Author's Note: I know I have not released an episode in two weeks. I have something going on in my personal life that is taking more of my attention right now so I ask for understanding. Things should get back on track soon. Thank you.
A new schedule will be put into effect immediately. I will now release an episode every Wednesday and another every Saturday to give myself more time to write without having to rush. Be on the lookout for surprise episodes to make up for the last two weeks that I have missed. From now on, if I miss a scheduled date for an episode, I will release extra to get caught up. Also, you might want to go back and listen to the story over again. I have revised the entire story from episode one up to and including episode eight. Some edits are small, but there are few plot changing revisions that were made to correct the story.
End of Author's Note
Episode 15: Paused Training
A month and a half has passed since Liam agreed to Thanatos's request. They have been training nonstop everyday until Thanatos just couldn't take the abuse anymore. After seeing the hoodie that Liam made for Paisley and the hurt he was going through every time they trained, Thanatos asked Liam if he could make him a piece of clothing that would protect him, but only while they were training. He wanted to make that stipulation so that way Liam knew the clothes wouldn't be used for anything other than to assist in their training. He thought it was high time to not have to worry about an utterly painful death by the hands of these two kids.
Liam thought about it for a minute or two before agreeing. Right in front of Liam, Paisley and Thanatos, another hoodie was made in the same iridescent color. "Thanks little man, but as you can see, shirts aren't really my style. Do you think you could make it into something like a belt?" Without answering, Liam looked at the hoodie and before anyone could blink, it became a belt that kept the coloration, but if anything, it looked to be made of some type of leather. With a wide grin, Thanatos snatched it right out of the air and swapped his current belt for the new one. "Just curious, what exactly did you design this belt to do? I want to make sure I'm good on all fronts. You two have quickly become some serious monsters."
Paisley and Liam both chuckled thinking about all of the torturous things they have put Thanatos through. "I made the belt to make sure you won't get hurt at all while training us. It will still show your body being hit by our abilities so Paisley can see how much power she should use, but you won't actually be getting injured. That part is kind of like pretending to be hurt." Liam was proud of himself for thinking about such an item and it was obvious with the smile strode across his face. "Paisley, hit me! Give it all you got!" Thanatos yelled. She didn't hesitate as she took a breath in and let out a sharp screech with her mouth pointed at Thanatos. She forced the space in front of her to warp forward in a funnel. The ground broke apart, air distorted, and genuine fear forced itself into Thanatos. "Ah!!" he screamed like a little girl and tried his very best to move out of the way, but it was just too late. The moment the pressured air touched Thanatos, his body was being ripped to shreds. Blood flew all over the place, as well as limbs that seemed to be missing the torso of his body. Only a second later and Thanatos stood there just fine.
"Oh wow, I'm okay! This is awesome! Why do you like screaming so much? That one kinda scared me." Thanatos said, trying to make them giggle. "Well, tell me! What did you guys see?" He looked up at the two kids and he saw a look of deep horror. Both responded simultaneously, "Uh, nothing… we don't want to talk about it." Thanatos laughed because he definitely didn't feel any pain and nothing actually happened to him. From his perspective, he just stood there as the blast hit him and then he spoke. He knew that there was more to it from the kids reaction, but he didn't care to press it because he was excited that he didn't have to be resurrected once again.
"Okay, let's keep going. Paisley, let's duel, but I want you to focus on hand to hand combat while using your ability." Paisley nodded because she knew what he wanted her to do. They had been practicing for the last two weeks for this very thing. "Alright, try to apply your ability as a cloak around your hands." She held her hands up and a translucent glow enveloped her hands from her fingertips down to the forearm close to her wrist. "Good! Now I'm going to use my ability to make it as hard for you as I can. You can use your ability to get close, but you need to make sure you're only attacking with hand to hand tactics, alright?" "Yes sir! I understand! Let's go!" Paisley said, as she punched her palm, furrowed her eyebrows, and put a sadistic smile on to show that she was gonna enjoy this.
Liam teleported to the wall and shouted, "Start!" Thanatos jumped backwards creating some distance between the two. Paisley forced a pulse of pressure from her back that shot her forward. As soon as she planted her feet firmly in front of him, Thanatos punched forward and spewed flames out of his elbow, which increased the velocity that his fist sped towards her face. She bent down dodging his blow and in her already small stature, this made her look like she was the same height as Thanatos's knees. Jumping up with force, she took a page from Thanatos's playbook. She pressurized the space at the back of her elbow and forced it backwards in a way that sped up her punch and planted her fist right in his stomach. Breaking the sound barrier instantly, Thanatos was thrown back from the force and smacked the wall. However, due to the belt, he was just fine, but the wall behind him was not fine at all.
He found himself sunken into the wall and as he sat forward, pieces of the concrete started breaking apart in little fragments onto the floor. Finding some footing, Thanatos stepped out of the hole in the wall and fell down to the ground to regain some type of balance in the fight. As he looked up to find Paisley, he heard a loud zipping noise that was basically the sound of a diving plane moving at the speed of light. That sound was Paisley and she had already covered the distance between them in the blink of an eye. Momentarily, she paused her motion forward about fifteen feet away from Thanatos and bent her left knee slightly. She was still running, but unless you had an ability to process things much faster than others or were able to slow down time visually, there was no way to see what she was doing with the naked eye. Paisley forced her power out from under her left heel with unrivaled ferocity and thrusted her fist right into his face before he could even think.
The only person in the arena, other than Paisley, that knew step by step what she was doing, was Liam himself. However, there was another that was watching in a room that overlooked the entire fighting area, and that was Travis. His ability allowed him to process things at a very advanced level. Watching his daughter run around and bully someone that, before the arrival of these two kids, would have been known to be one of the strongest alive, just got his heart racing. Even if it wasn't his daughter doing this, the feats that were being pulled off were things that this world has never witnessed before. It was easy for him to believe that if someone wasn't getting excited or being awestruck by what was happening, that they were either insane or devoid of emotion all together.
Thanatos shot into the wall once again, but this time, after he made contact with the thick concrete, he couldn't be seen anywhere. A massive spiderweb-like crack broke the wall and at the center, a hole was visible. Paisley walked up to the wall and looked into the hole. Liam teleported right next to her and checked it out as well. Neither of them could see far enough back to catch a view of where Thanatos had gone, at least not without powers. Liam snapped his fingers and a few things happened. First, Thanatos was pulled out of thin air and placed right in front of the kids. Secondly, the wall that was once again behind Thanatos, had been fixed as if nothing had ever happened.
"I know I'm safe with this belt, but, Paisley, I just want you to know that you are one scary little girl." As Thanatos said this, he shivered and it seemed to stretch deep into the core of his soul. Liam was thinking about a possible fix to how overpowering Paisley was to Thanatos and eventually spoke up. "Hey Thanatos, I think I'm going to make a change to the belt. It would probably help you so you can teach us better." Thanatos and Paisley both turned to face Liam and he knew their full attention would be on his next few words. "Well, since I helped Paisley get her powers and I made her stronger, couldn't I make it to where the belt would do the same for you when you train us? I can make your ability strength reach the same level as Paisley." The thought never occurred to anyone that this was even an option, but if nobody else was, Thanatos definitely was kicking himself now that his thoughts were turning on the subject.
Before anyone responded, Liam continued, "I think I can do that, but I want to try something else first." He looked right at Thanatos and kept going, "Do you think someone could bring out the stennerometer again? Also, is there a way to be able to measure someone's power level as it gets stronger?" Thanatos wasn't sure and the look on his face explained that, but he did have an idea. The only thing was that he wasn't sure it would be an easy process to go through. Just then another idea ran through his mind that made him feel like throwing his hands in the air. "Liam, your ability allows you to do anything and everything you want right?" He looked at Thanatos and smiled, "Yeah, I'm very strong!" "I know you are little man. Do you think your ability would be able to see the power level of people around you anyway? Couldn't you just want to know someone's strength and see it without a stennerometer? You could even make it to where it looks like a game with adjustable bars and stuff for when you want to alter things." Thanatos had been feeling like the weakest in the room for a little bit now and he took this thought as his first win in a while. No matter how small a win was, this was a win in his book.
Liam felt like he should have been the one to think of this since it is his ability after all. Without hesitating, he put those thoughts into action and immediately he was seeing the power levels of both people in front of him. Thanatos had a nice little power level of ninety seven and Paisley's hadn't changed from the last time she was tested. "Paisley, I'm gonna do something and I want you to tell me if you feel a difference. It might be a little weird." Liam said as she nodded and got ready. He looked at the bar that told him Paisley's power level and used the 'Edit' button. An arrow appeared on either side of the large number and Liam scaled it upward until it reached fifty thousand flat. After hitting 'Save', he watched Paisley to see if anything happened. She seemed to have an influx of energy rise around her and seep into her pores before stating that she definitely felt something. Before she could move, Liam clicked 'Edit' one more time and scaled upwards once more. He kept allowing the number to grow higher and higher until he stopped and saved it again. A massive amount of energy was visible to everyone watching and when Liam looked at the number once more, he smiled pleased with himself. Paisley's new power level sat at a flush one hundred thousand.
After the energy had completely absorbed into Paisley, something changed about her entirely. When she opened her eyes, her eye color had changed. Her body had so much power contained inside that it was starting to manipulate her appearance. Instead of her green eyes, they changed to a very intimidating icy blue that was almost white. That wasn't the only thing that changed about her though. Paisley's hair began to shift from her natural color into the same shade of blue that her eyes changed to. The shift of colors began at the top of her head in the roots of her hair and ran to the ends that flowed down her back. Even Liam didn't expect this type of change. "Hey Paisley, are you okay? You look a bit… different." She looked at him after taking a few breaths and said, "I feel great! I know what you did, I can feel it! The version of me right before you gave me more power, could not even come close to who I am now." She took a moment to think about what Liam said a minute ago, "Wait, you said I look different?" He nodded and stared at her like she was some type of celestial being. He created a mirror for her to look at and when she saw what she looked like now, she stopped talking. She looked like some type of ice princess. Even to her, she looked so different that she couldn't recognize herself.
Thanatos felt like he had to get over what just happened and stepped in, "Listen you guys. I know there still is a lot of training left to do and, Liam, you still need to work on the belt, but I am calling an emergency meeting between us all. Let's head up to the meeting room and I'll have Deeno spread the word to our closed circle that knows about you two. We have to get a couple of things out of the way right now. When we come back, we will get into some serious training, especially when I can give you guys a run for your money, but we need to lay out a plan and follow it to be as effective as possible. Let's go!"
End of Episode 15: Paused Traning
Author's Name
ClodiasManga