Benjamin exited the backroom of his father's shop.
He had extracted the shadows of four more knights.
He flexed his bicep, pleased with the feeling of his newfound strength.
"You all done?" Benjamin's dad asked as he walked past the counter.
"Yeah," Benjamin replied.
"Great, we can go home then," his dad replied.
He turned to lock the door leading to the furnaces.
"Hey dad," Benjamin said.
"Hmm?" Benjamin's dad replied, turning around.
"I might drop out of the tournament," Benjamin said.
This news took Benjamin's father by surprise.
"Why?" he asked.
"I don't want to embarrass myself in front of hundreds of people," Benjamin replied.
Benjamin's dad chuckled. "That never stopped you before," he said.
"I can only take so much," Benjamin replied, shaking his head.
"Understandable," his dad said, "You're not planning on giving up, right?"
"No," Benjamin replied, "I'm still going to train, I just don't want to participate in this tournament."
"That's fine then," his dad said, "Failure is acceptable, giving up is not."
"I know," Benjamin replied. He turned to leave.
"Just know one thing Benjamin," Benjamin's dad said.
Benjamin turned around, only to be embraced by his father.
His father withdrew and placed his hand on Benjamin's shoulder.
"Your mother and I will continue to love and support you, regardless of the decisions you make," he said, nodding and smiling.
He turned around and walked back behind the counter, locking the door to the furnaces.
Benjamin arrived at school the next day, his mind already made up.
He immediately sought out Coach Chrisante to tell him the news.
"Really?" Coach Chrisante asked, "Are you sure?"
"Yes sir," Benjamin replied.
Coach Chrisante frowned slightly.
"That's unfortunate," he said, typing something on his computer.
"If you change your mind before the first match, just let me know," he said.
"Thank you," Benjamin said, turning and leaving.
His friends weren't too happy about the news.
"You did what?!?" Lennox said, shaking Benjamin.
"Yo chill, you're way too strong to be manhandling him like that," Isaiah said, trying to get Lennox off of Benjamin.
"I don't understand, why would you drop out?" Corey asked, a look of concern crossing his face.
"I just don't feel like embarrassing myself in front of hundreds of people again," Benjamin replied.
"That never bothered you before," Miles interjected.
"It does now," Benjamin replied, annoyance building within him, "I'll just take the extra time to train."
"Training is nothing without experience," Evan pointed out.
"Exactly," Isaiah said, "What's the point in learning something if you never use it."
"Who says I'm not gonna use my training?" Benjamin asked.
"We won't get to go into distortion rifts until junior year," Jackie said, "You won't get anywhere by just training your body. You need practice."
"And I'll get it eventually," Benjamin replied.
"Every time people say they're going to do something eventually, they usually don't get it done," Xavier said.
"Let's just say I'm different," Benjamin replied, "Don't you all have training to do?"
"Don't you?" Charles retorted, "You better start training twice as hard now."
"Yeah, yeah," Benjamin said, waving his hand.
Charles shook his head and walked off.
"He's just passionate," Isaiah said, watching Charles leave.
"Oh really," Benjamin said, sighing.
He left the gym and walked to class, slightly bummed at his missed training opportunity.
"Why did you yell at him?" Lennox asked Charles as they jogged around the courtyard.
"He's wasting his potential," Charles replied.
"You're not his parent Charles," Isaiah pointed out.
"But I am his friend," Charles replied.
"All the same," Isaiah said, "He's sure to have numerous reasons to drop out of the tournament. We just need to respect that."
"I get where Charles is coming from though," Lennox said, "Dropping out of the tournament like this makes it seem like he's giving up."
"I refuse to believe he's given up," Isaiah replied, "Benjamin has been through more ridicule in his life than anyone I've ever met. Why give up now?"
"How much ridicule do you think it takes to break a person Isaiah?" Charles asked.
"I couldn't tell you that," Isaiah replied.
"Then we can't guess what he's going through," Lennox said.
"Maybe there's just a factor we're missing," Isaiah said, scratching his chin.
The three of them stopped jogging to think for a moment.
"Family issues?" Lennox asked.
"Unlikely," Isaiah replied, "Benjamin has a better home life than most of the friend group."
"It has to be something recent," Charles said, "The bullying has died down a lot since Jackie and Corey became so famous."
"Maybe it was after that time Corey beat Benjamin in few moves," Lennox suggested.
"We've all lost before," Charles replied, shaking his head.
"Yeah, you usually just feel salty for a few minutes," Isaiah added, "It shouldn't go on for more than a day."
"Maybe this time was one time too many," Lennox said grimly.
"You guys are overlooking the obvious," a voice said.
The three boys turned to see Corey walking toward them.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Isaiah asked, frowning, "All of the current factors are being discussed in detail."
"It has to be because Jackie whooped us the other day," Corey said.
"Jackie's always been the star student," Charles replied, "Why would that discourage Ben now?"
"One time too many?" Lennox suggested.
"I already told him to focus on one match at a time," Charles said.
"Besides, I literally got thrown to the ground," Isaiah said, "I should be discouraged if anyone."
"I literally got stepped on," Lennox replied.
"Bet you enjoyed that too," Evan said as he jogged past them.
Lennox flipped Evan off as he stuck out his tongue and ran off.
"Maybe we're just looking way too into it," Charles suggested shrugging.
"I hope for his sake you're right," Corey replied.
"He still has time to think it over," Isaiah said, trying to lighten the mood, "Maybe he'll think about it for a little bit and change his mind."
"True, he did seem kind of conflicted," Corey replied.
"We won't know until Monday," Lennox said, shrugging.
"Speaking of which, classes are suspended on tournament days," Isaiah said, rubbing his hands together.
"Hell yeah!" Lennox yelled in celebration.