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[color=slategray][b]Time: Monday before school
Starring:[/b][/color] [color=f4dd2e]Zachary Webb[/color][hr][indent][indent]The truth was, Zach wasn’t sure about this from the moment it started. First, Owen was calling him even earlier than he was expected to be at the gym! Now, this? Zach wasn’t even sure Owen was in a condition to be doing things like this! After all, he had a huge band-aid over his left eye, and Zach was pretty sure that his lip was [i]still[/i] swollen.

Even so, together with Owen, Zach was standing on one end of Venice Beach. Both of them were wearing their gym clothes, and stretching side to side. Zach thought Owen was insane, but he wasn’t going to say that aloud. That… that seemed like certain death. Not unlike what Owen was planning to put him through. [b][color=#f4dd2e]“You’re sure about this, really? Isn’t Venice Beach like… fourteen miles?” [/color][/b]Zach asked earnestly, and Owen shrugged his shoulders in response.

[b][color=#a52521]“You better figure it out.” [/color][/b]Owen said, stretching his arms out and shaking his head. This kid could be such a drag. [b][color=#a52521]“It’s not even that big of a deal. We’re going for a run down the strip. At the end of it, my dad will pick us up. I don’t understand what’s hard about that for you. You can’t do a fourteen mile run? Ain’t nobody else out here, it’s just me and you. We’ll switch gears at the five and ten mile marks, and you’ll be fine. Trust me. Just keep up, motherfucker. Alright?”[/color][/b] Owen asked, and Zach nodded slowly. Owen seemed satisfied, and began to run.

Zach watched as Owen took off and found himself wondering how Owen thought he was supposed to keep up. Were they going to be running at full speed for this? That seemed like what Owen was intent on doing — but when did Owen do anything other than giving it 110%?

Zach was calculating the odds of survival. He was thinking and letting his brain run, there was a lot to process here. Was this even physically possible? Was he going to die? Probably… was it worth it? He wasn’t su— [b][color=#a52521]“Hey, asshole, are you coming or what?” [/color][/b]Owen yelled back at him, stopped maybe ten yards out. Zach knew that he had to make a choice then. He could probably get out of this forever, but he had a sort of feeling of obligation to try, no matter how impossible it seemed for him to make the whole run with Owen. Fourteen miles was ... a lot of miles, but he’d been training for a while now, and it wasn’t a sprint.

Zach was off to the races, staying side-by-side with Owen.

 It wasn’t until the ten mile mark that Zach was really starting to feel it. He’d kept up, staying next to, or only a few paces behind his much more physically developed mentor. He was proud of himself or doing so; he and Owen had been going for runs together for a while now, but this was the longest so far. Five miles was easy, even seven or eight hadn’t been that hard. But now? Now, Zach could feel himself giving up. There was no way he could make it any further.

He didn’t have it in him! Owen would understand, he had to. Zach had given it everything he had, and now he could barely breathe. [b][color=#f4dd2e]“Owen,” [/color][/b]when Owen heard Zach’s voice, he paused to turn and look at Zach, who had fallen behind and was trying to speak while not having any air in his lungs. [b][color=#f4dd2e]“Owen, dude… I can’t… I can’t do it. This is it, dude, if I keep going my body is going to give out and I’ll die.”[/color][/b]

Owen used his hand to push his damp bangs off of his forehead and looked at Zach. He flicked the sweat from his brow and shook his head. [b][color=#a52521]“Nah, you’re gonna finish. You wanna die? You die on your time, bitch. If you can’t keep up for [i]this[/i], I don’t know how you plan to fight Sam. She’ll knock you on the floor and step on you, and you don’t seem much like you’re into being stepped on.” [/color][/b]Owen looked at Zach, then turned his head to look down the rest of Venice Beach. [b][color=#a52521]“Four miles left. You gonna finish, or you gonna sit here, cry, and prove everyone who’s ever said you’re a little nerdy bitch right? What are you gonna do?”[/color][/b]

Zach hated this. Owen’s form of motivation was weird, and strange, almost demotivational at its core, but it worked. It almost always convinced him that he was better than he thought, that he wasn’t a coward and that he could do [i]anything[/i] he set his mind to. Either that, or it just pissed him off enough to want to prove Owen wrong. 

The important thing was, Zach’s resolve was found once more, and he let out a long breath before looking over at Owen. Running a hand through his hair, Zach spoke in a surprisingly steady — albeit slow — voice. [b][color=#f4dd2e]“I’m gonna finish.”[/color][/b]

[b][color=#a52521]“Damn right.”[/color][/b]

The unlikely duo was back on the road.

When they got to the finish line, the other side of Venice Beach, both master and pupil were out of breath. It was worse for Zach, who laid down on the ground, staring up at the early morning sun. Zach’s heart was pounding so hard that it seemed it might only be seconds before it exploded out his chest, Zach desperately gulped at the air, hoping that it would quickly catch on and the oxygen would flow through his body. He was certain that it was over, that this was where it was going to end… He closed his eyes and decided to accept it.

Until water was splashed on his face, and Zach’s eyes flew open to see Owen standing above him with an open bottle of water. Owen had a proud smirk on his face as he spoke, [b][color=#a52521]“good job. You did it. Do you feel that? That burning feeling in your chest?”[/color][/b]

Zach seemed confused as he sat up, pushing himself up with his elbows. Owen extended a hand and Zach graciously accepted it, pulling himself up to his feet and taking the bottle of water that Owen offered, and gulping it down desperately. Once he was done, Zach frowned. [b][color=#f4dd2e]“What? The feeling of my heart trying to leave my chest?” [/color][/b]He asked, and in perhaps the most shocking turn of events, Owen laughed.

[b][color=#a52521]“No, idiot. That?” [/color][/b]He jabbed his finger into Zach’s chest, and nodded his head. [b][color=#a52521]“That’s pride. [i]That’s[/i] what’s going to help you beat Sam. It’s not something I can teach, it’s not something I can give to you. I can teach you a thousand and one holds, a thousand kicks, two thousand punches… I can’t… I can’t teach you how to take pride in yourself. That’s something you’re gonna have to teach yourself.”[/color][/b]

[b][color=#a52521]“You start something. You finish it. Take some pride in yourself. You’re earning it.”[/color][/b]

Zach felt good. Better than anything Owen had told him before, and he felt a smile coming on his lips.

[b][color=#a52521]“And you better beat Sam’s ass soon — lotta people lookin’ to take the challenge. Lotta people who are a helluva lot more clever than you.”[/color][/b]

[b][color=#f4dd2e]“Wait… what?!”[/color][/b][/indent][/indent]