Liveman, Drenched in Midnight!

Something is lurking in the shadows, something beyond the monsters Liveman has faced before. When the team’s lone heroine, Blue Dolphin, finds herself alone in the dark, a presence calls to her, one she cannot ignore. Her strength, speed, instincts—none of it is enough against the ancient horror that whispers through the night, wrapping around her like a silk noose. A simple mission turns into an inescapable nightmare as her willpower begins to unravel, piece by piece, leading her deeper into the abyss.

When the hunter becomes the hunted… can she still call herself a hero?

Special thanks to my loyal and royal patron friends:

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The night comes for you!

The night air was thick with humidity, the kind that clung to her skin, making every breath feel heavy. The salty ocean breeze whispered through the dense jungle canopy, rustling the leaves above as Megumi Misaki walked along the dirt path leading back to the Liveman base. It had been a long evening, spent fixing a broken radio for a group of teenagers who were far too excited about something as simple as getting a signal again. She had ruffled one of the boys’ hair before leaving, smirking at the way his face had lit up with pride at finally rewiring the receiver correctly. "You should be a teacher when this is over, Megumi-san!"

The memory lingered, drawing a quiet scoff from her lips as she stretched her arms behind her head, rolling her shoulders to shake off the exhaustion. "Teacher, huh? If we live that long, kid," she muttered, a dry chuckle escaping her. "Gotta survive first."

The jungle around her should have been alive with the sound of crickets, the distant hum of nocturnal insects, maybe even the occasional hoot of an owl. But as she walked, something changed. The usual chorus of nighttime sounds faded, replaced by an eerie stillness. It was the kind of silence that set every instinct on edge, making the fine hairs on the back of her neck stand up.

Her steps slowed. Something was wrong. The air was too still. Too unnaturally quiet. No rustling leaves, no chirping crickets, nothing. She exhaled slowly, the breath leaving her lips in a thin wisp of condensation. Her fingers twitched toward her Liveman bracelet, a reflex honed from years of battle.

Then, movement. A dark blur streaked through the trees—faster than any human should move. Megumi’s body reacted before her mind could even process the threat. With a sharp inhale, she threw herself backward, narrowly dodging the clawed hand that sliced through the air where her throat had been a second ago.

The attack was fast, far too fast. She hit the ground hard, but she rolled into a crouch, one hand digging into the dirt for balance. Her heartbeat pounded against her ribs, but her breathing remained steady, controlled.

The figure crouched in the moonlight ahead of her. It wasn’t a Jimmer.

It wasn’t human. Glowing red eyes pierced through the darkness. Its fangs gleamed wet. Megumi narrowed her eyes, tilting her head as she exhaled through her nose. "Oh, wonderful. Volt’s doing the ‘creepy vampire’ thing now? I swear, if they start making gothic castles and handing out capes, I’m done."

The creature didn’t react, only stalked closer, its movements wrong, unnatural, too smooth yet twitching like a broken puppet. Her fingers flexed, and in one swift motion, she pressed the activation switch on her bracelet.

A burst of blue energy exploded around her as her suit locked into place, her helmet sealing shut, her entire body tightening as the surge of power flowed through her limbs. "Blue Dolphin!"

No hesitation. The moment her transformation locked, her Live Blaster materialized in her grip, and she fired. The shot tore straight through the creature’s chest. A horrible shriek ripped through the air as its body twisted unnaturally, black mist pouring from the wound before it disintegrated completely.

Megumi exhaled, lowering her blaster. One down.

But then, she heard them. Rustling. Fast movement. More than one. Her visor scanned the area, picking up three more figures emerging from the trees, their glowing eyes cutting through the darkness, their snarling faces twisted with hunger.

She sighed, rolling her shoulders, tilting her head as she tapped her sword against her gloved palm. "Alright, which one of you wants to die next?"

The first one didn’t hesitate. It lunged, a blur of motion, but she was already moving. Sidestepping with perfect timing, she twisted mid-air, bringing her heel crashing down onto the creature’s skull. A sickening crack followed as its head snapped to the side, and before it could recover, she brought her Dolphin Sword down in a clean, ruthless arc.

The blade sliced straight through its midsection, black mist spraying from the wound as it let out a strangled, dying hiss before collapsing into nothingness.

Another one came at her from behind. Her communicator buzzed in her ear. "Megumi? We’re picking up movement near your location. Do you need—"

She had no time to answer. The second vampire was too fast, too aggressive. She barely twisted in time, feeling the wind of its claws swiping inches from her ribs.

Her Live Blaster whipped up, but before she could pull the trigger, the third vampire crashed into her from the side, slamming her hard into a tree.

She grunted, vision blurring for a second, pain jolting through her back from the impact. The creature’s clawed hands gripped her helmet, twisting, trying to pry it off. Her lips curled in a sneer. "You’re not my type."

Bracing her legs against the tree, she launched a powerful kick, sending both vampires flying backward.

She rolled to her feet, brought her sword up in a fluid motion, and decapitated the one nearest to her in a single, merciless strike.

Two down. She turned to the final one. But it wasn’t attacking. It wasn’t moving. It just stood there. And then, it smiled.

Her communicator buzzed again. "Megumi? Come in! What’s happening?"

She started to lift her hand toward her earpiece. Then, the last vampire moved. Not toward her. Toward her eyes.

Its gaze locked onto hers. A spiral pattern ignited in its pupils. Slow. Then faster. Then faster.

Her breath hitched. Her body froze. A stab of pain lanced into her skull. She gasped sharply, staggering. Her fingers twitched. She tried to raise her sword but she couldn’t.

Her legs locked up, her breathing hitched, her helmet display flickered, static crawling along the edges."What—what the hell did you just do to me?"

The vampire stepped closer, its spiraling eyes boring into her, consuming her. "Look. Listen. Become."

The words weren’t spoken. They were inside her head.  And she tried to step back. She stepped forward instead.

The whispers grew louder."You are the first. The first to see. The first to know. The first to serve."

The spirals burned and Megumi screamed. Her hands flew to her helmet, fingers clawing at the skintight surface as if she could tear the pattern out of her skull. It wouldn’t leave—it was inside, burrowing deeper, ripping apart her thoughts with every turn. "Stop! STOP! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!"

Her legs convulsed, her whole body jerking as she stumbled forward, spasming violently. The spirals didn’t stop spinning. They moved behind her eyes now, growing, devouring, replacing. Her vision shattered, breaking into a thousand twisting loops of colorless horror.

In her mind, she felt it—her head imploded, crushed under the weight of the spirals, as if reality itself was folding inward, leaving only madness in its wake. And then—there was nothing left but the screams. "MAKE IT STOP—MAKE IT STOP—MAKE IT STOP!"

Her screeches tore through the jungle, carried by the wind, but no one was close enough to hear her. Her own howl echoed back at her, mocking, screaming over itself in an endless loop. She jerked violently, her muscles firing in every direction at once, as if her body was no longer receiving commands from her own mind.

Then her fingers twitched.

They found her weapon. She swung. Wild. Mindless. Her Dolphin Sword carved through the air, slashing at shadows, at ghosts, at the empty void where her sanity had once been. “NOTHING IS HERE! I SEE IT—I SEE IT—I CAN’T STOP SEEING IT!"

Her blade cut through the corpse of the last vampire minion, again and again and again—its body long since dissolved into mist, yet she kept stabbing, kept hacking, until her arms shook from the force of it.

Her helmet display flickered, error messages crawling across the edges of her screen. Her communicator buzzed. Static. Nothing but static. No one was there.

She wasn’t responding. Because she couldn’t. Because she was already lost.

Her weapon wrenched out of her grip, her arm flailing wildly as she flung the Dolphin Sword away, sending it spinning into the darkness.

She threw her head back, her tone breaking into a guttural, jumbled howl, her dialogue spiraling, warping, melting into itself. "I SEE! I CAN'T STOP SEEING! THE PATTERNS! I HEAR THEM—I HEAR THEM—I HEAR—"

Her jaw locked. A pressure. Deep. Ancient. Crushing. It filled her lungs, her throat, her skull.

The voice. A deep, crawling resonance that slithered into her thoughts, replacing them, reshaping them, seizing everything she had ever been. "Child of the light. Child of the fools. You do not speak unless I allow it."

Her mouth snapped open inside her helmet, but nothing came out. No words. No breath. Just a silent, strangled sound.

She tried to gasp, to suck in air, but something was holding her throat closed from the inside. Her chest hitched, spasming, heaving—but no air came in. Her eyes rolled back. Inside her helmet, her tongue convulsed, her lips twitching open and shut, open and shut, like a puppet with its strings tangled. Her body shook uncontrollably, her hands twitching as if still holding a weapon that wasn’t there anymore.

The spirals in her mind kept spinning.

Her legs wanted to give out. She wanted to collapse to her knees, shuddering, trembling, frozen in the moment of her own unraveling. The tone slithered deeper. "You will not fight. You will not resist. You will only serve."

Her jaw stretched open further. Further.

Her mind had crumbled, devoured whole by the spirals, ground into dust by the monstrous force twisting through her skull. Her thoughts, once sharp, once filled with strategy and brilliance, had been burnt to nothingness, overwritten, consumed, lost.

Her courage had been demolished. Her will had been erased. Her identity had been swallowed whole.

There was nothing left of her mind except a maelstrom of screaming, spinning, mind-breaking madness.

Her jaw stretched wide inside her helmet, her throat convulsing, choking, spasming as thick ropes of saliva burst from her lips, splattering against the interior of her visor, fogging her view with thick, wet streaks of spit and heat. Her eyes rolled wildly in her skull, the spirals dancing in her vision, burrowing deeper, deeper, tearing apart what little remained of who she had been.

SHE SCREAMED.

A horrific, raw, animalistic wail, piercing, agonized, a sound that no human should ever make. It shattered the quiet of the night, rang through the alleyway with the force of a dying soul begging for annihilation.

“PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! PAIN! MORE! MORE! MORE! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOP! MAKE IT STOOOOOOP!”

Her arms spasmed, hands clawing wildly at her own suit, nails scraping at the unyielding material, trying to tear herself open, trying to dig through her own flesh, trying to rip herself apart.

She couldn’t stop seeing the spirals. She couldn’t stop hearing the howls.

She couldn’t stop FEELING THE PRESSURE crushing her mind, forcing her body to shudder, forcing her bones to quake, forcing her to writhe like a broken doll caught in invisible strings.

Her lungs burned, her ribs heaved, her body convulsed with violent, uncontrollable spasms, her entire form thrashing against the ground, jerking, twitching, writhing.

The pressure intensified. The spirals spun faster. Her screams twisted into laughter. Wild. Twisted. Insane.

Her chest convulsed, her head thrown back against the cold stone, a hideous giggle bubbling past her lips, warping into a distorted cackle.

"BREAK ME! DESTROY ME! TAKE ME! CRUSH ME! RIP ME APART! END ME! END ME! END ME! TEAR ME TO PIECES! MAKE ME NOTHING! MAKE ME NOTHING! MAKE ME NOOOOOOTHIIIIIIING!"

Her legs kicked wildly, her body dragging further into the darkness.

She didn’t know where she was. She didn’t care. She wanted it. She wanted the agony to go deeper. She wanted to be undone.

She saw them. Her team. Her friends. Her delusions. They stood before her, their suits gleaming, their visors reflecting the horror carved across her twisted, broken body. They were reaching for her, calling to her, trying to pull her back. And she laughed.

"Megumi! Megumi, listen to me! You have to fight this!”

Junichi’s tone was desperate, urgent, his Green Sai suit gleaming in the moonlight, his hand stretched toward her. His fingers trembled, shaking, reaching—pleading.

She tilted her head sharply, saliva dripping from her lips, her body trembling violently. "Ohhhh, Junichi! Junichi, Junichi, Junichi! You don’t understand!" she giggled, squeal sharp, hysterical.

Her hands twitched at her sides, her body still spasming, still shuddering, but she forced herself forward, crawling toward him on her hands and knees. "It’s beautiful, Junichi! It’s so, so, sooooo BEAUTIFUL! The spirals—THE SPIRALS! CAN’T YOU SEE THEM? CAN’T YOU FEEL THEM? THEY’RE CALLING FOR YOU! THEY WANT YOU TO COME WITH MEEEEE!"

She lunged at him, her fingers grabbing at his helmet, twisting it, shaking him. Her voice broke into a shrill, frenzied shriek. "SEE THEM! SEE THEM! SEE THEM! SEE THEM! LET THEM IN! LET THEM IN! LET THEM INNNNNNNN!"

Junichi trembled, flickering, distorting. He vanished. She squealed again like an animal deprived of its kill. "NO, NO, NO! YOU CAN'T GO! YOU HAVE TO BE BROKEN TOO!"

She spun around wildly. And there—he stood.

"Megumi, damn it! Get up! You have to snap out of it!" Tetsuya’s howl boomed, his Black Bison form towering over her, his fists clenched tight at his sides.

She laughed through her broken, wheezing breaths. "Tetsuya… Tetsuya, Tetsuya, Tetsuya!" she giggled, slapping her hands against her helmet, pressing them tight as her head spasmed violently.

She threw herself at him, grabbing his arms, shaking him violently. "YOU HAVE TO GIVE IN! YOU HAVE TO SURRENDER! LET THEM HAVE US, TETSUYA! LET THEM HAVE US! LET THEM TEAR US APART, LET THEM CRUSH US, LET THEM TAKE EVERYTHING! JUST LET IT HAPPEN!"

Her hands clawed at his suit, her body trembling against him. "DON'T YOU WANT TO BE TAKEN? DON'T YOU WANT TO BE BROKEN? LET IT TAKE YOU! LET IT TAKE YOU!"

Tetsuya didn’t move. He was gone.

She squealed again, high-pitched and frantic, her breath hitching, her body twitching, jerking, convulsing.

Her eyes rolled back. Her legs stumbled. Her laughter choked into a strangled gag.

The shadows deepened. The presence grew. The darkness opened its maw.

Laughter. Deep. Guttural. Monstrous.

A tone crawling through her shattered mind, coiling deep inside, locking her will away forever. "HAAAH—HAAAH—HAAAH—HAAAH—HAAAH!"

Megumi gasped, her body arching backward, her hands clawing at her throat as if choking on invisible hands. She stumbled, her legs dragging her deeper, deeper, deeper into the darkness.

She didn’t fight it. She didn’t resist. She didn’t even scream anymore.

Because she wanted it. She wanted to be erased. She wanted to be devoured.

***

The morning sun barely cut through the thick, oppressive air hanging over the desolate park and the surrounding commercial ruins. The once-thriving streets, now overgrown with weeds and littered with rusted signs, stood as silent reminders of a past long abandoned. The skeletal remains of collapsed buildings loomed over the devastated roads, their shadows stretching ominously under the dim light of dawn. The stillness was suffocating, broken only by the sound of hurried footsteps and desperate tones calling a name that refused to answer.

"BLUE!" Yuusuke’s howl thundered through the empty streets, his boots pounding against the pavement as he turned a corner and scanned the ruined landscape. His breathing was heavy, not from exhaustion, but from sheer frustration, from the burning need to find her, to see her standing, to hear her delivery, to know she was still with them. "Damn it, answer me!" His fists clenched at his sides, knuckles whitening beneath his gloves. He had faced so many battles, fought against Volt's monstrous abominations, yet nothing had ever filled his chest with dread the way this silence did.

Jou kicked over a fallen street sign, the metal screeching as it scraped against the ground. His movements were sharp, restless, his frustration barely contained beneath the surface. "She can’t just be gone! She’s one of us! She’s Megumi! She wouldn’t—she wouldn’t just disappear!" His delivery broke slightly, the weight of the situation pressing against him harder with every second that passed.

Junichi’s fingers worked frantically over the controls of his wrist communicator, his heart pounding as he struggled to pinpoint her exact location. The signal was weak, erratic, barely holding, but it was there. "Her tracker’s still active! She’s close—somewhere near here! We just need to keep looking!" His tone was sharp, urgent, almost desperate. The thought of losing her was unbearable. She had always been strong, the one who kept them focused when everything else fell apart and made them feel like they could still win no matter how bad things got. They had to find her.

Tetsuya had barely spoken since they started searching. His broad frame moved with purpose, but there was a weight in his every step, something heavy pressing down on him, something clawing at his chest. His hands were clenched so tightly he could feel the fabric of his gloves strain against his knuckles. His jaw was locked behind his helmet, but beneath it, his teeth were grinding, his breath slow and thick with guilt. "We should’ve been with her," he muttered under his breath, his voice barely audible through the comms. "She was alone. We let her go alone. I let her go alone. I should’ve—I should’ve been there. I should’ve—" He cut himself off, shaking his head, his entire body tense. "We’re gonna find her. And when we do, she’s never going alone again. Never."

The tension in the air was suffocating. They pushed forward, scanning every alley, every ruined building, their helmets feeding them information, but nothing—nothing—gave them what they were looking for. Until suddenly, Junichi's wrist communicator spiked with a sharp beep.

"Here! She’s here! Just up ahead!" His tone broke as he sprinted toward a narrow alleyway between two crumbling buildings. The others weren’t far behind, their boots slamming against the pavement as they followed him.

And then they saw her.

Megumi lay crumpled against the damp, cold wall of the alley, her body slumped unnaturally, her limbs stiff, her suit dirtied and scuffed from whatever had happened during the night. Her helmet remained firmly on, her visor fogged from within, obscuring any glimpse of her face. Her chest rose and fell in shallow, uneven breaths, her body occasionally jerking in small, unnatural spasms.

Yuusuke didn’t hesitate. He was at her side in an instant, dropping to his knees, gripping her by the shoulders. "Megumi! Wake up! We’re here! It’s us!" His tone was raw, edged with panic. He shook her gently, then harder, but she didn’t respond. Her body felt too cold, her breaths too faint.

Jou stared down at her, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides. His body screamed at him to move, to do something, anything, but he didn’t know what. "What the hell happened to her? This isn’t right! Megumi’s tough—she’s stronger than this! She wouldn’t just… just collapse!" His delivery carried more anger than fear, but everyone knew what was really beneath it.

Junichi pressed a hand against her arm, his delivery tight as he tried to assess the situation. "Her vitals are weak. Whatever happened, it hit her hard. We need to get her back to base now!" His hands hovered over her, unsure if shaking her would make it worse, unsure if whatever had attacked her had left something lingering inside.

But before any of them could act—Tetsuya was already moving.

He didn’t speak, didn’t wait, didn’t hesitate. The moment his eyes locked onto her limp form, something inside him snapped. He dropped to one knee, his massive arms carefully but swiftly wrapping around her, pulling her against his chest. "I got you. I got you," he muttered, his delivery hoarse, shaking. He barely even noticed how cold she was, barely registered the slight spasms in her limbs. He just knew that she wasn't waking up, wasn't speaking, wasn't fighting back, and it was killing him inside.

"You’re safe now," he whispered, his grip tightening as he held her closer. "We’re taking you home. You’re not—" His throat clenched, and his tone nearly broke. "You're not gonna be alone again. Not ever."

Yuusuke pushed himself up, his movements sharp, decisive. "No more wasting time. We’re taking her back. Now."

Jou nodded, his lips pressing into a tight line. "Yeah. No arguments. Let’s go."

Junichi was already activating the teleport beacon, his fingers moving quickly over the controls. "Locking onto base coordinates now! Everyone hold on—"

A burst of blue energy engulfed them. The world around them shimmered, distorted, and in the blink of an eye, they were gone, transported back to the safety of their headquarters.

None of them saw it.

None of them noticed.

The tiny puncture wounds at the base of Megumi’s neck, just barely visible beneath the edge of her suit, the dried blood nearly blending into the shadows cast by her helmet.

None of them noticed the way her fingers twitched slightly in Tetsuya’s arms, the unnatural jerking movement, the way her body spasmed for just a fraction of a second before falling still again.

None of them realized what had already been done to her.

***

Back at their hidden base, the four remaining Livemen stood anxiously in their civilian forms, exhaustion and worry etched across their faces. The sterile glow of the medical bay monitors illuminated the room, casting a cold light over their fallen teammate. Megumi still lay motionless on the medical bed, but unlike them, she remained fully morphed in her Blue Dolphin suit. No matter what they tried, her transformation refused to break.

"Come on, Megumi, wake up," Yuusuke muttered, arms crossed, staring at her as if sheer willpower could force her back to them. "We’re back home. You’re safe. Just… come back to us."

Jou exhaled through desperation, pacing back and forth. "This isn’t normal. The suit’s supposed to release when you lose consciousness, right? Why the hell is she still in it?" His howl was frustrated, but beneath it, there was something else—something close to fear.

Jou's pacing had become increasingly erratic, his boots thudding heavily against the floor, the tension in his shoulders growing tighter with every second. His hands curled into fists at his sides as he let out a deep, frustrated breath. "Because this isn't just exhaustion. Something happened to her. Something we didn't see, something we didn’t stop, and now she's—" He cut himself off, shaking his head violently, refusing to let the words settle in his mind. "Damn it, this is Megumi. She's tough. She doesn't go down like this."

Junichi had his wrist communicator connected to the medical scanner, running every diagnostic the base had, but nothing made sense. Her vitals were erratic, fluctuating between slow, sluggish movements and violent, almost seizure-like spasms. His eyes narrowed as he examined the morphing sequence logs, only to be met with an error screen flashing "MORPHER LOCKED – UNAUTHORIZED DISENGAGE ATTEMPT." His breath caught as he turned back to the others. "Her suit isn’t just stuck. It’s locked. The system is actively preventing her from demorphing. I’ve never seen this happen before. It’s like… like it’s part of her now."

Tetsuya had barely spoken since they arrived. His massive frame stood rigid near the head of the bed, his hands clenched into fists so tight his gloves creaked under the pressure. His breath was slow, heavy, but anyone who knew him could see the fury twisting beneath his calm exterior. His head hung slightly, his tone barely above a whisper but thick with guilt. "We should’ve been there. We should’ve never let her go alone. I should’ve—" His fists slammed against the medical table, the sound echoing through the tense room. "Damn it, Megumi, why the hell didn’t you call for backup?"

As if responding to his howl, Megumi’s body twitched violently on the bed. A sharp, strangled moan escaped from behind her visor, her fingers flexing as if grasping for something unseen. Then, through the silence, a weak, trembling tone slipped from her lips.

"I'm… so… hungry…"

The words sent a ripple of unease through the room. Yuusuke stiffened, his brows furrowing beneath his helmet. "Hungry?" His delivery was cautious, uncertain, as if the word itself was foreign in this context.

Jou's pacing halted abruptly, his eyes snapping toward her. "She needs food. Of course, that’s it! She hasn’t eaten in nearly a day. Maybe that’s why she’s like this." He moved toward the supply cabinets, rummaging through stored rations, grabbing a tray with bread, rice, and water, placing it beside her. "Megumi, we got you something. Come on, eat up. You need your strength."

But Megumi didn’t reach for it.

Her hands twitched, her fingers flexing, but she remained still, her breathing shallow. Then, slowly, her hands weakly moved to her helmet, trembling as if trying to pry it off. But her fingers barely found purchase.

Junichi frowned, watching her struggling movements. "She—she can’t take it off." His tone was quiet, uncertain, his hands hovering over the edge of her visor. "We have to help her."

Tetsuya didn’t hesitate. Stepping forward, he placed his hands on either side of her helmet, gripping the clasps carefully but firmly. "Hang in there, Megumi. I got you," he murmured, his large hands applying careful pressure as he tried to force the helmet open. At first, the clasps resisted, as though something was actively fighting against his touch. Then, with a sharp click, the mechanism finally released, splitting the helmet just enough to reveal her mouth.

The moment the gap appeared, Megumi lunged forward.

She snatched the first thing she could reach—a piece of bread—and shoved it into her mouth, her hands shaking violently as she forced herself to chew.

For a split second, a collective sigh of relief filled the room. Then, it turned to horror.

Her body spasmed violently as she shrieked, the bread shooting from her lips, her hands clawing at her own mouth.

"NO! NO! NO! IT’S WRONG! IT’S ROTTEN! IT TASTES—IT TASTES—IT'S DISGUSTING!" Her screams filled the room, her entire body writhing against the bed, gagging, retching. Her hands scratched at her tongue, her throat convulsing in raw, desperate horror.

Jou stepped back, his pulse hammering. "What the hell? Megumi, what—what’s happening to you?"

Yuusuke cursed under his breath. "Maybe she just needs something else. Something easier on the stomach."

Junichi, hands trembling, spun toward the storage cabinets, fumbling for something softer, anything she might tolerate. His fingers slipped as he hastily opened a sealed fruit container, and in his panic, he barely registered the sharp sting of the metal lid slicing a thin, shallow cut on his finger.

A single drop of blood welled up on his skin.

And Megumi froze.