[21:57]	* Bruce	goes about getting everyone up, rubbing at his eyes to try and gain some awareness
[21:58]	<Edmund>	Ed steps out of his tent, with his awoken pokemon piling out, along with august, who looks tensely with Enigma who was standing guard outside.
[21:59]	* Edmund	spots bruce, and gestures for him to come over.
[21:59]	* Bruce	picks up the mienfoo and walks over, raising his brows questioningly, "Mhm?"
[22:00]	* Bruce	looks at August for a second
[22:04]	* Edmund	glances at the mienfoo, "Can we chat?" He begins to go back into the tent.
[22:04]	<Bruce>	"Yeah, course."
[22:06]	<Edmund>	"Bruce...Why do you think I'm wanting to meet with Damascus?" He asks when you come in, after closing the flap
[22:07]	* Bruce	goes inside as well, "You're the only one who knows, but I'm thinkin' that you want to know what he wants."
[22:10]	<Edmund>	"I have a hunch. I think he wants to help mass produce not only those awful masterballs...but regular monster balls as well."
[22:11]	<Edmund>	"Of course we can't have the former...but the latter, I think would be beneficial to the world."
[22:12]	<Bruce>	"That's not somethin' important to me Ed."
[22:12]	<Edmund>	"Goin off, getting yourself killed. THAT is important to you?!"
[22:13]	<Edmund>	"August told me. you planned to find him alone, without your pokemon and challenge him to a duel."
[22:14]	* Bruce	rubs his neck, "Well for someone who can read minds, that's not right."
[22:14]	<Edmund>	"Then what is right?"
[22:15]	<Bruce>	"I'm going to go fight him with my pokemon and whoever else is coming along."
[22:15]	<Bruce>	"And I'm going to kill him."
[22:15]	<Edmund>	"What about cassandra."
[22:16]	<Bruce>	"Do you think she would be better off, pushed into a wealthy family, forced into a role to be an heir?"
[22:16]	<Bruce>	"As HIS inheritor."
[22:16]	* Edmund	stares at bruce.
[22:18]	<Edmund>	"...Do you think. with or without this male part of who i am. I would be better off if I had stayed in the orphanage?"
[22:18]	<Bruce>	"No, I'm saying that there can be someone else."
[22:19]	* Bruce	puts his hand on his head, "No, I don't mean that."
[22:20]	<Edmund>	"Bruce. maybe its because I know what she's going through...but I honestly think Damascus, if he was willing to care for her, and to save those people, that he can give her a life that others cannot."
[22:22]	<Edmund>	"In a rich family, she will be able to afford school. Afford to learn. Even if he teaches her some of his wicked ways, she will not have to follow them. Damascus states that he's big on learning; even if he said it in a roundabout manner."
[22:23]	<Edmund>	"Just because she is raised by his wealth, does not mean she will become him."
[22:25]	<Bruce>	"So you think that this is where she should be
[22:25]	<Edmund>	"That with him, she has the best chance of a good life."
[22:26]	<Bruce>	"And I'm saying that he's not going to be anywhere near good for her, both her parents were killed over this, and he's right in the middle of it."
[22:27]	<Edmund>	"Her mother died in childbirth, or shortly after, and her father abused her until he was killed by Regirock."
[22:31]	<Edmund>	"The Regirock spoke to me."
[22:31]	<Edmund>	"He said, she built this maze."
[22:33]	<Edmund>	"She wanted to be away from people, burried so deep in a maze that she couldn't be found."
[22:34]	<Edmund>	"Yet, Damascus managed to stand by her, and she even went with him."
[22:35]	<Bruce>	"Why."
[22:35]	<Bruce>	"At what point did he ever want to help her besides the ball, and now as an heir."
[22:35]	<Bruce>	"He even wanted to use her so we wouldn't kill him right there."
[22:36]	<Edmund>	"If that is true, why not just take the ball and the girl when they were alone?!"
[22:37]	<Bruce>	"I don't know."
[22:40]	<Edmund>	"You want...you want to demonize him. I understand."
[22:40]	<Edmund>	"He's done terrible things."
[22:41]	<Edmund>	"But that doesn't mean he's absolutely horrible to everyone everywhere."
[22:41]	<Edmund>	"Everyone has some sort of compassion."
[22:42]	* Bruce	clenches his fist, "Alright, he's a great person that could do amazing things, that doesn't change the fact that he nearly killed you."
[22:43]	<Bruce>	"Did kill Charlottes friend, and attacked us."
[22:44]	<Bruce>	"And fine, let him walk off, let him go about doing this, but if there's the slightest chance of him hurting you again, I won't forget what he did."
[22:44]	<Bruce>	"And you know if it benefit him, he wouldn't care hurting you."
[22:45]	<Edmund>	"...I don't think he shouldn't pay for his crimes."
[22:45]	<Edmund>	"But right now, we need to worry about grant."
[22:45]	<Edmund>	"At least, that's what I worry about. and want to confirm."
[22:46]	<Edmund>	"At the moment, GRANT is the one causing all these terrible things to happen."
[22:46]	<Edmund>	"HE is the one, that caused that poor woman in thor's hammer to go crazy."
[22:47]	<Edmund>	"He's our MAIN enemy."
[22:47]	* Bruce	shakes his head, "No."
[22:47]	<Edmund>	"All we have against Damascus is personal vengeance."
[22:48]	<Edmund>	"What we have against Grant is crimes against humanity."
[22:48]	<Bruce>	"That doesn't mean a damn thing, one man being worse than a slimeball doesn't make the slime any better."
[22:49]	<Edmund>	"Why don't you trust me Bruce?"
[22:50]	<Edmund>	"I know we'll have to take care of Damascus later."
[22:50]	<Edmund>	"I just...right now. I want to focus on saving the states."
[22:50]	* Bruce	takes his head in his hand, "I do trust you, but I am doing what I need to do."
[22:51]	<Edmund>	"No! You are doing what you WANT to do!"
[22:54]	* Edmund	grabs his arm in his hands, "Bruce, I hate Damascus as much as you hate him! So why then, Why do you think I am swallowing my pride for once, and talking to him?!"
[22:55]	<Edmund>	"Because I'm worried. I'm worried about the girl. I'm worried about Grant. I'm worried about what could happen to us."
[22:58]	<Edmund>	"Bruce, I hate Damascus as much as you hate him!*
[22:59]	<Bruce>	"Alright, but I'm not going to give him another chance."
[23:00]	<Edmund>	"I understand that."
[23:01]	* Edmund	stands and pulls him into a hug, "I'll tell him. After today, he is not welcome around us."
[23:01]	<Bruce>	"No, Ed, no, I'm sorry."
[23:01]	<Bruce>	"You said that he's set on it, and we're going to deal with him eventually."
[23:03]	<Bruce>	"I might as well take his offer now."
[23:05]	<Edmund>	"No."
[23:06]	<Edmund>	"No Bruce!"
[23:06]	<Edmund>	"No one is going over there and killing him!"
[23:07]	<Edmund>	"Cassandra is still over there!"
[23:08]	<Bruce>	"I hope he has the decency to send her off to some of the villagers."
[23:09]	* Edmund	hits on Bruce's chest
[23:09]	<Edmund>	"Shut up! You don't know what the fuck you are talking about!"
[23:10]	* Bruce	looks down, not saying anything
[23:11]	<Edmund>	"If you go fight him now, before she has a chance to stablize and get on with her life, I will NEVER forgive you!"
[23:13]	<Bruce>	"I- I understand."
[23:13]	<Edmund>	"Bruce." He says muffled into his chest, still hitting him, "I was that little girl once. I want her to have a life where she can be happy."
[23:13]	<Edmund>	"Damascus can give her that life."
[23:13]	<Edmund>	"I hate him, but he can do that."
[23:14]	* Bruce	holds onto Ed with his arm, "Alright."
[23:15]	<Edmund>	"Even if we beat him, took her...how could we ever justify that. How could I ever look into her eyes, and not see damascus, the man we killed to 'get' her."
[23:15]	<Edmund>	"I could never forgive myself for doing something so horrid."
[23:15]	* Edmund	suddenly looks up, "Who else is planning to fight him."
[23:16]	* Edmund	left a couple of wet marks on his shirt from his tears.
[23:17]	<Bruce>	"Not Rex."
[23:17]	<Bruce>	"Ed, I'll fight him, but just beat him, just tell him to get away."
[23:17]	<Bruce>	"I won't kill him..."
[23:18]	<Edmund>	"Even that isn't necessary! He'll understand with words! he already knows there is great animosity to him."
[23:18]	<Edmund>	"I understand you are feeling frustrated, not being able to do anything."
[23:18]	<Edmund>	"Just...trust me on this...there is no reason to fight."
[23:19]	<Bruce>	"The only reason he doesn't want to fight is because he knows he can't beat all of us."
[23:20]	<Bruce>	"If he had the power, he would have killed all of us, and be done with it. We can beat him on his terms, be done with him, show him he isn't strong enough."
[23:21]	<Edmund>	"Why can't you hear what i'm saying?!"
[23:21]	<Edmund>	"I don't want you to fight him. I don't want you to. I don't. I don't."
[23:22]	* Bruce	just holds onto Ed
[23:22]	<Bruce>	"Alright, I'm sorry."
[23:23]	<Edmund>	"I don't understand why you want to fight him."
[23:23]	<Edmund>	"Why you want to fight him HERE." He corrects.
[23:23]	<Edmund>	"Why you want to fight him NOW."
[23:24]	<Bruce>	"The last time we fought he got away, and I wasn't able to help you, I saw you frozen, laid out and nearly dead."
[23:24]	<Bruce>	"I don't want to give him another chance, and I'm being selfish."
[23:25]	<Edmund>	"I got frozen because of my own foolishness."
[23:25]	<Bruce>	"You're the one he hurt, and you want to let him go, for someone else. I'm not like that."
[23:25]	<Edmund>	"I got talitha killed on my orders."
[23:26]	* Bruce	squeezes Ed, "I'm not gonna listen to you say that. Damascus attacked Caleb, attacked us. It wasn't your fault."
[23:28]	<Edmund>	"Yes it was." He sobs.
[23:29]	* Bruce	sits down, holding Ed, "Shh, it wasn't. You didn't want that to happen."
[23:30]	<Edmund>	"It doesn't matter I still did it..."
[23:31]	<Edmund>	"Please...don't let anyone else fight him."
[23:32]	<Edmund>	"Our paths will cross again. If he really cares for that girl, she wont be with him then."
[23:33]	<Bruce>	"Shh, it'll happen when it does, alright?"
[23:33]	<Bruce>	"Don't worry about it now."
[23:34]	<Edmund>	"Just please, don't seek out a fight today."
[23:35]	<Edmund>	"He will not come to our camp. I'll make it clear...that if he does, he...wont be welcomed."
[23:35]	<Bruce>	"I said don't worry about it now, I won't, I'll take care of it."
[23:38]	* Bruce	ruffles Ed's hair with his ghost arm, "Just be safe."
[23:38]	<Bruce>	"If anything happens, yell, I'll try to be nearby."
[23:46]	<Edmund>	"Okay...I'm sorry about this bruce."
[23:46]	<Edmund>	"...If you want. Tonight we can..." He says hushedly.
[23:47]	* Bruce	rubs his back, "I'd love to just talk or do whatever you feel like."
[23:47]	* Edmund	nods.
[23:49]	<Bruce>	"I love you Kid, just be alright."
[23:49]	* Bruce	just sits with Ed for however long he wants to
[23:55]	* Edmund	sits long enough to compose himself.
[23:55]	<Edmund>	"Thanks bruce...I'm going to go talk with him now. I'll probably be gone a bit."
[23:55]	* Bruce	ruffles his head, "No problem, I'll just try to be here for you."
[23:56]	<Bruce>	"I'll be sure I'm close by."
[23:59]	* Bruce	wipes at his face if it still looks like he cried, "You're too beautiful to cry over him."
[23:59]	<Edmund>	"Okay, thanks."
[23:59]	* Edmund	smiles, "Thanks..."