<b>Round Primary</b><br/><br/><br/><div class="ToggleTriggerAnchor bbCodeSpoilerContainer">
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<div class="SpoilerTarget bbCodeSpoilerText">Eleyna sat on the edge of the deck, legs dangling over the edge. Her toes brushed against the dirt. She was silent. The world was so still, so calm. The events that transpired hours ago felt so distant now, no more than a memory beneath the sea of stars.<br/>
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<span style="color: red">Sleep not findin' you either?</span><br/>
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Eleyna's eyes drifted down the road where the wide frame of Brollem approached. She shook her head. <br/>
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<span style="color: red">Mmm. Can't blame ye'. Don't figure there's much sleep to be had in any of these homes tonight.</span> <br/>
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The large man's face tilted upward as he gazed up into the heavens. <span style="color: red">That was one thing that startled me for some time after we came here those years ago.</span> Eleyna followed his gaze upward. <span style="color: red">Look at 'em all up there. Thousands... millions. In Johto the sky was never like this. Even out in the forests and fields, away from it all... light pollution and all that.</span> <br/>
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The big man turned slowly, casting his gaze around the starfield. <span style="color: red">But out here... just look at them all. I'd never known there were so many. I'd never felt so small as I did that first night here. That's the nature of it though, I suppose. In Johto, we were always surrounded by what we'd made. By civilization. No matter how far you'd try to go, you were still in it. Still part of what we <i>controlled</i>. We don't control anything out here. Scared the hell out of me.</span><br/>
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The big man took a heavy sigh, walking closer. <span style="color: red">Mind if I sit?</span> Eleyna nodded, scooting over. She felt the wooden boards creak and shift beneath his weight. <br/>
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He was silent for a time before he spoke again. <span style="color: red">Have you lot figured out what you're going to do?</span><br/>
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<span style="color: blue">Mm. We're staying on the island. Don't know where we'll go yet... probably stick together though.</span><br/>
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Brollem nodded. <span style="color: red">I'd reckon that wise, particularly after tonight.</span> <br/>
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Silence. <br/>
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<span style="color: blue">Why did you come out here?</span><br/>
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<span style="color: red">To Yugen?</span><br/>
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<span style="color: blue">Mm.</span><br/>
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Brollem leaned forward. <span style="color: red">Well... that's a whole story, really. The short version... the one I tell myself on the quiet nights, is that we're here looking for peace. For calm. To get away from it all. </span>Brollem stared blankly at the dirt road between the houses. <span style="color: red">But that's not it at all.</span><br/>
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<span style="color: red">When I was a boy, ten or so... as is the way of it, I'd ended up with a Pokemon. Machop. Makka, in fact. We were both young then, and damn did we have a fire in us. The drive to <i>be</i> something. The dream of us all at that age. Set out into the world, work hard, grow stronger, and some day we'd be champions. </span>He smiled bitterly at the memory. <span style="color: red">For years we trained, traveled - all over Johto, into Kanto. Other places. Made ourselves a team, had an eye on that prize we did. Had the league in our sights. Makka, Kikuchiro, Rokku, Brollem. Those names would be remembered. They'd be on every tongue, in every home. Years...</span><br/>
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<span style="color: blue">What happened?</span><br/>
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<span style="color: red">Time.</span> Brollem stared into nothing. <span style="color: red">Time happened. Kikuchiro was injured badly. The sort you don't put a potion on. The sort they don't just <i>fix</i>. It would take time for him to heal, if he ever did. I opened a gym in Pewter city. Told myself it'd be just a while. Just enough time.  Just a little longer, that's what I told myself. Every day. <i>Just a little longer</i>. But before I knew it, I realized I wasn't a young man anymore.</span><br/>
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<span style="color: red">You see those kids coming and going. Every one of them had that fire... had that heart. <i>I'm going to be the very best. Just you wait and see. Like no one ever was</i>... I couldn't listen to it anymore. I couldn't see them, I couldn't see myself coming and going every day with that passion, walking into that gym and then disappearing. I'd become an old man. Just a little longer, until there's no more days left. Until your spirit's gone.</span><br/>
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<span style="color: red">I came here, Eleyna, trying to find peace. I came here to try and find a way to forgive myself. </span><br/>
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Eleyna stared at Brollem, wordless. Brollem looked at her then grinned and chuckled jovially, giving her a heavy pat on the back.<br/>
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<span style="color: red">Hah, come on then, don't give me that look. None of us can outrun time.</span> He looked up at the stars once more. <span style="color: red">We just do what we can, until one day we wake up and there it is. The whole truth of it right in front of us. We're a small part of something incredible. The goal of life isn't to be <i>great</i>, Eleyna. Its just to live. Anything else is just... light pollution trying to drown out the stars.</span><br/>
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<span style="color: red">You've got plenty of time left before you've got to deal with all that. You take that fire inside you and chase after your dreams. But even if you can't conquer the world... you'll still have lived. That's all any of us can ask for.</span><br/>
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</div><br/><br/><br/><br/><br/>Eleyna shouldered her pack and tightened her Trainer's Belt across her waist. She gave her hat a tug and squared it forward, the boulder badge gleaming in the sunlight. She stepped out onto the dirt rode, her knee high boots hitting the ground for the first time since they had arrived. It had been a scant few days, but for Eleyna, it had been a lifetime ago. Growlithe hopped down off the porch, striking out onto the road along side. He looked up at her, and she back at him. She gave him a confident nod. He smirked.<br/><br/>She had a rugged, though clean Yukata on. As all her clothes had been rendered scraps, the kindly couple with whom she had stayed had kindly given it to her. Eleyna had no complaints. She wasn't the same girl that had arrived at Utsumi.<br/><br/><span style="color: darkgreen">I insist.</span>Eleyna rounded a house and spotted Naomi speaking with the villager whom she had taken residence with. Or rather, the villager was giving her something.<span style="color: darkgreen">It'll be a hard journey out there, so the very least we can do is set you on your way with proper provisions. I've seen what you trainers eat normally and won't be having it!</span>The villager insistently gave her wrapped food stuffs.<br/><br/><span style="color: blue">Oye!</span>Eleyna waved at the other nearby trainers.<span style="color: blue">Let's get going!</span>She waited for them to gather.<span style="color: blue">Still no idea where we're going yet.</span>She mumbled to herself, though it hardly mattered to her now. What mattered wasn't where they were going, just that they were going forward.<br/><br/><span style="color: red">Hah! There you lot are!</span>Brollem waved at them, coming up the hill from the pier.<span style="color: red">You're lookin' damn near ready to take on the world!</span>He laughed.<br/><br/><span style="color: blue">Has the village decided what to do yet?</span><br/><br/><span style="color: red">Not quite yet, no. We've got a lot to consider. More than likely we'll head on our way in a few weeks to Corestor. If'n we did set up next to an angry god, I figure Corestor would be a safer place to be. Before you lot go, the village just wanted to say thank you for all you'd done.</span><br/><br/>Eleyna glanced at the group. She'd received plenty of thanks that morning and the days before.<br/><br/><span style="color: red">Come on then, I want to show you something.</span>He waved them to follow him down the hill to the pier where the boat was moored.<span style="color: red">We figured you'd had a hard trek of it so far... and being as how there's three islands and all...</span>He gestured to the vessel.<br/><br/><span style="color: red">We thought you'd find more use in this old girl than we would. Its yours.</span>He grinned broadly.<div class="messageTextEndMarker"> </div>