General POV:
The month since Jaxon got his name had not been good to him. Sure it was a good name, there was no problem with it.
It was the person that gave him the name that he really had a problem with.
Jaxon's mother had been beating him half to death every day for the past 30 days all with excuse of training.
In the morning to the evening, for 11 hours Jaxon would train with his instructor, Thalor along with 5 other children.
Him and the 5 others would constantly be pitted against each other, be it academics or combat.
3 of his squad mates had already died and been replaced.
And after the brutal training of the day, came the brutal training of the night.
__________
(Jaxon Pov)
My face was a bloody mess. 5 of my teeth were missing, my left eye was completely swollen and I was barely sitting straight.
Both of my forearms were bruised badly from the repeated blows they had blocked, and knuckles were torn and bleeding due to constantly hitting something far harder than them.
I looked over to my mother who flaoted completely still with her hands behind her back. There was blood dripping from her forehead, my blood, the result of punching her with all my strength.
"Break over. Get up. "
"Bu–! "
"No buts. "
Before I could finish my sentence, my mother appeared in front of me and hit me with the back of her hand.
I was sent flying across her personal training room. Thee rooms were usually awarded to high ranking individuals like mother who had achieved great things in battle.
And right now, it was being used to beat the shit out of me.
I slammed into the ceiling then back into the ground, then into a wall, like some kind of bouncy ball.
Again, my mother did not give me anytime to recover, charging towards me and hitting me with a barrage.
I tried my best to dodge block and counter, but it was useless.
All high ranking officers who achieved great feats in battles were awarded with one.
And right now, it was being used to beat the shit out of me.
Half an hour later, I was laying in a pool of my own blood. Half my teeth weere gone, every one of my ribs was broken or fractured in some way. My left forearm was at an odd angle, and every breath I took sent blood splatters from my destroyed nose.
My mother went over to me, picked me up by my right arm and dragged me away.
__________
(1 hour later)
I woke up to find myself submerged in blue liquid, my wounds healed and feeling invigorated.
Viltrumites had long since become advanced enough to have healing technologies far beyond most civilisations.
It's just they don't really heal themselves unless it's extremely serious or saves time.
To most others on this planet, me getting healed for something this trivial was quite strange. In fact, my mother had been using this healing pod to heal me everyday after our training, for the past month.
It was clear to me that my mother truly loved me. Even the beatings were an expression of her love. An average viltrumite parent would ignore you until your 18th birthday beating. Unlike my mother who actually spent time, effort and resources to train me.
"You're awake. " I looked over to find Vara sitting right next to me.
"Mom. Urgh, how long was I out? "
"An hour. Get up, you have training in 2 more hours. "
I grunted and got up, looking at the folded uniform nearby.
After getting out of the healing pod and drying myself, I realized a few changes. Firstly, I had grown at least an inch. My body had also started to get a little bulkier. And I could feel that I had grown stronger.
A lot stronger.
These changes could all be attributed to the fact that my mother had been beating me within an inch of my life everyday for the past month.
I had already started signs of being far stronger than my peers, catching the eye of my instructor.
After changing into my uniform, I made my way over to the the designated area and found that all my other squad members were already there.
There were five others standing around, doing their best to look cool, tough and warrior-like.
As soon as I touched down, one my squad members, kars, who was leaning against a pillar with his hands folded like some third-rate bully, scoffed with a smirk.
"You got something to say, kars? "
He looked over with an arrogant look.
"Late as always, Jaxon. I'm starting to wonder what you're upto that's so important you're almost late to training. "
'What kind of fucking five year olds are these? '
"You know, I would respect your opinion, if you weren't as weak as the dirt under my feet. "
the other squad mates snikered at him, and kars grit his teeth and looked at me with an angered look.
"What did you say?! "
"Your ears must not be working, huh. And for your information, I'm not late. Do you see the instructor anywhere? Or are your eyes as broken as your ears? "
That really got to him. He put his right lieg back, getting ready to attack. I also immediately went on alert, clenching my fist with a *crack*. The surrounding squadmates tensed up, getting ready to clear the area if something went down.
"What's going on here? " A voice sounded out, followed by a shadow cast over them.
I looked up to find our instructor, Thalor floating over us with the signature viltrumite pose.
"Instructor, I–" Kars tried to explain.
"Enough. You can settle this later. Right now, I have more important things to tell you. "
He landed on the ground. Thalor was a young viltrumite close to gaining adulthood. He trained us for the last month, and as far as I knew, our training period was coming to an end.
"As you know, you are going to be facing your assessment next week, yes? "
"Sir, yes, sir! " We said in unison.
"From now on, you will no longer be provided with food or shelter. This will go on until you reach your adulthood and become and official officer of viltrum. The lothes you are wearing right now are expendable and do not dirty easily. If you tear them or destroy them, you will be issued another one.
You will not be supported by the empire in any way. It is up to you to figure out how to survive. Remember that. "
"Sir, yes, sir! "
__________
Hours later, I stumbled into the forest in search of food, following the trail of a big predator.
Viltrumites didn't exactly need food or sleep very often, but it was highly encouraged.
*Roar! *
Turning in the direction of the distant roar, I smiled savagely and flew in that direction.
5 minutes later, I sat on the corpse of a large feline creature, ripping pieces of muscle and flesh and stuffing it into my mouth.
I then carved out a kind of opening in one of the massive trees, making myself comfortable, using a piece of fur as the pillow.
It was actually quite peaceful, away the the bustling city, in this calm forest.
*knock knock*
Well that didn't last long.
I looked at the entrance of my home to find my mother looking over my home.
"Come on. Time to train. You didn't think you escaped me just because you live in the wild now, did you? " She said with a smirk.
I sighed, resigning myself to my fate and reluctantly coming out of my little tree cave.
"Yes mother. "
And with that, we both blasted off, back towards the city.