Yeah, so the summary was too long to fit so here it is in full:

Bronze. The one no one cares about, the one who only just made it onto the pedestal, the one who barely scraped noteworthiness. Third place, third born, third oldest, third fastest, third smartest, third strongest, third loved. Third. That was what defined Adrian. All they wanted was for someone to say 'well done' or 'good work' or even 'I love you'... And then they hear about the ninjas: fast, smart, strong... Loved. Adrian's got their eyes set on being a hero now, but when gold and silver are taken, what other colour could you be?

This is an OC centric short story.

And that OC is a child.

You have been warned.

I had always been in third place. That was to be expected after all, I was the third born... And both my siblings had their thing. They were both strong, but Sonia was strongest, they were both smart, but Bobby was smartest... And I? I was third. At everything. Even in my mother's eyes I never quite seemed to be important enough. It was always "Sonia this" or "Bobby that"... She'd praise them, ruffle their hair, hug them, tell them she loved them... Then she'd just look at me.

Perhaps it was because I looked so much like my father. Perhaps it was because I'd never achieve anything other than a bronze sticker. Pa had always loved me most. I know it. While ma had the other two, Pa had me. He loved me the most.

Then he went to the convenience store one night and never came back.

He had left.

I knew where he went.

I knew he was going to take me with him.

It wasn't just me. I had seen the two plane tickets lying on his dresser that morning. Two one way tickets to Metallonia. One adult, one child.

When he went, he told me to come with him.

Ma stopped me though.

He couldn't miss his flight.

He never came back.

And I was left alone.

"Ma! Do you like my picture? It's of the five of us!"

"Yeah, that's nice Adrian..."

"Ma! Look! I got a sticker from my teacher for getting seven of my spellings right!"

"That's nice Adrian..."

Really, it all seemed pointless in the end. She never cared, no matter what I did. Neither did either of my siblings. Neither did anyone else...

It was four years ago. I'm sure of it. That's when I first saw them.

I was watching the news with Bobby.

"Tch. Magical ninjas?" Bobby sniffed, about to change the channel, "Yeah ri-"

"No Bobby!" I yelled, snatching the remote out of his hand, "I wanna watch this!"

"Of course you would..." Bobby sighed, walking out the room as I sat on the floor, face pressed up against the TV, watching in awe as the ninjas span into tornadoes and took out the snake people.

There was something incredible about them. The way they were so practised, so efficient... I could hear the cheering of bystanders.

I heard Ma's voice from the doorway, "That's really somethin' else... I bet their parents are proud, I would be."

That's when I had an idea.

I wasn't going to be stupid. I knew that this was going to be hard. But it would be worth it.

"Adrian! Get back here!"

I was halfway out the door, a piece of toast hanging out my mouth, "Sowwy Ma! I gotta go!"

"Adrian!"

I ran.

It'd be worth it.

I spent most of my time from that point forward studying martial arts like Jiu-jitsu. My teacher was kind but stern. She was the best. She'd push me further than I thought I could go and beyond. She believed in me.

She never asked why I did this. She never asked why I always came to her classes alone or why the money I'd pay her was from my own pocket. She was great like that.

It'd be worth it.

I'd waste my nights away reading about battle strategies and how to use weaponry and the snake people.

I barely slept at night and had to catch quick naps at school.

It'd be worth it.

Ma never asked me why my grades were slipping in everything except sports. I heard her one night.

"...A failure... Just like their father."

It'd be worth it.

One day though... Something happened.

Hissing. It was loud.

Screaming. It was deafening.

I stared out my bedroom window that day to find Serpentine attacking and destroying the village.

I sprinted downstairs to the front door, only to find Sonia blocking the way.

"What do you think you're doing?!" She shrieked at me as I tried to get past her, "It's chaos out there! You wouldn't last a second!"

I turned and ran back upstairs.

"Where're you going?!" She pelted up the stairs after me, obviously suspicious.

But I was faster.

I closed the door on her face, locking with a click as I heard Sonia's furious cries from behind it.

"LET ME IN!"

I ignored her.

Now was the time.

I opened the window. Cautiously, I stepped out onto the roof. We lived in a small house, just like the other homes. I crept to the edge of the roof, careful not to fall, jumping onto the dumpster and then the street.

The Serpentine still ravaged the village. They were all black. Constrictai. Brilliant. Those seemed the least dangerous.

Keeping to the shadows so that the snakes wouldn't notice me, I snuck up behind one that had been cornering a woman with a baby. Keeping my distance, I looked around. 'Bingo,' A pile of abandoned roof tiles lay on the floor, clearly left behind in the rush to run. Snatching them up, I narrowed my eyes, concentrating on my target... And I threw one.

"OW!" It howled, turning away from the woman to try and locate it's attacker. I pressed myself against the wall, smiling slightly as I watched the woman escape.

"Hey... Where'd ssshe- OW!" It cried again as I threw the last three tiles at it. Each just about managing to land it's mark. I grinned at it's anger.

Maybe I was just getting cocky. Maybe. But this was so much fun! I looked around, hoping to find more projectiles when something caught my wrist, twisting my arm up behind my back. I yelped in surprise.

"I don't think ssso..." Hissed a voice into my ear. 'No, no, no, no, no!' I tried to wriggle my arm free, but to no avail, "Feissty one, ain'tcha?" They hissed again. I snarled.

"Let. Go."

They only laughed, "Oh pleassse... What could you possibly-" Not letting them finish their sentence, I kicked my leg backwards as hard as I could, making contact with a scaly knee. Surprised, the snake let go and I jumped back, spinning around to face it.

The snake was tall. Then again, everything was tall compared to me. They growled, "You're gonna regret that pintsssize!"

I raised my arms in front of me, ready to block an attack, "Try me."

They narrowed their eyes, drawing a sword from their belt and lunged at me. I quickly slipped out of the way, moving to the side and aiming a blow at their back, noticing a few shards of the tiles sticking out of it. This seemed bad. Very bad.

The Constrictai sniggered, "Gonna hafta try better that that!" They quickly twisted around, swinging their blade at me. I only just managed to leap out of the way.

Then they jumped up into the air. I was expecting another strike and raised my arms above my head, hoping to block my face... But they vanished underground, leaving only a hole where they had stood and the distant sound of rumbling.

Maybe they had retreated?

Something grabbed me from behind, a scaly arm locking around my throat and lifting me off my feet.

Or not.

'Shoot! shootshootshootshootshoot! DO SOMETHING!'

I clawed desperately at the arm, but no effect. My legs flailed about in the air, trying to hit anything. That didn't work either. 'I shouldn't have done this. I shouldn't have been so stupid! Why didn't I just stay inside?!'

Black slowly seeped from the corners of my vision. I didn't want to die. I couldn't die. Not now. Not-

"NINJA-GOOO!"

That was probably one of the greatest things I had heard in my life.

It all happened so fast, one moment I was being choked to death by a snake, the next... I was on the floor, wheezing.

I could taste blood in my mouth.

There was a voice too... They seemed close, but I couldn't understand them.

I felt myself be lifted by someone else's arms... Someone green? Their voice was muffled and I could barely hear it.

"You okay there kid?"

I nodded slightly.

"You sure? you look pretty beat up."

I nodded again.

"We're gonna have to find you a doctor quick."

I tried to complain but all I could manage was a moan.

"Hey, easy there. Easy."

I think we had started moving by then.

"You were really brave out there you know, helping that woman. I'm sure she'd appreciate that a lot... You did great."

Correction: That was the greatest thing I heard in my life.