10 Years Later

"Seriously, you can only do forty?" the man mocked. He sat on the floor next to a young man doing push-ups and shaking his head back and forth, obviously judging him. The young man doing push-ups is Bayani, and his trainer is next to him.

"I-I... can't do anymore," he falls to the ground panting heavily.

"Forty-five. Better than last time, at least. Not sure it's hero material, though."

"When are they hero tryouts again?"

"A week."

"Fuck.." Bayani got back up and continued his workout. The 'Reckless Activity' shirt Bayani had on was soaked in sweat, and his ordinarily well-put-together hair was flung over his head, dripping. His trainer is the hero 'Bodybuilder,' a lower-ranked hero whose powers are better endurance and enhanced strength. However, according to the NOH, aka Network of Heroes, it is not precisely super strength. Bodybuilder had agreed to help train Bayani to become a hero because he was friends with Reckless. Bayani had managed to do ten more push-ups and then passed out.

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Bodybuilder knocked loudly on a door carrying the wannabe hero on his shoulder. The door opened, and a young lady stood in the doorway.

"I've got your brother" Bodybuilder dropped Bayani in front of her feet, jolting him awake.

"I can see that," she sighed, "Both of you go clean up dinner is done."

Bayani walked inside the house, his body still weak from his workout.

"Wait, why am I coming inside?" Bodybuilder questioned.

"You're already here, and dinner is done."

"Bu-"

"It's homemade adobo."

Bodybuilder walked inside and washed his hands without a second thought. They all sat at the dinner table and talked about the upcoming hero tryouts. Bayani sat silently in a cold sweat as he ate his food. His family looked at him and then each other worriedly but continued the conversation. All he could think about was how deadly these tryouts could be, especially for someone without a superpower. People would die yearly from the tryouts, and some would be critically injured, never the same again. But his goal was set in stone; all Bayani had wanted was to become a hero. He hurriedly finished his food and sprinted to his room, doing a quick workout and a study session before resting for the night. The next couple of days were the same.

He followed Bodybuilder's exact workout for the next six days to the best of his ability. Three hundred push-ups, three hundred pull-ups, three hundred sit-ups, and a 60-kilometer run in an hour. Bayani could not achieve such high feats and could only manage about one-seventh of those on average. After each workout, he went home, ate, and then studied for an hour before going back to sleep. Then finally came the day of the infamous hero tryouts.

Bayani rushed into the 'Network of Heroes' building, wearing his everyday workout outfit. As he walked to the area where the tryouts were being held, the words of Reckless and Bodybuilder rushed into his head. He knew this would be difficult, but he swore he wouldn't let either of them down. As he walked into the tryout room, he saw a large crowd talking and arguing. Some were off to the side, focusing on themselves, and others showed off their powers. Another cold sweat rushed over Bayani as his nerves took over. He walked over to a bench and sat next to a young lady.

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"Can I help you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.

"U-uh, no, I'm just trying to avoid all the commotion."

She scoffed and went back to playing on her phone and ignoring him. Bayani let out a sigh as the doors slammed open.

"GOOD EVENING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN," a voice boomed through the room.

A voice from the crowd shouted back, "IT'S MORNING!"

A laugh spread through the room. Bayani looked over to see the hero 'Loudman,' who was known for his ability to make his voice so loud it could stun the enemy. Loudman himself chose the name.

He cleared his voice and yelled again, "GOOD MORNING, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" He jogged up to the front of the room and stood before the hero candidates. With a smile and slight chuckle, he spoke up again.

"I will be your proctor for your first exam!" Loudman only showed himself in his hero outfit, a tracksuit with a speaker in the middle to amplify his voice even more. He also chose this costume himself. The crowd started bickering to themselves about what the exam could be.

"I was just about to explain the exam!" the group's bickering stopped instantly. Fear covered candidates' faces as a screen lowered from the ceiling showing the image of villains.

"Well, you want to be heroes. Here's the deal. You guys will go after these villains with everything you've got. They can kill you and will. But do your best okay?"

As with every year before this in the hero tryouts, about half of the participants dropped out at this moment. Bayani stood with dread and fear but gathered his resolve and sat back down. Loudman led the rest of them onto buses and briefed them on more of the situation. Bayani scrambled, trying to figure out how to accomplish this task. An hour passed, the bus abruptly stopped, and they were shoved off.

"Good luck, future heroes!" Loudman said as the bus drove away. The group on Bayani's bus immediately split and left him there. Around him were buildings from a city that was destroyed in a fight against big-time villains. He rushed into one of the buildings and tried to find a weapon. Swallowing his fear, he grabbed a kitchen knife and a computer monitor to shield him. He then went out onto the streets and snuck around alleyways.

My best bet is a sneak attack from behind. Bayani had created this plan on the bus hoping it would work. It was the only one he could come up with. As he continued to sneak around the city, he came across a mall with sounds coming from inside. He entered through a broken window and continued holding up the monitor as a shield—a pop song played throughout the mall that was popular when the city was destroyed. This song played over the loudspeakers, with it breaking up over and over, and sounded like it was underwater.

Bayani moved around the corner of the food court when he heard the noises of a battle. Loud sounds of someone getting wailed on rang throughout the mall. He sprinted towards the sound of the fight as quietly as he could. He got there as one of the villains repeatedly slammed a child to the ground. The child tried to fight back using her telekinesis, but it was no use because she was losing consciousness. The villain was over eight feet tall and had spikes growing all around their body. Bayani closed his eyes and took a deep breath; he charged the villain with what he considered courage. The knife sunk into the villain's side, causing him to drop the girl.

Towering over Bayani, the villain looked down at him and quirked their head to the side. They crouched down to eye level with Bayani and smiled.

"Is that all you got?"

Bayani was thrown into the window of a toy store.