Chapter 89- Wrestle or Not? part 4

Wilson grunted.

"Wilson? Are you awake? How do you feel? I heard you got knocked out in a fair match? For real? I thought you were going to need more time to think things through just like Jim, but seems like you have already made up your mind, haven't you?" Charlie instantly loaded Wilson with questions as soon as the latter groaned. He did not even wait to see if Wilson was truly awake before offloading all the questions in his mind.

As it turned out, Wilson had only grunted in his sleep and as a result, Charlie looked around him to ensure he was the only one in the room to have witnessed such a brief, yet embarrassing moment. He was the only one, so he sighed in relief.

Wilson was currently in a small private ward in the hospital on the same street as the gym: it was the hospital the scrawny old referee had called.

**********

The ambulance was unusually early as the hospital had a special guest that afternoon and they wanted to leave a good impression on him. He was someone from the governing Tiger family who was both a great doctor with amazing medical skills and healing ability and also the city's medical director. He was the one who had the most power over any and all the hospitals in the city, big or small. He was randomly checking around, branched at this particular hospital and was about leaving, when the injured Wilson was wheeled in.

The special guest followed them into emergency ward. It was their custom to do emergency checks on their patients first before deciding what to do.

Anyway, the special, esteemed guest simply walked towards Wilson and touched his body for about twelve seconds. Then, he walked out of the hospital, secretly reveling under the admiring gazes of the nurses and doctors that were lucky enough to witness such rarity.

It was a rarity because; One, healing ability was easily the rarest ability in the world, closely followed by Space and time manipulation. Two, it was a great honor for people to witness the director use his ability because it was rumored that if someone in the medical field was in the vicinity and watched while the ability was being used, there was a chance that such a person would attain 'enlightenment'.

Of course, it remains unknown whether they were just rumors or not, but such was the seemingly immortal image of the special guest and medical director; Professor Hippo C. Tiger.

************

As Charlie watched over Wilson's slowly healing body and waited for either Jim or Vox or the both of them to arrive, he calmly sipped a chilled canned beer and sighed as he spoke to himself.

"I really shouldn't be drinking something this cold in a weather this cold." He said. It was still winter and the snow continually fell at random intervals.

He had a rare solemn look on his face as he fell into deep thought.

*************

"Where is it?" A man with long hair that could easily pass for someone in his twenties shouted the question at a frowning twelve-year-old Charlie.

"I don't know! Can't see it." Charlie shouted back in a shrill voice.

They were at their backyard looking for a chameleon Charlie had seen by mistake. Of course, the chameleon would not wait around and so by the time Charlie called his father; Charleston Sr., the chameleon was nowhere to be found.

They spent the entire afternoon looking for a rare, presumably long-gone creature.

Later that evening, Charleston Sr. prepared for his long trip to the empire's capital and that was the last Charlie ever saw of him.

It was only years later that news got to and rapidly spread around the kingdom about Charlie's father being involved in a rebellion against the emperor. He was caught and hung in public.

Soon after, people recognized Charlie as the son of a Imperial traitor. He was insulted, bullied and was constantly on the news for random, stupid reasons. Regular things done by everyone was blown out of proportion when he did it. There were news outlines like; [ 'Son of Hanged Rebel Fights Neighbors' sons. Is This the Beginning of another Rebellion?'

'Charleston Jr.; Son of Charleston, Sr., a world-renown terrorist was seen picking up an unknown piece of paper. Experts say, he is picking up from where his father stopped.'

'Son of Terrorist Sighted Thinking Deeply. What Heinous Acts Is He Contemplating Again?']

Charlie grew up, having to face this madness and when he clocked fourteen and saw a popular news headline mention a link between his age, rebellious tendencies, destructive ability and 'heritage', he knew he had to move before he was lynched to death by the community and so he escaped the city at night. He cut his long hair and changed his hairstyle to a mohawk, which he dyed a different color every new year; He changed his background story from son of a rebel to an orphan who lost most of his memory after surviving a beast rampage and also joined a mercenary group when he could not think of another way to fend for himself. He also never used his ability again because it was quite unique; a purple corrosive light that was recognized by most people to belong only to his lineage. It was a sort of genetic inheritance and he just so happened to have inherited one of the most destructive variations of that ability. His father called it; 'Acid Light!', for a lack of a better name to give it.

Earlier that day, before he got informed about Wilson's accident, he was reading news articles when one caught his attention.

'Charleston Sr., was framed!' The headline read.

As he read through the article, it mentioned how the man had been framed for rebellion when he was trying to report acts of rebellion and terrorism to the emperor, how he was executed in public, the disappearance of his orphaned son and the compensation the emperor had decreed for him if ever he should be found.

One thing that caught Charlie's attention was the fact that the article had not touched on the acts of bullying and public shaming he had suffered as the only living descendant and offspring of his father.

**********

"Hmm..."

Charles saw Wilson stir and moan before waking up.

"Oh! You are awake! Welcome back to reality, friend. How do you feel?"

"A little dizzy." Wilson answered and stood up from the bed. He swayed a little.

"Whoa, there. You said you felt dizzy and you are still trying to stand up?" Charlie asked as he rushed to catch Wilson and helped him balance on his feet.

"Don't worry, I'm fine. My jaw doesn't even hurt at all." Wilson said. He pulled off the hospital gown he had on. He looked down and gasped.

"What?" Charlie asked.

"My scars. Where did they go?"

"Oh that! I think they must have cleared off when they healed you or something." Charlie explained dismissively as he had not arrived when the director showed off his greatness. He continued.

"Don't worry, for some reason, we don't have to pay your bills. Look, you should stay here for a little while, at least until Jim or Vox arrive." He said as he walked out of the door.

"Why? Where are you going?"

"I have a job to do. See ya sometime next week." Charlie said, waved and walked away.

Few minutes later, some doctors and nurses arrived with some food and drinks, treating him like an esteemed guest.

This special treatment bothered Wilson for a little while before he shrugged it off. If they wanted to treat him specially, who was he to complain?

So, he sat back and enjoyed the special treatment while it lasted. And thought once more to himself.

'Wrestle or Not?'