inner thoughts are very helpful for me to build the plot and I grew to love this char.

Sorry for all this A/N spam, but this is the easiest way for me to contact all of you guys and hopefully get some feedback in return :D

If you enjoy SYOC stories give 666funtimes and sonofthetrigod some support by creating some characters for their work :)