AN EXPLANATION

Alex looked at the two boys in front of him, he felt bad that they had to go through moments like this at such a pace but he couldn't exactly plan the Earth for what it was doing.

"Two months ago," as Alex began to speak the two boys sat down on the ground next to each other, one with tears in his eyes and the other with puppy eyes at the confusion that was going on.

They were both looking at Alex like a parent who had come to stop a fight between brothers and this sight had hurt Alex in his core. He always loved children but never had any of his own.

"The planet was forced to pick a new representative to go fight in the tournament, meaning that I had to relinquish my title as the representative of this planet for one of you guys to be picked."

Terra instantly raised his hand and this came as a surprise for Alex but he pointed at him clearing him to ask his question.

"You were the former representative!?" Terra asked dumbfounded at the news.

"Yes I was," Alex confirmed.

"Then why did you have to relinquish your title? You are more experienced than, well, everyone!" Terra asked.

"Because I am older now, I'm not young enough or energetic enough to do these things anymore. As well as the fact that I need to keep this planet in peace as best as I can. relationships are hard to keep among friends and fragile between countries. If not for me right now, the whole world would be in more of a riot than it was before."

"You remember the riots that had come out when people were proclaiming that the world would end? This one is even worse than the one in 2012, I had to clear that one and now have to clear this one. This also relates to why I am not at the base right now."

The two boys were now amazed at the person in front of them, not only was he the former representative but he also saved the world from ending in 2012. But no one knows why the world was ending, rumors just started spreading out about it.

Vito raised his hand to ask a question this time and Alex permitted it.

"What happened in 2012?"

He wanted to hear the full details about it.

"Perhaps another day, that is a very long story and we don't have time for it," Alex said regretfully but with a smile.

Vito was upset with this, 'He answered Terra's question but put mine on hold?' He was now pouting like a little kid with his arms crossed as he turned his head to the side.

"Relinquishing my post meant that a new one had to be selected, but they would need to go through trials and tribulations. First, we decided on an age group, 16-30 years old. They had to be younger than me."

Terra raised his hand again and Alex nodded for him to ask his question.

"Why did they have to be younger than you? Why 16-30 years of age?"

Alex smiled at Terra, it was good to be young and curious, especially of such a matter. Asking questions leads to knowledge and a long life.

"We needed an age group of people who were still youthful, energetic, creative and had lots of room to grow. That was a deciding factor because it correlates to one of the advantages you will have of being the representative."

"And the people needed to have a sort of experience. Bad experiences. Practical lessons are the fastest way for people to learn, so we had to choose from people who had gone through a rough situation and realized that life wasn't fair, because where they would go wouldn't be any much better if not worse."

"And then there was a third factor, they had to already have experience with fighting, 2 months wouldn't be enough time to make someone a martial artist or master, so we would need you to already have learnt from someone or be naturally talented. Like you two here."

"Instead we would use the remaining time to give you certain experiences to help you adapt to new environments, which is what your missions are for."

"With that out of the way we were about to begin looking for people who had met these conditions but there was another problem that had occurred. People aged 20 to 30 years old were going through an early midlife crisis."

"It was to be expected. Kids who had just grown up and were finally starting to live life after years of feeling restricted by their parents or other outside factors were suddenly told that the world was going to end. It lead to more cases than wanted of people making stupid decisions."

"If that announcement wasn't made to the whole world then we would have kept it a secret, but the whole world heard that announcement. All we could do was lessen the flame but we were unable to put it out. And that flame became the world's panic."

"This information had forced our hands, we had to shorten the age group once again. 16-19 years of age was chosen. The reason is very simple,

"The younger you are in life, the fewer worries you have,"

"But this led to a very big question to be asked even for you who had gone through traumatic experiences and overcome them. Were you emotionally mature enough to handle such a task?"

"And that was when the aum symbols started to appear on the shoulders of you all. It was to help carter your burdens, by releasing them."

"We Humans are funny creatures, even when we are in deep pain, we prefer to be strong and pull through alone rather than to seek out help from others. More times than not, that is what happens. And sometimes, we forget our biggest burdens that make us who we are to hide from them."

Vito had widened his eyes when he heard this. 'Does that mean I had purposefully forgotten those memories with my mum, to hide from the pain? Is that why I was crying?'

Alex gritted his teeth after he said this. He had wished that he could help the children more with their problems and it might have been easier if he was the one instead of the planet but he had his hands full and he was only one person. He couldn't be there for everyone and he knew it. So instead he looked at the two boys with sadness in his eyes as he gave a soft smile.

"The downside being is that the planet wanted you to grow perhaps a little too quickly. So it was enhancing your emotions all this time. Every outburst you've had so far has been the work of the Earth in secret."

The tree that was behind the two boys started to shake its branches after Alex had said those words.

Vito stood up instantly, "Wait! So all of these feelings I have had have been because of that tree!?" he said pointing viciously at the oak tree, it started shaking as he did so as if scared of his outburst.

"So me trying to kill Terra, all of that could have been avoided if it didn't intervene!?" Vito was now frustrated, he wasn't smiling and his eyebrows had furrowed, he was deeply upset and could imagine cutting the tree down.

He took a step towards it and Alex yelled at him to STOP!

"The tree may have enhanced your emotions but it definitely didn't manipulate your actions. It only made you more honest about your feelings. The whole point of this test was a test of will."

"Becoming the representative means having self-control and absorbing the emotions of the way the Earth feels. And if you can't control your own emotions then how would you hope to understand the way the Earth feels when you merge and become one with it? This planet has gone through more pain than every human who has ever existed before!"

"You have a right to be angry, but you also have a responsibility for the actions that you made. Not it."

Alex had made this very clear to Vito, being disciplined was greatly important to being chosen as the representative so the planet had no choice but to test the emotional maturity of everyone it had chosen, otherwise, that person might end up abusing their power.

Vito was still annoyed at what he had heard, he had every right to be, he felt violated and used but he also realized that he couldn't truly blame the planet for everything it put him through. At the end of the day, those thoughts were his, not theirs.

He stomped the ground in frustration and threw his arms about. He then crouched back down and was seated obediently like before. With his head in between his legs.

Alex smiled seeing that Vito had matured to the point of rationality and was relieved that he was more understanding of the situation than he thought he would be.

The tree still shaking in the back had lowered its branches and an acorn had dropped and rolled downwards to hit Vito's backside as if hugging him. His shoulder started to glow as well and he started feeling better emotionally but there were still tears in his eyes.

"Are these tears because of the planet as well?" he asked jokingly as he looked up towards Alex.

Alex with a sigh of relief smiled at him and reassured him, "No, those are your own."

"The planet also tries to protect you from being hurt, it tries to help you by healing you both mentally and physically. All it ever wanted to do was protect the humans it cared for. It was never intentional for it to hurt you."

"Funnily enough it even wards off ill intentions being wished onto you."

Terra had been quiet and listening through the entire conversation and now he had placed a hand on Vito's shoulder.

"Do you need a moment?" he asked with a sense of worry.

"I'm fine, I just got carried away and a bit emotional. By now you shouldn't be surprised at all. We can keep going Alex, please."

Alex was wary if he could continue on but seeing Vito's shoulder glow reassured him that he was emotionally stable enough to hear the rest.

"The representative has already been chosen, so it no longer needs to cater to you who were not chosen."

"Then why do I still have this symbol?" Vito asked.

"Because it wants to help you. It was to let you guys grow so that you too can live life better than you ever could," Alex answered.

What Alex had left out was the fact that there was another reason as to why they still had those symbols. In case an unforeseen casualty was to happen to Terra in the remaining time he had on Earth, one of them may replace him.

The Earth granted the power to heal many things but even it could not heal death.

Having more than one option was an assurance.

Terra raised his hands up again and Alex nodded once more.

"With all of that said, why did you bring us here Alex?" Terra asked as he tilted his head sideways with his hands on his knees.

Out of all the things they had asked him, this one made him smile the most.

"The funny thing about your question is that I am not the one who brought you here, I didn't even expect to have visitors today. I believe your culprit is that tree over there."

Alex pointed at the tree behind the boys and it was shaking its leaves frivolously without dropping a single acorn as if trying to emulate jazz hands from a build-up of suspense.