The Plagued World: The Story of Maximus

Episode Three - Normal Life

Maximus was flying through the sky, looking around for any kind of trouble. He sighs, "it has been relatively dead recently. I guess that's a good thing." He floats to the ground, entering town. He goes to the cafe, entering, and taking a seat. He wore a bookbag, which he took off, pulling out several books and a notebook.

"Time to study," he says to himself, opening a book, reading it closely. A waitress walks over calmly, "hello sir, what would you like today?" Maximus looks up and over, smiling softly, "hi, uh, I'd like a coca-cola." "What size, sir?" "Large." "I'll get that right away, is that all?" "Yes, thank you."

She walks away. Maximus sighs, "I've been isolated in my room too much. I need to get out more." He leans on his elbow, resting his jaw against his hand. He reads, writing notes. A young woman walks through the cafe door, the entrance bell rings. Maximus looks up, noticing it to be his friend Charlotte. He smiles, waving her over. She sits across from him.

"Maximus! How's your weekend been?" She asks softly, looking through the menu. "My father left, so I've been keeping myself busy with studies," Maximus responds, continuing. He writes down a note, then he drops his pencil, dropping his head onto the book, groaning dramatically. Charlotte giggles, "I was gonna tell you that you should take a break, but I guess you feel that much."

"It's just that he keeps leaving! Every week, he goes and he's gone," Maximus complains. "Isn't he a test subject there?" Charlotte asks, closing the menu. "Yeah, and it sucks. A project of the government came to my house, and they FOUGHT me," Maximus says, rolling his eyes. "W-Wait, they fought you? Aren't you like...seventeen?" Charlotte questions. "Yes! I am seventeen! I guess I was supposed to test how good the project was," he answers, shaking his head.

"So, like, are you as strong as your Dad, then?" Charlotte prods, waving for a waitress. Maximus shakes his head, "I don't know. According to Exodus, the project, I'm no where close to being as strong as him or my father." The waitress returns with Maximus's drink, handing it to him softly. She attends Charlotte. "Just how strong are you then?" Charlotte asks. Maximus sips on his drink, taking a sigh, "I don't know." "How about we go to the gym and have a professional fighter fight you or something?" She suggests, smiling.

"No. I definitely believe I'm stronger than the strongest fighter there," Maximus says, scoffing. "Let's put it to the test then!" She says, grinning. Maximus sighs, "yeah."

Later that day, Maximus and Charlotte arrive at the local gym, tons of guys lift weights, and a very strong looking man walks over to Maximus and Charlotte. "Hey guys, how's it goin'? What's on the agenda today?" the man asks. Maximus looks at Charlotte, taking a step back, raising his hands. "My friend here wants to fight the strongest guy you got," she says, smiling up at him.

"Him? He's the father of Kevin, no?" the man asks. Charlotte nods, "that he is, and he wants to test his abilities." The man nods, bowing, walking away. He walks to the middle of the gym, a wrestling ring was set up. He calls out to everyone, "ladies and gentlemen! The son of Kevin, our world hero, has arrived to take on our strongest challengers! Step up, and prove your strength!"

Maximus blushes, hiding his face, "Charlotte...you've gotta be kidding me."

Charlotte giggles, "my bad."

Tons of strong looking opponents step up to the challenge. Maximus was brought into the ring. A heavy air was felt by all of the men, his raw strength made them nervous. "First up, our strongest fighter, Wakasuki Mono," the man says, stepping out of the ring. Wakasuki steps in, cracking his knuckles, "that big shot Kevin really does think he's the strongest man on the planet? Well, this will show him!"

"Aaaaand...BEGIN!"

Wakasuki threw a full-power punch, which Maximus caught with ease. He frowns, "really? Is that all you have?" The man raises an eyebrow, pulling his hand away.

"Boys, I think this kid needs more of a challenge," the man says, gesturing all the men come to the ring.

"H-Hey, I don't think this is-" Charlotte begins, but is interrupted by the gym owner. "Mad Mike is right, how about we all fight Maximus at once. He seems to have the strength of millions of us combined," he says.

Every fighter, man and woman, walks to the ring, squeezing in enough to fight Maximus. "This...just got weird," Maximus says, getting in a battle stance.

Everyone charges at Maximus all at once. First, Wakasuki throws a punch, which Maximus deflects into another man. Another man kicks out, which Maximus dodges, sending the man to the ground. A woman throws kicks up, which Maximus evades, flicking another man to the ground.

Seconds later, everyone is on the ground. They all stand up, attacking again. This irritates Maximus, so he goes on the offensive, acting so fast, it's blind to the fighters. He appears outside of the ring, walking towards Charlotte.

All of the men and women collapse. Maximus turns back to them, they were punched, kicked, and defeated. He sighs, "I don't fight humans, none of them are strong enough. I usually do image training."

"And just like that, Maximus is the winner! ...somehow. Did anyone see Maximus? Wait, where is- oh! He's over there! Young Maximus?" The man asks, walking over. Maximus looks up at the man, raising an eyebrow.

"We have one more test for you," he says, gesturing towards the "test your strength machine."

Maximus rolls his eyes, "oh...fun..."

Everyone watches Maximus as he walks to the machine. "It's simple, just-" "grip the handles and squeeze as hard as you can, I got it."

Maximus reaches his hand to the machine, gripping the handles. He looks back at everyone, giving them a cheeky grin, before he completely destroys the machine with only his grip.

Everyone's jaw drops.

"Well...I'm sorry for breaking your machine...but as it can tell, I am DEFINITELY the strongest here, no?" Maximus asks, walking from all of them.

Charlotte and Maximus leave, walking to the local park. "So you're incredibly strong, that's all I got from that weird...thirty minutes," Charlotte says, chuckling quietly. Maximus nods, "I've always had this strength within me, even during the...Plague. Wait do you remember that?"

"What? The Plague? Yeah, sure...I remember everything going white, then I was in this strange world. Yeah, that's about it," she explains. Maximus nods, "yeah, I was very young back then...I was six."

Maximus thinks back to moments in his life, beginning from his first day of school.

Maximus walks into Kindergarten with Sarah, he was crying tears of nervousness. "Now, now honey, you'll be just fine, okay?" Sarah says, comforting him. "B-But...Mommy, I don't want to go to school," Maximus argues, gripping onto her shirt.

Sarah sighs, "I don't want you to either baby, but you're gonna be just fine, okay?" Later that day, Maximus and his fellow friends were outside playing kickball. "Haha! Here Max! Take this!" A young girl rolled the ball at him. Maximus kicked the ball, but it is launched into space.

"I've had a rough go of it," Maximus says, sighing. "I bet you have, what, with your father being a ginny pig for the government, and your clingy mother -- I can understand you're tense," Charlotte responds, shifting on the bench.

Maximus looks down at his hands, fiddling his fingers, "yeah...I guess you could say that." Charlotte sighs, "great, now I have a broken and sad friend." "Dude, you literally made me beat up a gym of buff guys, give me a break," Maximus says.

They spent the rest of the day together, Maximus and Charlotte split ways. Maximus approaches his home from the drive way, noticing that same car returned. Maximus opens his front door to see Exodus and Kevin standing in the living room, having a conversation with Sarah.

"Dad...?" Maximus asks, walking in. "Hey! Buddy!" Kevin says, hugging his son. "Dad, what...what're you doing here?" He returns the hug, squeezing him.

"Well, I've been sent on retreat for tomorrow and Monday. I was thinking maybe you could take off Monday and hang out with me and your mother?" Kevin suggests, his hands firmly on his son's shoulder.

Maximus thinks for a moment, then he smiles at his Dad, "yeah, sure...why not?" Kevin smiles and nods, "great. I'll have our people make it an official day off for you, so you won't ruin your perfect attendance." "Isn't that cheating?" Maximus says, raising an eyebrow. "Ah, let's not think about it."