Jovi picked out a small diner just on the northern edge of Cerulean City. "First rule of travel," she told Aaron and Mary-Sue: "the smaller restaurants have tastier food."
"You'd think it would be the other way around," Mary-Sue remarked as they sat down. "Like, bigger places must make more money, so they can afford better stuff?"
"It also means they have a lot more demand to meet, so they have to cut corners," Jovi explained. "Little, relaxed places like this can take the time to put effort into every dish."
"Makes sense," Aaron spoke up. "Food is more about feeling than the ingredients themselves."
"Huh." Mary-Sue frowned at the simple menu.
"Anyway, order whatever you like, I'm paying," Jovi told the young trainers. "In celebration of Masie's first gym badge!"
"You sure?" Mary-Sue asked. "I mean…Aaron didn't get his badge…"
"I'll buy lunch for us again when he does," Jovi stated, smiling brightly.
"You shouldn't throw your money around like that," Aaron remarked.
"Oh please," Jovi dismissed with a wave of her hand, "I might not be Mr. Verich levels of rich, but my family has more money than they're making use of right now."
"Mr. who?" Mary-Sue asked.
"Mr.…it's a long story," Jovi sighed. "Point is, I can afford a good meal on special occasions, no problem."
No one argued any further, and they placed their orders. Mary-Sue was thrilled to see her favorite sushi dish was served here, that was a rare treat she hadn't seen on offer in Celadon in years, and she kicked her heels against her chair in excitement.
The food came, the others' piping hot with steam that smelled mouthwatering, Mary-Sue's cold and perfect. She hopped in place, eager to dig in.
Then the waiter said, "The sushi platter for you, miss. You're in luck; we caught some fresh Magikarp just this morning."
All at once, everything inside of Mary-Sue went cold. She blinked, looking up at the man who'd delivered her meal. "Magikarp?" she asked faintly. "What…do you mean?"
"Magikarp are the best ingredient for sushi," he answered pleasantly. "We catch all ours locally."
"Ingredient…?" Mary-Sue turned to stare at her food, and the waiter walked away. "This is…made of Pokémon?"
"Where'd you think meat comes from?" Aaron asked between bites of his rice curry, which was mixed in with vegetables and - and some form of meat.
"But…" Mary-Sue had to swallow; it felt like her stomach was trying to crawl up her throat and out her mouth. "But…Pokémon are people. Eating people is wrong."
"Survival of the fittest, Masie," Jovi shrugged, cutting into her steak. "Pokémon eat other Pokémon all the time."
"Humans, too," Aaron added. "There are some Pokémon that eat human souls." He gave Mary-Sue a pointed look. "Did you really not know this?"
"I mean…" Yes, she'd known, of course she'd known, but until recently, Pokémon hadn't been…people, in her mind, just fighting machines. Now that she knew… "Yeah, but…but…" She shook her head. "Every Pokémon has its own unique potential," she recited. "What kind of potential did this Magikarp have?"
"Honestly, if we didn't eat it, something else probably would have," Jovi pointed out. "Magikarp especially tend to be the bottom of the food chain."
"But…" Mary-Sue gulped again. She couldn't stop staring at the hunks of meat wrapped in seaweed and other plant foods, as though she could will them back into a living form. What about my Magikarp? Could it have ended up as just food?
Jovi sighed and set down her knife and fork. "Listen, Mary-Sue," she said, and the use of her full name got Mary-Sue's attention. "You're not the only one who feels this way. But like, there are incredibly strict laws about farming Pokémon for food - most meat served comes from Pokémon that were raised specifically to be eaten, and they're very well-cared for. They're given full, happy lives, better lives than most wild Pokémon get. They're just…cut a little short, that's all. And even wild Pokémon caught for food have to be harvested humanely, so that they don't suffer."
"That doesn't make it better," Mary-Sue mumbled, rubbing her arms as they prickled with gooseflesh. "If anything, that just makes it creepier."
"The food's already made, Masie," Aaron inserted. "If we don't eat it, it'll just get thrown out - it'll be wasted. That's the worst thing you can do with meat, is waste it. If it's wasted, there was no point."
"I guess that's true," Mary-Sue conceded. But as she stared at the food that used to be a living, breathing Pokémon, her stomach twisted painfully at the thought of trying to eat it.
"Hey." A hand on Mary-Sue's shoulder caught her attention, and she turned back to Jovi. "No one's going to force you to eat meat if you don't want to," she told the younger girl. "Like I said, there are a lot of people who feel the way you do about it, too." She offered a smile. "I'll eat this myself, okay? Just a minute."
Without warning, the blue-haired girl got up and trotted a few steps away.
"Excuse me," she said to a nearby waitress she'd approached. "Do you have a no-kill menu?"
"Of course!" the woman answered brightly. "I'll be right back."
"Problem solved," Jovi stated as she returned to their table.
"Solved?" Mary-Sue repeated.
"Most restaurants have a menu for people who don't want to eat dead Pokémon," Jovi told her. "It's not required by law or anything, but it's pretty standard. In a minute, someone will be over with a list of dishes that you can eat without worrying that you're, uh, eating people."
And sure enough, the waitress came back with a new menu, this one distinctly patterned and colored blue. With an indication from Jovi, she handed it to Mary-Sue with a smile and a small platitude before walking away.
"Order whatever you like," Jovi told her. "Don't worry about the sushi - like I said, I'll eat it."
Nodding, Mary-Sue pushed her plate towards her friend and hunched over the new menu, still trying to get her stomach to settle and her cheeks to stop burning. Looking back, she felt so incredibly stupid for every time she'd ever eaten meat, knowing full well meat came from Pokémon. Just how dumb had she been before leaving for her journey? Knowing things and understanding them were so different…
She settled on a veggie loaf deep-fried in vegetable oil, and while it didn't turn out to be the most delicious thing she'd ever had, at least she didn't gag. When they left the diner to get back on the road, Mary-Sue was still reeling. The weight of her Pokéballs on her shoulder - especially Gyarados's Pokéball - almost felt like a brand of guilt. How many innocent Pokémon had she eaten in her life without thinking about it?
Then they were at the northern Cerulean gate, which led directly to a bridge across a river. Based on Mary-Sue's map, the cape was a couple days' trek northeast from the other side of the bridge, with a road leading directly there. As they crossed, she stared down at the water, as though she'd never seen it before, wondering about Pokémon eating Pokémon, about Pokémon being caught to be eaten by people and Pokémon…
"Are you okay, Masie?" Aaron's soft voice interrupted the young redhead's thoughts.
"Y-Yeah," she mumbled, refocusing on the planks of wood under her feet, gripping the straps of her backpack tightly. "I just…never really thought about this stuff before."
"I have," Aaron said, and somehow, that didn't surprise her at all.
"Let me guess," she said wryly, "you had to, growing up in a fairy forest?"
"Hey, there are plenty of Pokémon in Ballonlea Forest that won't hesitate to eat a stray traveler if they're hungry," Aaron said, almost defensively, though there was a bit of a smile at the corner of his mouth. "Like Jovi said, it's survival of the fittest. Living things eat other living things to grow strong, it's just how it is."
"But we don't have to," Mary-Sue pointed out.
"Some Pokémon do," Aaron shrugged.
"But we don't," Mary-Sue emphasized. "Humans can live on plants and stuff just fine."
"You can if you want to," Aaron said. "No one's going to make you eat meat if you feel that strongly about it. As for me…I'd feel bad if the Pokémon raised on farms were mistreated, but they're not - every region has an entire book of laws on acceptable farming practices, farm Pokémon are taken good care of and given pleasant lives."
"Until the end," Mary-Sue said softly, her stomach turning over again.
"Yeah," Aaron admitted. "But I mean…everything dies eventually. That's part of being alive. What matters is how life goes until then."
"Hmm." What he was saying made sense, but it didn't make Mary-Sue feel any better.
At some point, they'd crossed the bridge into the wilderness; trees and bushes surrounded them as they walked along the dirt path, green and vibrant. When Mary-Sue glanced over her shoulder and couldn't see any trace of Cerulean City anymore, she stumbled.
"Masie?" Jovi gasped.
"I'm fine," Mary-Sue said quickly, but she hugged herself slightly. She'd been so eager to continue her Pokémon journey that she'd forgotten that it meant being out in the wilderness again, where there weren't a bunch of people everywhere and Cipher creeps could sneak up on them and attack them.
"You were the one who was so eager to get going," Aaron chuckled, as though reading the younger trainer's mind.
"I know," Mary-Sue mumbled, heat prickling her cheeks. "And I am. I'm fine."
The Galarian boy sighed, then reached into his pack, and Mary-Sue perked up - by now, she knew the obvious indicator that he was going to start playing an instrument to brighten up the walk. But then, suddenly, he stopped short and gasped, "Shoot!"
"What?" Both girls turned on him in confusion.
"My leaf," Aaron said, and he seemed genuinely upset. "It's withered. I never got around to asking Grookey to keep it supple…" He met his companions' questioning gazes and asked, "Can we set up camp early, please?"
His companions blinked. "I…guess it will be dusk pretty soon," Jovi frowned.
"I wanted to get further, though," Mary-Sue protested.
"How about we stop as soon as we find a good campsite, or when night falls - whichever comes first," Jovi suggested.
Aaron frowned, but only gave a small sigh of protest before they continued.
A clearing in the shrubbery showed up before long, as the sun was just starting to sink below the treetops. Mary-Sue conceded, and they started setting up.
"So what do you plan to do with that leaf?" she asked Aaron as he carefully coaxed it out of the pocket of his backpack, seemingly being incredibly meticulous so as not to crack or rip it even a little bit. "It's already withered."
But Aaron smiled at her. "Grookey can revitalize plants by tapping its stick in a drumbeat," he answered.
"Really?" Jovi asked, looking up from her half-pitched tent. "How does that work?"
"Every Grookey is born with a precious branch from the forests of its ancestors, which absorbs its power and channels it by striking hard hard surfaces," Aaron explained. "Here, I'll just show you. Come on out, guys," he added, tossing his three occupied Pokéballs. "It's time to relax."
Grookey, Zigzagoon, and Toxel all materialized, though none of them leapt into motion or started talking like they usually did. Instead, all three Pokémon turned to Aaron; the mood was immediately tense.
"…I'm sorry," Aaron told them after a moment. "I…I let you all down. We're going to take some time to train before we try again, okay? We…I'll do better next time."
Slowly, the Galarian creatures all nodded at him, and then Zigzagoon wandered off.
"Hey, Grookey," Aaron went on, and he carefully picked up and cradled his precious leaf in front of the grass-type Pokémon. "I know I let you get hurt today, and I really am sorry. But…do you think you could use your power to revitalize my leaf? Please? It's withering."
"Grook," the green monkey nodded, and Mary-Sue thought its smile looked like it was trying to reassure its trainer that all was forgiven.
"Thanks," Aaron smiled with a sigh of relief. "Alright, show our friends what you can do."
"Grookey," the Pokémon said as Aaron gently placed the leaf beside a small tree and got back to setting up camp.
As the Pokémon began tapping its stick against the trunk of the tree next to the leaf, Mary-Sue and Jovi called out their own Pokémon, though Mary-Sue hesitated with Gyarados's capsule. It's too big, she decided. Once we get to the cape, I'll let it swim all it wants, it'll be fine for one day.
"You gonna bring Gyarados out?" Jovi asked, as though reading the younger girl's mind.
"Are you going to bring out Onix?" Mary-Sue asked in response.
Jovi laughed. "Okay, I guess I see your point," she conceded. "Still…" Her smile faded, and she glanced at Aaron, who was hard at work cooking up a batch of curry. "I do need Onix to hear Aaron's music, too."
"Hey, what happens when their, uh, heart gauge clears all the way?" Mary-Sue asked.
"Well…" Jovi sighed. "I'll have to call my brother and ask him to free up a Purification Chamber for a few seconds, so they can undergo the ceremony," she said, sounding tired. "It's a quick process, once it gets to that point, but I'll have to coordinate with him."
"Where are the Purification Chambers, though?" Mary-Sue questioned.
"Oh, it's the same as the storage system trainers use for their Pokémon," Jovi answered quickly; "it's a virtual space that Pokémon can enter and exit from anywhere."
"Hmm." Mary-Sue turned to the Pokémon that were relaxing around the camp. Budew stayed huddled beside her, Zubat and Minun were talking about something, Bibarel sat back quietly radiating malice, and Toxel and Plusle seemed to be arguing. "I know Pokémon are sent to virtual spaces that are comfortable for them when they have to be stored because a trainer can't carry more than six," she said slowly, "but…it feels kinda weird, storing living things in a computer."
"Pokémon are special, Masie," Jovi reminded her. "No one has invented technology to store a human in a computer program, but Pokémon can be converted to data and back easily, without getting hurt."
"I know," Mary-Sue sighed, and she offered her friend a smile. "Don't worry, I'm not going to start boycotting the PC storage system or anything."
That got a laugh, and Mary-Sue giggled too.
"Dinner's ready!" Aaron called.
"I think I'm good," Jovi said as everyone congregated at the fireplace - all except for Grookey, who was still tapping out an upbeat rhythm. "I just had a steak, potatoes, and a sushi platter, I've had enough to eat today."
"More for us, then," Aaron teased. His smile dropped a little, and he added to Mary-Sue, "I have several meats for curry bases, but I just used bread and berries tonight…Should I start making separate curry for you from now on, though, so we can still have meat-based curry?"
Mary-Sue swallowed hard, her stomach turning again. "That would be too much," she mumbled, blood rushing to her cheeks. "I can just eat my own food supplies when you make meat curry."
"Hmm." His light blue eyes searched her face for a minute, and then he nodded. "That sounds fair," he agreed. "Here, Grookey, take a break for a second and eat."
"Key key!" it said enthusiastically, turning away from its tapping to start slurping from the bowl Aaron brought it.
A spare bowl was set out for whenever Zigzagoon came back, and before long, Grookey had finished and was back to tapping the tree trunk. Mary-Sue eyed the leaf that lay beside the musical monkey and saw that it was shimmering, and seemed to be looking far too fresh for a week-old leaf already. Aaron ate nearly as fast as his Pokémon, and before long, he brought out his little guitar and started strumming along with the beat Grookey had gotten into. Mary-Sue relaxed as music filled the campsite - it was already so normal for dinner to come with a tune, it made her feel completely at home.
After a minute, Jovi stood up and started pacing around the edge of the clearing, as though looking for something.
"What is it, Jovi?" Mary-Sue asked her friend.
"I'm just looking for a good place to let Onix rest," the older girl answered. "It should be listening, like Bibarel…" She frowned, tapped her boots against the ground where she stood a few times, then seemed to come to a decision. Taking out a Pokéball, she tapped the button and said in a stern, calm voice, "Come out here, Onix."
The giant rock snake emerged into the dusk, quickly taking up all the spare space in the clearing. "Ooooon!" it roared.
"Calm down," Jovi told it.
"Ooon," it rumbled at her; like Bibarel, its eyes were vicious, almost gleaming with a craving for violence.
"You obey me now," Jovi stated, not even flinching. "I hold your Pokéball, so I am your master. And I command you to lie down and rest. Do nothing. Just listen to the music."
"Ooon…" the monster's growl did not sound pleased, but it did as it was told, weaving its length through the spaces of the clearing and settling down.
Onix's roar had interrupted both Aaron and Grookey in their music, but once Onix had finished laying down, Jovi turned to the boy and said, "Sorry to interrupt. Please keep playing."
"Right," Aaron nodded, and he started strumming, a bit quicker than before, Grookey's tapping quickly falling in time with him.
"It's so big," Mary-Sue said faintly. She couldn't help but shiver as she remembered, again, being cornered by the raging rock-type Pokémon.
"Are you alright, Masie?" Jovi asked, skirting around the massive Shadow Pokémon to put a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.
"Oh, I - I'm fine," Mary-Sue said quickly. "I know it won't hurt us now."
Jovi sighed and nodded. "It took me a while to get used to Shadow Pokémon," she confided in the redhead. "I don't know how my brother handled so many of them at once when he was only your age…"
"Your brother…" Mary-Sue frowned, mulling this over. "He was…"
"To be fair, he was used to working with Pokémon when Cipher attacked," Jovi hurried to tell her. "Like I said, he was the best trainer in the lab at the time, even if he mostly only battled in simulations. He was even used to simulating big ones, like Venusaur and Aggron."
"Oh…" Mary-Sue nodded slowly. "Well…I guess it was pretty cool for him, that he got to work with Pokémon even when he was little."
"Yeah," Jovi said flatly. "Lucky for all of us, at least."
She seemed almost bitter, and Mary-Sue frowned at the teenager but couldn't think of anything to say. Despite being so close with her Plusle and Minun, Jovi wasn't really a trainer per se, she just kind of…worked with Pokémon, as far as Mary-Sue could tell; it would make no sense for her to be jealous. So why would she be unhappy about her brother getting so much practice in?
One of the bushes near Aaron started rustling, but Mary-Sue barely noticed, assuming it was just Zigzagoon finally returning from its walk. Everyone turned in surprise, though, when a small Pokémon with a round blue body and a tuft of leaves growing out of its top waddled into the clearing.
"Oddish?" it asked, looking around at the humans and Pokémon it had walked in on. "Oddish dish…"
"Oh?" Jovi asked, while Aaron flicked one eye open to see what the fuss was about, then smiled and closed his eye again, his playing not disrupted in the slightest.
Mary-Sue took out her Pokédex and scanned the creature. "An Oddish," she read aloud. "It's a grass- and poison-type, like my Budew."
"Dewew?" her companion squeaked; surprisingly, it almost looked like it wanted to walk over and greet the newcomer, though it held back, probably due to Onix being in the way.
"Dish dish," Oddish remarked, still looking around.
"Did you…come for curry, little one?" Jovi asked. "Sorry, but that last bowl is for a friend of ours…"
The new Pokémon ignored Jovi and the bowl of curry that was still waiting for Zigzagoon's return, instead slowly walking over to where Aaron's leaf was shining under the influence of Grookey's drumming. "Oddish," it said, tilting all of its tiny little body curiously. "Oddish dish…oooodd, dish…"
Without warning, it nudged the leaf, then suddenly opened its mouth and bit into it.
"Wait, no!" Mary-Sue yelped. "What are you doing?!"
Aaron's music cut off, and several of the Pokémon echoed Mary-Sue's cry. In response, the two Shadow Pokémon stirred, Onix lifting its massive body up and turning its head to the source of the commotion.
"Onix, Bibarel, return!" Jovi shouted desperately, and the dangerous Pokémon dissolved into clouds of red light as Zubat and Grookey descended on Oddish, who still had Aaron's leaf in its mouth, mid-munch. "Dish?" it mumbled around its mouthful.
"Grookey, grook Grookey grook key key!" jabbered Grookey.
"Odd…" Oddish looked up at Aaron, who was staring at it, his little guitar in his lap, his expression slack with disbelief.
"Why did you have to do that?" he asked the creature faintly.
When it tilted its body and asked a muffled question in confusion again, Grookey jabbered a bit more. Seemingly in response, Oddish walked over to Aaron and set down the leaf that now had a small bite taken out of it, nudging it with its foot.
"Oddish," it said. "Oddish dish?"
"No, you might as well eat the rest of it," Aaron sighed heavily. "It's already ruined."
"Oddish, dish Oddish dish," it replied, nudging the leaf with one foot again. When Aaron only groaned and put a hand to his face, Oddish tilted sideways again, then picked up the leaf in its mouth and continued eating.
"Today is not my day," Aaron muttered.
"I'm sorry, Aaron," Mary-Sue offered.
"It's fine," he said, clearly only in resignation. "And it was such a perfect leaf…" he added under his breath.
Mary-Sue frowned. First he lost his gym battle, then a wild Pokémon ate his 'perfect' leaf, she reflected. Talk about bad luck. I wish there was something I could do to make it up to him…
With half the leaf sticking out of its mouth, Oddish looked up at Aaron one last time, then turned and walked into the bushes it had emerged from, disappearing from sight. Everyone stared after it for a long, comically depressed minute.
"Maybe you should have tried catching it," Jovi suggested at last.
"Yeah," Mary-Sue agreed. "It's a grass-type, so it would have helped you at the Cerulean Gym. I mean…" She frowned again. "I guess it was poison-type too, so Starmie and Golduck would have destroyed it…but, I mean, you haven't caught any Pokémon since you left your home region, and trainers are supposed to catch Pokémon, it's part of the journey."
"Too late now," Aaron sighed. He looked down at his instrument, but didn't seem too willing to pick it back up; with another sigh, he stowed the guitar in his backpack, then pulled out his harmonica.
Why? Mary-Sue stopped herself from asking, though curiosity flared in her chest. Why switch instruments?
Some other bushes across the clearing rustled, and everyone froze. But it was only Zigzagoon, the black-and-white creature weaving its way back and forth through the woody stems and into the campsite.
"Oh," Aaron said, relaxing slightly. "Hey, buddy. Did you find anything interesting?"
"Zigza," panted the furry creature, and it trotted over and held something out to its trainer. "Zigzagoon!"
"Hmm?" Aaron took the object: a new, intact Pokéball. "Where'd you find this, pal?"
"Misty said trainers come up here all the time," Mary-Sue said. "Maybe someone lost it?"
"I mean, Pokéballs are cheap enough that you can probably just keep it," Jovi remarked.
"I guess," Aaron nodded, tucking it away. "Thanks, buddy," he told his partner, rubbing its head, and it barked and licked his hand with its ever-lolling tongue. "Why not have your curry now?"
"Zig zig," it agreed, and it trotted over to the bowl and stared slurping.
Exhaling deeply, Aaron settled back against the tree he'd been leaning against and brought his harmonica to his lips. The new tune was slow, and something about the instrument leant it a mournful feeling, as if Aaron was playing a funeral song for his lost leaf. For some reason, Mary-Sue didn't feel too inclined to laugh; her friend had had a bad day, it wasn't really funny.
Jovi started gathering the dishes, and the Pokémon mingled, more comfortable now that the Shadow Pokémon were out of the way. Mary-Sue was debating letting Gyarados out - with Onix gone, there was surely room for the serpentine Pokémon now - when the bushes rustled again.
Once more, everyone froze, staring at the shaking leaves, which parted to reveal…an Oddish with a leaf in its mouth.
"Oddish," it mumbled, and it immediately turned to Aaron and trotted over to him, setting down the new leaf beside him. "Oddish dish," it said, nudging the offering closer with its foot.
"Huh?" Aaron blinked at the little creature.
"Oddish," it said brightly. "Dish dish. Oddish dish."
"You…wanted to make it up to me?" Aaron asked faintly. He picked up the leaf, eyeing it in the faint firelight. "Thanks, but…this one's too lopsided."
"Oddish?" asked the little creature, tilting its body questioningly.
"That leaf you ate was…perfectly shaped for playing music," Aaron explained.
Grookey frog-hopped over. "Grookey grook," it said to Oddish. "Grookey groo key key, key Grookey key."
"Oddish?" Oddish blinked at the other grass-type Pokémon, then back up at Aaron. "Oddish…" it said, and it sounded apologetic. "Odd, Oddish dish dish. Dish! Oddish dish."
"It's okay, you couldn't have known," Aaron told the creature, handing back the leaf it had brought. "Thanks anyway."
"Oddish…" It frowned, then grabbed the leaf in its mouth and started chewing.
"You wanna try catching it?" Mary-Sue asked.
"Huh? Oh…" Aaron blinked up at her, then looked back at Oddish again. "I mean…sure, I guess," he shrugged, and he took out the Pokéball Zigzagoon had just brought him and tossed it at the munching plant.
"Dish?" it asked before it dissolved in a cloud of red light and disappeared inside the capsule.
The Pokéball hit the grass, its button flashing red. Then, with a click and a ping!, it went still.
"Oh!" Aaron said, pale blue eyes going wide in surprise. Tentatively, he reached out and picked up the ball, then tapped the button, and the Oddish emerged in a flash of light.
"Oddish," it said, immediately turning to look up at its new owner.
"Does this mean you want to come with me?" Aaron asked it.
"Oddish!" it said, hopping slightly. "Oddish dish, dish Oddish dish!"
"Okay then," Aaron said, and a sudden smile split his face. "Welcome to the team! My name's Aaron."
Introductions were quickly made by people and Pokémon alike…and then, much to Mary-Sue's surprise, Budew trotted over to their new friend.
"Dewew," it squeaked. "Budew dew, dewew Budew dew!"
"Oooooodd, dish," Oddish smiled. "Oddish, dish Oddish."
"Seems like the bulbs are getting along," Jovi remarked with a half chuckle.
"Mm-hmm," Mary-Sue nodded. Something warm was expanding in her chest as she watched her timid friend chatter eagerly with the other grass-poison-type.
Night had long since fallen by now, and suddenly, Toxel let out a tremendous yawn that set off a chain reaction across all the travelers. The humans called their Pokémon back, put out the fire, and climbed into their tents, ready to sleep after such a long, eventful day.