Meanwhile in the infirmary, where Theo and Charlie are resting on their beds. Theo’s eyes are squinted, he keeps staring at the flickering light bulb, expression tired. He looks at his cast, touching it. He puts it down, coughing quietly.

On the other side, Charlie is snoring loudly, fire flickering in and out of his nose. Theo smiles softly, ‘’Charles…’’ he whispers. He remembers his fight with him at the Duke It Out, remembering every punch they traded, he smiles.

‘’Despite your pride and anger. You’re still Charlie to me.’’ He clutches his fist, ‘’I will get stronger.’’

He turns to the table, a single paper lying. He grabs it softly and stares at it, remembering what Lisa told him about self-love. ‘’I’ve never wrote praises before, should I? If I don’t love myself, I won’t love others. Right?’’ He thinks.

He pulls out a pen from his pocket, panting heavily. Like the air in the room is lost. ‘’Should I listen to the voice telling me that I’m worthless?’’ He thinks, ‘’Am I worth something?’’

He remembers in class, being quiet on his seat. Others are talking and chatting, while his head is on the ground, staring at his D- on Math, a single tear drops on the paper, wetting it.

He also remembers a time where he was forced to sweep in detention, everyone laughed at him. ‘’Aw, mommy’s boy doesn’t know how to sweep!’’ Theo grabs the broom, swinging it clumsy, turning around. Everyone laughs at him. He forces a self-deprecating smile but, in the inside, he’s hurt, his eyes get wet but he blinks them away.

He also remembers a time where he draws something, a person’s face for the art subject. The face was simplistic, hair on head, black eyes. He shows the teacher, and the teacher laughs, ‘’What is this trash?’’

Everyone else starts laughing at him, Theo looks down on the ground. Getting a 6/20.

But he also remembers him, typing on a computer fast as ever. A full essay from a paper. People praised him for that, called him a genius. He got an A+. Also, his writing being praised by other people, using it as an example.

Those memories make Theo smile, ‘’I might have been a clumsy, weird, shy coward, and I will still be. But I’m not useless.’’

He remembers him helping Charlie face his trauma, him talking to the group about failure, him fighting Alex along with his friends.

‘’And maybe…just maybe…I am worth saving.’’ Theo says quietly. He clutches his pen and starts writing.

1. I am good at Parkour.

2. I can save my friends.

3. I helped others.

4. I have good writing.

‘’No, I don’t.’’ Theo crosses that out. ‘’What about the genius authors? I’m only praised because the others don’t know how to write probably or not goo at it. I don’t have good writing. My writing can suck and I still have to improve. So no, I can’t say I have good writing when my writing is trash to others.’’ He crosses it out and changes it to, ‘’You’re not useless.’’

‘’That’s all, I know. About what I’m good at.’’ Theo thinks. He puts the paper beside and his head drops on the soft pillow. He grabs his phone and switches it on. However, because this is Aureole Academy, the phone’s connection is disabled.

Theo scrolls down, entering his password. He swipes, ‘’I can’t even call my mom. What kind of school is this?’’ He thinks. He scrolls up, seeing messages from other people, 4 days ago. However, he sees a new random message 4 hours ago, from Sage. The text reads.

‘’IYo, Theo. I’ve seen a big robot!’’

Theo is confused, ‘’Message? When there’s no connection in this school? What’s going on?’’

He presses it and starts typing.

THEO: Dude. How are you texting? There’s no connection in this school!

He sends, and it starts buffering.

SAGE: There is, but only fo Team Aureole members! You can only contact us. U got it?

Theo types again.

THEO:  *for*, and What? How?!

The text buffers.

SAGE: Forget about its man. I’ve found this weird looking robot that is roaming around. Should I kill it?

Theo types, looking at the phone.

THEO:  *forget*

The text hovers.

SAGE: Shuuut Up. It’s not part of the conversation. WHAT MATTERS IS THE ROBOT!

THEO: You turned all-caps on.

SAGE: are you listening to my problem or not? L

THEO: And now you’re writing in lower case.

SAGE: I SEE YOU ARE A CULTURED MAN. BUT THAT’SNT THE POINT OF THE CONVERSATION. IS IIIIIIIIIIT?

THEO: No, it’s not. Just messing with ya. Anyway, about the robot. What do you want to do with it?

SAGE:  I want to kill it.

THEO: No complaints for me. I guess you want to train your musclesA

Theo exists the app and puts the phone to the side. ‘’It sounds odd though. Robot? Those things are not in Aureole, unless….’’

His eyes widen, ‘’The Root Burners want to infiltrate?!’’

He reaches for his phone, but the desk shakes and the phone drops on the ground. Theo looks down in horror

‘’Oh, no. And I can’t bend, my back’s aching. What should I do? I have to warn Sage somehow!’’ He thinks. His eyes flicker a rainbow as he uses Advanced Sense of Sight.

It shows him a full transparent model of the hallway, which is silent. Passing through the dorms, he sees Sage on a wall, looking at the Robot smugly.

‘’He’s over there. What is he gonna do?’’ He thinks.

In the dorm hallways, Sage stands on the hallways grinning. He puts his power glove down, ‘’I’m not gonna use this support gear on this small fry. I just gotta use my true strength!’’ He thinks. His fists turn to metal, as long with his face.

‘’Metal God Sage is here to smash!’’ He exclaims, throwing his fists in the air.

He runs to the Robot, grinning. He latches on the walls, and jumps to them, until he flips and lands on the ground, shockwaves rippling. He uses the force of the shockwaves, pulls them back, and it hits the robot, sending it flying away.

‘’As long as I can use my second power to control air pressure. Then I’m fine!’’ Sage thinks. He sees the robot flying in his face and catches it.

‘’You’re mine, Lil Robot!’’

The robot turns around, eyes flashing red. ‘’Detecting…Sage Wills. Power. Metal. Rank 6. Huge threat to Root Burners. Must annihilate at all costs.’’ It says monotone. Its hands extend and smash Sage’s nose, however it bounces off him and breaks.

‘’I’m metal. Why would you throw that on me?’’ Sage clutches the robot, his body crackling with white energy. He spins the robot around, its eyes flashing red and blue and delivers a devastating smash to the ground, cracking it in the process.

The robot speeds away, faster than Sage could track. ‘’Hey, where did it go?’’ He runs. ‘’Stop being a coward!’’

He sniffs the air and sighs heavily, ‘’I gotta move, like the wind.’’ He says softly. He clutches his fists, his head grows, his chest turns to metal.

‘’Feel the air through your lungs.’’ He sniffs more. ‘’And use it to propel yourself forward.’’

His sniffing gets deeper as he smells more air, he cannot see it, but can feel it. And in that process, he feels the air latching on to him, following his whole body. He charges himself, and presses his metal glove, turning him into a cyborg.

He blasts through the whole room, not making a sound. Like wind moving in a room.

The robot is hiding behind a wall, and in a second, Sage is already in it’s face, smirking. ‘’Don’t underestimate the metal god.’’

The projectiles all blast from every part of metallic body. He starts forming and covers the whole room. Multiple wings strapped in the ceiling. Sage charges his hands and punches the robot repeatedly, in a very fast motion. However, he realizes the robot is gone and is running in full speed.

‘’Big mistake, robot.’’ Sage smiles.

All the wings drop from the ceiling, connecting together, forming a web for the robot, trapping it.

Sage runs to the web and grabs it, ‘’So, I’m guessing you are a spy from the Root Burners huh?’’

The robot nods mechanically, ‘’Well, you are dead!’’ Sage swings the web around, each time getting faster and faster until he smashes the web on the wall, making it fly across the cafeteria and land on a water tank, electrocuting it, and exploding it. All it’s parts fly and drop across the ground.

The students all look in awe, ‘’Woah. Who did that?’’ One says. ‘’That was impressive.’’ Another says. ‘’Someone defeated a robot?’’

They all chatter enthusiastic. Sage walks in, dusting his hands. ‘’I took care of it!’’ He exclaims.

Everyone cheers for him, some run to him. ‘’Metal God Sage!’’ They all shout in unison, ‘’Metal God Sage!’’, ‘’Metal God Sage!’’ Sage smiles in honor.

Meanwhile in the dorms where James is coughing, Kent detects something. ‘’Wait? He defeated a spy of the Root Burners?’’

‘’That’s no surprise. Robots are easy to defeat. He just had to make things dramatic as usual.’’ James says weakly.

‘’Well, that isn’t god. Because Sage just exposed his danger to the Root Burners.’’ Kent says in panic.

‘’It was a weakling, Scott. Nothing special. It could have been defeated in two seconds by me.’’ James coughs.

‘’Still, those spy robots are strong. Its long punches smashed one of our assistant’s faces, and its overwhelming speed made it hard to pin down. I bet that punch bounced off Sage’s face. It’s the one that found out about what we were doing, so Sage destroying it was a relief.’’ Kent tells him.

‘’Alright, fine. I understand. Now tell me, what do you want to discuss about Team Aureole?’’ James asks.

‘’Well, as you know…Brian wanted us to have a full-on meeting, but I refused. And he told me to talk to you about…Team Aureole.’’ Kent says anxious.

‘’Talk about it.’’ James sips his coffee.

‘’It has been mixed lately. You know, your team was on a winning streak for a while and also in the Phoenix Exam, but now, that streak is declining. Because you have been failing to catch Root Burners, caused collateral damage, and failed to capture Alex. I understand but Team Asteroids is taking the spotlight, their leader Paul Winston has been smashing records in Student Patrol, and also talking about revamping the rules for the exam. And has been critical about Team Aureole’s downfall. What are you gonna do?’’ Kent asks.

‘’Paul Winston? That showoff.’’ James’s claw clenches. ‘’Team Aureole is way superior to those underdogs. In fact, we are more mainstream than them. Why are they rising to the top now?!’’

‘’Because…James. They wrote a book called ‘’The Rise and Fall of Team Aureole’’ two weeks ago, it predicted it’s downfall. And now because it’s aligning with current situations, it’s the most bought book in the Aureole Bookstore. I suggest you take a read of it.’’ Kent sighs, and hands him the book.

James touches it and stares at it, eyes twitching. ‘’Winston…’’ He says in anger.