Long Way to Go

"I'm impressed," complimented Mr. Sandler, as he walked towards Ren, who was still breathing hard, and his wounds stinging. "However, you still have a long way to go."

Mr. Sandler took off his coat jacket that he always wore and threw it off to the side. Ren felt an immense pressure as Mr. Sandler's eyes flashed yellow. "Give me your best shot, I'll allow one free hit."

Mr. Sandler gestured for Ren to attack.

"I'm going to crack his skull!" Ren flew towards Mr. Sandler and winded his arm up and unleashed all the energy he had left into his attack.

POW!

Ren collapsed to his knees, holding his hand. It felt like all the bones in his hand had just shattered into pieces. Ren then felt his hair been pulled, his body being lifted by Mr. Sandler, his eyes fixed on Ren's face.

SPLOOSH!

HAK!

Ren coughed up blood and looked down at Mr. Sandler's arm which was now inside Ren, his hand sticking out of Ren's back.

Mr. Sandler tossed Ren on the ground like he was nothing more than a piece of trash, and put his coat jacket back on.

"Are you trying to kill him?!" Ms. Croft fumed.

"He needed to know his place. Now, he knows just how far he still has to go," responded Mr. Sandler as he walked away. "Make sure he gets healed up by tomorrow."

"I guess, I could try to burn the wound closed," thought Ms. Croft as she hurried over to Ren. She formed a small flame within her hand and put it up to the hole in Ren's body. The wound slowly burned closed. After that was down she turned Ren over to burn the other side.

"Let's get you an infirmary," breathed Ms. Croft, swinging one of Ren's arms over her shoulders, supporting him as she guided him out of the room.

Ren winced with every step. He tried to calm his breathing and relax, which seemed to help reduce the pain a bit.

"Ren!"

Ren looked up slowly and saw Marissa in front of him. She rushed over and supported Ren's other side.

"What happened?" Marissa had a very concerned look on her face. Before he could answer, he lost consciousness.

Ren woke back up and was in a room he never saw before. He raised one of his arms that had a bunch of sensors stuck onto it. He immediately pulled them off. He had no idea what time it was, but he guessed it was very late. Ren tried to push his body up so he could sit up with his back to the wall, but there was a weight on his legs preventing him from doing so.

Ren sat up to see what it was. To his surprise it was Marissa. She had fallen asleep sitting in the chair. She must have felt Ren move because she slowly stirred.

"Oh come on mom, five more minutes." Marrisa slurred. She opened her eyes and saw Ren sitting up. "Oh Ren, I was so worried! Are you ok? How are you feeling?"

"Actually, I feel fine."

"What about the hole in your stomach?"

Ren lifted up his shirt to reveal that the hole had been mostly sealed up. "Damn, the core has freaking amazing regenerative abilities. What time is it?"

Marissa looked up at the clock that was above Ren's head. "It is around 2:00 a.m."

"Shoot, I still need to make up the for the run I missed yesterday." Ren removed the covers from his legs and began to get out, but Marissa pushed him back down.

"You most definently will not. You should go back to your room and get some more rest!" insisted Marissa.

"No, I'm going. You saw the result of my absolute defeat. I need to get stronger."

"Why are you so fixed on that? I see how you're always doing something! You're either in one of the training rooms, running or sleeping to recover from your latest injury! Why don't you try to enjoy life?"

"I can't."

"Why not?!" yelled Marissa.

"Because those bastards stole my life away!" shouted Ren as a tear began to run down his face. "They killed my friends, forced this core into me, and threatened to kill my parents, then killed them anyway!"

BAM!

Ren hit the wall behind him with his fist gritting his teeth together.

Marissa hugged Ren, catching Ren off guard. Tears were also streaming down Marissa's face.

"I know, my friends are dead too."

"How do you know that?" Even though Ren asked the question, he knew the answer.

"I made the connection a while ago. They don't spare anyone when they take someone. They don't want any witnesses or people to go looking for us," Marissa wimpered.

Ren pushed Marissa away and looked at Marissa. "That's why, I have to go. I can't waste any time."

Marissa was amazed at the fire of determination in Ren's eyes. Marissa gave up and Ren stood up and headed out of the room.

"That's right. I can't waste anymore time. I need to stop those in charge of this operation before they take and ruin anymore lives!"

Ren walked outside of the East building, weights in tow. It was a clear moonlit night with a cool light breeze. Ren stopped at the entrance into the woods and looped the chain aroud his waist.

Ren shot into the woods. "I NEED TO GET STRONGER! I NEED TO GET FASTER! THAT'S RIGHT FASTER!"

Ren picked up his speed, getting faster with every step.

"FASTER!"

Ren threw up dust behind him.

"FASTER!"

Ren's eyes began to burn green as he rocketed through the woods as if the weights weren't there.

"FASTER! FASTER!"

Ren became a blur that eventually vanished into the night...