In victory, mercifulness. In defeat, defiance. In my case, introspection.

I had long since forgotten what my blood tasted like. Metal. Coppery. Not sweet, not salty. Metallic. The thoughts I had as a child suddenly re-emerged like bubbles, about how maybe, just maybe, I had managed to become a little less than a human being. Turning my blood into metal.

Of course then I found out about plasma, chemicals in the blood and all that boring stuff they shove in your head in 4th grade. But the thought had remained dormant, unbeknownst to me. It had remained there, not growing or sprouting, but always present.

Let's rewind back to the day I decided to do a contact sport. I was anxious. Impatient. I wanted to vent out so much energy, both negative and positive. I was happy because I'd get a chance to make Father and Mother proud of me in a field that I had never quite mastered : Physique.

I've never been an Arnold Scharzenneger, or Jabba the Hut. But I never quite mastered the physical peak that my brother, my older brother whom my father prided himself long ago, had mastered. I grew up gradually realizing that I turned out to be an almost exact of opposite of my father. At age 9 he was kissing his second girlfriend. At age 9 I was reading The Count Of Montecristo in Math class. At age 11, he was the spotlightof every party in his school, winning girls and causing male envy. At age 11, I was the quiet and kinda weird kid sitting at the back of the classroom drawing Megaman X. At age 12 he lost his virginity. At age 12, I discovered the internet ( which is much more of a trauma so up YOURS, dad ) .

And so on, Ad Infinitum.

My brother had taken every single thing my father did and took it up to eleven. I'm not gonna go into details, but at age 14 he was scoring threesomes and appearing in magazines so there's that. But I differentiated from both my Father and brother in the fact that my mind woke up earlier. He started to get amazed at my straight A's in 5th grade, and that sort of gave me a hope spot. Finally, a field I could conquer. A virgin land, where the shadow of my father, nor my brother reached. And thus, the start of my quest for intellectual fulfillment started.

Today, a couple of hours ago, every single thought I just typed flashed in my head as I noticed that my nose was bleeding. Profusely.

I had taken an injured leg, a rib, wrist, twisted ankle and such. But never bleed. I even got a purple, Metroid-looking large bump on my side which I sware looks like Shaquille O'Neil if you squint a bit. I also got some new fresh reddish marks on my face, near my left eye. Those I can handle.

But to taste my blood once again, mixing up with the lack of oxygen input and tears was a bit of a shock. The taste of it. Even if metallic, I realized even after years of arrogantly seeking to know more and more, I was still just human. A sack of bloody meat that could cease to exist in the blink of an eye due to a wrong hit. I think Emilio was more concerned about the blood than I was. I was shaken, but my defiant stance didn't flinch. But everyone forced me to go at least clean my face. I remember looking with foggy eyes a teary reflection of my face and punching the mirror.

Nope, it didn't break. What, do you think I'm stupid?

When I got back, I wasn't allowed to fight him again. I almost broke the rules and stepped into the stage, but the coach told me to sit this one through. "You don't have anything to prove. Don't you get it? You're 18, he's 27. He's not even fighting you at half his strenght. Sit down."

Not even half.

It's hard realizing the power gap between you and your companion, specially when you thought you were JUST getting a chance of ever beating him. Wake up.

The ending was awkward, as I ended up doing fist-pushups to compensate and vent a little. I was angry, frustrated. I had been such an idiot to believe in just a month and a half I'd turn out to be a wonder. Classic noob mistake. I kept wiping the blood of my nose, which by this point was starting to heal. But in the times I closed my eyes to wipe the tears off, I had received kicks to the side and it hurt like hell when I walked.

And I got a mid-term exam in three hours.

So yeah, this day is not over yet. And I remember wake up and muttering out loud.

"This is gonna be a GREAT day."

So far, it has been. I needed a bit of my humility back and I got it.

Now let's go for the silver.