The Land of Reality

'What's going on here?This bastard wasn't having the same strength earlier

How did he get to turn the tides of the fight with just a punch? Now thinking about it, me catching that punch was way easier than I thought and the fight has been easy even when I contemplated on having a hard time from the starting

Wait does that mean?'

"DIE!!!" The big guy attempted to stab Gabriel in the face with the crystal before Gabriel could bring his thoughts to conclusions. Gabriel had shot his eyes as if he was preparing for the impact but he didn't feel anything and after 4 seconds passed with him still feeling normal he decided to open his eyes. Upon opening his eyes the big guy actually stabbed the ground instead of his face.

"Hahahaha I'm just messing with ya" The big guy exclaimed

"You didn't think I was going to kill you right?"

"Ummm..." Gabriel gestured asking for freedom as the big guy still had his feet on him.

"Ohhh sorry I got carried away"....the big guy replied while removing his feet of him.

"Sorry about that last punch there but it's kinda of your fault because you brought the fight out of me, I get easily excited"

Now Gabriel was having a Confused look in his face curious to what was happening.

"So you weren't serious this whole time?"...Gabriel then asked in a low tone of voice.

"Huh?you didn't actually think I was trying to kill you?"The big guy replied

"Besides if you had thought it logically powered humans aren't allowed to use their powers anyhow they choose much less try to kill you in public."

"Oh..r..ight.... but how about that guy you and your mob was trying to beat up?....Gabriel asked still curious of the situation.

"Huh Mob? About that I wasn't really planning on beating that guy I just wanted to scare him with a little punch. He threw his bottle toward us first "

"Little punch"? Gabriel thought to himself.. 'so he wasn't really serious from the beginning. That's why the punch felt so easy to catch.'

Before Gabriel thoughts could run wild any further the big guy then continued his explanation.

"And those guys and I aren't part of any mob, they are my body guards besides don't you know me?"

"Know you?" Gabriel now looking curious even more.

"I'm Machia Ontario"...the big guy introduced himself as if he was a celebrity.

Machia Ontario was actually a celebrity, he's a new promising fighter in the Demons Battle sport. he's been winning his way to the top little by little. He was a fighter that has gotten his name shown but he's not yet that popular as other big fighters like KILLER JOE for example.

"Ohhh Machia I can't believe I punched Machia Ontario, he was really holding back and he looks so different in person compared to when I saw him in fights from screens, No it's as if he's an entirely different person."...Gabriel then thought all these to himself feeling all dumb he had to apologize fast

"Sorry sir!!!"...

"Oh no I'm the one that's supposed to be saying sorry I accidentally activated my abilities thereby giving you a cut"...Machia interrupted Gabriel.

"Banjo!!"..Machia callled out to one of his bodyguards who then answers

"Sir"

"Please have the kid injury taken care of"

"Now speaking of which I'm sure you weren't joking while fighting me, Do you aspire to become a fighter too boy?"

"Umm...well you see I'm still yet to discover my abilities"..Gabriel answered in a submissive manner.

" So you're a regular human then well it can't be helped but boy I'll have to break it to you, you better come back to reality for your own sake"..Machia replied to Gabriel

"The gap between a powered human and regular human is far too much because if I went serious like you from my own end then let me tell you, You would already be a dead man from my first punch"...Machia continued speaking.

"So it would be better to get back to reality for your own sake"

Gabriel wasn't the first regular human wishing to be a powered human Machia has encountered. Unfortunately there were many regular people like Gabriel who admired the match but couldn't participate because fate didn't choose them to become Demons Battle fighter. People like Gabriel were either giving up on this dream or doing something reckless everyday but from the perspective of this fighter it would be better for this kid to give up that dream.

And just like that the whole scene between the fighter and the demons battle fan went by so fast. For Gabriel, meeting this fighter was both a positive and negative experience. It was positive in the sense he got to punch Machia Ontario and also got his autograph while it was negative because he got reminded again the Demons Battle is road-closed for him.

"Well I'm not giving up yet I'm still 15 so my powers could come anytime soon I choose my own fate"...Gabriel said affirming to himself

Gabriel could go home now because at this time his school was already through with the day's activities. He walked all the way to the train station and boarded a LIGHT-TRAIN, which was the evolved version of fastest rocket train during the 2000s capable of moving twice the speed of the type of train and still utilizing the concept of magnetic elevation to travel.

This train was the fastest form of mobile technology currently in existence which wasn't necessarily the fastest thing in existence, period.

A lot of technologies had gotten better since past time and the light-train was also a result of technological advancements, however, the least impressive type.

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It was already evening and the Light train was a very popular means of transportation between the middle class districts, so workers, other students and regular everyday individuals alike coming back from their daily activities usually used the Light train as their preferred means of transportation.

This made the Light train to be really occupied at every moment of the time, fortunately, there were many Light trains to go around and the total number of occupants each train could have usually was in the thousands. Given this fact that the train was completely occupied, it was still comfortable enough for the passengers to sit properly as the Light train was so big to give every passenger their personal space.

It was very rare for the the trains to be crowded to the point that nobody would be able to move up the point that some would be pressed up against the sliding doors, just like how movies depicted train rides in the early 2000s.

Gabriel got into the first Light train he came across, having ample room to move about and 3 minutes later he arrived at his destination which if he were to walk from where he was coming from, it would probably had taken him 3 hour 10mins to get his stop.

The train slid to a slow stop and to show how far technology had advanced at this era in time, all that tremendous speed and inertia the Light train had gotten from covering that long distance in such a short time were all dissipated all over the body of the train transforming it into electrical energy

Gabriel got off, being the first one to step out the sliding doors of the light train while reminiscing about the fight he had skipped school to watch and his little incident with Machia because it was recently new in his mind due to how quickly he got to where he was currently from the view bar.

Only a couple minutes later Gabriel walked home uninterrupted which was due to the fact that his house wasn't too far from the train station. It was a beautiful house in the Rukon district which was amongst the other districts known for housing middle class citizens with powered humans and normal humans living together. It was a district filled with beautiful houses but it was incomparable to a district occupied by first class citizens. Those people were given the best treatment that could be awarded to anyone because they could very well afford said treatment.

First class citizens still owned houses in this Rukon district too as well as other middle class districts but they don't usually reside here. The houses were most times either for business reasons as the owners made money from the rents and mortgages the occupants pay on a monthly basis or for holidays when they wanted something a little different from what they get as first class citizens. Turns out that getting the over bearing treatment can be tiring sometimes.

Also, just like there were district for first class and middle class individuals there were also districts for lower class people which the middle class districts were obviously better than.

Yes, this ranking system was based on the earnings of an individual. First class status is for the richest and most influential sets of people in the country, people who can afford the best of life.

Middle class districts are for people who just live comfortably but they can't afford the best as the rich can but they can take care of themselves well enough. Usually, this rank applies to people with families consisting of a wife and child or any extended family members under their name and responsibilities as using the earning ratio, a person can indeed be in the first class ranking but however, fall down the ranks by a level or two when they then have family members to take care of. This is to say that the first class districts are for the extremely wealthy families who come from generational wealth or have happened to make it big on their own merits, however, it's usually the former and then averagely wealthy single individuals.

As for the lower class districts, these were for the poor people of society trying to keep up and make ends meet. With an increase in global population over the centuries, so did come an increase in the ratio of people within and even below the poverty line and the government still haven't been able to put a permanent fix on that problem.

With all said, it's not that there were much divisions between different district but the class system only accounted to the population of a particular class living in a district. Like a first class district is usually populated by influential individuals who could afford the best of life and because of that a home in one of these districts is as expensive as it could possibly be when compared to the earnings of a middle class family.

Although, some middle class individuals do live in these first class districts, they might tend to live very frugally in these districts because home taxes alone could cut out half their earnings and we haven't even gotten to transportation and feeding. Only individuals trying to fake status were usually in these types of situation.

Also, people with middle class ranking down to lower class ranking in the first class districts were usually workers for the first class individuals and would be hosted in their homes. This works just like how the lower class people can still live in the middle class district too but it could put a bit of pressure on them financially because of their income but not as much pressure it would be when that same lower class person tries to live in a first class district on their own.

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Gabriel was from a family worthy to be called middle class although he and his family do not get the best in life as Gabriel really wanted but they were comfortable enough to live a normal life. The Rukon district is a district well known to be populated by middle class individuals and maybe some first class visitors as it was amongst the best the middle class districts had to offer.

A couple of low volumed thumping steps later and Gabriel finally arrived home, at the front door which he didn't hesitate to get through. And feeling confident that he had gotten away with skipping school which to him was getting away with murder basically, nobody at home would be that wiser.

After walking in, what he was greeted with were voices coming from the television speakers in the sitting room and nobody except for his little sister Paris was there watching a kids show. Her favorite one, the Loli Gaggles.

"Welcome back big brother!" After noticing his entrance the previously enthralled Paris paused her show and rushed off the couch, running towards Gabriel to give him a hug which was actually her slamming into him with her arms spread wide open.

Gabriel held his 6 year old sister and started teasing her in the sitting room "Oh big brother has returned to take away your blood... Bleh"

"Ahh??" Paris played along with her older brother's joke until the moment when Gabriel got called by a stern voice and the direction was towards the kitchen. It was a very familiar voice which only his mom had.

"Gabriel Lee!" she shouted.

Gabriel's heart skipped a beat or two from hearing his name because his mother Mrs. Nora lee had just called him by his full name which she only does when he had done something to upset her and at this very moment there was only one thing going through his mind as to what she could possibly be angry about. It didn't take more than 2 seconds for him to realize that his mom must have figured out he missed school.

"Mister Gabriel Lee, I'm calling you to get in here, right now!" His mom called to him once again with much more fire in her voice than before.

Nervous as to what was going to happen Gabriel began to stutter "Be..be right there mo...mom" he answered, walking towards the kitchen and Paris still with him, hands holding as she insisted on going to see their mom together. She knew that her older brother was in trouble although not knowing what for but she had the idea that she might be able to intervene and plead for Gabriel to be forgiven

They both got to the kitchen where their mom struck Gabriel the harsh inquiry question....

"Where were you today? And don't tell me you were in school because I know you weren't" Nora asked with her giving Gabriel a very serious look and From her tone it was clear that nothing he said was going to be a good enough answer. He knew this and also the fact that anytime he got this particular look from his mom it meant real trouble for him.

"I can't believe Mr Bento snitched on me...Shit!" Gabriel murmured to himself but what he said could still be heard by Nora.

"No!!! Your weird teacher didn't tell me you skipped school, you just did, just now... So you really did skipped school!" Nora fired her reply back at him and this one, there was no way to dodge it.

(Oh my god, I've just been duped and by my mom) these were the thoughts going through Gabriel mind.

He knew Nora his mother got good acting skills and she played the role well when it came to getting secrets out of her kids and most of the time he always fall victim to her tricks.

There was even a time his mother got him to confess he had watched porn once. That's how good she is and it left him to wonder, sometimes, why his mom had not taken a acting career or a job as a detective in the police department. She got the talents to succeed in those fields.

As a possible plan B, he had actually prepared himself against any kind of tactics like this today while on the train ride and even before that, when he exited the bar, but her voice from the very beginning was too convincing that she already knew the fact he skipped school. It made him exposed himself before he even knew it.

Besides, his mother didn't just decide to put on an act like this for no particular reason. She knew Gabriel was a lover of the Demon Battle sport just like his elder sister is and being a boy still undergoing puberty, she suspected that her son might do something stupid just to watch the fight of the champion Killer Joe and right now she just found out on her own that Gabriel actually did skip school.

"Yeah, okay mom, I just skipped school for a day. You know that I couldn't miss the fight of 'killer Joe' our districts own fighter. It's not even a big deal if you think about it." Gabriel replied to his mom in a tone depicting that he was hoping the truth would set him free.

However,

"Yeah, it's a big deal alright" she said. "I can't have you skipping school because of this Demons Battle sport. Besides, your full focus is supposed to be in your school work where you can become a doctor like your dad."

"But Leah got to skip school when she was my age to watch Demons Battle!!" The young teenager replied back very fast to defend himself.

"Well you and Leah are different, she actually wants to enter the Demon Battle sport and she's fit to enter because she has abilities. Besides, you know I wasn't in support of it initially" his mother retorted.

The person they were talking about now was Gabriel's older sister, Leah, who was a powered human just like their dad whereas Gabriel took after their mom. Leah and their dad was the only people in their house with super human abilities.

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Gabriel loved the sport but he didn't have any abilities to get involved in it as he was a normal human and he got reminded of this fact with his mother last statement.

"Yeah I know mom, but it's not as if my grades dropped. I'm still the best in the class after all"he retorted.

"Oh god look, you gotta focus on your school dear... Yes you're the best in your class but I want you to be the best in your field not just your class" his mother adviced.

*SIGH*

"!!" Gabriel on the other didn't try to argue any further because he still knew that no matter how soft her voice had gotten, to his mom he was still a glutton for punishment.

"You're grounded, no TV for you in the next 1 week..." his mom declared his punishment.

Paris who had been there all this while and had initially come to get their mom to calm down and not pass any judgment just kept quite while she was in Gabriel's arm this whole time. She too was already old, old enough to understand the kind of situation her brother was in.

Nora continued speaking. "Look dear, it might look like I'm the bad person right now but all I'm doing is for your own good... I don't just want you to be the best in your class but the best when it comes to anything the medical field has to offer, I want you to always go beyond your limits..."

"Beyond your limits" his mother always says that and Gabriel was already familiar with that phrase.

"Speaking of limits, Mom I'm not yet 16 so if I get my powers I believe you know what I'm gonna do"

Nora then immediately said back to him

"Dear I believe you know your 16th birthday is in the next 5 days too right? I'm sure that's the amount of days it would take you to get the land of reality"...