The Shades appeared in Lumarion's command chamber. Each of them tearing their helmets off and talking all at once.
"There were other shades before us?" Sonya asked.
"Who's this Centurion guy? Dante inquired.
"Is the internet back?" Came from Warren.
"Are we going to be completely unprepared for every fight?" Kelly questioned.
"I want rocket boots." Gordon demanded.
Technarious blinked at the wall of noise, took half a step back, waited for the kids to finish, and then pointed to each of them as he answered their questions. " Of course there were. An ex Shade obviously. Yes it is, and your tournament has already been rescheduled. You've been a Shade of Justice for a little over thirty six hours, how much training could have done by now? Why rocket boots?"
The kids voices became a wall of noise again and Technarious held his hand up and they went silent. He then pointed at Sonya again.
"How many others came before us? Why did they move on?" She asked.
Technarious grabbed the nearest chair and sat in it. The shades grabbed their own chairs and joined him. "Honestly, " He started "I've lost count. It's hundreds, possibly thousands though. Most finished there battles, a few have died because death is a part of war, but most just reached the ends of their campaigns and retired knowing that their hard work and the sacrifices they made secured the future of the planet." Sonya nodded, accepting Technarious' explanation. Technarious pointed at Danted next.
"So the Fed;s are crawling over the schoo and I'm guessing this Centurion guy is military. So if the government is hip to the cause then what do you need us for?" He asked.
Lumarion lit up in response to Dante' question. "Eric was once a shade. He and the rest of his team saved the earth from the Intergalactic Banking Consortium. After the Consortium abandoned their claim to the earth his team retired and he joined a friend in developing the regenerating armor you saw him wearing. I need, Earth needs you because as Shades of Justice national loyalty takes a backseat to planetary loyalty. You are defenders of Earth first." Lumarion explained.
"we've gotten lucky in both our fights Lumarion. If we don't learn how to bridge the gap between luck and skill we won't be defenders of anything."Kelly pointed out.
Technarious shook his head. "Your level of dedication and obsession with preparation is legitimately intimidating." Technarious smiled. "We start training tomorrow, ok?" He asked. She nodded. "I am sorry that your after school commitments will likely be unmanageable for a while, but I promise this is a worthy cause."
Kelly nodded. "The earth comes first, If swimming is the only thing I loose trying to save the planet, then I'll consider myself lucky."
Technarious pointed at Gordon. "Why rocket boots?" He asked for the second time.
Gordon smiled. "Float like a rocket propelled grenade, sting like a rocket propelled grenade." He replied.
Tenacious pinched his nose between his thumb and forefinger and closed his eyes in mental pain, sighing heavily. "Well it didn't rhyme but its not actually a bad idea." He stood up. "I'll get to work on the boots, you all get some sleep and report back no later than seven am.
The group nodded and then each teleported to their own home for some much needed rest,
