Joshua opened his eyes and was surprised to find himself in the school hospital. After a few minutes, Mr. Turner's voice came through the speaker in the hospital room where Joshua was resting and said, "Go meet the principal after you feel better."

  Joshua replied, "Okay, Mr. Turner, but how did I get here? The last thing I remember is being in a brawl with Sharank."

  Turner, in a state of annoyance, replied, "You’ve been here for an hour, and Coach George dropped you off." After saying that, the speaker went silent, and Mr. Turner thought to himself, This guy is one useless fellow. First, he is the weakest in the school, and then he wants to fight people, getting himself injured and coming here to ask stupid questions.

  After Mr. Turner deactivated his superpower, Joshua went back to sleep to get some rest.

  The next day, after praying and reading his Bible, Joshua got ready to go to the principal’s office. While passing through the school halls, he noticed that the classrooms were empty, as the students were in their dorms because it was a holiday—Superhero Appreciation Day. When Joshua reached the door of the principal’s office, he knocked.

  "Come in," said Principal Vince.

  "Come sit down, Joshua. I have to speak with you," said the principal.

  Joshua slowly sat down on the chair in front of the principal’s desk.

  The principal then said sternly, "What were you thinking, Joshua? Why did you fight with Sharank? I told you to avoid him because he is a bit short-tempered."

  "I didn’t mean to fight him. He told me to meet him at the school ground, and he started attacking me," said Joshua.

  The principal replied, "That's very bad of him. I would like to expel him for his behavior, but the teachers are very protective of him since he is a prodigy. He could even be on par with some of the advanced students—okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration—but he is strong. When I was his age, I was much better than him." The principal continued bragging about his past accomplishments, seemingly lost in his own story."

  Joshua, noticing the principal was still going on about himself, said, "Why have you called me to the office if it isn’t my fault—at least for the most part?"

  The principal, realizing he was rambling, chuckled, "Oh, my bad. Sorry about that, my dear boy. I get carried away sometimes." He sighed, then continued in a serious tone, "Look, Joshua, almost all the faculty at this school dislike you because of how weak you are. Sometimes, even I feel you don’t deserve to be here. But it was your parents' last wish for you to attend this school, and I respect that. They were the greatest alumni from this school—excluding me, of course."

  When Joshua heard the mention of his parents, he thought to himself, Oh yeah, my parents, who died because of me, and he began to recall memories from his past.

  Four years ago, a younger Joshua was heading down to the kitchen from his room to get a snack when he overheard his parents talking in the hall.

  "What should we do with Joshua? He is such a disgrace to us," said Joshua's mom, clearly annoyed. "We are the greatest superheroes of our time, but Joshua's peers are all better than him. What’s more humiliating is that he still doesn’t have any superpowers yet. I can’t even show my face to some high-profile heroes because of Joshua."

  After hearing this, Joshua stopped and hid himself to hear more.

  "Even I am disappointed in Joshua," said his father. "He is very useless, and it seems there is no hope for him as a superhero. We can only pray that he will improve and become great."

  "Will he even qualify for the Lempika entrance exams at this rate?" his mom asked angrily. "It would be so embarrassing if he failed."

  His father replied calmly, "Like I said, we can only pray and tell him to improve."

  After hearing this conversation, Joshua said to himself, From now on, I am going to work hard and make my parents proud. He returned to his room and started training to improve his stamina and combat skills.

  The next day, Joshua went down to the kitchen for breakfast. But when he reached downstairs, he was shocked to see his aunt, uncle, and cousin Sarah.

  "Hi, Joshua," the three of them greeted.

  "Hi, guys. When did you get here?" Joshua asked, pausing for a moment to process the surprise.

  "We arrived early this morning," Uncle Joe replied.

  Sarah walked up to Joshua, extended her hand, and said, "It's really great seeing you again after such a long time!"

  "Yeah… same here," Joshua responded hesitantly.

  Then, in his head, Joshua thought, Ugh, why did Sarah have to come? I really don’t like her. She’s such a goody two-shoes and super annoying. Everyone in the family loves her because she’s a prodigy—which makes her even more unbearable. It would’ve been so much better if only Uncle Joe and Aunt Rebekka had come.

  He continued thinking, Wait a second… What if I challenge Sarah to a spar and beat her in front of Aunt Rebekka and Uncle Joe? That would definitely make Mom and Dad proud of me. Maybe then the whole family would finally see me as a prodigy—because I defeated the prodigy.

  After lunch, Joshua asked Sarah for a sparring match.

  "Of course, definitely!" Sarah replied eagerly.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  "Can we use our superpowers for this fight?" she asked.

  Joshua replied, a little embarrassed, "I… actually don’t have any superpowers, Sarah."

  "Oh, okay," Sarah said, pausing for a moment before continuing with enthusiasm, "That’s totally fine! Then let’s have a no-superpowers-allowed match."

  Sarah and Joshua headed to the backyard while their parents watched from the house.

  "Alright, Joshua, let’s begin," Sarah said.

  The moment Joshua heard her words, he rushed toward her and launched a right cross punch. Sarah dodged by slipping to the side and countered with a right cross of her own. Joshua blocked it with his left hand and immediately attempted another right cross, but Sarah jumped back and evaded it again.

  Joshua charged once more and threw another punch. This time, Sarah ducked under it. Anticipating her dodge, Joshua attempted a low spinning sweep kick, but Sarah leapt over it. Mid-air, she performed a front flip, and using the momentum, she landed a kick square on Joshua’s head, knocking him face-first to the ground. As she landed, she followed up by kicking Joshua’s head like a football.

  Joshua quickly created some distance with an acrobatic backflip, using his arms to push off the ground. He sprang back to his feet and rushed at Sarah again.

  Sarah smirked. "When will you learn that rushing at me like that won’t work?"

  As Joshua closed the gap, Sarah attempted a low sweep kick of her own—but Joshua jumped, performed a front flip, landed behind her, spun around, and landed a solid right hook. The punch hit hard, causing Sarah to wince and retreat to create some space.

  That punch hurt like crazy, Sarah thought. When it comes to brute strength, he definitely has the edge. I’ve got to change the odds.

  Calmly, she said aloud, "Hey Joshua, since I’m a female and you’re a male, you naturally have the advantage in hand-to-hand combat because of your brute strength. To make it fair, can I use a metal bō staff?"

  "Yeah, you’re right—I do have a biological strength advantage," Joshua acknowledged. "So sure, let’s even it out. You can use a metal bō staff. I don’t want to win unfairly."

  "Okay then, give me a few minutes—I’ll make the bō staff now," said Sarah.

  She picked up a brick and transformed it into a metal garden shovel. Using it, she began digging into the backyard soil. Seeing this, Mom shouted from inside the house in a panicked voice, "Sarah! Don’t mess up the backyard—I just cleaned it last week!"

  "Relax, Aunt Neela. I won’t make a huge mess," Sarah replied calmly.

  After digging up enough dirt, she transmuted the soil into a solid metal bō staff.

  "Okay, are you ready now?" asked Joshua, sounding impatient.

  "Yes. Come at me," Sarah replied confidently.

  Joshua charged toward her, unleashing a barrage of punches. Sarah spun her bō staff skillfully, blocking every punch with precision. Then she counterattacked, striking him multiple times with the staff.

  The blows were brutal, and Joshua winced in pain. His movements slowed, but he refused to stop. Desperate to turn the tide, he tried grabbing the bō staff. But while his hands were occupied, Sarah took the opportunity to kick him. To block her kicks, Joshua released the staff, and the moment he did, Sarah resumed striking him with rapid spins.

  Joshua couldn’t keep up—her movements were too fast, and the spinning made it impossible to predict where the next hit would land. He collapsed to the ground, overwhelmed by the pain.

  Seeing him down, Sarah asked with concern, "Okay, should we end it? You did really well, man."

  "Never. I’ll never give up," Joshua replied, his voice filled with determination.

  Fueled by grit—and a flicker of anger at himself—Joshua stood up again. With all his strength, he threw a right punch, but this time, his fist was engulfed in fire. When Sarah raised her bō staff to block it, the staff snapped in two from the sheer force of the impact.

  "Hey! I thought superpowers weren’t allowed!" Sarah cried out.

  "Don't whine, Sarah. I didn’t mean to use my superpowers—it just happened by fluke," Joshua said quickly. Then, with excitement lighting up his face, he added, "Anyway, I finally unlocked my powers!" He looked over at his parents, hoping to see pride on their faces—but to his disappointment, they didn’t seem particularly happy or proud. He then turned back toward Sarah and sighed in disappointment before asking, Can we change the rules now and allow superpowers? " I want to test my newfound strength."

  "Okay, sure. Let’s change the rules," Sarah replied with a grin.

  Joshua shouted, "Alright! Three, two, one—let’s start!" and charged forward with a blazing fire punch.

  Sarah quickly joined the broken halves of her bō staff, reforging it into one. With her newly restored staff, she blocked all of Joshua’s fiery attacks.

  "Hey! How come my fire punches aren’t breaking your bō staff anymore?" Joshua asked after backing off to create distance.

  "Well," Sarah smirked, "the first time, I made the staff a little weak since we weren’t using superpowers. But now? I’ve reforged it to be as strong as possible."

  Without warning, Sarah leapt toward Joshua, spinning her bō staff as she struck. Joshua struggled to defend himself—the rapid spins made it impossible to predict the angle of her attacks. With one final, powerful strike to his head, Sarah brought Joshua down.

  He hit the ground hard… and fainted.After some time, Joshua regained consciousness and realized that he had lost, which caused him great disappointment. Sensing this, Sarah tried to cheer him up by saying excitedly,

  “You were great, man! You’ve really improved, and now you’ve even unlocked your superpower—which is really cool. I really liked your fire punch!”

  After listening to her, Joshua thought to himself,

  Such a goody two-shoes, trying to gain approval from our parents by acting kind to me in front of them.

  Still, he thanked her politely, just to seem respectful.

  Sarah then said,

  “Sorry for making you faint. I think I went overboard in the heat of the battle.”

  “It’s okay,” Joshua replied. “It wouldn’t have been a real battle if we didn’t go all out.”

  As soon as they finished talking, Joshua rushed toward his parents and said joyfully,

  “Hey Mom! Hey Dad! Did you see the battle? I finally unlocked my superpower, and I’ve even improved. Are you guys proud of me now?”

  But his mother responded coldly,

  “What’s there to be proud of when you lost in such a horrible fashion? You should be ashamed of yourself. And there’s nothing impressive about getting your powers after all your peers already have theirs.”

  “I’m sorry, Mom… I really wanted to make you and Dad proud by winning, but I couldn’t—because I’m weak,” Joshua said, disappointed.

  Then his father added,

  “There’s still a chance for you to make us proud. If you work hard and qualify for the entrance exam, we’ll be proud of you then. That’s when we’ll appreciate you.”

  “Okay, I’ll do my best. I will definitely qualify for the Lempika entrance exam,” Joshua replied with determination.

  Present-day Joshua’s train of thought suddenly drifted to the day of the entrance exam, where the scene opens with him returning home from his usual morning training.

  I feel like the regular training I started after losing to Sarah has really helped me improve. I even learned how to shoot fireballs, he thought.

  He paused for a few seconds and added, Hopefully I’ll be able to pass the entrance exam and make Mom and Dad proud.

  When Joshua reached home, his parents asked,

  “Joshua, are you ready for today’s exam?”

  “Yes, I am,” he replied.

  “Okay then, get ready. We’re leaving in an hour,” said Dad.

  “Okay,” Joshua nodded, then went to his room to prepare.

  An hour later, Joshua and his parents left home and traveled to Lempika. Upon arrival, Joshua entered the exam introduction hall. As he walked through the doors, he silently prayed in his heart,

  Lord Jesus, please help me. By Your grace, I hope to pass the exam.