The Cockerel Festival, Part 4.1!
A/N: Welcome, one and all, to Weiss Reacts! The madness must continue, and the plot will carry on. It really is starting to get serious, what with the insane plot points and the exposition, so time to make things lighter with a little light fighting! As promised, Ren versus Ruby!
Oh, and a small shoutout to Ryulord111, who noticed a serious continuity error in the last chapter, which I have rectified- you're awesome, and keep on being awesome!
Having said that, let's do this. Time to do my job! EXCELSIOR!
DISCLAIMER: RWBY does not belong to me, otherwise Glynda would have a bullwhip as a weapon.
All mentioned franchises and characters belong to their respective owners.
The Morning of the Fourth Day...
As always, the tent was packed to the seams with competitors and spectators- mainly spectators, now that it was down to the semi-finals. As usual, the screen was open above a patiently waiting Glynda, who was fiddling with her bullwhip.
The screen was presenting the remaining names of the last competitors- Ren, Ruby, Weiss and Blake. Most of the others had been eliminated in their second or third fights yesterday- a convention of the tournament was to wipe out as many as they possibly could until there were only four left for the semi-finals.
Ruby squeed happily. "This is going to be awesome! I hope I get to fight Weiss!"
Weiss chuckled. "Yes, well, I'm not going to take it easy on you because you're my girlfriend, Ruby. Remember that!"
"Awww...you'd hurt poor little me?" Ruby stared at her with puppy-dog eyes and as cute a facial expression as she could muster. "...b-but why?"
"Q-quit doing that, y-you idiot! Y-you look like an i-idiot..." Weiss crossed her arms, blushing and shaking her head.
Blake, meanwhile, calmly drank a protein shake, still remembering the events of this morning, and the revelations about Siegmund she had been informed about.
'"If you must, tell her when you and your team are alone. "
"I can't just sit here and watch m-my friend be in danger!"
"She will be in more if you warn her right this instant."'
"I can't tell her here..." Blake muttered under her breath, prompting Yang to turn to her, confused.
"What was that?"
"Huh?"
"You said something, Blake, about you not being able to tell us something." Yang stated, tapping her chin with her finger.
"Oh, were you going to confess your love towards me~" The brawler teased her, winking, causing Blake to recoil, blushing.
"O-Of course not! D-don't be silly!"
"Not so manly now, are we?" Yang crossed her arms confidently. "I suppose my sexiness is just too much~"
"If I recall, Winter stole your sexiness spot." Weiss stated bluntly, as Yang glared at her, her own cheeks rouged.
"N-no! S-she's not sexy! I-I'm h-hotter than her, idiot!"
"And you say I'm tsundere." Weiss giggled as Yang tightened her pout and crossed arms, enjoying the chance to finally get her own back on Yang's perverted antics.
Ruby sighed. "Yang, just get over it. Winter isn't that sexy."
"The sexy force has left me, Rubes!" Yang declared dramatically, sobbing into her sister's shoulder. "The sexy force has...left me..."
Weiss facepalmed. "I don't even want to know what the sexy force is."
Ren leaned in to offer his extensive knowledge in the art of antics.
"It's the manifest power of the Third Fundamental Force of Fanservice." He explained. "In this case, her fanservice quotient was beaten by Winter, therefore she is no longer the sexiest character here."
"Ah. That still doesn't explain why she's so beat up about it..."
Weiss shrugged. "She DOES pride herself on her perversion and good looks. I guess she just can't handle that someone else is better looking than her."
Yang clenched her fist. A flame seemed to light up in her eyes, as her determination rekindled.
"Don't flatter her, Weiss." The brawler declared proudly, winking at her. "I WILL reclaim the sexy. No way am I losing to some oblivious Aoi wannabe in hotness! My theme song's I Burn, for Dust's sake!
NOBODY will be hotter than me! Mark my words, nobody will! Wahahahahahaha!"
The heiress sighed once more.
"And Yang, as expected, has lost her mind because of these shenanigans. Ruby, do you mind making sure your sister doesn't run around in her underwear just to prove she's sexier?"
"Will do!" Ruby saluted her.
Blake returned to contemplating her options while Yang resumed her ranting about sexiness.
'...yes, that settles it. I'll tell them after the fights are over. I'll get them somewhere quiet.
I need to warn them about Siegmund, but I need to make sure he doesn't know.'
The screen suddenly displayed the three best fighters of yesterday- in order, Weiss, Blake and Ruby.
Glynda adjusted her glasses and calmly cleared her throat over the microphone to get everyone's attention.
Only team RWBY snapped their heads towards her when she did so. Glynda repeated her action, louder and more deliberately. When they did not, she sighed.
"Very well then."
She uncurled her bullwhip and cracked it into the microphone.
The resulting cacophonic noise got everyone's attention- and force some people to cover their ears in pain.
"Gah!" Weiss snapped, her hands planted firmly on her ears. "Morons! T-this is what happens when you don't listen!"
Glynda, satisfied with the attention she got, curled her bullwhip up and slung it on her waist again.
"Good morning, spirited competitors and spectators alike. Today is the fourth and penultimate day of the tournament!
Today are the semi-finals to the entire tournament! The remaining competitors represent not just the best fighters in the tournament, but the best fighters in all of the Four Kingdoms and beyond- given that many here have hailed from lands beyond Vytal..."
Somewhere behind them, Yang swore she heard the Puella Magi Kyoko yell "Damn straight we did".
"The winners of today and the winner of tomorrow are at the pinnacle of fighting, examples of self-perfection and excellence we must ever adhere to!
Behind me is a list of the best fighters of yesterday. Tomorrow, the overall best fighter of the tournament- who may not be the final winner- will be presented with an appropriate prize and a trophy.
However, now is not the time to celebrate victory, not while victory has yet to be acquired. Now is the time, instead, to hold yourselves in bated breath for the next fights.
Today's battles will be in the Ruined City and the Desert Plain! Spectators, keep that in mind that there will be no battles in the Field of Justice or the Pillars of Balance today. To compensate for the increased load, we will be allowing people to watch the battles from the empty stadiums and within this tent- please stay here if you are a spectator to be directed to the appropriate area." The instructor took in a deep breath, before continuing.
"Now, I shall announce the fighters for today!
In the Ruined City, Lie Ren versus Ruby Rose! Upon the Desert Plain, Weiss Schnee versus Blake Belladonna!
Fighters, make your way to the transports to the stadium so we may begin the fights immediately!"
Ren chuckled. "Well, it appears we will have to duel once more, Ruby."
Ruby smiled at him, extending her hand. "May the best Hunter win."
The gunslinger took her hand, shaking it firmly.
"May the best Hunter win indeed."
Weiss nodded at Blake. "It looks like I'll have to beat you, Blake. Manliness or no manliness."
Blake scoffed, donning her triangle shades and putting aside all thoughts of Siegmund for now.
For now, the battle was upon them, and Blake didn't need a distraction.
"Heh. Just who the hell do you think I am?"
Weiss scoffed. "Badass quotes won't get you anywhere."
Glynda nodded, opening her microphone up for one last announcement.
"To the victor goes the prize, but to the fighters go the honor. Remember that though you may fail today, you will still have the pride of having participated in the tournament!
That having been said, go forth, try your best, and hope that tomorrow, it is you who gets to fight the final battle!"
In the Ruined City Arena...
The Ruined City was a far cry from the flat, level arenas of the Plain and Field, and yet different from the precarious, deadly Pillars- a balance between the two, so to speak.
The arena was centred around a burnt, desolate city square, with the grass in the middle dead and grey, and a broken pillar marking the exact middle. Surrounding the square were cracked asphalt roads, littered with pitted and cracked rubble for cover from projectiles.
Surrounding that were towering, blown out husks of concrete and steel bars, and fallen buildings, cracked over the ground, for flashy battles to take place in and absolutely destroy to produce aesthetically pleasing showers of debris and dust- of both kinds.
Of course, cameras were placed in just the right position to get good angles- as much as this was a demonstration of skill, this was also entertainment.
As usual, a giant floating screen hovered over the arena, with the feed switching between Ren and Ruby as they made preparations. The stadium was absolutely packed- the Xiao Long-Rose family, of Qrow, Taiyang, Yang and Yin, managed to get a seat at the top, where they could see Ruby. They were fairly far away, but Ruby could see that her dad was holding up a large sign saying 'GO RUBY', followed by a cartoon cookie giving her a thumbs up.
The reaper giggled at the sentiment.
"Dad.." She sighed, shaking her head.
Over the ruined square, the two combatants were on their respective starting platforms. Ren was calmly checking the ammo in StormFlower, nodding slowly as he deftly replaced the guns' cartridges, before holstering his weapons.
Ruby, meanwhile, merely patted Crescent Rose, which was folded at her waist, and pulled it into her hands, exhaling and whispering to it.
"Just you and me, Cress. You and me. We'll win this. I'm trusting you." Ruby whispered reassuringly, before checking her own Dust magazines.
The announcer for this match was a fairly displeased Roman Torchwick, sighing as he sipped a cup of Darjeeling tea and twirled his cane.
"Alright, kids, today's the semi-final." Roman called over the announcement system. "On the left, we have a guy who looks vaguely like that guy from the Matrix, and on the right, we have a weird goth loli with an obsession with flat-chested tsunderes."
"T-they're just so cute!" Ruby protested, blushing.
"Now that that's over with, are you two ready to get this on the road yet?" Roman looked down at the pair.
Ren nodded, dusting off his green shirt. "Whenever you are."
Ruby gave him a thumbs up. "All ready!"
"Good!" Roman sighed, adjusting his beloved bowler hat for a moment, before looking to the audience.
"Ladies and gents, are you ready to rumble?"
The audience exploded with various affirmative noises and expressions in every language imaginable. As much as Roman hated having to do the announcing, he absolutely loved the response the audience gave him.
And he'd always wanted to say that.
The man chuckled, shaking his head before turning to the dashboard on his platform, the green light giving him the 'okay' to start the match. He nodded.
'Now, to start this, get my pay, sit back and relax. Damn straight, too- I've been spending the whole week marking papers for Cinder...'
"On the count of three, we'll begin." Roman announced, as Ren and Ruby prepared to jump off of their platforms.
The atmosphere was tense, as both fighters knew that the stakes were high. Their eyes met, locking each other in an intense gaze, as both understood that the other was not prepared to lose.
Ruby patted her weapon.
'Come on, Cress. Don't fail me now. We're winning this- for me, mom, dad, sis...and Weiss.'
'Sensei, if you're up there, listening to me now, this is for you.' Ren announced, looking up for a brief moment, saluting the sky, before drawing StormFlower.
Roman raised a green flag in his hand.
"Three! Two! One!
START!"
He pointed the flag in front of him, signalling the beginning of the match.
Both combatants leapt off of their platforms. Ren flipped gracefully through the air, landing deftly on his knees, guns ready to fire, while Ruby's entrance was more forceful, as she kicked towards the ground and staggered slightly, ready for battle.
Ren nodded. "You understand that I won't lose, right, Ruby?"
The reaper merely smiled determinedly. "Neither will I."
"It seems we're at an impasse. One which I will have to resolve." The gunslinger smiled right back. "I'm sorry, Ruby."
Ruby nodded. "I'm sorry too.
Sorry that you'll lose."
Both combatants ran at each other, with Ren hailing shots upon her while she unfolded Crescent Rose. Ren's shots flew over Ruby or to the sides, barely skimming her Aura, while Crescent Rose fully extended mid-stride, its blade trailing a rift in the ground its owner passed, before they met in the middle.
With a yell, Ruby leapt up, raising Crescent Rose over her head, before bringing it down upon Ren.
A loud, metallic CLANG filled the arena, the sound now familiar to everyone within, as the tip of the scythe met StormFlower's own blades. Ren's hands coursed with Aura as he struggled to hold up the weight of Crescent Rose with his weapons.
"So," The gunslinger casually stated, despite the effort he was clearly putting in into preventing Ruby's weapon from hitting him. "You've gotten a bit stronger since the last time we sparred, eh?"
"I drink milk, Ren." Ruby responded with a casual wink, before kicking off of his weapons and twirling in the air while simultaneously knocking him back.
Ren staggered slightly, shaking his head, as the reaper landed on the ground, planting her scythe in the ground blade first and setting herself up to fire.
"Take THIS!"
The gunslinger remained serene as he cartwheeled away from a blast of Dust that took off the top of the chunk of concrete behind him. Ren strafed her with StormFlower, hoping to force her to stop firing.
Considering it only made her duck and increase her rate of fire, that plan backfired.
'Hm...' Ren jumped behind a piece of rubble, hiding just as a shot of Dust flew over his head.
'Ruby's too strong to face on equal ground.
I'll just have to get to the high ground.' The gunslinger concluded with a brief smirk.
'Then I even get to use that one technique I've been testing out for a while.'
Ren peeked over the rubble to see Ruby running at him, Crescent Rose raised, yelling.
"Haaaaaaaaaah!"
The gunslinger managed to tumble back just in time to see it bifurcate the rubble, cutting it cleanly and smoothly into two parts. He fired two shots directly at her, forcing her to stumble back as her Aura deflected the shots.
"Ow!" Ruby shook her head, before pulling the blade out of the ground to see Ren climbing up onto one of the husks.
"Oh, no you don't, Ren..." Ruby chuckled as she pointed the back of her scythe at the ground and fired, propelling herself upwards with the recoil, before planting her feet onto the wall and using the recoil's force to keep herself going upwards while sprinting at Ren.
"Get over here!" The reaper yelled, as Ren's eyes widened when he realised Ruby was up there after him.
"Ah cr-"
He barely had time to curse before Ruby slammed him through the wall, sending him flying through the wall, smashing through several pillars before he slid to a stop at a wall, knocking his weapons out of his hands and sending them skittering away.
"Ugh..." Ren felt his head spinning from the impact, shaking his head to clear it.
"That was a lot...harder than expected..." He exhaled, before his vision focused to see Ruby gathering speed behind her, rose petals swirling to signify her Semblance, dragging Crescent Rose behind her to maximise her force.
"Sorry, Ren!" Ruby called over, genuinely apologetic. "Uh...I promise I'll grab you guys dinner later!"
"Heh." Ren scoffed. "You sure that won't be the other way around?"
His hands were coursing with Aura once more.
Ruby ran at him, yelling at the top of her voice, Crescent Rose ready to swing.
"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH-"
She lifted it once more to hit him and-
"Huh?!"
The blade's tip was hovering just over Ren's glowing, Aura-charged hand. He was on his feet again, holding Crescent Rose back with just one hand. His expression, in a snap, had changed from serene to confident.
"What the..." Ruby stared at him, stunned, unable to push her weapon down further.
"I've been doing a little workout of my own." The gunslinger explained with a smile, before breathing in and slamming his free palm into Ruby's exposed stomach.
Ruby sailed through the air, swirling debris trailing behind her, as she slammed into the opposite building- and through several layers of pillars- with a grunt, sliding to the floor and wincing.
Meanwhile, Ren casually strolled after her, picking up StormFlower, and leapt across the considerable gap, firing his guns once to provide himself with the recoil, and landed deftly on the edge of the building, twirling his guns as a bit of whimsy.
"Guess the tables have turned, eh?"
"You never know." Ruby retorted with a smile.
Ren chuckled, before holstering his guns and rushing at Ruby, his palm once again glowing with Aura, this time to finish her off. The reaper's eyes widened as she responded by rolling out of the way, grabbing her fallen Crescent Rose and with a deft motion, firing a Dust round into Ren's side, throwing him across the room.
"Gah!" He slammed his free palm into the floor, throwing up bits of floor to stop him from skidding further. With renewed determination, the gunslinger ran at her again, guns at the ready. The reaper eagerly met him in the middle, Crescent Rose trailing behind her, before swinging it at him.
In the middle, both fighters met the other's attacks with ferocity, with Ren parrying the scythe strikes with StormFlower's blades, delivering kicks and palm strikes where he could only to have those equally blocked by Ruby's agile dodges and the massive size of her weapon. Ruby attempted to retaliate with her own Dust blasts, only for the gunslinger to casually dodge them, weaving through her shots, to try to get his own in.
'Gah! He's too quick!' Ruby panicked mentally as she held off the onslaught of strikes and shots, missing yet another slash, before a figurative lightbulb went on her head.
'Unless I make it harder for him to manoeuvre! That's it!'
The reaper quickly delivered a kick to Ren's gut, winding him and forcing him back to catch his breath, while she changed the cartridge in Crescent Rose to a more explosive mixture of Dust.
"Let's end this!" Ruby yelled, before firing the Dust shot into a nearby column.
The entire floor exploded into debris, with the floors above it destabilised by the loss of support underneath and began crumbling into the floor below. The explosion shook the entire building, of course, and it began to fall into pieces, with chunks of the floor falling into the floors below.
Coincidentally, Ruby fell into a hole made by one of the chunks, landing in a crouch to absorb the impact. She scanned around for Ren quickly, hoping that he wasn't too hurt-
"Surprise."
Ruby whirled around to see Ren waving at her with a mischievous smirk, before leaping up onto the next floor. The reaper blinked rapidly for a couple of seconds, before following suit and leaping onto a falling piece of rubble.
Over her, she could see Ren climbing between pieces of rubble, kicking off of them to keep himself going upwards. Ruby nodded.
"I see...okay, I'm cool with this kind of fight!" The reaper declared, before following suit and ascending through the falling building, using her scythe as recoil and as a way to clear the path by slicing boulders in half when she needed to.
Ren looked down to see her following suit. He shook his head.
"Dammit, she's going to make this a lot harder than I thought it would..." He sighed, before planting the blade of one half of StormFlower into the rock he was clinging to and firing the other at her to throw her off. Ruby plowed straight through regardless, ignoring his shots and coming completely at him with no holds barred.
"Crap!" The gunslinger yelled before detaching himself from the rock and moving up to the next rock as Ruby bifurcated the one stood on, using Crescent Rose's recoil to bounce herself off and hit again.
This time, he had enough time to parry it, firing a shot directly into Ruby's face. It stunned her, causing her to drop off into the rubble, only for her to propel herself back up and fire into his rock, blowing it apart. Ren grunted as he flopped onto a nearby rock, decidedly ungracefully.
"Ow..." He winced before quickly recovering and continuing his attempt to get to the top.
In the distance, he could see the top of a building, a stable area from where he could launch a finishing move. Ren steeled himself.
'If I get there, this'll be over.'
He looked down to see Ruby gaining on him once again, leaping between falling pieces of rubble to catch him. The gunslinger sighed.
"Oh...this is going to be hard..." Breathing in, Ren began ascending through the falling rubble, firing back down to discourage his opponent. Next to him, he could see blocks of rubble explode as Ruby's shots went wide.
To the audience, all they saw was a falling, expanding column of dust, smoke and rubble, collapsing to the ground as blurs of green and red exchanged gunshots, with bright flashes signalling broken rubble flying in all directions possible.
Ren looked up as he realised how close he was, shaking his head.
"Come on, dammit, I can make it!"
He began to hear more rapid gunshots behind him, as Ruby used Crescent Rose's recoil to drive herself through the rubble, flying at him.
"Come! Back! Here!" She yelled, every word punctuated by a shot.
"Not a chance!" The gunslinger roared, before stopping his ascent and pushing himself off of the rock, and with a quick movement, slammed his foot into Ruby's face.
"Agh!" The reaper yelled as she was suddenly stopped and Ren pushed up, before using StormFlower's blades to hook into a boulder, swing it under his legs and boot it towards Ruby, pushing her under it and managing to give him enough boost to send him onto the roof of the building he was aiming at as the rubble pile finally fell entirely onto the ground, taking Ruby with it.
Ruby blinked, reeling as she shoved some of the rubble that had fallen onto her out of the way.
"Ow..." The reaper whined, shaking her head. "That hurt...ugh...and these things are so heavy..."
With a spirited grunt, the reaper kicked a boulder off of herself, before digging herself out.
Pulling herself out of the pile of rubble, she managed to finally push herself into the light, shoving most of the remaining rubble covering her away as she stood up to see Ren, standing atop a building staring down at her, his arms crossed, sunglasses on his face, legs slightly apart.
"Heh. That was a good chase, Ruby." Ren called down, his expression calm and his arms still folded. "I'll admit, it was a close chase. And yes, it's been a good fight." The gunslinger conceded good-naturedly, with a smile.
"However..." He whipped his sunglasses off, pocketing them. "I'm going to need to wrap this up."
His right hand pulsed with Aura.
"Good fight, Ruby."
Crouching briefly, the gunslinger leapt up into the air, raising his palm to the sky, quickly gathering altitude- about as high as the bottom of the camera feed itself. To Ruby, he was nothing more than a speck now.
Ruby knew exactly what was going to happen. She'd seen it done before.
Ren would crash back down onto the ground with his energy-filled palm, creating a massive shockwave that would leave the shape of a palm around where he landed, and would most likely obliterate Grimm- and most likely defeat her.
Ruby smiled determinedly.
"I just happen to have my own ultimate technique." She responded with a wink as she crouched to one knee, readying herself for her own leap.
Petal...STORM!"
Immediately, her legs began trembling as she began to be surrounded with whirling rose petals, speed building in her legs, she began to see a burning figure begin to descend.
Or, rather, Ren, pointing his palm down at her, gathering immense amounts of force, his Aura protecting him from friction as flames began gathering around him, seemingly forming a lotus pattern around himself.
'Now or never, Ruby. If he hits this, you're done...but if I land mine...he is.
Well, I've got nothing to lose!'
Ruby took off, swirling petals still surrounding her as she lifted into the air at incredibly high speeds, using her gun as to propel herself from the recoil.
Both advanced upon the other from opposite directions, two unstoppable forces about to meet each other- the scattering rose against the magnificent lotus palm.
This was the deciding factor.
Ren gave her a determined gaze.
"I will not LOSE!"
"AND I WON'T EITHER!" Ruby roared defiantly.
The audience could only look on in muted awe as the serene lotus palm palm and the swirling roses met each other.
An explosion of Aura ensued, filling the entire arena with bright light, and blasting everything within with a powerful shockwave created by the impact and contained thankfully by the border fields.
"Uuunh..."
Ruby blinked, lying at the center of the destroyed arena- most of the buildings were literally nothing but rubble held in by the border field- with Crescent Rose at her side, undamaged. Burning rose petals fell from the sky, disappearing shortly after falling on the ground.
"Wait...where's...Ren?" She looked around hurriedly, looking to make sure her opponent hadn't snuck up on her.
"I'm out."
"Huh?"
She saw Ren behind her, raising his hand in defeat, dropping StormFlower to the floor.
Ruby tilted her head, before she realised that his back leg was out of the border. He'd been thrown out of the ring by the force of the attack.
Roman raised his hand to signal an end to the fight. Ren sighed, shaking his head.
"Lie Ren has been beaten by ringout! Ruby Rose has won!"
Ruby's eyes lit up.
"I...I won?!"
"You did, Ruby." Ren nodded, giving her a small smile. "Good game."
Roman swooped down to lift her hand up, showing her to the audience, as she watched the entire audience explode in applause, including her family.
"Woo! Go Ruby!" Yang cheered, pumping her fist. "I knew you'd win!"
"W-well done, R-Ruby..." Yin clapped demurely, giving her a warm, motherly smile.
Ruby cheered, jumping in the air.
"I won! I'm in the finals!"
"Yes, Little Red. Yes you are." Roman chuckled, as he switched to the other feed to see Weiss triumph over Blake by total knockout.
"And I get to fight Weiss!" Ruby cheered.
"Best...day...EVER!"
The reaper raised her hands to take in the applause, basking in her glory.
Later...
Blake awoke in the infirmary with a start, looking around to see a small note on the side table.
Went to Vale to celebrate with family
Will be back later
-Love, Yang
She sighed. "As always, Yang...as always."
Shaking her head and chuckling, she froze. "Wait!"
She still needed to tell Weiss about Siegmund.
'Dammit! And he might be monitoring phone lines too...' Blake sighed, shaking her head.
'I'll tell her when she gets back. Yes. That's a good idea...it'll be quiet, nobody's around, and it'll be perfect.'
Blake sighed, reassured, and sank back into slumber.
She would tell Weiss about Siegmund soon, she promised herself, as sweet unconsciousness took her once more.
END
A/N: You know the drill.
"Heh. So this is Beacon."
In the distance, a physically-imposing man, a massive, dragon-like spear in his hands, wearing large, red and black armor, rimmed with gold, and a dragon's head mounted on the chest, gazed upon the academy with a sneer.
"It's hardly changed." Siegmund scoffed, gripping his lance tightly.
He smiled ominously.
"Good. It should make it easier.
Soon, Weiss. Soon, I will return. And then you will be sorry."
Chuckling darkly to himself, Siegmund retreated into the gathering darkness, continuing to mull over his dark plan.
Stinger over.
So, I hope you enjoyed that, leave your ideas, criticisms, reviews, suggestions, thoughts and comments, and I hope you have a GREAT day! Until next time!