(It's beautiful, Angel. <3 Also I'm gonna write this here real quick so there's no confusion. Basically to prevent this from being a kingdom roleplay, which is basically when everyone goes off and does their own thing and only like one or two people do anything to progress the plot, I'm going to timeskip to the end of the week and the tournament is about to start. You can roleplay your characters before the timeskip if you want, I'm only going to do it to progress Star's plotline. ALSO do you guys want each Rebel to compete one-by-one so we'll have to wait, or do you want to do them all at once? All at once might get a little confusing, but one-by-one will be kind of slow. Just let me know. :3 ALLLSSSOOOO Every Rebel is going to win their fight and move up in the tournament, so basically a Rebel wins no matter what, but the Rebel that wins isn't preset. XD You can make the Rebels fighting each other for fun or for serious competition, whichever. XD If anything else needs to be discussed we can take it in the OOC tab so it doesn't gunk up the IC.) Star and Ally went to the city by foot so they could take in the strange architecture of the Zem's better. The building's weren't like anything Star saw in her travels across earth with her late parents. Everything was very rounded and relatively stout. None of the building's seemed to extend over twenty floors. The streets and sidewalks were very similar to earth's. As they walked they received a few calls and even requests for pictures and autographs, but overall the Zems seemed to respect their privacy and tended to admire from afar. Star had never received attention like this and smiled at anyone who looked on in awe. "What do you think?" Ally asked the girl as they continued. "It's weird, but I like it. Something about it feels familiar," Star said. "Yeah? I guess the streets are the same, and the people are nice." The two went silent again for a bit as they enjoyed the walk. Star couldn't shake the familiar feeling and tried to not let it bother her, but it kept gnawing at her. "Oh, excuse me!" Ally said, interrupting Star's thoughts, "Can you please tell us any kind of places that would be good to visit?" "Of course!" the Zem said and began to give directions. Star tried to pay attention, but she was too distracted by the aura of the city. "Alright, thank you," Ally said and the Zem was off. "You hear that, Star? There's a museum right around the corner. Wanna check it out?" "Sure!" Star said. "Have you ever been somewhere and felt like... I don't know, kind of like you belong there?" "Huh... I guess you can say that, yeah." "Yeah? When?" "When I met Virus in the sewers." "In the sewers?" "Oh, you never knew? We used to have a sewer base before Alice took us in. We'd only been living there for maybe a month before we found you on the island." "Really? Wow." "It was pretty bad, but we made the most of it. Anyways, I think that's it." They were a couple buildings down from a bright yellow building that stood out from the others. Rather than being ovular, it was more like a rectangle with rounded corners. The two entered and were amazed by the technology. Holograms of historical events played out, some with a voice over explaining the event, others with the actors themselves explaining what was happening as they acted. A woman approached them and gave a bright smile. "I knew you would bring her here, you two grow very close later on." She then turned to Star, "Avery... you look just like your mother." "My mom?" Star murmured, heart aching. Seeing her parents bodies still haunted her at night, especially since it only happened a month or two before. "Yes, just like her, I can't wait to see your Zem form." "M-my what?" "Your Zem form." "What are you talking about?" Ally asked. "Oh... she doesn't know?" "What don't I know?" Star asked, tearing up a bit. "Your parents sweetheart, about your parents." "Hey, could you be more sensitive?" Ally said, trying to defend Star. "Sweetheart, your mother was a Zem and your father was a Ymac." "What are you talking about?" Star sniffled. "Look, come with me." The woman led the two through a museum until they got to an area dedicated to the Z-Y War. "Your mother was the leader of our army and your father the leader of the Ymac army. We were fighting for so many years until your parents finally ended the war. Afterwards, in an effort to retain peace your parents would hold conferences. What many people didn't know was the romance building behind the scenes. After retiring from their positions no one ever heard from them until we watched S.E.C.R.E.T. Take a look," the woman said and pointed at two holograms shaking hands. Star gasped. They were her parents alright, only in a more alien form. "What does it mean?" "It means you should learn more about your culture, sweetie." "Why did they always look so human?" Star questioned. "Well, every Zem and Ymac have powers, they must've had camouflaging abilities." "Why did I take on the human form then? Why don't I look like you guys?" "That my dear I cannot explain. I'll leave you be." "B-but wait!" Star said and reached out for the woman, but she disappeared. "S-should I believe her?" "I'm not sure, Star," Ally said, scratching the back of her head. "Let's just get back to the hotel." "O-okay," Star replied and they began a quiet walk back. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Rebels and competitors all sat in a room that led right to the stadium. Tensions ran high as they waited to compete to prove their title as Champion of the Universe. A television showed them what was going on outside. "LAAAAADIES AND GENTLEZEMS! WELCOME TO THE 213th ANNUAL ZEM GAMES!" Every Zem in the stadium cheered and clapped as hard as they could. "This year will be a very very special year. As a very special surprise, our very beloved heroes will be competing!" Every Zem began to cheer, all hoping for their TV heroes to appear. They heard rumors, but weren't sure. "Let's introduce those heroes! First off, Virus! Leader of the Rebels and creator of the Rascals! The man who can shrink down to an inch and talk to technology! Hopefully he won't need to talk to vital monitors after this!" A woman with a headpiece waved Virus to the open door. The announcer continued with the rest of the Rebels. "Next is Nightmare! Master of the shadows and the leader of the Rebels in The Rebuild! Will his sass help him out here, folks?" "Next leader, eh?" Nightmare considered before walking out to line up beside Virus. He smirked at the cheers and whistles and gave a half-hearted wave. At least someone appreciated him. "Now it's Ally! The woman with a gadget for everything! No powers, but let's see if brains can make up for that!" Ally smiled and stood up. She was amused by the introductions and felt some of the stress melt away. In the end, there were so many Rebels it wasn't likely they would lose. She planned on having fun and enjoying the break from fighting S.E.C.R.E.T. She gave the crowd a wave and took her place beside Nightmare. Just then on the monitors a kiss-cam popped up and zoomed in on the two, though the camera was so shaky it managed to get half of Virus in there too. The crowd sent out their catcalls and shouts, causing the two focal points to facepalm. "And that's why we love them! Next up is Unique! What doesn't this robotic woman have up her sleeves? She even has human emotions! Will silly emotions impeded her fighting? We don't think so!" "Now watch out folks, here comes Blue Bird! Her blue wings aren't just for show, she can fly! Not only that, but she's really, really strong! Don't let her get a grip on you, it might be the end!" "Now we've got the youngest member of the Rebels, Star! Her name isn't just a novelty act, she can create balls of light energy in her hands! They aren't just pretty, they also burn!" Star stepped out and timidly smiled at the audience. She was excited for the competition, but wasn't too confident in her abilities. Sure she fought Poison, but she had the Rebels to back her up. This fight would be one on one. "Give our heroes another hand! The Rebels!" The crowd went even wilder and crazier than before. "Alright Rebels, please take a seat in our VIP area, thank you. Okay folks, let's give a warm welcome to the other competitors!" The announcer continued to list names until four people were standing, lined up. "Let's give them another round of applause! Okay, please take a seat in the VIP area." "Now, for the man you all have been waiting for! The champion of Zem for the past decade, Zeminec!" (You guys can do your character's reactions and such, you know how it goes. XD)