Author’s note- Omg! I was trying to read my own story on school wifi, and it got blocked! Lol!

(Ignore the stupid author. Just enjoy the chapter.)

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Fighting my own

I hope I won’t regret this…

‘Ring, ring, ring…”

???- “Hello?”

Me- “Is this Joyce Kim?”

???- “Hold on...”

A silence came from the other end of the phone, followed by a sharp click. The call was most likely being recorded, tracked, or both.

???- “Yes, this is Joyce Kim speaking. Who are you?”

My voice went flat; the cold front had returned once again.

Me- “Nathaniel. A new recruit.”

Joyce- “I assume you are here for the first mission. You’re in luck. This time around, the date for instruction is tomorrow at 10:00 am, and the location is at the end of your path. You and a few others.”

Me- “My path?”

Joyce- “Don’t play stupid with me; any person with the slightest bit of intelligence could see through that riddle of ours. Figure it out.”

“Beep.”

She hung up.

A moment passed as I recalled the riddle. ‘By the light of a wisp, you shall see the the path. And the start of your path, is our sole meeting place.’

Knowing that the phrase came from the organization, ‘our sole meeting place’ was definitely the gas station. And they wisp most likely referred to my fireball. So I had to go the gas station in the early morning, activate my ability, and follow whatever appears due to the activation of my ability. Unfortunately, there seemed to be nothing that I could do to immediately test my body strengthening.

Checking the time, I found that it was 10:33. I decided to get some rest.

*********************

I opened my eyes... A world, an endless sea existed around me. The water extended as far as the eye could see, and it reflected the clouds above. I lay in the ‘center’ of this world, and as I shifted, ripples in the water extended for miles.

When I stood up, the sun gently illuminating the area surrounding me, I saw my reflection in the water. He blankly stared back at me, and we both stayed this way for a while. Suddenly, he looked the other way, and I followed his gaze only to find another ‘me’ looking in my direction as well.

I had a subtle realization at that moment; I was not in some sort of boundless sea. Everything was just reflected, repeated endlessly. I was trapped.

Looking in every direction: north, south, east, west, above, below, I only saw my blank gaze staring back in my direction. And suddenly, wherever I looked, I saw a deep frown.

I took an aggressive step forward, and they also closed in on me from all sides. But that wouldn’t last for long. I closed in with a swirling golden aura around my body, and I ignited multiple flame points around me. But my opponents were just as formidable. Their eyes had turned completely golden, and the golden aura concealed any part of them that could be considered human. Now, they were gods.

The sea froze over, and the once peaceful clouds now had sounds of thunder. Like swimming dragons, lightning flickered within the clouds. And with a loud, reverberating roar, the lightning smashed down on the battlefield, signaling the start of the fight!

Spinning the flames furiously around me, the fireballs had fused into a tornado of golden fire. The area around my feet melted, and the splashing of my feet on the water rose into a tempest. I was sprinting!

The distance was quickly closed, and the frozen boundaries of each of us fused together. The flames collided next, and I sent out a golden fist!

“BOOM!!!”

The fists smashed together, and a loud rumbling came out from all directions. The clash was so intense that cuts appeared all over my body, and the flames scorched me in many places. But I wasn’t done yet!

I went all out, channeling the flame and the golden aura like a drill!

And for a moment, the world around me went silent, and the auras receded showing a figure just like mine staring into my eyes.

“Crack”

Cracks extended from my feet, and slowly spread across the whole world. Then it all shattered like glass.

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My eyes flipped open; a moment passed as I tried to recover from the sheer screwiness of the dream. And strangely, I could recall every event of it in vivid detail.

As a habit, I checked the time on my phone. It read 6:20, a time about an hour earlier I expected to wake up. I knew my parents would currently be asleep, so afraid of waking them, I decided to read some books on my phone.

I was following about 25 online novels simultaneously, anymore, and I wouldn’t be able to finish my school work or do other stuff. But during this period of reading novels, I found them somewhat, lackluster. It was like my own life had been taken over by a novice author with a passion for action. And now life was much closer to fantasy than it had ever been, and those stories didn’t have anything that was much different anymore.

I digress. Thinking about this topic would probably be considered breaking the fourth wall. Who was I, Deadpool?

And then I recalled last night’s test on my regeneration…

Moving on, my dream last night had given me plenty of ideas on how to use my ability. And seeing as reading wasn’t nearly as entertaining as before, I decided to try some things out. While trying not to wake my parents…

I walked downstairs quietly, trying to mask any sounds of my walking by going slowly. But apparently, I didn’t do a good enough job of keeping silent because as I got downstairs, Bella started whining.

My dog, Bella, was always locked up while everybody was sleeping. The reason being one time we forgot to lock her up, and mayhem ensued. We woke up to dog poop all over the house, a ransacked pantry, and urine on every inch of the carpet. From that day on, we made sure to lock her up everytime we went to bed.

But of course, the dog didn’t like it. So if anybody woke up, she would whine for them to take her out. And if they didn’t take her out soon, then she would start barking, pissing off everybody else in the house. Trust me, I’m speaking from experience here.

So I went over to the gate she was locked in and opened it to let her outside. I went out with her, and the dog ran off to play somewhere else, leaving me free to test out those ideas.

Deciding to test out my limits, I started condensing flame points in front of me, drawing heat from the ground. Frost extended out in a circular shape from me, and the temperature dropped for every point I condensed. And after I had condensed the eleventh flame point all of them dispersed. So 10 at a time was my limit.

I waited for the temperature of the ground to return to normal, and after the frost disappeared, I continued.

I condensed 10 flame points at once, and spun them around me rapidly in a circle.

“Whoosh”

A ring of flame appeared around me, causing the wind to start blowing around chaotically around me. Then on a spark of inspiration, I drew the ring of flame inwards, at my feet.

A gust of hot air seemed to fly up in a spiral, making my clothes ripple upwards. The force wasn’t enough to lift me, but it definitely made me feel lighter. Drawing the flame ring high above my head, I condensed a flame point in the middle of it, drawing heat from all the other flame points at once. Flame point X10! But it was so unstable!

I lost control of the X10 flame point, and it exploded above my head.

“Bang!”

Bella came around the corner, barking furiously. And the lights in my parents room turned on. I looked around guiltily, and I calmed Bella down. Opening the door to the inside, I saw two people in pajamas walking down the stairs.

Dad- “What was that?”

Mom- “It sounded like a bomb.”

They both looked to me at the same time for an answer, but I shrugged my shoulders.

Me- “I don’t know.”

I walked to start the breakfast, and seeing as I didn’t make a big issue out of it, my parents shrugged their shoulders as well and dropped the subject.

Mom- “So why are you up so early?”

Me- “I woke up earlier than expected, and this morning I found just reading pretty boring. So I decided to let Bella outside.”

Mom did a double take, a questioning expression on her face.

Mom- “You found reading boring!? Are you really my baby?”

Dad walked over, his expression amused.

Dad- “Hah! It seems he’s really growing up! Hey Nathaniel, do you want to spar for a bit with your old man? I think I’m growing rusty!”

Yeah, my Dad’s side of the family consisted of martial arts fanatics. When I was young, that used to be my thing as well. And my mom agreed, under the impression that it was just for self defense. But after what happened middle school, I decided to tone it down a bit. Then I got hooked on reading…

But considering what has been happening recently, I needed to pull up my game.

Me- “You won’t beat me this time. I think I’ve gotten much better.”

Dad looked at me smilingly, not believing a word I said.

Dad- “By sitting around in school all day? You never beat me even when you were in practicing! And now… Tch. I’ll beat you into shape!”

Was that a provocation? It’s on dad!

Me- “Where’s the gear?”

Dad- “In the garage. Come!”

He walked forward confidently and flexed as he passed mom. She giggled lightly and said,

Mom- “As long as you two don’t go too far, it’s ok. I don’t want to see any bruises!”

We both nodded as we passed, and in about 5 minutes, we both had our equipment on.

It consisted of a karate gi, arm guards, leg guards, teeth guards, gloves, a helmet, and some padding around the body. Yeah, our family went all out in terms of gear, unlike most. But also unlike most, nobody ever held back. Not even against a kid…

Bad memories aside, I never came close to beating dad. For example, if you compared him to Blaze, he would win 10 times out of ten if Blaze didn’t use his ability. He was faster, stronger, smarter, more agile, any area you could think of my dad was better in. Practically inhuman!

But let’s not make my confidence lower than it already is... Stop thinking about it already, stupid brain! It’s almost time for the fight!

A blue mat was laid out across the driveway, and as I walked forward, I noticed dad standing in the middle, pulling the strap of his glove tight. Giving me a vicious grin, he smashed his fists together.

Dad- “Ready!?”

Touching the pendant that Chloe gave me strengthened my courage. I secured it within my clothes and drew into a fighting stance.

Me- “Ready!”

We both threw fists without warning and then jumped back realizing the threat of the other’s fist.

Dad- “It seems your reaction got better! But you’re too slow!”

He sprung forward, and I retaliated by kicking at his shin. Fall for me!

He pivoted on his other leg, dodging my attack and rotated for a roundhouse kick. Fast!

I had no way to dodge, so I defended to mitigate some of the damage. My feet slid on impact, and my arms numbed. But not giving me a chance to recover, dad went for a backhand!

Normally, I would have lost at this point. But now, things were different!

I ducked and went forward under the blow. Uppercut!

My fist flew upwards, but dad dodged by the smallest of movements, a tilt of the head. It grazed past him, and he took the chance to strike at my unguarded ribs! I jumped backwards in an attempt to dodge the blow, but it was too late!

“Bam!”

When I landed, I staggered back a few steps, the wind knocked out of me. He took the chance to throw a straight punch, right at my chest!

I turned my body while slapping his fist away, then I kicked at the inside of his knees!

His legs bent forwards, and I went for the finisher! A palm smash to the back!

Rolling to escape my blow, Dad whirled around to face me once again.

Dad- “You have gotten better! What’d you do?”

I smiled complacently and drew back into a fighting stance. He went into one that mirrored mine and slowly inched forward. This time he was much more cautious. I provoked,

Me- “Yeah, you better be careful! Don’t try and lose too badly!”

He didn’t respond to the provocation, only smiling.

Dad- “Who do you think taught you to trash talk during fights? Who taught you how to fight? I did! Don’t think those tricks will work on me.”

He continued to inch forward, leaving no obvious ways I could attack. And I was slowly losing ground, so continuing to stay on the defensive wasn’t an option. I had to attack!

I quickly advanced forward, and dad went for a shin kick. Copying his maneuver from the start of the fight, I pivoted on the other leg and shot out a roundhouse kick!

He blocked the kick, but I had already gathered all of my momentum on my fist! Backhand!

Dodging it by a hair’s breadth, he ducked under my attack and sent an uppercut forward!

I tilted my head to dodge the attack, but it was a feint! The fist opened up into a palm, scissoring towards my eyes, while the other attack was aimed at my chest!

I continued the spinning motion I utilized for the roundhouse kick and the backhand, and I sent my fist hurtling towards his stomach! Mutual destruction!

Our attacks landed at the same time, he had tensed up his abdominal muscles, while the attack on my face grazed me, and the attack on my chest landed on my shoulder instead.

We both staggered back, but a hot feeling swimming throughout my body exploded forth in that moment!! I caught my balance in an instant and sprung forward to a still off balance Dad. Chance!

My right fist flew forward like lightning, and before he could defend, the fist was already right in front of dad’s chest!

“Bam!”

His eyes widened in surprise, and he fell tumbling on the floor. I had won!

Me- “I won?”

Dad got up slowly, rubbing his chest.

Dad- “My god! When did you get so strong? I guess I’m getting old, huh.”

Me- “Heh.”

I rubbed my nose and let off a bashful smile.

Me- “I guess I just got stronger.”

Dad looked indignant at those words.

Dad- “You just got stronger, huh? If sitting around reading or learning at school could make me stronger, I would of done that long ago! What’s your secret? And you suddenly became about twice as strong at the end of the fight! Were you holding back during the whole thing?”

Me- “You were off balance. Of course it was much easier to knock you down. And plus, I got myself braced before you hit my shoulder. It was easy to resolve the surplus.”

Dad still didn’t look convinced, but he didn’t say anything about it. Instead, he remarked,

Dad- “If you were in shape, you could be so much better. And since you defeated me, your next target is your uncle.”

Dad gave a depreciating smile.

Dad- “I could never beat him either you know. He’s now a 7th order black belt, and he’s both stronger and faster than me. But you have potential! If you could sharpen up your technique, and get into tip top shape, defeating him wouldn’t be too far away!”

Me- “But-”

Dad- “Son! With so much potential, you would be disappointing both me and the family if you don’t see this to the end!”

Me- “Ok, but we can’t start today. I need to be somewhere at ten.”

Dad- “That’s ok. We’ll do double tomorrow!”

Suddenly, I regretted beating him. But, maybe this was a good thing. Getting more training couldn’t hurt, right?

Later I would realize that those words were one of the most idiotic and naive words I had said in my whole life...

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Author’s note 2- I had fun writing this chapter because there was a lot of action. And I love messing around with dreams; it’s just my thing. So I hope you enjoyed it, and I will see you tom.