Jake was laying down, asleep, unaware of the goings-on around him. Then, the boy shifted slightly. When he did, he felt a twinge of pain coming from a familiar place – his chest. Even in deep sleep, his chest hurt like hell, and that pain was the domino effect that eventually woke Jake up. First, he felt the pain coming from his chest, then that pain pulled his mind to think about the one that gave it to him, that being Heracles.

Then, the thought of the mighty man led Jake to think about everything, and I mean everything, from his childhood to his first battle fighting with Tsubaki. It seemed that in less than a second, everything that Jake had ever experienced was flashing quickly through his mind. The more they did, the more the boy started to stir. One of the last memories Jake saw was his bloody body falling to the ring floor. He felt his head collide with the floor; he could remember his head feeling heavier than a bowling ball. He could feel as his body was shutting down, blood leaking out from everywhere. His eyes were heavy; he couldn’t bear to keep them open any longer as they snapped shut. All Jake could see was darkness. Then he saw one final thing: a quick image of a figure cloaked in darkness. All he could see was the pale grey skin. He felt them looking back at him, but then he was snapped out of his sleep.

Jake’s eyes shot open as he immediately sat up, gasping for air. The boy didn’t notice that he had been holding his breath the whole time he went down memory lane. As he sat up catching his breath, he noticed he was in an unfamiliar bed. As he looked at it, he realized he was in a hospital bed. Jake was no longer in the ring; he was no longer in the exam’s auditorium; he was in a hospital. As he came to this realization, Jake shuddered as he grasped at his chest. The twinge of pain was back with a vengeance, but it wasn’t just his chest that was hurting, but his entire body.

But Jake ended up being distracted from his pain when he heard a voice call out to him. “Well, you’re awake. Good morning, sunshine.” Jake turned his head in the direction of the voice, and what—or who—he saw was Nolan Sullivan sitting in a chair in the corner. He had his legs crossed, was dressed comfy, and his hair was greased back as per usual. But what Jake’s eyes focused on more than Nolan was Tsubaki, the katana who finally let Jake unsheathe her once again, laying across Nolan’s lap. The man smiled when Jake looked at him, then he made his way to his feet.

“Well, well, how are you feeling, kid? You seemed to have had a good old time fighting the barbarian from Eden you two had so much fun you ended up landing in the hospital” Nolan said, standing now from his seated position then he proceeded to walk over to a counter, all Jake could see was Nolan’s back but her heard the man messing around. Jake clutched at his chest more as his body started to shake like hell. Jake managed to get out, “The heck is an Eden… wait.” Jake paused. “Why are you here, and how did you know about my fight?” The questions made Nolan burst out into laughter as he turned around. In his hands, he held Tsubaki, a bottle, and a glass of water. As he walked back towards Jake, he answered Jake’s question while snickering. “Well, let’s see. Eden is a land where superhuman freaks of nature come from. I’m here to congratulate you on passing this year’s exam, and I know about your fight because it’s the most trending video online.” Nolan extended the glass of water to Jake. The boy stopped rubbing his head then reached for the glass. Even though Nolan had answered him, Jake was still confused.

“There’s a video of me?” he said, grabbing the ice-cold glass. It chilled his throbbing hand. Jake noticed that every part of his body was hurting in some sort of way from the crown of his head to every single toe on his feet. Jake hadn’t noticed how much he had pushed himself. As Nolan let go of the glass, allowing Jake to have it, he then started to fiddle with the bottle. He shook his head, agreeing with what Jake had just said. “Yes, the exams are recorded, but they’re never shown to the public. But your fight with the freakazoid from Eden, it was leaked online by someone. No one knows who, but that video of you blew up. It’s the number one thing everyone in Gardenia is talking about.” “It is?” Jake said with wide eyes, looking up at Nolan. The man gazed back as he smirked.

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“Oh yes, you’ve become quite the little celebrity. All people are talking about is the young Sullivan that unsheathed the unruly bitch Tsubaki” after Nolan made that sly. Comment about the mystic katana:

Jake could hear a female voice let out an exasperated breath. Jake’s eyes immediately shifted to the katana that was still in Nolan’s hands. He knew it was her that made that annoyed sound; he could hear it clear as day, but Nolan didn’t react. Jake waited to see if the man would say anything about the sound Tsubaki made, but he never did. No, Nolan simply opened the bottle and poured the contents within it into his hands. Three blue and white pills fell out, then he handed them to Jake. “Here,” he said, “the doctor said these will help with the pain. They’re top shelf, so I believe them.”

Jake eyed the pills, then took them. He popped them in his mouth, then followed it with the ice-cold water. The moment he swallowed it, Jake knew Nolan wasn’t lying. These pills were top shelf because the moment he consumed them, the pain he was feeling was starting to fade. Jake was in shock for a minute, then Nolan handed him something else—his sword. He handed Jake Tsubaki. Jake didn’t wait; he took her from the man and held her tight in his hand. It wasn’t until he held her again that Jake noticed that he felt safe while holding Tsubaki. “How long have I been out?” Jake asked. With this question, he got the same answer but from two different sources. Both Nolan and Tsubaki answered, “Six days.” It was jarring hearing two voices speaking to him at the same time, but Jake noticed once again Nolan didn’t react to Tsubaki speaking. He realized that only he could hear her voice.

Jake was lost in thought, thinking about this new info, but Nolan kept speaking, “Because you and another applicant were gravely injured, the starting off your training was pushed back a few days. Now that you’re awake, you’ll be starting your training at the academy in two weeks, so make sure to get ready.” Nolan flashed Jake a smile as he started to walk away, leaving the room.

“Hey, where are you going?” Jake shot out. “Um, I’m going home. I’ve done all I came here to do. I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. Plus, I’ve only got a few more days on my military leave, and I want to relax as much as possible.” The man waved Jake goodbye as he was exiting the room. Then he stopped in his tracks, then he snapped his fingers, “Oh yeah, that’s right,” he said. He turned his head to look at Jake, “For doing such a good job and making such a spectacle during the exam, I’ve decided to give you a little reward and an incentive to keep going.”

“What’s that?” Jake asked. The man smiled at him, and even though it wasn’t sinister, Jake couldn’t help but pick up a small hint of sinisterness. “I took the liberty of having your mother transferred to this hospital,” hearing this, Jake’s eyes went wide, “What? You did? What?” Jake shot back. The man nodded, “Yes, I did. We are currently in the Holy Trinity Hospital, one of the top medical facilities in the world, so she’ll be in great hands here.” Tears started to form in Jake’s eyes hearing such good news. Nolan snickered looking at the boy, “She’s a few floors under this one, on floor 7.” As Nolan turned away to leave, Jake said out loud, “Thank you, thank you very much,” as tears of gratitude fell down his cheeks. Nolan didn’t respond because he had already left. But as the man with slicked-back hair walked down the hallway of the hospital, he couldn’t help but rub his thin mustache with his finger as he laughed to himself, “No, boy, thank you. That little video of you has completely made the Sullivans as a whole look good… But much more than that it has made me look good,” the man snickered to himself as he continued to walk.

Jake wiped his eyes as he gazed out of his room’s large windows looking out onto the city, “Are you alright?” asked Tsubaki, a bit concerned for the boy. Jake nodded his head, “I am,” he answered. He then turned to look back at the sword, “Tsubaki,” he said, gazing at her, “Thank you,” like Nolan did. The mystic sword didn’t answer him, but deep in her soul, she appreciated the gratitude. It reminded her of him; it reminded her of Mifune.

Elsewhere in the same hospital but on a different floor and in a different room was a patient in the hospital on their phone, watching and rewatching the video of Jake’s match with Heracles. Even when their arm was getting sore, but they couldn’t stop, even if they wanted to because the other arm was gone. The patient watching Jake’s video was applicant 2468, Lucas, the young man who had one of his legs and arms cut off in his own battle. The young man kept watching the video with a grim expression on his face. The more he rewatched, the more upset he became, “Those fucking morons,” he said underneath his breath, staring unblinking at his phone. Then he received a call from an unknown number, and even though the number of the caller wasn’t known, Lucas knew who was calling and he answered.

Eventually, a nurse came to Lucas’s room to check on him, and when she did, she discovered that Lucas was nowhere to be found. He was no longer in his room, no longer in the bed; he had disappeared.