--- Disturbance, Book 3: Endurance ---
Chapter E12 - The Four Horsemen
Disclaimer: The fun about this sentence is that by the time you realise it doesn't say anything, it's too late to stop reading it. Also: See first chapter.
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-By the last breath of the fourth winds blow-
-Better raise your ears-
-The sound of hooves knocks at your door-
For a precious few seconds, all was quiet on the Kai's home world, save for the low rumble of the occasional loose rock falling, to land on Buu's current resting place. The silence was irrevocably broken, however, by the pink explosion heralding Bur's freedom from his earthly prison, as he shouted his name to the heavens, loud enough to shake the very planet they stood on.
Scowling in disgust, Pi remarked dryly, "Is he always on?"
"Here he comes," Kaen commented, wasting no time in flaring into Super Saiyan, as Buu took off like a rocket towards them. He held his hands up as though praying, a small flame bursting into life on the ground before them, and, mere seconds before Buu reached them, he threw his hands out to either side, the small flame erupting into a massive wall of fire, encircling the five Saiyans.
Buu, it seemed, didn't feel particularly threatened by this wall of flame, and continued barrelling towards them. The creature was therefore surprised when, upon reaching the wall, he splattered against it like a bug hitting a windshield at high speeds.
Gohan blinked once in shock, an action echoed by his father and Vegeta, before asking, "How long will that hold him?"
Kaen grimaced as he stepped away from the wall. "At the level I was when I cast it? Not long. Hell, I'm a little surprised it worked at all, but I figured it was worth a shot."
"Let's not waste this chance then," Pi quipped, walking forward, as the five Saiyans fell into line. A grin on her face, she shouted, "Well boys, let's FIRE IT UP!"
-Lock up your wife and children now-
-Its time to wield the blade-
-For now you have got some company-
Once again, all was silent for the briefest of seconds, save for the crackle of the nearby wall of fire, and the low whistle of the wind, slowly rising. Then, five simultaneous battle roars erupted from Saiyan mouths, auras of power flaring into life around them, as Earth's last stand brought their strength to the fore.
Powering up to her maximum, Pi was only half surprised to find she could ascend beyond the base level of Super Saiyan; she had, after all, gone Super Saiyan Two as Paine, so her mind obviously remembered how to do it. As she approached her new limit, one she subconsciously recognized as the third level, she noticed with some horror that Kaen was still powering up.
Clenching his fists tighter, Kaen ignored the shouted warnings in his mind, courtesy of his worried mate, silencing them with a single thought, 'If my death is what it takes to defeat Buu and keep you and my family safe, I'll pay it willingly.'
Paying the Saiyan couple to his right no mind, Gohan focused on two things, and nothing else: summoning his latent power, and keeping an eye on Buu. It had taken the creature twenty seconds to reconstruct after his spectacular crash, then another ten to realise the wall grew taller as he flew higher, to keep him out. Since then, however, he had been pounding at the shield, trying to break through, and the half-Saiyan knew it was only a matter of time.
As it turned out, he needn't have worried, as, when Kaen exploded into Super Saiyan Three, he did so quite literally, sending out a shockwave of energy that sent Buu reeling back a few feet, before the wall of flame died.
Looking to either side, Gohan felt a smirk come to his face, one mirrored by the four full-blooded Saiyans. It was poetic how they were lined up in a scale of power, and being flanked by two level two and two level three super Saiyans, and being just that little bit stronger than them, made Gohan feel like Death himself.
Smirks fully entrenched, the five Saiyans blasted into the air. The warm up round was over. The battle for the fate of the universe had officially begun.
-The horsemen are drawing nearer-
-On the leather steeds they ride-
-They have come to take your life-
One after another, four golden comets launched towards Majin Buu, trailed by the blue-wreathed Gohan. Vegeta, the first to take off, charged ki in both his hands, launching a series of blasts at Buu as he approached. Confident in his power, Majin Buu did nothing to stop the blasts, some going errant, but most striking his body, blasting small chunks and craters in his putty-like body. He was unprepared, then, when Vegeta suddenly blurred forward, right hand glowing brightly with golden energy, and slammed said golden blast directly into Buu's face.
The ki ball exploded on contact, burning out Buu's eyes, and creating a significant smoke cloud even should he regenerate them. Screaming wildly, Buu lashed out at Vegeta, the first few swings going wide before the monster caught a lucky break, batting the prince away with a wide-swung forearm. Dealing with Vegeta, however, left him wide open for the next assailant.
Fists coated in pulsing green ki, Pi charged into the opening Vegeta left, showing surprising speed even for her as she hammered Buu's torso repeatedly with a series of rapid punches. Just as Buu recovered enough to start to block her, she phased behind him, pounding where his kidneys would've been, before phasing in front of him again and slamming him over the head with her clenched hands, sending the monster careening to the ground.
His downwards descend was abruptly halted by a beam of red energy blasting into his chest, driving him back up again, before a second impacted his back on the direct opposite side, pinning him in place. As the beams detonated, Kaen charged into the dust cloud, ki blades at the ready, and slashed Buu's back and chest almost at random. After a few seconds of this, he released his hold on the ki, throwing them to stab into Buu's shoulders, and throwing his hands out to either side, gathering energy, before firing off his trademark Inferno Blast, and sending Buu skyward bound again.
Next to enter the fray was Goku, phasing in behind Buu and driving both feet into the monster's back, which, combined with the blast still driving him upwards, bent the monster around Goku's feet before the blast faded away, and Buu fell limply from the sky. Phasing in front of him again, Goku drove his fist into Buu's already battered gut, slamming him repeatedly with a short series of punches, before finishing with a combined elbow in the back and knee in the stomach, and let the monster fall once more.
Observing all of this was Gohan. The youngest of the five, Gohan had neither the experience, nor the knowledge that came from several decades (or more) of combat, but what he lacked, he made up for many times over with two things: power, and precision. That, and a knack for improvisation.
Charging ki into his hand, he slammed an open palm into Buu's chest, right where the monster's ribcage would've been had the creature had one, and unleashed a torrent of unstable energy directly into Buu's frame. Drawing his other fist back, as Buu thrashed about like he'd been hooked up to a power line, Gohan delivered a single, powerful punch to Buu's torso, sending the creature skyward for all of three seconds, before phasing behind him and lashing out with a punishing kick. Battered and dazed, the creature sailed uncontrollably through the air, slamming into, and through, a distant mountain, which collapsed around him.
-On through the dead of night-
-With the four horsemen ride-
-Or choose your fate and die-
The dust hadn't even begun to settle around Majin Buu's resting place when an echoed cry of "Gallic Gun!" rang out across the land, and a pair of rich purple ki beams lanced towards Buu at high speed, courtesy of Kaen and Vegeta. The two blasts drew nearer to each other as they closed on their target, first swirling around each other when they came within a foot, then finally merging into one massive beam, just 5 seconds short of their target.
As the double Gallic Gun buried itself into the rubble that was once a majestic mountain, there was a brief flash, before a massive cross-shaped explosion rocked the planet, the three prongs of the cross blasting out the other side. There was even a fifth prong blasting upwards, and it was on this final beam that the burnt remains of Majin Buu were carried out of its rocky prison.
As the blast faded, there was a brief moment when Buu's body let gravity take hold, slowly plummeting back to the ground, before the creature suddenly regenerated to as-new again, glaring balefully at the four Saiyans. It had just enough time to realise there should have been a fifth Saiyan when Goku appeared behind him, two fingers still touching his forehead, and bicycle kicked the creature in what should have been it's spine.
Growling like an animal, Buu spun around to meet this new threat head on, but before so much as a single punch could be thrown, he was struck in the back again, this time by Gohan teleporting behind him using his own Instant Transmission. Father and son began taking turns to pummel Majin Buu, striking the monster on both sides with powerful blows as Buu struggled to fend off both attackers at once. Due to his inherit elasticity, however, the fight soon started turning against the two Saiyans.
Holding one arm out like a cradle, or a step, Pi coated said arm in a mass of green ki, building her strength. When the moment was just right, Kaen leapt up on her arm, and the girl launched him at Buu at speeds almost unheard of by anyone bar Gohan; the half-blood teen had always been the fastest of the group. Due to the fact he wasn't flying under his own power, however, Majin Buu didn't notice the approaching Saiyan until Goku and Gohan dove to either side.
Half a second before Kaen made contact, he flared into his fiery form, the massive gout of flame tearing through Buu's torso, and reducing everything between his shoulder blades and upper thigh into ash. As the severed legs fell back to the ground, Kaen reformed behind the monster, grinning when he saw that all that remained of the evil bubblegum golem was the head, and the barely-attached arms.
Roaring in defiance, Buu reformed the entirety of it's body with an audible pop, venting steam for all of a second before he was stopped abruptly by a Big Bang Attack wiping out everything from the stomach up, poetically destroying everything Kaen had failed to a minute ago. Buu, of course, regenerated once more, screaming his name to the heavens before launching himself at the closest Saiyan.
-You have been dying since the day you were born-
-You know it has all been planned-
-The quartet of deliverance rides-
"Wow, they're really tearing thing up down there," Dende commented, a look wavering between smile and smirk on his face. "I hate to say it guys, but I don't think your planet's gonna survive to talk about it."
Elder waved the comment away. "Oh pish posh, the Planet of the Kais is made of sturdier stuff than that. Besides, a planet is a small price to pay for destroying Majin Buu once and for all."
There were a few moments of silence, before Shin muttered distractedly, mostly to himself, "I don't understand it... How can they work that well together?"
"What do you mean boy?" Elder asked curiously.
Shin flushed, obviously not aware he'd spoken out loud, before replying, "I just... I just don't get how the Saiyans can be working together so effectively. I mean, I've seen them in action before, while we were in Babidi's ship, but that was like watching amateurs at work compared to what we're seeing now; they were fighting amongst themselves almost as much as against Babidi's henchmen."
"Well, to be honest Supreme Kai - err, Kais - that's not a fair judge of their skill," Dende replied quickly.
"What do you mean Dende?" Shin asked, before amending, "And just call me 'Shin', it's easier that way."
"Err, okay." 'Now, how do I explain this...' Dende mused to himself, before quickly realising all the Kais before him bar perhaps Kibito could read minds. Rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly, especially at the amused grin on Elder's face, the young Namek stated, "Last time you saw them, they weren't exactly in their ideal working environment."
At the blank looks he received, Dende sighed, continuing, "Look, you'd just recruited them from a friendly competition, and told them that they were needed to save the world from the master of Yamu and Spopovich, two people who's powers were pathetically miniscule compared to theirs. That wouldn't exactly have inspired them to try too hard."
With a helpless shrug, he added, "Also, no offence, you and Kibito saying this Majin Buu was stronger than you also didn't help, because even the weakest of them was stronger than you." Kibito opened his mouth, probably to protest, when Dende cut him off with, "Gohan and Kaen knocked you and Shin on your ass, in their base form, with a single punch. With them being from a race where strength determines important, you can't have expected them to take you seriously after that."
-A sinner once a sinner twice-
-No need for confession now-
-Cause now you have got the fight of your life-
Blinking a bit, Shin translated what he'd been told slowly. "So you're saying, they acted the way they did because they didn't take me seriously?"
"Basically, yeah," Dende shrugged again. "Compared to them, you were weak, and Babidi's henchmen were weak, the strongest being Dabura, a being even Kaen or Pi could've beaten if they'd been trying, so they didn't take the threat of Majin Buu very seriously." Smiling a little, the demigod added, "If it makes you feel any better, it's not you; they acted much the same way about Cell and the androids, and it took them losing to take things seriously. It's just that their loss against Buu was much more... dramatic."
Nodding slightly, the (former?) Supreme Kai replied, "Okay, I can understand that they're normally more professional in battle than their previous behaviour would dictate, but that still doesn't fully explain just how well they're working together now."
The Kai stared at the fight in the crystal ball for a moment, before adding, "Kaen and Pi working together efficiently I expect; they've been training together forever, and have a permanent psychic link. Goku and Gohan working together well I could accept, giving again that Goku trained his son. But to my understanding, none of them have really trained that closely with Vegeta; he doesn't strike me as the type to allow it. And Goku and Pi have never trained together! They should not be able to work together this well; it's impossible!"
Dende opened his mouth to comment, before closing it again, a frown forming. "That's true..." He mused, "Even elite soldiers still need to communicate through radios or hand signals or something."
Elder smiled knowingly. "Who said they're not?"
-The horsemen are drawing nearer-
-On the leather steeds they ride-
-They have come to take your life-
A fact known the universe over was that the Saiyan race were warriors by blood, extremely militant, and prior to the Aisu uprising, without peer. They prided themselves on being the strongest, the best of the best the universe had to offer. A lesser-known fact was that the Saiyan race also prided themselves on their intellectual strength. Roughly a quarter of all Saiyans chose the path of the scholar over that of the soldier, and they were among the brightest minds in history. And it was this innate strength of mind that led to a third, rarely known fact; so rare, in fact, that less than one percent of the Saiyans themselves knew about it.
Every Saiyan, from the moment of their birth to the time they died, was latently psychic; a fact that should have been more obvious given the mating bond. Very few Saiyans, however, ever managed to tap into this potential save for said bond, as they tended to focus on strength of the body over looking into strengthening their minds. There was, however, one bloodline who were always taught about this ability, and how to harness it to its best effect: the Vegeta line.
As a newly regenerated Buu screamed towards Kaen's back, the prince's eyes flashed briefly, and the monster was intercepted by a green comet, Pi's ki-wreathed fist pulverising Buu's stomach and breaking the monster in half. His eyes flashed again, seconds before the severed torso was incinerated by two Kamehameha waves slamming into each other, as Kaen spun around and fired his Chaos Inferno, meeting Vegeta's own Final Flash in destroying the severed legs.
It became swiftly obvious why the Vegeta line were always taught to harness not only their own psychic potential, but also the potential of those around them; when it came time for the royals themselves to fight, the ability to direct their troupes both silently, and with flawless precision, was invaluable.
The pink smoke that Buu was reduced to reformed swiftly, and was instantly forced to dive out of the way of a Big Bang Attack. As an angered Buu charged the prince, Kaen held his hands before him, forming an orange ball of ki about the size of a melon, before leaning back and raising it over his head. The ball of ki inflated to the width of a bus in half a second, before he launched the attack with a cry of "Terra Destroyer!" The monster's eyes widened in shock at the size of the attack, halting his charge, and seconds later all that remained were the shoes.
Gohan balked as the explosion rocked the planet violently, yet Kaen didn't even seem winded, instead looking proud, and a tad wistful. "Where the hell did you get the energy for that?"
"The planet," he replied simply. "Don't have time to explain now, but if I do it too often, the planet dies." He grinned slightly. "So I try to make it count."
-On through the dead of night-
-With the four horsemen ride-
-Or choose your fate and die-
Further explanation was cut off when Buu returned once more, though it wasn't just one Buu that reformed, but five mini-Buus, each selecting a separate Saiyan to fight. Unprepared for the sudden change, the group of warriors were quickly forced onto the defensive, though this was easier for some than others.
Goku and Gohan both were easily strong enough to fend off the mini-Buu assaulting them; with his power divided amongst five equal clones, each mini-Buu was roughly as strong as the Gotenks-absorbed Super Buu. Kaen, too, was easily able to fight his assailant, but Pi was having a harder time, being slightly weaker than the creature; however, Kaen took it upon himself to assist his mate, and together the two were unstoppable.
Which left Vegeta to fend for himself.
Normally, Vegeta would probably have been able to beat back the Buu through the strength of his rage alone, despite being physically weaker, but with a fragment of his consciousness in the minds of the four other Saiyans to maintain the psychic link, Vegeta was very swiftly overwhelmed. One well-placed kick to the back later, there was a sickening crack, as Vegeta let out a howl of pain, his mind receding again as he fell to the ground.
"Vegeta!" The four cried out, quickly destroying their opponent before rushing to the prince's aid. Catching the falling prince as gently as possible, Gohan set him on the ground, remarking, "His back's broken.
"I'm on it," Pi replied, kneeling down and placing her hands over Vegeta's chest, her palms glowing green. After a few moments of this, however, she withdrew her hands again, adding softly, "It's not working. I can't heal him. Why isn't it working?"
"It's not working because he's already dead," Kaen replied just as softly. "Your healing technique works off restoring and manipulating the body's chi energy, which Vegeta doesn't have."
"Don't worry about me," the fallen prince forced through grit teeth, "You must destroy Majin Buu, before he kills us all."
"But how do we do that?" Goku asked almost helplessly. "He keeps getting stronger by the minute."
Kaen closed his eyes, taking a deep, calming breath, before opening them again. "We work together."
-Time-
-Has taken its toll on you-
-The lines that crack your face-
His eyes flashing red briefly, Gohan nodded once, crouching down and clenching his fists. With a roar of "Kaioken!" Gohan's aura exploded into a deep crimson, moments before he vanished from sight. Within half a heartbeat, violent shock waves tore through the air, as countless unseen blows rocked Buu's body. Even to Goku and Kaen's Super Saiyan Three enhanced eyes, the teen appeared as nothing more than a faint red blur.
"Hellzone Grenade!" Within five seconds, the sky was filled with stationary energy blasts, tightly packed enough and high enough in volume to block out the sun for a half-mile radius. Phasing back in on the ground, in the exact same spot he'd recently vacated. Smirking as the crimson aura gutted out, Gohan enjoyed the look of panic on the surrounded Buu's face a little more than he possibly should, before closing his fist, and the sky lit up with fire as the blasts converged.
-Famine-
-Your body it has torn through-
-Withered in every place-
Before the light could begin to fade, Goku pressed two fingers to his forehead, before teleporting high above the planet. Cupping his hands by his side, the newly revived Saiyan began charging his trademark technique, blue energy gathering between his hands as he chanted slowly, "Kaaaaa... Meeeee... Haaaaa... Meeeee..."
Majin Buu, however, was having nothing of it. Screaming a warcry, the monster erupted from the still smouldering explosion, smoke trailing off the parts of his putty flesh still burning. Charging ki in both hands, the evil golem fully intended to blow Goku's head clear off his body.
A heartbeat before Buu's fists could impact Goku's body, the Saiyan vanished. Reappearing behind Buu, Goku threw one hand out, the amassed ki held within in, while the other hand still held two fingers to his forehead. "HA!" A short burst of blue ki blasted from the ball, before Goku vanished again. Reappearing on Buu's left side, he released another pulse of energy before disappearing again, continuing this trend until the sky was once again awash with ki, though blue now instead of yellow."
-Pestilence-
-For what you have had to endure-
-And what you have put others through-
Closing her eyes, Pi sank down on to one knee planting her opposite hand on the grassy plain before her. Gathering strength from the planet itself, she shouted, "Titan's Dirge!" before her body was flooded with earthen ki, to the point where she began glowing green; an astute observer might've noticed similar effects to Kaen's Overheat technique. Fuelled by the rage of the planet, that this monster might tread its hallowed soil, Pi rocketed towards Buu, hammering him again and again with earth-shaking blows.
She leapt up her assault for just long enough to be sure that everyone else had cleared enough area around her, before preparing her latest devastating technique. Drawing in vast amounts of air, she subconsciously coated her eardrums with a shield of ki, to protect herself from the effects of her own attack; at the back of her mind, she hoped the others had done the same. Opening her mouth, Pi whispered the name of her technique, Cry of the Ancients, before a piercing wail erupted from her throat.
An earthquake occurs when tectonic plates on a planet's surface collide and grind against each other. Now imagine that happening to every single molecule in your body; painful, no? Buu didn't have to imagine, as he was rocked, twisted and warped by the attack, an attack that destabilised him completely; it was only through sheer, evil will that he hadn't been reduced to a puddle of pink goo by now. Had she used this technique so much as ten minutes ago, before Buu's power had risen, it might have at the very least bought them a healthy chunk of time.
The reason she didn't? It would also do the same thing to anything in the cone of effect. So it was fortunate that Buu was in the air above her.
-Death-
-Deliverance for you for sure-
-There is nothing you can do-
Clenching his fists, Kaen's body began pulsing a rich orange, as he activated one of the techniques he'd recently... borrowed, from Pi's mind, when the two had been merged as one. "Haste!" A little complex in nature, yet still the simplest of the time tricks Pi had thought of, it could basically be explained as speeding up his personal time. The end result was similar to a speed boost, though the increase would be far beyond what his body was used to. In other words, use it too long, and bad things happen.
Wasting no time, Kaen blurred forward, slamming his fists and feet into Buu's partially liquid form with what could only be described as urgent brutality. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself harder, faster, until his limbs became a blur even to himself, and by the time even he registered striking Buu, he'd already done so five more times. But he was tiring fast.
By the time his strikes were up past the ten hits per heartbeat rate, he knew it was time to end it fast. With one final, decisive strike, Kaen charged the largest ki blast he could in the short time he had available, before slamming the ki bomb inside Buu's already vastly weakened chest. The net result? Buu's battered body exploded violently, scattering bits of Buu across the plains.
-So gather round young warriors now-
-And saddle up your steeds-
-Killing scores with demon swords-
Appearing back with the others, Kaen dropped to his knees, gasping in precious oxygen for a few minutes before remarking, "Wow, I shouldn't have done that..." The 'that' in question could have been one of two separate things: trying to use his meagre telepathic skills to pick up the connection Vegeta had abruptly broken, and speeding up his personal time to beat the shit out of Buu. While the first had only met with marginal success, with Kaen able to implant a single instruction, it was the second he regretted most, despite its overwhelming success.
Passing her mate some of her own energy to help recharge him faster, Pi merely quirked an eyebrow, asking, "Then why did you?"
He grinned tiredly. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
Any retort she might have given was cut off as the very planet began to shake, moments before an ear-splitting shriek of "BUUUUUUU!" echoed across the land
"Oh fuck me sideways..." The other three stared incredulously at the speaker for a moment; Gohan never swore! But then, this was a special occasion... "Well," the teen continued, "Looks like Plan 'A' is a bust."
"I was afraid it would be," Kaen grimaced, glancing at his mate before asking, "Code Boom?"
She nodded once. "Code Boom." Closing their eyes, the three younger Saiyans sent out the signal.
-Now is the death of doers of wrong-
-Swing the judgment hammer down-
-Safely inside armour blood guts and sweat-
"'Code Boom'?" Shin parroted curiously, turning towards the late Earth's guardian. "What's Code Boom?"
Dende blinked for a second, before realising that the Kai was asking him directly, instead of just asking the room. "Why're you looking at me?"
Shin shrugged. "You do seem to know the most here about Saiyans, this group especially."
Shrugging helplessly back, the minor God replied, "Sorry. I'm just as in the dark here as you are."
"Hmm..." Elder mused, one hand resting on his chin. "It would appear those younglings put a bit more planning in this than we first thought." Turning to Dende, the ancient Kai asked, "Do they have any allies left that might be able to assist in a 'Code Boom'-type plan?"
"Kellre and Avarrdo," Dende answered immediately, "Though I doubt they'd be able to get such a plan to Otherworld." Shrugging again, he added, "Everyone else I can think of would either be on the ship, which they can't bring here, or on Earth, which was destroyed, and without the Dragon Balls..." He trailed off suddenly as a thought occurred to him, muttering, "No way, they wouldn't..."
"Wouldn't what?" Shin asked.
Dende just grinned, his eyes lighting up in hope. "Trust me Supreme Kais, if I'm right, this fight is only just getting started."
-The horsemen are drawing nearer-
-On the leather steeds they ride-
-They have come to take your life-
"So, it's time then?" A gruff, male voice commented slowly.
"It would seem so," a soothing, female voice replied, sounding a touch helpless. "Do you remember the plan?"
The male snorted slightly, as if amused, or perhaps offended, that she thought he might not. "Of course I do," he answered regardless.
She grinned slightly, brushing her hair behind her with one hand as she gestured with the other. "Well then, let's begin."
He snorted slightly again, this time clearly in amusement, as he cast his gaze on the crowd assembled around them. "This makes twice in one year," he commented dryly, "I'm really getting soft."
She giggled slightly. "Nothing wrong with that. At least now, you're even."
Nodding slightly, he took three steps closer, approaching the seven pulsing crystal balls, each the size of a large melon. Bearing a striking resemblance to Piccolo, though more aged, the Namek known as Flute held his hands out to the balls before him, shouting, "Ancient Dragon! By your name I summon you forth: Porunga!"
-On through the dead of night-
-With the four horsemen ride-
-Or choose your fate and die-
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Author's notes:
This chapter should so have been finished a week ago, if not two. However, work plus World of Warcraft plus Saint's Row 2 equals not a lot of time to actualy write. Annoyingly, unless I burn up all my holiday time, or get the last 8 chapters written really quickly, I won't be finished this year like I wanted. Oh well...