| abstract | - Know, O Prince, that between the years when the oceans drank Atlantis and the gleaming cities, and the years of the rise of the sons of Aryas, there was an age undreamed of, when shining kingdoms lay spread across the world like blue mantles beneath the stars. Hither came Blueshift the Barbarian, blue-headed, blue-eyed, sword in hand, a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth, to tread the jeweled thrones of the Earth under his booted feet. "I'm TIRRRRRRRRED" whines Blueshift as he stands amidst a burning village. The people of Goth had begun to colonise this part of the planet for some reason. But not for long, as they are now all dead. "By Unicron's beard, I dont' believe any of the people here are the legendary Wizard in Cyan!" he grumbles. "We'll never find him." Behind Blueshift is a huge, forboding castle. Blueshift hasn't looked there yet. Because it looks a bit scary. "Eh," Sinnertwin huffs as he juggles a few Goth civilian heads. "It was worth a try. But..how do I say this? Sometimes you have to accept the fact that some things don't exist." He lets the heads fall to the ground with a squishy thump. "Some things meaning wizards." "-Wizard-!?" Ramjet echoes back in annoyed protest. He's lowered his arms, giving his recently-used rifles time to cool in the air. "What wizard!? You told me this was just an exercise in destruction!" His brow furrows at Blueshift. Being taller, he is able to look over Blueshift's big blue head and see the big, ominous castle in the distance. "Wait. What is that!? Hnn. It looks foreboding, but, it may house treasures of interest!" Blueshift strokes his chin. "There are LEGENDS sir. Legends that on this planet, a WIZARD IN CYAN now resides. His powers are lengendary yet dark, but soon they shall belong to Galvatron!" He turns to look at the castle too, and shrugs. "Eh, I dont think a wizard would live there. Maybe he is under this rock." Blueshift bends down to pick up a small pebble. "Hmm no..." Sinnertwin plucks a dismembered arm off the ground and begins to gnaw on it. "Look," he says through mouthful's of God-knows-what. "There is no such thing as a wizard. Just overweight hairy humans who watch too many cheesy fantasy movies." "Yes.. Galvatron.." Ramjet looks a little too unenthusiastic about that. He glances to the side for the moment, sparing both Decepticons his disapproving look. Looking back to the castle, Ramjet's optics gleam with an idea. "Regardless! We are going to go sack that castle. Even if it has nothing of use, I will have it carved off its foundations and outfitted with engines so I can fly it around as my own personal sky castle." Ramjet waves his arm at Blueshift and Sinnertwin, threatening them with having a laser-rifle pointed at them. "Now, move out!" And out of animation error comes the old school gumby-like Reflector. The wee Decepticon times three gets dragged along into everything doesn't he? Reflector intones, "I realize we value might above all else, but we could do with a little more investment in brains... heart... and nerve. I want to go home." "Yes! Castle! Let's sack it! Rargh!" Blueshift lifts his sword into the air and runs towards the castle. Straight into the mouth of a gigantic frog which rises from the ground, swallowing Blueshift and then staring at Sinnertwin. Standing next to Ramjet is another conehead which seems to have come from nowhere. It looks a bit like Thrust, but instead of a face, it has a skull. And it stands there, staring at him... Sinnertwin took maybe one step before watching in horror as Blueshift was devoured by a monsterous frog. He just stands there, mouth agape in shock and awe. Finally, he speaks. "We should draft that frog as a soldier. Look at how swift and strong he is!" "Download some bravery into your programming, Reflector," chides Ramjet. He turns and is about to jet off to the castle when, suddenly, Blueshift is eaten by a giant frog. "!!" Ramjet freezes, out of disbelief than anything else. "...Hnn. Good idea, Sinnertw--- oh, Thrust. There you a--" He turns his cone, having caught a maroon jet out of the corner of his optic. Except, it isn't Thrust. It's someone who looks like Thrust, with a skull for a face. "....." Ramjet hangs his cone, he must be hallucinating again. "Sigh." There is a light hammering on the inside of the frog as Blueshift panics. The frog slowly lurches towards Sinnertwin, its mouth opening wide, tongue curling out towards the Terrorcon! And the skull-faced seeker next to Ramjet moans, raises an axe and swings it violently at the Air Commander. And it is no hallucination. Reflector spreads out and deploys his flasher. "Shield your optics. 3, 2, 1." ~FLASH! AH-AH!~ Reflector lets off a blinding burst of light at the hungry hungry hopper, simultaneously getting a 3 dimensional optic scan of the creature for personal collection and potential holo-arena simulations. "Ramjet, sir! It has come to my attention that this frog isn't a good soldier at all!" The frog's tongue lashes out and curls around Sinnertwin's body; coating him in SPACE FROG saliva. "Ack! Reflector, you idiot!" he hisses as he's blinded by a flash of light. "What did Cyclonus say about FLASHING your comrades?" Ramjet doesn't process that Skull-Thrust isn't an hallucination until its axe bites into his chest, shattering his canopy. "...D'AGH!!?!" the Air Commander bellows in agony and surprise. His hands go for the heft of the axe, trying to seize it from sinking any more deeply into him. Ramjet angles his elbows, trying to point the rifles attached to his upper-arms at the simulacra and fires his lasers in three-cycle bursts. "IT'S A TRAP!" Ramjet shouts back at Sinnertwin. "KILL IT! KILL ALL OF IT!" "BBLAAAAARGH!" The frog staggers as it is blinded by Reflector, its tongue instinctively tightening around Sinnertwin as it staggers in a circle, trying to wave the Terrorcon about like a lolly pop. The skull-faced conehead staggers back as bullet holes are torn in its body. From the ground erupt decayed, skeletal humanoid and rusting robotic hands, grasping at the ankles of all around as corpses slowly pull themselves from the ground. "Oh..Oh God..I don't...Blaaaarrgggggg!" Sinnertwin begins to projectile vomit a liquid lasagna composed of small animals, alcohol, small pebbles, and oil all over the frog. He is prone to motion sickness, okaayyyy? Streaking through the sky above is the red-enameled speed warrior Redshift! With his magical sixth sense that tell him when and where to go to upshow his half-wit brother Blueshift. He dives down on the gathered Decepticons, flames billowing around his frame. "Time for a little froggy FLAMBE! Take that, frenchy!" He sprays gouts of wild flames downwards at the frog, and probaly Sinnertwin too, because nobody cares about Terrorcons. Reflector headshakes to himself at Sinnertwin's complaint. The ground erupts with hands and Reflector takes to the air in a hover. "Froggies and skull-jets and hands, oh my." Reflector draws out a set of three standard issue gumby grade laser pistols and starts playing blast-a-mole with the self-exhuming mecha-skeletons. "Hyaagh.." Ramjet grunts as he swings his foot forward, kicking Skull-Thrust away for some distance. He takes a firm hold of the axe biting into his chassis and, with a herculean strain, rips it right back out. "..Agh... aaagh.. uhghh.." Ramjet groans, hunched over slightly as he tries to deal with the pain ripping through his sensors. It takes him just a few to let his self-repair systems supress the sensations of damaged mechanics before he can return to action. Ramjet tosses the axe into the air, flipping it around so he can take control of it. He swings it in a great, horizontal slash for Skull-Thrust's cone before noticing the hands of the undead reaching out from under him. "D'agh! Undead blasphemies!" Ramjet complains before launching himself in the air, retaliating with suppressive fire from his laser-rifles. "These defense systems are incredible! Who could be behind such a thing!?" The combination of Sinnertwin's volatile vomit and Redshift's flames cause the frog to erupt in flames. It croaks, as from inside comes the screaming voice of Blueshift. "I'm on fire, BY UNICRON NO!" he whines. The robotic skeletons crumble and fall as they are shot. Skull-Thrust's cone flies off in the direction of Sinnertwin. But more and more tunnel up from the ground. And something strange is happening in the sky. It is as if two blue eyes flicker into view over the stormy clouds, and the very gravity itself starts to get stronger and stronger, making staying in the air, or even standing, very hard indeed... Sinnertwin also bursts in to flames due to being is such close proximity to the frog. "AAAARGH! WHYY? WHYYYYY?" He's then beaned in the head by a cone which just makes him really sad ): Sinnertwin manages to free himself from the frog (which isn't that hard, really. The thing is an inferno by now) and hits the ground with a thump. "DEATH TO THE INFIDELS!" he hollers, shooting grenade after grenade at the zombies with his gun. Reflector feels himself gravitationally dragged down towards the rising mecha-deadites and the three exclaim, "Klaatu berada nikto!" He moves back-to-back-to-back with himself as he continues to fight. McDonnell Douglas DC-10 flies overhead, spotting some of his allies caught in the grips of undead enemies. He swoops in low, taking a quick moment to change over to his robot form, landing by everyone. "What is going on here? Are those undead?!" He asks, before firing a belch of flame. "Ha, I've roasted he frog into submissio-- Whoa!" Redshift's gloating is stopped short as suddenly he finds himself to be far, far heavier than he should be, especially difficult for this space warrior, used to fighting in /zero/ gravity. He drops to the ground, until he can push himself up with his puny arms. "Who turned up the /gravity/? I hate gravity!" He struggles to rise to his feet, while also fumbling to get his rifle up so he can start frying the mysterious metal zombies . The frog is now totally toasted as Blueshift slowly staggers out, covered in burns and flaming frog. "Nnn I blame Blot!" he cries, shaking his hand. The zombies stagger about as they are blown to pieces by grenades, flames, lasers and the like. But then as the gravity starts to increase even more, the parts of fallen robot zombies slowly move together, flowing into the form of a giant hand, which moves to scoop up all the Decepticons! Reflector starts to transform, intending to slip through the giant hand's grasp in his tiny camera mode, but one of him gets snagged, causing the other two to abort the transformation and get snagged too! "Hands off!" "Noooo!" Sinnertwin laments, falling onto his knees. "It can't end this way! IT CAN'T! I...I /just/ became leader of the Terrorcons! I have to show Hun-Grrr that I'M BETTER THAN HIIIMMMMMMM!" Octane spots that giant hand. "Oh slag!" He sends a goup of flame for it, at least until he was picked up. "Put me down!" Ramjet attempts at being a wily foe! Engaging his engines, he rockets away from the giant hand in order to get some distance. He turns and transforms! Reconfiguring into a space-jet, Ramjet flies off only to curve around and engage the hand directly. His laser-batteries open up and take fire, peppering the hand with energy bolts several times over as he tries to hit it -- but it is for naught! "Aggh!" Ramjet grunts as he is caught by the hand, transforming into robot mode on instinct. "I'm caught!" Redshift hasn't been grabbed by a giant hand since that time with the... Nevermind. Suffice to say, the red and black Decepticon with the wimpy arms can do little to to battle the giant hand made of zombies. "Blueshift, somehow this is all your fault! What are we even /doing/ here?" The huge robotic hand gathers all the Transformers in its huge fist, curling up as it lifts into the air, flying straight towards the castle. And then it lowers itself in through an opening in the roof and unceremoniously dumps all the Decepticons in a huge throneroom. The room is massive, made from stonework with flaming candles flickering. Zombie-like creatures stand guard, and at the var end, a Transformer-sized humanoid figure sits atop an ornate throne. He is wrapped in a Cyan robe. "And what" he intones "do you want." Reflector gathers himselves up, rubbing his head, legs and arms checking for damage. He asks himself, "Expelliarmus?" He then shrugs and turns, looking towards the Cyan Wizard. Octane struggles against the hand, and lands on his face when he's dropped. He does manage to get up though, checking himself for damage. "Hoooolleeeee /shit/" Sinnertwin hisses. "There....there is such thing as a wizard!" He begins to hyperventilate, "OhmyGodohmyGodohmyGod. Does this mean Blueshift...was right!? Ugghhh...erg...I can't deal with this..." He begins to throw up everywhere again. "Yack!" Ramjet shouts as he is dumped, unceremoniously, onto the floor. "Uhh.." He groans from his hands-and-knees position on the floor. Shaking his cone to clear the haze from his circuits, Ramjet begins getting back to his feet. "Fool!" he yells at Sinnertwin and promptly sidesteps to avoid getting splattered. "Never say Blueshift is right! It'll doom us all!" Then, the Wizard in Cyan catches his attention. Narrowing his brow, Ramjet takes a step forward! "We want your riches! And perhaps your castle! We claim it in the name of the Decepticon Empire!" He shakes his fist at him for effect. Redshift, having had some experience in dealing with mysterious ruler figures with bizzare powers, decides to play the 'suck up' card. It usually keeps him in one piece longer than any other ploy. Picking himself up off of the floor, Redshift takes a confidant step forward(taking care to avoid Sinnertwin's vomit), head held high. He makes a deep, fluid bow, regarding the robed figure with his red optics. He opens his mouth to deliver a pleasing offer of fealty to the mysterious owner of this place, but then Ramjet has to go and open his big mouth. Sinnertwin wipes his face off with the back of his arm before leaping up onto his feet and joining Ramjet in some threatening fist shaking. "Yeah! We need your castle! Commander Ramjet needs a sky castle to fly around in and be better than everyone else! HIS WILL MUST BE DONE!" Octane chuckles as he takes step forward. "Yeah....and all the fuel ya got too!" He adds to the mounting list of demands. Blueshift would be dancing around right now at being right, but he is still half-conscious, his head still on fire. The Wizard in Cyan regards Ramjet and the Decepticons balefully. "Know this!" he booms, rising from his seat. "/Cybertronians/. Your kind has come here before in the past. Thunderwing and his six-knight. But he, HE treated me with RESPECT. YOU will treat me with respect or you shall know my full wrath!" He sits down again. "But for now, simple tribute will do. Give unto me your most precious object, and I may let you live!" Reflector glances and record-observes the pattern of Sinnertwin's vomit... mentally doing a fortune telling reading. He then looks back towards the wiz. One of him then points at Blueshift. "You can have him. We hate to part with him, but... you insist oh powerful one." His other two show agreement, nodding. Octane points at blueshift as well. "Take him...." He nods as well. "Yeah, he's pretty much yours," Sinnertwin says, shoving Blueshift a bit with his foot. Ramjet is good at opening his big mouth. The Air Commander gig is all about living large and in charge. Or is it just living long enough to get yourself blasted into smithereens? "Thunderwing!?! Here!?!" There is a long history of Transformers being led by dark, powerful entities. Galvatron had Unicron. Fleet had the Fallen. Ramjet has Thunderwing. Still, Ramjet is a stubborn old warrior who hates most everyone and hates following others. "And to what reason would THUNDERWING treat YOU with respect!? What do you KNOW, Wizard, that would have even Thunderwing and the mysterious sixchanger Sixknight kowtow to you?" "SILENCE!" Ramjet roars at the other Decepticons. He emphasizes his point by brandishing that axe he ripped off of Skull-Thrust. "Blueshift is MINE and I alone will decide when I wish to sacrifice him for my own pursuits!" Like selling him out to Cyclonus. "We will not give into this wizard's demands without knowing how this will benefit US!" Reflector doesn't fancy either getting crushed by a giant hand or hacked up into even more pieces by Ramjet. So he takes a step back and shuts the frag up, gumby style. Redshift tries to be a little more /diplomatic/ about it. "I am Redshift, of the Decepticons," He says, inclining his head respectfully. He gestures to Blueshift, poor flaming head and all. "This one is my brother, and as valued as he is to me, he would be of little use to you. Instead," Redshift adds, taking his rifle from it's mount under his wing. "Instead I offer my weapon, upon which my very life depends. The weapon is not my tribute, but instead, my /safety/, that I can no longer defend myself should you punish us." "I am the Wizard in Cyan!" cries the wizard, waving a hand at Ramjet. "Seven millenia ago, before the Fall of Goth, I was but a poor farmboy. And then one dark night I glimpsed streaking across the heavens the firey trail of the Underbase. That very glimpse was enough to empower me. And now here I sit in my castle, /immortal/." He points to Ramjet. "You. I shall have your /cone./" He points to Octane. "You. I shall have your FUEL. And YOU" he points to Reflector and Sinnertwin. "I will have your extra heads." He takes Redshift's offer quite gratiously. Octane stares. "Well....that's not happening. I ain't giving my fuel up, no way." He says, folding his arms to drive the point home. Reflector transforms into camera mode. "What heads?" Sinnertwin feigns shock. "What are you talking about! Heads? Pffft! I only have one! You're crazy! Hahahaha...ha......" He throws himself onto his knees again, "DON'T TAKE MY HEADS! I NEED THOSE!" Ramjet stares incredulously at the Wizard. "The UNDERBASE!?" He tilts his cone back, his optics bright with shock. Then, the Wizard calls for his cone and it brings about a horrified gasp from Ramjet. "You dare!?!" He stiffens up, shoulders broad. "I will never give up my head! And none of YOU.." Ramjet says as he glares at Redshift. "Shall give up anything, either!" "Wizard in Cyan," Ramjet says with a sneer. "You may be powerful but clearly, your encounter with THUNDERWING has taught you NOTHING about dealing with Decepticons! We will not allow ourselves to be so defenseless against a being not from our own planet!" The Air Commander takes a step back, aiming his laser-rifle for the wizard. "Instead, I will TAKE from YOU! Your LIFE in exchange for our supremacy! You may have your life back.. in exchange for great powers!" "My life is not for you to give or take!" booms the wizard. A smirk crosses his mouth. "But if you defeat my AVATAR, then great power will be yours yes." From nowhere, a huge ape wearing a blue cloak appears. It beats its chest, fangs bared as it runs towards the Decepticons, glowing with an evil energy. Octane grins as he hears Ramjet speak, only to whip around to see the giant blue cloaked ape. "Kill it!!" He roars, flamethrower belching fire at the ape. He also started to take some steps back, foot stepping in sinnertwin's vomit. "...and I just got polished..." "Decepticons.." "ATTACK!!!!!" Ramjet screams as he points his laser-rifle in the direction of the ape and begins firing at him. "Reflector, BLIND HIM! Blueshift and Redshift, blast him! Sinnertwin, bite him!" Redshift is hardly defenseless by the removal of but -one- of his weapons, and the other would only be under small inconvenience if they had just listened. He readies himself for battle as the great ape appears, looking it over for weaknesses before it gets too close. "GLADLY will we prove our worth against your creature, mighty wizard!" He adds, and faces the beast. His optics flash brightly, and he fires bright red beams at the approaching simian monster. Camera shifts and directs himself towards the cloaked King Kong. He flashes the ape cause he's kinky like that. ~FLASH! AH-AH!~ Yes, that has to happen everytime his flash goes off. The blinding light like lightning. Blueshift simply rolls about on the ground, groaning. The battle is short but fierce. Eventually the horrid ape from hell is felled by a combination of the firepower from the various Decepticons. "Bravo! Bravo!" cries the wizard as he stands from his throne, applauding. "I keep my bargain, Decepticons. Here is the power you seek!" He walks (or... floats?) over to Ramjet and arcs out his arm. "Behind you is my weapon store. You may choose one. But ONLY one each. And now as promised, I depart to NEPSA to hold the line in the WAR!" In a flash, the strange man vanishes. /WAS/ he a wizard?" Behind all the Decepticons, a weapon storeroom door creaks open. Inside is a fantastic variety of high-tech gadgets. Camera shuffles, turning around to look into the store room that appeared from nowhere with hsi awesome lens. "Hmmmm..." He goes through several 'vision' modes, analysing what is to be seen. Camera transforms and instead of entering the armory, he strolls over to the ape corpse and claims it's head. Reflector never gets any trophies. It's nice that the other Decepticons are distracted by the armory goodies. "...!?!" Ramjet looks perturbed as the Wizard vanishes. ".. What /war/?" He asks, skepticism in his voice. He just happens to wonder aloud, "Could it be the TIME WAR that Thunderwing warned me about?" His optics flare brightly with thought before he turns his attention to the weapons store. The twinkle of light reflecting off something catches his attention and Ramjet walks up to examine it. A pair of laser-rifles, curiously containing the standardized hard-point connector of the Decepticon Seeker design. "Hnn.." Ramjet muses for a moment as he takes both, inspecting them. "...Loot it," Ramjet tells the other Decepticons. Octane shrugs. "I'm gonna take a quick stroll....see what I can steal, fuel wise..." Redshift takes back his plasma rifle, hitching it to his wing behins his left shoulder. He approaches the cache of weapons, browsing over the contents thoughtfully. "I've alreay /got/ a full payload of weapons, I wish I had known he had this stash of fancy uns behind his bloody throne." He shrugs, and sets about filling his arms with the weapons, they may still be of use at some point. "YEAH! EFF WIZARDS!" Sinnertwin hollers to no one in particular. Blueshift is suddenly alive and well, appearing besides Ramjet. "Yoink!" he shouts as he grabs a strange-looking weapon, pocketing it. "All of it sir? Yessss!" He leaps forwards, grabbing at a techno morning-star. The moment the Transformers touch more than one weapon however, the room starts to tremble, and the spare weapons in the room explode. The castle itself trembles, the brickwork crumbling and breaking up, as the floor cracks open. He said take only one, guys :("NO!!!" Ramjet roars in anger. "The CASTLE is FALLING APART! He's RUINING my dream of having a flying space castle!!" Sticking the laser rifles into his shattered canopy and ditching the axe, Ramjet kicks up into the air. "We must leave before this whole place falls atop us! Follow me!" He transforms, becoming that vicious space-jet with the reinforced nosecone. Aiming it for the ceiling, Ramjet engages his engines and takes off, slamming through each level of the castle until he can get free. Reflector drops the head and makes for the exit. "You idiots ruin everything!" Octane returns, tank filled with a good amount of fuel. "Good idea..." He says, changing into his own flight mode, following Ramjet. Redshift's armload of stolen goods suddenly EXPLODES, bursting a series of exploding batteries and power couplings, blasting poor Redshift across the room. He slams into the wall, leaving the red Decepticon charred and more than a little battered. Also a brick falls on his head. "What the FRAK was that?" He says, while heading for Ramjet's convenient skylight. Blueshift can fly. Blueshift can fly. Why then does he leap at Ramjet's jet mode, wrapping his arms around Ramjet's canopy, flying out hugging the air commander. Why indeed. "AAAGH! EFF WIZARDS!" Sinnertwin hollers, flying after Ramjet. As the Decepticons escape outside, the castle rumbles, and collapses in on itself. The stonework rolls up, and the ground swallows it, until with a massive CRUNCH, nothing is left to indicate a castle was ever there. The winds blow over the lonely plains of Goth Except for a SINGLE METAL PLAQUE Octane lands outside, switching back to robot form. Blueshift lands too, dusting off his hands. "Oh well" he mumbles. "Its a shame we didn't get any of those weapons to share out..." He sneakily pats his pocket where he has stashed the gun he found. Octane turns to blueshift. "We have /YOU/ to blame for that." Redshift whistles innocently, as he tries to pick bits of shrapnel and slag out of his armor. Redshift didn't try to steal a whole bunch of exploding guns, noooo. "Ahem... I think this blasted rock ought to be put on the no-fly list, there doesn't seem to be anything else here worth taking. Maybe we can drop a nuke on it next time we're in the sector." "You can -get off me now-," Ramjet emits from his cockpit at Blueshift. Reflector lands and goes to look at where the castle was. "Oh look, a plaque. Let's see what it says..." On the plaque is written in pan-Galactic "Seven millenia ago, this site is believed to be where the Castle of the Wizard in Cyan once stood" Redshift does his best to look cool as he strides into the training room, although his armor is still battered and burnt from the armful of weapons that inexplicibly exploded earlier. "This had better be important, Blueshift, I'm going to be late for my appointment to get my paint reapplied." "Redshift stand RIGHT THERE!" shouts Blueshift, raising his new gun and shooting at Redshift "What?" Redshift says, as he tries to duck the fast blast from Blueshift. As if he hasn't suffered /enough/ because of Blueshift already for one day. The blast sears his shoulder, and Redshift's hand clutches at the wound. "HEY! What.. do yoou thiinnkk youuuuuu're doooooooiiiingggggg?" Red's optics go dim, and his voice slows down into a low drone. Blueshift moves to pocket his weapon as he wanders over to Redshift, giving his brother a kindly kick. "So uh, what did that do then, eh?" Redshift's optics have taken on a panicked look, and he tries to leap back from Blueshift's playful kick. The kick impacts his leg with a typical *konk*, but this is hardly typical; Redshift should have no trouble at all dodging the idle kick. "Yoouuuuuu youuuuu... Ugh!" He shakes his head, as the effect seems to be wearing off. "you made me /slow/ you blue bastard!" "Eeeeeeeeexcellent." Blueshift takes the gun out again and gives Redshift another shot for luck. "Always happy to help out in the name of science!" Redshift opens his mouth to further berate his blue brother, but Blueshift instead shoots him /again/, this time right in the face! "Yoooooooouuuuuuuuuuuuuuu baaaaaaaastaaaaaaaaaaaaard!" He moans, and ties to chase after Blueshift.
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