Beating Bronson Box twice? Pish, that was easy. The real hardest thing Eugene Dewey ever had to do was write out a seven word text to his friend Tom Sawyer.
 
A text that read:
‘Tom, I’m ready. Take me to Mechanicville.’
 
It wasn’t a spur of the moment thing either, it had taken Eugene months of umm-ing and ah-ing  to type those words, six little, one big; and it took him a good few hours to finally commit to hitting that ‘send’ button.
 
And in his mind he was right to be hesitant. The first few weeks at the training temple were easily the hardest. Eugene was used to stumbling upstairs from his mothers basement and rolling into bed just as the sun was poking its head up from behind the horizon, not waking up an hour or two before then and stumbling around the many miles of woodland tracks while the light grew brighter and brighter.
 
He was used to sticking a hot pocket in the microwave and munching that down while boosting some of his guildies through the Stormwind Stockade rather than sitting around in the Temple’s Cafeteria, discussing workout routines over a plate of leafy goodness.
 
Sure, over time it had gotten easier. He no longer got a stitch after 30 seconds of jogging. He could join in with the weight training talks. He no longer considered a Baby Ruth a serving of fruit... But he had to admit, deep down he missed all that. He missed the salty, sugary, buttery, fried, fatty goodness that had dominated the entirety of his life.
 
So considering all of his initial apprehensions and the desire to return home, crack open a bottle of Mountain Dew and while away the nights re-inserting himself into Azeroth; why was this so hard.

With a large trunk in front of him Eugene sat on the edge of his military style bunk and surveyed the room he’d shared with his best friend, Tom Sawyer, for the last however many months he’d been at the Training Temple. Honestly, he’d been keeping count of the weeks, but that was only while he’d been desperate to quit.

Tom’s side of the barrack was just as he’d left it before TV39. Nothing had been touch, even the bed was unmade, something of a no-no around the temple. Nobody had said anything though, seeing Tom’s things scattered about the place made it look like he’d been there, but Eugene had just missed him.

Not many people around the Training Temple spoke about Tom to Eugene, but he was the only thing on all of their lips. Conversations usally halted when Dewey entered the room and started up just as quickly after he’d left, but that didn’t bother him. He didn’t want to hear idle rumours about his best friend. He knew he’d know of any updates to Tom’s health before anyone else.

There was one man around the facility that hadn’t changed his attitude towards Eugene one iota though...

“You’ve done yourself proud here, Eugene.” Came a soft voice from the doorway.

Eugene turned his head and smiled back at the speaker, one Sergei Bogorovich. “Thanks Sergei…” He said gratefully, “But…”

Eugene could barely continue his sentence before being interrupted by the advancing Serbo, “I know.” he said gently, “You wish you could stay.”

A single, silent nod was all Eugene needed to answer with.

“But we both know why that can’t happen, don’t we.” Serbo said as he placed a hand on Eugene’s shoulder.

“Because I need to build my own nest.” Eugene replied, making it fairly clear these two had had this conversation already.

“Because you need to build your own nest.” Serbo reiterated with a nod. “When you came here you were nothing more than a hatchling relying on your mother for everything. While you’ve been here you’ve grown, you’ve matured, you’ve learned to fend for yourself… and what’s more, you’ve learned to fly.”

Eugene couldn’t reply. All he could do was bashfully stare at his own feet and smile proudly to himself.

“There were some here that didn’t think you had it in you.” Serbo continued, “Adam didn’t think you were strong enough, Splenda didn’t think you had the right attitude, but myself and Kengoro, we saw something in you they didn’t. We saw heart.”

Eugene turned to look at Serbo. This wasn’t something he’d heard before.

“We knew from the moment we laid eyes on you; Kengoro on Heritage TV and I at Albany Airport, we knew that stood before us a young man with the drive and determination to become one of the best.” Sergei said with the friendliest smile you ever did see. “We both said we would nurture you for just as long as you needed until you could go it alone in the big wide world.”

“Well… that time is here.”

“You need to start your own life now, Eugene.” Serbo said as he headed back to the door from which he entered, “You’ve spent too long listening to others. Your mother, brother, friends, enemies… none of them know what’s best for you. The only person that knows what Eugene Dewey needs is Eugene Dewey.”

“I know,” Eugene said as he rose to his feet and grabbed a hold of the trunk’s handle, “It’s just that it’s all so scary, you know?”

Sergei nodded, “Because it’s a big step.” He said, “But believe me, that fear doesn’t last long. You’ll soon realise you should have done this all years ago.”

Eugene couldn’t but laugh at that. He knew Sergei was probably right, but he couldn’t imagine what was ahead of him would be better than having all of his meals prepared and all of his laundry washed for him.

Serbo knew exactly why he was laughing as well. “You laugh, but it’s true.” He said with a smile. Sergei had really grown to like Eugene on the few months they’d spent together, so he was certainly feeling the feelings from this move as well. “Start your own journey now, Eugene.”

Serbo opened the door and stepped through, allowing it to close behind him, but he made sure to fit in one more line before it clicked shut.

“And make sure you start it on a high.”

“Don’t worry…” Eugene said to himself, “I will.”
 

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