With each day of our training, we become more powerful. With our intense training, we will fight against Ismilda and bring her down. 8Z and 11E have been behind me with every step of the way. Our army has grown to a point where we could fight 5X, but only if we train daily for this month. This abandoned sports stadium is perfect for our base of operations, and we can also use it as a home. The large, open area is a great place for us to train, and there are six locker rooms and a few VIP spectator boxes which we are using as rooms to live in. Every night that I sleep through, I always have the same dream; the facility, and the chaos that resulted from our escape. Most of us may have escaped without any physical scars, but we will have to live with the mental trauma that remains with our memories of that facility.
The powers in Europe are shifting and the fires of revolution and ideology continue to grow. Austria and The Papal State are already at war. If one or two countries declare war on the Scandinavian Union, that would give us some time to train and prepare to fight Ismilda. Every day, we are watching the news programs hoping for something which can distract Ismilda from searching for us. Currently both Germany and Ireland are mobilizing their forces to the Scandinavian borders due to such a powerful union being formed without warning. If one nation declares war, the other will join to fight the Scandinavian Union. Leaning on a balcony railing in deep thought, I just know that I will be able to come up with a good back-up plan if I think long and hard enough.
"I knew I would find you up here in one of your deep thinking sessions again" a voice which has become as familiar to me as my mother's or my father's, Sally is standing in the doorway behind me which leads back into the restaurant in the stadium.
"has there been anything on the news about Germany or Ireland yet?" Sally shakes her head disappointingly as she walks up to me and leans on the railing next to me. Her green hair shines in the moonlight, and her purple streaks glow a royal color.
"but a new country has take an interest in the Scandinavian Union" now there are three countries pointing their weapons at Ismilda?
"what country?" there are a few countries in Europe who have been mostly peaceful since the great war. So it could possibly be one of those countries returning to the world stage.
"The Teutonic Order is rapidly mobilizing it's forces. Poland is also waking up from it's dormant state which it fell into at the end of the great war" these actions which each country are taking reminds me of the lead up to the great war. I hope that we are not going to witness another war of that size ever again. The casualties would be guaranteed to be more than five times that of the great war. The world would either descend into darkness or destroy itself.
"does it feel like we are heading towards another great war to you?" Sally looks out into the night sky which, due to the lack of power in the area, is clear and without light pollution. Sally's face is in deep thought and her face shifts to a troubled expression.
"The course of events which led up to the great war are somewhat similar to what we are currently experiencing. Ismilda will have quite the trouble dealing with a war of such a scale" she would be pretty distracted with something as big as a war.
"if she were to enter into a war, we could use that opportunity to strike at her and bring her down" it would be justice for all those people who she has killed.
"if we are able to train hard enough, we should be able to take her down when she has her back turned" we would have the perfect opportunity to stop the possibility of Ismilda becoming the eventual dictator of the world. Some of us may die, but it would be worth it to stop Ismilda.
"we will have to call a meeting tomorrow to discuss how we are going to strike Ismilda and when would be the best time to strike" a satellite passes over us in the night sky, so I quickly join Sally in watching the stars as we continue to discuss fighting Ismilda.
"do you think Ismilda has the capability to track us with satellites?" Sally watches the satellite fly across the sky as a gentle wind blows by.
"we would be hunted by her soldiers and executed. We are a danger to her rule" if we train enough to pass 5X in terms of power, we could possibly defeat Ismilda with 5X also fighting against us. We would then be able to finally live in peace.
"that just means we have to improve our powers to a point where we can fight Ismilda on even footing" some of the kids that escaped from the facility with us are playing sports below us. Even if it is late at night, someone is always awake and active.
"I trust that you are going to be guiding everyone here through tough training to be able to fight Ismilda when the time comes" since 1T died fighting 5X during the escape, I was voted to be the leader of our group and lead everyone to a safe place to hide. But now that we have a place to live, we are all now thinking about fighting back and avenging those who have died.
"I do not want the responsibility of keeping everyone safe. But I will try my hardest to lead our large group to victory and create a world which is safe for us to live in, without the worry of Ismilda coming after us" the Scandinavian Union controls a large area, which we are a part of. The possibility of Ismilda hunting us down is very likely, so we should focus on bringing her down.
"just because you are in-charge of the group now, does not mean you have to lead us alone. If you ever need someone to talk to, I am always here for you" Sally has been by my side since I was first brought to the facility. We have grown very close over the months we have been kept in that evil place. I will definitely come to a point where I can not handle the pressure of keeping everyone safe.
"then we should lead together. It would be easier if we were to lead the group together right from the start" Sally smiles happily at my request. She looks over the balcony and watches some of the survivors walk through one of the small training courtyards.
"that sounds good to me. Together, we will bring down Ismilda and her evil friends" Sally makes a thumbs up with great enthusiasm, it almost feels contagious. Something weird has been bothering me for the longest time. Sally has always been by my side, but her designation is 11E, while mine is 2V. Most prisoners of the facility have agreed that the lower the number, the earlier you were taken. But why does Sally have such a high number, while I have such a low number? Could it be that there are more than one prisoner for each designation?
"Sally, do you know the designations of the other kids who were brought to the facility at the same time as you were? Could you please try to remember their names and if they were relative to your own?" Sally looks out into the distance, towards the horizon of the night sky. Her face is telling me that she is currently remembering many terrible experiments done against her. I am sorry Sally, the mystery of your designation could be really important. Sally looks to me with a sorrow-filled face.
"I remember the guards calling some of us replacements. Did the guards call your group replacements too?" that is very strange. If they were doing the experiments before we were even imprisoned at the facility, then that could mean that there were other groups before us who were given the same designation. But what happened to them? While we are thinking to ourselves, 8Z walks up to us with a concerned look on his face. We both look to him, ready for his words.
"2V, you should see this!" we immediately follow 8Z back down to the living quarters we have set up. Many of the kids we are passing have either newspapers in their hands, or are looking at many of the small TVs scattered around the stadium. The only thing I find concerning is, that all the TVs play the same channel: the news station. We enter the VIP room and watch the news story currently being read by a concerned news anchor.
"today, the Scandinavian Union sent 'multi-role' diplomats to every European country and empire. The exact purpose of these actions was given as stated here by Ismilda herself: 'I believe in a happy and friendly cooperation between all the nations of this devastated Europe. So I have sent many diplomats to every nation in Europe. These diplomats are happy to help their selected country with any, and all troubles' this strange act has caused unrest among many paranoid people in all the countries of Europe" what is Ismilda's plan? Why is she doing something like this? What is she trying to accomplish?
"one of the diplomats look like one of the older prisoners from the facility. I recognize her silk hair" indeed, the next diplomat to appear onscreen is a young lady with long, white hair. She has hollowed-out eyes and is showing no emotion. Her movements look smooth and normal, but her facial expression is frozen in a neutral pose.
"what do you think Ismilda has planned for the nations of Europe?" if Ismilda has found a way to control us, then that would mean that her end goal is to seize control of Europe-hell, maybe even the world. I am concerned with some of the prisoners working for Ismilda.
"I do not know, but I sure do know that I do not want to end up like that lady" I would rather die than be ordered around by Ismilda. I would never do anything for that monster.
"what if Ismilda does that to us when she captures us? We would become her slaves!" Sally's fears are the same as mine. I do not want to join Ismilda, even by force.
"our situation has changed. We should train hard, and fast. We have to stop Ismilda before she becomes too powerful" 8Z is right, we need to strike at her when we are powerful enough to hold our own. But we also need to strike as soon as possible. The moment Ismilda takes control of Europe is the moment we lose the war against her.
"we will triple our efforts in training every single one of those who we have saved from the facility. Once we are able to fight against a whole army, we will be ready to face Ismilda" 8Z and Sally both make determined expressions to my words.
"we will strike Ismilda down, and we shall save the world from the danger that she poses" 8Z raises his hand and forms a fist. Even if we are going to fight Ismilda, we should act when the time is right, and when Ismilda is at her weakest. After all, 5X is under her command, so we will be having a hard time keeping him occupied while we try to kill Ismilda.
"we will have to put a few plans in place for dealing with 5X and Ismilda's other powerful allies" Sally and 8Z are in agreement with my point. We will have to defeat 5X first if we are to defeat Ismilda.
"who knows, we might come across people in power who want Ismilda to be taken down" 8Z's optimism is something we are going to need a lot of, if we are going to defeat Ismilda. Because of her sudden rise to power and the growing threat of the Scandinavian Union, many neighboring European nations are concerned with their borders. If we can manage to ally with a European nation, we might be able to beat Ismilda. But we are faced with the great problem of just being a group of kids. No one would ever trust us enough to ally, so we would have to swoop in and quickly ally with a nation which Ismilda is going to invade. It is only a matter of time before she tries to take control of Europe.
"there is a chance we can strike at Ismilda while she is leading her forces in a war against another nation. That way, we would be able to have an advantage against her unprepared forces" this is going to be the best choice we can get. I just hope Ismilda is going to declare war against a nation at the best time, for us to strike at her and bring a swift victory. I look through the window of the VIP room and gaze down at some of the training kids in the field inside of the stadium. Two are using their weak magic powers against each other to see who can hit the other the most.
"do you think we are going to be prepared for a fight anytime soon?" 8Z steps beside me and looks down to the kids training on the field. He obviously means the weak magic the kids below us are using.
"if every single one of us can achieve a good enough strength in our specific roles and skills, we should be able to defeat Ismilda" 8Z looks unsure to my answer and continues to look at the kids.
"even if their technology is far more advanced than ours?" at this point, I would not be surprised if the advanced tanks, attack helicopters, rifles, environmental equipment and bladed weapons from Greece are now being produced in the Scandinavian Union. But we do have something they do not.
"they may have their technology, but we have supernatural powers that will help us with defeating Ismilda" Even though I believe we will stand a chance against her, we will logically lose. The newest advancements from Greece are always keeping the empire ahead of the rest of the world, and maintaining a solid hold of the title of the world power, one of the only empires to survive the Great War and the true victor in every front of the war. Winning in the African Front first, then the South American Front second, the Eastern Front third, The North American Front fourth and lastly the Western Front, ending the war. The Papal State, Valkyria and The Japanese Empire took land too, sadly all but Japan fractured in the years after the war. Greece won the Great war due to it's advanced technology and industry. This is why we fear the power of Greece, and how Ismilda has the possibility to acquire the methods to building such weapons.
"even if we have the power to blow up a whole tank, we would still have to destroy another one hundred in order to make a dent in their numbers" 8Z's optimism is now gone, with the thought of powerful enemies flooding his mind. It is definitely hard to try to not worry about all the potential factors in the eventual battle. But we will fight till the end, even if we are ultimately defeated by Ismilda and her forces.
"we will continue our discussion later, but now I have to talk to 7I and 15K" 8Z nods and I exit the VIP room to find 7A and 15K. They were not a part of our original group, but they were still a part of the main group that we helped when Edvardshagen was in chaos. Their room should be one of the spectator boxes on the east side of the stadium, so it will take some time to walk over to their side. I am glad that I was able to save as many people as I was able to. During the chaotic battle for control of the city, the evacuation was a disaster, which left many innocent people dead. I could only focus on my friends at the time, but could I have possibly been able to save other people? The thought has started to become increasingly more troubling for me, but I can not remove the thought from my mind.
"-hey 2V, are you coming to the east side of the stadium to see us?" a voice I have only heard once previously, approaches beside me. 9Y walks u to me and matches my pace, walking beside me. It seems she is happy to see me coming this way.
"yeah, I want to make sure you guys are alright. Do you believe we will be able to bring Ismilda down?" 9Y grins and clenches her fist.
"YES!"