Seventeen years

"He's a natural born talent I'll give him that, his moves and techniques allows him to adapt so well. This is basically the only thing he's good at, he spends all day playing, he's bound to be good at it"

*ta-ta ta-ta*

*ta-ta ta-ta*

The ball moved faster than most eyes could bare to follow, a mere line of white was all that could be seen and yet the two ping pong players seemed to handle it with relative ease, it didn't seem like anything hard for them but it was obvious it wasn't that simple as the two players had wet clothes on, not wet from water but sweat, with a smile on his face the younger one seemed to wane in concentration as his stamina was getting low and he knew he was going to lose once again and like the heavens heard his thoughts, a drop of sweat passed over his eyes and he lost his focus on the ball for a little while and although he moved the paddle in time, the spin on the ball couldn't be countered as easily. When the ball landed and bounced on the ground, his legs went weak and he sat on the ground knowing he wouldn't be getting up any time soon, he just put his hand s on the ground to balance properly.

"I'm amazed you could even last this long, your stamina has risen and it allowed you to keep on going longer, but you dropped a little too soon"

"Yeah got a little sweat in my eyes, pretty bad timing "

"You'll be leaving us soon so try to do some other things too, don't just stay here and play all the time"

"There really isn't much to do so how about one more in like thirty minutes or so"

He was tired right now but he didn't really want to go back for now, he was tired of what he felt every time he saw his mom and realized he didn't try enough. The test to get into the elite section of the prestigious academy of the global earth federation was all he needed to ace yet he failed. Overworking himself really wasn't the best thing he could have and when it was time for the test he didn't even have up to seventy percent of his normal strength and couldn't perform well enough. He couldn't get in and he didn't have the heart to say it to any of them, so he just said he passed, but those who were there would have laughed at him when they heard what he said.

"Until you beat me at a game only I get the last say here, now skit and come tomorrow for another match but that's it for today."

"*sigh* alright, see you tomorrow"

"Sure"

The middle aged man kept on staring at his back until he passed through the doors, "*sigh* he really is near breaking point"

'I really don't want to head home now, I'll head home later, I'll check the woods instead'

It had always been his favorite spot ever since he could remember, he had spent his whole life here and more than half of it within those woods, he felt a kind of bond and whenever he got there he always felt relaxed and could calm down better in places like that. At this moment what he wanted to do was to calm down and focus on what to do next, he couldn't follow in his father's footsteps anymore since he failed and missed the opportunity to enter the academy, his father was a great warrior and could fight against groups of those monsters all by himself, at least that was what his mother told him, he had never seen his father before because he died twelve years ago, he died after his getting his wife pregnant with him, their only son. He always wanted to do good by his parents and never wanted to disappoint, but he messed up now but he hoped to make up for that and he could do it, he could still become a powerful warrior with or without the academy but it would a longer time and he knew it, resources for growth was obviously a necessity and the right competitive atmosphere was also a given, but he could still do it.

"Well well if it isn't the guy who failed woefully and then went into hiding later on, dweeb I promised I'll make you suffer when I get you the next time, Jaden"

'uh-oh', 'I gotta run'

He had always encountered these group of fools as they lived in the same area, the idiot in front of him had his father who was the assistant of a ranking official of this city, so being a bully was one of the things he knew to do best and that annoyed Jaden very much. So one day, when he encountered their group, he made sure to give a proper lesson, it was then that their enmity was set in stone. And now he encountered them again and at a pretty bad timing too, he was already surrounded and could barely see a way out but he knew he had to try.

"Look Devin, let's calm down and settle this properly, how about we call today's fight a tie and then you would be the initiator in the next match. Pretty good offers am I right?"

He moved backwards as slowly as possible, the boys circling him didn't even realize it, they were focused on the opportunity of punching him in the face for payback.

"What rubbish are you spouting out of your mouth, just shut up and stay still"

'Run'

"Hey hey don't let him, ah!, you fools, give chase"

'He had to lose them and the only way was to go deeper into the woods, he never went too deep before but he could memorize the paths relatively quickly and avoid getting lost.

"Wait up Jaden, we just want to talk"

'Bastards'

Running into the forest wasn't a really good idea, he realized it, he still felt worn out from the match with his mentor and couldn't recover quickly enough, they were quickly catching up

'gotta run, gotta run…oof!'

He was fully focused on the path ahead and didn't bother to look towards the ground, that was a mistake when he ran and tripped over an outgrown root and tumbled to the floor

'S**t'

On falling to the ground he lost all his momentum and paused, he overcame it a bit quickly but Devin had already arrived with the others beside him, there was nothing he could do now

Don't say anything to him and just beat him up

"Ah! Ahh!"

For boys their age, the attacks they rained seemed to be very heavy handed, it was a default due to their enhanced physiques but the one suffering the attacks wouldn't think so.

"Hahaha, weak, haha"

Devin himself seemed to have forgotten the order he had given to not talk in his pleasure at kicking Jaden while he was down

"You weakling, you always boasted about your abilities but you were never anything good in the first place"

"Claiming to be the best? Ha!, you're not even qualified to be the worst you asshole"

"You're just a piece of s**t who can't even raise his fists to fight"

His condition right had never really happened in the past, he was never reduced to such states and this caused the weak Jaden to burn with anger and extreme embarrassment. But that all he could do, he was too weak to do anything at the moment

"You're a shame, a son who can't even compare to his father's shadow"

The body they were beating up subtly trembled but it wasn't big enough for them to notice. Devin and his lackeys might not know his father well since even he didn't know too much but it was generally accepted that all warriors of the first generation performed very well and were praised for their abilities, it was a matter that they all took pride in but Jaden was different.

'I can't match… I can never be like him?…'

'No…no that's a lie, I won't let him down, I'll prove to be the ideal son for him'

At this point he seemed to have entered an agitated state that only got worse with the beatings he was guarding against, a banging pain stated to fill his chest area. Looking into his body and gazing at his heart, you could see it pounding heavily, yes, it wasn't beating, more like the heavy pounding of a drum, it looked like something was trying to break out of it's cage after being provoked. To anyone seeing it, it looked like his was about to be ruptured as the center point of his heart seemed to convulse, contracting and expanding rapidly

Jaden was feeling pains he couldn't understand, why was he feeling so much pain, he clutched his chest and wondered why he as weak and helpless as this

*Weak you're not, the helplessness you feel will be overcome, you just need to believe and fight back*

Suddenly he heard a voice saying something 'who is it?, who are you?!'

The voice seemed to come from everywhere at the same time but he heard it mostly coming from his head so instinctively he spoke through his mind, at this point, everything around him had become obsolete, everything except that voice, so he spoke to it but that wasn't what he heard again, the voice changed and it did not sound nice at all.

*Hmph, weakling, your father was a better person that you'll seem to ever be*

'what?! How dare you say that, who are you to say that'

He was lost and wondering what was going on when he realized what it was saying and lost his temper

*Words to cover up your feelings of incompetence, hahaha pathetic, you can't hide your low self-esteem*

He was seething with anger at the words but it was hard to deny it

As they enjoyed the pleasure of their legs smashing into his body, they couldn't help laughing, they enjoyed dealing with him, Devin himself was grinning from ear to ear , he felt so good doing this, but the pleasure was short lived, the asshole getting beaten didn't make a single sound for a while now, he realized it after ignoring it for a while, he wasn't screaming again and now he looked like he was dipped in ice as he was trembling excessively while holding his chest tightly

"W-What's going on?, why is he like this?"

"He couldn't be this weak, could he?. We only kicked him a few times"

The boys started to feel anxious as they backed away from Jaden's trembling body, not even bothering to check him out. Only Devin stood where he was, but it wasn't because he wanted to check him, he was scared, if he dies and anyone finds out, then they were going to be in serious trouble

"Devin let's get outta here"

"Devin?! Devin!!"

"Uh! Huh? Yeah let's get outta here, nobody says anything about today, we clear?"

"Understood" "Yeah"

And then they ran, leaving Jaden behind passed out in the woods, at least they he was …

Within his mind, Jaden was having a hard time controlling his emotions, he wasn't passed out, he was just disconnected from everything else.

*You're pathetic. I would question your parental authencity if I didn't know the truth already*

The voice rang out constantly in his head, but Jaden couldn't say anything, but it was way too much for him

'shut the f**k up '

He snapped back at the voice, he was already at point of bursting out and as he felt like that, the growing spot in the middle of his heart reached the limit of it's expansion and burst open, but what came out wasn't blood, it was hard to call it blood, it was a like ray of light bursting through the cracks and then the crack started to spread out, growing all over his heart making it look like a glass work of art as more light rays spilled out, the color looked like silver mixed with gold(not too sure how to describe that), and then suddenly the cracked pieces seemed to evaporate and disappear and the light within bursted out completely, a literal bright heart appeared and began beating softly like it should, it was then he truly passed out.

*You were really heavy handed you know that*

*Hmph, someone had to be*