Unlike the students, school policy provides no option for Katalina and the other adults to gain the authority to fight. Although the president has the right to reform school policy, Zarazustra refuses to do so. He explains that the principles of Istavion rescued him from a troubled childhood, and since school policy is modeled after the kingdom's laws, he sees no reason to fix what isn't broken. When all hope seems lost, the crew learns that the student council presidential election is about to start.
Gran, Lyria, and Io have joined the student disciplinary committee, and thus have gained the perk of being able to use their weapons and magic at school.
But for the adults in the crew, there's no such luck.
The crew has learned that the primal beast of Magmell Island enforces school policy, but with nothing else to go on, the investigation stalls.
Rackam
Stupid school rules are makin' this more annoyin' than it has to be.
Katalina
Staying in this school means playing by the rules.
Katalina
The only way for us to confront the primal beast is to find a loophole in school policy...
Rosetta
They sure know how to use a primal beast to full effect...
Eugen
Things run way too smoothly here. They claim the island is being governed, but all I can think of is someone tinkering with the dials.
Eugen
Change a rule, and the primal beast enforces it, no questions asked.
Eugen
Now that's a primal ya wanna get your hands on if you're lookin' to subjugate everyone on an island.
Katalina
Wait a minute... Eugen might be on to something. Is it possible to change school policy itself?
Io
Oh! I remember seeing a page about that!
Io flips through the student handbook and stops when she finds the page.
Io
"Institute standard ninety-six: the student council president has the authority to amend school policy during his or her term"!
Vyrn
So Zarazustra can change the rules, eh?
Vyrn
Think he'd help us if we had a little chat?
The crew decides to take a gamble and goes to see Zarazustra.
Zarazustra
Out of the question.
Zarazustra
Although I've barely known any of you for more than several days, I can tell you're not a self-serving bunch.
Zarazustra
But I have my own reasons for maintaining the status quo. I have no intention of reforming school policy.
Lyria
Oh no...
Rosetta
I'd like to hear why, if that's all right with you.
Perhaps as a compromise, Zarazustra relents and explains his motivation.
Zarazustra
School policy is modeled after the principles of the Istavion Kingdom.
Zarazustra
These principles—the way the kingdom is structured—saved my life.
With a forced smile and some resignation, he opens up about his childhood.
Zarazustra
The couple that brought me into this world was... how should I say this? A tad too freewheeling.
Zarazustra
I can't even remember their faces. I was always alone in the house as far back as I can remember.
Zarazustra
It was next to impossible for a kid who hadn't even reached his fifth birthday to fend for himself.
Zarazustra
Raclitus was my best friend at the time and still is. I was actually scrawnier than he was, and he's a Harvin.
Zarazustra
I can say without exaggeration that I survived back then thanks to him and his parents.
Zarazustra's head droops when he remembers how his small glimmer of hope was crushed.
Zarazustra
My neighbors could only intervene so much in the affairs of my family.
Zarazustra
Until one day I collapsed in the dump my home had become.
Zarazustra
It wasn't my parents or neighbors who pulled me out of squalor, but a government official.
He looks down at his hand in remembrance.
Zarazustra
The government emphasizes the order and prosperity of the kingdom above individual rights and freedoms.
Zarazustra
My birth parents had all their rights stripped, and the government placed me in the care of a family that actually wanted children.
Zarazustra
It was impossible for the men who raised me to bear children of their own, but they didn't care that I was a Draph. They loved me and raised me as their son.
Zarazustra
They're the ones I can truly call my parents. You don't have to be bound by blood to be a family.
As he explains his case for maintaining school policy, Zarazustra shows a hint of doubt.
Zarazustra
What the government did to my biological parents was certainly a blatant disregard of their individual rights.
Zarazustra
Even knowing that, I won't repudiate Istavion. Nor the school policy born from its laws.
Zarazustra
That's my take on the current state of the rules.
Zarazustra
However, I'm not so close-minded as to ignore good ideas for policy revision, should they come up.
Unable to persuade Zarazustra, the crew is once again stuck.
Vyrn
I give up. Nothing we say is gonna change his mind after hearin' a sob story like that.
Lyria
The kingdom has changed the lives of many people for the better.
Lyria
But we can't stop either. Not after all we've been through, and knowing what we have to do.
Rackam
Well, if we're dealin' with another Mithra-type primal, ordinary tactics are gonna be hampered by the rules.
Rackam
Remember when Freesia teamed up with Mithra? It took usin' Akasha to stop her.
Katalina
Once again, if we want to confront the primal, we have no choice but to find something in the school policy.
The crew are deep in thought when they hear an unexpected voice.
Patia
What seems to be the matter? You all looked so troubled.
Rosetta
Oh my. It's nothing, dear.
Rosetta spies a stack of papers in Patia's arms and quickly changes the subject.
Rosetta
Are those posters? We can help you put them up if you'd like?
Patia
Thanks for the offer, but I'm almost finished—
Io
Whoa! Can I see one real quick!
Patia
Um, sure?
A confused Patia hands Io a poster, who quickly reads it.
Io
Philos Institute is holding an election for student council president!
Io
Couldn't Gran change school policy by taking office?
A new road forward has opened up to the crew purely by chance.
Unbeknown to them, however, a conspiracy is in the works.
136: The Council President 
