A Prodigy is born | Teen Ink

A Prodigy is born

September 1, 2023
By Eon_Adame, Houston, Texas
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Eon_Adame, Houston, Texas
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"Tetsuo!!! Tetsuo!!! TETSUO!!!", yelled Tetsuo's mom. Tetsuo jumps, and says"Y-yes mom?" Tetsuo says with a drowsy sort of tone. "You need to wake up, it's time to get ready", Tetsuo rubs his eyes and says " For what?" while yawning. " Did you forget? You start boxing today, did you forget?" Tetsuo stops for a moment, looks at his calendar, and says in excitement "Oh yeah I do!!". He jumps out of bed with anticipation and starts to get ready, his mother smiles and says "I'll get breakfast ready". She leaves the room and Tetsuo starts changing his clothes.

 

 He puts on his boxing attire, checks himself out in the mirror, and says to himself, "Outfit looks good". He throws a couple of jabs and says "I'm ready". He puts on his hand wraps and gets his things ready. His mother calls him to the kitchen, "TETSUO!, breakfast is ready!", he responds with "Ok MOM!". He picks up his bag and goes to the kitchen, but before he gets stopped by his older brother says "Good luck lil bro, I wish you the best of luck." Tetsuo nods, and goes to the kitchen. He sits at the table, and his mom serves him his food and says "Here go, eat up, you're gonna need the energy.", Tetsuo responds "Thanks Mom!" He finishes eating grabs his gear, and heads to the gym. He says bye to his parents and his father says "Good luck son, do your best."

Tetsuo nods and waves to his family goodbye. He leaves makes his way to the gym and walks in. He looks around in amazement and sees the coach. Before he can walk over there, he encounters his rival who stops him. Yoshimura says "Well look who it is, "It's the next prodigy", he laughs with a few others and says "I'm the next prodigy, just go ahead and quit while you can, you weakling." he laughs and walks off, Tetsuo felt so, shocked and a little defeated. But he didn't let that stop him, nothing is stopping him from reaching his goal. Tetsuo meets up with his trainer, he bows and says "Hello sir, my name is Tetsuo, Tetsuo Oshita! It's a pleasure to meet and work with you." Yukio Ogata, says with a serious tone "It's nice to meet you Tetsuo'', "I am going to be your trainer from now on, let's get started." The two of them begin, Yukio starts training Tetsuo with some Austere training, from morning to dawn. They finish training, and Yukio says, "Good work Tetsuo, now let's put your skills to the test!" Tetsuo nods. "Your opponent will be Yoshimura saeki.". Yoshimura smirks and says "Let's go pipsqueak, Ima embarrass you so bad, you'll start crying to your mommy!" Tetsuo says " We'll see!!" They both put on their gear and meet in the ring, the referee stands between them and says " I want a clean fight with you too, no dirty tricks, got it? Now touch gloves." Both Tetsuo and Yoshimura touch gloves, Yoshimura says "Good luck kid" and laughs. They both walk back to their corners.

The referee rings the bell and they start boxing, after 2 rounds and a powerful punch to the gut. Tetsuo falls to the ground, the referee counts from 1-10. Unfortunately, Tetsuo couldn't get back up due to the punch that he had suffered, causing him to tumble and fall back down. The ref counted to ten, and it was over, Yoshimura won by TKO. He celebrates and says to Tetsuo, who is still on the ground, " I guess I truly am the prodigy, If I were you, I'd just give up, You weakling." Tetsuo lies there, defeated, with eyes that seem to appear lifeless. He sits there, defeated. His coach, Yukio walks to him and says "Don't let him bring you down kid, sooner or later, His confidence and cockiness will defamation his career,” “Don’t give up just because you lost your first fight, use this to help you improve.” Tetsuo looks at Yukio, and says “Alright.” A few months later, Tetsuo’s been training day and night, working out too.

 

There was a tournament happening soon, and Tetsuo used this to keep training to beat Yoshimura. It's the day of the first-ever tournament. Tetsuo has been waiting for this day for months, he can finally prove to people he is A Prodigy. There were 18 participants in the tournament, including Tetsuo and Yoshimura. Tetsuo managed to reach the semi-finals, along with Yoshimura, and they would finally meet in the finals, after their tough battles in the semi-finals. Tetsuo says to himself, "It's time to win this, to prove to everyone that I am the next prodigy." They both meet in the middle of the ring, they touch gloves, and the match begins. Yoshimura says "Long time no see Tetsuo, Have you gotten any better since our last duel." he smirks, but Tetsuo ignores him and gets in his stance. They start fighting, and they both exchange powerful blows, after blow after blow, both exhausted and a little bloody. After 5 rounds, they both were standing, and the match finally ended. Neither of them KO'd or TKO'd each other, It was time for the judges to tally the punches/points.

They decided who was going home with the belt. The ring announcer says “AND THE WINNER IS!!!!”, “YOSHIMURA!!!” The referee raises his hand and the crowd goes wild, Tetsuo stands there defeated with a lifeless expression. Tetsuo says to himself, "After all that training, It wasn't enough!!??" He walks back to his locker room, feeling lifeless. His coach walks in and says"Good job kid, you tried your best, don't give up", Tetsuo sits there lifeless, and expressionless. He starts tearing up and is about to cry in defeat, but hears a voice in front of him. He slowly looks up, and sees a girl, the girl says "You did your best, so don't give up just because you lost, I believe in you, I believe you can beat him." She hugs him and says "You can do this, I believe in you, Tetsuo", Tetsuo says "Thank you, by the way-'' Ayako stops him from talking and says "The name Ayako, I look forward to seeing you again" she winks, let's go and waves goodbye, before leaving. Tetsuo blushes, and freezes. Tetsuo snaps out of it and remembers what she said.

He hypes himself up and says "Alright,  she's right, I can beat him!!", "This next year's tournament is where I beat him and prove that I am worthy of being the next best thing!!' Tetsuo starts training for next year's tournament, Months go by and he's been training and working out.  He's been talking to Ayako from time to time, giving him the motivation to keep moving forward. The day has finally come for the Tournament. This time, there were more participants, but Tetsuo felt confident and collected. He was determined to beat Yoshimura in this tournament. The tournament begins, with Tetsuo beating his opponents quickly, same with Yoshimura.

 

They both win their semi-final match and meet each other in the finals, just like last year. Yoshimura sighs and says "Well well well, we already know how this is gonna go." Tetsuo ignores him and gets serious. The ref signals them to meet in the middle and touch gloves, Both Tetsuo and Yoshimura meet in the middle, and the ref says "I want a clean fight between you two, now touch clothes." They both touch gloves and go back to their corners, The bell rings and the match starts. Tetsuo gets in his stance, he's calm, and determined to win this fight, and they both start fighting. After 2 rounds, Tetsuo's been dominating the fight, the bell rings for round 3. They rang the bell, and one blow to the chin and it was all over. The punch was so powerful that everyone could hear it. A lifeless body fell to the ground, it was Yoshimura. Meaning, Tetsuo won the tournament and defeated his rival. The crowd goes wild, Tetsuo smiling, with tears of joy. Soon after, Tetsuo gets his coach's appraisal, along with Tetsuo's family, and Ayako.

But the rivalry between Tetsuo and Yoshimura didn't end just yet. Their final tournament of 2018 is here, Tetsuo has been training since the 2017 tournament, ever since he defeated Yoshimura by knockout. The tournament is here at last. They finished their training, and it's time to settle their rivalry, once and for all. They both were in pretty good shape, the first few fights they had were easy, and they had been training for a year straight. They both fought strong and skillful opponents and in their semi-final fights, they both won their matches by split decision. They meet at the finals, with Tetsuo, being calm.

 

Yoshimura is also calm, Tetsuo notices and thinks, "he must have changed, his ego must have been shattered from his loss last year." Tetsuo breathes in and says" Let's win this whole thing.", The ref nods, and both Tetsuo and Yoshimura do the traditional touch gloves for respect. They back into their corners and the fight begins. Both exchanged intense blows all over each other's bodies, It seemed like they were equal to each other. They both outdid each other in each round, but round 5 was the closest ever. They clashed like titans, each blow felt like a thunderclap, blow after blow. The match ends with Tetsuo knocking out Yoshimura, just like last year's fight. The crowd goes wild, and Tetsuo raises his arm in victory. His mother, father, siblings, and Ayako, all hug him and congratulate him on his victory.

Yoshimura slowly gets up and walks towards Tetsuo, he holds out his hand, symbolizing his respect for Tetsuo. Tetsuo is shocked, not at the fact he won, but at the fact he’s finally getting respect from his rival, Yoshimura Saeki. They had a full-on war with each other, constantly fighting, but now that's the finally changed. He looks at his parents, and his father gives him the look and nods. Tetsuo nods and shakes Yoshimura's hand in respect. One year later, Tetsuo and his family decided to move to Houston, where he would start his new life and career. A few weeks later, after getting used to school and his new life there. He encounters a familiar face, the girl who motivated him to never give up and believe in himself. Ayako smiles and says "Long time no see Tetsuo.", Tetsuo stands there in shock, but before he can say anything. Ayako kisses him and says " Let's catch up." and smiles. Tetsuo blushes and says "y-yea." They go by a little coffee shop to catch up. They talk for a while, laughing and remembering their funniest moments together. Then something interesting happens, Ayako confesses her feelings towards Tetsuo. She says, "I've fallen for you, ever since we met, I've been wanting to tell you, but didn't have the courage to, and I thought you might have said no." Tetsuo grabs her hand and says " I would've said yes regardless, You helped me so much, you've motivated me to keep going, and strive to reach my goal." He looks deep into her eyes and says" Will you go out with me?" Ayako blushes, lets out a giggle and says" I will" and kisses him.



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