Many up to now wondered what Jackson's fighting level was, how good he was, and if there was still anyone around his age who could beat him.
The answer is simple: no one more than five years older than Jackson was a match for him, and even more adults would find it extremely difficult to defeat him in a fight.
The reason? Jackson was a complete fighter. He had learned from one of the best mixed martial artists in the world, a man who, according to those who knew him, said that Jackson was the young version of him.
In the search for a fighter similar to Jackson, there was only one, and his name was Yuri Boyka, who, by the way, was his trainer.
Jackson had even witnessed some of his fights, which were not different from his own within the terms of allowed age categories.
That was the man Jackson tried to convince for a year before he finally decided to train him.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
In the middle of his room, Jackson could truly feel immersed in a flat sensation of fluid movements, just as he wanted to perform them without making mistakes. As his feet slid across the sand-covered floor, a series of quick strikes were released every so often.
"For a long time, I've been improving my speed, but I think I'm much better now…" The sudden feeling of speed from his attacks made Jackson feel in tune with his body.
"The seven points of pain are the best techniques of the style I'm handling." Jackson soon began practicing his punches.
He looked at his full movements in a large mirror and began adjusting his position, improving the technique he had slowly developed.
Remaining in the center of the specialized room where the floor was made of yellow sand, Jackson practiced numerous movements without making much noise, wearing a serious expression.
Looking at the training dummy he had exclusively in his room, he approached it and began hitting it faster and faster until his hands began to go numb.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
When he finally established a speed, the redness of his knuckles showed the force with which he was making each impact.
"Although my recovery back to my Jackson point can be slow, the progress is very evident, and there's no doubt I can fight with the best." Jackson murmured to himself, satisfied with the strikes.
Among the most remarkable aspects of his fighting style, one of Jackson's most visible strengths lies in his kicking abilities, Tae Kwon Do being synonymous with kicks in the world of martial arts.
Jackson is an excellent Tae Kwon Do practitioner, with complete mastery over the practically infinite variations of single kicks and kick combinations for which Tae Kwon Do masters are famous.
Additionally, he trained in Wushu for a few months, complementing his experience in more solid martial arts with his experience in modern Wushu, often turning what could be a more standard kick into a 540 or 720 variation.
As the world's most promising and complete fighter, Jackson refuses to allow gravity to act as a barrier to what he can do, and his experience in Wushu allows him to truly soar high when he needs to.
On the other hand, karate focuses mainly on punching and kicking techniques from grounded and stable stances, and karate practitioners tend to attack the opponent with very linear and direct strikes.
Jackson also boasted about having learned Muay Thai, sambo, and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
This whole fusion of martial arts into a single fighting style confused Jackson for a while, as it was a completely new style that he used in fights, but it was much better and suited his needs without ignoring his safety.
"Should I wrap my hands?" As Jackson struck, he saw how the condition of his knuckles worsened, but this was progress that would later be a reward.
Swallowing the pain, Jackson began hitting with open palms, and the loud sounds began echoing more clearly in the room.
Just as he was about to continue, he suddenly stopped and walked toward the shower to wash off the sweat before going to school.
When he took off his shirt, he revealed some tattoos he had secretly gotten in Japan.
Some symbols described his feelings, while others were simply for aesthetics.
As for his muscles, Jackson was in perfect shape.
"My boys are still there…" Jackson began looking at his body with some admiration. He thought they would start losing their presence once he stopped training so intensely, but he was wrong.
Going downstairs, he found the house empty except for the workers and got into the car that would take him to school.
This routine had been repeating for a long time, and now he considered it normal.
With everything he had done in recent days, he ignored the idea of trying to find good dojos in the area to visit later with Devon and didn't research much about the previous karate tournaments in the valley.
"I wonder if I'm doing the right thing coming back…" Jackson murmured these words while looking at the reflection of his face in the car window.
When he got out of the car, he ignored some of the looks directed at him by the other students and instead walked straight to his classroom, paying no attention to anyone else.
"Jackson!"
Looking toward the source of the voice, Jackson saw Devon, who was greeting him from afar, and he approached her, smiling similarly.
"Is the party tonight? I was wondering how I should dress. I think I'll go casual, but I wanted to ask what you thought." Devon was very excited to witness a live tournament, something that didn't usually happen on television.
She had watched many movies and imagined this tournament would be just as good or even better.
Besides, Devon had been imagining how many girls she could beat if she trained and show that with a bit of time training she could dominate the competition, regardless of the obstacles that could appear during the first months of suffering and learning.
Walking toward the classroom, Jackson handed a protein bar to Devon and said, "You can dress comfortably, remember it's going to be cold, so take a jacket."
"Well, will you also invite the only other disciple besides us of sensei Johnny?" Devon was curious whether Jackson would be interested in bringing someone else since he himself had mentioned it.
"I'll invite him. It might be a good idea." Jackson entered the classroom and sat next to Devon, who was his partner in some activities, and with few friends, he discovered that his life inside school was starting to become fun.