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 Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 8:46 pm
The maze looks similar to a bizarro Tarturus with usual red splattered walls and black cement making up the foundation underneath the rustic red, and the paths themselves are simply winding and confusing. At the end of each level is a gate which, when entered takes the 'participant' to a different world where the objective will have to be completed before they appear in the maze once again, and have to find their way to the next door. Nothing can be seen outside of the maze because it is built like any structure, but the ominous imagery and vast size make it large enough for those who are curious to still find more than their fill of the bleak landscape if they wish.
Levels: 0/3
Shadows: The Optimus Prime Looking Shadowy Monsters of Doom, the Police Shadows, Tiger/Lion Shadows
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Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:28 pm
Soji Seta, Investigation Team Leader
It didn't take long for the team to find the dungeon after being directed there by Minori and then following the subsequent instructions of their own support specialist in Rise, and once they were in front of the doors of the strange place, he really didn't know what to make of it. on the outside, he really couldn't tell what it was...so glancing back at the team, he drew out his sword and pressed open the double doors, deciding not to waste any more time than was necessary playing around. On the inside of the doors he saw what appeared to be a rather strange maze with cement foundation and rustic red splatters on the walls, confusing corridors and winding paths making their advance through the place difficult. Glancing over his shoulder, he analyzed the team he brought with him one more time. To be honest, he had intentionally put together the best team he could for the other side heading to the Marukyu Mega Mall [which he did not know about, obviously], and kept only the most physically durable members with him, save Naoto and his support. Soji was expecting to get beaten up again...he was expecting trouble and danger, and if they were undermanned before, it wasn't going to get any easier the stronger the dungeons they entered. It didn't matter...if they were going to have to take a beating to save the kidnapped people, he was willing to bring that upon himself in order to spare the others. All as long as they were able to save their friends.
"Kanji, Kazuma, you're up front with me. Watch my back and proceed as directed," he told the two physically imposing young men as he started down the corridors in search of the door to the next floor, "Naoto, you're in the rear. Protect Rise and use your magics to cover us and finish of anything we can't. And Rise, just keep us updated when you find the doors and on the status of the shadows we're fighting. Got it?" With orders dispersed, he continued in a light jog down the hall toward the first turn in the corridors, rounding a corner carefully, so as not to be ambushed by any shadows before they could defend themselves. He kept his weapon at the ready in the event that something should jump out at them, but somehow, he didn't think that if there were surprises, they would be sniffed out so easily. Only time would tell... "Let's keep moving..."
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Posted: Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:44 pm
When Soji opened the door Kazuma was following behind, still a little bit worried about Minori. Though his worries would vanish once he starts fighting, he hoped the shadows in the dungeon would be like the ones he had to fight in Minori's dungeon. Looking around at the maze like dungeon Kazuma was getting confused. Mazes, they were one of the few things that could make his head spin. Though with Soji with the group Kazuma hoped that he would lead them in the right direction, he had faith in the silver haired boy. Even though Kazuma was getting a minor head ache, his guard was not lowered one bit. He guessed that SHadows could pop out any moment now, and he was ready to attack just about anything that moved. Listening to Soji's orders on formation Kazuma silently followed them. Picking up the pace hew as now in front with Soji, doing what he was told he checked around occasionally for any signs of an ambush.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:16 am
Metallic Student
"Targets confirmed, executing Shadow." As the fighters arrived in the maze like area of the dungeon a familiar head of blue hair waved by just as a large robotic shadow appeared in the hallway. Before they could react however, the figure shot forward with lightening speed and, raising it's fist, drove through the shadow with incredible power, leaving nothing but a gaping hole which quickly disappeared along with the rest of the creature. "Destruction confirmed. Five new signatures confirmed..." The figure turned around, revealing it's face for the first time. Although it looked nearly identical to Zeo, instead of the usual Yasgami uniform it's body was hardened as if it were made out of some form of hard metal, although he was damn ripped ^_~. "...scanning...nature unknown. Shadow detection unconfirmed, primary tactic confirmed; suggest fleeing until analysis is complete." The figure turned and dashed down one of the winding corridors, disappearing before he could be caught by any member of the team. As soon as the investigation members would begin to wander the halls of the first floor they would learn part of the meaning of it's words, as teams of 2 Mighty Beasts (Lions) and a Dominating Machine appeared whenever they may or may not have been prepared.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:29 am
Soji Seta, Investigation Team Leader
"What in the world...?" Soji began as he watched the metallic student come out of left field and smash into a shadow, then begin staring at them as if analyzing them...as if undressing them and looking through them. Frozen by the shock for a moment, he recovered as the metallic person began to dash away and moved to follow him, only to be interrupted by a pair of tiger-like shadows and a large, shadow machine the likes of which he remembered from his time in the Underground Lab dungeon. Reeling back and pulling out his sword, he motioned for the others to join him up front. "Kazuma! The tigers are yours and Kanji's! Naoto and I will take Megatron," the Senior ordered suddenly, before ducking and dodging to the opposite side of the tigers to square off against the large, mechanical monster that threatened them. It towered over he and the others, and its sword made his look like a child's plaything, but nonetheless, he stood defiantly in front of the monstrous, mechanical masher with a look as cool as ever on his face. "Izanagi-no-Okami!" he summoned the personae with a quick smashing of his card in the palm of his free hand, and in an instant the gangster-like creature towered above him with its red wand spinning in-hand. Then, on command it aimed the wand at his enemy, and he let loose a spell to chip away a large portion of its health. "Megidolaon!"
The cry resounded in the narrow corridors of the dungeon, and a wave of non-elemental energy smashed into the transformer-esque shadow, sending it a step backwards before it recovered. Cursing under his breath, he glanced at the others to see how they were doing, and then returned his attention to the shadow. A big hit from this thing would be bad news. 'Have to stay focused,' he thought as he drew his sword up, 'I hope the others in Faust's dungeon are doing well right now...'
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:46 am
Kazumalooked at the metallic student coming and smashing into a shadow. "Damn.." he said outloud as it began to analyze him along with the rest of the team. Kazuma was feeling quite uncomfortable by this, but one thing for sure, he wanted to fight that metallic student. Although when it ran away Kazuma was going to run after it until he saw the pair of shadowin the form of lions with a shadow machine man thing with bthem. Kazuma smiled as he popped his knuckles, Soji didn't even have to give him the order to strike Kazuma was going to do it either way. Running up to the shadow beast which the shadow was doing the same by charging towards Kazuma. The two leap towards eachother, then pounced on one another, Kazuma hold on to the beast with one arm and began punching the beast in its jaw while it digged its claws into him. The two fell to the ground still gripping each toher and began to roll, the soon stop with the lion shadow ontop and began to try and take a bit out of Kazuma, but Kazuma held its upper and lower jaw with both hands and forced it to go backwards, away from his neck. Once it was back in a good distance Kazuma continued to punch it hard in its face, until he shifted his weight rolling ontop of the shadow. He then proceed to punch it with the blades on the gauntlets, it began to dig and rip apart at the black flesh of the shadow lion. The lion soon kicked Kazuma off of it and both fighters got back on their feet. the shadow beast charged at Kazuma again, but kazuma kept his ground. Once the beast was close enough Kazuma grabbed its jaw again slowing down his momentum and keeping ground. He then throw his knee up hitting the bottom jaw and a elbow striking downwards on his upper jaw simotaniously. The shadow lion quickly went backwards in a painful daze. "Time to finish this." he said as he rushed towards the shadow beast. "Rider Punch!" he said punching the lion hard in its face sending it backwards again. Kazuma then leaped up into the air and coming down on the shadow lion with a drop kick. "Rider kick." he said as the drop kick made a hard impact. The Shadow beast dropped down to the ground after the kick and began to dissolve in its defeat.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:56 am
Soji Seta, Investigation Team Leader
Following his initial strike on the Dominating Machine, it followed with a Cruel Attack from its massive sword that nearly cleaved Soji in two; thankfully, a well-timed dodge helped him avoid the brunt of the damage. Sensing that the entire team would be in danger if he kept up its assault, though, he crushed his card in his palm again and felt the power of his personae rush through him. Overhead, Izanagi-no-Okami awaited his command as obediently as ever, red wand ominously held in its hand, ready to deliver what would likely be the crushing blow. "Izanagi-no-Okami, Megidolaon!" the Senior ordered mercilessly, watching as the powerful attack struck the mechanical titan and sent it to a knee, where it dissolved into a puddle of black goo. Rubbing the back of his hand over his forehead, he glanced back at the rest of the team working against the tigers and motioned for them to follow him. "Let's follow him," he told them, referring to the metallic boy that had darted down one of the corridors away from them and towards the exit of the 1st Floor. So far, he was thankful that he had chosen the team that he had...matching their powerhouse-type fighters against powerhouse-type shadows was a good match-up for them, and so it wasn't too difficult for them to get on the upper-hand of the battles in the early going. Later on it would prove difficult, though, if they needed to find weaknesses...and that said nothing about the bosses [which always had a way of being just the type that works counter to the perfect team you had all the way up the dungeon].
Nonetheless he made his way around a corner and ducked a set of shadows that seemed to be slowly meandering around, hoping that the rest of the team would follow him and avoid conflict. Down that long stretch and around another corner, Soji finally found what appeared to be a door. Glancing over his shoulder at his team, he nodded once before pressing the door open and stepping through to what he thought would be the second level.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 12:59 am
Kazuma looked at the remaining beast with a smile that sought out for another battle. The shadow lion wasn't intimidated, the two sicle around each other slowly before stopping. Like before they charged at each other, but as the lion leaped Kazuma kept running and tackled the shadow lion and driving it to the wall slamming its back against it hard. Getting off of the shadow lion leaped up a bit and came down with a mighty elbow strike downards toward the head of the beast. The beast was already back to the wall and a blow from the head made it a bit dizzy, but then it succefully pounced on Kazuma knocking the fighter down, then took a vicious bite out of his left shoulder. Kazuma made a anguished cry before punching the thing in the head with his right fist. The lion didn't plan on letting go, but with the continous blows to the head it didn't have choice. Loosening its grip Kazuma grabbed its upper jaw and forced it to let go, once free he kicked the shadow beast off of him and stood holding the bleeding wound on his shoulder. The lion came up once again, but this time Kazuma was ready. He placed both of his hands around the shadow lion's neck and forced it downwards as a knee was thrusted up hitting the lower jaw causing the head go backwards. He wasn't for sure if a shadow had bones but he was pretty sure he heard a snap from the neck. Letting go of the now motionless beast it began to dissolve. Kazuma then held his wound once more. Looking at it, it was pretty deep but nothing a little rest can heal.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 1:25 am
Metallic Student
As the group entered the door a light surrounded all of them, and they were teleported away. When it faded they were on a long brick bridge that was extremely wide and long, with gates at either end that sealed anyone on it from getting off. Beneath them was a massive lake, but the surface was so far away that falling from the bridge and living seemed unfathomable. At the far end of the bridge the same figure from before appeared, looking towards them again. "...Scanning...nature unknown. Assumed Shadows, suggest engaging in skirmish to evaluate. Run program Bridge of Eldin." The yellow eyed shadow turned and disappeared in the door at the far end of the bridge, but just as it did two new figures stepped out, appearing as the old villain and protagonist of an old video game, Ganandorf and Link. As if the blast from the past wasn't abnormal enough, both had the energy of shadows swirling about them, and above the voice of the Shadow that looked like Zeo proclaimed the orders to those on the bridge. "Shadow presence unconfirmed. Rules are as follows; Battle until either the intruders or guards are knocked off the map. Smash Ball on low. Goal: Have Guards attempt to eliminate the intruders to further analyze possible Shadow threat. 3...2...1...GO!!!" The voice spoke monotonously, but with the countdown another voice took place and announced the start of the fight enthusiastically, making it out like a game to whatever mind lay behind the confusing dungeon.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 1:36 am
Soji Seta, Investigation Team Leader
Looking back at the team that was slowly gathering around him, it was only after the scenery around them changed that Soji realized he was being taken somewhere by the dungeon...where to he couldn't say, but there was a strange feeling of vertigo in being taken from the dungeon into somewhere that they didn't recognize immediately. Taking a few moments to gather his senses, he came fully back into focus when a voice began to speak out loud, and he saw the shadow that looked...kind of like Zeo?!...and a pair of other shadows that looked like... 'You've got to be kidding me...' the Senior suddenly sweatdropped comically as he saw none other than the video game characters Link and Ganondorf waiting for them on the other side of the bridge, looking poised and ready to fight. To be honest, he hadn't been sure what might have been doing on inside of Zeo's head, aside from an endless stream of women, French culture, and ways that he could put the two of them together in order to end up with a girlfriend and...other things. Seeing this, though, was a bit of a surprise. What did it mean to him? "Anybody here ever play the 'Legend of Zelda' and 'Super Smash Bros. Brawl'?' the silver-haired student asked the rest of the team casually, knowing that he himself had only ever played the games a little bit...and that the two characters in front of them, and the board they were currently standing on, weren't exactly simple to overcome.
In fact, fighting against a real-life Link and Ganondorf was equivalent to a nightmare. "I'll take Link," he told the rest of the team, stepping forward with his sword in one hand and his card in the other, "the rest of you try to hold off Ganondorf. Understood?" With orders dispersed, he decided not to waste anymore time with details and took off forward on the bridge, crushing his blue card in his hand and summoning his persona. "Izanagi-no-Okami!' he summoned the personae, the gangster-style persona standing over him with its red wand, "Megidolaon!" The wave of blue power crashed forward at Link and Ganondorf, but the focus was on the smaller Hylian. It didn't matter what they were or who they looked like...if they could beat them, they would be able to advance and save their friend. That was all that mattered...and that's why he was going to win this battle, no matter what.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 1:45 am
Quickly blinded by the light that surroned him, Kazuma was in a daze once teleported to the new location. Once he came back to his senses he looked around at the new area he was in. Looking at one side of the bridge then the other, the blonded haired boy was just completely lost at the situation at hand. "Okay what the hell." he said sounding shocked at how he was once in a maze and now a bridge. Next thing he knew he heared the same voice from that metallic person saying something about the bridge of Eldin progam. The bridge of eldin, that name sounded familiar. Then it all came back to him when he saw a Shadow version of Ganondorf and Link. They were in a legend of zelda game, or program.
"Good god.... I love this game." he said before hearing Soji's orders. He nodded his head and charged at Ganondorf after Soji made his attack. Kazuma stared off simple, he threw one punch at Ganondorf's chest but he shooked it off and slashed downwards his sword. Kazuma ducked out of the way and continued his assault on the chest of Ganondorf, it was gradually sending him backwards but Kazuma was soon set tumbling backwards by a kick to his mid section. He forgotten how strong that guy was, he was also Ganondorf's fan. He was truly a villain that he admired. Pulling out his persona card Kazuma crushed it summoniing his persona. The persona stood motionless. "Amatsu-Mikaboshi, attack." he said to his persona, but it remained still. Kazuma then looked up at his persona confused. "Hey Amatsu-Mikaboshi, attack." he said again this time in a more demanding tone. The persona then roared out viciously, Kazuma thought he was going to attack which he did. Amatsu-Mikaboshi slashed one of his giant swords downwards at Kazuma, seeing the blade coming Kazuma jumped out of the way as the blade hit the ground. HIs persona roared out again as it rushed in and attack Ganaodorf knocking him out of its way. It didn't stop though Kazuma's seemingly berserk persona began coming towards Soji preparing to decapitate the leader. "Soji watch out!!" called out Kazuma trying to get to the silver haired boy, but Ganondorf was blocking his way with a serious of heavy swinged slashes from his sword.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 2:11 am
Soji Seta, Investigation Team Leader
Fighting against Link was tricky to say the least. The first of your worries was his bow, which you had to avoid in order to get close enough to attack him physically, and then there was the boomerang and the bombs that you had to avoid at the same time. Long-range wasn't the place you wanted to be against him, but it was almost impossible to get close...making Long-range the most likely place that you would fight him. Still, avoiding the first couple arrow shots had been sheer luck for Soji, though when the third caught him in the side and the fourth nicked his shoulder, he wasn't sure that a few Megidolaon's were going to be enough to do the trick. Still, he countered with the non-elemental wave and rolled to the side to avoid one of the Hylian's bombs, only to catch a strike from the boomerang in the meat of his right leg, dropping him to one knee. Both he and the shadow had taken quite a bit of damage now, and he was only thankful that the arrows from the shadow weren't really arrows...otherwise, he might not be escaping this battle with more than a few bloody puncture wounds and bruises. "Damn it," he muttered through heavy breaths, eyes locked on those of his opponent. Meanwhile overhead, his persona hovered, ready to attack. "That's it, I've got to...huh?!" just as he had planned his next round of attacks, a persona attacked him from behind and it wasn't that of an enemy...but one of his own friends' coming at him with its swords. "Kazuma, what are you...? his protest was interrupted as Amatsu-Mikaboshi struck down at him, only to be intercepted by the red wand of his own persona, Izanagi-no-Okami. Acting nearly on its own, by Soji's sheer instinct, the persona of 'The World' released a blue non-elemental attack that smashed the weaker persona into the ground, practically dispersing it on the spot. Despite the element of surprise that the berserk persona had, it was far too immature to pose a threat to the pinnacle of such. Still, the blade had been within inches of his face before the wander intervened...far too close for comfort.
"What was that?" he muttered quietly, feeling his heartbeat skyrocket in response to the near-miss attack the berserk persona launched on him. At first he wasn't sure if Kazuma had intentionally attacked him or not, but looking at the desperation on his face, it was obvious that he had tried to stop it and couldn't get it to obey his command. 'A berserk persona? Is that even possible...?' he wondered, but the answer was obvious, right in front of his eyes. He didn't have time to think about it, though, as Link approached from behind with a full-powered smash attack. Leaping back away from the first strike, he narrowly raised his sword in time to block the second, though the force of it sent him barreling backwards into Kazuma and Ganondorf, the three of them tumbling down to the hard bricks of the bridge. Soji opened his eyes a few seconds later with a wince, feeling all of the built up damage of an extended duel with the hero of Hyrule getting to him a little. He wrenched his body up halfway from the ground, only to see that Ganondorf had risen and was readying a second strike against the two of them. Thinking fast, he raised his sword and blocked the downward slash with all of his strength, feeling his knees protest against the pressure...but still holding out.
Then, in a moment of sheer inspiration, he stepped to the side of the locked swords and let Ganondorf's slide off his smaller blade, turned his grip on the sword to an upwards swing, and tore through the powerful shadow from bottom to top in a massive counter arc. The epic villain of the Legend of Zelda faded into a mist of black, leaving only one enemy left. But a look to the side at Kazuma would reveal to him whether or not he was going to have to take it down alone. Could he trust his persona to use again in the face of this? He didn't know what the blond could do right now...but one way or another, he had to take out Link and keep moving. They could worry about the rest when this was over. "Sorry...I'll finish this...then we can move on..."
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 2:26 am
Ah man this wasn't good, he didn't understand it. Amatsu-Mikaboshi didn't went out of control the first time he used him so why now of all time did his persona went berserk and attack Soji. Luckily Izanag-no-Okami made Kazuma's persona vanish. That was a good thing, he wanted to apologize to Soji but was interrupted as he flew right into him. Grunting in pain Kazuma was rolling on and off the bricks of the bridges, getting new bruises on his body and arm. finally stopping Kazuma took a breath as he got up again. Seeing Ganondorf being defeated at the hands of Soji, he sighed in relief. "One down." he said to him as he saw Link rushing in for a overhead slash with his master sword. Pushing Soji out of the way Kazuma clapped down on the blade bring the attack to a hault, now he was struggling to keep the sword away from his body. Link then pushed kicked KAzuma away before slashing upwards at his chest with his sword. As the attack hit its target blood began to burst out of his chest, falling backwards Kazuma landed on his rear end in pain as Link jumped up and came down to impale the lad. Kazuma however swiftly rolled out of the way, dodging Link's fatal attack.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 2:43 am
Soji Seta, Investigation Team Leader
Soji knew that injured as he was, he probably wasn't going to be able to finish of the shadow of Link on his own, but in spite of the fact, he was ready to give it a shot on his own, knowing that it was better than putting the others in danger if Kazuma tried to summon a berserk persona again in front of them. But he was caught off-guard by the attack of Link-shadow and the speed at which it came at him...it seemed that just like in the video game, despite the damage level it had taken, it was just as fast as always. Cursing as he tried to raise his sword in time, he was surprised to be knocked aside by Kazuma, who then received a vicious slash for his troubles. Sensing suddenly the situation turning against them, the silver-haired Senior racked his brain for a solution...only to have one appear before him in the form of the so-called 'Smash Ball'. "This is...!" recognizing it from his rare jaunt on the video game it came from, he wasted no time in bringing down his sword in a powerful arc to cleave the thing in two, filling him with a rush of power that forced him to raise his sword into the air to release some of it...reducing it to a more manageable level. Rejuvenated, and feeling more powerful than ever, he watched in slow-motion as Link began to fall towards his friend with its blade aimed to pierce him through. And what happened next, happened in less than an instant...
One flash step between where he stood and Kazuma lay later, Soji brought his sword up into a precise and powerful arc, catching Link directly in the stomach...the force of which sent the Hylian shadow rocketing into the distance and off the bridge, effectively 'clearing the stage' and ending the first 'Boss Challenge' of the dungeon. A few seconds later Soji felt the power of his Victory Cry wash over him, refreshing him and healing most of his wounds to a tender degree. His breaths were still a bit labored and heavy, and his exhaustion wasn't gone, but they had survived Round 1. 'I sure hope that there aren't more of them,' he thought as he breathed, turning back to the group as the board began to shift around them, returning them to the regular dungeon and now, the 2nd Floor. "Everyone, heal yourselves and get ready. We're moving on," Soji announced finally, after giving them all a few moments to catch their breath. It was strange how in just one floor they had managed to cram in a boss battle and a fight against some high-level shadows, but it seemed this dungeon wasn't wasting any time with making them scramble for their lives.
Did this mean that the dungeon was going to be short, but tough, the same way Kazuma's had been? If so, he knew they were in for worse, moving on now to the 2nd Floor, but didn't say anything. Best not to jinx it.
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Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 3:05 am
Kazuma was laying on his back as he witnessed Soji finishing the Hero of Time, Link. Blood slowly flowed out of his chest, but he didn't use any healing items. He didn't think he need them for this, it was as he figured before, nothing a little rest can't handle. Getting back up slowly onto his feet, he paused for a moment catching his breath. He didn't think that his persona would ge berserk like that, more over he wondered why his persona went berserk. It just didn't make sense, maybe because Kazuma was holding in some kind of dark emotion within him still, but he accepted his shadow. He couldn't place his finger on it yet, but for right now he couldn't summon his persona for now on without hurting anyone. Finally getting use to the pain Kazuma walked along side Soji to the next area of the dungeon "Sorry." he said to him.
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