Author's Note:

So, uh… this is a long chapter. Oh well, at least a lot happens! We have our first outlaw mission, and with it our first boss fight. Plus, this chapter has the last major exposition dump, at least for a while, and I needed to make Brandon a bit more competent before things get out of control. Anyway, enjoy the extra-long chapter!

"Up and at 'em, it's MORNING!" Loudred's voice boomed. Uhg, I was not ready for today. Brandon insisted on staying up late last night to learn the morning cheers in Pokesh. I can't really blame him; I would have done the same thing. But I was still tired. As I forced myself to get up I saw Brandon was already awake and had our bag. I'm not sure how he managed that on his own, he even had the extra strap on correctly.

"Crest, I know you're tired, but we really shouldn't be late for assembly again," he said, or at least tried to say, in his very broken version of Pokesh. Just as I expected, he was learning the language quickly. What I wasn't expecting was how difficult it would be to teach someone Pokesh. Since the language is made almost entirely of repeating your own species name, I didn't have much experience making many of the sounds he would need to use. The result was me tripping over my own tongue as I tried the Chikorita dialect. Still, at least we got some good laughs out of it.

As we made our way to the morning briefing, I tried to determine why Brandon didn't seem tired. He stayed up as late as I did last night, maybe even later, yet he wasn't nearly as exhausted as I was. Either Grass types don't need much sleep, or he was really good at hiding how tired he actually was.

The morning briefing was a bit of a blur, likely the result of me not really being awake yet. The only thing I really remember from the briefing was that Brandon was able to recite the morning cheers in Pokesh, just like he had rehearsed. That's good, at least my lack of sleep hadn't been a waste.

"Ah, Team Strength. Come with me, I'll give you your assignment for today," Chatot's voice snapped me awake. Brandon wasn't the only one afraid of disappointing our supervisor. We followed Chatot up the ladder, and to my surprise he led us to a different board than yesterday.

"Wait, isn't the job board over there? Why are we at this board?" I asked, too tired to actually read the posters. There were a lot of pictures of pokemon, but beyond that I really didn't have the energy to figure out what they were.

Chatot seemed oblivious to my current mental state. "Correct. Today you will do a job from this board. This is the outlaw notice board; your task today is to capture any outlaw on this board."

That got my attention. "Catch an outlaw? You can't be serious, there's no way we can do that! We aren't strong enough!" I admit that opposing Chatot so openly was not my best idea, but beside me I could see Brandon was thinking the same thing. Actually, he had it worse than I did. At least I had some battle experience, Brandon's first fight was only yesterday.

"And how do you intend to get stronger if you always run away from your fears?" Ouch, that's two days in a row Chatot has pointed out my flawed approach to training. "I'll have you know that it was the Guildmaster's idea to have you try an outlaw mission. If you have a problem with it, talk to him about it. Otherwise, I suggest you prepare for a difficult battle. Most outlaws are stronger than regular hostiles."

The Guildmaster wanted us to do this? He must be crazier than I thought. It looked like there was no getting out of this, though. "Okay, but what should we do to prepare? More importantly, how do we know which outlaw to go after?"

Chatot thought it over for a moment, "I suppose you could use a little help… how about this? Bidoof!"

"I'm coming!" I heard a voice from the lower floor. Shortly afterwards, Bidoof came up the ladder. "You called?" he said, out of breath. He must have run here when he heard Chatot. I guess most of the guild is afraid of him.

"I want you to help Team Strength prepare for an outlaw mission. Just help them choose an outlaw and show them where to prepare their items," Chatot commanded.

"Yup yup, sure can do! I'll do it right, by golly." For some reason, Bidoof was really excited to help us out.

Chatot nodded. "That's good. Now, Team Strength, I will review your performance again later tonight and report it to the Guildmaster. Until then, I leave you to your preparations." With that Chatot flew back to the lower floor.

"Hey, Crest? I'm going to talk Sunflora about using vines, since I can't read the posters anyway. That okay?" Brandon asked. He had a point. It didn't make any sense for him to just stare at pictures when he could be doing something useful.

"Yeah, sure. I'll choose a mission and meet up with you here." I said. Turning to Bidoof, I asked, "So, how are we going to choose an outlaw?"

I found Sunflora on the lower floor. And by "found," I mean she was at the bottom of the ladder when I fell down.

"Ow… so much for my leg feeling better," I muttered to myself.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" Sunflora asked as she helped me up.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Just need to get used to climbing the ladder I guess," I answered, checking to make sure nothing fell out of the treasure bag. "Actually, I came down here to ask if you could help me with something. I know that most Grass type pokemon can use vines, but I don't know how to. Crest thought maybe you could teach me."

"Actually, I don't know how to use vines, either. I don't have any vines," she responded. "But I'm sure it isn't any different than using most Grass type moves. Just do what you normally do to use Razor Leaf, or any other Grass move."

I was quiet for a few seconds. "I, um, don't actually know any Grass moves. Just Tackle and Growl." Okay, that was a bit embarrassing. I can't read, I barely speak Pokesh, and I'm an incompetent fighter. Just perfect for an exploration team.

Sunflora noticed my reaction and tried to help. "Hey, don't worry! Everyone has to start somewhere, and learning to use vines should make learning Razor Leaf easier, too. Try thinking about how you use Tackle, you focus your energy in your body, right?"

Focus my energy? I never really thought about it, but I guess even Normal type moves have some sort of elemental charge to them. "I… think so? I do feel a bit different when I'm attacking."

Sunflora was pretty happy with my response. "Good, so, I guess, just focus that energy into the seeds around your neck? I think that's how Chikorita vines work."

My seeds, huh? It was worth a shot, I guess. Now that I know how attacks work, I should be able to apply energy control learn new ones. With a bit of effort, I managed to extend a vine out far enough for me to see it. It was a bit difficult to control and far too slow to be used as an attack, but with some practice I should be able to use vines to lift things and use items. "Hey, it worked. Thanks, Sunflora!"

"Oh my gosh, you're so welcome! I must be a really good teacher!" She half joked in response before heading up the ladder. I took a moment to practice controlling my vine before heading back up myself. I didn't spend too much time practicing, though. Crest had probably found an outlaw for us by now.

Or at least I thought he would have. Turns out they were all too intimidating. When I reached the upper floor, Crest was freaking out, and Bidoof clearly wasn't sure what to do. "Crest, that's all of the listed outlaws. You gotta choose one of 'em."

"We're not strong enough for any of these! I'm level five, the weakest outlaw listed is level ten!" Crest complained. That was not a good sign. When Crest showed me how to read my badge last night, he also explained the level system, so I had some idea of what to expect from a level ten pokemon. I also knew it would not end well for me; I was only level four.

"You know these are only predictions of the outlaw's levels, right? And that levels only give you a guess as to how strong someone is?" Bidoof tried to reason with Crest. He then noticed me and seemed to have an idea. "Golly, looks like Brandon is back. How about this: the board should update to have new jobs pretty soon, why don't you go to Treasure Town and prepare your items for the mission? When you get back you can choose an outlaw from the updated listings."

I decided to answer for Crest, "That sounds like a good idea. I actually haven't been in town yet though, so I don't know what I need to do."

"I reckon that settles it, yup yup. You two get prepared and I'll watch the board," Bidoof answered, clearly grateful that I would be the one talking some sense into Crest.

I started up the ladder and Crest reluctantly followed behind me. When we reached the top, I let Crest take the lead on the way to town. Although he knew more about the shops than I did, I kept the treasure bag instead of giving it to Crest. It was pretty clear that I would have to be the leader for today's mission. Crest explained what each of the shops were as we passed them, and I quickly realized that we had no use for most of the shops. There was a dojo, but it wasn't open, and we didn't have time to train there anyway. The move relearning service didn't help when we only knew two moves each, and I highly doubt we will ever need Chansey's day care service. I didn't quite understand what Xatu's shop was, and we didn't have any items in Kanghaskhan Storage. That just left the Kecleon Shop and Duskull Bank.

Crest led me to the Kecleon Shop. The shop was run by two Kecleon, one green and the other purple. The shop itself was filled with berries, seeds, and a few items I didn't recognize. The purple Kecleon actually waved us over. "Hello, Crest! We've been wondering when you would stop by, it's been a while you know. Anyway, here. This stone is yours, right?" A stone?

"My Relic Fragment! Where did you find it?" Crest replied excitedly. Looking closer, I noticed a string tied to the rock and realized this was the treasure that was stolen from him when we met.

The green Kecleon answered, "A Koffing and Zubat just showed up one day and tried to sell it to us. We thought it looked familiar and made sure to buy it off them. We talked down their price though; convinced them it was worthless. They accepted five Poke for it. No need to pay us back on this one."

Crest happily put on the makeshift necklace. "Thank you for returning it, I wasn't sure if I'd ever get it back."

"Of course! Anything for a valued customer. Now then, back to business. Welcome to the Kecleon Shop, home to the finest items and TM's in Treasure Town! See anything you'd like?" Both Kecleon seemed pretty eager to make a sale.

"Actually yes," Crest said, pulling our Poke out of our bag, "that stun seed and an escape orb, please." Kecleon handed over the items and took the Poke in return. I used a vine to put both the items and our few leftover coins in the treasure bag. We were about to head back to the guild when we saw a Marill and Azurill run up to the shop.

"Misters Kecleon!" the Marill called out as they approached.

The green Kecleon answered, "Ah, little Marill and Azurill! Welcome to the shop, my young friends. What can we get for you?"

"We'd like to buy some apples," the Azurill replied, "is that okay?"

"Of course it is, little one. Here you go!" Kecleon handed the young pokemon a few apples each.

Marill seemed pretty excited. "Thank you Mister Kecleon!" As they left, the shopkeepers turned to Crest.

"Those two are to be admired. Their mother has gotten quite sick, so recently they have been doing the shopping for her. They really are good kids," the Kecleon gossiped. "So, Crest, what did you need dungeon supplies for? Have you finally joined that guild?"

"Actually, I have. Brandon and I formed an Exploration Team, and we need items for today's mission." Speaking of today's mission, we really should get going. I was about to speak up when Marill and Azurill returned.

"Misters Kecleon!" the Marill greeted (again).

"There was an extra apple!" Azurill continued.

Then Marill clarified, "We didn't pay for this many."

The purple Kecleon chuckled. "Oh, that. Don't worry about it, you two. That one is a gift! Share it between yourselves on your way home."

"Really? Thank you, Mister Kecleon and Mister Kecleon!" Azurill replied happily. As they turned to leave, Azurill tripped and dropped one of the apples. Not too surprising, considering he has no arms and only two legs. I stepped forward and returned the apple using a vine.

I think Azurill thanked me, but I was distracted by a sudden dizzy feeling. A moment later, I heard someone shout for help. When the dizzy feeling faded, I looked around for the source of the sound but could not find it. The voice sounded familiar though. In fact, it sounded just like Azurill, but that didn't make any sense. Azurill was right in front of me, and he was fine.

"Hey, Azurill! Come on, hurry home! We have to find our lost item, remember?" Marill called.

"Oh, right. I'm coming!" Azurill replied quickly. "Thanks again. I have to go now. Bye!" he said as he left. Meanwhile I was trying to figure out where that scream had come from.

Crest seemed to notice. "Hey, Brandon, is something wrong? You kind of zoned out for a moment there."

"Well, I thought I heard something. A cry for help, actually. But I can't figure out where it came from," I answered.

"A cry for help?" Crest seemed skeptical. "I didn't hear anything. You're probably just tired, I know I am. Let's just head back to the guild for now."

Just tired, huh? Guess I can't deny that, I did stay up late practicing Pokesh last night. But that scream I heard, it sounded so real. At the very least I know it was an Azurill, one quirk of Pokesh is that you always know what species of pokemon is speaking. Still, I can't explain what I heard, and the Azurill we just saw was fine. Maybe Crest was right, and I just imagined it.

On our way back to the guild we once again ran into Azurill and Marill, though this time there was a Drowzee with them. They appeared to be talking about something, but I couldn't make out the details. Besides, there was really no reason for me to be listening in on them anyway.

Crest was curious, however. "Hey, what are you guys talking about?" he asked the group.

Marill answered him, "Oh, well, you know how we lost an item a little while ago? Drowzee says he's seen our item and offered to take us to it."

"Really? That's great!" Crest replied, "I hope you find it."

"Well, if we're going to find that item, we really should get going now. I saw it at the peak of Mt. Bristle. Just follow me, you two," Drowzee said in an unusually calm voice. As the three of them made their way toward the crossroads, Drowzee bumped into me. "Whoops! Please excuse me, Chikorita. I must be on my way."

Once again I felt that strange, dizzy feeling. This time, however, I didn't just here a voice. I saw something, too. Drowzee and Azurill were in some sort of rocky area, and it looked like Drowzee was threatening Azurill.

"If you don't cooperate, it will mean big trouble for you!" Drowzee said.

"H-h-h…HELP!" That was the exact scream I heard before. Azurill was in trouble, I was sure about it now. We had to follow them.

As my dream ended, I heard Crest talking behind me. "It's great that those two were able to find some help. With so many bad pokemon popping up it can be hard to do good deeds." He then noticed my worry. "Hey, what's wrong? Why do you look so grim?"

"Azurill's in trouble. I can't explain how, but I just had some sort of… vision, I guess, where Drowzee was attacking Azurill." Crest didn't believe my answer.

"Are you sure about that? Drowzee seemed pretty nice to me, and what's this about a vision? I know you're not a Psychic type. Like I said before, you're just tired. It was just a bad daydream," Crest reasoned. "Besides, we need to focus on our guild work for now. Let's get back to the outlaw notice board."

I didn't like that idea, but with no way to prove my claims there was little I could do. We returned to the guild and met Bidoof at the outlaw notice board.

"Oh, Crest and Brandon, you're back! The job listings updated while you were away, yup yup. There are new outlaws to pick from now," Bidoof greeted us as we reached the board.

"That's good," I answered. Turning to Crest I asked, "Do you see any we could handle now?" Crest was trembling, probably intimidated by the outlaws on the boards. I guess I just had to pick one then.

"Brandon," Crest eventually replied, fear heavy in his voice, "look up there. At the top left."

I wasn't sure what Crest wanted me to see. He knew I couldn't read the posters, unless he was referring to something very obvious I would miss it. Still, I looked up to the board to find… Oh no…

"You were right, Drowzee is a criminal," Crest continued quietly. "We have to go, now. Azurill's in danger." I couldn't tell if Crest was scared to face a wanted outlaw or just felt guilty about not believing me earlier and letting Drowzee take Azurill. Either way, I was sure there was something on that wanted poster I was better off not knowing.

I used a vine to grab the poster and shoved it in the treasure bag's smallest pocket before running to the ladder. Crest followed close behind me, still struggling to find the courage for what we were about to do. "We've got to go, thanks Bidoof!" I shouted behind me as I climbed out of the guild. We ran to the crossroads where, to our surprise, we ran into Marill.

Crest spoke up first, "Marill, what are you doing here? Where is Azurill?"

"I don't know, we went looking for our lost item and I got separated from him somehow!" Marill answered, clearly worried. "I called and called but couldn't find Azurill or Drowzee anywhere. Then I got scared and came back here. I don't know what to do!"

"Just calm down," I said, trying to regain control of the situation. "Show us where you got separated. We will find Azurill and bring him back here safely, but you need to show us where he and Drowzee went."

"Ah, right. Thank you. Just follow me, it was this way," Marill answered, a bit calmer now. I decided not to tell him Drowzee was an outlaw, there was no need to make Marill any more worried than he already was. He led us to a mountain covered in strange, sharp rocks. Looking around, I saw a narrow path that didn't seem to go anywhere. There were no other ways forward, so I figured the path must have been an entrance to a mystery dungeon.

"Is this where you got separated?" I asked. The uneven terrain here would make it easy to hide from someone, Drowzee probably used it to lose Marill from their group.

"Yes, this is where I last saw them," Marill answered calmly. He must have convinced himself that his brother wasn't in any danger.

Crest, however, seemed even more worried. "They must be in the mystery dungeon. You wait here, in case they come out. Brandon and I will look for them inside the dungeon."

"Okay, just be careful. The hostiles in Mt. Bristle were too strong for me," Marill warned.

"We'll be fine. Come on, Crest, let's hurry," I said, not wanting to waste any time. The second we entered the dungeon Crest confirmed my worst fear.

"Do you have any idea how far in over our heads we are right now?" he asked.

"Do I want to know?" I responded nervously.

Crest just sighed. "I just checked the dungeon stats for Mt. Bristle on my badge. This place is filled with Flying- and Poison- types, and all the hostiles here out-level us. But that's the least of our worries. Hostiles probably aren't smart enough to make use of their advantages over you."

That was our smallest problem? "What is the worst part?" I asked, afraid that I already knew the answer.

My fear only heightened when Crest hesitantly responded, "Drowzee is level twelve."

Suddenly I realized just how screwed we were. Drowzee was easily stronger than the two of us combined. Even though we outnumbered him, there was no guarantee that we could damage him. That's not even considering how difficult it will be to reach Mt. Bristle's peak, which seemed to be where my dream from earlier took place. Since I was both weak and at a type disadvantage, Crest would have to do most of the fighting here. That meant I wouldn't be getting the experience I needed to get stronger, and Crest would be too exhausted to fight Drowzee.

"There isn't much we can do about it now," I reasoned, "let's just battle as many hostiles as we can on our way through the dungeon. At least we can try to bridge the level gap a bit." It wasn't much of a plan, but hopefully it would be enough to give us a chance against Drowzee.

My idea to fight to get stronger had a rough start. The first enemy we faced was a Spinarak, and it was much stronger than anything I had fought before. I opened the battle with Tackle and Crest followed it up with Pound, but the Spinarak was still able to retaliate with Poison Sting. The attack hit me hard and I fell to the ground, still conscious but unable to fight back. I heard a loud beeping sound from my badge, apparently meant to warn my teammates that I was low on health. Luckily Crest was able to finish the battle with another Pound.

"You okay?" he asked me as the Spinarak disappeared.

"I think so," I answered. While Crest fished an oran berry from our bag I checked my badge. The data that thing could read was honestly amazing. It had precise measurements for all my battle relevant stats, complete with real time HP monitoring. It's hard to say how accurate those readings were, especially considering I could barely read any of them , but my badge concluded that the Poison Sting had left me with only 3 HP and the battle had indeed raised my level. Out of curiosity, I watched the HP display as I ate the oran berry. The berry restored my strength almost instantly, and the display updated accordingly.

Crest noticed my interest in my stat display. "How useful do you think that data is? Everyone I've talked to says it's not an accurate measure of how strong you are."

"I don't know," I replied, "but it updated pretty quickly. The HP display could be useful, if it's reasonably accurate anyway. Everything else just seems to be for tracking personal growth."

"Couldn't you just, you know, feel how much damage you take?" Evidently Crest didn't see much use for the tool.

I can't really blame him for that; every use I could find for it was just theoretical. "If the display is accurate enough, we can use it to gauge how strong different enemies are or predict which battles we can or can't win. Otherwise, yeah it's pretty useless." For now, I decided to trust my badge's measurements and leave fighting enemies with attacks stronger than Poison Sting to Crest.

Our progress through Mt. Bristle was slow. Most of the hostiles were too dangerous for me to fight, and we had to save our supplies for our battle against Drowzee later. We went through oran berries and heal seeds as quickly as we found them, though we were able to hold on to an x-eye seed and rollcall orb. By the time we reached floor nine, which Crest claimed was the final floor before the peak, our battling had gotten me up to level six and Crest to level eight. We were still weaker than Drowzee, but at least the battle wouldn't be completely one sided. At least, I hoped not.

"This is it," Crest said as we approached the final set of stairs. "You ready for this?"

To be honest, I wasn't ready. That didn't matter though, we had to save Azurill. "Yes. Let's go, we've spent enough time here already."

We climbed the stairs and upon reaching the peak were greeted by Azurill running straight toward us, clearly panicked. "H-h-h…HELP!" he shouted before seeing us. "Ah, Crest! Please, help me! Drowzee is-"

He was cut off when a wave of psychic energy burst between us. "I told you, if you don't cooperate it will mean big trouble for you! That goes for your friends, too!" Drowzee exclaimed, furious that he had been found out.

Crest attempted to hold his ground. "I don't think so, Drowzee! We're Exploration Team Strength, and we're going to capture you!" That probably would have carried a lot more weight if Crest wasn't shaking like an Earthquake.

Drowzee noticed Crest's fear and scoffed, "Please, I can tell just by looking at you that you're a total rookie. What chance do you have against me?"

I thought Crest was about to lose his nerve, or at least start screaming something at Drowzee. He was terrified, but I don't think even Crest expected what he did next. Crest charged at Drowzee, and in his sudden outburst unleashed a Bubble attack. Seems that training we did in the dungeon paid off. I tried to follow up with Tackle, but it was stuffed out by Drowzee's Pound and I was sent flying across the ground. Regaining my balance, I used Growl so my next attack would not be so easily parried. A red aura appeared around Drowzee as his attack was decreased.

Meanwhile, Crest continued to pester Drowzee with Bubble. The attacks didn't do much damage, but they did force Drowzee to focus on Crest. I tried Tackle again only for my attack to be easily dodged. How did Drowzee know I was coming? He didn't even see me attack! I kept using Tackle and Drowzee continued to dodge.

"I've had enough of you, Chikorita. Take this. Disable!" Drowzee said as he interrupted my attack. With the energy for my Tackle dissipated, I feebly fell past Drowzee only to get caught in his Confusion. I couldn't move, and the attack was far stronger than anything I had faced before. I heard my badge give a low health warning and thought that the fight was over, or at least my part in it was. However, Crest used this as an opportunity to land an attack on Drowzee. Crest's Pound interrupted Drowzee's concentration long enough for him to drop his psychic powers over me.

I fell to the ground, and a moment later Crest landed beside me. Drowzee had responded to Crest's attack with a Pound of his own, though his weakened attack power meant that Crest was relatively unfazed by the attack. "He's too strong for us to fight head on," I said to Crest, "I can't even damage him at all, but I have an idea." Reaching into the treasure bag, I pulled out the stun seed and threw it at Drowzee. The seed burst when it hit and left him petrified while we planned our next move.

Crest grabbed the oran berry from the bag and offered it to me. "You're too injured to fight like that, and I can't fight him myself. You should heal while Drowzee's petrified."

I had a different idea. "No, you keep the oran berry and keep fighting. I'll use our items to control the pace of the battle from a distance." Crest didn't seem to like the idea. "I already told you I'm too weak to do any damage. If we want to beat Drowzee, this is our best option."

"Alright. I'll keep fighting, but you need to be careful. If you're not going to heal, stay as far from the battle as you can." By now Drowzee was starting to recover from the petrification, so Crest returned to the battle. When Crest's Pound hit, Drowzee fully regained mobility and I was left to watch the two fight. Unfortunately, it was a losing battle for Crest. Drowzee's attacks were powerful and Crest was overwhelmed. Things went from bad to worse when Crest fell victim to Hypnosis.

That was my que to use the rollcall orb. I shattered it on the ground and Crest warped next to me. Thinking quickly, I fed him our last heal seed and readied our blast seed. As Crest was waking up, Drowzee realized what had happened and charged at us. When he was close enough, I bit into the blast seed and shot a burst of fire at him. The blast caused Drowzee to stagger long enough for Crest to eat the oran berry and fully recover. It looked like the battle was turning in our favor, but the only items we had left were an x-eye seed and an escape orb.

By now Drowzee was angry. Crest used another Bubble, and the attack left some foam around Drowzee's feet. He responded by using Confusion to trap Crest. In a panic I used our x-eye seed, blinding Drowzee. That was it, our last item. If we couldn't finish this fight now, we would have to escape.

I saw Crest struggling to get up after that last attack. He was surrounded by a faint, blue aura, which I recognized as his Torrent ability. This drew my attention to myself; I had a similar, green aura. But that didn't make sense. I didn't know any Grass moves that would benefit from Overgrow… did I?

"Crest, think you can use Bubble one more time?" I asked.

"Yeah, I think so. You have some sort of plan?" he responded.

I nodded in confirmation. "Put everything you have into your next attack, but wait for my signal. I think we may have a way to win this."

"Alright," Crest answered, preparing a final Bubble. I also had to focus. My plan would only work if I my next attack was successful. I focused my energy into my leaf, using what I had learned from Sunflora earlier, and felt an unusual surge of power running through me. It was time.

"Now Crest!" I shouted.

"Bubble!" Crest exclaimed as he unleashed his attack.

"Razor Leaf!" I added, launching a barrage of sharp projectiles from the leaf on my head.

Our combined attacks flew toward Drowzee, and with the foam from Crest's previous attack at his feet he was too slow to dodge. Drowzee took a direct hit and was sent flying into a nearby wall. He did not get up.

With the battle over, I fell to ground, exhausted. As Crest ran over to make sure I was okay, a single thought entered my mind. 'I can't believe that worked.'