It was a rainy day, and the streets were filling with water. Citizens hurried along under umbrellas, a few in hoods, while the streetlights flickered. In a park, the benches were soaked. Our protagonists wore black hoodies with pockets. As they walked, they noticed someone in the distance wearing a hood just like theirs and carrying a weapon, and they decided to approach. A man passed by under his umbrella, frustration written all over his face. Suddenly, the hooded figure pointed a gun at him. The man froze, but a bolt of lightning struck nearby, and when he opened his eyes, the hooded attacker lay unconscious and Worh stood in front of him with a raised fist.
"Are you okay?" Worh asked.
The man snapped out of it and nodded, but a thought crossed his mind: *If he could knock out that hooded guy, then maybe they could train me.* With that idea in mind, he cleared his throat and spoke.
"Can you train me?" he blurted.
Worh froze for a second, then turned and went back to the other protagonists.
"We'll train you, but we barely know anything about it, okay?" Kiro said gravely.
"Of course. And my name is Sebastián. Nice to meet you," the man said, a little bewildered.
When he got home, he lay down on his bed, turning the proposal over in his mind. He knew that if they didn't know much about the subject, it might not help him, but he was willing to try. He was already thinking about the next day.
The next day, the rain stopped and his training began.
The first exercise: run 10 kilometers in under 15 minutes. Sebastián took off, legs aching but running at full speed, his feet clumsy on the road, panting the whole way.
"Now hit that tree until your hands burn," Kiro said.
Sebastián punched the tree, and a second later his hand was bleeding.
"Aaaah!" Sebastián shouted. "What kind of training involves this?!"
"Just keep going," Kiro replied, his voice serious.
Sebastián went back to pounding the tree, his fists bleeding with every strike. His mind was chaos, a sharp pain throbbing through him.
He stopped for a moment, gasping. He grabbed a water bottle, drank, and returned to training.
In the days that followed, his body radiated pure adrenaline. His legs barely held him up, and running 50 kilometers was far too much for his body, but he kept going.
He lifted 10 tons while jumping rope. His movements grew more coordinated and faster.
Then he tried hitting that same first tree. The bark fell away with every punch. On one of his blows, he struck the heartwood. His body lurched, and his hand trembled without stopping. Chills ran through him.
He let out a heavy gasp and looked at the tree, which now had a hole as big as his hand and a trace of blood from his own knuckles.
After four weeks, Sebastián had completed the initial training. That didn't mean he would stop. He kept working out every day...
Before dawn, he drank protein shakes. In the afternoon, he jumped rope and ran 20 kilometers in 55 minutes.
He repeated his routine again and again.
One day, while running as usual, he came across a poster announcing a fighting tournament.
*I'll enter to prove how far I've come,* the protagonist thought.
Sebastián arrived at the tournament quickly, ready to compete.
His first opponent was beaten easily, lacking both agility and skill.
The second gave him no mercy. The man threw a punch at Sebastián's face. Sebastián dodged it and answered with a fast punch to his rival's jaw. It rattled the man, but, as if this were a novel, he recovered and, without waiting for a response, landed five punches.
Sebastián crashed against the edge of the boxing ring, breathing hard, with a black eye.
He felt something stir inside him. He closed his eyes for a moment, then went at his rival without a second thought.
His punches were faster now. The rival tried to land a blow, but the protagonist dodged and countered with harder ones, as if something inside him were awakening.
With one precise punch, he knocked his rival out.
The judges watched him with interest, noting his sudden speed and power. He shouldn't have recovered so quickly, but they accepted the win.
"Congratulations on your first belt, kid," the judge said.
The remaining fights were more intense. Sebastián used everything he had learned, dodging and taking hits while trying to come out with as little damage as possible. In the final rounds, he dominated his opponents, until he won the gold belt.
He raised his arms in victory.
"Congratulations!" a woman shouted from the stands.
"Thank you!" Sebastián answered loudly.
Others applauded and chattered.
Sebastián took a deep breath, soaking in the cheers and applause of the spectators. A few minutes later, he left, exhausted.
Hours later, he got home and threw himself onto his bed.
"Today was a great day. I think the training worked. I feel like I've come a long way," he told himself, wondering what it would be like to face Kiro, Worh, or Sone if he ever saw them again...
At that moment, his phone buzzed. It was a call from Sone. He unlocked it and answered.
"Come to the train station. We're going to see the president, since he found out about the enemies we defeated, though I call them 'Bosses,'" Sone said in a friendly voice.
"I'll be there," Sebastián replied instantly.
He hung up and went to sleep.
The next day, he walked steadily through the city, watching the cars go by. He stretched out his left arm and hailed a taxi, then climbed in.
"Where to, young man?" the driver asked.
Sebastián pulled out his phone and showed him the route. The driver nodded and headed for the destination: the train station.
Overhead, clouds began to gather across the sky, signaling an overcast day. Sebastián gazed out the window, taking in the surroundings without much thought.
He didn't know that when he reached the station, something imminent was about to happen, and it would strike right at his destination...