Beginning..

"You said you were gonna help me train but you haven't trained me at all!!" said Steven

"You're too young, you're not strong enough" said Ace.

Ace picks up his buster sword and begins to walk away from Steven who was holding a stick in a battle stance hoping that Ace would train him.

"I'll train harder, I need to get stronger, I want to become a SOLDIER"

"Is that really what you want? why do you want that power so much?"

Steven was silent and reluctant to reply. He clinched his stick and with a serious look, "It's personal"

"Personal hmm I've heard that before"

"...."

*Sigh*

Ace rubs his head and reluctantly says "Alright let's make a deal, you tell me why you desire power so much and I'll train you"

"Really?"

"I still need to train you either way at least this way I get something out of it"

"I need that power so I can protect what is precious to me, I lost everything cause I wasn't strong enough to fight, I don't want to be weak anymore"

Ace looks at Steven and begins to wonder to himself, "Well he has determination maybe he can actually survive my training".

Ace walks towards Steven and pats his head, "You lost loved ones during the incident right?"

"My mother didn't survive the explosion, she sacrificed herself to get me to safety but I couldn't save her"

Tears started coming out of Steven's eyes as the memories come into his mind, "I...I couldn't do anything to save her"

"I'm guessing you don't want that to happen again"

"I want to become a SOLDIER so I can protect people who can't protect themselves"

Ace looks up and realizes that it's almost dark, "Well we still got some time before it becomes dangerous for you to be out of the city, let's begin!!"

Steven smiles as he gets into his stance with his stick preparing to fight with Ace. Ace stares at Steven and begins to laugh, "Your a long way from challenging me with a real sword and you want to use a stick, if you find my training hard it's nothing compared to what you'll have to face compared to the SOLDIER training, I doubt if you'll make it kid"

"I'll not know till I try, won't I?"

Hearing those words from Steven reminded Ace of the time he went for the SOLDIER training, he said those exact words. He couldn't help but smile and wonder "This kid could surpass me!, but he has a long way to go"

"Why are you smiling" asked Steven

"Be ready for my attack!!"

"Yes sir"