◃◃ New Memory #2 pt. 2 ▹▹

Lee Donghyuck

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Donghyuck and I were in our training room for a sparring match, with Jeno as our referee on the sidelines.

If anything does happen and Donghyuck spirals out of control, then Jeno will help me calm him down.

And if Hyuck's Stand does show itself in the middle of all this, then we'll have no choice but to use our Stands to help him.

"You may use any powers that you want, so long as neither of you destroy this room. I know hyung can just fix it up later if that happens, but I wouldn't want him to have to bother with doing that. You have an unlimited amount of time, but the match ends when one of you becomes too exhausted to fight, if one of you calls it quits, or anything in that sort. There are no winners or losers. This is simply for training"

Jeno announced.

"Ready..."

We both prepared ourselves for the queue.

"Begin!"

The moment Jeno gave the queue, Donghyuck did something completely unexpected.

Flames suddenly shot out of his feet and he blasted off towards me, leaving his footprints branded into the floor! I thought he would attack me up front so I blocked, but he suddenly used his flames to swerve and he was behind me!

Despite his incredible speed, I was able to act fast and blocked his kick. Additionally, I covered the arm I used to block his attack with my own green flames. This decreased the heat that I would've felt from his attack, but I made sure not to make them too hot so that they wouldn't burn him.

To our surprise, he then used his flames to propel his other leg to kick me! I quickly used my Absolute Unpredictability to move fast enough to dodge the kick by warping.

Now that he was stuck in midair, I warped again behind him and returned his attempt with a kick of my own. But I accidentally kicked him a bit too hard, and he went flying into the wall.

"O-Oops! Sorry about that Hyuckie...!"

I immediately apologized.

I guess I'm still not used to my own strength yet...

He wriggled himself out of the wall, and fell to the floor. But instead of getting up, he just stayed there. Then to make matters worse, the same fiery aura from before appeared around him again.

"Damn it..."

He quietly mumbled.

This is going south fast, but we're prepared to face whatever happens next.

"I'LL KILL YOU!!!"

Donghyuck suddenly yelled, and his Stand finally showed itself to us.

The Stand released a fury of flames that came after me, but I quickly combated them.

"Gold Experience!"

It came out immediately and punched the ground in front of me.

This caused wide tree branches to sprout from the ground to protect me from the flames. But the flames wrapped themselves around the branches, and flung them to the other side of the room!

I used my Meta Power Reflection to deflect the flames that once again came after me, and sent them right back to him. But they suddenly stopped in their tracks right before they hit him!

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jeno quietly use his zippers to go underground. I know for sure that he's going to try and perform a sneak attack while Donghyuck is focused on me.

I don't know what'll happen, but if I hit him with Gold Experience's power, that might be able to help us with immobilizing him.

But I'll have to do this quickly before he ends up setting the room on fire.

Donghyuck then used his Stand and sent the flames he stopped back at me, and blasted himself towards me within the flames. I countered by creating a whirlwind around me.

The winds caught the flames and I warped away before Donghyuck could kick me again. He got caught in the winds with the flames, and he got flung into the air.

"Time Stop!"

I used my Meta Time Manipulation to stop time for a split second after he landed, and quickly warped in front of him.

After I resumed the flow of time, Gold Experience and I were able to catch him by surprise.

"Muda!!"

We both cried out.

Gold Experience and I punched him up front with its power.

To my surprise, after we hit him, it was as if he tried to move but couldn't. I'll have to look into it later. Jaemin probably knows what we did.

Not even seconds after we struck him, Sticky Fingers emerged from the floor in front of Donghyuck.

"ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI ARI!!!"

It unleashed a fury of rapid punches on him, rendering him unable to fight back indefinitely.

Another zipper then appeared on the floor behind Sticky Fingers, which turned out to be Jeno after he unzipped it.

After he emerged from the floor, Sticky Fingers stopped attacking and stepped aside as Jeno sprung forward to deal the final blow.

"Arrivederci!!"

He punched him in the face, sending him flying into the wall once more.

We both called back our Stands, and went to make sure that he was ok. He was stunned for a second, but he soon came around and wriggled himself out of the wall again before falling to the floor once more.

"Hyuck, are you alright?"

I asked, while Jeno helped him sit up.

"Huh...? What happened...? And..., w-what is that??"

He asked, pointing at his now calmed Stand.

It now stood next to him, awaiting to be commanded with its arms crossed.

"This is a physical manifestation of your soul, spiritual energy, and life energy, called a Stand. We'll explain more later. Right now, we're more worried about you"

"About me...?"

"You blacked out again just like you did a few days ago, and you attacked me the same way you used to attack Jeno years ago"

"W-What?!"

"We both know it has something to do with the competitiveness you used to have back then. But do you have any idea why it's resurfaced after all these years?"

Jeno asked while I healed him.

"......I'm not cool anymore"

"Huh???"

"What???"

We were both confused by his sudden confession.

"Back then, I felt like I was the strongest on our team, which in turn would mean I was the coolest. I thought that if I was cool enough, that you all would like me more, since I was such a hothead. I guess being overpowered by the two of you set me off. Jeno-hyung beat me in our tournament, and Renjun-hyung beat me in our swimming race. I guess I just couldn't bear having someone beat me at something, since I wanted to be the coolest..."

He looked very sad and ashamed as he explained.

"I knew that Renjun-hyung became the coolest when he saved everyone, and I really wanted to accept that because I'm really proud of him. But I knew that I'll never be the coolest again, and that made me sad. I just wanted to prove that I could still be cool, but I let it get to my head. And, I guess this Stand just made it a bit worse. I'm really sorry about attacking you both... I just really wanted to be cool so that you all would still like me......"

He looked like he wanted to cry, but I know that he was still trying to look cool by holding back his tears.

Jeno just sighed and made Hyuck look at him.

"Listen Hyuck. You were always exceptionally powerful, even when we were just kids. Everyone knew that, and believe it or not, the six of us looked up to you for strength. We all wanted to be as strong as you. We always thought you were the coolest, because the potential and power in your flames burned brighter than the sun. You were always an inspiration to us all, and you still are"

"Jeno's right. I really looked up to you back when I didn't have my powers, and I still do. I look up to each and every one of you for strength. I know you'll be there to help me wherever I fall short. There's never been a time when I thought you weren't cool. I know you try hard not to let a lot of things get to you, and that makes you one of the strongest and coolest people I know. We'll always think you're the coolest, and even if you're faced with an opponent who's power outmatches your own, you'll always be our shining star~"

Even though he didn't look like he wanted to cry now, tears still ran down his face.

And he was finally smiling again~.

"Thank you both... That really means a lot to me...~"

We both smiled and ruffled his hair before helping him stand up.

I'm really glad he's back to normal now~.

"So Hyuck, what are you gonna name your Stand?"

"It's already so powerful, even though this is your first time using it~. It's a formidable Stand who's fire burns as bright as yours~"

Hyuck thought for a minute, looking back and forth at his Stand, which now had one hand on its waist.

I could tell by the name he finally chose that he named it after a part of him, and the Stand itself. And they both seemed happy with it~.

"Magician's Red~!"

-

🐻🔥

'...'

'......'

'.........'

'Renjun...'

'I know that I was being selfish...'

'I just wanted everyone to like me, since I know my own parents obviously didn't...'

'But...'

'I let that get to my head...'

'I used to believe that I was weak if I ever got beaten...'

'But, I was wrong'

'Incredibly wrong'

'I'm very sorry that I attacked you and Jeno'

'I'm also sorry that I used my Stand against you'

'But even though I don't remember doing it'

'I wish I could've stopped myself somehow'

'Still...'

'I'm glad that you and Jeno were able to stop me and help me'

'Just like how Taeyong stopped me back then'

'My competitiveness'

'It consumed me'

'I let it consume me'

'And in return'

'I couldn't stop myself from harming my own family...'

'However'

'I know that I could never hope to beat you'

'Even if I was blinded by my rage'

'I knew that I couldn't beat you'

'I probably wouldn't even be able to beat Jeno'

'He's a very formidable shinobi after all'

'But'

'Even though I can never hope to beat you now'

'Even though I'm destined to fail no matter how hard I try to beat you'

'I'm still so proud of you'

'And I'm exceptionally happy'

'Because that's exactly what I always wished would happen'

'...'

'Back when you didn't have your powers'

'Every night'

'I would hope and pray'

'That you'd finally get your powers'

'I didn't care how many you had'

'I didn't even care if you became so powerful that I had no chance of beating you'

'I just wanted your dream to come true'

'Your dream to become a powerful hero'

'A hero that could protect everyone'

'A hero that could save everyone'

'That was always your dream'

'And that day, we took you on that mission with us'

'That was when your wish came true'

'And that was when my prayers and wishes were answered'

'...'

'......'

'Hey hyung...'

'I know I don't deserve it'

'And I know that I'll never win'

'But...'

'I want to spar with you again'

'And next time'

'I'll be in control'

'...'

'S-So...'

'Let me know when you wanna train with me again'

'Magician's Red and I will give it everything we've got~!'