The young boy didn't know how to fight. He only just started learning on how to improve his physical constitution. Asking him to fight for his life was too much, and there wasn't a way to succeed.
The mannequin sprinted towards him upon reaching a proper distance it slid to a stop and threw a punch forward. Currently still unable to fight the young boy could only watch dumbly as the fist moved towards his face. Upon making contact the young boy felt pain blossom against his cheek and he stumbled about. It felt extremely real, he had experience from being hit but not by something so accurate. His consciousness wavered as stars being to fill his vision.
"This is only the start, if you truly wish to be strong you'll have to endure. This is the best method you can do, an endless way of fighting to gain experience. However it's up to you. Can you endure? Remember, if at any point you wish to quit just let us know. All you have to do is say quit."
Endure? Although such an accurate punch made him shaky, compared to what he had to deal with for several years this was nothing! Moreover there was a set of words that truly resonated within the young boy. One that fanned the fire that has been burning for long: If you truly wish to be strong you'll have to endure.
This could be it! Right now the young boy's dull eyes shone brilliantly. Stepping back up he faced the mannequin. Before his brain hardly had any thoughts, thinking wasn't something he concerned himself with. Rather he moved on instinct, an impulse from commands he heard. It was why Rye thought he was a robot. Now his old mind began to turn, a rusty machine moving its gears.
He didn't know how to fight. That was certain. No matter how hard he tried he wasn't going to make some miraculous comeback in this fight. This didn't matter however! If he didn't know how to fight, the mannequin clearly did! Use this moment, this loss, and step into the realm of fighters!
The mannequin moved fluidly, its whole body like a fine tuned machine meant to deal the most damage possible. The young boy didn't know how to defend, he could only attempt to mitigate the blow by moving his arms. It failed to help, the mannequin expertly avoided his hasty guards. So the young boy suffered blow after blow, his body growing ached by the moment.
Yet his eyes still shone. Every hit he took his eyes were glued to how the mannequin moved. He studied it like it was the last thing he'd ever do. Blow after blow landed on him, and at a certain point he couldn't stand anymore. The damage he received outmatched his will to keep going. Only capable of balling up and protecting himself he felt the mannequin continuously beat him.
Through the cracks of his hasty defense the young boy persisted on studying the mannequin. Eventually he could not take it anymore, and he felt what death was like. His eyes snapped open and his breathing increased in pace. Pausing for a moment he relaxed himself.
Rye gently let go of the boy's head. She calmly said, "You review what you learned."
Getting up from the chair she walked towards the door as she passed by Track she gently tugged at his arm. A gesture for him to follow. Track's eyes glanced between her and the boy before he nodded, "What she said is true. That'll be enough for today. Tomorrow you'll be back to physical training."
The young boy nodded and lay back onto the ground. His usual expressionless face now held a look of pondering. The other two left and moved to another room to speak in private. Track had noticed Rye was off since she let go of the boy, "What's on your mind?"
"He. . .", Rye's expression was currently unreadable, "He might actually be the one I was looking for."
What Rye wanted wasn't something easily found. As she grew up in this city she couldn't help but feel her ability was being wasted. Its activation requirement was too strict to provide any mental damage to enemies. Excluding the fact that she had to somehow get a hold of their head, she couldn't remove her hands until the fight was over. There was no time dilation, the time remained at a 1:1 ratio. Thus even if she did succeed, it would be useful exclusively for duels. In a city like this one on one combat was rare, and usually exclusive to gang leaders.
Thus she wanted to expand the use of her ability. She, along with Track's physical constitution mentoring, began to train a select few. However she vastly underestimated the mental strain her ability caused on the targets, and these few she trained rapidly went insane. So she stopped, quickly putting an end to these plans.
Despite her guilt on her actions, an inner desire still burned. A person capable of withstanding the mental strain of her ability, someone who could be thoroughly trained through it. They would need a significant amount of mental fortitude, and an unrelenting will to take such gruesome training. To the young boy, these came after years of hardship.
Who hadn't had hardship in this city? Where gang fights were common daily occurrences? Every civilian had a constant fear that something extreme might happen, and had to spend their lives cautiously. In case they accidentally offend a powerful gang. Yet they were still lacking. The young boy not only had a pain tolerance worthy of veterans from years of mindless abuse, but an unshakable fire that was burning the entire time.
Rye didn't know of this, but she was able to see the fight. The one sided beat down the young boy suffered wasn't light. Yet those eyes of his didn't dim in the slightest. Faced with such determination Rye felt her passion ignite again, and her heart couldn't help but accelerate from excitement.
Gripping Track's arms Rye looked him dead in the eye, "Holy shit you actually found the person I was looking for! If he keeps this up my dream would be fulfilled!"
"Calm yourself, we're still unsure. That was one time, who knows if he can keep up this pace."
"If he can, what will he be able to do?!", Rye's mind was abuzz.
"A fearsome person would be born, that's for sure."
"I. . . I can't just sit here and do nothing. You have that habit of writing down your plans. Tell me, we're gonna work together on this. I want to fine tune this to perfection."
Track couldn't help but feel nostalgia. He remembered the time in his past where Rye had this same excitement. A small chuckle escaped his lips, "Then let's work until sunrise."
"You know it!"
The two, fueled by an old burning passion, argued into the night about the most viable method to train the young boy. Perhaps in their excitement they forgot about how the young boy was going to take it all. It might be an oversight, or maybe it's well within the boy's capabilities. To him, there wasn't anything more he wanted than the warmth he felt during that party. Now with these two so gleefully taking care of his growth. . . yeah this will do just fine.
The young boy, with an expression a bit more lively, had a faint smile as he stared at the ceiling.