Sutoratosu

Damn, that might have done the trick right there... Well, to answer the question, no, at least, they're not supposed to be consciously connected in any way. Project Sky Slayer is a (nearish) utopian world for the most part that I thought up; basically one where a powerful religious institution held power and instead of using that power for bigoted or intolerant purposes, like those of our own world so commonly did historically, instead used it to focus on improving the world and mankind's plight through genuine thought and effort and work to do away with issues that plagued humanity, and in the end managed to end all wars and bring about a peace of sorts, as well as end famine. It's a world where there appears to be a clear cut black and white, but where there really isn't because all that is good and right has in truth been supported and achieved through actions which may or may not been morally objectible depending on how one views things. The PSS verse is also one which heavily revolves around the concepts of religion and the effects of it on society and the idea that there is some creator being and highest possible force (Alpha, Omega, and Delta) from which all else sprang forth. it is based on the idea of Zero- The Fool Arcana, or infinite possibilities as one might put it. The idea that from this Zero sprang forth everything, but at the same time, to this Zero it is also possible to return to at any time with an force equal to that which initiated all things. The plot explores the idea of God and Mankind's relationship, the idea of a Protective Creator and his Creations, and the idea that this Creator must constantly engage in combat in order to defend his creations from outside detrimental forces... and the idea that this Creator has had nothing but constant loses in his war to defend what he made. And this primary idea feeds into the final idea of the plot for PSS's major theme; Man becoming greater than God himself by succeding where God failed. Of man becoming more than Divine,of destroying that which God could not, and as such becoming truly free from all bonds, as well as now having to rely on himself and himself alone to shape and carve whatever destiny he may know, for better or for worse. In final, the plot revolves around the concepts of God raising and defending man, The defeat and death of God, and mankind taking up his mantle that he left behind and surpassing him afterwards by avenging him and destroying what even he could not. The are three parts, as you can see. God attempted to defend man by having servants of his pull many strings in the world, all in the hope of manipulating event horizons so that certain branches of the future would be favored over others, ultimately resulting in all of history being highly affected and manipulated in order to bring about what was thought to be necessary for victory over the finest threat. This all is manifested in how Anansi and Rossephus constantly effected the past and in turn wrote the future, Rossephus taking an active approach by using his own servants, while Anansi manipulated things on a higher and more indirect scale using his own authority (Let's see who's been paying attention in PSS: What is Anansi the weaver of?) The defeat and death of god has already partially happened in that God has been reduced to a state in which he can no longer effectively deal with the threat of Zero any longer from having fought and lost so many times already in this invisible war, yet continues to stand against an impossible enemy despite knowing he will fall for good soon. and the part of Man overcoming God... that is where the players and the heroes they find and awaken again will come in. For the Heroes represent the hope of what Mankind can achieve and ultimately be and do, each of them great and good in their own way. While the Players themselves embody the strength of mankind, his spirit, his resilience and determination. With Hope and Strength together as one at last, that is how it shall be that the Zero is averted and defeated. Yeah, there's a shit ton of religion and theology and morality paradoxes and great questions in that... now... Exodus and it's history and backstory of it's verse is more or less based on modern day earth and one of the possible futures which I see as highly possible for humanity having to take eventually; having to flee earth because they fucked things up so badly there was no hope to repair the damage to the world. Now, of course this occured much later than people currently estimate it would (modern estimates say we'll run out of all resources within a century) but this is because of innovations early on that helped to ultimately greatly slow down, but not completely halt the damage being done, while at the same time giving the illusion that it had not only ended things but reversed them. Of course, eventually this technology and it's faults were revealed to the people despite their governments keeping it under wraps, knowing the issue wasn't solved, but not wanting a complete panic breaking out while they worked to find an alternative to what they were doing. Know what this Technology which seemed so great was? It was early prototypes of the utilization of Exo Fields. the strange electromagnetic energy fields that power your exo suits and star ships and even cars and other vehicles. Discovered in the 2070's during the Resource Wars from an unknown source, latter reverse engineered and developed by the US into a form usable with contemporary technology, though one that proved to be far primitive to the original which they devised it from. The US agreed to share it's findings with the rest of the world and overnight the United Nations (which had fallen under American Hegemony shortly before the discovery, BTW) managed to finally rebuild itself and it's former power as it convinced more and more former members to rejoin, all to work out a treaty between all participants of the Resource Wars to cease all conflict in their areas, in exchange for what the americans had; essentially ending twenty years of every nation having to either being self sufficient or do without whatever they couldn't produce due to embargoes left and right imposed by enemies onto one another disrupting global trade. Things seemed to be going great for a while... for centuries after, in fact. but in truth the discovery was more harmful than it was good; the Americans weren't able to reverse engineer the most crucial component of it being safely used; Stabilization of the fields. Without they ran haywire unseen, releasing by product energy that began building up in a layer just beneath the world's Electromagnetic fields as the centuries pressed on; The Exo Cloud, as it is known as to historians today; a massive, then-undetectable pocket of energy waiting to burst outward and escape from the confines of earth's field... but no one noticed. the environment actually started recovering without oil of gasoline being utilized anymore (Of course, "Big Oil" just became "Big Exo-Field") Ever see a baloon pop? that's what happened up in the Exo Cloud a few decades before the Exodus took place. Enough by-product energy had gathered that it simply exploded outward into the void of space in every direction, unable to contain any more... and do you know what was between it and the void of space? yeah... the Earth's natural shielding. With numerous holes adorning the planet's natural occuring force field, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that shit started going very wrong very fast. the climate took a 180 and became worse than it ever had as solar radiation poured in and leaked in certain areas of the world, weather patterns were utterly fucked and blown into huge severity. Entire Countries were destroyed, areas of the planet scorched and wrecked beyond recognition, or flooded from the melting of the ice caps. Humanity was obviously at the end of it's rope. And of course it was only then that the US actually managed to get things right with their version of the technology they'd found, well... yeah, let's just say right, not necessarily complete. point is, they figured out the stabilization to end the emission of the runoff energy. and it was obviously too little too late. The damage was done and couldn't be fixed. But with the tech no being stabilized, there was ONE option they still had... use to build ships that were as large as they could muster and GTFO of there as fast they could. and thus, America, being the self proclaimed brightest kid in the whole class, raised her hand once more and said, oh, over here, we have the answer! And thus the ISP began, the UN having commited it's last action and drafted a treaty which all nations still surviving signed; pool together whatever you have and contribute to the project; the reward being that you get for your own populace to escape on. Some nations were barely hanging on though; so battered they weren't really worth much in terms of being able to lend actual resources. These nations, like britain and several in south america, piggy backed off of stronger ones like the US and canada and what was left of Russia and China. All in all, seven Arks were built, one for each mother country , which provided all the resources for it's cut of the project, and it's "children" which were the term used to refer to piggy backers who while they didn't have sufficient resources, where still able to lend a crap ton of labor to get things done quicker: Mother Nations: America- "Children" were Britain, Canada, Mexico, several other south american nations, as well as japan Israel- managed to actually become pretty damn powerful and even had mercy enough to let nations like Palestine (who eventually got their asses handed to them by Israel's ruthlessness in the fight to survive a religious war) as well as many countries in western europe Russia- Weakened but still had caches of materials stashed all over the place from the resource wars. Children were the "-Stan" nations... at least, what was left of them, as well as what was left of eastern europe Australia- won their independence just before the resource wars long before all this mess started. Children were several nations in the south pacific China- Children were several asian nations like north korea (lols, jk, North korea died in the resource wars, it's just one big Korea afterwards) and thailand. India- Said fuck you to everyone who begged to be let piggy back and had no "children"... they were kinda justified though; their neighbors had been complete asses to their country for a long time. African Union- Similar to the EU, just for africa (What was left of it's countries, that is...) had no "Children" Exodus: Beyond Eden, is merely the story of what occurred to the Americans and the nations who were their "Children" in the ISP after they finally found a habitable planet, it is a story of betrayal and deceit, so in that way, I guess one could potentially say it is similar to PSS with that. but unlike PSS, the betrayal and deceit comes from the government, not some omnipotent beings. Lies have been told and great mistakes made, and rather than own up, the ruling body of the settlement would prefer to use a certain new discovery to cover up what really occurred and how the outbreak really started... and there's so much more that's been covered up... like things about the mountains that were discovered... it's a story whose plot revolves around revolution and the unveiling of secrets, secrets which were crafted not because they were necessary, as the ones in PSS's verse were, but because of cowardice. It is about whether it is better to be good... or to be lawful. So yeah. they're extremely different in terms of the basic Concepts of the 'Verses they take place in. Exodus is actually based off of Armored Core and Ender's Game and the video game "Moon" for NDS, and focuses heavily on technology and the secretive advancement thereof, as well as the idea of multiple sentient species existing in the universe and mankind not being Alone at all, but just one of many that have come before and will come after. somewhat, yes. Quiet is... well, he's far more than he seems to be and he knows far more than he lets on. Stone is as well, and whatever Quiet's in on, so is Stone, he just is much more savvy about not showing any sign that his loyalties lie somewhere other than with the government. Jace Bane is more of a semi unwilling participant in whatever they have planned; knowing just a few basic things about what they're after and what they believe and what cause they're fighting for, but ultimately skeptical of it despite personally hating the governing body himself. Bane was originally willing to kill either of them if the need arises to save his own ass or the asses of those he cared about, though that resolve has been somewhat put into a different stance now that he knows they have the very people he would kill them to protect... he knows they can take retaliation for whatever he does. And so now all he can do is sit back for the ride... wherever it may end up taking him and his family... as well as the rest of you. Things are changing in this world. Things are crumbling. The only question though... is if anyone will be able to figure out a simple fact thats been shown time and time again in ancient history: War does not decide who is right... Only who is left. keep em coming... i'm feeling something coming back.

To display the badassery that is Mareek's Mother... and Mars. XD

well, it's no so much "Writers block" as it is just apathy about going on with things to be honest. It's not that I've lost my creativity or anything, it's just that I've lost my motivation to get on a computer and take that creativity and actually use it for this story; in other words, I'm simply lacking in the Motivation department, yet am still fully capable of writing if I can just convince myself to actually do it. And also, for those who haven't posted anything yet and don't want to simply get passed over hard in terms of interactions for the end of this current chapter, I suggest you get something in before my Motivation returns, because once it does, I'm finishing things here and we're blazing ahead to Chapter 2. EDIT: And I actually just thought of this, might or might not work, but I figure it's worth a shot... Ask me questions about anything in the world of Exodus: Beyond Eden, anything at all you want to know... maybe by answering inquiries from players and readers some of my own personal interest in the story will reignite... again, a long shot, but maybe it can work...

The Temporal Roar

I've edited in Galen's response to Evan EDIT: And by the way, encase anyone's wondering, this is what Alexandra Sisto's (Mareek's mother) team looks like: They're all in their upper 70s in term of level, except for Mars who is level 80.

what are you talking about? she said that she was dropping out when I asked her about it...

Mareek "Oh, not at all sir," Mareek replied after the customer made his comment about how difficult it must've been to teach Erce how to do all this. "Erce is a bit smarter than your average scyther, you see. A lot, in fact, from what I've seen over the years. The two of us have been carving things for a long while now, we just took a bit of a hiatus from it for a few months before we came to the academy." Erce simply nodded proudly at the compliment to her superior intellect compared to other members of her species. "And she's done far more crazier things than carving, trust me. Anyway, it's good to hear these two right here weren't being slackers during my absence." Nemo and Java looked at the boy somewhat dirtily, as if their pride was hurt that the trainer thought they would even think of deviating from their work when he wasn't looking. He ignored their stares though as he next turned to Lana as she confirmed that the two were helps and asked about old Mars; Only to be interrupted before he could say anything by the new match ups being announced suddenly. "Well looks like we're still matched up against each other," he said simply, taking his eyes off the projected display after a while. "And about your question about Mars there," he nodded quite respectfully towards the bisharp; mainly because the blue steel type wasn't one to tolerate anything less than respect... "Yeah, he is. Her first and oldest partner in fact; My mom used to be a pretty powerful trainer back in Unova a long time ago, even took on the elite four a few times and everything," "Indeed we did," Alexandra nodded, making it clear she would take over the story from here. "Long ago I found Mars as a Pawniard, wondering around the forest near my hometown, Opelucid City, Injured badly, Starving, and completely on his own. I don't know what happened before our paths crossed, but my best guess is that he was thrown out of his pack, probably for being of a different coloration than the others..." Mars said nothing at the speculation about who he ended up like he had... quite honestly he was content to let Alexandra go on believing it had been because he was shiny and different from the others... mainly because he was still to this day, decades later, a bit ashamed that he had foolishly challenged the Bisharp who had been the Patriarch of the pack and gotten his ass royally handed to him as an obvious result... "Either way though," Alexandra continued. "I started bringing him food and water, patched him up a little as best I could, and overtime the two of us became pretty good friends, and Mars got his strength back and was able to find food himself again. I was expecting for him to go off and find a new pack or something when he was finally well again, so I said my goodbyes during what I thought would be our last encounter with each other," Mars simply scoffed at this part of the story, shaking his head as if to say Hell no. "Except instead of heading off to do that, he followed me back to the city, all the way home. Since I had saved his life, he felt he owed me a debt that had to be repaid; He was going to stay with me and try to protect me whenever I needed it, maybe even save my life one day, all in an effort to pay back the kindness I had shown him." Mars smiled, nodding earnestly to confirm the reason he had stayed had indeed because he had owed Alexandra a life debt for saving him from the aftermath of his stupid mistake, giving him a shot to start over. "My parent's were a bit hesitant at first, but once they saw how Protective he was, they eventually warmed up to him and let him stay with us. Not long afterwards I started my own journey around the region with him as my first partner. The going was pretty harsh at first, we suffered loss after loss against Gym Leaders and far more experience trainers alike. But we learned from every mistake we made, took note of every tactic our opponent used and figured out ways to use them against them. We even made a few more friends who joined us on our travels, like Joltara here," She reached into her suitcase as Mars instinctively held it up and retrieved a old looking pokeball, worn with years of use, but still fully functional. With a quick flick of her thumb she depressed the trigger and out of the burst of white light emerged a rather feisty looking Jolteon, her white, static filled mane looking more bristled and charged than the average of her species and the same going for the rest of her coat, and expression that showed an eagerness to fight on her face as she looked up at Alexandra from where she sat on the ground. "Over time the team started coming together and we improved our fighting style," Alexandra continued. "And the wins just rolled in from that point onwards. We won all eight badges and eventually went on to challenge the elite four. Never actually managed to fight our way all the way to the champion, but we came close quite a few times..." Galen "This is beginning to become annoying, you know?" Augustine sighed, hands in his pocket as he looked at the boy with a semi-irked expression. "You keep trying to exonerate yourself from simple facts, like doing it will make them go away. It won't, chico. For example; fine, you would've been watched with suspicion had you turned the letter in, alright, but you still had countless opportunities every day to get rid of the stone and the message in more discreet ways. You could've torn the letter up, flushed it down the toilet, could've tossed the stone over the fence and into the forest. Or you could've destroyed the letter and scattered it to the winds and chuck the water stone from a high cliff during the Boulder Hills trip, or hell, you could've tossed the water stone at the feet of my colleagues and told them to screw off, though that would've likely gotten you killed if you weren't fast enough to get away and shake them from your trail, it was still an option...etcetera, etcetera," He let out another annoyed sigh, shaking his head. "You must face the facts right in front of you, Evan Reeves; there is a reason you never did any of those things, even though you had countless chances and openings to secretly be rid of what was given to you by us..."

If it's alright, can we still have Lana against Mareek at some point in the tourney though? think it might be enough to get things off the ground between the two...

hmm... both are tempting options. Might as well go with Option 1... unless you're like me when I tried to put Surge Story on Hiatus and ended up getting no work done at all and just decided to start it back up again and just develop everything as we went along in the story. In other words, if you're gonna put it on hold, just make sure you're gonna actually sit down and develop it, unlike me when I tried the same with my own First RP XD

Oh my friend, they can and do go far faster at times... trust me. It can get kinda crazy.

Kenny "Um, if I may, good sir," Kenny heard a rather noisily little voice ask from his bag as something began to rummage around in it, the head of a very familiar looking toad poking out and gazing up at him. "I know the city well; perhaps I could point you in the direction of the shop you seek? I guarantee you, we aren't far from one right now, in fact..."

Java and Nemo Java nodded simply as he hovered down to the lowest shelf of the counter's inner space and took the appropriate amount of change from the large money containment box Mareek had Erce carve as one of the first items for her reflex and speed training, hovering back up with the money held in a psybeam and offering it to the man who had bought the Suicune Effigy. Nemo meanwhile was peering off into the distance as he spotted a certain red haired boy and woman alongside a Scyther and Shiny Bisharp returning, waving at them in greeting with his club... Mareek & Ms.Sisto It wasn't long before the two and their partners had come back into sight of the Wood Carving Stand and Lana and Java and Nemo attending to a customer, the young Cubone waving at them as they drew closer. Alexandra though dropped back from her son's side a little as they got nearer, falling back with Erce and Mars, the Bisharp deftly taking a side step on an intuitive hunch that the woman wanted to speak to the Mantis, making way. "I need to speak with you about Mareek before I leave back for home after the competition ends," she said, leaning in close and keeping her voice silent to prevent the boy from overhearing. "Mars has already discussed some things with you while we've been walking, but I just need to get a status check from you before I go..." Erce nodded earnestly, signifying that she would not forget about the request to talk. "Good, good..." With that Alexandra moved back the her son's side just as they arrived back at the stand, the trainer completely oblivious to anything his mom had asked Erce or that Mars had been speaking about with the scyther. "Well we're back," Mareek said to Lana, entering behind the counter along with Erce as Java was using Psybeam to hand change to a customer. "Sorry we took so long. Did these two do their parts and help like they were supposed to?" He glanced over at Java and Nemo... Galen "No, chico, they have a contact here because they only sent in one person," Augustine Responded with equal sarcasm to the boy's question. "Of course there are others they sent in, three of them, posing as ordinary students like you. If it were just me, there'd be no need for any contact or correspondence or anything of the sort." His Zoroark began to invisibly tense a little as the conversation went onward, not seeing this little interaction ending well at all at this point... not that either Galen or Evan would be able to see it or notice. "And you say they forced them on you, but need I remind you boy? You were in fact approached by us long before that overnight trip to the Boulder Hills. Recall that box with the Water Stone and the Letter you got not long after the school year began in september? Face it, we both know that deep down, some part of you is willing to help us; if it weren't true, then why the hell didn't you take the stone and the message straight to Redwood or Cadmus and hand it over to them? You had the option, we weren't watching you, we weren't holding a gun to your head telling you to accept the package...you just kept it of your own accord. and If I'm not mistaken, the letter even said that you could opt out of everything and take what we gave you to the professor..."

"The innuendos are strong in this one..."

... I'd be willing to agree to a switch out in the brackets and fight NPCs the first two rounds and let him have Mareek's slots against Lana/ Kage, if it help makes things smoother.

Chimchain After a while of wondering around the city districts it soon became apparent to both Trystane and Argo just how exactly the different sectors were organized; Rings. They were each rings, rippling outward from the Castle in the center all the way to the outer walls, Like the surface of the lake, the main Fortification a drop that had fallen, and the housing and shops and everything else just the disturbances that had been generated by it's impact. There were Seven Districts in total, each one raised a bit higher than the last as one traveled towards the center, while the farther one traveled from the castle, the larger they would notice each district's boundary size was compared to the last. Civilian housing and shops and other businesses and establishments dominated the four lowest Wards, while the Castle itself along with facilities and Barracks for the Nix Guard and the City Magistrates exclusively dominating the three highest. The Roofs were even differentiated; each Civilian District having it's own specific color which the buildings were required to have their shingles painted accordingly, making the entire city look like a bulls eye target from the air, a large and uniformed red center reminiscent of blood representing the Administrative Wards, the giant outcropping of grey amongst that being the castle and it's twin bell towers. Currently the Hunter and his Steed found themselves walking in the lowest of the Wards, right by the city walls, the Shingles and Roof tiles of the buildings all painted a bright white that gleamed like snow in the light of the moon. The avenue was wide and not many people shared it with them this hour of the night, a great many lights visible in the windows of homes they passed. Ahead of them lay a public square of sorts, diamond in shape with streets leading off from each of the four points, a fountain babbling in it's center and several lamp post with flames licking at the glass windows set up round the place in a manner obviously designed to provide as much light as possible at night and discourage would-be-muggers. Benches were assembled around the edges of the stone square, while several miscellaneous shops had entryways leading inside from the public area, wooden and metal signs denoting each of them hanging from over top the doorframes and quite easy to read thanks to the ample light, some old and worn and some looking as if they'd been wrought by a Smith just yesterday. Eight in all there were, two to every side of the public square; a Weapons dealer whose sign held the silhouette of a man holding two swords crossed before his face, the name "Leetinius' Armaments" scrawled beside the image in blood red script, while beside it sat a simple Cartography Store specializing in highly detailed maps of every geographic region of the continent, nothing but a carved outline of Rojamaris adorning it's wooden name post. it was one of the shops directly across the square from those that was truly what the hunter was looking for though; A general store with sundries and linens and sacks of goods displayed in the windows, the only ones in the entire plaza infact, while the glow of several candles from within and the shadows of someone moving obviously implied it was open for business... Kenny Ko'luki and Windtracer found themselves in the White District as well, albeit on a street so narrow one would have to duck into a doorway in order to let traffic from the other direction pass. Luckily for them no one else seemed to be out this night however, no one besides two figures standing at the end of the well lit side street, seeming to be in deep discussion, their faces both hidden in wraps reminiscent to those worn by Dessert folk and their bodies clad in Loose fitting Garbs to match. How the hell they weren't cold in this frigid mountain air wearing clothing that was specifically designed to cool the body down in the Diharran heat was anyone's guess, but either way they seemed to not notice the Alchemist and his ride as they trotted along, Ko'Luki having had no choice but to mount up since they both couldn't walk the road at the same time. "What exactly are we supposed to be looking for again?" Windtracer asked, an air of annoyance in his voice that he couldn't haul off at full speed down this lane like the wind. "I see no shops like the one you appear to be searching for; in fact most of these doorways look like they're nothing more than housing..." And Windtracer was right, as it happened. For every last door they passed on this road bore no indication of being a shop of any kind whatsoever...

Well, something has gone down folks. This week has just been crazier than I care for with rushing around everywhere and right now, and I'm honestly not feeling in a good state of mind right now to go through and write for this; It's already taking a lot of my currently drained motivation just to keep up in the RPs I'm in and keep responding in those so as not to fall behind or hold things up. I'm not feeling things for this right now, I'm sorry, but I'm just not up to it. So yeah, along with Surge Story, this RP is going on Hiatus till the beginning of January. I'd say PSS is going on it too, but things are so slow currently there that it's basically already is at this point, but I won't be writing as much for that either for the next few days while I recollect myself and do some other work... in fact I have to go and get an update for it now... We might or might not be back sooner than that though, depending on when the drive I once had returns to me.

Before he could even respond to anything Edward had said or get any response from Taylor Ethic found himself being run right past by a familiar girl holding a teddy bear...None other than Enya. "Enya? shit, she must be getting chased by something..." he said, perplexed as he established the Death Link and his Life Saber blazed to life in his hand, not wanting to waste time drawing his black blade as turned on a pivot step and prepared to strike down whomever was pursuing the obviously frantic and terrified child... only to find a certain man in a long coat and mask holding a sword pointed at his face. "Wait, you?" He asked, pausing mid stroke before the saber could take off Phantom's head. "you're the guy from the first circle who saved us from the wolf..." He paused as glanced behind the msyterioso and spotted the kid in the hoodie not far away, then back to Enya as she continued to hurry down the corridor, lowering his life blade "What the hell is going on around here? where did you come from, and why is Enya running off like she's being chased by some psycho- Oh screw it, I'll get more answers if I actually go stop her rather than standing here asking you two..." With that said he turned around and sprinted off after the girl, easily outpacing her before long with his longer gait and past practice of having to run away from situations at high speeds...who ever said being a Leather Tramp had no benefits later on? "Enya, stop!" he called after her, sliding to a stop a few meters down her path and withdrawing his saber back into his palm so as to avoid any accidents. "what the hell are you running from? Where's Rose?"

Galen "Good," Augustine said. "It's better you know nothing more than you need to, it will make things a bit smoother. As for the part about leaving you alone, That will not do at all, I'm afraid. You accepted this task of being the contact, I know you did. You used the water stone to evolve your Eevee into Vaporeon and on top of all that you accepted not only that giant metal chicken up there," He pointed a finger up at the Skarmory on the roof. "But you also have in your possession a Zubat you were bestowed as well; one that you were told to use as the sole means for correspondence between you and I... I know I am not wrong about any of this." Mareek & Ms.Sisto "So, are you going to Evolve Java using the Upgrade Saito gave you?" Alexandra asked, their conversation having eventually steered towards what Preparations Mareek himself had been making for the tournament. "You have a point that at the last stage they tend to act a bit crazy, but as a Porygon2 he should be fine..." "I have to admit that I was honestly considering it even before you came," He said. "When I was endurance training him and honing his Conversion2 technique I always kept it in the back of mind... but I never actually discussed it with him, just kept the idea completely to myself while I watched," he took out the Protective Disc Cover, looking down at it as he finally took a moment to genuinely consider his options. "Java seems to be eager to do it, and it would help us out in the Tournament if he evolved and got even stronger; could increase our chances of winning a considerable amount..." He took his attention of the compact disc and glanced at his mother. "That's the thing though; I'm not actually in it to win. And it honestly shows that I'm not, compared to the other guy, Jacob; the pace and difficulty of the training I've been giving my team really isn't much compared to hard I hear He and his team have been going at it this entire time. I've just been squeezing in sessions with Java and Nemo and Erce whenever I had a bit of extra time, and Erce here didn't even really get that; I had to integrate most of her speed training into our Wood Carving... though that ended up paying off well I guess." The Scyther nodded proudly, smirking at how efficient she had become thanks to Mareek pushing her to improve her natural movement and reflexes to as sharp as they could be. "Well, I always did say the most important thing in battle was always effort...figures that you don't much care about taking home the win." His mom sighed. "But I'm curious, Mareek, where's that usual Ambition from you?" "It's not that I've lost it or anything," He answered, shaking his head. "I've just been given a lot of reason to rethink what I should be doing and working towards since I got here. Yeah, at first I wanted to just become the best, but after meeting Jacob and a bunch of other trainers in my class who are all at least moderately talented, and pretty much all vying for the same thing more or less, to be the best, or to be an Elite Four or the Champion..." He shrugged his shoulders uncertainly, stowing the Upgrade back into his jacket. "I don't know... I guess I started thinking about that goal as being totally cliche, overdone and over preached... and honestly a bit pointless. We'll learn so much over the next two years we all be enrolled here, and yet most of the others in the first year trainer program here only want to go around spending their lives competitively battling.... I personally thought of it as stupid when I tried to continue seeing myself do the same thing, devoting my time and energy to it. Everything that we'll learn here, and all they want is to go after a few badges or go challenge the Elite Four? It just...it just seems like a waste to me. There are so many things that are wrong and can be improved in the world, and yet the majority of my Trainer Program peers just want to duke it out for the sake of a challenge when they graduate. Meanwhile people like the Rockets and the Plasmas and all the other terrorist who have been brought down in the past will continue to pop up and pretty much be allowed free reign because the Global Police and other Agencies are so damn incompetent that they can barely do their jobs, always about five steps behind..." He turned away from her, now looking at Erce, closing his eyes and sighing disappointedly as he shook his head. "What Prof. Redwood has created here, it's great, brilliant, Genius, even... he;s taken care of the mess that used to be created by kids being allowed to run around with superpowered animals without adult supervision via the LT system he's made... But I've come to begin thinking... that the LT system only solves part of the equation. Underage and dangerously under experienced trainers are a thing of the past; But Criminals ,and people with interest that are explicitly exploitive and detrimental to society who are willing to act on said interest, are not. Someone needs to go and fix the other half of the problem; someone needs to reform the entire GP worldwide and make it a competent force for good like it's supoosed to be already. Someone needs to make sure that when people like the ones I'm talking about, Like Giovanni or Ghestis or Cyrus, pop up and start wreaking havoc in their mission to get what they want; There will always be a powerful force waiting on standby with the resources and competency to stonewall and completely destroy them in their tracks." Erce only nodded at her trainer's words as he turned back to his mother. "What I'm saying, mom... is that someone needs to come up with the sister system for the LT, one that will do what LT has done for Trainers all over the world, for Law enforcement agencies like the Global Police. And I figure that person might as well be me." "Oh my..." Alexandra said, a bit taken aback by the whole speech... "I must say... I'm surprised Mareek, but pleasantly so. You've come into your own here, so much so that you've realized you wanted to break away from a generic goal and devote yourself to something feel is genuinely right to do... My how children do grow up so fast...does this have anything to do with Galen though?" "It does, somewhat," he admitted. "the moment I graduate, I'm going to hunt down Galen and make him answer for every single one of his crimes. And after he's in prison where he belongs, I'm going to go to work working my way up through the ranks to a position where I can really get something done... I'm going to become the head of the entire International Police Force." He looked back at Erce. "That's reason we continue to train and get stronger; so that one day we'll be able to accomplish that goal, be strong enough to change the world. People have tried using power and money to do it, people like the Terrorist leaders I mentioned before, but I'm going to go about it a far different way; I'm going to change the world with Integrity and Perseverance, I'm going to change it by never giving up in my fight to stop the type of people who cause chaos and strife in order to get what they want." He turned yet again back to his mother, eyes gleaming with resolve and complete confidence in his life goal. "So yeah... I really don't care very much about how this tournament ends or who comes out on top, even if it's Jacob; because for one, regardless, I'll still be the top of the class academically thanks to all my constant study habits, and I have even bigger things to focus on than becoming Champion someday or whatever. I'm just in it for the fun of the battle I guess, that and Java and Erce and Nemo wanted to fight in it..." "Well just good to know you have things figured out," His mother smiled, looking at the time. "I think we should start heading back though. You wouldn't want to leave your friend to deal with all the work at the stand forever, would you?" "Huh? oh... I didn't even notice," he said, checking the time himself using his MP3. "Yeah, it's about time Erce and I get back. Come one, I'll lead the way." with that said he and the Scyther both turned around, Alexandra and Mars walking beside them as they began backtracking the way they had came through the Festivities...