The Unexpected Episode 2.

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‘Will I discover my ability here?’

In the face of his danger, this was the concerning thought that was currently going on in Gabriel’s head. His plan was to get cornered by the whole four guys just for this particular moment. This particular moment when he gets cornered to the point where he won’t be able to tell what will happen to him.

The point where he would get an ominous feeling in full.

The point where he would awaken his own ability.

In a situation of danger, humans will tend to do anything to survive and if he has to wake up his ability to avoid this threat, he will.

However, something was off in his expectations.

He expected all the other four guys plus the big guy to put him in a tight spot altogether.

Yet It was now only the big guy putting him in that tight spot, which made him wonder.

‘This bastard wasn’t having this same strength just a moment ago so how did he get to turn the tides of this fight with just one blow?’

This big guy was just too strong now.

Now that Gabriel was thinking about it, Him catching the big guy’s punches was way more easier than he thought and the fight has been feeling easy to him from the very start even when he expected himself to have a hard time.

‘Wait does that mean?...’

“DIE!!!”

The big guy screamed as he thrusted his hand towards Gabriel’s face before Gabriel could even bring his thoughts to a conclusion.

Gabriel quickly shot his eyes closed as if he was preparing for the impact of getting  stabbed in the face.

Stab!

...but to his expectations he didn’t feel any pain.

‘Wait did my ability stop it?’

After four seconds passed with him still feeling normal he decided to open his eyes.

Upon opening his eyes he instantly discovered that the big guy’s huge arm was now pointing forward towards his side. The big guy’s armed hand had only missed his face by a paper-thin margin to stab the ground with the sharp crystal.

The big guy actually stabbed the ground instead of his face.

Gabriel looked around attentively. There was no sign of any defense or thwarting against the big guy’s arm and he didn’t feel any special oozing feeling from his body.

Now that he was currently looking at the big guy, there was now a smile etched on the big guy’s face.

This is not the face of a person that just got any restrictions from stabbing him. This guy deliberately stabbed the ground.

There was no expected awakening of super ability. Shit!

However the Big guy just laughed. “Hahahaha I’m just messing with ya”

“...?”

“Don’t tell me you thought I was actually going to kill you?”

“Hmm...”

Tap.

Gabriel gestured for freedom by tapping the big guy’s foot which was still pressing on his chest.

“Oh. Sorry I got carried away”

The big guy quickly removed his feet and opened his mouth to speak again with a silly expression while rubbing his head.

“Sorry about that last punch there but it’s kind of your fault because you brought the fight out of me, I get easily excited.”

Now there was a flustered look written on Gabriel’s face as he stood back up. It was a look that was asking what was going on here?

Yes he had finally concluded what was going on but...

‘Really?!’

The big guy has been faking his movements the whole time?

“So you weren’t serious this whole time?” Gabriel now muttered with a voice that lacked confidence.

It was as if his enthusiasm had suddenly died down. Besides his enthusiasm had to die. He was fighting his opponent with everything he had only to find out that his opponent was never serious right from the get-go. It was a shocking truth that just left a serious blow to his confidence.

Was he really that weak?

“Huh? Wait You don’t actually think I was trying to kill you right?”

The voice of the big guy was heard again in a polite tone.

‘What the hell?’

Gabriel could now only look at the big guy with a disappointed expression. At this moment he didn’t even have anything to say.

However the big guy’s voice resounded again in his ears to poke right into his consciousness as if it was insulting his sense of logic.

“Besides if you really think about it logically, powered humans aren’t allowed to use their powers anyhow they choose, Muchless try to kill a person in public.”

It was true. There were laws created by the society to keep the powered human from using their abilities wrongly. However after hearing the big guy’s excuse something still didn’t feel right.

“Oh..right.... but how about that guy you and your mob was trying to beat up?”

‘Besides just where is the weak guy now?’

Gabriel turned around to analyzed his surroundings but the weak looking guy could no longer be seen. That guy ditched him!

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

“Little punch?”

There was now an astonished look on Gabriel’s face.

‘So he really wasn’t serious from the very beginning.That’s why his punches felt so easy to dodge.’

This conclusion was something Gabriel really didn’t want to accept. Was he that weak? Wait he himself was serious and this guy...

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

“And those guys and I aren’t any mob. They are my body guards besides don’t you know me?”

“Know you?”

‘Now what the hell in the world is this guy even talking about now?’

There was now a confused look on Gabriel’s face that swiftly turned into curiosity as he narrowed his eyes to observe the masculine face of the big guy standing in front of him.

Bald head, Huge body and those eyes...

Gabriel stared at him for a moment like he was trying to identify someone looking rather familiar.

Yes the big guy’s recent statement prompted him to start this observation but now that he is currently doing it, it’s quite weird for him to say that this big guy’s face is surprisingly beginning to look very familiar to him.

‘But I don’t remember knowing this guy from anywhere but why does he suddenly look so familiar? Just where have I seen this face before?’

“I’m Machia Ontario.”

Just as the big guy introduced himself, a cool breeze blew past Gabriel making his hair dance around. The atmosphere was almost like the Big guy is actually a celebrity now introducing himself.

‘No wait?’

Gabriel turned around to notice one of the bodyguards now holding a small fan that was working right behind him.

‘Wait what the hell?!’

Yes what this guy was currently doing with the fan was quite ridiculous but that is not the actual reason for Gabriel’s shock.

Machia Ontario is 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 is a fighter that has gotten his name shown in the world of Demons Battle but he’s not yet as popular as other big fighters like KILLER JOE.

With Gabriel’s jaw now dropped down to the fall after realizing this, his voice started resounding out without him even knowing.

“Ohh! Machia! I can’t believe I punched Machia Ontario!”

Gabriel quickly covered his mouth with both his hands before he could spit out anymore rubbish from his mouth.

‘He was really holding back indeed and he looks so different in person compared to when I saw him fighting in the screen. No it’s as if he’s an entirely different person’

Gabriel’s head was currently blowing up with all kind of thoughts about this his coincidental meeting with a Demons Battle fighter and his sudden dumb display fight with this fighter. Indeed what he did just now is a stupid thing. It is important though but it was stupid. It’s not as if the result he even expected happened.

‘I have to apologize!’

With a tensed expression Gabriel’s quickly projected his voice out.

“I’m sorry sir!”

“Oh no no no. I’m the one that’s supposed to be saying sorry I accidentally activated my abilities thereby giving you a cut. No to be correct.” At this moment Machia let out a sigh as he lowered his gaze like a little child. “I got a little carried away.”

Gabriel didn’t know what to say. He was stunned. No, Was there anything there for him to say? This is the first time he’s seeing a Demons Battle fighter.

This guy is not even Killer Joe yet it feels like his mouth can’t move.

At this rate he’ll definitely die when he gets to meet Killer Joe in person.

“Banjo!”

“Sir?!”

Machia called out to one of his bodyguards who swiftly answered like a soldier.

“Please have the kid’s injury taken care of”

The bodyguards immediately went off to somewhere like he was now heeding to Machia’s order. Now that Gabriel was now observing the guys with Machia he just had one thought.

‘But I thought bodyguards usually wear glasses?’

To his surprise not one of the guys standing with Machia was wearing a shade. There was no special headphones of that sort in their ears. Yes they were all wearing suits but wearing a suit was actually a common thing among any job besides the person these guys were hired to protect was even looking like he was the one capable of protecting the whole of the bodyguards altogether.

Well it looks like after Demons Battle, he’s just watching movies too much.

“Now speaking of which I’m sure you weren’t joking while fighting me. Do you aspire to become a fighter too boy?”

It was a question from Machia that really struck him hard. Machia really did noticed that he was not serious.

  

“Umm...Well you see I still haven’t discovered my ability yet.” Gabriel kept his eyes away from Machia’s gaze as he answered in a slightly bashful manner.

“So you’re a regular human then. Well I’ve guessed it right from the very beginning”

Machia last statement caused him to flinched. Somehow deep inside him he was expecting this statement.

Machia continued “Well it can’t be helped then. Boy I’ll have to break it to you, you better come back to reality for your own good”

“...”

“The gap between a powered human and regular human is far too much for you to comprehend because if I was to go serious like you from my own end then let me tell you. You would’ve already been a dead man from my first punch”

“...”

  

“So it will be better to come back to reality for your own good”

Machia voice became stern but it was not too stern and his voice not gentle either. His voice was in a fixed line between been stern and gentle at the same time.

Maybe Gabriel is not the first regular human that was wishing to be a powered human that Machia has actually encountered.

Unfortunately there were many other regular people like Gabriel who admired the thrill of Demons Battle but couldn’t participate because fate didn’t choose them to be powered humans.

People like Gabriel were either giving up on this particular dream everyday. Those who didn't give up ended up doing something reckless like what Gabriel just did.

As if to hit the nail in the head Machia opened his mouth again.

"It will better for you to give up on that dream of becoming a Demons Battle fighter"

***

  

And just like that the whole scene between the fighter and Gabriel went by so fast.

For Gabriel, meeting this fighter was both a positive and negative experience. It was positive in the sense that he punched Machia Ontario and also got his autograph, while it was negative because he got reminded again that Demons Battle is a road-closed for him.

And the negative side far outweighed the positive.

This was not the first time for him to get dissuaded from his passion, but receiving the road closed news from a Demons Battle fighter  this time was a actually a hard knock to him.

   

“Well I’m not giving up yet I’m still 15 so my powers can still come anytime soon. I choose my own fate!"

Yet He was still as adamant as ever.

Gabriel could now go home because at this time his school was already through with today's activities. If there’s anything he’s even going home late today.

He walked all the way to the train station and boarded a LIGHT-TRAIN, which was the evolved version of the fastest rocket train during the 2000s capable of moving twice the speed of the rocket train and still utilizing the concept of magnetic elevation to travel.

This train was the fastest form of mobile technology currently in existence although it wasn't necessarily the fastest thing in existence this 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.

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, fortunately, there were many Light trains to go around and the total number of occupants each train could have usually was in thousands.

Given this fact that, when 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 light-trains to be crowded to the point that nobody will be able to move around inside.

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 of which if he were to walk from where he was coming from, it would probably have taken him 3 hour 10mins to get to his stop, so yeah the light train was really fast.

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 of the sliding doors of the light train while reminiscing about the fight he had skipped school to watch and his little incident with Machia.

Only a couple minutes later Gabriel walked home uninterrupted which was due to the fact that his house wasn't too far from the light-train station.

And finally with his eyes now fixed at a building, he was now home.

It was a beautiful white house in the Rukon district.

The Rukon District.

A district amongst the other districts known for housing middle class citizens with powered humans and regular humans living together. It was a district filled with beautiful houses but it was incomparable to a district occupied by first class citizens.

However Gabriel was from a family worthy to be called middle class, 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 so it was amongst the best middle class districts Japan had to offer.

In a couple of low volumed thumping steps later and Gabriel finally got to the front of his house door which he didn't hesitate to go through.

Besides why will he hesitate?

He’s not that stupid to skip school and get caught at the same time.

He was currently feeling confident that he had gotten away with skipping school which to him was like getting away with murder basically, nobody at home would be that wise enough to catch him so right now it's a free pass.

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 Onii-Chan!"

After noticing his entrance the previously enthralled Paris forgot about 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 Blah..."

"Ahh??"

Paris laughed as she played along with her older brother's joke. Only their playful noise and the television was been heard in the sitting room.

"Gabriel Lee get right in here now!"

That was until the moment when Gabriel got called by a stern voice and the voice was coming from the direction of the kitchen. It was a very familiar voice which only his mom had.

"Gabriel Lee!" She shouted again.

At this moment, 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. She only does this when he gets into trouble with her and at this very moment there is 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 skipped school.

"Mister Gabriel Lee! I'm calling you to get in here, right now!"

His mom called out to him once again with much more fierceness in her voice than before.

Nervous as to what was going to happen Gabriel began to stutter "Be..be right there mo...mom"

He quickly started walking towards the kitchen and Paris was still with him, wrapped around his arms.

He quickly got to the kitchen while carrying Paris.

Upon stepping into the kitchen the figure of his mom became very noticeable before his eyes. It was then his mom struck him the harsh inquiry question....

"Where were you today?! And don't tell me you were in school because I know you weren't there!”

His mom asked with with an aggressive voice while giving Gabriel a very serious look and from her tone,  it was clear that nothing he says now is going to be a good enough answer.

He knew this, and also anytime he got this particular look from his mom it meant real trouble for him.

It was at this moment he knew it.

"I can't believe Mr Bento snitched on me. Shit!" Gabriel murmured to himself but his voice was still loud enough to be heard by his mother

"No! Your weird teacher didn't tell me you skipped school, you just did, just now... So you really did skipped school?!"

'Oh my god, I fucked up. I've just been duped Shit. I'm always falling for this.'

At this moment there was absolutely no way for him to get out of this. He has been caught.

Gabriel has always known his mother had good acting skills and she has always played the tricky role so well when it comes 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 just how good she is, and it left him to wonder sometimes why his mom had not taken an acting career or a job as a detective in the police department. She has 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 he was on the light-train ride and even before that, when he exited the bar he thought about not falling for these her traps, but her voice from the very beginning was just 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 he actually did skip school.

"Yes. Okay mom I just skipped school for just a day. You know that I just couldn't miss the fight of killer Joe. Besides..It's not even a big deal if you think about it."

Gabriel replied to his mom in a tone that depicted the fact that he was currently hoping his truth will set him free.

However,

"Yes! It's a big deal alright! 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 good doctor like your dad!" His mom quickly retorted with fire in her tone.

"But Leah got to skip school when she was my age to watch Demons Battle!"

"Well you and Leah are different! She actually wants to enter Demons Battle and she is fit to enter because she has super ability. Besides, you know I wasn't in support of it initially!"

The person they were talking about now is Gabriel's older sister, Leah, who is a powered human just like their dad.

Gabriel on the other hand took after their mom who is just a regular human. Leah and their dad were the only people in their house with super human abilities.

Gabriel loved the sport but he didn't have any abilities to get involve in it as he is a only regular human for now and he just got reminded of this fact with his mother’s 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”

"Oh god! Look, you have to focus on your studies dear. Yes you're the best in your class but I want you to be the best in your field not just your class"

Gabriel just let out a sigh after hearing this.

He didn't bother to argue any further. There was no need to do so.

He still knew that no matter how soft her voice might have gotten, to his mom he was still a glutton for punishment.

"You're grounded. No TV and phone for you, for a week" His mom declared as she stretched out her hand towards Gabriel expecting to receive something.

And then the shot gun for his punishment was fired quickly.

Gabriel seeing this didn’t hesitate as he deep his right hand into his pocket and handed his mom his phone.

Paris who had been there this whole time in Gabriel's arm just kept quiet. 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 that I am doing is for your own good. I just don't want you to be the best in your class but the best when it comes to anything the science field has to offer. I want you to always go beyond your limits..."

Beyond your limits.

Gabriel was already too familiar with this phrase.

His mother always says this particular phrase and he’s already tired of it.

“Speaking of limits, Mom. I’m not 16 yet so if I happen to get my ability I believe you know what I’m going to do right?”

His Mom didn’t even take any pause as she immediately replied back to him

“Dear. I believe you know your 16th birthday is in the next 5 days right? I’m sure that’s the amount of days remaining for you to get back to the land of reality.”

Onii-Chan-it means big brother in Japan.