• Published 25th Dec 2020
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Harmony of Heroes: Ultimate Multiverse Explorers - Lucar



Several months after her adventures on Popstar, Sweetie Belle decides it's time to start new adventures in new universes

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Chapter 114: Tournament Part 7: Fateful Rivals

"Is it me or kids in this tournament are all ridiculously OP?" Samus questioned.

Tails rose a hand. "I'm a kid, and I lost."

"Your OP is in your genius. You aren't even a teen yet and look at everything you invented and built," Phantom reminded.

"I agree. If you could have brought the Cyclone, Incineroar wouldn't have stood a chance," Sonic said.

Tails laughed. "I wouldn't go that far. Incineroar is very strong. It would probably still put up a great fight against the Cyclone."

Sonic raised an eyebrow. "One shot from your Power Laser would probably be enough to defeat it, and if not, then a few of your homing missiles should finish the job. The fight wouldn't last more than a few seconds."

"The Power Laser?" Dawn questioned.

"A huge multicolored and extremely powerful laser that would put your Hyper Beam and Solar Beam to shame," Sonic simply explained.

Not far, Elio gulped.

Meanwhile, Diddy Kong was sitting on his own. You could almost feel the aura of depression coming out of him as he muttered about "crazy kids with crazy powers" and "not even getting to fight."

"And with this ends the first round of the tournament!" Master Hand exclaimed. "If everyone feels like it, we can proceed to round two! If you start to get hungry..." He snapped his fingers, making a huge table full of food appear. "Here are some snacks. And if anyone needs a restroom break, then do so now."

A few people did need to go, so Master Hand decided to wait a few minutes.

Once everyone was back, he continued. "Now let's start the second round! Here are the fights!" He showed a board with the bracket of the tournament, showing who participated, who lost their fights, and who was fighting who in the second round. "The first fight will oppose MARIO against SONIC! Now let's select the arena!"

He punched the red button, and the selected arena eventually revealed to be none other than the Fountain of Dreams, albeit not exactly like Sweetie Void remembered. The real fountain was on the surface of Rainbow Resort while this one was on a circular structure elevated in the sky of the resort. Both had in common that its water was pouring down from it to form a small pond around, but since this one was on an elevated structure, the water was also pouring down from the structure like waterfalls before becoming mist. On the structure were also some of the decorations that were behind the fountain, lika a big tree with multicolored leaves, two small tower structures, and several stars of all colors. These decorations were on a part of the structure that wasn't immersed, slightly above the rest, letting some grass being seen.

Truthfully, Sweetie thought that this made the Fountain of Dreams look even more beautiful than the original. Heck, the circular structure looked like it was part of the fountain itself. Speaking of, while this fountain was obviously working, it didn't have a Star Rod on it. Considering that the Star Rod was an item that the fighters could use to fight, that was understandable.

Like in some previous arenas, three platforms were present in a triangular layout. The difference here was that the two bottom platforms were supported on streams of water shouting up from the structure's surface.

Just looking at this Fountain of Dreams made Sweetie Void reminisce a lot of memories that made her smile in nostalgia, and as Mario and Sonic entered the arena, she couldn't stop herself from wrapping a hoof around Kirby who was just beside her to hug him. She then sent a glare at her Rarity who was looking away too innocently while clearly holding back a giggle while using a hoof to hide her mouth.

Meanwhile, while everyone was focused on the future battle, Poo took Ness elsewhere.

On the arena, Sonic looked around. "Not a lot of place to run this time, but this will do," he said before he began to stretch his legs.

"GO!" Master Hand shouted, starting the battle.

Sonic immediately started the fight by running circles around Mario, too fast for the plumber to follow. The hedgehog then punched Mario from behind, and by the time the plumber reacted and punched in return, Sonic already attacked again from the opposite side. Before he knew it, Mario was subjected to a storm of punches from all sides and he couldn't land a single blow in return. Sonic was just too fast.

So, instead, Mario took his hammer and spun rapidly, and the weapon successfully hit Sonic on the cheek, sending him flying a few meters away. After a few rolls, Sonic was able to recover with a bounce before he stared at Mario with a cheeky grin.

"Not bad! Seems like it won't be as easy as I thought it would be."

Mario took the compliment. "Hehe. I have a lot of experience."

"Well, me too."

At this, Sonic did a Homing Attack that Mario pushed back with a swing of his hammer. Sonic then ran around a bit before doing another Homing Attack that also failed, and another, and another, then another from one of the platforms, and then charged a Spin Dash that Mario avoided with a jump. Sonic did a U-turn for another but, this time, Mario countered him by spinning with his hammer again, the hammer clashing with the hedgehog for a few seconds before they moved away from each other. Mario didn't give Sonic time to breathe however as he immediately jumped toward him to smash him with his hammer, but Sonic easily dodged him with a jump followed by a Homing Attack that Mario blocked with a swing of his weapon again.

Sonic landed right beside a Bob-Omb that he threw at Mario right away, once for Mario to send the bomb back at Sonic with another swing of the hammer, taking the hedgehog by surprise but not long enough as he was able to run away before the bomb could hit him. Mario then suddenly ducked, causing Sonic to punch the air much to his shock before Mario finally got him with a jumping uppercut that sent the hedgehog high. Mario then jumped after him to follow on his attack only for Sonic to do a Homing Attack from the air that hit the plumber on the head, sending him crashing near the edge of the arena. Mario quickly recovered with a bounce and immediately stopped another Homing Attack with his hammer.

Mario then moved away from the edge of the arena while blocking more Homing Attacks, but he was then taken by surprise as Sonic ran toward him again only to trip him with a slide kick, and Sonic used the opening to hit Mario with yet another Homing Attack only, this time, he remained on Mario's back to do a Spin Dash on him.


Everyone winced.

"If it wasn't for Master Hand's special dimension, Mario's back would have been shredded," one of the Twilight said.

"Still must hurt like hell," Samus replied.


Mario slowly got up with difficulty once Sonic moved away from his back which now felt like it was burning.

"Still want to continue?" Sonic asked.

Mario wordlessly answered by readying his hammer.

At this, Sonic ran toward Mario, ducked to avoid a swing of the hammer, and punched the plumber hard in the gut only to be punched himself before Mario grabbed him by the arm, spun, and threw him toward the edge of the arena. Sonic quickly recovered mid-air and used a Homing Attack to land back on ground before he could fly beyond to fall off. But when he looked back toward Mario, he panicked upon seeing a crate on wheels roll right toward him and he barely got out of the way. He failed to see Mario riding the crate however who violently bonked him on the head with his hammer as a result.

Mario was then about to do another attempt at throwing Sonic beyond the edge of the arena only for Sonic to curl into a ball and to ram Mario with a Spin Dash, pushing him back until he crashed against one of the decorative trees behind the Fountain of Dreams with Sonic still Spin Dashing against his belly. Resisting the urge to yell in pain, Mario grabbed Sonic at the sides, resisted the pain as they were getting injured like his belly and his back earlier, and threw the hedgehog upward. Then, he jumped, readied the hammer, and smashed down the Sonic ball who strongly bounced off the ground, splashing a lot of water in all directions, before he landed on his legs and fell on a knee.

"Oof... You must be a killer at volleyball... Even if using a hammer would be cheating."

Mario shrugged. "It depends. Not long ago, we played soccer while throwing shells, bombs, and banana peels at each others. Hammers were accepted, and the Hammer Bros had a field day using them to plant everyone into the ground, even the goalkeepers."

Sonic raised a finger, then lowered it. "You know what, this sounds like fun. Too bad I'm not allowed in any soccer team. Or in any sport that asks you to run in general."

He then saw something appear on the top platform and, recognising a piece of the Dragoon, jumped on one of the lower platforms (the only one remaining as the other one had disappeared into the water, the stream keeping it up having stopped) to reach and grab it.

Sonic looked at the Dragoon piece (the wings) in his hand before he looked at nothing and shouted, "Hey, uh, Master Hand! Isn't there a less cumbersome way to transport these things? Not everybody can levitate them around like Sweetie Void!"

"That's a good point. There." The Dragoon piece disappeared in a flash. "You still have it, but it's now transported in a pocket dimension. If you collect the other pieces, then they will join it in this pocket dimension. If you collect the three, then they will reappear and form the Dragoon like normal. There's a catch now however: if you are hit, then there's a chance for one of the pieces you possess to drop out of the pocket dimension. The stronger the hit, the higher the chance."

"That's fair. Thanks," Sonic said before he jumped down from the platform to face Mario again. "Time to resume our brawl... Uh?" To his surprise, Mario, who was now beside the fountain, was finishing eating a banana which healed him a bit, at least making the pain from the injuries caused by the Spin Dash to be more bearable. "Oh, come on! That, however, is NOT fair!"

Mario rose an eyebrow. "You healed yourself like that in your fight against Phantom. Also, it's totally fair. Healing items are part of the fight. Deal with it."

Sonic groaned. "No matter! I'm still gonna win!"

At this, Sonic resumed running in circles around Mario - and around the fountain by the same occasion - only for Mario to throw the banana peel on Sonic's path. Sonic ended up running right on it and slid until crashing against the same tree that Mario crashed into earlier. Mario then quickly pinned him against the tree before he could recover his senses and repeatedly punched him on the face. Eventually, the Dragoon piece dropped from Sonic and Mario grabbed it right away. This opened Mario to Sonic however who was able to headbutt him, making the plumber lose his grip and allowing Sonic to gain the upper hand by grabbing Mario and pinning him against the tree to give him a taste of his medicine. Mario, too, ended up dropping the Dragoon piece which Sonic grabbed only to be tackled by Mario. The two rolled a bit in the water before Mario got up and threw Sonic headfirst at the fountain, but Sonic was able to curl into a ball to harmlessly bounce off its edge.

Sonic landed right beside a headgear with bunny ears. He didn't know what it would do but refused categorically to wear it, so he left it where it was and returned fighting Mario while looking around to see if a second piece of the Dragoon had appeared. One did appear, but Mario saw it first and was already about to grab it, but Sonic stopped him and the two began to fight over it.


"Sonic doesn't know what he's missing by not taking the Bunny Hood," Link said.

"That was one of the masks you gave to one of the masked children in the Moon, right," Sweetie Void remembered, recognising the headgear. "What does it do when you wear it?"

"It increases your speed."

"So, Sonic would be even faster than he is now? Is it even possible?" Tails wondered.

Phantom snorted. "I don't think that I want to find out. He could end up breaking the light barrier, and I'm not sure of what would be the consequences."

Sweetie Void then remarked that her Pinkie Pie was deep in thought. "What is in your mind, Pinkie?"

"Oh, I was just thinking of who would win a race between Sonic and someone riding the Dragoon?"

"That's a good question," Applejack said.

"The Dragoon would have an unfair advantage. It can fly," Magolor reminded.

"It never bothered Sonic," Tails said with a shrug.


Mario avoided a diagonal flying kick from Sonic who jumped from a higher platform and counterattacked with his hammer only to be burned by a stream of fire sent from a Fire Flower. Mario quickly got away.

"This is not how you use a Fire Flower!" he shouted.

"This is how you use them here!" Sonic countered smugly before he chased Mario to continue to burn him.

Because of the fire, Mario dropped the second Dragoon piece, the tail, which Sonic immediately grabbed before jumping away to avoid a Poké Ball thrown by Mario. Out of the Poké Ball came an Electrode which was starting to use Explosion. Sonic got the idea of kicking the Electrode to send it toward Mario who used his hammer to send it into the sky where it exploded. Another swing of the hammer pushed back a Homing Attack. Mario then ran toward Sonic who used the Fire Flower again, but to Sonic's surprise, Mario ran through the fire, not minding the burn, and clobbered him on the head with his hammer. On the floor, despite seeing stars, Sonic used the Spin Dash to splash water on Mario, forcing him to protect his eyes and opening him to Sonic Spin Dashing into him. This time, Mario ended up crashing on a giant decorative purple star, and for the second time, he was badly injured by the Spin Dash on his belly. But this time, instead of throwing Sonic in the air, he used his hammer to crush him against the floor. This one hit made Sonic drop his two Dragoon pieces which Mario took before he moved toward the third piece that he spotted on a lower platform earlier. Before Sonic could recover, Mario was able to grab the piece, thus forming the Dragoon. In less time than it takes to say it, Mario was just a twinkle star far away in the sky.

Seeing that Mario got away with the Dragoon, Sonic began to charge another Spin Dash. When the Dragoon returned, Sonic charged right toward it.

Everything happened so fast that most of the spectators wasn't able to follow.

At the VERY last moment, just before the Dragoon would hit him, Sonic, still rolling Spin Dashing, jumped and rammed Mario, unseating him. The Dragoon continued without its pilot, piercing its way through the elements of decoration behind the fountain before disappearing into the sky.

Mario and Sonic fell off the arena, but Sonic then was able to use the now unconscious Mario to bounce his way back on ground where he stood up proudly and gave a thumb up.

"The victor is: Sonic!" Master Hand announced.

"And that's a victory for Sonic the Hedgehog!" Sonic shouted.

But right after that, he fell on his knees, also barely clinging to consciousness as he was still seeing stars from Mario's last hits.

"Ugh... Okay. He still got me good... Wasn't as easy as I thought it would be."


Once both Mario and Sonic were back with the others and were healed, the two shook hands.

"That was a good fight. Very close. If you want to have another round, I would be more than happy to have it," Sonic said.

Mario nodded.

"Time to start the next battle! Link versus Greninja! You two prepare yourself while I select the arena!"

Quickly enough, the arena was selected: the Unova Pokemon League. There were however some differences from the real Unova League.

For starting, it was scaled down, like Peach's castle. The battle seemed to happen at the League's main hall as the towers housing the Elite 4 members surrounded the arena, but the floor of the hall itself was squared instead of being circular, and there was a large platform slightly down in front of it, with two smaller platforms sticking off the two front towers under their windows. No entrances to the towers however, and no statue at the center either. Said statue was supposed to be part of an elevator that activated only when you defeated the Elite 4 and would lead you down to the staircase to the building housing the Champion. But there, the staircase was directly accessible in the background. And most of all, the whole structure was at the top of a mountain with a dark pit surrounding it and no path leading to it. There were also two more tower, one at both sides of the structure, both tilted. It was also very dark, the sky covered by storm clouds. For some reason part of the ground and part of the base of the two front towers were damaged so there were rubbles littering the main platform.

"Ooh! And I think that I know what awaits you in this arena," Hilbert said with a big grin.

"What? You mean N's c-" Rosa began only to be silenced by Hilbert covering her mouth with a hand.


"GO!"

Link fired an ice arrow right away that Greninja easily avoided with a high jump before the Pokémon countered mid-air with a Water Shuriken that Link blocked with his shield.

Calem quickly though of how to get pass this shield and only saw one solution. "Forget attacking from a distance. Go close to attack. Just, watch out for his weapon," he instructed.

Greninja nodded, prepared Night Slash, and charged toward Link who readied his shield and his sword. Greninja's attack ended up blocked and it quickly moved around Link to avoid his sword before it attempted another Night Slash from behind only to receive a back kick that sent it backward a few steps before Link slashed it with his sword. Greninja jumped away before Link had time to land another hit.

Before Greninja could resume its assault, everything suddenly shook, and to the two fighters' shock, a huge baroque-style castle rose out of the ground around the League. It was so huge that it was about two times taller than the League (including the mountain), and its two wings surrounded the League all the way to the left and the right (passing by behind). Actually, the castle was constituted of seven sections (or towers) put side by side to form a whole building


"Wha-How did a castle come out of the ground like that?!" one of the Twilight Sparkle questioned.

"Especially such a huge one!" Diddy Kong added.

"One word: Pokémon," Hilbert answered.

N nodded. "Especially Ground-types and Rock-types," he clarified. "Team Plasma, with the help of a very big number of Pokémon, spent years digging the chamber underground and building the castle in it. They started even before Ghetsis found me. And when it was the moment, when I defeated Alder, a combination of preparation in advances, of Pokémon, and of ingenious mechanisms made the castle rise out. The perfect entrance for the start of Team Plasma's rule according to Ghetsis."

Captain Falcon whistled. "Ghetsis was one hell of a drama queen, uh?"

N answered with a laugh and a nod. "And also a very patient man. He did make a plan to rule over everything that took decades to come into fruition."

"Only to fail at the very last moment because of a meddlesome kid. No wonder he went insane," Hilbert finished with amusement.

Rosa snorted. "He raised a kid with the intention to assassinate him. He was insane well before that."

"Point. I just made it worse."


Everything stopped shaking when the castle fully rose only for several staircases to come out of it to plant themselves into the League and the mountain, all over it. Of all the staircases, only two were accessible to the fighters, one at both sides of the main platform in front of the League's main hall. This will allow more space to fight, but the stairs were rather narrow so it would be easy to be pushed aside to fall.

But it wasn't all as Reshiram flew in and landed in the middle of the square floor of the main hall before unleashing fire toward the two fighters, spreading over most of the main platform and even on the smaller ones against the towers. While fire wasn't effective against Greninja, this was still the fire from a Legendary so it quickly moved away from the fire and countered with a Rock Tomb which managed to trap Reshiram for a couple of seconds before it freed itself. Link, however, quickly put the Goron Mask, turning himself into a Goron that allowed him to tank the fire without receiving much damage.

While Reshiram freed itself from the Rock Tomb, Link then curled into a ball and rolled toward Greninja who barely saw him coming as it was still focused on Reshiram. Still, it was able to avoid Link with a jump and countered with Hydro Pump but missed its mark as Link suddenly accelerated while still rolling, going on the left staircase. Link then stopped stoop up, turned around to face Greninja. Thinking that the boy was about to do another attempt at ramming it, Greninja jumped on the left smaller platform, Reshiram's fire having disappeared by now.

But contrary to its expectations, Link actually took off the Goron Mast and instead put the Zora Mask. Now a Zora, he then put his arms together and sent his two arm-fins toward Greninja, the two fins acting like homing boomerangs. Again, Greninja avoided them and attacked with Extrasensory. Link leaped down from the stairs to avoid the multicolored beam and ran toward Greninja's platform, arm-fin ready (once it returned). Seeing this, Greninja readied Night Slash. Link then jumped to reach the platform. However, mid-air, he activated an electrical barrier that entirely surrounded him. Greninja hadn't been expecting something like that so it ended up electrified by the barrier before Link repeatedly slashed it with his arm-fins. He was eventually stopped by Greninja Licking him.

At this moment, Reshiram flew from its position and hovered above the two fighters. It opened its mouth and gathered energy into it. Seeing this, Calem warned Greninja who immediately used Smokescreen, hiding both itself and Link. Reshiram then unleashed its Blue Flare, breathing a huge stream of blue fire toward the fighters' last seen position. Link, still in Zora form, ran out of the smoke and Reshiram turned its head to make the Blue Flare follow him, leaving a trail of fire behind. As for Greninja, once the smoke disappeared, it simply seemed to be gone. However, a keen eye would be able to spot the Pokémon hiding in the shadow inside the left tower, in the window above the left platform.

While running, Link sent his arm-fins toward Reshiram and was able to hit it with them, making it stop its attack. Link followed this with a Smart Bomb that he grabbed a few seconds earlier while running, the resulting huge explosion blowing Reshiram away a bit. He then jumped on the right platform and used it to reach the top of the right tower where he quickly took a fish skeleton-like guitar seemingly coming out of nowhere.

Just as Reshiram recovered from the explosion and returned, Link then began to intensely play the Song of Storms.

The sky was already covered by storm clouds, so it didn't take long before it began to rain, starting as a simple downpour before it intensified until it was a real curtain of water droplets that hit the whole arena. Wind also picked up, getting stronger and stronger.

Calem had to hold his hat as he wondered, "What is he doing? The rain will only make Greninja's water attacks stronger. At least, Reshiram's fire attacks will be less problematic. Greninja! Attack him with Water Shuriken while he's busy!"

With an agreeing shout, Greninja came out of the left tower and prepared a Water Shuriken.

But then, lightning struck the top of the left tower, making Greninja lose his focus on the attack as it couldn't stop itself from bouncing in fright.

As Link's song gained more intensity, more and more lightning struck all over the arena, the castle in the background, and even Reshiram itself, stopping it from Using Blue Flare again. Electricity wasn't effective against the Pokémon but being hit by it still had some effects. Meanwhile, Greninja took cover under the left platform to not be hit by one even if it was very unlikely as lightning mostly targeted the more elevated objects like the towers... or Reshiram. Reshiram understood this and decided to land beside the right tower to directly face Link and make him stop his song.

Link did stop the song before he jumped high in the air and reactivated his electric barrier. Lightning struck him, or more exactly, the barrier, overcharging it and making it send electricity everywhere. Even with its resistance, Reshiram was badly electrified before Link fell on it and slashed its eyes with his arm-fins, making it start to erratically move its head in pain as it was blinded. It even used Hyper Voice, but Link resisted the pain and the urge to put his hands on his ears.

Greninja, having used Double Team so it looked like there were two Greninja, suddenly climbed on Reshiram and attacked Link from opposite sides with Night Slash. Not knowing which one was the real one, Link instead jumped high in the air again before he sent his arm-fins, each targeting a different Greninja. Both Greninja avoided the projectiles however and moved on Reshira's back. Then, it used Hydro Pump in the hope of propelling Link beyond the top surface of the Ring Out Barrier. There was the risk that Link would use his electric barrier which would cause electricity to spread in the stream of water to electrify Greninja, but the frog should be able to resist the electricity long enough to win by ring out.

That was exactly what happened as Link activated his electric barrier again. However, instead of being propelled away by the stream of water, Link was able to swim in it, and not only he resisted the stream, but he was also able to swim upstream despite its power! Before Greninja could recover from its shock (in all senses of the word), Link reached it and hit it with a cross-slash with the arm-fins.

Despite the bad hit, Greninja was still standing and immediately kicked Link away from Reshiram's back before it used Extrasensory, successfully hitting the boy with the psychic beam. Reshiram then turned around, using its hearing sense to determine Link's position before it prepared, this time, a Dragon Pulse that Link was able to avoid this time with a roll. He wasn't able to avoid the blast as the attack hit the ground which blew him toward the right staircase.

Groaning, Link took off the Zora Mask as he got up. He then looked back at Reshiram as the Legendary still pinpointed where he crashed and began another Dragon Pulse while Greninja was standing on its head and used Rock Tomb to trap him. Despite the rocks now restricting his movements, Link was still able to use his shield and he promptly used it to reflect the Dragon Pulse, not at Reshiram, but at Greninja, the attack sending it all the way to crash on the opposite staircase. Reshiram was also injured on the head by the attack exploding just above it when it impacted the frog, but it still sent a third Dragon Pulse, taking time to charge it this time to make it more powerful. But this didn't matter for the Mirror Shield which still reflected it to hit Reshiram right on its head, sending the dragon to crash on its back.

Link put on the Goron Mask again, the Goron form's strength allowing him to free himself from the rocks. He was even able to grab one of the rocks and he threw it with all his Goron strength at Reshiram, hitting it on the head again just as it was rising from its position on the ground. Link then grabbed another rock, and seeing this, Reshiram decided that it had enough and began to fly away.

Only to be struck by lightning, the storm that Link called earlier still fully raging.

This last bolt was finally too much for Reshiram who fell from the sky and crashed on the left staircase, destroying it before the Pokémon disappeared into the abyss.

Link, however, was suddenly slashed by Greninja using a beam sword. Despite the Goron's hard skin, the beam sword still managed to hurt him a lot, and Greninja immediately used the opportunity that Link's guard was lowered to follow it with a Water Pulse that pushed him back almost to the Ring Out Barrier behind him. Link eventually recovered enough that he was able to curl into a ball and to fight the stream by rolling. At first, there was a standoff, but after a few seconds, spikes appeared all over Link's body and he suddenly gained speed and power, allowing him to push against the stream and to advance toward Greninja who jumped away.

But then, Link stopped right beside a hammer, seized it, and threw it at Greninja while it was still in the air, the hammer hitting its mark. Greninja fell on the right staircase but still started to get up again, albeit weakly.

Only for Link to jump toward it before slamming on it with his fists with such force that he destroyed the staircase. Both Link and Greninja fell with the fragments, the Pokémon clinging to consciousness, not wanting to give up. But Link then took off the Goron Mask and put on the Deku Mask, allowing him to use two flowers like propellers to slow his fall.

In its state, Greninja could do nothing to stop its fall however.

"Ring Out! The victor is: Link!

Author's Note:

I really wanted to find an intense guitar cover (not made with an electric guitar) to convey the moment when Link plays the Song of Storm, but I could only find versions with the more normal rhythm. It shouldn't be difficult to find fast-passed versions with the guitar but, apparently, nobody thought to do one (again, with a normal guitar, not with an electric one. Zora Link uses a normal guitar).

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