Loonatics Revamp Rise of the Loonatics Episode 1 (Saved)

Chapter 4

The cheers of the crowd echoed in the hallway leading to the locker room. The excitement of the public was entirely perceptible, but Slam was not in the same mood, even if the wrestling match ahead should be his main concern. After all, he was one of the fighters, and today was the finale of this year's tournament; an opportunity he may never access ever again. But more than the golden cup, it was the load of money he would receive if he won this fight that occupied his mind. Not in a greedy way; Slam had not cared for being rich and would gladly give away the big price to any charity that needed it if he wasn't in the need of it himself. Because winning the tournament meant saving his home.

In one of his hands was a picture of seven Tasmanian devils. The big one in the middle of the photo was himself. He was looming over his parents, Omeo and Lowanna, and two of his siblings, Merri and Daku. On each arm, he was carrying the two youngest, the twins Bambam and Bindi.

As he was looking at the smiling faces of each member of his big family, a wave of sadness tightened his heart. It was always difficult to look at this photo without feeling homesick, yet Slam knew he had to leave his island and come to the USA if he wanted to help his people. He was doing all of that for them, for his family, and for Tasmania. As the oldest son of the Tasmanian family, he felt it was his duty to protect what he cherished the most, even if it meant being apart of his parents and siblings for so long.

Indeed, his homeland was in danger. Tasmania had only been inhabited near the western coasts in the past centuries, leaving the flora to take over most of the island even where there had been cities in a distant time. The locals left the vast natural area untouched and were content with what they had in their small villages. However, the island, which in the past had many territories classified as protected natural areas, had been out of the list for decades due to a PADDD by the Australian government – although Tasmania was said to be "independent" now, it still was in the clutch of the biggest Pacific Ocean's island in some ways; and with Tasmania's inhabitants only occupying a very little portion of it, it meant the rest of the island could be at the mercy of all. It was only a matter of time before some greedy individual took an interest in Tasmania and would try to take profit from it.

Slam couldn't remember his name right, but one day, out of the blue, an Australian businessman in his private jet landed on the island, right next to his village. The guy, with what Slam believed was his assistant, then proceeded to tell everybody that Tasmania's natural area would soon be the object of a "great change" that would "help the island develops its economy"; what he really meant by that was the untouched zone of the island would be completely erased and replaced with a vacation complex, a giant amusement park, tons of restaurants and certainly other sorts of buildings to attract even more tourists. In other words, Tasmania, as it was now, would soon disappear.

As for the locals, they had two options: stay in their villages and live with an afflux of tourists, who would certainly damage the island even more and not respect the people living here, every time of the year, or move from Tasmania and search for another place to go. None of those options seemed right for the locals, and they tried to protest the businessman's plan for their home, but there was nothing they could do... except to buy the doomed part of the island back.

And this was why Slam was here today, in the USA, far from his family. See, ever since Tasmania's locals moved to the coasts, and with the population slowly decreasing, the economy itself began to drop because the people here stopped trying to develop their industry, instead of keeping the island in a natural state as much as possible. But as surprising as it would seem to foreigners, the locals were fully content with what they had. However, the lack of development also means the lack of institutions for students; and so, the inhabitants of the island were way behind most of the global population in terms of education. So, when it was clear they needed to buy the island back in order to keep it safe from harm, Slam knew he would never be able to find an adequate job to quickly gather the money needed. For that, he had to enter a university, and there was none in his home; and to be accepted in a foreign school, he needed the minimum level of education required, which he didn't meet. Not just because of the lack of scholarly institutions, but because the giant Tasmanian devil had his own problems. Because of a developmental problem during his early childhood, he had lived all his life with a speech impediment, and such a thing would be seen as a lack of intelligence and an obstacle to entering a prestigious university. There was, however, one thing Slam never lacked throughout all his life: his muscles. Which was why he choose to become a wrestler when he came to Acmetropolis, especially when he heard about all the money the winner of the tournament would receive.