Jamal woke up to a ding from the elevator. He didn't feel any pain and only a small ache. He looked at himself in the small crater.
"Wow, the new kid got beat up. He's bleeding too." a little boy's voice was heard.
Wait, what time is it? Jamal checked his watch as it read 8:55 a.m. Crap, I got get up. He slowly got up, expecting pain to burst any second, but still only the dull ache persisted. He walked towards the voice, which turned out to be Brat. "Okay, no, I did not get beat up. But your friend over there did." he said pointing at the fallen Hops.
"What friend? No one is friends with him." Brat told him. "Plus, no one's ever beaten him before too."
"No one?" Jamal asked.
"Yep. He's so strong!"
He was the first one to beat Hops? He wasn't going to say he wasn't weak, but if he was the only one to have beaten Hops in a one versus one fight, then did that make him the strongest fighter out of them all? And didn't he also say that he was completely on fire? Well, whatever was happening to him, he couldn't figure it out, but he would have to deal with it later.
The elevator dinged again and Ula and Fonda were talking about the training going to happen today until they saw Jamal. They looked a bit shocked until they saw the roof and Hops on the floor.
"Whoa, what happened here?" Fonda said.
"Well, you could say-" he tried to tell them.
"Is he dead?" Ula asked more loudly then usual.
"Um, I'm not really sure how to explain this, but he came for me when I arrived here earlier and started attacking me. Let's just say he must triggered something to do that in the roof." Jamal explained to them, pointing at the big hole in the ceiling in the process.
"Who knew the new guy was so strong!" Fonda squealed in delight, "The Supernaturals will be so impressed!"
Then another ding was heard. And here they come, I better come up with something to say quickly. When the door opened, all of the Supernaturals were here, only to be shocked at the scene. They immediately rushed past Jamal and towards Hops.
"Who did this!" one of them yelled at them.
With that, the others looked at Jamal.
"Okay, I can explain. He attacked me." Jamal managed to let out before having the trainer in front of him.
"Are you crazy! You know how much money we're going to lose because of this! Boom, if the student is strong enough to break the ceiling, he could have had it collapse and killed himself! And then, he just dropped our best fighter here too. Oh great, the tournament coming up in a year might be messed up now." he shrieked in fury, "What to do, what to do!"
"A tournament, what tournament?" Jamal confusing asked.
"Oh you don't know. We're going to fight against all the other trained students from around the world for the grand prize!" Fonda excitingly yelled.
"And that is?"
"Well it changes every year, but last year the winners got a jewelry-encrusted dagger." she announced.
"And did you win it?"
"Well, we got 5th, if Hops didn't mess up of course. But hey, we could actually win this year."
"Hey, enough talk about the tournament. Hops will most likely recover, but he'll miss out on a lot of training." Boom finally spoke, "But now with everyone finally here. I can explain why we're here. To take out Youden."
"Wait, hold up for a second. You brought in children to fight your own battles? Seriously, what is going on here?" Jamal asked. "You keep talking about Youden the enemy and al-"
"Can I finish?" Boom said. "I'm going to tell you all the story of Youden and why he must be stopped."
"From wha-"
"Let me finish the story, please!" Boom boomed at Jamal, "Okay, anyway, it all started 25 years ago, with a knock at my door."
"Youden was there, the new kid on the block and just finally moved in. I was just 5 years old and from that day on, we were good friends for a few years all the way until after high school. You see, Youden at the time appeared to be powerless, until one day he got jumped by a gang of our town. Lucky, I was there to protect him, but I noticed him walking up to one of the members and touched him. It was as if something was being sucked out of him, like some sort or type of energy, because next thing I knew, he was using the man's power that was turning into metal, which I then figured out what his ability was. He right there learned that he had the ability to remove and use those taken powers. With that, I just... I was just too surprised to talk to him for a bit. I was scared and frightened at what he could do to me or others I cared for. I heard later that he later joined the Saputan Army and was promoted to a general. That is, until he supposedly died in the Great Siege of Xeric in the war against the desert insurgency. That's when 5 years ago, I found him. On top of Mount Sumply, 7,000 feet high into the sky on a mission to find him. There was a rumor that an old man lived up there. I didn't know what to say, but that he changed. His eyes were as dark as the night and hands as rough as the sand on the beach. It shocked me to see him this way. But when he finally responded, I was surprised. All he told me was, "After all these years, all this time, you've come to find me. Heh, oh have I been waiting for this." I didn't know what he meant until he fought me. I never knew a man could obtain so much power. I didn't want to kill him, but he almost finished me. Power after power after power, was I pummeled blow after blow. It wasn't until I used something that I was able to overpower him and I punched him as far as the eye could see. I thought I finished him, but there's people east of here, telling me that a man lives somewhere with multiple powers and that he's gaining support of those like him, discarded and disrespected. Which is why before anything happens, we'll finish him. Once and for all. And this time, we won't let him get away too." Boom seriously explained about Youden.
The room was silent for a few moments, until Jamal cleared his throat.
"So after all of that, you left him because instead of, I don't know, maybe helping him understand his powers, you left and forgot about him while he had to fend for himself? And it isn't like he's an evil person too. He was trying to adjust to this power and you just said, yeah you're on your own. And then when you had the job to "finish" him, you needed to use something to become stronger? And now you want some random kids from who knows where to take him on? Since you are probably the most strongest in the entire room for all we know, and you couldn't finish him in what I must assume was your prime, then how do you expect us to do any better? Cause we're stronger or more unusual than normal? Like is no one realizing we're fighting another man's fight! Like this is actually sick and if you think otherwise then get some help. I'll find him myself and help him since no one will." he let out.
He walked and pressed the button to open the elevator, with no one saying a word in the process. He turned around for a brief second to see everyone looking at the ground, including Ula, who looked like she had actual tears in her eyes? He faced towards the elevator and watched it open, choose the button to the first floor and didn't look back.