'So... This whole thing is about a desk...?' Dorothy asked while staring at Kurt from the top of his shoulder.

After the boy challenged Gaby a heavy atmosphere began to take over the class. All the students looked at Kurt as if he was a dead man walking.

He could see a few of them secretly making bets concerning the outcome of the battle, things like how long he would last, how many bones he would break, and if he would cry or not.

Kurt tried his best to ignore them and just focused on trying to rest for the match, [It's not just about the desk... I want to prove I'm not the same as before... You said it yourself! I can't just let people walk all over me!]

'So... That's what this is all about? You afraid of going back to your old self that would always fail at things? You think beating up a girl is gonna prove anything?'

[It will...] he replied while clenching his hands together as memories from his past and all the things failed at before flashing one by one. Failed tests, failed projects, failed attempts at making friends, failures after failures, [It will prove that even someone like me can succeed if I try!]

Dorothy couldn't help but feel concerned. She kept thinking that the recent events had gone to his head a little. For someone like Kurt that barely ever got any victories, hearing about how powerful his talent was right after defeating a gang of bullies by himself seemed to have boosted his confidence a little too much, making him feel like he was able to do anything.

[You are on my side, aren't you, Dory? You also think that this girl needs a lesson, right?] He asked while trying to force a smile and some positive attitude.

Dorothy just stared at him in silence for a moment trying to think how to best tackle this situation as his mentor, 'Kurt... Do you know how bullies are born?'

[Eh...? What kind of question is that?]

"Dude!!!" Trevor suddenly grabbed him once he returned to his seat and almost gave Kurt a heart attack, while also leaving a red mark on his shoulder, "Have you lost your mind??? Why in the world did you pick a fight with Gaby??"

Kurt began to rub the spot where he was grabbed. As always, Trevor had no delicacy with the way he approached people, "Ah... I don't know... I... I just felt like it..."

"Man... You really have no idea of what you just did!! Gaby is one of the top fighters of the school! Why do you think she is always alone?? People are terrified of getting near her!!"

"Ah... Yeah... I can see that..." Kurt mumbled while thinking about Gaby surrounded by electricity. Her fluffy hair raised by static as sparks of lightning surrounded it almost made it look like a cloud in a storm.

Kurt assumed she would be easy to defeat seeing as how she carried so many books about poison, driving him to believe her talent was some kind of venom power, and since he had healing abilities, poison was useless on him.

"But... Just because she is strong... Doesn't mean she is invincible... Right?" Kurt wondered.

"Well... Nobody is invincible" Trevor replied while holding his chin, "It's all about finding the right weakness..."

"Then that's what I'm gonna do..."

Right now, this was Kurt's only advantage. He knew what her power was, but she didn't know what he could do. This small piece of information was the best chance he had to winning this fight.

_________

_________

It was finally the moment of truth.

The whole class had moved to the academy's gymnasium where students would pair up to have a partner in the sparing lesson.

"All right, class!! Everyone pick your partner and go to one of the arenas! We don't have all day!! Go, go, go!" the gym teacher shouted. She was a lady with a whistle around her neck wearing a hat over her tied-up hair. Her clothes consisted of a tracksuit drenched in red with white stripes on the side.

Kurt was shocked by how close to his old life the view looked. All the students had switched out of their regular uniforms and were now dressed in white sleeveless shirts and blue short shorts.

The way the class would work was, three groups of two would enter one of the small arenas located in the center of the gymnasium and practice their self-defense skills as well as the use of their talents with each other by trying to get the other student out of the area.

Kurt watched as different kids would showcase their talents. One arena had a boy that could increase his size against a girl that could move with incredible speed. Another had a kid that could set himself on fire while the other could control the wind to fly around the place.

"Kurt!" the teacher called, making him flinch due to how focused he was on the students and their skills, "You're the new kid, right? Would you like to skip this class? It might be too much for a beginner like you. You can just watch for today."

"I... Uuhh..."

"Yeah, Kurt! Do you want to sit down and skip it?" a girl suddenly asked while approaching him from behind, a young lady with glasses that had a big smirk on her face as if she was curious about his answer, "Or... Would you like me to be your partner?"

Kurt stared at Gaby who was practically mocking him with her eyes. He knew she wanted him to cower and run away after talking big in front of the whole class.

The teacher looked around confused as if she had missed something as all the students stopped what they were doing to stare at the two.

"I'm good. Let's do it!" Kurt finally replied.

Gaby came closer and whispered in his ear, "You just lost your only chance to walk away from this in one piece. Don't blame me for what happens next!"

"I'm not afraid of you!" Kurt stated while glaring at her.

"A tree isn't afraid of lighting... But it still gets fried like anything else when it gets hit by it!"

Gaby walked away from him and stepped into the arena. It looked like a football field, a large rectangular painting on the ground with a line crossing in the middle and a circle in the very center.

Kurt was about to enter as well but the teacher stopped him for a second.

"You can't take your pet with you!"

"Oh! S- Sorry..."

Trevor at that point rushed up to them and began to droll while raising his palms, "Ah!! Me! Me! Me! I can stud- I mean anal- I mean, I can carry her!!!"

Dorothy began to twitch and hide behind Kurt's neck while feeling her heartbeat accelerating, 'You let this freak touch me, I swear I'm gonna peck your eyes out of our face!'

Kurt felt a sudden chill upon hearing that, "Uuhh... Sorry, Trevor... Dorothy doesn't seem to like you much... Teacher, can you take care of her?"

"Sure thing, kid! Just remember! This is your first day! Don't push yourself too hard!"

"Don't worry! I got it under control!" Kurt replied while hanging Dorothy over, [I'll be back soon!]

The teacher began to gaze at the owl and trying to grasp what she was looking at, "What kind of dragon is this anyway?"

Kurt took a deep breath and began to make his way to the fight.

This was something he needed. Something to prove he had changed, that he had evolved, that he was no longer the same weak pathetic boy from his old life. Even his old name he tried to forget. He wanted to see himself as nothing but Kurt, the son of the emperor, and a dragon warrior.

[I'm not the same...] he mumbled to himself.

"So. You really want to do this?" Gaby asked once they were finally face-to-face.

"More than anything!"

"All this for a dumb seat?"

"It's not just the seat! You're a bully! And bullies need to be punished!"

Gaby widened her eyes for a moment and began to laugh, "Buahahahahahahaha!! You think I'm a bully? And what does that make you? The knight in shining armor that will save the class from my reign of tyranny?"

"I..."

Gaby began to cover herself with a layer of electricity, "Nah! You just don't like me, right?"

"What?"

"Start!!" the teacher shouted.

Gaby immediately raised her arm and started to gather energy on her fist. Right after that, a blast of electricity was unleashed aimed at Kurt as if being shot by a cannon.

The boy gasped for a moment and rolled to the side to dodge the attack. He was lucky that he could see the trajectory from the angle of her hand because the speed of that move was so fast that he barely had time to escape it.

"Close one!" she commented.

Kurt stared at the ground and all he saw was a big black mark where he was before as smoke started to rise from it.

"One second later and that could have been me..." he mumbled.

"In less than a second, that WILL be you!" Gaby explained, "Unless you want to quit!"

Kurt glared at her, "Bring it on, cloud head!"

"As you wish, gibberish boy!"