~As Kai was on the verge of completing the first lap, something suddenly whizzed by him, knocking him not only him, but the other boys on the track to the ground.~

Harper: *He skidded to a stop, steam curling off of his skin.* “What was my time?” *He said, looking toward their “proctor”.* 

Grufford: “1:03…that is if we count the time you spent priming…good work kid.” *He scribbled away at his clipboard, he had stopped the timer a few moments earlier since the boys had been knocked to the ground.* “Once the first one is back up and running, the timer starts!”

~The boys struggled to get back on their feet. Just Harper passing them was enough to knock the breath out of them. One of them however, Apollo, got up and running again within mere moments of Coach Grufford speaking.~

Grufford: “And the timer starts…” *With a beep, the timer began ticking away again.* “NOW!”

Kai: *He was coughing and wheezing on his knees while clutching at his throat. “Damn,” he thought. “I know I have to get back up and running but…right now catching my breath is way harder than before! I’m not sure if I can even continue running after I get my breathing back in order…” 

~The girls looked amongst each other in worry, it looked like Harper did more than dust them. He practically put them on their knees and told them to stay there.~

Charlotte: “None of them should be able to get back up within the next few minutes…” *She said, her fingers covering her face in a similar manner to…Kai!?!?*

Jasper: “W- we know that, but how come Apollo is still going???” *The girl pointed to the only boy up and on his feet.* 

Charlotte: “He used a sort of technique… one that not only increases his stamina ten-fold, but at the same time decreases the likelihood of the wind being knocked out of him, just which one he used is the bigger question.* *She lowered her hand and leaned against a nearby railing.* “Thinking about it logically, even with a technique, he still would’ve felt that shockwave like we all did. I know for a second I struggled to breathe… but it looked like he wasn’t really affected, just knocked to the ground by the sheer force of Harper’s speed.”

Amy: *She narrowed her eyes, specifically looking towards Kyoge and Kai.* “Those knuckleheads will just have to figure it out themselves before they make their Technique time worse than their standard…” 

Kai: *He slowly and shakily stood. He hadn’t fully gotten it down, but he had managed to slow his heart rate down long enough to get in a few deep breaths. He began walking until breathing became as easy as it was before. Before he knew it, he was back in a sprint, coming up behind Apollo on the second lap.* “I’ll just have to figure out the rest while I make up for the lost time!”

Apollo: *He looked behind him, to see Kai up as well, Kyoge and Akuna were getting onto their feet behind him. “Oh? I thought I’d have a little more time to get ahead…seems like I underestimated those guys…”* “Looks like it’ll just be a duel between us four from here on out~”

Kyoge: “That bastard! He knew that Harper would knock the wind out of us, that’s why he hung back, to save some energy for when we got knocked down!!” *He started his slow jog before finally breaking out into a moderate sprint.* 

Akuna: *He activated his technique once more, zooming by Kyoge and hot on Kai’s heels* “I got careless, that won’t happen again.”

Grufford: *He crossed his arms and smirked. “These kids are tougher than I thought. The blast that 1:03 gave would have been enough to keep them down on the ground for a good while. But this… continuing despite being out of air…” His smirk soon turned into a grin.* “I like these kids!”

~A few minutes had passed and the Mile trial was practically almost over. Kai, Akuna, and Kyoge were the first three to finish after Harper. After that, the boys finished one by one. Now, only three remained on the track, but they were just seconds away from crossing the line.~

Kai: *He had his hands on his shirt, slightly leaning forward. He had long since caught his breath, but that wasn’t why he was exhausted. “Even though I got the breathing down, and even with All-Star’s help, I still couldn’t overcome the muscle fatigue… I should’ve expected it though. I tried to constantly run, without giving my body a little slack. My lungs burned, my legs felt heavy, at some point it felt like I was moving through syrup…”* 

Kurellion: “Those boys are like monsters, if we don’t count the part when we got knocked onto the ground… they never stopped running. Monsters I tell you.” *He said, stretching.*

Sage: *He was crouched onto the ground.* “I agree with you man… but in my opinion, Kyoge is the real beast here.” *He pointed to the one getting water.* “Kai, Akuna, and Harper all had tech that could be applied to increasing natural speed. Kyoge doesn’t have that, which would mean-”

Zane: “That his stamina is completely natural. His time running this time would be similar to his time before, when we did these tests without our abilities.” *He cut off Sage with no regards.* 

~The last three had finished and were taking water breaks. Once they finished, Grufford blew into his whistle. Time flew by as they went through the events in the same order the girls had.~

~Once they had finished, the boys and girls sat in one of the hangar bays. Ground Zeta this one was called. They were going to have their results given to them within a few minutes, so to pass the time idle chatter ensued. They were all either sitting, lying on the floor, or leaning against a wall. It was too exhausting to stand…~

Mikate: *He was lying on the ground.* “I genuinely believed I was going to die…” 

Amy: “I didn’t think you’d make it either! This is a cause for celebration!” *She said teasingly* 

Kyoge: “Go easy on the guy,” *He interjected quickly.* “He just survived a traumatizing experience. In the end he was only really good in the Pull-Ups portion.” 

Mikate: *He groaned.* “So what? I got 568 Pull-Ups, but that’s because I got tired…”

Amy: “You can thank Low-to-no gravity for that one. But we’ll see how well you actually did in a minute or two~”

Charlotte: *Although she was conversing with Jasper and Aiden, she was secretly paying attention to Kai.* “Hm…”

Kai: *”I’m hungry…” he thought to himself.* “Once we get done with this, I hope they’ll open the showers.” 

Sage: “Oh? Why’s that?” *He leaned in close to Kai in a jokingly fashion.* “You’ve got a thing for guys?”

Kai: “Uh, no. My mom is having us go out to dinner since my dad just got back from a world tour recently.” 

Kyoge: “Sounds dope, hope you guys enjoy it!” *He gave Kai a goofy grin.* 

Kenyan: *He too, had taken an interest in Kai and was observing him from a distance. He was going to approach Kai when suddenly, he was interrupted.* 

Huggins: *She clapped her hands together, not only hushing the class but revealing a holoboard.* “If you would direct your attention to the screen, you’d see your physical statistics. We compared your trials both with and without tech and the results you see here is just the overview. Due to lack of time, we’ll have to do our sparring first thing tomorrow morning. Alright, when I call your name, you have the option to ask me for a more detailed explanation on your scores. Starting with the highest score, Mr. Kousota?”

Akuna: “Yes please.” *He said, standing up.* 

Huggins: “Without your power- tech... excuse me. It’s been a long day.” *She quickly corrected herself, but it didn’t matter either way.* “Without your tech, you’re about as average as average can get. But when you apply your tech, your physical capabilities seem to triple! You said your ability was called Enhance, yes? In which you can-” 

Akuna: *He cut her off.* “Increase my own physical capabilities based on my body’s “base” form. That is correct ma’am. Thank you for the information. I now know what I need to do to improve.” *He sat back down.* 

Huggins: “Oh… Okay then. Next up would be Mr. Future. Would you like an explanation as well?” 

Kai: *He stood up nodding.* “Yes ma’am, I would.”

Huggins: *She nodded in return.* “Well, you’re pretty well rounded both with, and without your power. Honestly, it looks like there isn’t much to improve upon.” *She said, looking at her board. She looked back up and started to speak again, but was quickly cut off.*

Kai: “Thank you, ma’am… that’s all I needed to know…” *He said solemnly. He sat down, not realizing that practically half of the class was staring at him.* 

Kyoge: “I personally thought that would’ve been good news… so what the hell?” 

Kurellion: *He shook his head.* “Think about it, he was basically told that there isn’t much he can do to get better. He’s reached max level, the highest point. There is no advancing from here on, maybe a few more inches, but that’s it. Normally, a person wouldn’t mind to hear that, but considering what his personality type is… that’s detrimental news.”

Tyson: *He narrowed his eyes and let out a frustrated huff.* “Red hair…” *He growled.* 

~As Huggins went down the list, all Kai could do was think. Before he knew it, class was over. With it, school for the day as well.~

~ Later that day with Kai’s father and mother, while they were enjoying their meal.~

???: *The woman took a sip of her wine.* “Well, it sounds like you’ve enjoyed your travels Lyle. I’m just glad you made it home. Has Kai told you about how the Hero Course has been going? Last week he participated in this “mock-battle.” Why don’t you tell him dear?” *She said, turning to face him. Her skin was a nice tan color. Her eyes were a rose quartz, her hair a beautiful mocha color.* 

Lyle: *The man, who had matching hair and eyes as Kai, turned to face his son.* “Was it fun?” *He gave a warm soft smile.* 

Kai: *He softly nodded before taking a bite out of his lasagna.* “Mhm…”

Lyle: *He turned to his wife, Meredith, who would only shrug in response. He turned back to his son once more.* “What’s wrong? You were all excited to go out this morning… What happened? Is it a bully? Did you challenge them? They still have the challenging system right?” *He said turning back to his wife, who nodded.* 

Meredith: “Yeah, the part where you can challenge another student and have it approved by the school?”

Lyle: *He snapped his fingers.* “That! I mean, if you challenged him and lost that’s okay. You can’t win every-”

Kai: *He softly smiled.* “No, no that isn’t it. With all honesty I…” *He drifted off, just poking his food with his fork.* 

Lyle: “Son, you can tell me.” *He said while putting a hand on his shoulder.* 

Kai: *The scarlet haired boy set his fork down.* “It’s just, today I was told that I can’t really improve upon All-Star. Told that based on the limited information they have, I’ve reached a point where there isn’t really anything more I can do with it…”

Lyle: *He released a deep sigh.* “Kai, that’s okay. There are going to be moments in life when you’ll reach a point where it seems like you can’t get any better. Like you’ve reached your max. You’ve had moments like those before. Remember when you were told that you would be Techless? You wouldn’t come out of your room for 2 days! The only thing that convinced you to crawl out was the bathroom and good food! But right after that, you started training like hell. Everyday, nonstop. At one point your mother thought you were gonna die. But by the time you reached Middle School, you suddenly had something manifest within you. A power that lies dormant, that wouldn’t activate until you reached a certain level. At least, that’s what the doctor said. At that time you thought you couldn’t find a way to keep pushing forward. But in the end, you still managed to take a step forward. A step that showed us all, and showed yourself, that the path doesn’t stop until the day you take your final breath. Even if you believe that you have reached your limit, something will come along that’ll snap you back to reality and show you that there is still much, much more to do. All you need to do is keep trying. Then before you know it, you’ll be taking off at a full sprint once more.” 

Kai: *Tears swelled up into his eyes. He rubbed them off as he began stuffing more food into his mouth.* “Mfmfph!”

Lyle & Meredith: *They looked at each other, and smiled.*