《DragonEra》


 A Normal Day and Great Interactions

    Have you ever heard the old saying, ¡°for every action there is an opposite or equal reaction.¡± What would happen if a person has done so much good in their life that an opposite reaction would occur when everything you know turns upside down and you just don¡¯t know what you did to deserve it¡­ And you start thinking, what is it that I can do to change that outcome? More good like saving people, or heinous crimes to get that opposite reaction. Well, ever since that day it¡¯s been like I¡¯ve been stuck in an infinite loop of what I could have done to change the outcome¡­ To change fate.


    It''s 8:30 in the morning in a brimming classroom full of students. Of course I don''t always work to be the most enthusiastic, but I''d rather be the most normal one out of all of them. In turn I always sit in the back in my own desolate environment. My name is Sora, Sora Sanano¡­ I''m around 15 and I guess if there''s one goal I have in mind it''s to become acknowledged. And not by any normal means, but by being the smartest and strongest¡­ That''s my dream and that''s who I want to be.


    Off in the distance, across the classroom you could see a girl with short and brown dazzling hair walking up to me with her hands at her back leaning forwards. Preparing herself to say hi to me, the desolate guy all the way at the back of the class.


    She approaches me and tells me, "Hi Sora!" I quickly tell her with a serious expression, do you always have to act like one of those Clich¨¦ anime girls around me? She quickly fixes her manner and tells me, "You don''t watch that stuff anyways, so how would you know." I respond with a sigh and follow it with a, "You know every guy knows where those poses come from¡­ right, Kuzu..." After that quick remark Kuzu looked at me with a disappointed face and said, "You''re no fun" As soon as she said that I responded with a "sure, whatever you say Kuzu."


    After that response I told her, "Hey Kuzu, thanks for always helping me out when I''m all alone. I know I''m awkward sometimes but it means a lot.¡± After that Kuzu¡¯s mood changed from a disappointed look to a gleeful expression telling me, "It''s only natural since we''re friends, right Sora?" I looked down at my table and I told her silently, "I guess so..."


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    I proceeded to look out the window with a happy expression telling myself that, "I guess it''s because of the way Kuzu is, she is packed full of energy, so much so that she never seems down, and on top of that, she''s able to put up with my shenanigans..." I started to look back at her with the same expression and as she stared at me she told me, "Hey Sora, are you okay?" I responded with, "Of course I''m okay."


    As soon as I said that the bell rang and it was about time we moved to our next class. I stood up and Kuzu told me to hurry up. As soon as I walked to the front of the class I decided to tell Kuzu to go to the next class and I''ll catch up. Reluctantly, she said, "Sure, whatever you say..." And moved on. I waited till the teacher was alone and I started to chat with her.


    After all, she is my favorite teacher. Her name is Ms. Bree. She has been helping me in most of my classes since she graduated from Harvard. To be honest, I don''t understand why she''d want to be a teacher since she graduated from that place.


    But, she keeps on telling us that having 24 students go to Harvard is much better than having 1 graduate student go into the working field, she¡¯d rather teach the next generation than help herself.


    I started to tell her about my grades and how math is becoming harder and harder. And of course she acknowledges my worries and tells me, "Listen Sora, you''re one of my best students. You can do this, just believe in yourself and work hard. With that you can accomplish most things in this world." Following those words, I told myself, "She''s telling the truth, I''m this strong and this smart because I believed in myself and worked hard this whole time."


    After telling myself that I stare at her and tell her with a smile, "Thank you Ms. Bree, you''re the best." After cutting the conversation short I dashed towards the door and said, "Kuzu, wait up!" And then I looked back for a second to see Ms. Bree waving at me and telling me, "good luck." I looked forward once again and ran across the halls thinking to myself, "I really am lucky to have such a great teacher like her.

 Friendship Stays Strong

    As soon as I left the class, I ran over to Kuzu so we could go into the next class. Once I catched up, I told her, "Kuzu, by any chance if you had the option, what would you change about your life?"


    Once I asked that, I noticed that Kuzu started to walk a little slower, as if she was deep in thought. After a few seconds she asked me, being very indecisive, "What would you change?" I looked at her and said, "absolutely nothing, I love my life and the times we spend together, it''s all so much fun." She looked at me with a smile and said, "Me too, I just thought you didn''t want me to say anything."


    I looked at her with a confused face and said, "What?" She looked back and told me, "Don''t worry about it, it''s nothing." After that remark, me and Kuzu decided to keep on walking to class, noticing we were both a bit late, we started dashing towards the door and saw one of our good friends Raigen doing the same.


    As we ran past student after student I decided to quickly tell Raigen what was slowing him down. He quickly replied with, "A girl..." As we were running I looked at him with Kuzu and we both said disappointingly, "A girl¡­ really¡­" Raigen kept on looking forward and told us that she had the most beautiful silver eyes, and the most beautiful blonde hair¡­ And before he could say anything else I cut him off and told him to tell us after school.


    Raigen stopped talking and quickly realized that we were 4 minutes late while looking down at his phone. He hastily told us, "Look at the time! We have to hurry up!" I looked at my phone and it was already 8:44.


    You see, usually normal schools don''t start until 8:00 a.m. but it''s different around here. Our schools start at 6:00 a.m. and even if that time looks like abuse we leave at 1:00 p.m. which is pretty early, but regardless¡­ We still have to make it to class! We rushed to the class like Usain Bolt and we arrived around 5 minutes late. When we arrived, Mr. Shtriker looked at us with a mildly disturbed face and told us with his German accent leaking a bi, "Huh, so you three have the gaul to show up even though you are 5 minutes late..." Raigen, Kuzu, and I immediately said "we''re sorry..." He face palmed himself and sighed. Right after that he told us, "Just go take a seat, I''m wasting too much time." We agreed to take our seats right after he said that and we continued our school day. Before we knew it, it was lunch time time and it was 10:40.


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    As we went to lunch we bumped into Johnny, he''s a very tall guy that is basically good at everything. I mean, he''s good at basketball, soccer, football, and more. To add on to the perfectness he''s even good at every subject. To be honest, you can see him being called an ace in anything standing at 6"4'' with dark black straightened hair, a perfect jawline, with a muscular but slim physique, and good grades.


    Since we all do sit together, we are basically the unique 4 when it comes to lunch. We always sit next to each other and it''s just something that looks weird. We have a pretty looking girl, a 6"4'' monster, a lady scout, and me¡­ A loner that always does his best behind the scenes.


    When all 4 of us sat at our table,  the day was pretty different from others... It was a more serious tone than any other days. Johnny looked down at his side of the table and told us that he''s moving. For me, I thought that this would eventually be the case even if we are freshman, Johnny far exceeds highschool standards.


    While he was explaining that we don''t have to worry much, all I could see was Kuzu and Raigen being stunned. Johnny kept on explaining and telling us what happened and how he got a call from a school overseas in Britain. He was thinking about going to it but he told them that he''d like to stick around for his freshman year.


    Of course they couldn''t reject a man they scouted and to top it off, it was a request from a prodigy like him. He looked at me and everyone else and told us, "I rejected the offer and asked for my acceptance at a later date because we have to enjoy life while we''re young right?"


    Raigen proceeded to talk about how Johnny sounded like a protagonist. And then I thought to myself, "He really is like a protagonist, he lives such an interesting life, and I''m just happy I''m a part of it." Before we knew it lunch ended and since the four of us had different classes, we had to go our separate ways. So we did and carried on with our school day like it was nothing.

 Hustle and A Lot of Talking

    Once class was done I couldn''t meet up with Raigen or Johnny since they left sooner. So, I decided to leave by my lonesome but as I approached the gates I saw Kuzu looking at the sky with her brilliant eyes, most likely thinking about the classwork and processing what Johnny said.


    I approached her and told her, "You should wake up, we have to walk for 30 minutes Kuzu, we should hurry up." At that moment, I saw Kuzu wake up as if her alarm just rang, and I snarkingly said, "Good morning sunshine, it''s past noon." She looked at me with her eyebrow pointing up and said, "Are you okay?" I looked at her and told her, "I am, why shouldn''t I be? I should be asking you that question¡­"


    Right after that remark Kuzu ignored my reply and said " don¡¯t worry about me¡± following the sentence by telling me I should relieve some stress and talk to more people, since the strongest and smartest person in the world should at least socialize.


    I stared at her for a brief second and started laughing while telling her, "I don''t need anyone else other than my friends and family." She looked at me in a weird expression that looked simultaneously happy and sarcastic and replied with, "You should really consider what I said Sora, but yeah I agree with you." I looked at her and I told her "Let''s get going before our parents start questioning us."


    After that statement, Kuzu quickly said, "Oh no my parents are gonna kill me..." I looked at her and said, "We better run then." She looked at me, grabbed my hand and said in a rushed voice, "Then let''s go!"


    We ran for 13 minutes and made quick work of our legs¡­ To be honest I''ve never felt so tired in my whole 3 months of being a freshman. And when I looked at Kuzu in her ripped gray jeans and a bland gray jacket... I thought that she might die from exhaustion from running like that.


    Well, what can I do, she does what she can and always does her best at it. Even if it is running like hell to make it to her house while holding on to me¡­ And then I looked around and realized that we were on the street that''s only a few blocks away from our houses with 5 minutes to spare.


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    I looked at an exhausted Kuzu and told her while gasping for air that we don''t need to run anymore because we''ve already arrived. She looked at me with a tired expression and started to tell me gasping for air as well, "alright, let''s walk..." I looked at her trying to keep myself from laughing and replied by saying, "sure, no problem..."


    Now thinking about it, I really am lucky I have done so much to get to this point in my life. Just to get my ideal friends, ideal strength, ideal intelligence, and an ideal family for now. I really couldn''t ask for more, I''m just so happy I can live a life like this.


    Before we realized it we were on the street with two of our good friends Tucker and Sariah lived in. Personally, I don''t really know Sariah, but Tucker is one of the big bullies that was in our 9th grade but apparently I changed him. As that thought crossed my mind Iheard a voice coming from the street yelling, "HEY, SORA AND KUZU!"


    I looked in the direction of the voice and saw Tucker running towards us. Without any time to react he went up to me and a tired Kuzu then proceeded to hug us both¡­ The crazy thing is that he used to be a bully.


    He stopped hugging us and told us where we were going. Looking at the time I told him that we''re going back to our house of course. He looked at his phone and said, "Oh yeah, you guys have your folks to go back to." I looked at him and said, "Yes we do..." Following that he told us to get going then.


    Without a second to spare Kuzu and I decided to keep on moving towards our house. While I told him, "Sorry we had to cut this short, Kuzu''s parents are gonna kill her if she doesn''t make it to her house, metaphorically speaking." Tucker proceeded to look at me with a weirded out face saying, "What do you mean metaphorically speaking..."


    And just before I accidentally started a tutoring session in basic English to just explain what metaphor is I told him to just look it up and we''ll talk about it later. As I said that, Kuzu started to yell at me and exclaim that ¡°the time is running out!¡±


    I rushed to her side and left Tucker with Sariah saying see ya guys later. Before we knew it, we arrived at the stop that me and Kuzu always depart at. Mainly because of the fact that we live on completely opposite roads... Basically, she goes right and I go left.


    As soon as we looked at the time we realized that we were almost late. So we quickly said goodbye and went to our houses. While running to my house alone I told myself something and it''s true¡­ "I really am happy I can spend these days like this."

 Time, Food, Family

    As I ran through the brightened up sidewalk thinking about my already average but perfect life all I could think about was talking to my parents. As soon as that thought passed through my head


    I remembered that it was Barbecue day and my dad was cooking. At that moment I really had to hurry up¡­ About 10 minutes passed by and I arrived at my house at around 1:45 p.m. and to be honest I was quite surprised I could run that fast and the other issue was that my parents would kill me if I didn''t.


    I walked to the doorway and knocked... then, I entered saying "I''m home." As soon as I said that all I could smell was the barbecue filled fragrance coming from the honey Barbecue and ribs sitting on the counter with my parents waiting there.


    I looked straight ahead and saw my dad sitting on the dinner table with my mom behind the counter cooking a few more things. And of course the first thing I hear is my dad''s almighty voice telling me, "How was school son." I replied with excitement, "It was fun to say the least... me, Kuzu, Raigen, and Johnny talked today..."  And because of those brief signs of hesitant words my dad asked, "What happened?"


    I responded with a monotone, "Johnny apparently is going abroad to study, and honestly it makes sense why he¡¯s moving away¡­" As soon as those words left my mouth my mom said from behind the counter while cutting some fruit up, "Why do you say that?" And I responded back with a "it''s obvious, why would he stay here when he could go study all the way in Britain..." as those words left my mouth I talked under my breath and said ¡°I don¡¯t even care¡­¡±


    That''s when both of them said some pretty inspiring words, first it was my dad with the line he always uses, "it''s his choice to make." With my mom finishing what he started by saying that, "He has friends and that''s something no amount of intelligence or money can get you, so who knows what¡¯ll happen, he¡¯ll be gone but he¡¯s still going to have you and the others no matter the distance."


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    I looked at her and my dad and asked them with a grin, ¡°is the food ready?¡± And then my dad looked at my mom and said, "dear, he''s right... Hurry up before we start eating all the Barbecue!" While having a smile on his face. My mom grinned while looking away and saying you guys better wait.


    Some time passed and we later decided to take a seat, eat the barbeque, and watch a few movies. Some scary and some not so scary... One was named I think Penny something, pretty sure it had a sequel and just one that was plain old disturbing¡­ But, that''s besides the point, as we were watching, Kuzu called to ask for some help with the homework, but sadly I had to turn her down.


    Luckily for me I had a good excuse, and that was thanks to my parents.


    Following that we went to a nearby mall and played some vr battle arena games pretty late at night, and thank god it was on a Friday cause we would be focused on just work and school the following day. Then, much sooner than later the time came and it was around 9:00 p.m. and to be honest it only felt like a few minutes.


    I remember my dad trying to shoot some zombies but completely failing since we weren''t used to full body movements and my mom completely shaming us saying moves like, "hammer of justice."


    Now that I remember it... It just gives me the chills. As soon as 9 came around we had to leave because it was getting pretty late. As we got into the car and started going back home I looked at the car thinking to myself with a plain face, "What if I drived..." At that moment I thought about getting hit by a truck and being sent to another world with my parents.


    And once that thought crossed my mind I decided to drive when I had the legal age when I could properly drive. Once we arrived at our house after a long day we decided to relax for a bit and talk to each other while viewing clips of us making fun of each other while doing the same poses.


    My favorite had to be the one when my dad said, "Where are those dang MONSTERS!!!..." And without even being able to finish the sentence me and my mom poked his back and he screamed like a little girl. Those moments, those times... I''ll always treasure them and I''ll always think about them even as the days pass. After all, you don''t realize how special moments are until the next day.

 Collapse

    Once we made it back it was about time for us to take a shower and go to sleep. I would''ve tried to not take a shower and put some cologne on but, my dad insisted on father and son bonding. I refused of course, the last thing I''ll do is get into the shower with my father when I''m already grown up¡­


    So, I went to take a quick 5 minute shower and headed to my room. Once I finished my shower and left to go to my room, the instant I walked out of the bathroom door I saw my mom standing there, next to the door with a thoughtful expression telling me that everything will be okay because your friends will always be there to help you.


    I looked at her for a brief moment thinking to myself, "she''s right" and soon following those thoughts I cracked a smile with the words, "I''m really lucky, huh..." She looked at me and told me, "Anyway Sora, it''s time for you to go to your room. Me and your father will stay in the living room if you need us." I looked at her and said, "okay mom, well goodnight."As I turned around she responded with a goodnight of her own.


    A few moments passed, and I walked to the staircase that leads up to the second floor of the house and I proceeded to walk up towards my room.


    As I looked down I could see my parents having a blast talking to each other and I reaffirmed myself by saying under my breath "I''m really lucky to have folks like you guys, thank you¡­"


    I went to my room and looked at my phone while my group chat was open. Raigen was going on about how pretty girls are and Kuzu giving him the not amused emoji. Being perfectly honest, the group chat is like a movie in itself... It''s so much fun to just watch. But as soon as I saw my phone the strangest urge for me to fall asleep kicked in and I put my phone down on my table and went to bed closing my eyes and looking forward to tomorrow¡­


    That¡¯s when I heard a cracking noise and saw a red light through my already closed eyes with loud thuds and banging. Thinking that it was a dream, I started to slowly open my eyes seeing my mom and dad attempting to wake me up. That¡¯s when I snapped, I woke up entirely and inhaled deeply, without me knowing I started to cough violently, realizing that I just inhaled smoke.


    I attempted to look around and the first thing I saw was my mother and father lying there barely breathing. My father was at the door holding back something as if we were being hunted and my mother on her knees with her hand reaching out to my hand, as I started to truly understand what situation we¡¯re in, with barely any time to react I grabbed my moms hand and stared at my father.


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    I instantly realized with my mom not responding, that I had to do something, and something fast.


    I quickly tried to put my moms arms over my shoulders and carry her to safety, when I managed to do that. The only thing I heard was constant cracking from the wood within the house and the feeling of heat emanating from the ground and the door.


    As I tried to lift her up, I felt as if my strength was zapped from me, my body became limp and I fell to the ground with her¡­ I tried again to lift her up. But, to no avail, it was impossible! Every time I tried to catch my breath I coughed over and over again losing more and more air.


    As I stared at them desperately trying to figure out a solution, I realized that I couldn¡¯t brute force it. I had to do something but every time I tried to think of a way to get out of this mess all I would think and see is as red as the flames that are about to barge into my room.


    I started to cry out in sheer panic, ¡°all I wanted was a life that I could live with my friends, be with my family, and be able to show them that I can be one of the smartest and strongest people!¡±


    As I continued contemplating I kept on pushing myself down... "I wanted to be the strongest but I can''t even move my mom or let alone myself... I wanted to be the smartest but there''s nothing I can think about to get out of this hell!"


    As I said those words I looked at my parents and said while crying, "I''m sorry... I''m sorry for not accomplishing anything, I''m sorry for not being able to do anything... I''m so sorry. But please, don''t leave me alone, don''t leave me behind!"


    As soon as those words came out of my mouth I started to hear sirens outside. And I devolved to just crying out for help. I screamed and yelled for help. The words that came out of my mouth were things I thought I''d never say, "SOMEONE! ANYONE! PLEASE HELP!" Those were my first words and then I continued with all the air I had left, "WE''RE ON THE SECOND FLOOR! PLEASE SOMEONE ANYONE! MY PARENTS ARE GOING TO DIE!"


    And... I got no response, I tried over and over without being able to do anything. With the thought running through my head, "Was this really, what my life led up to... was all the good I''ve done amounted to this, why... WHY DID AN OPPOSITE REACTION HAVE TO HAPPEN!" "Should''ve I done more crude things, Should''ve I been less nice to people... or did I really deserve this since I didn''t do that much."


    Those words kept on repeating in my head over and over again. Then, I looked at my parents lifeless body with the noises of sirens outside and the room starting to be engulfed with flames. I looked at them with my body and mind blacking out and then I said¡­ "I''m sorry... for being so useless..." And then As I looked on to the red ceiling I laid on my back and raised my right hand to the ceiling reaching out for help and said once again..."I''m sorry..."


    As those words left my mouth the building started to crack on the roof and it fell. The building that was once a haven and a family to Sora had collapsed with no warning falling on Sora and his family¡­

 Realization and Regret

    ¡°Hey kid!¡± ¡°Kid!¡± ¡°Why am I fading in and out of consciousness¡­¡±, ¡°Hey kid¡± ¡°Stay back little girl,¡± ¡°NO HE¡¯S MY FRIEND!¡± As I fade in and out of existence I manage to wake up from my eternal slumber. As per what I saw in my first moments was a blur of pure white, as I saw the heavenly lights I asked myself, ¡°Is this Heaven?¡± As the moment became more clear I had realized the light was not that but the light coming from the ceiling, I instantly corrected my phrase and said, ¡°no¡±


    I started to stare at my surroundings and scrape things together and start to think about what happened to me, why was I hospitalized? And why am I in a hospital bed with my memories as vague as the ocean''s deepness.


    While searching my memories I realized that everything was a blur until I saw something on my right arm. A scar that looked like a tree or a lightning bolt coming from my hand all the way up to my shoulder. That¡¯s when Irecalled my ¡°Final moments¡­¡±


    I was in a fire, and there was no way out, flames engulfed my room, and as I tried to escape I failed¡­ That¡¯s when someone appeared from the door directly horizontal from my hospital bed and then he shouted, ¡°HE¡¯S AWAKE!¡± Not knowing what was going on, all I could do was stay on the bed thinking about what happened to me, all I could remember was a horrible fire and¡­ M¡­ MY PARENTS! I lounged out of bed despite being tied up to multiple life sustaining machines and shouted at him, ¡°Where are they!¡± As I grabbed his shirt with a tired and distressed face.


    Confusingly the doctor asked, ¡°where¡¯s who?¡± With a somewhat startled expression. Then I replied with a blank stare and tears started to build up again. ¡°What do you mean where¡¯s who?- Damn it¡­¡± I stopped for a second and continued, ¡°Where¡¯s my parents¡­¡± As I struggled to say those words I had tried to maintain my composure but failed with my tears streaming down my face.


    I let go of his shirt and continued questioning him, ¡°who found me and how did I survive?¡± He stared at me with grief and said, ¡°follow me kid, if you want to understand what happened¡­¡± Even though the procedure is to keep the patient in their room until they are at least physically well I decided to follow him.


    That''s when he told me why he¡¯s doing this, and it¡¯s because of how sorry he feels. I followed him down the long corridor with both bodies, patients, and pale white walls with blue lines stretching across to every room door as he explained everything to me.


    As he stared at my hopeless face he started off by saying the one line that families never wish to hear, ¡°I¡¯m sorry to say this.¡± Then he continued to say the words that I never wanted to hear but at the same time the exact words I had already suspected. ¡°Your parents are gone.¡± My heart felt like it sank right into a river, but since I already felt like that was going to be the case, I was able to at least look like I was under control.


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    He then started to explain to me in detail what happened on that tragic night that according to him was 3 days ago. ¡°You see, kid, after your house collapsed with all of those flames, all the firefighters could do was try and contain the flames until it was completely suppressed and move on to find any stragglers. That¡¯s when they spotted a hand through the flames, with scorch marks, and as you possibly guessed that was your hand.¡±


    ¡°Luckily, since the firefighters saw it, they instantly checked to make sure you were alive even though you were under the rubble¡­¡± And once they did, although weak there was a pulse, you were alive and because of that we were able to save you.¡±  And even though it seems like one of your friends tried to rush over they came through and got you out¡­¡±


    Soon after those words I questioned him further, ¡°So what of my parents?¡± That¡¯s when he looked away and said, ¡°I¡¯ll let someone else explain.¡± So we kept on walking down the corridor. That¡¯s when we saw an open door with a familiar face, and it was my friend Chidon with his mother standing behind him. He stared at me and told me, ¡°are you okay?¡± I replied with my face full of dried tears and told him with a brief expression of relief. ¡°don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m okay.¡±


    Chidon replied with a serious expression, ¡°though you do know that¡­'''' and before he could finish the sentence, I responded, ¡°yeah¡± and then his mother told me that my parents saved me, they covered me as the building collapsed, once I was found and they removed the rubble the people on top were my parents full of holes, blood, and scorch marks all over their clothes and bodies. According to Chidon¡¯s mother and to my knowledge they got enough strength to protect me before it was too late¡­


    I looked at them and the mother with a burdened face and said simply, ¡°I thought so...¡± At that moment I felt as if at any second I would break down and start losing myself, but before that happened I hastily asked if I could use the restroom¡­ where no one else could hear me, Chidon told me that ¡°it¡¯s fine, go use it¡± and I instantly went in and I couldn¡¯t hold it back anymore, my face became covered in regret, weakness, and what¡¯s more pure hopelessness, ¡°it¡¯s all my fault! they died, and I was the one responsible, I wasn¡¯t¡­¡± is what I said as I was losing myself in the restroom.


    But, as soon as those words came out of my mouth, another familiar face with a familiar voice showed up and knocked the door down behind me saying that ¡°everything is going to be okay" I turned around and then she hugged me¡­ That¡¯s when I was able to see what was happening in front of me, a girl with dazzling brown short hair, It was Kuzu.


    I shakingly spoke as the tears continued to flow down my face, ¡°how can you put up with a failure like me, I can¡¯t be anything except a useless idiot with no strength, power, determination, or intelligence to do anything¡­¡± And then she stopped hugging me to say these simple words ¡°because you¡¯re you.¡±


    She told me about the time I protected her from bullies by putting myself in front of them, how I gave her lunch when she had none, and how no matter the situation I stayed the same, always doing the right thing. And while she kept on explaining how I helped her I told her that ¡°I¡¯m not all that, I couldn¡¯t protect the people dear to me and I couldn¡¯t even protect myself!¡± Then that¡¯s when she said those words¡­ ¡°You protected me.¡± Thanks to those words my emotions peaked and I hugged her again and I kept on crying on her shoulder, unable to hear anyone and even myself...

 Grievance and Goodbye

    After a few minutes passed by, I managed to calm down and take a seat next to Chidon and his mother. He looked at me with a stern face and told me, ¡°Listen, you¡¯ve helped us for long enough, now it¡¯s time for us to do the same.¡±


    He looked at his mother and as she looked straight back at Chidon she proceeded to look at me and said, ¡°If you¡¯d allow it, we have an extra room, we¡¯ll take you in Sora¡±. As she asked, she asked me all I could do was reply with, ¡°sure, I¡¯ll live with you guys.¡±


    After those words exited my mouth, I knew that there was another reason as to why they asked me. A child that tragically lost his parents at the ripe age of 15, showed that he is obsolete and his dreams being crushed both figuratively and literally¡­


    I put all those pieces together and came to the conclusion that they didn¡¯t want me to do anything irrational, and for that, I stared at them with my desolate eyes and thanked them from the bottom of my broken heart.


    A little after I thanked them, a man came into the room and gave Chidons mother some papers, telling her to have it signed by the end of the day so she could be considered as my guardian. Because, to be honest, as I stared at those papers I had realized that my grandparents were already dead, and they had been for a long time¡­ and I had no other blood relatives other than my parents, which I¡¯d rather not recall.


    Before I knew it, an hour passed. I stood up from my seat and so did Chidon, his mother, and in the corner of the room¡­ the girl that always stayed by my side, Kuzu. After that, the doctors were able to discharge me in just a few hours and we were able to get out of the hospital.


    As we left the hospital Chidons mother told me, ¡°Don¡¯t worry we¡¯ll take care of you.¡±  Although she did say that, I couldn¡¯t really take it to heart¡­ I felt as if I was empty, my heart was gone¡­ In pieces, fractured beyond repair¡­


    I stared at her with the best acting smile and said, ¡°thank you...¡± When we arrived at the car Chidon told me as he gave me a serious looking yet relaxed and confident expression, ¡°listen, just ask, and I¡¯ll help you with anything. You¡¯re my best friend and I¡¯ll always be here for you.¡± I stare back at him and tell him the same thing I told his mother with the same expression, ¡°thank you.¡±


    As I did that, I started to think about what would happen if anything like this happened to any of my friends¡­ if another opposite reaction occurs again, if Kuzu dies even if she told me I protected her or Chidon dying because I wasn¡¯t a good enough friend.


    If anything happens to them because of my own weakness or anyone else dear to me, I¡­ I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll be able to do anything to help myself get over it, not my dearest friends that might still be alive or even me¡­


    This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    Around 30 minutes after we left the hospital we arrived at Chidon¡¯s house and that gave me enough time to come to a decision.


    As we exited the car, I had a dead look in my eyes, as if my soul was drained out of me, looking up periodically to see where I was going, but mostly looking down at the ground hiding my expression from Chidon and his mother.


    As we went into the house, Chidon and his mother walked me towards my room and both of them said, ¡°our house is your house.¡± And I looked back at them and said nothing back.


    The following days I just ate in my room and slept, completely ignoring school with Chidon checking up on me from hour to hour and sometimes just sitting on my bed while telling me the stories of his other school as I stayed in my bed covered by the sheets.


    Even though I was just trying to get some sleep, he stuck around and told me all of that stuff and then around 60% of the time as he left the room he would say, ¡°if there¡¯s an issue just tell me, okay¡­¡± I always respond to him with a ¡°okay¡­¡± and then I''d fall asleep soon after.


    This process kept on happening over and over, day to day, night to night. until the funeral of my parents, that came around in two weeks, and of course I went to their funeral, I may have been a sorry excuse of a productive human not even going to school for the past few days, but this was important.


    Without any words I looked at their coffins, one of them was a red colored wooden coffin and the other a white colored coffin. The Red one belonging to my father and the white one to my mother representing their favorite colors all the while closed, but having their dismembered bodies inside.


    As I looked at them I turned around and saw all of my friends occupying the seats and their parents too. As the seconds passed by there was pure silence from everyone, even Kuzu.


    And I said to myself, ¡°well what could they say¡­ reality is right in front of me and I can¡¯t change it. Unless¡­¡±


    After I said those words in my mind, before I knew it, the funeral ended and we all went home.


    As for me, when we arrived at Chidons house, I waited and fell ¡°asleep¡± until it was night time and everyone else was asleep. Once the time had arrived, I wrote a quick letter to not waste too much time and I placed it right on top of my bed.


    After that, I quickly but stealthily left the house with my dead expression leaving the building with a brief remark that sounded more enthusiastic than what I had been for the past weeks, ¡° I promise¡­¡±


    So, I arrived at the door, and for one last time I looked back and recalled some sweet memories of me, Kuzu, and Chidon as 10 year olds running around while our parents looked at us and laughing, I looked back at the door, closed my eyes opened it and left without a sound¡­

 Missing

    Later that morning, Chidon woke up to do his daily routine, exercise for a bit and then check up on Sora before heading to school. But, something about that day had felt different than others, he couldn¡¯t point out exactly what it was, but it was constantly bothering him.


    Right after his exercises, Chidon entered his house and talked to his mother to check out if there was any news of Sora, after all, Chidon felt as if Sora took it especially bad. At first his mom said that Sora didn¡¯t even come down to eat breakfast today and it really worried her.


    Chidon replied to his mom and told her that, ¡°it¡¯s fine, Sora gets up after he gets knocked down, after all, that¡¯s just the type of guy he is.¡±


    After those words Chidon went to go check up on Sora, as he arrived he knocked on the door to make sure he could come in and there was no response. Chidon knocked again adding on the words, ¡°Sora, are you okay in there?¡± And there was no response once again.


    At first thought to Chidon, it was normal after all, Sora just lost his parents and just attended their funeral. What could¡¯ve happened?


    And that¡¯s when it clicked, Sora just attended his parents funeral and as he came back in their car from the funeral there was a determined look on Sora¡¯s face as if he was going to do something that would be irredeemable.


    Chidon knocked on the door one final time and said, ¡°I¡¯m coming in¡­¡± As soon as those words left Chidons mouth he opened the door slowly and with a somewhat loud creak. As the door opened Chidon realized that there was no movement coming from the bed, it had a lump like that of a human but almost inanimate.


    Chidon instantly realized this and he ran to Sora¡¯s bed, grabbing the bed sheets and removing them as fast as possible, instantly realizing that there was nobody on the bed¡­ No Sora, just blankets and pillows rolled up into a ball hastily made to look like a person


    As Chidon witnessed this in front of his eyes, he broke a cold sweat and instantly called his mother to get to him as fast as possible with the voice of urgency, ¡°Mom! Hurry up, something''s wrong!¡± She then responded with ¡°what is it!?¡±


    Before Chidon could respond he saw something strange at the corner of his eye as he was shaking. He looked at it and realized it was a letter, he quickly grabbed it and read it to himself¡­


    The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.


    ¡°Hey, Chidon, by the time you¡¯re reading, I will be long gone. I''m grateful to you and your mother for taking care of me these past couple of weeks, you gave me a home to stay in, a place for me to take refuge. But, I¡¯m sorry I have to go¡­ Tell Kuzu I¡¯m sorry and that I¡¯m also grateful to her for telling me how much she cared for me¡­ Do the same for everyone that attended the funeral and especially my friends. All I have to say are these few words and then I¡¯ll be gone¡­ I promise.¡±


    As Chidon read those words in his mind he ruined up the paper within his hands whether it was due to pure fear, anger, or hopelessness and he quackingly called his mom as he kept on sweating, ¡°MOM CALL THE COPS, SORA¡¯S GONE!¡±


    In great shock from the kitchen Chidon¡¯s mother said, ¡°WHAT!¡± and then she pieced it together, ¡°he¡¯s gone¡­¡±


    She quickly grabbed the phone and called 911 and filed a missing person report, having police come in only a few minutes after the call and a search party had started for Sora, a kid with darkish brown hair, dark brown eyes, around 5¡¯8, and just 15 years old.


    Soon following that call, Chidon called Tucker, Johnny, Sariah, and so many others to go on the search for Sora, having the last call be the most noticeable one, Kuzu.


    As Chidon talked to Kuzu, it sounded as if all reasoning with Kuzu went out the window and anything that Chidon tried to do or say was considered to be null and void amongst her Kuzu¡¯s Shouting through the phone


    She would say how much of an idiot Chidon was and why couldn¡¯t he do the one stupid job that was just taking care of one person. The argument went back and forth, Chdion argued back saying ¡°I TRIED MY BEST! WHY ARE YOU MAD DOGGING ME?!¡± And Kuzu talked back angrily with, ¡°CLEARLY YOUR BEST WASN¡¯T ENOUGH!¡±


    As Chidon was met with those words, all he could do was clench up his left fist as his right hand was on his phone holding it up to his right ear. And with a discouraged voice Chidon responded with, ¡°I¡¯m sorry, but we have no time.¡±


    Kuzu stayed silent and said only one word, ¡°okay¡­¡± And then she instantly hung up. In just 30 minutes after the call, the streets were filled with the name Sora, everyone kept on updating each other in the certain locations they had already checked with their phones. Sirens rang through the streets and police officers kept on going door to door to find Sora.


    Sadly there were no security cameras set up across the neighborhood since it was relatively safe and because of that the search had been hopeless


    Day one of trying to find Sora was out of the question, So they waited till the next day.


    As they searched far and wide from neighborhood to neighborhood and house to house, no one knew the whereabouts of Sora. No one was able to find him, not Chidon, one of his best friends from childhood, and not even Kuzu, the person that stuck by him when he was at his lowest.


    As time passed, Kuzu kept on running and running endlessly to find Sora, but to no avail.


    Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months, and eventually¡­ After six months the search was over and Sora was pronounced dead¡­

 Whispers of the Past- Looking Towards the Future

    6 hours before Chidon woke up, in the location where everything ended, an individual with a cloak and striped clothes with black jeans approached the wreckage of his already deceased parents.


    As he stands there in the pitch black of night, he sees everything that has happened and how his life has changed completely.


    As he looked at the rubble, he stood there for a minute, cracked his arm and stretched a bit hearing the crack from his bones relieving as much tension as possible. Sora took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, calming his mind.


    Then he started to look at the travesty of the destroyed house. At that moment he realized that the rubble hadn''t moved an inch, most likely since it was so sudden¡­


    Sora started to search the incinerated house for thirty minutes, just to find something that he could keep as a memoir and not lose himself in what he was going to do.


    As he searched, he saw a purple shirt with scorch marks on it, but still in somewhat good condition with silver roses on the left arm, just on the opposite side of his thunder like scars on his right arm and just a bit torn across its chest area.


    As Sora looked at it he picked it up and he said to himself under his breath, ¡°hmm¡­ I guess¡­ I should be happy this survived, it really brings back memories, like that time we went to karaoke, that mall, and the games we played together¡­¡±


    Sora continued with one solemn tear dripping down the right right side of his face as he looked down at the shirt, ¡°Those were great times, and I''m glad we spent them together¡­ Even till the last minute of your lives¡­¡±


    Rain started to pour as those words left his mouth although it should¡¯ve not been raining that night, ¡°I guess it¡¯s time for me to move on, mom, dad, please watch over me¡­ i¡¯m going to try to change myself and that¡¯s why,¡­ I promise,¡­ I¡¯ll get stronger and smarter to protect the people I deeply care about¡­¡±


    Sora clenches his hand with the shirt grasped onto it¡­ as he thought about his friends, ¡°Although, I am leaving all of them behind, I hope they can live a life without me, everyone, please stay alive just long enough for me to get stronger.¡±


    Sora turns around and looks away from his house and with a determined look he starts to walk away, leaving the tarnished house all the while losing everything and leaving everything in the past while moving confidently towards the future¡­ Like a warrior that¡¯s about to tackle his destiny.


    7 months after Sora officially left his past behind¡­ Over the mountain tops of a desert, you can see a figure overlooking a city and checking out nature taking its course, animals fighting animals, plants doing what they can to survive¡­ And the cloaked individual says a line.


    Have you ever heard the old saying, ¡°for every action there is an opposite or equal reaction.¡± What would happen if a person has done so much good in their life that an opposite reaction would occur when everything you know turns upside down and you just don¡¯t know what you did to deserve it¡­ And you start thinking, what is it that I can do to change that outcome? More good like saving people, or heinous crimes to get that opposite reaction. Well, ever since that day it¡¯s been like I¡¯ve been stuck in an infinite loop of what I could have done to change the outcome¡­ To change fate¡­¡±


    Well, in order for me to move past that infinite loop, I needed to get stronger¡­ The perspective turns upon the cloaked individual''s face. My name is Sora, Sora Sanano I¡¯m 16 and I have been wandering for the course of a year to gain knowledge and strength¡­


    I¡¯ve Left my home, my friends, and my school back in Florida to gain knowledge and strength¡­ For crying out loud, I can speak multiple languages somewhat fluently and I¡¯ve stocked up on ways to help people, both mentally and physically¡­


    I have learned many fighting techniques, self defense, taekwondo, karate, brazilian jiu jitsu, and so much more¡­


    All because, ever since that day, I¡¯ve been trying to make it so the opposite reaction wouldn¡¯t happen and I could change fate itself, although it¡¯ll be difficult I¡¯m much more determined than what I used to be.


    I¡¯ve been through New York, Maine, Texas and¡­ I guess that¡¯s it, I walked and practiced all that time in my lonesome making some allies anonymously and leaving them behind as well.


    Over these last couple of months it''s been pretty interesting to say the least. Before that day, I was normal and even the days that preceded it were also normal taking into consideration what happened.


    But, after that fact, I became parentless, friendless, and school less. Sora put a fake smile up as the wind blew across his face and laughed in a weak manner, ¡°Hehe, thinking back, it really feels like it was just yesterday when I turned out like this, and my frien¡­¡±


    Sora stopped before he finished the sentence and said, ¡°Never mind them, I want to stay out here for a bit longer and train even more so I could go back without any regrets.¡±


    Sora stood up and said, ¡°Whelp, I guess it¡¯s about time I train even more while I¡¯m in the middle of this waste land¡­¡± Sora started to walk down the mountain in the blazing sun and talked to himself,


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    ¡°Umm, okay then I guess I should get started.¡± As soon as Sora says those words he drops down on my stomach and starts to do as many pushups in temperatures that feel like it¡¯s in the 100¡¯s.


    As Sora starts doing his push-ups he starts to internally monologue, ¡°I would always start at 1 and go all the way up to 50 and take a few seconds to cool down and drink water then do that 25 more times.


    Soon after, I would follow the push-ups with sit ups, squats, Russian Twists, and etcetera.Then ending it with a nice 20 minute plank at the end for core abdominal strength. And even though it sounds unhealthy, I¡¯ve made a lot of gains these past couple of months. All the while, living in my little abandoned shack.


    In addition, I¡¯ve been able to go to Houston Texas and come back with a bit of water and get in a few fights with animals in the area to have a good amount of food. On top of that, I haven''t lost one ounce of knowledge since I¡¯ve left.


    Honestly, I might''ve gained even more knowledge than I anticipated. I went to the Houston public library and did research on medicinal techniques and tested them out on myself. Honestly, I''m surprised I haven¡¯t died yet, there were a couple occasions where I almost did, making medicine and either making myself unable to breathe, immense muscle pain, rapid cellular deterioration, but I was able to get through it¡­


    As I look back at it, I really have done a lot, ever since I left everything behind. Plus, with medicine, I also read up on basic treatment methods, parts of the bodies and how they are affected by physical and strenuous activities or abnormalities.


    An example of something abnormal within the body would be a bullet wound, knife wound, and anything else up the ladder and while I was in the library I took the liberty of learning other languages¡­


    After all those exercises I ended up getting a headache and decided to go to sleep since I didn¡¯t really have anything that could help me recover from a headache at the time, So, I returned to my shack without being able to go to Houston and got some necessary rest to recover.


    On the following day, I woke up good as new without any type of problem, so I did my daily regime all over again, the 50 and 20 min as I¡¯d like to call it. Then I went on a nice run to Houston which is about 20 miles away so nobody would question who or what I am.


    And in around 3 hours I arrived at Houston and brought my cloak to hide my identity from anyone who might recognize me and from the people in the streets.


    As soon as I''d arrived everything seemed normal, just a normal day, I was walking over to the public library and then I heard something¡­ I heard a bang and then I witnessed a man running past me with great desperation.


    As he ran past me I grabbed onto his jet black jacket with my bandaged right arm and tried to gather some information to try and speak to him and he shouted towards me, ¡°GET OUT OF THE WAY!¡±


    When I saw the way he reacted and the rush that man showed I instantly looked at the street that he was running from and saw a crowd of people surrounding something with people screaming and yelling ¡°Someone call the police call the ambulance!¡±


    I look back at him and without a second to spare, he grabs a pistol from under his jacket that''s hidden under his shirt and aimed it at me, then shot it at my chest.


    As I feel the bullet slow down and an image of my past self tumbles to the ground bleeding out as a lifeless corpse. I wake up and with a serious expression I tell myself that I''ve changed¡­


    As of now, I have a lot more skill than the weaker image of my past, of which I used to be.


    Thanks to all the reading and training I''ve done. I¡¯m able to read the bullet''s trajectory before it even hits me along with the man''s movements and compared to a wild mountain lion, I came to realize that this is nothing¡­.


    I instantly started to use self defense techniques, I dodged the bullet as soon as I heard the sound from the gun and grabbed his right arm, as soon as I did that I went behind him holding his arm with the strongest grip I can muster and I throw him down, jumped, and put my legs on his neck. And within a few seconds I took out a rope from under my cloak that I use to capture wild animals and hog tie him like a wild beast.


    Soon following that encounter, with great haste I made it to the crowd of people and saw a man lying down on the floor with a bullet wound constantly bleeding without stopping, I looked at him thinking I made the right choice¡­


    I first shout out to the crowd, ¡°does anybody have something that can fit the hole and work as a pincer?¡± But no one responded, so I took matters into my own hands. I took part of my shirt and wrapped it around his wound to try and stop him from bleeding out.


    Later on I calmed him down so the blood didn''t keep on gushing out. And within 3 minutes the medics arrived at the scene with a stretcher and did some basic life support methods to help him live.


    They picked him up and took him to the hospital, but right before they left, I told them to call the police because the culprit was over there. And with disbelief they look over and with shock and see a man tied down with rope unable to do a thing.


    As soon as they see that man, I start walking away and they ask me ¡°why?¡± I looked back and I told them, ¡° It¡¯s because he has someone to go back to.¡± I looked away and continued walking once again.


    While I was walking away, I thought to myself, ¡°that¡¯s if he¡¯s not like me¡­¡± As soon as I said that I remembered everyone, Chidon, Kuzu, Johnny, Tucker¡­ Everyone, and what has led me to this point.


    I looked forward and grinned softly, then I corrected myself, ¡°I guess everyone does have someone to go back to, even if they don¡¯t want to, but what I saw in that man was a will to live and move on with life.¡±


    With that rather happy ending, I go to the public Library and do some extra research on a few more fighting techniques and some other ways to treat people more effectively like that man.


    Once I was done I left without a sound walking through the same street and running the same 20 miles going back to the shack and going back to taking on some animals for food; then going back to sleep¡­


    The next day will be a new day, or basically a rinse and repeat for me is what I keep on telling myself everyday, unless I decide to go back¡­


    I look down at the ground after I cooked the fresh meat I was able to skewer and tell myself, ¡°Well, I guess it doesn¡¯t hurt to pay a visit once in a while¡­¡± That¡¯s when I thought to myself, ¡­ ¡°I should go back in a few weeks. Because to be honest unless the world changes, there really isn¡¯t a reason for me to stay here and to be honest I have learned plenty¡­¡±


    ¡°Oh well, I guess time will tell, I then go back to the shack with my and look at the wall to see a shirt with scorch marks with the same roses on the opposite side of my arm that has the scars from that day and I said to myself, ¡°isn¡¯t that right mom.. Dad.¡±

 A New Way of Living

    Around three days passed after the incident and all I was able to do was the same thing, train and learn. But, then arrived a day that was quite different from the others.


    When I was leaving the city to go back to the shack I saw a brawny looking guy standing next to a jeep made for exploring the terrain. So, without knowing why he was there I approached him, knowing how most likely it was going to turn out.


    When I approached him he was going to give a call to his friends inside the jeep to try and jump me, ¡°just great¡­¡± I say to myself, sounding tired. So with no intention of taking the long way to my shack I decide to approach the man with confidence in my skill and then I go past him.


    He then says, ¡°Are you the guy?¡± In a very monotone voice as if he were trying to talk to me privately. And I responded to him with a ¡°What if I am¡­¡± He then told me ¡°thank you.¡±


    Boggled out of my mind I turned around to see him lifting his shirt with a scar on his body and many stitches, that¡¯s when it clicked. So, I tell him, ¡°are you the guy that was shot?¡±


    He replied with an enthusiastic ¡°yes¡± followed up by another comment saying he wants to repay me. And so I took the opportunity to tell him to take me where I lived, Showed him the map and everything in detail to arrive.


    At first he seemed confused because he would¡¯ve not expected someone to live that far out and walk back and forth to the city but in minutes he asked me to get into his jeep with more of his words saying that, ¡°Alright kid I¡¯ll take you over there to repay my debt.¡±


    I went into his jeep right next to the driver''s seat and he told me, ¡°What¡¯s your name kid.¡± I quickly responded to him, ¡°I thought adults had more brains to know that if they ask for a name they should introduce themselves first¡­¡±


    He laughed at the question and responded with, ¡° I like you kid, you really are straight forward, I like that, my name is Kobadera Sukehito.¡± I stared at him and grinned telling him, ¡°my name is Sora Sanano.¡±


    I asked him with a grin, ¡°What type of American name is Kobadera Sukehito? It doesn¡¯t really roll off the tongue like any normal American name.¡± He quickly responded with ¡°Same to you, Sora S-¡­¡± I then told him before he could finish my name ¡°don¡¯t even try it.¡± He then looked at me with a grin and started the car and went to my shack.


    Around thirty minutes the silence in the Jeep was gone when he told me, ¡°What brought you to the middle of nowhere like this¡­¡± I stared at him and he glanced briefly towards me saying with an understanding voice, ¡°you don¡¯t have to tell me anything kid if you don¡¯t want to.¡±


    I look down to my hands shaking and think to myself, ¡°I don¡¯t need to hide it, it¡¯s not going to affect me too much, but why- why am I still this afraid...¡± I start nervously talking away, ¡° My family died in a fire about a year ago because I couldn¡¯t do anything to save them. It started¡­¡±


    Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.


    I stopped for a second to catch my breath and he told me to ¡°Stay calm and say it slowly, you don¡¯t have to rush an explanation.¡± I took a deep breath and said that it started in my room, ¡°it was a normal day until that point, I smelled fire¡­ I- I woke up and all I could see were my parents, just lying there I tried my best to help them, but¡­, the flames consumed everything, because of my weak mind and body I couldn¡¯t do anything to save them¡­ I couldn¡¯t, all I could do was scream and plead for help¡­¡±


    After that sentence, memories started to flood in and I started to cry like before and continued, ¡° I was useless! I really couldn¡¯t do anything, my friends tried but they couldn¡¯t change the past.¡± As I continued he stared at the road with a serious expression and told me ¡°kid¡­¡± I stopped and he said, ¡°how old are you,¡± I told him I was 16 with weakness in my voice.


    Soon after, he told me ¡°you don¡¯t have to say anything else, because I know how it feels like. The inability to save anyone, being too weak to do anything¡­¡± I stop and look at him and ask him, ¡°What do you mean?¡± He pushes the breaks and stops the jeep abruptly and says,


    ¡°The other day when you rescued me, that guy that you took down was able to take a shot on his actual victim, it was a young lady¡­ at the time I was walking to a shop to get some materials when I heard a gunshot with distant screams and cries then a thud as if someone hit the ground.¡±


    I ran towards the screams to see what was going on thinking about what I could do, but as soon as I arrived, I hit a cold realization¡­ I couldn''t do anything¡­


    I couldn¡¯t give her first aid and when I called for help no one knew what to do, I didn''t even think about using my phone since someone had already called the police and ambulance.


    So, in an act of revenge I tried to catch up to the guy to fight him and turn him in so the authorities wouldn''t struggle but before I knew it I became another victim, he realized he was being chased, turned around with his gun then shot me.


    Without any strength left in my body I was forced to do nothing, that¡¯s when you came in, I could barely see it¡­


    You took him down easily, made use of your surroundings and even personal belongings to save me or at least provide first aid to a gunshot wound until the ambulance carried me onto the stretcher.


    Before I knew it, I was discharged and asked questions on the second day after that. They asked me if I knew the girl, and of course I had to say no, but soon after the question I responded with is she okay, and they said that she passed away¡­


    A brief moment of silence filled the atmosphere and at that moment you could hear the clenching of Kobadera¡¯s hands on the leather.


    At that moment I was so angry at myself, so pissed that I really couldn¡¯t do anything to stop what was happening.


    However, kid, listen to me, the past is the past and the future is also influenced by the past, but, if you do things in the present to try and make that future brighter, for me that''s enough atonement for what has happened.


    I mean, look at me, a 37 year old man with a scar from a gun wound now. Although I couldn¡¯t do much, I at least tried. But look at you, in one year you spent all this time trying to make the future better for everyone and even your friends that you couldn¡¯t mention.


    That alone proves how strong you are and with a mind made of steel to boot.¡±


    As Kobadera started up the Jeep again, I stared at him and said quietly, ¡°thank you¡± . Still listening to the jeep roaring engine he asked Sora ¡°Yes kid?¡± As if he didn''t I then reply with a happy smile and say, ¡°don¡¯t worry about it.¡±


    Then right before he starts to drive he looks at me with a grin and looks back at the road driving towards my shack.

 The Past and Present

    Around an hour after that talk we arrived at the destination, and I looked at him saying ¡°thanks for the ride and the talk.¡±


    Right after those words looks at me with a blank expression and says surprisingly, ¡°what¡­ in the heck are you doing living in that piece of trash shack kid¡­¡±


    I responded with a ¡°Did you really have to censor yourself like that?¡± Kobadera then said ¡°Are you 18?¡±


    I stared at him with the same blank expression he gave me and then I told him to ¡°Shut up!¡±


    After those words Kobadera hit his face while saying quietly, ¡°Oh my god, a kid like you, living inside a little shack like that.¡±


    He later told me to pick up my stuff because I¡¯m moving, ¡­ without a second thought I said sure. I picked up the shirt and everything else and off we went back into the city and out the opposite direction from my shack.


    I looked back and told myself, ¡°oh well, I guess it¡¯s time to move on from that shack.


    Around an hour after we left the city we arrived at a pub that looked pretty old school¡­ Basically 90% of it was made out of wood.


    Once we arrived, I looked at Kobadera, and I guess because of how nice he is, and mostly because of how hard it is to say Kobadera I asked him if I could call him Sukehito.


    After that sentence he responded, ¡°You can call me whatever¡­ whatever makes it easier to address me.¡± I keep on staring at him and then look away with a grin on my face and am almost relieved by those words that he just told me, making me think that I¡¯m not alone anymore.


    A few minutes after he told me what I could call him Sukehito showed me around his pub. First he showed me the main area where people would be able to grab a drink and have fun in.


    Next it was the basement where he had most of his drinks refrigerated and then the attic where he told me I could live as long as I could keep watch on the pub and help out once in a while.


    Without any choice in the matter, instead of walking for 5 to 7 hours to go back to the shack I thanked him and said, ¡°okay¡± following that word I told him I¡¯ll be gone within a few weeks, Sukehito without any expression replied and said ¡°No problem kid, or should I just call you Sora?¡± I stared at him and he looked back at me and then he responded to his own question, ¡°naw, kid sounds better.¡±


    *Around 2 months after the disappearance of Sora or 10 months ago¡­*


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    *There is a familiar face on the podium right in front of a coffin speaking and trying to put on a brave face.*


    ¡°Today, we are here to honor the death of one of my best friends. Although he was a calm, relaxing guy all he wanted was a life without anyone getting hurt.


    As of late his parents were killed in an accident. And I tried to help him but I couldn''t. I hope wherever he is, he is looking down on us with a happy face, and seeing his parents knowing that he doesn¡¯t need to worry about us¡­ And I hope he can hear what I am about to say.


    Sora¡­ I¡¯m sorry for not being helpful to you. I''m Chidon, your best friend but I couldn¡¯t even protect you like I could with everyone else. I sincerely apologize. And now I¡¯m going to try to do everything I can to achieve that dream you set up for yourself.


    To achieve it and hear what you would have to say about the promise in the letter once we meet up again.


    But, that¡¯s enough time for me. I shall now pass this on to a couple of Sora¡¯s friends to speak to him¡­ First it was Kuzu with tears streaming down her eyes she walked up and started talking, ¡°my name is Kuzu I have been friends with him since we were 10 and¡­ I have a lot of respect for him, he was a great friend to me and even strangers, he always tried to do the right thing and protect everyone he cared about, he protected me Sariah, Tucker, Chidon, Raigen, Johnny, and so many more people that will come up here today¡­¡±


    After those few words she couldn¡¯t speak anymore and all that Chidon could do was walk up to her and say that ¡°everything will be okay I¡¯ll take it from here.¡± Chidon then grabbed the attention of the audience and passed it down to a few other people.


    Sariah was the first, she walked up to the stage with her long hair standing at around 5 ''5 exclaiming that she hadn''t known about Sora or talked to him and to be honest I barely even remember him. Until now, I really never knew him, but he impacted my life making all my friends as happy as they were and for that I must thank him.


    Next was Tucker, one of Sora¡¯s friends that he met in 9th grade. He walked up to the stage shaking and barely able to say anything he said, ¡°thank you man, you were the one that helped me realize the era of my ways when we were in school¡­¡±


    He then started talking about how he was a bully in his previous schools and thanks to the ideals of Sora he has been able to move on and be a good student although looking like a punk most of the time he talked about how his life has changed and how even though he is parentless he has been able to push past these obstacles thanks to Sora¡¯s attitude.


    Following Tucker came Raigen, like Sora, Chidon, and Kuzu. He too had a Japanese name because of his lineage; He then started to yell out in anger¡­ ¡°Sora, why! I thought you were stronger than this you showed me that although life can be tough there is also a bright future ahead of it if you just work hard enough, because before I even met you I was just an errand boy, no one to lean on, no one to be my friend, you showed yourself one day and decided to fight them off on your own brimming with confidence and although you were severely beaten up, that showed me that you can never give an inch¡­ Now, please, please tell me why, why did you give an inch now¡­¡±


    After that no one else could speak, not even Johnny, ¡°the guy that was about to move to England after this funeral.¡±


    Chidon then asked for everyone and even the parents to stay silent while his mother goes around passing flowers and putting the same flowers in an orderly fashion on Sora¡¯s coffin. Before they even knew it Sora¡¯s funeral was done and everyone knew that Sora was dead.

 The Pegasi Family

    *Back to present day Texas in a remote location pretty far away from Houston¡­*


    There is a man named Sukehito uttering words to a kid while behind his bar cleaning the glassware, ¡°Hey Sora, mind picking up some ingredients?¡±


    Looking back, Sora said, ¡°sure¡± with a smile on his face. So, Sora turned around and got up from his seat and went towards the wooden door and said, ¡°Hey!¡± Sukehito then said, ¡°what is it?¡±


    Sora followed that up with ¡°can I use your jeep?¡± And with a disgusted expression he said, ¡°Do you have a driver''s license?¡±


    Before Sora could ever say anything, Sukehito said, ¡°Even if you did, I still won¡¯t trust you to take my jeep to go to Houston even if it¡¯s a straight road¡­¡±


    Sora stared at Sukehito with an angry expression while thinking to himself, ¡°I guess I can just go over there like¡­¡± And before he could finish his thoughts Sukehito told Sora to be safe¡­


    Sora looked away and said ¡°sure¡­¡± He opened the door and left to go to Houston.


    Along the way he started running to get some endurance practice and he thought to himself that ¡°I¡¯ll need to tell him that I¡¯ll need to leave within 2 weeks to go back to my friends in Florida.


    After all, I have made them wait long enough.¡± And then he thought of the thing Sukehito told me last night about the reasons why he had to leave the bar from time to time.


    And that would be, to go see his family, he even gave me their address to see them personally.


    At that moment, I thought that seeing them personally would give me a good chance to meet them and see why Sukehito and I are so alike.


    And much sooner than later I arrived at the booze and snooze store¡­


    When I looked at the store I thought it was a pretty weird name for the people that worked there, they seemed much more professional than I expected.


    I gave them the list and they responded with, ¡°this kid works for Sukehito, ha¡­¡± I looked at him with a blank expression and said, ¡°what is that supposed to mean.¡±


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    He looked at me with a grin and told me that if Sukehito chose you, you are definitely someone that has a strong heart like he does.


    After that, he called someone named Sonia and a girl showed up right behind him. With curiosity on my face I looked at the girl and asked, ¡°who is she?¡±


    The man looked at Sora and said ¡°this is my pride and joy, she¡¯s my daughter Sonia Pegasi, and I guess I haven¡¯t introduced myself; As the proud owner of this establishment my name is Jade Pegasi, and what¡¯s your name kid.¡±


    Following those words I responded with, ¡°Sora Sadano.¡± After that Jade said with a grin, ¡°Sora huh, you¡¯re not from this country originally huh?¡±


    Sora proceeded to talk about himself, ¡°I am from the U.S., but the reason I have this name is because of my¡­¡±


    And without a second chance to catch his breath Jade responded with, ¡°Sora you don¡¯t have to continue, It¡¯s fine.¡±


    Then that¡¯s when Sora came back to the present and took a look at his clenched hands realizing they were bleeding because of the tension that came from nearly saying those words.


    Then Sora cleaned it off by rubbing the blood off on his shirt and he said, ¡°I guess I¡¯ll take your advice.¡± As he said those words he looked at Sonia, noticing an impression that seemed rather familiar, almost like she was there that day.


    So, I asked her, ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± She looked at my hand and from that moment I could tell she also had a dark past.


    As soon as that happened Jade tried to break the tension by saying, ¡°hey, Sora, why don¡¯t you go with my daughter to Kobadera¡¯s family?¡± Instantly, Sora responded with, ¡°Why!¡±


    Jade told Sora that you¡¯ll find out eventually, but the real question is whether or not you know how to make it to his family''s house.¡±


    Sora looked back with his eyes twitching, and sounding like he was denied any way out of the situation he agreed to it.


    Then that¡¯s when he came up with a brilliant idea. However before he could even say anything Jade exclaimed, ¡°don¡¯t worry about it Sora I¡¯ll take the materials to Kobadera, after all I do have my own car and I know you use your feet so when I go I¡¯ll come back much faster than you.¡±


    Sora thought to himself, ¡°he really wants me to go with his daughter¡­¡± So Sora agrees with a sarcastic smile ¡°Sure.¡± While thinking to himself, ¡°This man really just locked me in one position¡­ Well played¡­¡±


    And then Jade leaves his counter with the materials and packs them into his car saying, ¡°alright, you kids be safe you hear, and Sora, if anything happens to my daughter¡­¡± He then proceeded to take out a glass bottle from his car and crush it with his bare hands continuing his sentence with, ¡°this will be your head if I see her hurt.¡±


    With a frightened impression Sora looks at Jade and quakingly says¡­


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± And Jade responds with an okay as well. Jade proceeds to go into his car and hit the pedal to the metal to go to Kobadera.

 Explanations/ Past Trauma

    As Jade drives over to Kobadera he starts thinking to himself, ¡°I¡¯ve seen that expression before, just like my daughters when she lost her mother, ¡­ Ever since that day she has never been able to smile while she talks to strangers or to even me¡­ I have a feeling that he is the only one that¡¯s going to be able to break through that mindset she has placed herself in. Following those words Sora and Sonia set out to go to Kobadera¡¯s family. *30 minutes after Sora and Sonia seeing Jade go to Kobadera¡¯s bar* There is an awkward silence in the air while Sora and Sonia try to make it to Kobadera¡¯s family. As they walk, Sora tries to break the tension by saying, ¡°Hey¡­¡± at first there was no response, around three seconds after that Sora tried again with a longer sentence, ¡°Hey, can you hear me?¡± With an irritated voice Sonia responded with, ¡°be quiet, what do you want from me¡­¡± Sora started to ask her, ¡°what, are you angry at something?¡± And then again no response. Following the silence Sora starts thinking about the reason why Jade pulled so many strings to have me walk with her and then that¡¯s when it hit Sora and he thought to himself about how it went down in the shop. ¡°It all started when I walked in, and I started talking to Jade, she walked in and then I referenced my parents and froze up explaining why I got my name, then the bloody han¡­¡± Sora stopped his thoughts. That¡¯s when he realized that, if it was possible that Sonia went through something similar. So, Sora without a choice started talking to Sonia by starting out with, ¡°I went through something similar.¡± And as soon as he said that Sonia stopped and tears started to flow her face, and then she replied with a simple, ¡°what?¡± That¡¯s when Sora knew that it must be an issue with her past and that might be why she is so difficult to talk to. Sora started to talk to her and explain everything to try and take her out of her shell, ¡°You see¡­ The main reason why I¡¯m here is because I want to grow, to become stronger, and smarter, in order for me to change fate¡­ And the cause¡­ because one day¡­¡± As soon as he said that Sora had second thoughts about explaining everything, Sonia''s face was almost like a reflection of his past self: Scared, hopeless, and not having enough strength to do anything. So he continued with the hopes of helping her, ¡°my parents were people dear to me, they always treated me with high regard over themselves, and they always gave me the necessities for me to live a good life, but it all changed so suddenly, I went to sleep and flames engulfed my room.¡± ¡°I was weak and I couldn¡¯t do a damn thing, except scream for help, and then the house collapsed, with me and my parents inside of it¡­ And¡­¡± After that sentence tears started to go down Sora¡¯s face as well. ¡°When I came around I was in a hospital and all that the doctor could say to me was that my parents died protecting me. That¡¯s when I came to a realization¡­¡± I¡¯m weak, fragile, and all that I said I would be was not not true, all I had was false strength; both physically and mentally.¡± That¡¯s when Sonia stopped me and held my hand while telling me if that¡¯s why I clenched my hand so hard that it started to bleed, and then I responded with a simple nod. So she let go of my hand and while looking down at the floor she started to talk, ¡°Sora¡­ I used to have a mom, and she was so kind to me, she cared about me so much that it made me so sick to my stomach, eventually one day I snapped and left the house because of the simple fact that I didn¡¯t like it, her warming up to me although she was my step mom and not my real one¡­


    You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

 New Bonds

    All I could think about was my original family and how we ended up this way.


    So one day I stormed off, as I was walking away from my house I saw the police trying to capture someone.


    I went towards them intrigued to see who it was and it was my actual mother, and without a second of hesitation I went up to her¡­


    But it wasn''t the reunion I thought of. She grabbed me and at first I thought it was a hug, but as time passed it turned into a choke hold.


    That''s when she held me in her arms saying let me go or this child gets it. That¡¯s when I remembered what happened, my mom and my dad argued about drugs but I guess I was too young to understand¡­ And that¡¯s when they split up.


    I couldn¡¯t put my finger on it, why couldn¡¯t I think of a way to make her stop taking drugs, why couldn¡¯t I think of anything¡­ And why did I not have enough strength to fight back¡­


    As soon as she said those words tears started to go down her face as Sora looked at her with an understanding expression, after a pause that lasted about a second she continued.


    And, I even put myself in that predicament, thanks to that no one could do anything, that''s what I thought until someone with a familiar voice shouted my name from behind the position we were both in and it was my step mom.


    She hit my mom on her back and that made her let go of me. Then she told me to run, as a child of course I was just sitting there seeing a fight break out between my two moms a hook went into another hook and a sweep countered by my mom


    I couldn¡¯t move or even decide who I wanted to win until it was too late, my biological mother took out a knife and stabbed my step mom right through the heart.


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    As that happened my biological mother stood there as my stepmother fell down to the ground.


    I stared at her bleeding out and then the officers told me to get down while they started to fire a bunch of tasers eventually forcing her to be immobilized.


    After that fight all I could do was go near her¡­ Near my real mom the one lying barely able to breath with a gaping wound through her heart¡­


    ¡°I saw her, and she did that to protect me, I looked at her and as though she was conjuring up her last bit of strength she said, :it¡¯s okay you don¡¯t have to worry anymore you¡¯re safe now.¡±


    With shock all I could do was stare at her and say don¡¯t go, she stared back and said don¡¯t worry I¡¯ll see you sooner or later, and then that¡¯s when my father arrived and said don¡¯t worry everything is okay.


    I trusted him and waited for her to come back, one day passed no words, 1 week passed no response from my dad although i questioned him, and then 3 weeks passed and I found myself in front of her coffin looking down at her, and now it¡¯s been 1 year and I¡¯m still petrified.


    Even though I''m 16 I''ve basically lost my emotions towards anybody, I¡¯ve also been watching anime to try and calm myself, to try and make me a better person, one without fears and even taking taekwondo to fight against the types of people that try to take those that are precious to me. But all I can think about are my weaknesses and nothing more.


    That¡¯s when Sora put both of his hands on her shoulders and said, I¡¯ve already gone through the same, losing people precious to me¡­ And even after a year I still can¡¯t get them out of my head, how weak I was, or the fact that I left everyone behind.


    But, someone once told me that real strength comes from what you do in the present to make your future better.


    And from what I see, you are strong, you don¡¯t have to carry that burden anymore, and your father has never held any resentment for what happened.


    She looked at him and hugged him saying, ¡°thank you, at least I know I¡¯m not alone.¡± And with a smile Sora thought to himself, ¡°I guess this is how I also reacted when Sukehito told me these similar words¡­ I¡¯m truly happy for her.


    After 1 minute of her hugging Sora she took her hands off of him and said, ¡°Sora, are you ready to go to Mr. Kobadera¡¯s house.¡± And then Sora replied with a, ¡°of course.¡±

 Old Bonds

    So they went off and towards Kobadera¡¯s house. At the same time, when that conversation started Jade was able to arrive at Kobadera¡¯s shop and the first words he said were, ¡°HEY KOBADERA GET YOUR¡­¡±


    Before he could finish the sentence Kobadera went outside and said, ¡°don¡¯t say that out loud you damn idiot, I already heard your obnoxious voice from the first word.¡± Jade looked at Kobadera and said ¡°that¡¯s quite the kid you took in.¡± Kobadera stared back and said ¡°You¡¯re talking about Sora right?¡±


    That¡¯s when Jade looked at Kobadera and apologized, ¡°Hey Kobadera I¡¯m sorry, I thought that Sora might be able to crack my daughters shell so I decided to come here, can you ever forgive me?¡± Kobadera looks back with a rather blank expression and says, ¡°Cut the act, you serious Jade, if you¡¯ve seen how Sora handles things you¡¯d understand.¡±


    He continues, Sora is a strong kid both mentally and physically, if anything the only thing that gets under his skin is the weakness he had before, but talking to a person that has gone through a similar situation at their age should be much easier than talking to someone who knows nothing.¡±


    Then Jade responds with "I know, and I am still sorry for taking these unnecessary favors from you, like the time you saved my bar by sparing your time getting advertisements to save me from going bankrupt .¡±


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    Kobadera proceeds to look at Jade and says, ¡°by the way, why is it that you own the Snooze and Booze store? I thought you knew your daughter still had the PTSD from her mother dying and her other mother taking her as a hostage from doing drugs so much.¡±


    Responding to that Jade looks at Kobadera and starts to explain with a serious expression. ¡°I know it seems counterintuitive, but, I did that because I care about her, I want her to move past her fears¡­


    But all it did was just leave her with barely any emotions, not knowing what to think anymore and then Sora showed up and I thought to myself that he¡¯s the key and that¡¯s why I¡¯m here right now, and to tell you the truth I¡¯m not trying to remember her of her past trauma.


    For all I know I could¡¯ve opened up a drug store, but I took the Snooze and booze store instead because she would hate me for the rest of her life and it would be way to hard for her.


    And with an understanding expression Kobadera looks back and says, ¡°come inside why don¡¯t we talk a bit more?¡± And with a grin Jade responded with a ¡°sure.¡± At the same time Kobadera then said, ¡°call me Sukehito.¡±


    That¡¯s when Jade told him that, ¡°Not a chance, Kobadera sounds much better¡­¡± Kobadera looked at him with a serious yet comical expression and told himself, ¡°whatever, just¡­ let¡¯s go inside.¡± So, both of them walk into the Bar and start having leisurely chats.

 The Kobadera Family

    Back at Houston while Sonia and Sora keep on walking to Kobadera¡¯s family it looked like Sonia was to open up to Sora even more.


    She started to talk about the anime she¡¯s been watching like Unbounded, something Piece, The Overpowered Magic User is Alive and even more.


    To be honest, it was almost like a foreign language for Sora. As she gets to that anime and mentions pirates Sora says, ¡°hey, by any chance what have you been doing in Taekwondo? Cause I¡¯m curious.¡±


    Hoping that comment would change the topic Sonia responds with, ¡°we do reflex training to try to respond to movements quickly.¡±


    Almost pleased by that comment Sora continues the conversation with a few more talks about different fighting styles and then Sonia asks him, ¡°So, what have you been doing ever since you left everyone?¡±


    With a relieved expression Sora stares at the sky and says, ¡°I¡¯ve been studying and honing my skills in both combat and intellect, after all, that''s the goal that I would love to achieve, in order to protect everyone.¡±


    Sonia looked at the ground and looked up with a smile telling Sora that they should hurry before her dad comes back.


    Sooner or later they were able to arrive at the front door steps of Kobadera¡¯s family and once they arrived neither of them wanted to knock on the door, all they could do was whisper to each other, ¡°Knock on it.¡±, ¡°No you.¡±, and ¡°ladies first.¡±


    Eventually Sora told her that they should do rock-papers-scissors to decide. And reluctantly Sonia said, ¡°it¡¯s on¡­¡± First came rock, then paper, after that scissors, and the word shoot.


    Both of them launched their hands out and Sora won or so he thought from the expression that Sonia had on her face, she won with paper and Sora lost with rock. As soon as that happened Sonia looked at Sora and said, ¡°Go on ahead¡­¡±


    Sora continued to go up to the door and start knocking. At first there was silence but after a few seconds Sora and Sonia heard a vague voice within the house basically sounding childlike. The voice said, ¡°Mommy, there are people at the door¡± and as the voice echoed through the house Sora looked back at Sonia and shrugged.


    Soon after the door started to have some crackling noises and sounds of locks opening, and just before the door opened there was a voice of a woman that went through the door exclaiming ¡°Who are you kids?¡± As Sora heard that voice he responded with, ¡°we were sent over by Jade to check on Kobadera¡¯s family¡­ My name is Sora Sanano and her name is Sonia Pegasi.¡±


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    As soon as those names were voiced by Sora the door finally opened up to reveal a woman with a motherly figure with long crimson hair over her shoulder braided properly.


    Along with that as Sora looked closer and there was a small girl behind her looking no older than 10 years old. Once the door was finally completely opened up the woman said, ¡°So you''re that Sora, the one Sukehito doesn¡¯t stop mentioning¡­¡±


    As she says that Sora has a pale face and thinks to himself, ¡°Don¡¯t tell me he talks about me that much¡­¡± As he says that within the corners of his mind he starts to tell her that, ¡°yes I am¡± and she then looks behind me and sees Sonia and says, ¡°You must be Jade¡¯s girl, nice to meet you.¡±


    As she says that Sonia looks down and tries to make an effort to form words out of her mouth, ¡°Yes, nice to meet you too¡­¡± Once she wraps up with those few words Sora looks at Sonia and says, ¡°There¡¯s no need to hide your face.¡± Sonia begins to look up at Sora; she sees a subtle and calm smile with soft eyes staring at her and she regains her confidence and looks up at the mother.


    As she does that Sora realizes that the main reason why she had difficulty seeing the mother was because she reminded her of her own, and the fact that she was able to look straight at her showed Sora how strong she is even though he doesn¡¯t know the true reason behind her gaining so much confidence was because of him.


    As soon as they wrapped up introductions, the mother tells them to come in, to their surprise, the buildings interior is highly polished with square tiled floors, a white paint around the walls with decorations that match the tone of the houses color matching the colors between black and white, a they enter the house they are told to take a seat in the living room near the entrance and she takes her own personal seat.


    The woman looks at Sora and Sonia and tells them her name is ¡°Shara Kobadera¡± and she then calls over her daughter and since she seems pretty young it makes sense that she is rather nervous. She looks at us and says that her name is Aria Kobadera in a very subtle way.


    As she told Sora and Sonia her name, both of them stared at each other and smiled¡­ They looked back at Aria and Sora asked her, ¡°what do you want to become in the future Aria?¡± Aria responded to them by saying that she wants to help her family¡­


    While it may have been a simple response it resonated with Sora and Sonia because even if they weren¡¯t able to protect their family. They realized they had a family in front of them. One not dysfunctional or ruined by circumstance¡­ Soon after Aria responded to Sora¡¯s question Sonia spoke up and said, ¡°So what¡¯s your age?¡± She then responded with a 10 years old on the mark. Sonia looked happy by the naivety of the girl and they both stopped questioning the girl and looked at Shara.


    As Shara noticed that the questions have stopped rolling in she started to ask a few questions of her own like, ¡°What are you doing here?¡± And ¡°Is there anything you want to eat or drink?¡±


    Sora followed up those questions by first saying that they are fine and they don''t need food and they visited because Jade wanted them to visit to just check up on you guys while he took something over to Kobadera¡¯s bar.

 The Here and Now

    Around 2 hours had passed, and we got to spend some time with Shara and Aria. Although Aria was able to talk to us at first it became clear that she got fixated on Sonia.


    She would ask, ¡°How are you so strong?¡±, ¡°do you watch any shows?¡±, or ¡°what would you like to play?¡± And Sonia responded to every single question with enthusiasm.


    Before we knew it, it was time to leave and go back to Jades Snooze and Booze shop and as we walked back we would talk to each other about how nice Kobadera¡¯s family was, how kind and caring Shara was giving us food and treating us as if we were one of theirs.


    All the while Aria kept wanting to play tag. Then Sora looked at Sonia and said, ¡°who won the game?¡± And Sonia responded gleefully, ¡°her, it turned into a hide and seek game without me knowing.¡±


    As she said that I laughed, and continued to tell her that it would be nice to visit from time to time.


    After that Sonia asked Sora, ¡°any plans?¡± Sora questioned her and with a moderately confused expression, ¡°training a bit, why?¡± That¡¯s when Sonia asked if she could train with Sora, and without a second thought Sora said ¡°sure¡±


    A couple minutes pass and after a bit more talking they finally arrive at the store and see a car with a jeep right next to it. As we look at the two cars and walk towards it Sonia starts to look at Sora And sees him slightly agitated.


    They begin to walk into the store and at that moment Sora instantly goes up to Kobadera as he''s sitting down near the bar and tells him, ¡°So you had the gall to show up after making me walk all the way here.¡±


    As those words left Sora¡¯s mouth Kobadera muffled out the noise by plugging the ear Sora was talking to, and right after Kobadera responded to Sora with, ¡°good to see ya too kid¡­¡±


    Sora calms down and replies, ¡°I guess it¡¯s good to see you too.¡± After those words, just over the counter Jade looks over at his daughter Sonia and sees her smiling.


    At that moment Jade''s eyes begin to tear up as Kobadera and Sora look at Jade and look back at Sonia as Sora nods his head towards Jade as if signaling her to go to him.


    As she begins to understand, she starts to approach Jade and hugs him as she says, ¡°Let''s catch up dad.¡± And with sheer joy coming from Jade and struggling to hold his tears back he looks at Sonia and says, ¡°Let''s catch up.¡± As they go to the backroom to chat both Sora and Kobadera hear ¡°thank you.¡±


    Kobadera seeing this unfold, he decides to tell Sora it''s time to go back home. And Sora looks at him as he nods in understanding and both leave the store.


    A few minutes pass, and while Kobadera drives and Sora sits in the car as the sun starts to set Kobadera tells Sora that he''s grown up a bit more than before.


    Sora looks at Kobadera and says, ¡°What makes you say that?¡± And Kobadera responds, ¡°Before you used to not be so keen on helping people emotionally, you were the one that needed the help, but now you just helped a family get back together.¡±


    Sora looks back at the road and says, ¡°who knows maybe a grumpy old bald guy helped me realize that there''s a bit more to life than crying for what has happened.¡±


    As Sora says those words he starts to look through the side window towards the road as they go back and continues, ¡°but even though I did talk to someone other than you about my past, fact is, I couldn¡¯t even tell Jade about it.¡±


    After those words Kobadera said, ¡°although very little, life is taken one step at a time, no one can move on completely, that moment in life shapes the character¡­¡±


    As silence fills the jeep Sora feels like he''s achieved something in the long time.


    *1 day later*


    Kobadera calls Sora from his room, ¡°Hey kid, have you heard of this?¡± As Sora gets up with his pajamas he goes down to the bar area as the T.V. continues.


    ¡°A meteor is set to hit the Earth scientists speculate it will come but due to the variable in speed the specific time is within 1 month or 3 months.¡±


    Sora responds, ¡°Huh, really, it''s most likely nothing. If anything the world has measures to counteract it.¡±


    Kobadera starts to talk to Sora, ¡°I agree, but it''s good to know what''s happening in the world, right kid.¡± Sora Talks back and shrugs his shoulders, ¡°I guess, either way there''s nothing we can do about it.¡±


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    Sora starts to walk to the front door and Kobadera asks, ¡°Where are ya going?¡± Then Sora tells him that he''s going to train a bit, Kobadera looks at Sora with a pretentious face, ¡°Really kid, with wunzie on.¡± He starts to laugh at Sora.


    Sora looks down and he''s shouts back, oh shut up!


    A couple minutes pass and Sora has the clothes he needs then heads out, first pushups, sit-ups, squats, planks, and then the cardio portion where he runs all the way to Jades store.


    As he arrives he knocks on the door to see that a person opens it and surprised by the absolute stranger at the door Sora remembers that it''s still a store, as that happens Sora walks in and Jade looks at him with a stare that felt like daggers.


    With the lowest voice he could conjour up he tells me, ¡°Who the hell are you.¡± Sora freezes up and then Sonia walks out from behind and tells her dad to stop playing with Sora.


    Sora looks stunned for a second and then regains his composure. Following those events Sonia asks Sora if he was here for the whole training thing.


    Sora responds, ¡°of course, why else would I be here?¡± As those words leave his mouth for some reason he feels those same daggers on him again and then Sonia tells him, ¡°okay, I''ll get ready.¡±


    Sonia goes to the back as Jade asks Sora, ¡°so¡­ what kind of training?¡± Sora responds with self defense training, nothing too big.


    *Sonia comes out with a black jacket and a white tank top with brand blue tracksuit pants and Sora goes with her to a pretty private park.*


    Sora Talks to Sonia, ¡°Alright Sonia.¡± Sora cracks his neck, ¡°show me what you got.¡± As he says that, he puts his hand out in a come at me position.


    Sonia starts hopping slowly as if she was trying to find an opening, and as Sora blinks he notices Sonia quickly approach him and go for a kick to the ribs, Sora quickly blocks and goes under her leg going for a punch to Sonia''s back.


    Sonia realizes that¡¯s what Ritsu was going for and quickly pivoted her foot to spin as fast as a ballerina and by combining it with taekwondo left Sora wide open for another kick.


    As the kick approached Sora he quickly put his forearm up and tanked the hit, then he quickly put up his other hand to grab Sonia''s ankle and hold the leg that hit him.


    With Sonia cornered she says, ¡°I give in.¡± Sora lets go and tells her, ¡°well done, you were pretty creative with that.¡± Sonia compliments Sora back saying, ¡°thanks, you''re pretty strong yourself.¡±


    Sora giggles a bit and says, ¡°reading up, training, and practicing everyday for a year does that to you, either way, want to keep on going?¡±


    Sonia grins and looks at Sora as she takes up a stance with her arms loose and her foot slightly forward while her other foot is gripping the ground. She looks at Sora and tells him, ¡°bring it.¡±


    *3 hours pass and before they both knew it, it was noon*


    After training for all that time Sora and Sonia decided to ask Jade whether or not they could go to Kobaderas family since it''d be nice to say hi to Aria and Shara, Jade said it was fine and let both of them walk over.


    As they both arrived at the doorstep and knocked on the door Shara opened the door and greeted them in, Aria with a happy impression went up to Sonia and hugged her.


    Shara told us both to take a seat at the sofa as she got ready with the news going on about things happening in the world, Sonia and I decided to put on KidShow Network and have some shows play in the background for Aria to watch together with us.


    As the show played we watched it and had fun, and before I knew it the food was ready and we ate then went back after playing tag with Aria.


    The same thing happened over and over everyday with waking up, exercising, sparing, being at Kobaderas house, and occasionally going to the library to pick up new techniques.


    Over time Sonia and I picked up pretty good capabilities to defend ourselves. Sonia''s endurance and speed picked up, as my overall knowledge became better at understanding how to fight people and predict where the opponent will attack me from.


    A whole month passed and eventually my birthday came around. Kobadera decided to launch a secret surprise at Kobaderas house on October 18th that honestly scared me half to death since I didn¡¯t tell them about my birthday and they started jumping out of the wall but it was fun¡­


    At this point on my birthday the thought started to loom over me. Around a month ago I decided that there was no reason for me to stay in Texas but I found such a nice family and group of people that helped me better myself.


    Because of that it reminded me of my friends that I used to have back home, Johnny might already be in Britain, Kuzu, Chidon, Tucker and everyone else¡­


    That''s when I told everyone on that day, the day that I was born, that I would go back in 2 weeks.


    To the surprise of everyone, some started to cry, Aria and Shara. Some started to give a smile of pure understanding, Jade and Kobadera. And one gave me a hug and asked me why¡­ Sonia.


    I told her that I had to, it wouldn''t be fair to them for me to only stay here and leave my past behind.


    I looked at her and told her, ¡°You and I both worked so hard to become strong, but it wasn''t only because we needed to get stronger physically, but mentally too.¡±


    She looked at me with tears streaming down her eyes and hugged Sora then said the same words that her father said the first day we talked, ¡°Thank you.¡± then she continued ¡°thank you so much Sora.¡±


    As the hug wrapped up, I said, ¡°okay, well, since we had that whole thing, we still have 2 weeks, let''s celebrate!¡±


    But unbeknownst to us or the whole world¡­ things were going to change.


    As the party began, the news in the background was playing, ¡°the meteorite has disappeared from view, scientists say that the trajectory must''ve changed with the speed, so much so that they had failed to notice.¡±

 Reborn

    *1 week has passed and it''s almost time for Sora to go.*


    It''s early in the morning and Sora wakes up as usual, ¡°Kobadera, how''s the food coming along?¡± Sora states and Kobadera responds, ¡°pretty good kid.¡±


    ¡°Have you heard about the meteor, it vanished.¡± Sora looks at Kobadera and says, ¡°isn''t that old news? You shouldn''t worry about it that much.¡±


    Kobadera shrugs his statement off and tells him, ¡°any news is informative, even with one week left, you still rush through things huh kid.¡± all the while giving Sora a smirk.


    ¡°Oh Don¡¯t talk to me like that Kobadera, I''ve learned a thing or two from being here and you know it.¡±


    Kobadera looks at Sora and says in a pretentious way, ¡°sure, kid.¡± and continues, ¡°either way Sora, while I do joke around I confidently say, you are much stronger than before.¡± Sora smiles.


    ¡°But you''re still only 17 kid¡±


    Sora¡¯s smile turns into a slightly agitated face, ¡°okay old man, how old are you then, if I recall last time we celebrated your birthday in September you were turning 43, you''re almost halfway there.¡±


    Kobadera puts the omelet on the table and tells Sora, ¡°seems like someone thinks just because they are 17, they can become grown up and be ignorant, guess you haven''t learned that you have to respect your-¡± Kobadera stops and under his voice, ¡°well played.¡±


    Sora starts laughing and Kobadera starts to laugh too, ¡°So kid, one week huh?¡± Kobadera asks, ¡°yeah, one week¡± Sora tells him.


    Kobadera tells Sora, ¡°Well if anything comes up, you know you got a home here, although, judging from your past, you won''t be able to take a plane flight for a while right?¡±


    Sora questions, ¡°How did you know?¡± ¡°Kid, most of us knew, your story, or the bits and pieces of it helped us understand you left your home. Chances are by now you''ll be.¡±


    Sora interrupts him, ¡°presumed dead?¡± Sukehito looks at him and says, ¡°yeah, so you do know, then putting it together, me, Jade, Shara, and even Sonia know, little Aria doesn''t know since she''s young.¡±


    Sukehito looks down at the wooden counter, ¡°well kid, safe travels.¡± Sora responds with, ¡°I''ve still got a week.¡± Sukehito smirks, ¡°I know, I''m referring to training with Sonia, still rushing to conclusions.¡±


    ¡°Are we still on that??¡± Sora slightly raises his voice.


    *After a few minutes Sora finishes eating his food and goes to Sonia''s house, but this time around there was no training sessions just relaxing*


    We went into the bar while it was closed for the weekend and watched a few episodes of some anime or T.V. shows as Jade went in and out of sleeping and waking up.


    Right after that it turned into 6 p.m. and with the spare time we had we went to Kobadera¡¯s family and stayed there while eating more popcorn and relaxing on the couch.


    No one brought up the fact I was leaving, I''d say it was because there a week left, why focus on something that''ll happen when you can enjoy the moment, after an hour and a half we decided to head back to Jades place, but Sonia decided to take me somewhere.


    It was a place she usually goes to, it was around a 20 minute walk, we took some bottles of water and hit the road so I can see it.


    To my surprise it was a glamorous mountain overlooking the entire city, it was located near an abandoned park and Sonia usually went there to let off some steam and just take in the city lights at night.


    ¡°This place was a place I''d go to, to just let go of some pent up frustration I had, I never thought that I''d see a day when I didn''t rely on it.¡± Sonia explained in more detail as she went up to the railing and grabbed onto it.


    Ever since you came along, this past month has been eventful, and pretty fun. These feelings are enjoyable¡­ I-


    After those words came out of her mouth I felt a bit of joy but, it quickly turned into confusion.


    We felt as if the ground was starting to shake aggressively and without hesitation we looked around at the ground and to me it felt strange. I rushed to the railing and held on to it with Sonia.


    *As this was happening back at the Kobadera¡¯s bar*


    ¡°What the hell is going on¡± Kobadera says confusingly as he got under the counter, the glass started to shake violently as each one fell viciously down on the ground.


    ¡°When the hell were there earthquakes like these in Houston?¡±


    And it wasn''t only in those locations, Jade felt the tremors and all the way over at Kobadera¡¯s house Shara was starting to hold Aria in her arms while they were under a table as the show that Sora and Sonia instantly turned into an alert with sirens going off then into breaking news.


    ¡°This just in, there is currently a earthquake occuring worldwide, our studio is shaking and it seems to be getting stronger, we advise those in our local area and to anyone that can hear us. Seek shelter immediately!¡±


    The broadcast ends then continues the alarms and over at the park with Sora and Sonia, Sora looks up and sees it.


    A prismatic comet coming down from the darkened skies shedding light across the city and everything else in the vicinity. ¡°What the?¡± Sora says as the shaking becomes more viscous and Sora can barely maintain his balance.


    ¡°Damn it¡± Sora says begrudgingly as the same comet starts making a unbearable high screech sound as the vibrations get worse and everything for a moment turns white.


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    As the world itself gets enveloped in the prismatic color and the blinding white light Sora''s eyes open up again.


    For a weird reason, he felt odd as if his body had felt slightly lighter and stronger than usual, as Sonia opens her eyes and looks at Sora she asks him, ¡°Sora, what wa-¡±


    Multiple loud explosions happen in the city.


    ¡°Sorry to cut you off Sonia, but we don''t have time, go to Jade, make sure he''s okay!¡± As Sora grabs her shoulders with vigor she nods and starts running.


    ¡°What happened?¡± he starts to question himself, ¡°I should go check Kobadera¡­¡± While Sora thought about it he looked up and saw a red trail relatively close.


    At first Sora did think about Kobadera but because of sheer curiosity he wanted answers as to what happened.


    So Sora started to run behind the trail as fast as he could, and to his surprise he had been moving faster than normal.


    Sora had always mentally tried to keep track of his top speed around 15-20 mph but, for some reason at that moment he easily broke through that limiter and ran even faster. Sora didn''t think much of it since his belief at the time was adrenaline.


    Little did Sora know that at the time his body started to emanate light as he started to run.


    As he ran he noticed that there were even more loud explosions happening from the city, he knew that if he turned around and went back he wouldn''t be able to see what happened. But the noises grew further away, harder to hear, but still impactful.


    Around 10 minutes passed and he saw something, something that looked odd, ¡°is that a crater?¡± He told himself, ¡°seems like no one is here yet, with everything that''s happening it seems like the cause is at the back of everyone''s mind right now.¡± As Sora had his inner monologue he started to walk towards the crater.


    And at his disbelief he said, ¡°you''ve got to be kidding me¡­¡± his eyes widened and a sweat from pure fear started to drip down his face as he looked at it.


    The wings, the large teeth, dark red scales on its body as heat emanates from it in a curled up form.


    ¡°I only thought these were fairy tales¡± he points out, ¡°but that''s a dragon¡­¡± As he said those words out loud Sora started to back up slowly so as to not wake the dragon up.


    But before he knew it, he heard a voice in his head, ¡°human¡± it said.


    ¡°Who''s there?¡± Sora replied back, ¡°I''m the creature you see over there¡± the voice said as Sora starts to question his sanity.


    ¡°I see, I''ve lost it, great t- time to go back.¡± Sora tells himself but something deep down for some reason held him there. Whether it was by moral obligation, or the urge to help the creature Sora couldn¡¯t move.


    Sora asked, ¡°What do you want, what are you, and who are you?.¡±


    ¡°My name is Ignatius, I am a fire dragon from a distant world, I know this world might refer to us as dragons but we are different from those in your records.¡±


    Sora looks confused, and continues to question Ignatius, ¡°okay, Ignatius, why are you here?¡± Ignatius stays silent at first and then tells Sora, ¡°I can''t disclose that information, however I am truly sorry human.¡±


    Sora looked at the dragon''s body, ¡°Sorry? For what?¡±, ¡°Your once peaceful life has changed, we didn''t expect that this would happen when we entered your world¡­¡±


    ¡°I am unsure but from what I can see and feel coming from you¡­ your elemental ability, although weak right now.¡± As Ignatius said those words Sora told him to stop.


    ¡°What do you mean elemental abilities?¡± As he looks at his body he notices the scar that was once inflicted on him was glowing, radiating a weird light. ¡°What the hell?¡± He takes off his bandages and sees it even clearer.


    Sora tries to maintain his composure, ¡°What did you do to me?¡± He questions the dragon as he gets angrier and puts bits and pieces together, ¡°What did you do to this world!!¡±


    As he says those words he comes down enraged and the dragon starts to explain, ¡°I''m sorry, we were running, we tried to hide, we didn''t expect that this planet was going to split us up when we entered it.¡±


    Sora looks down at the dragon as he continues, ¡°we had to run, we had no choice, if we wanted to live we had to¡­ I want to help you humans, as part of the reason behind the situation unfolding in this world, I want to help you.¡±


    Sora looks at Ignatius and says, ¡°How do you even think I can trust you?¡± Ignatius responds, ¡°You can''t, but I can help you advance your abilities even more to be able to fight, to be able to protect those that are close to you.¡±


    ¡°I don''t know what type of person you are but I, I was a dragon that wanted to help my fellow dragons, and I want to be able to protect those that we have inflicted these powers onto.¡±


    Sora begins to recognize his pain and guilt as he sighs, ¡°You know something dragon, no Ignatius, I can sympathize with you. I''ve been wanting to protect others for a while. I trained and honed my body and my mind all to just help others.¡±


    Sora tells him, ¡°what''s done is done, if we''ve got these elemental powers even by accident, we''ll have to deal with them, so my question is, Ignatius, how far are you willing to go to help me understand what''s happening.¡±


    Ignatius pauses and begins, ¡°Your elemental ability is the basic light element, temporarily boosts your movement and is pretty limited by its type. If you will it, imagine it, and your body is capable enough, the ability can evolve.¡±


    Sora looks surprised and he tells the dragon, ¡°fine, thanks for telling me.¡± As Sora turns around to look away from Ignatius he speaks one more time, ¡°human, may I know your name?¡±


    ¡°It''s Sora, Sora Sanano¡± the dragon looks at him with his eyes opening up slightly, nice name, ¡°Sora do wish to have power to protect those close to you.¡±


    Sora says, ¡°of course, why else would I have sympathized with you.¡± Ignatius asks in a weak voice, ¡°Then¡­ Sora can you place your hand on my body?¡±


    Sora talking to the dragon gains enough trust for this, he goes up to the dragon and puts his hand on him.


    ¡°I Ignatius give Sora Sanano the power of my origin, and through mutualism we shall thrive to help those in need, Sora do you accept these conditions.¡±


    Sora looks at Ignatius and says, ¡°You know what.¡± As he takes a deep breath in, ¡°I accept your origin¡± As those words are spoken the dragon''s body begins to burn up as fire begins to come out.


    The dragon''s body begins to turn into the flames In a brilliant spectacle, as those flames start to envelope Sora''s body and infuse itself into Sora.


    As Sora feels the flames enter his body he begins To feel a kinship with the dragon, not by species but by common goals. As the fire goes into his body the last particles of the dragon dissipate and turn into flames going into Sora.


    Then, for a second the flames disappear, pure silence in the night as Sora''s body erupts with a brilliant light of fire as Sora begins To hear Ignatius once again.


    ¡°Sora Sanano, I Ignatius the fire dragon will aid you in your quest, but one last order of business, anything special to you?¡±


    Sora instantly thinks about the shirt with vines and flowers on it that he found at the wreckage of his home and Ignatius instantly sees the image in Sora¡¯s head as the right side of his arms start to get those same symbols from his shirt as if they''ve been engraved into him.


    Ignatius continues to talk, ¡°To others, it may seem like a decoration on your skin, but to you, and to the people that find out, this is your mark of your fire dragon origin element.


    Sora looks and grins, ¡°Don''t you think it''s kind of overbearing Ignatius?¡±


    Sora can feel Ignatius¡¯ grin, ¡°not really, that''s for you to decide, but it''s a precious mark huh.¡± Sora smiles as he looks at it, ¡°it sure is.¡± Either way, let''s go see what happened to the other Ignatius.

 Dastardly Outcomes

    *Somewhere off in Florida near the home of Chidon a few familiar faces show up*


    ¡°Hey Chidon¡± Kuzu sees Chidon walking back from classes, ¡°Hey Kuzu, how''s it been?¡± Chidon replies as a soft smile appears on his face.


    Kuzu tells him, ¡°nothing much, just walking back, what''s up though, you haven''t been at school for a while, why a change of heart?¡± Chidon proceeds to tell her, ¡°when you have one of your dear friends birthday, even if they passed away, we should honor it.¡±


    Kuzu looks at Chidon and says, ¡°really, so~ you should be celebrating the birthday of your grandparents, great grandparents, even greater grandparents And so on.¡± Chidon giggles a bit, ¡°ha, not like that.¡±


    ¡°I believe we should pay that respect in kind, and I do it for Sora. That''s why we''re having the whole feast happening today with the gathering.¡±


    Kuzu says, ¡°again like last year, that''s great!¡± As she smirks and suddenly gets serious, ¡°but Chidon, you don¡¯t have to feel like you''re obligated to do stuff, I went off on you that day but we can''t stick to those words that happened a year ago.¡±


    Chidon keeps on walking after Kuzu says that quietly, but somehow, Kuzu feels the anger and frustration after the words she spouted, Kuzu ran up to Chidon and said, ¡°stop, working so hard all of us a-¡±


    Chidon interrupts Kuzu, ¡°please, just¡­ let''s just keep on living our lives.¡± Chidon looks at Kuzu with a false smile, ¡°living our lives the way we want is what we do, I choose to live it for my reasons and you do yours, don''t let others influence you.¡±


    Kuzu stops trying to go to Chidon letting him go his own way as she goes back home, ¡°what''s wrong Kuzu?¡± Her brother asks, ¡°it''s nothing Suzu¡± Kuzu tells him, her brother starts to wonder why she had looked so sad but let it go, best to not bother with it he thought.


    He knew that it was the birthday of one of her close friends that passed away, the one he could never meet since he was off in another state at the time with relatives studying for college.


    ¡°I wonder what he was like?¡± He thought to himself. The day continued and 3 hours passed, it was around 5 p.m. or so, and with that Kuzu decided to go to the feast that Chidon had planned.


    When she arrived she saw Tucker, Raigen, Sariah, and their parents with Chidons mom there.


    As I looked around she didn''t see Chidon, she went up to Chidons mom and asked, ¡°Where is he?¡± She responded with, ¡°he''s probably out exercising again, the party starts at 7 or so, I''m just here as a fill in for now, he was so worried about keeping himself in shape that he was not able to make it early, to be honest I''m pretty worried.¡±


    ¡°He hasn''t been sleeping much this past week. It''s almost as if the stress has been building up this whole year.¡± She explained.


    Kuzu looks at her and puts her hand on her shoulder with a smile, ¡°I''m sure he''s fine.¡±


    As all that happens Chidon is running and exercising, running and exercising again. Running 1 mile then sit-ups, doing the same then push ups, again and again. Eventually he loses track of time and since the time he started which was at 6:00 it eventually became 8:00 without him realizing.


    After doing all of that he looks at his phone by pure chance and sees missed calls from his mom, Kuzu, Tucker, Raigen, and everyone else at the gathering. ¡°damn it¡± he mumbles to himself as he starts heading back and sees his mom at his house with the clothes for the gathering.


    ¡°So, you gather everyone to have a feast in commemoration of Sora, yet you don''t show up for a while and let alone, you don¡¯t even check the phone?¡± His mom tells him.¡±


    Chidon looks at her and with a viscous voice he yells at her, ¡°SO WHAT!?¡± she looks at him and although she felt as if she should raise her voice she didn''t, ¡°I know you''re feeling stressed out, that claim that you-¡±


    ¡°I made to Sora that day, the promise, what, don''t tell me you know how I feel, I keep my promises and, and, for what for all to be for naught, you have no idea how much I''ve been busting my ass for this promise that I feel like is a big waste of time. I push myself for school, exercise and do all these things so he isn''t forgotten.¡±


    His mom tells him, ¡°but he''s not yo-¡±


    As those words escape her mouth he tells her to ¡°shut up again as he storms out.¡±


    *Around the time he made it to his house had that dispute and left it had been 20 minutes.*


    As Chidon walks along a dark road he felt as if his emotions were caving in, he didn''t know what to feel, anger, regret, sympathy.


    As he walked he continued to think about the promise and about Sora, the promise that he made in that letter, what it meant, he didn''t want to give up on it, but at the same time it had been building up.


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    The kindhearted, strong-willed, and steadfast kid, Chidon was at an all-time low but he started thinking about Kuzu, the gathering, and about his mom at that time and it seemed as if those emotions subsided.


    The anger that had built up of himself was suppressed again and he started to regain his cool.


    Around 11:00 had arrived and he was around 30 minutes away from his house and as he continued to take step by step both literally and mentally and 20 more minutes passed¡­


    As Chidon was walking and staring at the ground he noticed the ground started to shake as a puddle started to seem like it was vibrating. As he sees that he almost lost his balance and fell.


    So, he quickly grabbed hold of a land post and held on, as he looked up at the sky and saw a meteor or comet but it was weird at the same time rainbow like and glowing.


    As it crashed into the earth it burst into distinct pieces, since it was so instant Chidon didn''t think to count them.


    As that happened he noticed his body became more flexible and slightly stronger than before, from what he could notice, then loud bangs rang from a distance as he saw the ground shaking and something dark crossing the sky above him.


    As he looked he noticed it was a piece of the meteor, but due to the panic he decided to run towards the city, he ran and ran until he was back home to see it destroyed, giant metal spikes skewering the house from the inside.


    He went into it in a panic to find his mom, the one he had outed saying all those harsh words to, the one he noticed didn''t go after him cause he ran too fast and the mother he deeply loved.


    He ran through the spikes trying to not make a gaping wound in his stomach, but after a bit of searching he had realized it was a cluster in one place.


    Chidon didn''t realize that he was was too far to even be able to run back instantly, he found his mom right in the middle of it.


    No head, just a body with holes through it from the metal spikes, through the stomach, the arms, the legs.


    Through a daze he called out to her as his vision started to get blurry with everything that was happening as he noticed more and more places were getting set on fire, metallic sounds ringing, rushes of water, and even more weird noises ringing through the city.


    All blocked out, ¡°no, no no no no, please¡­¡± He starts shaking, ¡°not you too, DAMN IT, NOT YOU TO!!! AAAAAAAHH!!¡± with pure rage his body made a pillar of water with him at it''s core as a sign of change.


    ¡°who¡­ who the fuck did this¡± his rage erupting. Chidon stood up and the pillar of water dispersed making it temporarily pour down water droplets. ¡°They will pay!¡±


    He starts running as fast as he can, trailing the houses that had metal spikes trailing the noises after his outburst. Until he saw a guy cutting off someone''s head that was trying to escape a house with spikes with a spike through his stomach.


    ¡°...¡± Chidon looks at the guy as he walks up to him, ¡°Oh you want to be another victim, hehe, how fun I like hearing them squirm, I don''t know what happened but these powers let me do as I ple-¡±


    Before he could say anything Chidon points his ginger at the guy and shoots him straight through the head with pressurized water, then keeps on going arms, legs, feet, stomach, chest, hands, throat.


    He kept on shooting him with the pressurized bullets as he dropped down to the ground, until it was a corpse modeled after swiss cheese with blood leaving the guys unrecognizable body.


    After those events Chidon felt broken he didn''t know what to do anymore, all those emotions he had built up over flowed to him only saying one word.


    ¡°Sorry¡± He kept on saying it, ¡°Sorry¡± he continued to walk down the street as pandemonium rained, ¡°Sorry¡± is all he could say.


    As traversed the city and land he subconsciously followed the trail of the meteor not caring about anything.


    Until he saw a dragon on the ground, the dragon spoke into his mind, ¡°human do you seek power?¡± Chidon looked up and said yes with no glare in his eyes as if he''s given up.


    ¡°Then take my power and use it to-¡± Chidon stops him, ¡°I don''t care, if it''s power I''ll take it¡­¡± The dragon pauses for a second as if he was baffled by the way the human interacted with him and said, ¡°My Darkonius, I shall grant you my power to protect those you care about.¡±


    Chidon looked at the dragon and didn''t say a word then touched its body as darkness started to engulf Chidon.


    As the power started to course through his body, Chidon started to speak, ¡°Darkonius, Why did this happen¡­¡± Darkonius responds, ¡°We ran and ran into some issues with our powers colliding with your planet, it seems like it gave everyone powers.¡±


    As the dark aura covered Chidons body and the dragon''s body turned into a dark mist, Chidon started to smile.


    At around this point the dragon noticed something, he heard of tales when dragons experience a mental breakdown and their emotions flip. Darkonius Hadn''t realized it until now but the humans'' willingness to accept a strange power was a red flag.


    As Drakonius¡¯ power was consumed an amulet marking showed up on Chidon, and Chidons tone changed.


    For some reason, after Chidon had taken the dragon''s power he spoke words that he would''ve never said with enthusiasm. ¡°hehe, how fun, I have to thank you Darkonius, now I have a reason to prove my strength to others.¡±


    From this moment on Chidon became an entirely different person.

 Resolve to Stay Calm

    *Back at the gathering, panic ensues*


    ¡°What the hell!¡± ¡°What''s going on??¡± People are passing out from the shock and there are loud explosions and weird noises happening.


    Kuzu looks around and starts wondering what happened, she knew there was a meteor on the way, but the news dismissed it and now there was a radiating meteor that split apart and now there''s panic.


    She looked around and noticed that most of the panic was because of the meteor. She hoped that Chidons mom would find him and bring him over but now it seemed as if all she could do was hope.


    Her and everyone else kept close since they were at a rather secluded playground under a Pavillion trying to make sure nothing happened.


    ¡°Would you like that, it''s hell¡± Tucker remarks, ¡°can you stop trying to be the clown in a serious situation Tucker?¡± Tucker shuts up and nods his head in agreement, ¡°Thank you¡± Sariah says.


    ¡°Have any clue as to what''s happening Kuzu?¡± She stands there and shakes her head side to side as she tries to understand what''s going on.


    ¡°I have no clue, we have to stay here for now, it seems like all of that¡± As a loud explosion is heard from the background and sirens ring, ¡°is near the cities, where populated people live.¡±


    ¡°We should wait for now, if things get too crazy, here, we move.¡± As they stay close together for some reason she sees wood starting to grow around them.


    As they all look around and see that for some reason, at Raigens feet the ground seems to be forming wood.


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    As Raigen sees it he moves away in fear and it continuously forms at his feet.


    Tucker, weirded out by it, although being a brute sometimes felt off too, slightly cold but not cold at the same time.


    He went down to go touch the wood as he realized that it had turned to ice at a slight touch. Tucker, being startled, removed his hand from it, falling backwards touching the ground leaving a ice imprint of his hand on the wood.


    And as he hit the ground with his hands behind him the grass froze.


    Everyone sees this happening and everyone starts to panic, but Kuzu remains calm, ¡°everyone calm down, it seems like the more we panic the more they create those weird anomalies.¡±


    Tucker looked slightly pissed, ¡°What do you mean, you''re saying we''re doing weird things, why are you outing us?!¡±


    Kuzu tells Tucker to calm down and adds on, ¡°I''m not, in fact we all might have abilities, all I''m saying is we don''t know what they are or how they''re activated besides panicking.


    Tucker calms down and around 40 minutes pass, while everyone remains calm it seems like the explosions don''t.


    They each look at the phone and try to go on ITube to see some live news broadcasts and while most of them were down there were a select few.


    Kuzu looked into it, ¡°to everyone hearing this stay calm, and go inside your houses or stay in a large group with people.¡±


    ¡°From what we gather there are people with supernatural abilities roaming the streets and causing problems, trust the police are going to take care of it.¡±


    ¡°Stay safe, be aware, and don''t do anything rash¡­¡± As the reporter says that he looks to the right and the live feed ends.


    Kuzu and everyone stayed quiet with a serious face, they all knew they had to stay calm for the moment and stay quiet to not attract attention.


    That''s when just after a few minutes a mysterious figure shows up in a weird silhouette out of the darkness unrecognizable. Listening from the darkness just a few words...


    "Time to kill"

 The Merciless One

    The words, ¡°time to kill¡± rang through the heads of Kuzu and everyone else as they all simultaneously tensed up.


    Not knowing what to do they panicked and slowly started to back up, their hearts started to race and all the parents could do was think about protecting their kids.


    ¡°hehehe, hiding? You know it''s like a little feature we people have as fail safe when we can''t do shit.¡± the man spoke as he walked through the darkness.


    A goatee, bald, an orange prisoner uniform labeled 1342, ¡°how fun it is that we people can experience such a thing as death huh!¡±


    He grabs a knife that he stashed away covered in blood pouring down blood from multiple of his victims. ¡°Why? This knife scares you?¡± He throws the knife straight at Tucker stabbing his arm.


    ¡°Aaaaaahhh!!!¡± Tucker yells, and the guy tells him, ¡°shhh¡± as he puts his finger up, ¡°you don¡¯t have to be so loud, we''ve only just begun.¡±


    A purplish green liquid started to form from his body and as it touched the ground it seemed to create smoke as it instantly melted the plants.


    ¡°There''s a new, more proper way to see you suffer¡±, as he approached them he started to have his hand ooze of the toxic liquid as he lifts his hand and makes a slashing motion at Kuzu launching the toxic liquid towards her like a projectile.


    ¡°Oh no, Kuzu dodge¡± Raigen shouts as Sariah quickly steps in front of it and heat forms from her feet as she puts her hands out.


    From her fingertips fire starts to come out as she holds her ground and a wall starts forming, from her hands as the source and with pure determination she creates a flame wall.


    The poison hits it and instantly turns to ash, she tells everyone else to hold their breath for a but as the fumes go up, but to her surprise.


    A part of the poisonous slash went through her quick witted wall as part of the poison went on her shoulder, melted a bit of it and got on her skin.


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    Luckily, it instantly evaporated as soon as it touched her skin with leaving a mild pain on her shoulder.


    ¡°Crap, seems like he has more power, but how?¡± Sariah asks.


    The guy in orange starts talking, ¡°You see a-¡± then something strange happened.


    For some reason he stopped talking, then in 1 second he coughed out blood. ¡°Who- whhoooo-¡±


    ¡°How about I finish it for you buddy.¡± A strange voice popped out from behind the man, strange but familiar to everyone.


    ¡°Where you at, right~ a person''s strength depends on their will, imagination, and proper capabilities from their body. You won that little clash because you had more imagination, will, and a stronger body from your jail time, however.¡±


    He starts walking out the darkness as his face gets revealed to be Chidon. Everyone stays silent and in shock.


    ¡°How courteous, to stay quiet like that, good¡­ as I was saying, while you had that power Sariah put on that shit show of a wall since she didn''t have any of those categories on par with yours.¡±


    As the man tries to speak with blood coming out of his mouth Chidon tells him, ¡°stop struggling if you wanted to know how I beat you, you were simply wide open, and in truth- I am better than you''ll ever be.¡±


    The man turns around and tries to crawl away as everyone sees a deep wound with water pouring out from his back.


    ¡°Trying to deny your death, how fun, I''ll give you a nice grasp of how powerful I am.¡± Chidon starts walking up to him as he crawls away, ¡°please no, no, nooo¡± he begs.


    Chidon continues to walk to him, ¡°Oh? You know, I once begged the same way you did, for a life to not be taken, however, this new world claimed it''s due, and now it¡¯s your turn.¡±


    Chidon walks up to the man as he struggles and pleads for his life to be spared and a dark aura seeps out of Chidon as his eyes glow with joy and grins at his suffering as he puts his foot on the man''s head.


    ¡°You know what makes death worse, anticipation and the slow process that leads to it, like this.¡± Chidon starts pushing down his foot, the guy struggles to move Chidons foot, ¡°ple- pleea- stopped, aaahhh it hurtss~¡±


    Kuzu yells at Chidon, ¡°he''s had enough!¡± Chidon completely ignores her but they all sit and watch as the once kind friend they had became something entirely different.


    Chidon put more pressure on the head as it began plowing into the hard ground and cracks could be heard from both the ground and the head.


    ¡°It''s crushing you isn''t it?¡± The man starts to cry, ¡°I don''t want to di-¡± Chidon interrupts, ¡°too late for that.¡±


    Chidon plows his heel through the man''s skull leaving nothing but a bloody mess on the ground.

 The Elements of Change

    Everyone looks In disbelief, ¡°Chidon¡­¡± Kuzu said anxiously, ¡°What happened to you?¡±


    ¡°Me? What happened to me, good question, who knows.¡± Chidon looks back slowly. ¡°What the hell man, he was crawling away, he had enough!¡± Raigen points out adamantly.


    Chidon responds, ¡°How soft you all are, don''t you see the hell hole we''re in, a new world demands new procedures to take place, take the opportunity and take control.¡± Chidon starts laughing maniacally.


    ¡°Hahahaha! A man just tried to kill all of you and you don''t have the resolve to kill him, how pitiful! You know, I was hoping to come here to see if I can recruit someone, but it seems everyone is still too weak. Like a fine wine, gotta leave it alone for a bit to see how it turns out.¡±


    ¡°All of you that are cowering in fear to those that were barely able to take down this level one crook¡­ you better put on a good show cause if you don''t I''ll kill you myself.¡±


    Tucker starts yelling as his arm bleeds, ¡°You bastard! You think you can get away with this!¡±


    ¡°Look at that Tucker playing the hero, how about this¡­¡± After Chidon finishes saying those words he instantaneously vanishes and appears in front of Tucker like a shadow.


    Chidon grabs Tucker''s other arm as everyone could barely even react and dislocates it.


    ¡°Fu-¡± Chidon puts his hand on Tuckers mouth as everyone sees Tuckers visible pain, ¡°play the hero, and you''ll have to show enough strength to back it up.¡±


    Chidon let''s go and pats down the hand he used to cover Tucker''s mouth on his shirt. Then starts to walk away as Tucker''s parents and Raigen try to help him out.


    Kuzu speaks up, ¡°Where Do you think you''re going, Chidon!¡± Chidon gives a quick response, ¡°to take advantage of the pandemonium¡­¡±


    Chidon starts to walk away as the smoke yellowing out of the city clouds him until he vanishes without a trace.


    *Back in Houston Texas right after Sora talked to Ignatius and obtained his powers*


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    Sora kept on sprinting towards the explosions, the first place he decided to check out was Kobadera¡¯s family, it was the closest so it was the natural choice.


    As he sprinted he started having an internal monologue with Ignatius.


    ¡°Ignatius, explain what can I expect to see? you said I have light elemental capabilities and now because of you I have fire elemental abilities.¡± Sora asks.


    ¡°People may have certain elements but they have specialties within those Elements, from what I can see within you the light element is a enhancer to your overall speed and endurance, while at the same time it can be used in more specific ways, but yours is not too harmful.¡±


    Ignatius adds, ¡°if I had to pin your abilities in a specialty I''d say it''s a semi-enhancer, somewhat usable in some situations and enhances you more.¡±


    Sora says, ¡°great, what about the fire origin one you gave to me.¡± Ignatius starts to talk even more, ¡°the fire origin element I bestowed upon you has endless possibilities, there is no specific category.


    ¡°But, there is a caveat to your ability, it is by no means as strong as you may think, there are 4 categories of dragon''s and a general Element that manifests in most, with that there are 5.¡±


    Ignatius starts to list them off one by one, ¡°basic otherwise known as your element, there are others like Water, Terra, and many more; unique that is a step above that and even beyond that step is the unlimited elements.¡±


    ¡°Each one of us dragons that came down to this planet had a common element. Bit at a certain point we came from one dragon that through the years and many generations made different types of dragons that had more powerful elements.¡±


    Sora says, ¡°Hold on, my brain, so basically to sum it up for now you explained basic, unique, and unlimited. And from the way you''re talking it seems as if over time your species evolved just like us humans to make stronger species.¡±


    Sora can feel the head nod from Ignatius, ¡°Yes, however one thing you must take into account are the 2 others, the transformation element and the Dragon Origin Element that can only be obtained by fusing with a dragon, effectively giving you two elements.¡±


    Ignatius starts to explain in even more detail that the dragon''s have the element they are as dominant genes while the others are recessive.


    Like a punnet but even harder to manage with 3 different traits that have different elements in the basic elements, unique, and unlimited. Basically saying you can''t be unlimited unless you''re lucky and you''re more likely to have a basic element with unique and unlimited recessive genes.


    Ignatius then proceeded to state, with the way his power was zapped and the other dragons that came in with him, anyone could have those types of abilities.


    As Sora ran he realized that he was approaching kobaderas house, and insisted on having the conversation later and Ignatius agreed, as he arrived he noticed a giant bubble of water Surrounding the entire house from top to bottom.


    Sora stood there in shock and said, ¡°please don''t let me be too late.¡±

 Hopes For Survival

    Sora started to run towards the giant water bubble around the house.


    ¡°What is this!¡± He shouted as he ran towards it, but as he approached it he stopped and grew timid. ¡°Why am I?¡±


    Ignatius interrupts, ¡°You''re not scared, your instincts kicked in Sora, pressurized water to this degree is enough to make once weak people pull back.¡±


    As Ignatius looks inside Sora''s mind he says, ¡°however, it seems weird to me, there''s ways to focus certain effects around certain people¡­ Sora, you claim to know these people right?.¡±


    Sora looks straight at the barrier and says, ¡°yes¡­¡± Ignatius stops for a second and responds, ¡°Sora, walk through it.¡±


    Sora at this point didn''t believe he had enough time to figure something out sto he stuck his hand out, ¡°okay, I trust you.¡±


    Sora moved forward and slowly moved his hand towards the water bubble feeling the small particles of water going on him.


    Sora relaxed and moved even closer and as his fingers touched it he realized that the water was soft in a way as it started to slowly open up for Sora as he walked.


    Started from the fingers and as he strolled on through, his arm, then entire body followed. While somewhat in shock he maintained his composure and ran inside.


    ¡°Aria! Shara! Where are you! As he walked through the doors he saw the living room completely empty.


    He kept on shouting their names over and over again as he moved, he went from room to room, from the kitchen all the way to the laundry, and no one was heard.


    He kept searching and eventually heard a muffled out object falling from a closet near the kitchen, he approached the door and as to get prepared for combat he grabbed the door silently and quickly opened it.


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    As he did that he stepped back instantly and got in a fighting stance.


    As the door opened he noticed it, he saw Shara with a knife out and Aria cuddled around her arms as Shara uses her hand to cover her mouth, as I look at both of them I breathed a sigh of relief.


    ¡°Thank you¡­.¡± Sora says out loud as the news continues, Shara looks at Sora and slowly puts her knife down, ¡°Is- is that really you Sora?¡±


    Sora responds, ¡°in the flesh, after what had happened and after all the explosions, I thought the worst had happened¡± As he sits down on the floor in shock. ¡°Things are going on outside that I can''t explain right now.¡±


    ¡°Do any of you have any idea as to what made that bubble?¡±


    As Sora said that Ignatius looked closely, ¡°Seems to be the mother, barrier specialty, or just the ability to make strong barriers with water, powerful defense, low attack.¡±


    Sora says to himself, ¡°okay.¡± As both of the girls look at him with a weirded out face, ¡°Are you talking to yourself Sora?¡± Aria asks.


    He looks at her, and closes his eyes for a moment to Think about what he''d say and puts his hand on her head as he gives her a pat. ¡°Just thinking about stuff.¡± As Sora says that he looks at Shara, ¡°I have a feeling you have the barrier up outside, whatever you do, what you''re feeling now, that drive, that will to keep yourself and your daughter safe¡­ Keep it.¡±


    Sora stands up and says, stay safe to both of them as he starts to walk away, ¡°I''ll go to Kobadera, you two, stay put, and stay safe, find a closet and hide, or a closed off room.¡±


    Shara nodded as she took Aria with her.


    Sora started walking away and noticed something strange, ¡°Is something wrong with the barrier Ignatius?¡±


    Ignatius responds, ¡°no, you can still pass through it, reaffirming what she has to do was smart.¡±


    ¡°So why did I feel like something was off with you? I feel as if our emotions are a bit linked.¡± Sora said.


    ¡°How did you figure that out?¡± Ignatius asked


    ¡°It''s because I felt A kinship between you and I when you infused your element into my body.¡± Sora stated.


    As they talked back and forth Ignatius told Sora that it doesn''t matter right now and that he should hurry up, Sora understanding the situation everyone is in right now instantly started to act and ran right outside the safe haven house to the pandemonium.

 Different World Same Lives to Save

    Off in the distance Sonia is running To Jades bar, ¡°come on, I have to run faster!¡± As she said that her eyes started to glow blue and sparks started to ignite from her body.


    As she felt the jolt, her legs felt reinforced and she began to run faster and faster as every step sounded louder like a clap of thunder as she sprinted towards her father''s house.


    Her body began to spark as her speed rose 5 mph, 10 mph, 20 mph her speed kept on climbing.


    Unlike Sora she seemed to have obtained an ability completely different, the element of lightning.


    As she ran through the bustling streets filled with cops trying to suppress, people running and other people fighting back against others she became too distracted.


    She didn''t realize that she was in a collision course with someone, as she crashed into him, she saw that it was a small group of thugs.


    They were trying to gang up on a cop, ¡°well what do we have here?¡± one of them spoke.


    ¡°What''s a young little lady doing here?¡± the other questioned as they started to approach her.


    As Sonia came around from the fall she noticed what was going on much faster than normal as she kicked up her legs propping up a handstand into a back-flip as she faces the thugs.


    At first there were 5 and now there were 4 on the ground, as she looked around getting into her stance to fight with onlefoot tilted towards her enemy as she relaxed her arms she saw the cop on the ground beat up.


    ¡°I don''t have time for this, but I can''t just let someone be beat up like this.¡± She turns back towards the enemy and kicks the ground with extreme power to propel herself forwards as lighting came out of her body and she instantly turned it into a roundhouse kick as the sound of thunder is heard from it.


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    Kicking one of the guys right in the jaw dislocating it, but simultaneously knocking him away into a light pole bending it.


    As the others looked at her confused at the speed, one of the 3 went in for a quick punch, she went to block it with her hand but saw and felt as her hand made contact with the jab, that it was made of metal.


    So she switched it up and decided to redirect the punch towards the other thug next to her, putting all the force into something that can help her.


    As he launched the punch and saw that it had missed her with a head on collision course to one of his allies he yelled, ¡°Crap, get out of the wa-¡±


    But it was too late, the punch decked his ally down to the ground as Sonia went close to the ground, swept his legs and did a kick downwards onto his chest.


    Leaving a slight indentation on the ground as a result.


    Sonia looks at the last thug and as Sonia has electricity coming out of her legs, the thug turns around and starts running.


    Sonia looks at the guy trying to escape her and she says, ¡°You think you can run and cause issues elsewhere?¡± As she gets in a sprinting position, ¡°fine, maybe you can beat me!¡±


    As she bursts forwards with a strong dash leaving lightning behind she jumps with one foot out as she kicks the guy with extreme speed right on his spine.


    Right after she does that the guy gets blown away and goes face first into the ground as he tumbles along the sidewalk.


    Sonia stops for a second and looks at herself wondering why she was that fast, ¡°seems like weird things are just going on all over.¡± She questions herself and her surroundings.


    While she does the cop goes up to her wounded and says, ¡°Thank you for saving me¡­¡± Sonia looks at him and tells him, ¡°no problem, I wish I could stay and help but.¡± She looks towards the direction of Snooze and Booze, ¡°I have to help someone.¡±


    The cop looks at Sonia and says, ¡°okay, we cops can handle ourselves.¡± Sonia looks back and tells him, ¡°okay.¡± As she looks forwards and bolts towards her father.