1 Life Before

Today could not be a more beautiful day, for there was no rain only sunshine and cool winds. The only thing was that no matter how the day was there is always someone who neglects it and stays indoors. Inside a two-story building, there was a boy about 16 years of age sat on a couch watching something on his T.V. He was Japanese-American, also not your average teen for he was pretty fat, had greasy black hair from lack of care, and had dark rings under his hazel brown eyes which were now bloodshot red. There was a reason for this and it is pretty common for teenagers. This person's name is Johnathan Takahashi, the Japanese come from his father's side while his mother is American. The reason why Johnathan is sulking right now is that his habits and hobbies got the best of him. He did not take care of his health and since he always watched superhero-themed T.V shows there was nothing he had in common with his fellow peers besides two of his best friends. The only thing was that one of his friends moved away, while the other found a new group to hang out with and the reason was that they were cooler than Johnathan. The day after that he confessed to his crush but was turned down because she liked another person who was the opposite of him. She also harshly told him his faults and there was no way someone would be with him. Later the whole school found about what happened and not having anything else better to do the other students began to harass Johnathan to the point where he thought of suicide.

He even tried to hang himself but stopped before he went any further because he was enlightened by his memories of the American DC superheroes Flash, Arrow, and Supergirl. How they overcame the differences that they faced for being accused of being a vigilante, being too passive, or being overshadowed by their cousin. There were also the Japanese Tokusatsu superheroes where they also came up with the resolve to change themselves to be better for themselves. He decided that he would change himself not for the people around him but for himself.

Johnathan began to go to the gym early in the morning, then he would attend MMA training and other forms of martial arts at night. The reason why is that he noticed that most of the American heroes that have superpowers tend to lack martial art techniques.

(Johnathan's POV)

It's been about three months since I've decided to change myself for the better and it's been great for me. I feel healthier and I've met many wonderful people that don't discriminate against me. The only thing is that I couldn't nor wanted to change my passion for superhero shows which doesn't give a sane vibe. I didn't care because it was the only thing that gave me happiness in my meek life. Even though there were people that I've met through the martial art clubs that gave me some type of joy it wasn't the same. It might be because I've lost faith in humanity. After all, the people in my old school decided to bully me to the point of no return. Even the other kids that still got bullied took out all their anger on me joining along with the other. I've finally caught up to all the episodes of the T.V series The Flash, The Arrow, Supergirl, and most of the Kamen Rider series. The best series, in my opinion, was the Kabuto series due to the advanced mechanics and tone.

I began to watch The Gifted a while back and when I went to the gym to finish my night with a light jog I started the latest episode where I left off. So far my opinion of this series is that humanity disappoints me even more not only do they discriminate against the mutants, but they even try to hunt down the mutants just so they can get money for it. I bet if someone showed some type of unique power the government would be the first to detain them and make them go through intense experiments against their will. I always wonder why in the Tokusatsu series everyone was always ok with the heroes. It dawned on me that it only showed what people want to see. Rather than what is the true face of the world and I understand because that's what the government wants the shows to be like.

The main thing is that people are scared of what they can't control, plus greed and fear can always change the way people think. I can't after what I went through it be pretty hard to change my view. After my jog, I wiped myself down and began to pack my things while chugging a bottle of water. I began to walk home from the gym, but I noticed two figures were being encircled by three other figures. I sneaked around up to a wall to get a better look, and I saw that one of the figures was on the ground getting beaten to a pulp by two of the guys. While the third guy of the group was trying to harass the girl that was with the guy getting beaten up.

"What's wrong sugar? You don't want to spend the night with us?" he said to her with a sadistic smile. I noticed that the girl was the same person who crushed my spirit and the guy was the one who sent my life down the drain.

"Should I do something?" I questioned myself for a moment, but then the girl began to scream for help and the guy began to grope her body.

"Ah, fuck it!" I said to myself and darted towards the group. I sent a flying kick to the back of the head of the closest guy to the entrance. The other two noticed their friend getting knocked down they choose to focus on the attacker rather than their prey. The bigger guy charged at me and I evaded his attack and threw a one-two combination following it up with a right uppercut. I stumbled the guy back a few then I was tackled in the back by the guy who was harassing the girl.

"Jimmy hold that son of a bitch down, I want to fuck his face up!" The bigger guy shouted,

"Don't worry Dave. He's not going anywhere." Jimmy replied. Jimmy was holding me from the back so I rolled over and we ended up in a sitting position. He didn't have a good grip on me so it broke the moment I flipped, and then I got up quickly getting into my fighting stance. Before Jimmy could get up I sent a soccer kick straight towards his head knocking him out and sending a couple of teeth flying. Now it was only Dave and me, then I noticed the girl dragging away the limp body of her boyfriend.

"People never change I guess," I mumbled to myself, I shifted my focus back to Dave. Since they are already leaving, I don't need to stay here anymore risking my life. I began to find a chance to run away, but then Dave pulled out a handgun and had a sadistic smile as he aimed at the couple. My instincts kicked in and I sprinted towards them. Time seemed to slow down as Dave pulled the trigger and the shock on the girl's face as she looked at me with pleading eyes. Even though the couple ruined my life, I know that all my senses would tell me "If you had a chance to protect life. Don't neglect your duty no matter what." So I made my choice and ran in front of them and the gun. I pulled out my pocket knife that was in my back pocket and threw it at the same time Dave shot the gun multiple times. I felt something hot penetrate through my body at different entry points, but before I lost consciousness I saw the knife stab right into Dave's jugular spraying out blood. He tried to stop the blood but no matter how hard he tried there was too much blood loss. I laid on the cold hard floor while coughing up my blood. I looked over to my side to my surprise there were flashing red and blue lights. It seemed that someone noticed the commotion and called the police.

I was losing a lot of blood and my vision was getting hazy. Two policemen came running towards me along with a paramedic,

"Multiple gunshot wounds, he's losing too much blood we need to get him to the hospital asap!" the paramedic shouted to the policemen. The paramedic called for a stretcher and the other began to rush towards me. The two police officers began to check on the other people there and I was rushed to the hospital within the ambulance. The heartbeat monitor began to dim the closer we got to the hospital,

"We're losing him! Drive faster radio the policemen in front of us to speed up." The paramedic shouted and began to use CPR to keep me breathing. I could feel the blood clogging up my lungs, which made me began to suffocate and I faded out. The paramedic sighed,

"Time of death... 10:30 pm."