[Profiles] Galactic Tournament

[Tickles]

Please PM me your profiles, do not post them here. Any profiles posted here without GM consent will be deleted!

In this RP, you will take control of two characters. One character is your human character, the other is your astral being. Your character synch's with your astral being, and losing a fight causes a de-synch. Even if you lose, you can't die, your astral being will be ready to fight in the next battle. Below are the skeletons for the RP.

Your astral being can be from anything, past RP, TV show, Anime, Video game, Book, Etc., or you can make them up.

Things that are not allowed!
-Anything DBZ
-Titans (Anything under 12 feet tall is ok.)
-Regenerative abilities
-Chuck Norris
-Deities of any kind
-One hit kill moves

Code: [Select]

Human
[b][u]Username:[/u][/b] PU Username
[b][u]Name:[/u][/b]Character name
[b][u]Age:[/u][/b]How old the character is
[b][u]Personality:[/u][/b] How your character acts
[b][u]Bio:[/u][/b]Your character's backstory. The more details, the more real your character seems
[b][u]Appearence:[/u][/b]Please provide an image for better visualization.

Astral Being
[b][u]Name:[/u][/b]This can be same name as the character
[b][u]World, or region:[/u][/b]There are many worlds, if they are from something, name the place they come from. If made up, make up a place.
[b][u] Technique:[/u][/b]How they fight, what they use, and special moves. Give a description of the special moves.
[b][u]Bio:[/u][/b]Even though they are tied to your human, they aso have their own life experiences.
[b][u]Super move[/u][/b]Your one, high risk, powerful move. These can only be used once per battle, and have a great cost when they are used. If the cost seems too light for the move, the GM will add more to make it fair. Your super move must be able to miss.
[b][u] Appearance:[/u][/b]Provide an image to help with visualization.

Accepted Profiles:
GM Cortex J./Stan and Ripfang
Cortex J.-Secondary/ Jayden and Shroud
Blades/Daylin and Garlock
Blades-Secondary/ Tylan and Sub-zero
Blades- Temp/ Warren and Link
Nexalas/Sean and Venom
Nexalas-Secondary/ Tyler and Ragnorok
Fenror/Jack and Noctis
Fenror-Secondary/ Celine and Inazuma
Fox/Leo and Krapfen
Meowth/Mikto and Creeper
Darkstar/Brendon and Android -6
Lubbies/Azza and Templar
Bing/ Desmond and Zero

NPC's
Shade Scouts and Claw Troopers

[Tickles]

Human
Username: Cortex J.
Name: Stan Masters
Age: 20
Personality: Calm and cool. Very calculating
Bio: Stan grew up in the shadow of his father, a police chief, and former world champ. He strives to be as great as his dad, and did nothing but train everyday for ten years. Stan is the five time world champ, and knows that he stands in the way of everyone else who wishes for the title.

Stan's first synch was when he was ten years old, while he was sleeping. He dreamed he was hunting for food, and walked among a pack of werewolves. When he awoke, he discovered his astral mark on his chest in the shape of a wolf's head, and from that day forward, was trained by his father until his fifteenth birthday, where he won his first championship.
Appearence:

Astral Being
Name: Ripfang
World, or region: Dark sector of the forest world
Technique: Uses his claws and teeth to attack close range. Able to launch a howl burst as a ranged attack, which looks like a shadowy sound wave.
Bio: Stan's Astral Being, he simply called it Ripfang after the way he defeated his first opponent. This creature stands on its hind legs and can move swiftly and silently. While in this form, Ripfang can only communicate through howls and growls.
Super move:
Howling Buster

Ripfang launches a massive howl attack that ignores armor and even pierces cover, resulting in major damage to the target. After use, Ripfang is unable to use any ranged attacks, and speed and strength is reduced.
Appearance:

Human
Name: Jayden Smith
Age: 28
Personality: Very cold. Has a dark sense of humor.
Bio: Jayden is the heir to Astraltech Industries, and a very skilled fighter, only rivaled by Stan Masters. When he wanted something, he would but it, and if he didn't get it, he fought for it, usually coming out the winner. He was the champ before masters won his first title against him, and has disappeared ever since. Rumors say he has entered the tournament, or is back in town to take over Astraltech.

Jayden performed his first synch at 16, the typical age to get a being. Before this, he was a kind young man, but the darkness in his beings heart corrupted him, changing him into the heartless and self-centered man that stands among everyone.
Appearence:

Astral Being
Name: Shroud
World, or region:Trapped within the mind of Tarok of the pokemon world.
Technique: Uses brute strenght with blinding speed to take down foes.
Flamethrower- A mid range fire attack that burns bue with intense heat
Dark Pulse- A long range sphere filled with dark energy. It explodes on contact with any surface
Feint attack- Turns invisible for a few seconds and takes a cheap shot at the opponents weak point. Dark energy obscures detection skills slightly.
Bio: A being who came to be from greed and anger, and enough dark energy to make all shiver with fear. He was trapped within the mind of his weaker form, contemplating his escape. Now that he is an official astral being, he plans on finding a way to break his bindings in oblivia, and take over a different world.

During a battle, a shadowy aura surrounds him, which is the symbol of his power.
Super move:
Shadowblaze

A black falmethrower that has high destructive capability. It usually leaves a crater after hitting, causing problems for any fighter in the arena. Some flames linger, which can cause burns if touched. After use, Shroud is unable to defend himself, and his power shrinks to small amount, making even his ranged attacks less terrifying. His aura is no longer visible either.
Appearance:

[Tickles]

Human character

Username: The-Blades-Slave
Name: Daylin Hakima
Age: 18
Personality: He is very hotheaded, tending to attacking anything. He hates to lose, and is often considered bull headed (XD)
Bio: Daylin lived a sheltered life, his parents providing him with everything. He sought freedom, rebellion, and hungered for adventure. Storming off to bed, after being once again denied freedom, he drifted to sleep. When his eyes opened, he was in a strange world. He felt huge! A large totem pole was strapped across his back, along with a large ax! His body was coated in thick brown fur, and his hand and feet were black hooves. 'Where am I' he leaped at the roughness in his voice, almost like an animal. He wandered blindly around the wild plains, until he jolted up in his bed. After that he seemed to transform into that strange body whenever he felt he needed away, quickly coming to learn of the fighting games. He moved out of his parents house at 18, and entered without a second thought.
Appearance:

Astral being

Name: Garlock the reaper
Region: The wild plains
Fighting style:He fights with overwhelming strength. He tries to smash his opponent, resorting to his axe when needed.

Totem pole:

Axe:

Bio: Garlock grew up in the plains of the wild, and got his name for the wild acts he would commit. e once took down a grown tauren, when he was a young child. He is known throughout the plain for the strange, reaper like axx he carries. He was kicked from his tribe, blamed for the murder of an elder. With seeming ease he left his pack behind, travelling on his own. he began to wake up in strange places an night, places he didn't remember resting at. That is when he knew he was sharing his body, that is when he knew, he could join the games.....
Super move: Ground ripper: He raises the ax far above his head, bringing it down with an quaking slash. It splits the earth, ripping it at apart, and causing heavy damage when landing on the opponent. After using it he is stalled, unable to move for a time. His ax vaporizes from the force put on it, and he is forced to fight with the totem alone. His speed is severely dropped as well.
Appearance:

Human
Username: The-Blades-Slave
Name: Tylan Hakima
Age: 25
Personality: Tylan is quite, reserved, and over all very detached.
Bio: Tylan was separated from his family at a young age, for the strange event involving his astral. At the young age of four, he had a strange dream. He was flying through the air, the full moon shining above him. when he awoke, a black wing glowed on his upper, right arm. IT scared his parents at how fast, and young he achieved it, and they threw him out. for years he lived in an orphanage, spying on his family sometimes. He entered the tournament at 23, and that very years had to fight his brother. After a long and hard struggle, he beat Daylin, but was eliminated the next round. Since then Tylan hasn't been seen, but a blue haired man seems to be spotted, where ever Daylin is.
Appearence: Tylan stands at 6'5, with piercing, misty white eyes, and icy blue hair that hangs into his his eyes. He normally dresses in a light blue t-shirt, black combat boots, and black jeans.

Astral Being
Name: Sub-Zero
World, or region: freezing plains.
Bio: Sub-Zero is one of the most agile Astrals ever seen. He is powerful, out manuevering his opponents in the air. He can fight on the ground, but nowhere near as well as in the air.
Super move He raises his head in a howling like move, and larrge, ball of wispy Ice begins to form. After a moment, he will launch it at his opponent, then charge forward, scooping it around his right wing to guide it, and make sure it hits. Afterwards, his wings freeze, and fall off, and his agility is greatly reduced.
Appearance:

TEMP

Human
Username: The-Blades-Slave
Name: Warren Renniger
Difficulty: 5
Age: 26
Personality: Warren is calm, cool, and collected. He stays silent, ignoring snide comments, and analyzing competition.
Bio: No much is known about Warren's past. It is known he synced late, at the age of 20. He is known for the strange resemblance he bears to his astral, and his ability to calculate anything and everything into a plan. He has only ever entered on tournament, in which he ranked at second place. He has mysteriously traveled since then, and it is unknown if he is in the tournament or not...
Appearence:
(Yeah, using modernized link as the actual him, ignore the weapons..)

Astral Being
Name: Link
World, or region: Kingdom of Hyrule
Technique: He is a mater of battle tactics, and skilled with most any weapon.

Master sword and Hyrulian shield:

 Hero's Bow (Using small amount of energy, he can shoot fire arrows, other than that, regular bow..):

Boomerang:

Bio: Link always showed heroistic qualities. At young ages, he stood against evil. He saved Hyrule on several occasions. Over they years, he found various weapons, which he uses to aid himself.
Super move Link has no super move. He sacrifices this move, for access to so many weapons.
Appearance:

[Tickles]

Human
Username:9Nexalas6
Name:Sean
Age:18
Personality:Cold blooded, tends to stay away from people. Rarely loses his temper.
Bio:He rarely socialises with anyone, not even his parents, and at the age of 7 he received his seal, which is on his arm. Last year he graduated from the fighters academy, then he quickly entered the tournament to prove he was the most powerful fighter. He did good, but not good enough, and ended up in 5th place. Though this was a good ranking, he wasent nearly satisfied, and started training harder to make 1st place this year. He is currently on a winning streak of 4, and is claming to be 'warming up', for the competition.

Atral Being
Name:Venom
World, or region:In some sort of temple in the center of a forest.
Technique: Uses the blades on it's arm and tail to attack enemies, and has a chance to poison enemies. He can also bite enemies to instantly poison them, but it's not as powerful as the poison on it's blades.
Bio:Ruthless predator, and can move at decently fast speeds. Good endurance and attack, but really lacking defence. Sean named it 'Venom' for obvious reasons, I mean, it IS a snake.
Super moveCan let loose a deadly acid that lingers for the duration of the battle and cause ongoing damage on the target if it makes contact. Afterwards, his venom glands are depleted and his defensive skill is dropped to nothing.
Appearance: (both in same pic)

(was fun to draw)

Secondary

Human
Username: 9Nexalas6
Name: Tyler
Age: 20
Personality: He can be very freindly and not take too many things seriously. Loves to battle, and when he battles he acts like a completly different person.
Bio: He loves Astral battles almost as much as he breathes, and received his astral being at the age of 7. He never went to the academy seeing no point in doing so, since he's already strong. He caught word of the competition to decide the strongest in the world, and decided to join in and see how far he could go with his power. He decided to move to the city to fight stronger opponents, and to see his little brother, Sean, who no matter what could defeat Tyler. Though he's new to the city, he's no wimp, and if underestimated can easily win a fight. Despite his appearance and personality, he has a dark secret that no one knows about except Sean...
Appearence:


Astral being
Name: Ragnarok
World, or region: A strange castle in the sky.
Technique: Uses his sword as both a weapon and a sheild, also has high flexibility, creating an arsonale of different sword fighting tecniques. He tends to use stradegy rather than attack like a fool though.
Bio: A knight burdened to watch over the Castle of light for eternity, until he was connected to Tyler. It was boring to be stuck in a castle for all eternity, so he gladly became his atral.
Super move An attack that unleashes an onslaught of light at the enemy for fifteen seconds, and if the enemy is not defeated when time runs out, his sword shatters, and his armor weakens, making him completly vulnerable for the rest of the battle.
Appearance:

[Tickles]

Username: Fenror
Name: Jack Sentoki
Age: 17
Personality:Serious and calm except when in battle, in which case he gets rather excited, confident
Bio: His mother died at birth. This caused his dad to become depressed and angry. All his life, Jack had been under the looming figure of his terrible father, a filthy rich man who had at one time been world champ. Jack's father abused him constantly, saying that he did this because Jack was weak and treating him this way would make him stronger. Jack did become stronger, but not the way his father imagined. When Jack was thirteen years old, his father entered the tournament again. Jack entered as well, and defeated his father in the first round. His father, angered, committed suicide. Jack, unsure what to do, withdrew from the tournament and ran away. Now, four years later, he's entered the tournament again, and intends to win it all.
His first synch was a year before his tournament, when he was twelve. He had fallen unconscious after being beaten by his father. He then had a vision, in which a dravir came to him and spoke to him. Told him that things were to get better, but he had to stand up for himself. He then found himself flying, with dragon-like wings, before he fell and blacked out... When he regained consciousness, there was a mark of the dragon-like wing on his right shoulder. A year later, Jack stood up to his father in the tournament.

Appearence:

Astral Being
Name:Noctis
World, or region:The Ember Zone of Tech World
Technique: Fights using increased senses (touch, sound, sight). For close ranged attacks, uses mostly sharp claws and brute strength, for far ranged attacks, uses fire. Can fly for short periods of time.
Bio:Noctis was bored of the rich. layed-back life of the Tech World, and was wishing for some action. He then found Jack, someone who needed a partner and help. The eight-and-a-half foot tall futuristic dravir then synched with Jack.
Super move  Flare Burst: Unleashes a blast of fire in all directions, causing any obstacles within blast range to be incinerated, and dealing burning damage if it lands on the foe. Afterwards, his accuracy is dwindled due to his fatigue, and his flight ability is suppressed.
Drawbacks- Moyasu looses heightened senses(which actually become worse than that of a human), looses ability to use fire

Appearance:

Secondary

Human
Username: Fenror
Name:Celine Santoshi
Age: 19
Personality: Usually kind-hearted, but merciless in battle, brave
Bio:Celine is Jack's cousin, and best friend. She wasn't around Jack much when they were younger, but after Jack's father died she was a big help to him. Then, when Jack was fifteen, she suddenly left. Celine had been training all her life for the tournament, and now is ready to win this year. Nothing will stop her, not even Jack.

When Celine was younger, she had gone exploring on the nearby Jungle-like woods with her friends. Her friends chickened out, though, so she went in alone. Then a thunderstorm began, but Celine stayed. She was then approached by a large, wild cat, who, although threatening, nuzzled up against her side. There, where the cat rubbed, appeared a mark of a lightning bolt. Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning, and the cat strangely disappeared, as well as the storm.
Appearence:

Astral Being
Name:Inazuma
World, or region:Thunder region of the Tech World
Technique:Fights using lightning. Main lightning attacks include small bolts of lightning as well as streams of lightning. She uses her great speed and agility to move around the arena. She also has surprising strength, and can jump fairly high.
Bio:Was once the princess of the Thunder Region, but didn't like how unfairly everyone treated animals around the place. So she allied herself with the wild cats, and took over the Thunder Region for herself. She then looked for a strong, brave human warrior to sych with, where she found Celine.
Super moveRydeen Vortex- summons a medium-sized electric tornado, shooting blasts of lightning and sucking in any nearby enemies. Lasts for 30 seconds and does not effect Inazuma. After tthe storm is over, Inazuma looses her ability to use lightning, her speed and strength are greatly reduced, and she cannot jump high. Also, her vision decreases, making her see things more like an ultrasound (only way I could think to explain it).
Appearance:

[Tickles]

Human
Username:Mr. Fox
Name:Leonardo (goes by Leo)
Age:19
Personality: Squirrely, mischievous, if it’s not fun he won’t do it. He’s the exact opposite of serious.
Bio:Leo has dreamed of being an Astral Fighter for as long as he can remember. He watched every single fight fascinated, dreaming of the day he'd become champion. Every waking moment was dedicated to achieving a link, but no matter what he did he couldn’t find an Astral Being he could connect with. At fifteen he gave up and started to move on with his life. At seventeen while he was training for a career he made his connection. At eighteen he competed in his first fight, using his Astral Being’s superior agility he won the fight. He went on to the Championships that year, but ultimately lost.
Appearence:

Astral Being
Name:Krapfen
World, or region:Bionis
Technique:Krapfen is extremely agile, and Leo is skilled at using it to his advantage. He’ll keep his distance and fire Ether bolts as his opponents. At close range he’s not defenseless, Krapfen is armed with various weapons, such as claws and spikes.
Fire Wave: Krapfen starts to glow red then sends out a wave of fire in all directions. Easily avoided, but can be fired in quick succession.
Lighting Strike: The Air around Krapfen get’s statically charged, then a directed bolt of lighting is fired at the target.
Ice Storm: The air in the battle field becomes ice cold limiting all movements for a brief time.
Ether Shield:Krapfen uses the surrounding Ether to make a weak shield that protects him from damage for a very brief amount of time (fifteen seconds, Rarely used as it takes a lot of energy to use. Doesn't defend against Super Attacks.)
Bio:
Super moveEther Storm: Krapfen channels all of the Ether in the arena into himself. Once he’s fully charged the attack he pushes it out at the same time causing a massive shock wave that destroys all targets in the blast radius. Once the attack has been used Krapfen is no longer to use ether attacks of any kind, greatly reducing his combat effectiveness; also his agility is lowered for the rest of the battle.
Appearance:

[Tickles]

Human
Username: Meowth
Name:Mikto
Age: 16
Personality: Creepy. blood thirsty. and has grown to where he uses the speech pattern of his assssstral being.. oh. and is a bit psycho.
Bio:Mikto has oddly loved explosives since he was a a small boy, he even found a way to make a small bomb, now, for awhile his parents supported this, they thought he was being creative... well. when he blew up nearly half the house while theywere gone. he kinda was banned from making anymore... now. how does this tie in you might ask? His first synch was when he was 13. he went to sleep and in his 'dream' he was in a rectangular green body with 4 small legs. he had this urge to sneak up behing a oddl ooking miner and blow him up... he shot 5 exploding cards into the guy. the guy managed to barely survive it...so he ran towards the guys, tackled him, then he...BLEW HIMSELF UP. and the guy. but he still blew himself up. when he woke up he had the face of the monster he had became in his dream. his astral mark was a creeper face on his leg.... now. he is joining the tournament. he pretty much said "Screw the acadamy" And joined. I mean. how hard could it have been? he lost. 2nd round. now, that was 2 years ago. he has been training non stop, to get better. he is nowwhat he thinks might be able yo win. and he is once again... joining...
Appearence:
(I need to thank nexos for the picture again c:)

Astral Being
Name: creeper
World, or region:erm...minetopia? I DUNNO
Technique:Regular attacks: Fires a set of 5 exploding, minimal damage cards out of its mouth at once. it has a ammo capacity of 20 cards, but can only fire 5 at a time. It can detonate different parts of its body, making it so it can dodge, jump, dodge in air on lowgrav, etc. but. it only has feet. so after it detonates them...sitting duck. it can however shoot cards into the ground for a shorter jump.
Bio:Creeper is a creeper. he was born in "minetopia", but he had a bit of a special tallent. he was able to fire exploding items, or cards since they were easy, out of his mouth. he one day was just 'synched' with a boy named mikto.. he now spends his time rather than blowing up miners, blowing up other astrals...
Super moveDetonation. it detonates the head and stomach, which creates the largist explosion. but, it can be dodged and seen coming. you can tell its using it because it makes a louder "Sssssssss" Than normal, and flashes. If this attack misses, the creeper automatically de-synchs.
Appearance:

[Tickles]

Human
Username: Darkstar64
Name: Brendan Hales
Age: 16
Personality: Solitary, quiet, indifferent, somewhat pessimistic, likes to be on his own, acts completely different in tournaments and around family.
Bio: Brendan is a hermit, to be put bluntly. He spends most of his time as his astral being or with his family. He's become rather popular among tourney participants, and is actually pretty social when tourneys are going on. Whenever he's not in a tournament or around his family, he tends to be very quiet and solitary, hiding his face and talking as little as possible. His first sync to Android -6 wasn't until just over a year ago, on his 15th birthday. He was beginning to think, by this point, that he would be one of the few who never sync up to an Astral being. That very night, however, after closing his eyes, he reopened them to an entirely new world and body. His mark is on his lower leg, and is depicted below.
Appearence:

Marking:

(Without black background)

Astral Being
Name: Android -6 (Android Negative Six)
World, or region: Unknown
Technique: Hand to hand combat, claw-hands, can also fly and shoot metal discs from wings (Imagine a metal, razor sharp 'C' shape, about 5 inches long), as well as small rockets from gauntlets
Bio: A robot specifically invented as an astral being, invented by an unknown person or group. Not much is known about his origins, but it was noted that when Brendan had synced to Android -6 for the first time, he was on his back, in the dead center of a giant crater. Android -6 sits in the middle of this crater, never moving, though it has been proven in tournaments that he is entirely operational. As for Brendan's personality as Android -6, he tends to be cocky and arrogant towards rivals, and is sometimes overconfident (He's famous for being a fast-learning-rookie, not being the best), but is really supportive towards friends, and even rivals when he's not 'in the ring' with them.
Super move: Void Cannon 1.0 - Routes all remaining energy (excluding emergency energy) to his arm cannon (which his right arm changes into), and fires a gigantic purple beam at his target. After using this move (assuming he misses), he has to spend 10 minutes recharging before he can battle again. He's unable to attack at all, and can only fly for moments at a time. That being said, he's very agile, and is good at dodging for long periods of time.
Appearance:

[Tickles]

Human

Username: Lubbies
Character name: Azza
Age: 15
Personality: quiet, determined, intelligent.
Bio: Azza knew all he could learn about astral fights and he devised many stratagies, unfortunately, he never had an astral mark himself. He dreamt, night after night about being in the tournament. He woke to find himself without a mark. One day, probably the best day of his life a mark randomly appeared on his neck, in the shape of a sword. He trained for the tournament ever since.
Appearence:

Astral being

Name: Templar
World: Techworld
Technique: long range laser fire, weak at close range.
Bio: Being one of the late edition models of the Templars, he was made in an old school knight fashion, he was put out of the battle due to risk of breakdown. But he wanted to fight more than anything else. He escaped the world and found a boy who wanted to battle just as much as he did, he felt a certain kinship and joined the boy. They trained intensely for the tournament.
Super move: he takes the laser core in his gun and sets it on self destruct, he throws it at the enemy and the core explouds. He can no longer use his gun as it is powerless.
Appearence:

[Tickles]

NPC Characters

For RP usage, a difficulty scale from 1-10 will be applied to each NPC, 1 meaning easy, 10 meaning impossible. This should give you an idea on how to play with these characters.


Human
Username: NPC Character
Name:Shade Scouts
Difficulty: 8
Age:Varies
Personality: Loyal only to one master. Religous Zealots
Bio:A small army of astral fighters who worship a powerful being. They have obtained a new tech that will allow them to bring other fighters to their knees.
Appearence:

Astral Being
Name: Claw troopers
World, or region: Uknown
Technique: They use the clawed weapons on their hands to strike. Though they lack any ranged skills, they have ways to get close to an opponent.

Blitz claw- A swift attack that closes mid range distances.
Bio: Designed by the shade scouts, they are true assassins by nature, and work only for the cause of their one true master. The shade have used forbidden techniques to acquire this astral being.
Super move

Flash bleeder

The claw trooper swings its claws so fast, they cut the air itself. Anything that is in the way of this three burst attack is shredded to pieces. After use, the claws dull, making them less usable for attacks. The shade only use this in close quarters.
Appearance:

[Tickles]

Human
Username: Bing
Name: Desmond
Age: 21
Personality: Serious
Bio: Desmond dreams of being the best- and he'll do what ever it takes to win.  When he was younger Desmond was constantly trod on by classmates, all telling him he was worthless.  Until one day he received his seal on the black market.  Now he dreams of being a star fighter.  His motivation- Proving everyone wrong.
Appearence:

Astral Being
Name:Zero
World, or region: Neo Arcadia
Technique: Zero fights with precision sword strikes using his skill to defeat opponents.  He also has access to an energy shield on his left arm.  This can be flung at the enemy but it takes a second to recharge if used this way.
Bio: Zero has spent his entire life as a maverick hunter.  Destroying evil at all costs.  Though his fights he has gained extreme skill with his sword and shield.
Super move: Overcharge- Zero super charges a large majority of his energy and his speed and strength is significantly increased.  He also gains flight for a short time.  This last for 3 min and leaves Zero with only enough energy to retreat.
Appearance:

Overcharge look: