Alex is dreaming.

9 years ago

Ricardo: "Your mother may not approve, but look at this. You're suspended, which means no school, and your birthday is tomorrow. Are you excited?"

Alex: "YEAH!"

Ricardo: "I have the best gift for you too."

Nina: "I guess it is your birthday, so I'll take you off punishment."

Ricardo and Alex jump out of fear.

Ricardo: "Where'd you come from?"

Nina: "I was here the whole time."

Ricardo: "Your mother is one scary thing."

Nina: "Thing?"

Ricardo: "I meant my beautiful, loving wife."

Nina: "Thank you," she says while blushing.

Nina: "Are you ready for your birthday, Alex? I have a gift for you too. It might not be as good as your father's, though."

The day passes.

Alex's Birthday.

Alex wakes up and walks down the stairs.

Nina & Ricardo: "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALEX!"

Alex: "Thank you, Mom and Dad."

Ricardo's phone rings.

Ricardo (Alex's Father), on the phone: "We have a lead on Kuroji?..."

Ricardo: "Sorry, work calls. Enjoy your birthday, son."

Ricardo kisses Nina and hugs Alex while grabbing his coat and umbrella, since the forecast said it was going to rain.

Alex and Nina: "See you later."

6 Hours Pass.

Alex and Nina hear a knock on the door. Nina answers the door.

Alex sees a police uniform and assumes it's his father. He gets closer and realizes it isn't him, so he goes back.

He watches the officer say something to Nina.

Nina closes the door and looks at Alex with a face full of tears.

Alex: "WHAT DID HE DO?" He says angrily.

Nina: "He didn't do anything."

Alex: "Then why are you crying?"

Nina: "I wish I could tell you."

An hour passes.

Alex: "When is Dad coming back?"

Nina can't hold it in anymore.

Nina: "He's not coming back."

Alex: "What do you mean?"

Nina: "Your father was killed in action."

Alex: "So... father's... dead?"

A tear drops down Nina's face.

Alex doesn't seem to have any tears going down his face.

Alex: He was KILLED in action? Who could've killed my dad? He thinks to himself with a face filled with rage.

Alex storms up the stairs to his room and slams his door.

10 minutes later, Nina opens his door and leaves the gift Ricardo mentioned earlier.

Nina: "Cherish it, Alex. This is from your father. And here's some birthday money. I didn't know what you'd like." She says with tears still in her eyes.

Alex says nothing. He waits about 10 more minutes to open the gift.

It was a hoverboard Ricardo had when he was younger.

Alex screams and wakes up.

Alex: "I didn't think I'd have to relive that again."

Alex: "Oh yeah, I have to wash clothes again."

Alex goes to separate his lights and darks.

He picks up his pants from the Police Entry Competition.

A paper falls out.

Alex: "Oh yeah, this is the paper that weird guy gave me."

Alex unfolds the paper and reads it.

The paper reads: "Thank you for reading this letter. You seem pretty sharp. I saw you got number 2 on the written test. When I did it, I was number 6. But once you get this message, please relay it.

20 5 12 12 7 1 12 5 9'13 15 11. 20 8 5 25 ' 18 5 11 5 5 16 9 14 7 13 5
6 18 15 13 8 5 18 "

Alex: "What does this mean? It seems to be some type of code."

Meanwhile...

Gale's Mom: "Finally, sweetie. It's been 10 years. We can finally see Gill again."

Gale: "H-h-h-hopefully I-I-I can bring h-h-him back."

Gale's Dad: "As wonderful as that sounds, it seems he's cut off ties with his family though."

Gale: "But I want to see my brother," Gale says in a determined tone.

Back to Alex...

Alex's phone dings. It's a text message from Luke.

Luke's Message: "Hey, you want to go to Burger Palace? I already got Ethan to go and he's paying—ghjhjkhl."

Alex gets a text message from Ethan.

Ethan's Message: "I'm not paying for anything!"

Alex tells Luke to give him 30 minutes.

Alex: "Okay, back to this message."

Alex: "What could this mean? 'Thank you for reading this letter?' That doesn't make sense. That's the only way I am able to read it. Unless that means something? Also, why do the numbers have punctuation?"

Alex seems to be piecing something together.

Alex: "Maybe these numbers are placeholders for letters. That has to be the reason for the punctuation. But which letters? And it says here that he was number 6 when he took his test. What does that have to do with anything? Wait, if I put him mentioning my placement and his placement together, then I get 2 and 6."

Alex's eyes open wide.

Alex: "OH! I get it!"

Alex pieces the puzzle together.

Alex: "Thank you for reading this letter. I saw you got number 2 on the written test. When I did it, I was number 6. The 2 and 6 are supposed to mean '26.' And there are 26 letters in the alphabet. The numbers in this code are alphabet letter placements. That's why there's punctuation in the numbers. The code is a sentence."

Alex walks to his computer and searches up the alphabet with the letters ordered by number.

Alex reads out the code:

20 = T 5 = E 12 = L 12 = L

7 = G 1 = A 12 = L 5 = E

9 = I ' 13 = M

15 = O 11 = K . 20 = T 8 = H 5 = E 25 = Y ' 18 = R 5 = E

11 = K 5 = E 5 = E 16 = P 9 = I 14 = N 7 = G

13 = M 5 = E

6 = F 18 = R 15 = O 13 = M

8 = H 5 = E 18 = R

"Tell Gale I'm ok. They're keeping me from her."

Alex: "Who is this man? And who's keeping him from Gale? I don't have her contact though. Maybe I can tell her about this when we go to see the recruitment board next weekend."

Alex's phone is ringing.

Alex picks up the phone.

Luke: "Are you coming?"

Alex: "Sorry, let me get some clothes. I'm kinda short right now since I was just about to wash them. I'll be there, though."

Alex gets dressed and rides his hoverboard to "Burger Palace."

Luke: "He said he's coming now."

Ethan: "Perfect."

Luke: "I'll be considerate with my picks since you are payi—"

Ethan: "DIDN'T I TELL YOU I'M NOT PAYING ALREADY?"

Luke: "But you promised."

Ethan: "NO, I DID NOT."

Burger Palace door opens.

It's Nigel from the police entry exams, the one that fought Alex.

Ethan: "It's been bothering me, but I swear I've seen his face before the entry exams."

Luke: "Maybe you paid for his burgers too."

Ethan slowly unsheathes his wooden sword that he takes everywhere with him.

Luke: "OKAY, OKAY, I'LL STOP."

Ethan smiles.

Ethan: "Perfect."

Nigel sits down at a table across from Ethan and Luke.

Alex walks in through the door with his hoverboard.

Ethan: "Over here, friend!"

Alex sits down.

Nigel is staring at Alex as he did during the police entry competition.

The waiter passes by Alex and his friends' table.

Waiter: "What would you like?"

Ethan: "I'll take a simple cheeseburger with fries."

Alex: "I won't be taking anything. I'm not hungry."

Luke: "Let me get two triple cheeseburgers with ketchup, fries, nuggets, and ummm, that's it."

Waiter: "No problem."

Ethan: "THAT'S WHAT YOU WERE GONNA MAKE ME PAY FOR?!?!"

Luke: "So you were going to pay?"

Ethan takes out his wooden sword again.

Luke: "I'm joking!"

Alex: "How did I end up with these two?" Alex thinks to himself.

Nigel gets up and walks toward Alex.

Nigel: "Get up, we have to talk."

Alex: "Hm?"

Nigel: "Meet me outside."

Alex: "These are your first words to me? No problem, I'll be out there. You two stay here."

Alex and Nigel walk outside.

Also 9 years ago

Ricardo and Nina: "Hey Son"

Ricardo: "How was school kiddo"

Alex: "It was great" He said with a big smile across his face

"But I saw this kid getting bullied and I couldn't do anything to help" as his smile gradually disappeared.

Nina: "Aw, nobody else saw?"

Alex: "Yeah but everyone was scared to talk to them about it, including me" as he looks down

Ricardo: "Do you want to do something?"

Alex: "Yeah... I guess" he said nervously.

Ricardo:"I said, DO YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING?"

Alex:"YES DAD!"

Ricardo:"The first thing you need if you want to help somebody is resolve, you can't do things like this half heartedly"

Nina:"You're not going to teach him how to fight Ricardo are you? He's only nine."

Ricardo:"What's that gotta do with anything if not now then when?"

"Come with me Alex".

Alex: "Okay"

Alex and Ricardo go to the backyard of their house.

Ricardo:"I'm going to teach you what they teach us in the police force"

"We learn boxing and taekwondoe to utilize close range and longer ranged combat".

Alex:"What does that mean?"

Ricardo:"Well if you realize when you punch you have an advantage with speed and power when closer to your opponents, but your legs are also longer than anyone's arms and since you walk on them everyday they are even stronger than your arms."

Alex:"Okay I get it, so what do I do first?"

Ricardo: "Make a fist"

Alex tucks his thumb in his fingers

While Ricardo looks to the side and giggles a little bit.

Ricardo:"This is how you make a fist" he says while properly demonstrating how to make a fist.

"Now this is how you throw a jab, follow my movements"

Alex: "Okay"

Ricardo demonstrates and Alex follows him exactly the way he does it.

Ricardo:"Perfect now do it without looking at me"

Alex does it flawlessly

Ricardo:"Now do it one hundred times no matter how tired you get, if you mess up once you go back ten"

Alex:"What? Why?"

Ricardo: "Just do it"

Alex gets up to 40, but then he gets tired and messes up

Ricardo:"Back to 30"

Alex:"Nooooo"

*4 Hours of boxing and taekwondoe training pass*

Ricardo:"There I taught you everything you need to know, we can save the advanced stuff for later, I'm kind of hungry, but one last thing Alex."

Alex:"Yeah?"

Ricardo: "I want you to hit me, try your hardest"

Alex:"But..."

Ricardo:"Just do it"

Alex tries to punch ricardo

Repeatedly

But he dodges each one.

Alex catches on, throws a punch

And when ricardo jumped back he threw a kick

But ricardo blocked it.

It went on for 20 min but alex wasn't able to get a hit in.

Ricardo:"You didn't hit me but you've made outstanding progress for the first day.

Alex passes out.

Ricardo carries him back in to his bed.

Nina: "How was it honey?"

Ricardo:"I feel bad for those bullies"

They both smile and head to bed.

Next Day.

Lunch starts and Alex sees the bullies taking a kid outside

Alex follows them.

Bully 1:"Give us your money"

Kid:" But I'm hungry please let me keep it."

Bully 2:" Hand it over and no one gets hurt."

Bully 3: "Get out of here!"

Bully 1 and 2 and the kid look over.

Alex: "NO! Let go of him"

Bully 1: "Take care of him"

Bully 3 walks up to Alex

Bully 3 throws a punch

Alex dodges and knocks him out with a simple jab,

He runs up to bully 2 who has long arms and hits him with a roundhouse kick to knock him out too.

Alex:"I said let him go"

Bully 1 throws a punch,

Alex dodges and tries hitting him with a jab

Bully 1 catches the punch and hits Alex

Alex gets a little teary eyed

But tries throwing another punch

Bully 1 catches it but Alex throws a kick

And then bully 1 catches it

Bully 1 winds up for a punch

But then doesn't follow through

Because the kid getting bullied kicked him in the nuts.

Bully 1 is on the ground, and Alex knocks him out with a kick.

Kid: "Thank you I really appreciate it"

Alex:"You really saved me in the end so thank you too"

Kid:"What's your name, mine's is iman"

Alex:"I'm Alex"

Iman: "Thank you Alex I'll never forget you ,Bye!"

Iman goes back into the cafeteria.

A security guard passes by Alex and sees 3 kids knocked out by him.

*School finishes*

Alex comes back home

Nina: "YOU GOT SUSPENDED?!"

Ricardo:"You got suspended for fighting son?"

Alex:"I..I..I... I was trying to..."

Ricardo:"Did you win?"

Alex: "....."

"Yeah I kicked their ass"

Ricardo fist bumps Alex.

Nina hits alex and ricardo on their heads and sends alex to his room.

Nigel: "Remember me now?"

Alex: "Yeah, but what does that have to do with anything now?"

Nigel pulls out a knife.

Nigel: "Let me show you."