And Jason wants to get to know Max a little better before training begins and Max opens up about his past.

Chapter 12: Questions About Max

The class was about the begin in no less than 30 minutes and as they got ready to prepare, Jason took Max to the side and had a little sit down on the mat and Jason said to him, "You know, you're probably one of my most favorite students here."

Max chuckled and smiled at that compliment and said, "Thanks. I'm your only student though."

Jason nodded in understanding and he lets out a little sigh and said, "Very true. But...we haven't really gotten to know each other a little bit. So I just wanted to know some things about you."

"You do?" asked Max, a little nervous.

"Yeah. I know I'm your teacher, but I can also be your friend too." Jason stated.

Max was a little reluctant to talk about his past because it's too painful to recall, but he knew that he could always trust Jason with everything and it looks like he can talk to him about everything and he took a deep breath, looked at Jason in the eye and said, "Okay. But I gotta tell you...it's not gonna be the most happiest story you'll hear."

Jason was eager to listen to what he has to say and said, "I'm all ears."

"You see...I wasn't always this optimistic and happy before. I was brought up by two birth parents who weren't exactly parents of the year kind of things. They always hated each other, threw stuff at each other, beat each other up and then they'd always make out while they're fighting each other to death. I've seen a lot and heard a lot...too much. Anyways, my birth father has kept me terrified when I was a baby and he would always beat me up for no reason at all. Just...made me feel like I was worthless and I wasn't worth anything, so he'd just beat me, claw me, scratch me, throw me to the wall, the bed and things of that nature. My birth mother wouldn't do anything about it since she blamed me for being born in the world and just allowed it to happen. I later found out that he's an assassin, so I lived in fear since I was a baby. My dad went to jail and I thought it was the least of my problems, but it grew worse when it came to my birth mother and she would do terrible things to me." Max said, pausing at that part.

Jason was completely shocked and surprised by what Max had to endure when he was a baby and he asked, "How terrible?"

"She...she molested me and beat me up, blaming me for being born. I'd get molested by her when I'm asleep and it was like living with two monsters. One day, she felt like I wasn't meant to be a good son and just abandoned me in the rain. Before I knew it, a group of savage wolves were coming at me and they tortured me in worse ways than I can imagine. I ran away from them after six months and they were determined to find me and kill me for escaping. I woke up one day and found myself at Bao Gu Orphanage for a while and some kids were picking on me because of the fact that I'm a white tiger and they see me as a little monster beast or something like that. It was another set of torture for me and it felt like I was all alone again...until Mako came in and took me in his family. At first, I wasn't sure what would happen once I was adopted, but they made me feel like I'm home; they just made me feel loved, safe and protected. I had gained a panda cousin, a wolf brother and some good friends since then and I've had a happier life despite going through a few challenges from being underestimated by Tigress time and time again to being a victim of her jealousy. But I could never hold anything against anyone for too long. I'd give other people a second chance and forgive people so quickly. I've been this positive, optimistic person since I was eight and I would take all those bad experiences I've been through and turn it into something good." Max replied.

After hearing everything from Max, Jason was immediately blown away by everything this cub's been through and has been able to survive and tell his story without holding back shows how strong Max really is and he said, "Man...that was brutal what you went through."

"Very brutal. But I got through it and survived. If I let the tragedy define me, I would've been angry and hated everyone. What's there to hate anyway? What good would that do?" Max explained.

'And I thought what I went through was way worse.' Jason thought to himself.

Jason was almost in the verge of tears after hearing Max's story and he said, "Dude...that really touched my heart. The fact that you had to endure so much hardship at a young age was awful...but how you told your story made me realize that there's something remarkable about you. You really are something special, kid."

"I'm not that special, Jason." Max said, as modest as possible.

"Yeah, you are. It takes that kind of strength to tell your story like that. Do you know how brave you are?" asked Jason.

Max smiled at that comment and he saw a few tears coming out of Jason's eyes and asked, "Are you okay?"

Jason noticed that he was tearing up and he said, "Excuse me for a sec."

With that, Jason walked to the hallway to gather his thoughts for a second, but when Max followed him without Jason knowing, he heard him break down and cry and probably because hearing Max's story made such a big impact on him and telling that story to him really touched him and proved that Max's strength was in his heart and he wasn't afraid to hug Jason for a second.

Jason noticed that Max was hugging him and Jason hugged back as well and he whispered, "I wish I had that courage to tell you what I went through like you did."

You can tell that both tigers went through personal turmoil on different ends to the table, but Max's optimistic attitude after the event completely inspired Jason to see the best of him. Stay tuned for more!