.0.

On [your] opinion and involvement with the Empire:

[Unknown Rebel]: Yeah, my parents are officers in the Empire's Militia. Yeah, I served as a soldier for the Empire for a year or two. So what? Following orders that I don't want to follow isn't my thing… The Empire is just bad news, man... Bad news.

[Unknown Empire Diplomat]: I come from a long line of diplomats that have served for the empire for decades. I will follow in my ancestors' footsteps. However, I will go even farther than that! You will see what I mean when the time comes around.

[Unknown Empire General]: Oh. "All Hail the Empire!"... or something of that nature. I don't really care for such temporary things. I must admit though, I really am enjoying this title of "General". It allows me break all the "toys" I want without any repercussions. I'm actually one of the Empire's best tortu — er, interrogators… Ha-ha-ha-ha.

[Unknown Bartender]: Uh, the Empire's okay… I guess. The rebels are too...I mean, this one time, my parents and I housed this one chick. We thought she was rebel at first — she seemed pretty beat up and kinda feral too. We gave her food and stuff. 'Turns out she was actually a soldier. She was still pretty cool with it though. So, yeah…

[Unknown Empire Soldier]: Sir, yes, sir! The Empire is great, s— Ow! I bit my tongue… Hmm, for some reason, some of the things that the Empire carries out doesn't sit right with me… e-especially that Magic-Registeration Protocol! A couple of my friends' families were broken apart because of that...

[Small Town Librarian]: Uh, are you seriously asking me this? The Empire is just a politically corrupt powerhouse; it'll go down eventually — I mean, just look at the riots that are starting up. Sure, they may be small now, but eventually it'll get out of control. Huh? Do something for propaganda or be arrested? … The Empire is "sooo" great… Woo-hoo. Cheers. Happy?

[Street Fortuneteller (?)]: The Empire is a corrupt tyranny, built by the pains of others. A dark aura surrounds this entire country... I suggest you leave as soon as possible, or the dark aura here might corrupt your own… I do, however, sense a collection of white spirits that are shining bright in all of this darkness — I wonder…?

It was an unfortunate mistake. It had to be.

The girl rubbed her arms uncomfortably as a drops of water sluggishly dripped onto her red head from a crack in the ceiling. The short boy who stood beside her shivering in the chilled air voiced her thoughts out loud as he prodded at a stain on the floor with his left foot:

"This has to be a mistake…"

The two glanced at each other uncertainly, feeling troubled over the fact that their long and hard journey may have brought them to a dead end.

"Oh. You've definitely got the right place."

A dark-haired female adolescent appeared in the room out of thin air, her dark-blue lips coming to a close as she finished her statement. She was dressed casually, a collage of dark blue, green, and black cloth enveloping her petite figure; and she gave off an air of mystery and queerness. With a pale and slender hand, the adolescent tucked a lock of turquoise hair behind her ear and smiled slyly: "Welcome to the rebellion… Zoey and Cameron, right?"

Capital City was a grand kind of city that stood at the center of the Empire's vast regions, and it was grand in every way. The people who glided gracefully across the pearly white streets were grand as were the silver roads that glistened beside them.

The silver roads, when looked upon from an aerial view, enveloped the entire city like a spiderweb. The singular, intricate "parts" of this web came together at one grand point that stood tall near the center of the city: the Military District.

The district was raised on a steel platform that towered over the rest of the city, and the tall walls surrounding the district measured twenty-thousand miles around. An elongated track field stretched itself in a circle just behind the walls, and on that field ran a collection of twenty black-and-white clothed adolescents. Three of those adolescents ran far ahead of the rest. Two out of three inhumanly-paced runners in particular were shouting at each other in between breaths:

"I can run forty-thousand miles in my sleep. This is nothing!"

"Oh yeah? Well, I can run a million miles in my sleep - with my eyes closed!"

"That doesn't even make any sense!"

The seventeen who trailed behind the trio whispered amongst themselves, despite the fact that they were running short of breath.

"Looks like Jo and Brick are at it again." one of the seventeen whispered with flick of the head.

"When are they not at it?" another shouted back with a half-hearted snicker. "It's almost like they're into each other or something."

"Speaking of which," continued a runner with a slouching pace, "it's a wonder Lightning hasn't realized that Jo is a girl yet."

All seventeen gazes drifted over to the third member of the fast-sprinting trio and watched as he mocked the other two, saying something along the lines of, "Sha-Lightning never sha-loses!", right before he increased his speed. The seventeen then, with heavy sighs, watched as the trio turned a regular warm-up jog into a racing competition.

"Well," another of the seventeen grimaced, "there's no doubt that those three are going to be selected and put into one of the Crowned Generals' platoons."

"I actually kind of feel sorry for them." one other brought up, glancing up at the large tower that erected at the center of the district. "I mean, have you've heard the rumors about the Crowned Generals? People say that they're totally nuts!"

"I know!" continued another with a shiver. "Have you heard the aliases that they've received: 'The Psycho Hose Beast'? 'The Malevolent One'? 'The Female Bully'? Bad mojo…"

On the edge of the balcony that ejected from the second highest floor of the tower that oversaw Capital City and its Military District stood a man clothed in a regal, crisp, ebony military-esque outfit. His dark-sewn wear was adorned with golden laced-in shoulderpads and other glistening trinkets. The right side of his chest was decorated with several pristine-looking medals, most of which looked a little too suspiciously clean. On the man's dark head rested a black military cap, also adorned with golden trinkets and a strange-looking insignia.

Despite the man's tired look, an amused smile played on his face as he observed the running group of adolescents twenty yards below him: "How stupid can they be?"

A sudden loud shout broke the man out of his reverie, and he turned just in time to see a flash of black and bright orange lunge at him.

"Hiya, Mal!" shouted the one who had lunged at him — the one who was also currently hanging from his neck with an ear-to-ear grin. "What's shakin', bacon?"

The one who hung from his neck was a female who had bright-orange and wild hair that was tamed back only by a black military cap — a cap that resembled his own. In fact, her entire outfit resembled his, save for the fact that her chest was adorned with more medals.

"Currently my body with rage, Izzy." the man, Mal, replied in a dark tone.

"Aww, don't be such a drag, Mal!" the woman, Izzy, replied as she hugged him hard. She then buried her face into his neck and breathed in deeply, before she released her grip and scratched her bright head. "Have I ever told you that you have this, like, really weird smell. It's like you smell really good on the inside, but really, really, really, really bad on the outside. Do you use cologne? Is it enchanted?"

"No, I have no use for such products." Mal answered coolly, resting his elbows on the edge of the balcony and refocusing his attention on the things going on below. "And yes, you've informed me that I smell 'weird' many times over already."

"Ohhhh." Izzy chuckled, readjusting her cap and following his gaze down to the running group of twenty. "Ooo, are you picking the trainees you want in your platoon already? That's new!"

"Yes, I am, actually." Mal nodded; he shifted, so that he could look at the orange-haired female head-on. "Senor Burrosmuerto has placed me on special assignment involving that new anti-Empire party that's becoming quite the riot nowadays."

"A special assignment?" Izzy questioned, the bright look in her eyes fading away, a frown taking its place.

"It's like hide-and-seek." He explained in a sing-song voice; he paused in thought and a sadistic grin played across his face. "Actually, 'hide-and-slaughter' holds more true in this case."

A/N: Well, I'm not sure if I should continue this AU-verse fic or not… I guess it really just depends on whether or not anyone will actually want to read this thing.

Anyways, as for the Reader's Choice for this chapter, you get to pick which point of view (Unknown Rebel, Small Town Librarian, etc) the next chapter should start with. Btw, could you guess which characters the "unknown" people were?