Chapter 19: The Real Monsters

Day had soon given way to night, the humans fell asleep rather quickly, all the excitement from yesterday having sapped every bit of their energy it seemed, but we Digimon had managed to stay awake, and had a bit of a meeting of our own.

Psychemon and I had begun to tell the others of our encounters with Examon, it turned out the others had similar discussions, the oddest part was he had asked each and every one of us about our opinions on humans, "It seems like such a strange thing to focus on, I mean, what answer did he expect from us?" I pointed out.

Hawkmon thought it over for a moment, "Perhaps he just wants to gain our insight, humans have never been to the Digital World before now after all, so he might just be curious," He theorized, it was a fair enough explanation, but something in my gut told me there was more to it than that.

It seemed I wasn't the only one who thought so, "I think it's more likely he's trying to find out where we stand on humans," Okamon said, causing everyone to turn in his direction, "Let's not forget, the Digimon King was human too, it's very possible he might still hold a grudge," He added.

That changed the tempo of the conversation very quickly, if Examon turned on us, we might not be able to fight him off, he was a Mega Level after all, and the highest any of us could go was Champion. It was hard not to worry about that, especially after what happened with Datamon, I almost lost Jason back there, and I didn't want to go through that again.

Gaomon shook his head, "We shouldn't assume the worst Okamon, I think Hawkmon's theory is more likely," He said, although the tone of his voice suggested he was more trying to convince himself than us, Gaomon himself had almost lost Ethan at Buraimon's village, so I doubted Gaomon wanted to consider the idea of Examon turning on us any more than I did.

We suddenly stopped when we heard the sounds of bare feet walking across stone, it was a Dracomon holding a torch in his hand, "Shouldn't you guys be in bed?" He asked, more confused than angry given his tone, we all sat there in silence for a while, not sure what to tell the dragon Digimon.

But Okamon decided to be the one to break the silence, "We're standing guard, no offense but the safety of our partners is not something we like to risk," He explained, he wasn't wrong, but I doubted that would sit well with him since we basically just told him we didn't trust his king.

But the Dracomon seemed to take it well, "I understand, but the king has an issue with people roaming the halls at night, it makes him… uneasy," Dracomon explained, funny, he never mentioned this to us.

But it was best not to tempt fate, we all agreed to head back into the chambers, but Dracomon stopped us, "Actually, lord Examon told me he wanted you to be in the opposite chambers," He said, okay that was suspicious! Examon wanted us separated from our partners for some reason.

I turned around and glared at Dracomon, causing him to tense up a bit, "And why is that exactly? You trying to separate us from our partners?" I asked rather harshly, the others seemed to feel the same way as they all surrounded him.

However, "Actually, it's more that Lord Examon wants everyone to be well rested when they leave tomorrow, and well, it's easier to get a good night's rest in a soft bed than the hard stone floor," He said.

He wasn't wrong, but I was perfectly fine sleeping on the floor, I didn't need to be pampered! "Besides, you won't be far from your friends, they'll be on the opposite side of the wall, so if anything happens, you won't be far," Dracomon added, clearly frightened that we would attack him.

I felt Gaomon put a gloved hand on my shoulder, "He has a point Commandramon, besides, he's right, we won't be far," He said, I really didn't like this, but I wasn't exactly willing to defy the dragon king either, it was better for everyone's safety that we stayed on his good side.

And with that, we all headed into our chambers, the room itself was exactly the same as the ones our human friends occupied, same design and similar beds, we each took one, "I still don't like this, it seems like a long way to go just to get us a good night's rest," I pointed out.

Hawkmon however, shot me his usual warm smile, "You worry too much Commandramon, our friends aren't that far, I'm sure if something happens, we'll know about it," He said, trying to reassure me, I didn't buy it, something fishy was going on here.

But the discussion was tabled in favor of resting our tired bodies, it wasn't long before we found ourselves falling to sleep one by one, between all the fighting we'd been doing that day and the softness of the beds we laid in, staying awake had quickly become a losing battle.

Meanwhile…

I sat alone in my throne room, the castle was lit only by the torches that hung on the walls, giving off their subtle warmth and small light. I soon saw one of my Dracomon approach me, "Is it done? Are they asleep?" I asked him.

He nodded, "They're in separate chambers from their humans, just as you've requested Lord Examon," He said, I couldn't help but let a smile grow across my face, everything was going according to plan, I had reservations about what I was about to do to them, but I knew once I explained everything they'd understand.

"Then you know what to do," I told Dracomon, he bowed before running off to carry out the next part of my plan…

Later that Night…

"Commandramon! Hey! HEY!"

I grumbled, I wasn't done recharging yet, but whoever was speaking was desperately trying to wake me up. My internal clock told me it was three in the morning, not exactly a good time to wake up, but the shaking persisted. "Commandramon! It's important!" The voice was clearly Psychemon's, it never took much to panic him did it?

I'd best humor him by at least asking him what his problem was, I opened my eyes and turned in his direction, "What is it Psychemon?" I asked him, my body wasn't fully awake yet, as my eyes still felt a bit heavy, if it wasn't for my cybernetics I probably wouldn't have been nearly as aware as I was right now.

Psychemon looked behind him, as if checking to see if we were being listened in on before explaining himself, "They're gone! All of them!" He said.

My eyes shot open wide, "Gone? What do you mean gone?!" I asked, I felt that same panic I felt back at the factory begin to wash over me again, I was hoping against all hope I was misinterpreting what he was saying, that Jason and his friends were fine.

But… "I went to check on Kate and… when I got into their room, it was empty! No one was there! Someone took them, I know it!" Psychemon said, going into a panic, and I wasn't too far behind to be honest, it was as I feared, someone had captured our human friends right under our noses!

I quickly got out of my bed, "I knew we shouldn't have trusted that Dracomon!" I said, grabbing my gun, "I was right, there's something going on here, and we're going to find out what it is and get our friends back!" I said.

Me and Psychemon got everyone else up and out of bed, explaining to each of them what had happened, they each took it differently.

Hawkmon was in denial, claiming they might have just left to get a midnight snack or something.

Gaomon was furious, demanding we go and quote; "Beat that overgrown iguana into a fine paste".

And Okamon seemed bothered but kept his composure, claiming we needed to play this smart if we didn't want to risk their lives.

I was in agreement with Okamon, I was of course frightened for Jason's safety, but Okamon was right that we needed to keep our heads if we were going to find them.

However, Gaomon of course, didn't like this plan, "I'm not going to sit here while Ethan is in danger, or worse possibly dying! We need to find them now!" He barked, Gaomon was always high strung, especially when Ethan was in danger, so this outburst was expected, but we needed to get him to play along or we'd risk losing all of them! If even one died here I'd never forgive myself.

I put a hand on Gaomon's shoulder, "We're going to rescue them Gaomon, we just need to make sure we play this the right way, Examon is a powerful Digimon, if we screw this up we won't be able to save any of them," I said, trying to get him to see things our way.

Gaomon went to argue, but whatever argument he had got lost in his throat as he relented and agreed to go along with our strategy.

We all left our chambers after that, I knew exactly what we were doing, we were going to find a Dracomon, and press him for info, Dracomon would be a much easier Digimon to interrogate than Examon, being the same level as us and all.

It didn't take long for us to find one, standing guard in front of a door, Okamon wasted no time, grabbing him by the throat and pinning him to the wall, "Where are they? Don't try to act coy or anything we know it was one of you!" He snarled at the helpless dragon Digimon.

The Dracomon squirmed around, desperately trying to free itself to no avail, "Th… the trophy room!… gak! They're in the trophy room! At the far east end on the castle!" He strained, Okamon violently tossed him into a nearby pillar, knocking him out cold.

We all rushed to the trophy room, with any luck, they'd all still be alive! Okamon ripped the door open and we all rushed inside to quite a shocking sight.

The room was filled with Digimon frozen in stone, all of which looked terrified beyond belief, "Wh… what is this?!" I stammered, why would he have all these?

"We have bigger problems, look," Okamon said, I detected a hint of worry in his voice, we all rushed to his location to find… oh no…

There, in glass chambers, laid each of our partners, slowly being turned to stone as they lay unconscious. No… NO! I won't allow this to happen! Not to him! I began to slam the butt of my rifle against the glass of Jason's chamber, desperate to get him free, but the glass refused to budge, no matter how hard I swung. "Commandramon! COMMANDRAMON! Stop it!" I heard Hawkmon say before he grabbed me from behind, dragging me away from Jason, "There's no point! It's not going to give, and even if it did..." He said, clearly fighting back tears.

I managed to wrench myself free of Hawkmon's grip, "Why?! Why is he doing this?! Why does everyone we encounter try to kill us?!" I screamed, slamming my fist onto the stone floor.

"Like they could save us..."

We all turned to see Examon himself approach us, "Rex Nexion has tormented the Digital World for years, defeating my mightiest champions, what hopes do these hapless humans have against him?" He explained.

It took all my self control to keep from attacking him outright, I knew that I wouldn't be able to fight him, he was a Mega, and I was a Rookie, that's what it boiled down to, "I think it's time I explained myself, you all seem quite angry and I don't necessarily blame you, but I'm sure after I explain you'll see things my way," He said, there was no way I'd ever accept Jason being a statue no matter how Examon spun it!

Examon cleared his throat, "As you can see, I'm a bit of a… collector, I collect curious creatures, some are legendary warriors I've defeated in battle, others are curious oddities," He began, "However, I have yet to procure a human for my collection, I had originally intended to wait until I was able to deal with the Digimon King and display him in my collection, but when you all showed up, I had a realization," He continued, approaching our captive friends, "Humans are dangerous creatures, they may not be strong, but they can still reek destruction wherever they go, be it in our world or their own, seeing them having power over you Digimon angered me so, Digimon who possessed more power in their finger than they had in their entire bodies! That kind of power cannot be entrusted to humans!" He said.

I wanted to kill him! Tear his horns from his head and jam them into his lying throat! But I did my best to control myself, I was no help to Jason or his friends if I were dead, so I had to let Examon try to explain himself, "Don't you see? Humans are the cause of all of this destruction! Everything was fine in the Digital World before the first human stepped foot on our soil! They can't save us! We have to save ourselves! I'm doing you all a favor by killing them! Look at you! So hopelessly wrapped around these humans fingers you can't see the forest from the trees!" He explained.

Okamon stepped forward, "You're mad! You're going to doom us all just so you can complete your little collection!" He accused the Dragon Lord.

Examon seemed to take exception to this accusation, roaring defiantly, a mighty roar that sent all of us flying, "You still don't understand! I can destroy Rex Nexion! I am among the most powerful Digimon in the Digital World! You expect me to entrust my kingdom's safety to the very creatures that doomed it in the first place?! To allow this insult of humans commanding Digimon to continue?! You are but slaves, lashing out against the one who wishes to free you! How can you allow yourselves to be enslaved by these weak, pathetic creatures?" He said.

We all groaned as we tried to get to our feet, "You don't think Rex fears me?! There's a reason why he hasn't tried to take the Dragon's Roar kingdom yet! It's because he fears me! He knows I can destroy him in the blink of an eye! Just as I can to you if you continue to serve these vile creatures!" Snarled Examon, "I am the king! I WILL DEFEND MY KINGDOM! ME AND ME ALONE!" He roared.

The room began to rattle and shake as Examon roared in anger, he was losing it! Hawkmon turned to me, "What do we do? We can't take him in a straight up fight! Even with our partners we can only reach Champion!" He said, I had no answer, by all counts this was a no-win scenario, I can't believe this is how it ends, at the wrath of an egotistical dragon! His ego was going to cost us the war!

But even that didn't hurt as much as the knowledge I couldn't save Jason! If only I hadn't gone along with the Dracomon's request to sleep in a different room! I could have prevented all of this!

I got back to my feet, I wasn't about to sit here and let him turn my friend into a statue! "I won't let you! You have no right!" I snarled as I took shots at the dragon king, the bullets bounced harmlessly off his crimson scales.

He quickly grabbed me by the throat so fast I couldn't even attempt to get away, "Who are you to tell me what I have the right to do?! Humans are the enemies of Digimon! The king had made that abundantly clear! But if you wish to die in your delusions than I will gladly oblige!" He roared before throwing me hard across the room, sending me crashing into a frozen Tyrannomon, I tumbled and fell to the hard ground with a loud thud, this wasn't right! They were just trying to help us! How could Examon do this to them?

I struggled to get up, I could still see Jason from where I was, still helpless inside the chamber, slowly being turned to stone by that horrible machine, but what could I do? I was just a rookie! Examon was a mega! I couldn't even hope to scratch him, and he was clearly beyond reason.

Examon let out another loud roar, "You fools are clearly beyond reason! Beguiled by these humans empty words and fake smiles! Willing to doom your own kind out of some blind devotion to these pathetic creatures!" Examon bellowed, "I originally planned on letting you all live, but it seems you're too far gone, and must be put out of your misery," He exclaimed.

This was bad! We couldn't take him in a straight fight! He was far too powerful, and running away was not an option, I guess the only option we had was to go down swinging, or hope for a miracle.

I rushed towards the others, we stood a better chance together than separated, but when I got there, Psychemon was holding his head and screaming, everyone gathered around him in both confusion and horror, "Why is he doing this?! WHY WON'T HE STOP?!" Psychemon growled, however a single blast took our attention away from Psychemon as we were all knocked back by the force.

Examon approached Psychemon, "What's this?" He mused as he approached the strained Digimon, "What's the matter Psychemon? Am I upsetting you? Causing you to lose the fight with the demon that dwells within you?" He added, what was he talking about? Psychemon said nothing, just holding his head and screaming, "You know there's a reason you're the only one of the group that hasn't Digivolved, you don't want to Digivolve! Because you know what he'll do to your little friends! Just like what he did to the Nightmare Soldiers! But I assure you, even his power is not enough to stop me!" Taunted Examon.

I couldn't even begin to try to understand what he was talking about, but whatever it was, it was getting to Psychemon, I had to do something before this got worse, I rushed over to Psychemon, "Psychemon! Snap out of it! Come on!" I pleaded with him.

Psychemon's eyes shot open, but instead of their usual purple, they were a bright, glowing red, "Get away from me! GET AWAY!" He screamed before violently pushing me away, I hit one of the pods hard as a black aura began to cover Psychemon, "No! I won't… let you… not again! NEVER AGAIN!" He screamed, what was I going to do? Something was happening! And if this went on any longer, we might end up regretting it.

"LIGHTENING JOUST!"

Suddenly Examon found himself knocked out of the air and onto the ground, suddenly a knight landed in front of us, "Looks like I came here just in time, I'll hold off Examon, you work on freeing your partners!" He ordered us, before we could even try to answer he went right back to attacking Examon.

I looked to Psychemon, who seemed to be calming down as the inky blackness left him, "Psychemon? Are you alright? What was that?" I asked, the others gathered around, sharing my concern for our friend.

Psychemon shook his head, "It's… it's nothing… please… just leave it alone," He said. I wanted to try to push him further about it, but I decided against it, fearing it would set him over the edge again.

We all rushed to the pods as the knight held Examon back, there had to be a way to stop the process! I scanned the machine with my internal computer, it took a bit of scanning but I eventually found the control panel, but it was on the opposite side of the room! "There's a control panel, but it's quite a ways away," I explained to the others.

Gaomon let out a frustrated growl, "Of course it is," He groaned, "How are we gonna get all the way there before they become statues?" He asked.

Before I could even offer a suggestion, Okamon scooped me off the ground and began to run for the panel, "You can crack that thing right?" He asked me and he leaped from statue to statue trying to get to the control panel.

I nodded, "There isn't a computer in the Digital World I can't crack," I said, suddenly a stray blast barely hit us, sending us tumbling across the floor.

We turned our heads to see Examon standing over us, "You think I'll sit here and let you save your demon partners? They die here, and there's nothing you can do to-" He growled before suddenly being hit with the knight's shield, knocking him away.

The knight turned to us, "Get to the control panel! HURRY!" He said, Okamon and I wasted no time in getting to the control panel.

I quickly began to go to work on it, Examon's computer system was laughably basic, I barely had to work on cracking it before I was able to deactivate the process, with a few simple keystrokes, I stopped the process, saving out friends. "There! That should do it," I said, I couldn't help but let a sigh of relief escape my lips, I had come so close to losing the humans, but I still managed to save them anyway… sometimes it payed to be cybernetic.

Examon stopped fighting the knight when he heard the chambers deactivate, "What?! No! NO!" He roared, he then turned in my direction, "YOU!" He growled before flying right at me, but the knight quickly intervened, causing the dragon to ram right into his shield.

I quickly ran over to Jason's pod, I needed to get him out of there before Examon tried to start the process again. The second I got there, the pod opened, and Jason fell out, "Wh… what?" He mumbled as I caught him before he fell to the ground.

I quickly propped him up on my shoulders, "It's alright, you're safe now, we need to get out of here before-" I began before I was interrupted by the loud thud of Examon's feet hitting the floor, he was holding the knight in one of his hands.

I could see the anger and hate in his emerald eyes, he hated me, I could tell, "You meddling little rookie! I was doing you a favor! But it seems you'd rather live as a slave than a free Digimon! Fine, since you care so much for this weak little thing, you can die with it!" He said before aiming his arm cannon right at me.

I quickly rolled us out of the way before he could execute us with his arm cannon, Jason was starting to shake the cobwebs, "Okay… when did Examon become a kill crazy psycho?" Jason asked me.

I turned to him, "It's a long story, point being he hates humans and wants to kill you," I said, I'd have to explain things to him more later, but right now we needed to focus on survival.

Jason pulled out his Digivice, "I don't know how much good it will do against him, but it's better than nothing," He said, his hand glowing with his Digispirit, he slammed the hand on his Digivice, and I felt the familiar sensation of Digivolving again, before I knew it, I was Sealsdramon again.

Examon began to approach us again, "Oh how quaint, you've Digivolved to Champion! But you forget, I'm a Mega! You're still too weak to stop me!" He said before backhanding me across the room, slamming into another "statue" with a hard thud. "Face the reality Sealsdramon! You and your pet human are going to die here! I am the only one who can stop Rex! You and your worthless friends will only get in the way!" He said, he was completely insane now, I could see the madness in his eyes, his failure to kill Jason and his friends had finally broken him.

Not that it mattered much, his raw power alone was enough to allow him to begin beating me within an inch of my life, I tried to fight back, but Examon just took each blow in stride, I was losing, I could feel my data weakening with every blow he landed, "You can feel it? Can't you Sealsdramon? The inevitability of death creeping ever closer? The hopelessness of your struggle? Don't worry, it will end soon enough!" He cackled, however the knight managed to lock him in a sleeper hold, pulling the dragon king off of me. "Dammit! Do you ever give up Gallentmon?" Examon strained, trying to throw Gallentmon off of him to no avail.

Gallentmon was then finally thrown off of the dragon, but he righted himself just in time, "Think of what you're doing Examon! These humans are our last hope to stop Rex Nexion! Everything you've built here will be destroyed if you kill them!" Gallentmon pleaded with the dragon king.

However, he was beyond reason at this point, his mind broken by his own failure, "NO! I can kill Rex! I CAN! We don't need these worthless pink primates to stop him! They're weak and cannot be trusted!" He said.

I suddenly felt something touch my arm, it was Jason, "You alright man?" He asked me, having someone care about me like that still took some getting used to, but I knew I had to answer.

I tried to get up, but my body just fell right back into the statue that Examon had beaten me into, "No good, my body's spent," I said, I could almost hear Jason's hart hit the floor when I said that, seeing me like this must have been killing him.

However Jason's determination quickly returned, "We're not beaten yet," He said, he then turned to face Examon, wh… what was he doing?! "HEY! Scale face!" He called to Examon, Examon let out a manic growl as Jason addressed him, "You say you can beat Rex, but I don't think you can," He said.

Examon's eyes burned with anger at this comment, "How DARE you! You know nothing! I am the most powerful Digimon in the Digital World! I can destroy anyone I choose to, with but a thought!" Examon boasted.

However Jason never lost his confidence, "You? Please, you can't even destroy a couple of scrubs and their Digimon, what chance do you have against the Digimon King?" He taunted him. Jason was going to get himself killed! I tried to reach a hand out to stop him, but my body was too weak to even do that. "You know what? I think you're scared! Scared we're going to upstage you! You can't stand it that someone else is going to be the hero while you sit there and mope! After all, how dare anyone but you get the praise of the Digital World right?" He said.

That did it, Examon let out a furious howl as he rushed Jason, slamming the human against the wall, "JASON! NO! Let him go!" I cried out but they were already at the far wall, Jason, oddly, wasn't even struggling, just glaring at Examon.

However, Examon was clearly furious, "How dare you even suggest that I, the great Examon, am envious of such a pitiful thing like you! What right do you have to mock me?! You should be trembling before me! Asking forgiveness!" He snarled.

But Jason kept his composure, "Why should I be afraid of a salty dragon like you?" He asked, I suddenly began to feel an energy well up within me, "Me and Sealsdramon have faced so much together, I've faced death more times than I can count since I got here, you think some dragon is going to scare me?" He said.

I then noticed his hand was glowing even brighter with his Digispirit, "You're not going to stop Rex, you would have done it by now if you could, you just don't want us to be the ones that do it!" Jason spat at the dragon, he then pressed his hand against the Digivice again.

That's when I felt it, the sudden rush of energy that came with Digivolution, was… was I going to Ultimate? How? Was Jason's Courage alone enough to send me to the next level? I began to feel my body shift into a new form. "Sealsdramon Digivolve too..." I said almost compulsively, soon my vision had gone completely white, but only for a second, before I suddenly found myself back in the trophy room in my new form, "TANKDRAMON!" I proclaimed proudly.

I saw a cocky smirk stretch across Jason's face, Examon seemed confused at first, but then he noticed my new form, "So… you managed to get your pet to Ultimate? BAH! It matters not! You're still a level below me! I will crush your Digimon and prove to you why I am powerful enough to beat Rex!" He snarled before coming right at me.

Gallentmon landed right next to me, "He's gone completely mad, he's not thinking clearly, we can use that to our advantage Tankdramon!" Gallentmon told me, I gave him a nod before we both managed to get out of the way of Examon's attack.

I quickly aimed by back cannon, "STRIVER CANNON!" I bellowed before a barrage of missiles took flight towards Examon, knocking him out of the air and sending him to the ground with a loud thud.

Examon was clearly surprised he was hit with that shot given the look on his face, but didn't have time to retaliate as Gallentmon readied his shield, "SHIELD OF THE JUST!" He cried as a blast shot from his shield, the blast sending Examon back into the far wall. "Just give up now Examon! There's no need for anyone to die here," Gallentmon tried pleading with him one more time, it was clear he didn't want to kill Examon, but Examon wasn't giving him much of a choice.

Examon got to his feet, "NEVER! I'll die before I concede the fate of the Digital World to a bunch of humans!" He growled, before making another mad dash for us, Gallentmon and I looked to each other, silently agreeing we had no other choice.

"STRIVER CANNON!"

"SHIELD OF THE JUST!"

Both attacks hit their mark, causing a rather huge explosion, destroying a good amount of the statues in the room, when the smoke cleared Examon was on the floor, his data breaking apart, "I… Impossible… how… how could I be beaten? I… I'm the Digital World's champion! ME! How could I fall to… to..." He stammered as his body began to break apart.

Gallentmon approached the fallen dragon king, "Because old friend, you let your ego cloud your judgment, you fell into jealousy and anger, but fear not, when you are reborn, you will have your kingdom again," He said.

Examon finally broke away into fragments… the Dragon King was no more…

Later…

It took a while to get everyone back on their feet and out of the castle, "Okay! No more rest stops! EVER AGAIN!" Ross yelled as we exited the castle, I couldn't disagree, after all that happened back there, I'd rather just rough it than risk an attack again, but I was still glad we were able to save our human partners in the end, they were good people, and didn't deserve to spend the rest of their days as statues.

Ethan came out next, "Dude, I can't believe we were almost made into glorified art work!" He commented.

Bridget came out after him, "I'm with Ross, next time we need to rest, we're sleeping in the woods," She said with a hint of bitterness in her voice.

Jason let a nervous chuckle escape his lips, "Alright alright! I get it, I screwed up, but hey, at least we got one of our Digimon to Ultimate," He said, shooting me a smile.

Kate came out of the castle next, "Yeah, but next time, can we do it without nearly getting turned to stone?" She said half jokingly, causing everyone in the group to let out a laugh.

All except Psychemon, who seemed a bit… withdrawn, I had a feeling what happened to him back in the trophy room was still hanging heavy on his mind, I would have to tell Jason about that at some point, but not right now, we'd been through a lot recently and we needed a break from fear and terror.

"Alright gang," Jason began, addressing the others, "Next stop, the Nightmare Soldiers!" He proclaimed proudly, and with that we were off, leaving the Dragon's Roar territory behind us…

A/N: WOW! What a chapter eh?

For added fun, try the "Foowd's Crappy Writing Drinking Game"! Take a shot every time I say "Rushed towards/in", you'll be dead within minutes…