From training to exhaustion
1033 Words
Giving them their instructions, Lazuli told them, "It's time for me to go. I have a lot of works to do. Do not slack off."
"Aren't you going to train?" asked Zohaifa.
"Maybe I will warm up a bit before the tournament," answered Lazuli.
Zohaifa kept quiet and endured her arrogance.
Thus, Zohaifa and Marium’s days of hard work began. They woke up in the morning and hit the road for some roadwork. But they did not go hard, just slight jogging alongside some small gossips.
"So, Marium. Where is your father?" Zohaifa asked.
"I asked my mother that too. She said that he died because of the cruelty of this world. But she doesn't say anything else," Marium answered.
"Oh! How sad!" exclaimed Zohaifa.
Then they would have their breakfast and walk around to digest it. After two hours of rest, they would be kicking off for their training as instructed by Lazuli. They would continue it until noon.
After taking a bath and launch, they were sent to their room to sleep. Zohaifa, by that time, always became exhausted and gassed out as he had to continuously create lightning since morning. Marium did not feel nearly enough tired as she could not even do what she was supposed to. So, she inquired Zohaifa to play video games with her, which Zohaifa could not refuse despite the exhaustion.
In the evening, Lazuli conducted a sparring session where she sparred with the two of them. Zohaifa did worse than Marium. Lazuli often motivated him by saying, "Where is the fighting spirit you showed me on the first day?" While sparring Lazuli would observe their weakness and tell them to be conscious of it.
"Marium, your guard is low."
"Zohaifa, don't stop. What are you doing?"
"Marium, you are too focused on speed. Stop telegraphing."
"Zohaifa, what are you doing? Sleeping? When are you going to get up from my last attack? You need to learn how to absorb it."
Zohaifa could only rest peacefully in the night after supper.
After two weeks, Zohaifa called Lazuli to the backyard. Lazuli went there and asked, "What happened? Didn't I tell you to keep trying until you felt your aura?"
Suddenly, she felt a small amount of aura being dripped on hers. She noticed Zohaifa smiling at her after that. It must've been shot at her by him.
"So, you pulled it off," she said.
'Yellow splash!' threw Marium at the backyard. But it wasn't yellow splash at all. It was merely a plasma shot. But at least she got the feeling of how the aura is manipulated to create plasma.
"Good job Marium," she exclaimed while proudly keeping her gaze on her, and added, "Just as expected of my daughter."
"What now?" asked Zohaifa.
"Now, you need to rush to reach Marium's level. She has already got a taste of how plasma feels within two weeks. But you need a different treatment," said Marium
"What?" asked Zohaifa
"You need to be exposed to plasma every day," said Lazuli.
"And how do I do that? Go to the sun?" asked Zohaifa.
She pointed at Marium. "She will stop training for the yellow splash for a bit. For now, she will concentrate on strengthening her plasma skills. Basically, she will shoot plasma at you."
"What? This is nonsense. I will die!" exclaimed Zohiafa
"Do you take me to be that stupid? Plasma created from aura won't necessarily resemble real plasma. With Marium, it is weaker than the real deal. With other people, it might even be stronger. Besides, one reason I could create liquid Plasma is that the plasma created by aura is not pure plasma. It applies to every other element too."
"But why do I need this special treatment? Marium could do it as a child. Couldn't she?"
"Don't be stupid? Marium has my genes. She is an extraordinary genius. There is no way you could topple her. Think about it. She created plasma only through guessing. To be honest, I didn’t expect this either. I thought I would eventually need to give her the extra treatment as well."
"Didn't she say just a minute ago that she expected this from her daughter?" Zohaifa thought to himself
"Besides plasma has a close connection to light if you ever read science," added Lazuli annoyingly.
"I am a student of science," protested Zohaifa knowing nothing about what Lazuli is talking about.
Thus the new training program began. Every morning they would do what they usually do. But instead of the previously prescribed training, Marium threw plasma at Zohaifa.
Needless to say, the morning training this time around would last less because of Marium's sympathy and the risky nature of the training. Zohaifa no more felt hesitant to refuse Marium for games after launch. His body was sore all over.
He also remained defensive in the sparring session. If by chance, he was hit, he would scream out in pain annoying Lazuli a lot.
It was the 6th day of this new regimen. Zohaifa approached Lazuli with a Zombie-like appearance.
“I can’t go on anymore. I just need two days of break. Can I?” asked Zohaifa.
“Okay,” Lazuli agreed and felt hesitation inside: 'Is this the logical approach? Am I overtraining him?'
Marium went to Zohaifa’s room in the afternoon only to discover him sleeping on his belly. She tip-toed back out and was about to close the door.
“It's okay. I am not asleep, you can come,” said Zohaifa.
Marium entered and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I don’t know. My body is extremely sore. Is that considered okay?”
Marium stayed silent.
Zohaifa sighed and stayed silent for a few moments too.
“Hey Marium, do you think it’s possible for me to beat Lazuli in the tournament?” asked Zohaifa.
Marium gasped and remain stone paused for a few seconds. Then she questioned back, “Why would you like to beat mom?”
Zohaifa didn’t answer anything. Few more moments of silence prevailed. “Just tell me.”
“I am not sure. Mom is super strong. I never saw her defeated.”
“I figured.”
- Writer
