Struggle

"First of all, I want you to confirm to me that you've never seen your stats so far and thus you also don't know what your skill is, right?" Jake said to Aksel, they both stood facing each other.

"Yes, Captain," Aksel answered.

"And are you aware of the fact that it is actually not a hard thing to do?"

"I am, Captain."

"Have you ever tried to summon your stats then?"

"I have, but I always fail whenever I do it. It's very confusing because I don't know what's wrong with me or with the system."

Jake then stroked his chin with the fingers on his right hand after he heard what Aksel just said. He also looked at him while trying to figure out what the problem was, but he literally had no idea about it.

"Okay, do it again now," the Captain told Aksel afterwards as he stopped stroking his chin and folded both of his hands on his chest just shortly after.

"Yes, Captain," Aksel responded as if he's on the military train right now, he also looked so serious with this thing.

"Stats!" The boy continued immediately after. Yes, it is actually so easy to summon the Status Window, just by saying that one word or thinking of it, but strangely Aksel can't do it, he also has never received any quests yet from the system.

"Nothing happened, Captain," Aksel said to Jake because he didn't see anything after saying that word, his facial expression also changed so quickly became more worried and sad, he couldn't see his own stats nor figure out what his skill is.

"Are you serious?" Jake asked him afterwards because no one could see with their respective eyes the others' Status Window due to any Status Window could only be seen by the person who had it.

"Yes ..." Aksel answered, his facial expression became sadder, and so was his tone.

"And it's not just about the status window, I also have never received any quests yet from the system, Captain, but on the other hand, we can't say my system isn't being activated yet since I got this special skill, so … I really don't understand about this," he continued, the boy looked so helpless now.

"Try to think about your stats then, that's the only other option, right?" Jake said, he was actually also so confused about this, his confusion could be seen very clearly from his face.

Aksel then exhaled heavily because he perfectly knew that it also wouldn't work, but he would still do it anyway. The boy then closed both of his eyes for about 10 seconds before he opened them again.

"How?" Jake asked him immediately after he opened his eyes.

"It's also not working, Captain," Aksel replied helplessly, he even didn't see Jake while he talked because he was just so sad, he could only look down with the sadness on both of his eyes and his face.

"I think the problem is you," Chandler then joined their conversation after he just kept watching since the beginning of this trial, the boy also then got up and approached Aksel afterwards, and at the same time, Shawn was back to them after he helped his sister.

After hearing Chandler's opinion, Aksel who previously immediately looked at Chandler after he gave his opinion returned to looking down again with the same sadness as before. "Yeah, I think Blake is right, I'm just too useless, I'm sorry because I accidentally chose this system, it should've been way more useful if only Jade or anyone else got it instead of me," Aksel said, he didn't dare to look at anyone when he talked because he was ashamed of himself, his sadness facial expression explained it very well though.

"That's not I mean, don't be helpless like that, you have your friends here, we won't give up on helping you, even if you didn't have us here, you better not become helpless, it would just make any situation became worse and worse, trust me," Chandler replied to Aksel, he didn't really like it when his friend became helpless, he hates helplessness though.

"So, do you have any solution, Chandler?" Jake asked Chandler afterwards.

"I think so, Captain," Chandler responded just shortly after. 

"I do think Aksel has no confidence at all and it blocks him from one hundred percent blend into one with his system," he continued while looking at Aksel.

"What do you mean?" Jake then asked him again with a slightly surprised face.

"Both I and Aksel were the victims of bullying, I can understand some of his struggles, he was just thinking about people's bad opinions about him too much that he doubted himself and caused him is blocked from connected to his system at the moment, actually he was still not one hundred percent focus and trying, his mind would think about people's bad opinions about him too much whenever he tried to summon the stats, it's haunted him, and I know very well how bad it feels, I used to experience the same thing before someone changed me," Chandler said, and while he said that, Aksel could only look down and silent because apparently Chandler was right about the actual cause of Aksel couldn't really be connected with his system, it was because his father's words and voice would play in his mind whenever he tried to summon his stats. 

Aksel indeed has blended into one with the Beast Monster System, but he wouldn't be 100% connected to the system if the system had a really tiny space in his mind and on himself as well, it's like, Aksel didn't let the system become part of himself even though in fact he didn't really do it.

"Aksel, you should stop thinking about those things too much, it seems like you don't even give the system a little part of you … I know those horrible things are haunting you and it's hard not to think about them, but they're not the part of you, the system is," Chandler continued while touching Aksel's shoulder to give him support.

"I know … but it's really hard not to think about them. Personally, I didn't want to think about them, but they would always appear in my mind by themselves, I just couldn't get rid of them, and can't, I'm sorry ..." Aksel replied with the same sadness.

'It is indeed PTSD, he better not try too hard,' Jake thought as he was finally 100% sure that Aksel has PTSD.

"Alright, you can take a rest if you want to, don't trying too much, it is totally fine if you can't get rid of them now, people would care about sh*t more than gold sometimes, but I hope you'll learn how to win against them someday, it's also a battle for you, just remember that your body is yours, your mind is yours, you can't let them control you and haunt you all the time, you have to win, I believe you will though," Jake spoke to Aksel afterwards with a smile, and as always, he was so nice and gave such a big positive aura.

"Yeah, I also believe so, I've freed from that feeling, and you will be too, Aksel. I'm gonna keep helping you to do it," Chandler told Aksel with a big and friendly smile, both he and Jake were really supportive of Aksel, this made Aksel happy that he also smiled due to the support they gave him.

'No, they're totally different, Chandler can't really understand Aksel's pain, while Aksel can perfectly understand Chandler's past pain. The bully they got was different, Chandler doesn't know how it feels to be humiliated and trashed by his own father, his parents may hate him, but what Aksel had been through was something different, it won't be easy for him to get rid of the way how his father treated him,' Jake thought as he looks at Aksel and Chandler simultaneously with a serious look.

"Well, now, perhaps a little walk will help you refresh your mind, so let's take a look around here," Shawn then invited Aksel to take a walk with him, of course, he also invited Chandler with the same nice attitude and smile.

"That's a good idea, Shawn," Jake immediately responded to Shawn's words, both of them also looked at each other afterwards for a moment while smiling. Jake looked happy with the fact that Shawn also accepted Aksel's presence on their team and had no problems with Aksel's struggles.

Aksel himself was also smiling because of Shawn's attitude towards him, and so was Chandler, Chandler knew very well that Aksel needed support from them. "Don't worry, we all are supporting you," he said to Aksel afterwards while embracing him.

"No way!!! What the hell is this?!!!"

The four of them immediately turned their heads to Cheryl who was still standing near the big tree that previously she was climbing over to, she was also the one who was screaming very loudly just now.

"Captain!" continued the girl while looking at Jake with a mix of disappointed and surprised looks, there was also a little bit of confusion in both of her eyes.

"My spaceship suit has ripped off?!" Cheryl said just shortly after, she indeed was holding her spaceship suit and just found out that her spaceship suit had been ripped off.

"Well … we were in a fatal battle yesterday with the Bigfoots and we wore our respective spaceship suits during the battle, so of course they would be ripped off, and I forgot to tell you about that last night, so …" Jake replied to her several seconds later because Cheryl looked so pissed off by this, so Jake took a little time to choose the right words that probably wouldn't make the girl become more pissed off, and Jake even talked to her way too carefully. 

"Aaaaah! Daddy!!!!"

Cheryl could only shout in anger afterwards while calling her dad. She also threw her spaceship suit. She was really disappointed by the fact that she couldn't be fashionable while they're on the Earth.