We get into the real stuff of Anja Karzat here. I tried to keep it as brief as possible, but… yeah. It's a thing. Sorry about this.
As for the Best Girl nominations, keep 'em coming. There's a lot of you out there, and I know you all have your best girls in mind. The more nominations the better.
Currently Nominated: Sango, Cynthia, Elaina, Kate, Dakota, Ayame
Let's see some more names up there! I know I wrote more viable candidates for the position than those five (and I guess Kate somehow) so keep the nominations coming.
KedharS: Sadly yes.
Jay Hayden: Thanks for your vote, but you need to nominate three girls, even if you've already picked your favorite. Just think of them as runner ups.
Just a Bad Writer for Fun: Nice perspectives on the girls. Very good insight with Ayame. She and Sango are very similar, so I really wanted to highlight the difference between them. They both have their insecurities, but Sango addresses hers with worrying that leads to inaction and second-guessing herself, and Ayame throws herself into something even if she's not sure about it and regrets it later. As for Kate… I think you'll very much enjoy where her character goes from here, judging by your comments. Let's just say that Kate's bullying is a little more relevant to her development than just being a note in her backstory.
Pokemon Academy: Beginning of Beginnings
Chapter 174
Marion woke up to the smell of waffles tickling her nose. Her stomach was all achy and rumbly, and she stretched, sitting up and yawning.
"Waffles?!" Marion gasped, leaping out of bed when she realized what was going on. For a brief minute she didn't remember where she was, but she quickly got her bearings.
"Come on," Rast called out to her, peeking in from the dining room. "Doctor K made waffles."
Marion wiped the drool off of her mouth and ran into the other room. Breakfast was delicious, some of the best food she'd ever eaten. Sadly, after breakfast was over, it was time to say goodbye.
"You kids take care of yourselves, and be good while I'm gone, okay?" Doctor K asked, smiling. "Make sure to listen to the doctors and do your best on the tests! I'll be back as soon as I can!"
The kids nodded, and Marion sniffled. This made the second time in as many days that she was saying goodbye to someone who took care of her. She felt lonely all over again. She watched Doctor K walk out of the room, staring longingly at the door.
"Marion," Rast said, putting a hand on her tan shoulder. "Are you okay?"
"I'm gonna miss Doctor K…" Marion sighed, staring down at the ground.
"I see…" Rast said, nodding. A glance at his face gave Marion a feeling of worry, like he was also sad about it. But there was something else, like… what? It was a hard face to read, but she could just see that he was upset. So of course, she had to make him feel better!
"It'll be okay, Rast!" Marion said, smiling. "She'll be back soon!"
"…Yeah," Rast said, nodding, but his smile didn't seem as bright as hers. He really needed to work on that!
Marion frowned. Looking around, she got a sense that everyone was a little… weird. What was wrong? Even Flora and Kyrese looked a little worried, and all of yesterday they were smiling.
"Katrina? You okay?" Marion asked. Katrina blinked, forcing a smile to her face.
"O-of course I am, silly!" Katrina smiled. "Me and Leo are just fine, right Leo?"
"Rio," Leo said quietly, nodding.
"Of course we're not okay."
Marion scowled, turning and glaring at Little Rey.
"I didn't ask you!" She snapped. Little Rey scowled back at her.
"Just watch out," he muttered, glancing down. "Be careful."
Marion had expected him to yell or insult her, but even he was acting weird. What was-
The door opened, and Marion glanced over her shoulder. Was Doctor K back? No, it was just one of the other doctors.
"It's time for your tests."
The doctor's voice was cold, and it sent a shiver down Marion's spine. Suddenly, she was reminded of the mean daughter who had hit her the previous day, and her head started to hurt. In the chaos of her new experience she had completely forgotten, but now she remembered how scared and painful she had felt.
Marion began trembling. This wasn't good. This…
Even though Marion got a feeling of "I should not go with the doctors no matter what" it seemed she was the only one. The other kids were already walking past her, standing in a line in front of the door.
"You, stop messing around!" The doctor snapped, Marion wincing at the anger in her voice. She glanced at the other kids, but they were all facing forward. None of them were looking at her.
Marion ducked her head down and walked to the end of the line, not even stopping to grab her hat. She had a feeling that if she took any more time, things would go really badly for her. Marion glanced over her shoulder. There was only one more of the kids who wasn't lined up. The small white-haired Alk was sitting in bed, staring quietly at the others.
"Um, what about-"
"No talking!" The doctor snapped, Marion dropping her eyes to the floor. When she raised her head, she decided to watch the back of Katrina's head, and not avert her eyes at all. The kids filed down the hall, and Marion contented herself with staring into the girl's rusty-red locks of hair. She didn't know what was going on… but she was feeling really uncomfortable. She was led into a large room with the other kids, much like the room she had been in the night before for her testing, but much larger. More chairs like the one she had sat in were set up, six of them. One for each of the kids. But unlike the other chair from before, these had strange belt loops on the arms and the legs, which Marion didn't quite understand the point of. Was it to keep them from falling out of the chair, or something?
Marion wanted to ask if they were doing testing again, but she was afraid to speak up to the mean-looking doctors.
"Sit down," one of the doctors in the room ordered them. Marion sat in the closest chair to the door, right next to Katrina.
"Are we testing?" Marion whispered to the redhead.
"Shut up," Katrina hissed. "Don't say anything. Just hold on."
Marion swallowed, Katrina looked really upset.
"What about the pills? We-"
"Quiet you two!" One of the other doctors snapped. "Keep your mouths shut!"
Katrina gave her a look, and Marion kept her mouth shut.
"Okay, bring in the pokemon for testing. The Seventh Child had her first test last night, we'll use the same pokemon as before. That way we can compare her records with the medication to her results today," one of the doctors, an older man with a thick white beard and greying hair, was giving the orders while looking over a clipboard. It seemed he was the one in charge right now. The door opened, and some more men in labcoats brought in pokemon, including Mana. Mana looked at her with wide eyes, and Marion didn't have a response to her. She just shook her head.
The pokemon were set in incubators in front of the kids' chairs, and began to get hooked up to the machines.
One of the doctors grabbed Marion's arms, and she instinctually struggled against his rough hands. The doctor glared at her and she winced, giving in. He held her left arm down on the chair's armrest and buckled a belt around her wrist, locking her into place. He did the same for her other hand, and then strapped her legs in place as well. Marion found herself pinned to the chair, unable to get up. She glanced worriedly at her fellow kids, and they were all strapped down into the chairs as well.
She opened her mouth to ask what was going on, but she thought better of it. If Doctor K was here… but all the other doctors looked so mean and scary, and they all had this look in their eyes that made Marion scared. She really, really didn't want to be here anymore. She wanted to go back home… or at least back to the room with the other kids. Somewhere in her haze of worries and thoughts, she remembered the looks of worry on the other kids' faces, and what Little Rey had said the night before. Was this what he meant about being ready? She wasn't ready, she was scared. She felt Mana's fears, as well. Both of them wanted to go, right now, but… if she said something, what would happen? Would she get hit again? But Doctor K would never let that happen to her, of course not!
But Doctor K wasn't in the room right now. She was somewhere far away, and Marion didn't know when she was coming back. That thought was what made Marion realize just how alone she really was in this strange place. The other kids were with her… but all the grown-ups were mean, except Doctor K.
Marion felt her eyes start to get wet. If she cried… would they hit her again, like before? She forced a smile onto her face. She didn't want to get hurt.
"Open your mouth," one of the doctors said. He was holding this strange looking thing in his hand, like a toy of some sort. Marion slowly opened her mouth, and the doctor slid the strange thing inside. Was it food? It didn't taste like food, it tasted icky, like plastic. He pushed it so far back into her mouth that Marion wanted to barf, and strapped two weird things over her head to close her mouth. "Bite down."
Marion bit down. She still felt like gagging. That made her want to bite down harder, clenching her mouth as tightly as she could to keep from throwing up, biting until she felt her jaw hurt. She wasn't sure how long she could last like this, so focused on biting down that she missed the strange circles were attached to her forehead again like the night before.
"Begin the test," the grey-haired doctor ordered. Did he mean that she had to do what she did last night? Focus on Mana? But she hadn't gotten her pill yet, and unlike last night there was this strange plastic thingy in her mouth, her chin wrapped closed to keep from opening. That certainly hadn't been there before. Marion wanted to tell the doctor that she wasn't ready yet, that she still needed her pill, but the plastic thing was still in her mouth.
When it was clear that the doctors weren't looking at her anymore, but at the computers, Marion decided that they must have just forgotten to give her the pill this time. It was just a mistake, right? She could go without the pill. The test wasn't very hard, she remembered, even if it hurt a little bit. The other kids didn't get any pills either, so if they could handle it, so could she, right?
Marion leaned back and tried to relax, even with the uncomfortable feeling in her mouth. She closed her eyes, and tried to focus on Mana. Tried to link her thoughts with the small pokemon. Her head was throbbing, but she tried to move past it. Mana… she tried to think about Mana, think about swimming in the water with her… going back to that salty ocean she'd moved through the night before.
"Synchronization rates?" The grey-haired doctor's gruff voice said. "What's our current baseline?"
"First Child, 31%. Third Child, 57%. Fourth Child, 53%. Fifth Child, 23%. Sixth Child, 34%, Seventh Child, 55%."
"I see. The Seventh Child's results are phenomenal, as we expected, comparable with the two older ones. Let's test a little more. Increase the power."
Increase the power? Wha…
Suddenly, the throbbing in her head increased. It wasn't just painful now… Marion wanted to scream! Her eyes snapped open and she began shaking, her head thrashing from side to side as she bit down harder on the piece of plastic. She wasn't just feeling her own pain… she was feeling Mana's pain as well, flowing through her body. It hurt worse than her headaches, so much worse. It was worse than the time she had stepped on a fishing hook, or that time she cut her hand on a long shard of wood on her daddy's boat, or the time she smashed her finger in the door… it was worse than anything she'd ever felt before.
Mana! Mana! Marion's mouth was strapped closed by the strange contraption in her mouth so couldn't scream, so she screamed in the only way she could, to the only one capable of listening.
"Electrical stimulation at 10%. Brainwave patterns stabilizing." The cold voice pierced through the agonizing pain shooting through her head. "Synchronization rates plateaued. 38%. 62%. 59%. 31%. 41%. 64%."
"Excellent. Increase stimulation to 20%, hold for 5 minutes. The First through Sixth children are performing at expected levels. Confirm standard rate threshold for the Seventh Child. Let's see how her synchronization rate increases at 20%. This is her first real test, so we will conclude our testing at 20%. No need to push the threshold further."
"Electrical stimulation rising. 15%. 20%. Holding for 5 minutes," another doctor replied, turning up the dial on a panel. Marion screamed through her gag. It felt like her brain was on fire. She thrashed desperately. She was in the water again, but this time was from a dark patch of her memory. The panic rushing through her, the feeling of water filling her lungs, the burning pain as the world turned black… another flash of pain. She was swimming through the water now, flapping her fins. She burst out of the waves. She was a Mantyke, like Mana! No, she was Mana, bouncing into Marion's arms. She saw her own smiling face through Mana's eyes, and suddenly she was herself again. With her own eyes, she was staring at herself, in Mana's body, staring at herself.
It was all blending together in the haze of the pain. She couldn't remember who she was, or where she was. She could remember seeing a girl, Marion. Marion fishing with her father, Marion walking with her mother through a place with a bunch of pokemon. Then she saw the water. She saw the world underwater for the first time, hatching from an egg. Feeling the sun on her fins as she burst out of the water, guided by her mother's gentle fin. Learning to flop through the water and bounce for the first time. Who was that in her eyes? She looked at the first person she'd seen in the world. It was a cute little girl, a baby, really, holding her mother's hand in her chubby fingers as she looked into the water with big blue eyes. She could make out the girl's tan skin and minty green hair, and the joy on her cherubic face. The girl was tugging on the woman's hand and pointing eagerly, and suddenly she was Marion again, with her mother, being told about the Aether Foundation and the pokemon they cared for. Marion, peering over the edge to see the cute baby Mantyke splashing in the water. She saw chubby fingers, her fingers reach out toward the water, eager to touch the small pokemon. Then she was the Mantyke, leaping out of the water for the first time, her mouth spreading in a smile as a gurgle came from within, feeling overjoyed as the love of her mother and siblings and the cute girl with the minty hair washed over her. The girl held her up in her small hands, and Mantyke could see the joy break out across her face, see her eyes light up with admiration. Whose eyes were those? Whose joy was it she was feeling right now? Who…
It hurt so much, she didn't know where Mana began and Marion ended. They were one and the same, memories and feelings from both human and pokemon swirling around in a storm of pain and emotion that both felt they would drown in…
And then everything went black. The pain was gone, the memories were gone, and there was only blackness and a dull throb in her eyes. Whoever she was, she opened her eyes and winced at the brightness of the lights shining upon her, nothing like the warm lights of the sun, or the calming glow of the Aether Foundation's floodlights. With the light shining down on her, things were beginning to come back into focus. That's right… she was Marion Rivers, not… not Mana… Mana! Was she?!
Marion strained her head to try and see her partner, catching a glimpse of the Mantyke being carried off by the doctors. She could see Mana's face, barely, the pokemon look exhausted but otherwise okay. It was then that Marion realized that the doctors were removing all the stuff hooked up to her, and she began to hear what they were saying for the first time.
"-Promising, I see what Anja was saying when she mentioned the Seventh Child was too advanced in her development for her mother to help."
"Her final synchronization rate was 74%, she's the first of the children to break 70% at an electrical stimulation at 20%..." The doctors said other things, but Marion was too blurry to hear them. She didn't even notice when she was let down off the chair, and guided with the other kids back to their waiting room. Everything was all kind of coming to her in flashes, and her head was sore. Her lips tasted like iron, and her mouth felt warm. She vaguely remembered one of the doctors wiping her face after the machines were disconnected. She could feel something trickling down from her nose… her head hurt so much! The throbbing that she used to only get when the voices came, it was pounding now, and was it ever going to-
"Marion…"
Marion blinked. She was sitting in her bed. When had they gotten back? Flora was giving her a concerned look, resting a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Flora…" Marion's eyes watered. She burst into tears and rested her head against the other girl's chest. "Id hurrdds… My head…"
"I know, I know," Flora said, running her fingers gently through Marion's hair. "I'm sorry we didn't tell you how bad it was going to be… but we didn't want to worry you on your first night here."
Marion looked around, but it was just her and Flora. Did… did the other kids come back? She began to panic. Were they? Did they-?!
"Shh, shh, they're fine," Flora cooed, hugging Marion. "Don't worry about them, when we're done with tests, we usually go out to the gardens. Some kids want to be away from the others, some of us want to be around pokemon, it helps us feel better. Do you want to go? Or do you want to stay here and get some rest? I'm sure you must be in bad shape…"
Flora's hands… they were so soothing. It was like the pain from her testing had finally begun to fade away.
Marion shook her head.
"I want to see Mana…" Marion whimpered. "Is Mana okay…?"
"Okay," Flora smiled, helping Marion out of bed. "Let's go see Mana." Flora reached down and lifted Marion's hat off of the pillow, and plopped it onto her head. Marion peered up at her from under the wide brim, smiling a little. She wiped the blood off from her lip, and followed after Flora.
Flora led Marion by the hand towards the garden that Doctor K had taken her to the night before, but now she walked the halls with a much different feeling. Every sound she heard sent her jumping, looking for angry doctors in white lab coats. She clung to Flora's white dress, trembling. Flora sighed reassuringly, petting her hand. The two entered the garden, Marion taking a breath of air. It was much more beautiful in the daytime, but Marion was too drained to appreciate it. Whatever had happened… it was horrific. Was she going to have to do that again? She couldn't, she just couldn't! There's no way she could last! What… what if she had to do it… tonight, as well? No… she was so focused on the fear of another test she didn't even notice the small orange pokemon waddling up to her, rubbing its head against her.
"Wha…?" Marion glanced down at the round-humped pokemon, looking at her with dopey eyes. She'd never seen it before.
"That's a Numel," Flora told her. "Don't worry, she's friendly."
"She's so warm…" Marion said, petting the pokemon. She smiled.
"Let's head to the lake," Flora said, smiling. Marion followed her through the trees and brush, arriving at the large lake in the center of the garden. It seemed she wasn't the only one to have the idea of coming to the water. Rast and Alk had removed their dresses, and were splashing in the water.
"Marion!" Rast glanced ashore, his eyes wide. "Hey! Are you feeling okay?"
"Uhum," Marion said, averting her eyes from the naked boy as he waded through the water.
"Rast, put your clothes on!" Flora snapped. Rast nodded, slipping on the white dress on the ground as he got out of the water. He lifted Alk out as well, and held his hands up. Alk laughed, and raised her hands as well, Rast sliding the gown over her. Marion looked away from the siblings and scanned the water.
"Mana!" Marion called. "Are you here? Where…"
"Man!" Marion's eyes widened and she began to cry, overjoyed at the sight of her old friend. Mana bounced across the water, leaping into Marion's arms.
"Maaannn…" Mana sobbed, Marion ignoring the wetness staining the front of her hospital gown as she cradled the small pokemon.
"I'm sorry… I'm sorry that happened to you…" Marion cried, sinking down to her knees as she nuzzled the small pokemon against her cheek.
"Alk, want to come play with me?" Flora asked, the small girl glancing up at her with bright red eyes.
"Sure!" Alk nodded, Flora leading her off into the trees. Rast watched after them, but remained where he was standing. He walked over to Marion, and sat down next to her.
"Are you okay?" Rast asked. "I know that it must have been hard…"
"It hurt…" Marion said, wiping her eyes. "So much… I've never felt anything that painful… never… not even when I almost drowned…"
"It's agony," Rast echoed, patting her on the back. "I know exactly what you're going through."
Marion frowned, glancing up at him.
"How many… how long have you been…"
"Years…" Rast murmured. "Two, three… a lot. I remember… Alk was just a baby when we came here…"
His voice was distant, and he looked out across the water.
"My sister… Alk is only 4… her harmonia hasn't developed yet, so she doesn't go in for testing… but I'm so afraid… that when she gets to be our age… she'll…"
Rast's hands were trembling. Marion set down Mana, and reached out to hold his hands, staring up at him.
"Sorry, sorry," he smiled, shaking his head. "Here I was trying to comfort you, and you ended up… ah, that sucks."
"No, I really appreciate it!" Marion said, shaking her head. "And I think it's really nice that you care for your sister that much! I don't have a sister myself, so…"
"Yeah, Alk… for the longest time it's been the two of us. We just came here when were really young… we were the first ones here, actually."
Marion's eyes widened.
"Really?"
"Yeah… we're from a pretty far-off place… the Orre Region. It's pretty desolate… nothing to look at… there was a bunch of trouble a while back with some bad guys, and our parents ended up abandoning us. We were too inconvenient, see… real great folks, huh?"
Marion could hear the pain and bitterness in her voice.
"Alk was just a baby then… no way she'd last long, and even I was barely walking… then the doc came and found us. She brought us here…"
"Doctor K did?"
"Yeah… she told us… that around the time she found us, she'd lost her real daughter…" Rast had a distant smile, clearly remembering something nice. "I think she saw Alk and I as a replacement for her… and she was sort of a replacement for our parents, too. Doctor K… she's really amazing. She saved us. We'd be dead in a gutter if it wasn't for her. So even though this place is hell… for Alk's sake, I'm going to keep going, you know?"
He smiled a sad smile at Marion.
"You're real lucky, you know? You've got somewhere to go when you leave here. As for us… there's not much left for us out there."
"No! That's not true!" Marion said, shaking her head. "You… you can come with me! I mean, our house is real small, but we can go fishing, you know? It'll be a lot of fun."
Rast blinked, surprised.
"Yeah, maybe," he murmured. "Still… as horrible as this place might be… I can't leave Doctor K like that, not after everything she's done for us. And I can't leave Alk. I need to stay here, to look after her. Thanks for the offer, Marion, but… sorry."
"That's right! I almost forgot about Doctor K! Doctor K is so nice…" Marion agreed. "So why… why would she do something like this to us?! You said she's like your mom, but mommy would never hurt me… why would she-?"
"Maybe she doesn't know. Or maybe she's a liar."
Marion narrowed her eyes, disgusted by the voice she heard.
"What do you want?" Marion snarled, turning and glaring at Little Rey, who was standing behind them. Little Rey scowled back at her.
Little Rey glared, and she glared right back at him.
"He's just checking up on you," Rast laughed. "He was worried about leaving you by yourself earlier."
"Was not," Little Rey scowled. "You don't know anything, Rast!"
Marion snorted. For once she agreed with him. Like such a mean boy would actually be worried about her! That was completely ridiculous.
"Whatever. Doctor K would never do something so mean," Marion huffed, turning away from the mean boy. "I'm gonna talk to her when she gets back and figure out what's what! It's gotta be some mistake, I'm sure…"
"Don't!" Little Rey snapped.
"Shut up! Shut up, shut up!" Marion shouted. "Stop telling me what to do!"
"Marion, he's right," Rast said quietly, placing a hand on her arm.
"What do you mean? Why can't I?" Marion demanded.
"You can't tell the doctor anything," Little Rey said, walking closer to her. His eyes were serious, and Marion felt a little intimidated by him, especially because he was standing over her. So she stood up, staring at him eye to eye.
"Why not?"
"That's why not," Little Rey said quietly, pointing over her shoulder. Marion glanced behind her, and saw a camera pointed in their direction.
"What? That's…"
"They watch us," Little Rey told her. "All the time. Everything we do. They probably listen to us, too."
"Why?"
"Doctor K is a nice person," Rast explained. "At least, she's always treated us kindly. Once, I told Doctor K what the other doctors did to me, and she got really mad, and said she was going to fire the ones who had done the test. But then the other doctors, they…"
Rast's face was pale, and he shivered. Marion swallowed.
"I don't think Doctor K and the others get along," Little Rey said. "I don't know why, but I know that if any of us tell the doctor… or cry in front of her… or tell her what goes on during the tests… we get punished. Doctor K won't help us. So stop crying to her about every little thing!"
"Shut up Little Rey! Doctor K is really nice!" Marion wailed. "She can do anything, she-"
"She's a grown-up! And grown-ups can't do anything on their own! Haven't you noticed the way the others look at us?"
Marion didn't understand what he was talking about.
"You mean how mean they are? Of course!"
"Agh, you just don't get it!" Little Rey exclaimed, scratching his hair. "We… we're not normal, don't you understand? You and the rest of us, and Doctor K, too! They look at us like we're freaks! Because we're different!"
He was shouting now, and the anger in his voice was starting to make Marion cry. She wasn't! She wasn't a freak, she was special! Mommy said she was!
"Shut up! I'm not a freak! I'm special! Mommy said I'm special!" Marion wailed, stomping her feet into the dirt. "You're stupid, Little Rey! I'm not a… I'm not a freak! I'm special! Special! People aren't mean to you just because you're special! That's dumb! You're just a dumb meanie liar!"
"No, you're a freak!" Little Rey snapped. "Just like the rest of us! That's all we are to them, you stupid girl! We're just caged animals!"
Why was he saying such mean things?! Why was he so mean?! Marion hugged Mana to her chest and curled up into a ball.
"Rey, that's enough!" Rast said, stepping in front of the sobbing Marion.
"Shove it, Rast! I'm trying to tell her the truth! The sooner she learns, the better! We're all freaks to them! They just want to lock us up and experiment on us, because we're different! Don't you see that?!"
"We're not freaks, Rey!" Rast said. "Marion and Doctor K are right. We're just special. We're just a little different, that's all."
Rey scowled. "And you think they care if we say we're 'special' or 'freaks'? You don't know anything! They, what they do to people like us, they…"
Rey cut himself off, staring down at the dirt.
"Marion, let's go back," Rast said, helping her back up to her feet. "This morning was rough. You need to get some rest."
Marion nodded her head quietly. She passed Rey, who opened his mouth to say something, but she cut him off.
"Shut up, stupid Little Rey!" Marion snapped, tears falling from her eyes. "You don't know anything! You're just a meanie! Shut up and don't talk to me anymore! I'm not a freak! You're the freak! A mean freak! I hate you!"
She sobbed and ran past Rast, clutching Mana to her chest as she cried. Her tears stung her cheeks and she smiled. It felt good to yell at him like that. She hoped she'd hurt him. Little Rey was just a meanie. Maybe she'd made him cry, it was what he deserved for saying such mean things to her.
I'm not sure how many more chapters this is going to be. The more I write, the more I realize there's so much more to write. I don't know if we really need to get the full story or not, but we've covered most of the important parts I wanted to touch on. Depending on what you guys think, I can probably wrap things up next chapter, unless you want to see more of the relationship between Marion and the other kids. Or it could be something I could save for later. It could really go either way. Let me know if you want to see the full exchange from Marion, or if I should wrap things up and save the other stuff for something later. I will say, that from here all the child torture will be implied. I wanted to give an idea about what "testing" entails. There is only one more "test" that is relevant to the backstory, and it's not from Marion's perspective.