Chapter 1: End of the Year

It was a scorching, ninety degree, mid-June day as sixteen year old Robert Hawkins sat in classroom 103 on the last day at Central Sky City High School before the summer. He was in his third and final period of the shortened day, and he was starting to grow restless. He tapped his yellow mechanical pencil, which held 0.5mm lead, on his desk in a kind of rhythmic pattern as he sighed, longing for the final bell to ring. He longed to be outside in Western Park with his younger brother, Danny. He turned his head ever so slightly to the right to his childhood friend, Kailau Kensington, who was called "Kai" by his friends and family, and started to whisper to him.

"Hey," Robert began, "Aren't you excited about this summer?"

"Yes," Kai replied, "I wish to go camping with you, my sister, your brother, and my cousin."

Just then, Kai's twin sister, Kaileena, and his other close friend, Jacob "Jake" Thomas, turned and started to join in on the conversation. Jake opened his mouth to speak, but the bell rang to dismiss them before he could say anything. They stood up, pushed their chairs in, and walked out of the classroom. Behind the quartet came Robert and Darius' friends since middle school. There was a brunette girl known as Monique Sanders, a blonde girl known as Kendra Kidlington, and a 6'0" auburn haired boy known as Jake Thomas. The seven of them walked out of the building and were met by Robert's thirteen year old brother, Daniel "Danny" Hawkins.

"What took you so long?" Danny asked. "My school let out fifteen minutes ago."

"My school lets out later," Robert replied. "Don't you remember?"

"No," Danny said, "Because now I don't need to. School is out for the summer as of now."

"He's got a point, you know," Darius said. "You don't have to worry about it for three more months. School's out; try to relax a little."

"Now let's focus on the camping trip," Kai said as a blonde boy and a pink haired boy walked out of the building. "I want everything to go smoothly, and I am not sleeping in a tent."

"Ha! This is hilarious; rich kids going on camping trips," said the blonde boy.

"What's it to you, Dio?" said Kai to the blonde boy.

"I think it's absolutely absurd," said Dio back to Kai.

"I don't care what you think," said Kai to Dio.

"What do you think about it, Kensuke?" Dio asked, addressing the pink haired boy.

"I think that this is just foolish," Kensuke replied, addressing Dio. "Why would a rich person ever sleep in a tent?"

"Because they are really just as low as any other person deep inside, that's why," Dio said.

"You've got a lot of mouth, Dio," Kai snapped angrily, his British accent starting to be heard in his voice. "Why don't I shut it for you?"

"Fine, when and where do we fight?" Dio snapped back, assuming that Kai wanted to fight.

"Kensington Arena, nine o'clock tonight!" Kai snapped, confirming Dio's assumption.

"That's fine by me!" Dio yelled as he walked away from the scene with Kensuke. "Prepare to meet your doom!"

After Dio and Kensuke walked away, Kai said, "I'm dead. Kensington Arena will become my grave, I'm sure of that."

"No, it won't," Kaileena said to her brother.

"We can take you to the gym and beef you up a bit before the fight," Jake said to his cousin. "My trainer is always willing to help out any member of my family."

"I'm going to go to Eastern Park for a little bit to try to relax," Danny said to the group. "Maybe I'll meet someone interesting."

Danny walked up the street by himself, heading in the direction of Eastern Park. He was positive that he was going to meet the person who really beat the monster Cell fourteen years ago. Maybe I'll meet a nice girl that I develop an interest in, Danny thought to himself as he neared Eastern Park.

Meanwhile, Kai was walking to the finest gym just before the limit toward the south of Sky City with Kaileena, Jake, Robert, and Darius. He had to get stronger before nine o'clock that night, or Dio was going to crush him in the fight. They simply walked in and allowed Jake to do the talking. Even with the intense workouts provided in the finest gym in Sky City and the inspirational music being played just for him, was it going to be enough for Kai to defeat Dio in the fight, or would Kai's fears come true?