the Mini-Crusher-Tournie - 22. Epilogue

The two elementals stood in a familiar shared laboratory. The young white-robed man scratched a hand through his untidy brown hair and gave a sigh of relief.

"The Mini-Character-Tournie is over. And Godrid won!"

"I know," the black-robed hooded figure had a smug grin on his wrinkled face. "It is so satisfying."

"And unexpected."

"What was that Zac?"

"Nothing Chris!" Zac fearfully turned away, pretending to busy himself with the scientific apparatus.

At that moment the sliding doors opened and a disgruntled Blake strode in, his white robes fluttering by his staff, itching his long snowy beard with agitation. Chris's shrewd gaze returned to one of satisfaction.

"Oh shut it you." Blake said before Chris had even spoken.

"What is that you said before the tournament began?" Chris taunted with a mock-innocent sway. "'No Godrid wanker is going to win'."

"You got lucky." He turned away to peruse the folders containing information on his crushers.

"So what happens now?" Zac began curiously, looking between his mentors.

"What happens now Zac…" Chris put his arms behind his back and stuck his nose in the air. "Our crushers will be moving on to more exciting things. They will all be living together until we can organize our next idea."

"Living together?" Zac blinked in alarm. "Are you sure that's such a good idea?"

"They will be supervised and have enough room to avoid those they don't get along with," Blake waved a dismissive hand, now looking at other documents. A blueprint for something. "As always, fighting outside of tournaments is forbidden, especially in areas where they can damage our property."

"Either way the crushers have deserved a break. For however long that may be. They can relax, but we will be quite busy." Chris informed.

"Me as well?" Zac tilted his head, he seemed to be implying the three of them.

"Yes." Blake typed in some buttons and stared at the screen. "Me, you, Chris… also Lysander, Jamie and a few others."

"The other elementals…" Zac paused in wonder. "What are you both planning?"

"While the crushers spend some time in a homely facility base in the suburbs, we will be organizing this!" As Chris waved to the screen Blake pressed another button. "It is a space station. Satellite Academy. With the goal of attaining new information on crusher-making and methods, we will unite with many elementals off-world on this mobile station. A facility where crushers will learn and train, a school if you will."

"No way… that's incredible."

"You'll be invited to contribute your own crushers to the student body too Zac, this time." Chris announced.

"…I don't have as much experience making crushers as you both do though. You guys are thousands of years older than me."

"But you are a prodigy elemental, remember Zac. Your Anjelo crushers may very well outshine our Godrid and Zorgon ones when it comes to academic and skill achievements."

"Not likely." Blake grumbled as he continued to bring up new information on the screen.

"We will seek out as many elementals as we can. We are hoping for ten members on our united elemental board. Ten members with a first academy year of ten crushers each, meaning a total of one-hundred students when we commence lift-off on Satellite Academy."

"This has got to be the most ambitious project I've ever seen you both make." Zac admitted.

"It is probably our most ambitious project since the galactic war five-thousand years ago." Chris admitted.

The staffed elementals gazed off to the screen in thought. Zac clenched his fists, feeling a deep excitement brewing inside him. He'd inherited his passion for creating artificial humans with superpowers from the other two elementals. To make creations like projects, and improve his own skill. All that he could learn from being surrounded by other elementals older than himself by many millennia… Yes, it would take time to prepare, but it looked like an exciting adventure indeed.