I stepped out of the chamber. My legs were jelly, and I was pretty sure I pulled a muscle or three. I had broken a rib or two as well. Numerous cuts and wounds were all over my body. Tanking my own ki attacks was a lot more dangerous than I thought and with the additional stress of the gravity, my defenses against my attacks were somewhat lacking, hence my miserable state.
I dragged myself along the short hallway leading up to the metal block barring my way. I raised my hand and gathered ki to use the resulting shock wave to push out the metal block.
I was too injured to move it with my body and my telekinetic abilities had already run dry after hours of using it, so this crude approach was my only option if I wanted to get out. I needed another room in the hidden hallway to shower and eat, in case I was exhausted as today.
My body was wrecked, and my mind was already mush. I could only think about eating and then going to bed.
The block of pure metal weighing just above a hundred tons screeched, and sparks flew as it shot out directly into the opposite wall, embedding itself deep inside. It seemed like I had miscalculated the force I needed. Meh. I was too exhausted and hurt to care about the little destruction I left behind.
With my still good right arm, I supported myself as I walked up the stairs out of my basement. It took me a while before I made my way to the shower. After standing underneath the water for a while, I cleaned myself with some soap, which fortunately only burned a little.
I wrapped a towel around my waist and headed straight for my fridge. I could sleep now as well, but I was hungry as well, especially after that session I had put myself through and I might as well give the body some nutrition to heal my wounds.
I couldn’t help but sigh out, thinking about the state of my body. Even though I had been careful the last 2 weeks not to overdo it, it finally happened. I broke a bone. Now I had to take a rest even if I didn’t want to.
Although I healed fast, broken bones weren’t that quickly healed. Going inside the chamber with broken ribs might lead to them poking a hole into my lungs, which admittedly would do for a good Zenkai, I guess, if I survived, that was.
I couldn’t be like Vegeta who trained regardless of his body’s state or Goku who used to break every bone in his body for them gains, I just didn’t have any Senzu Beans or convenient wishing orbs that would bring me back to the living if something happened.
Besides, even Goku had admitted that too much training wouldn’t be beneficial and instead would just be torture. Well, He did say that about the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and not about training in general, but oh well. Resting could only be a good thing as long as I didn’t pull a Gohan…
Either way, I would have to find a good balance for myself. Maybe I should first change it up a bit as long as I healed. I needed to find a sparring partner to improve my martial arts, and I needed to meditate to increase my ki control too.
The latter was a bit more important factor currently. My body and my ki are currently strengthening at a rapid rate and I need to master it one day or another. There was also the fact that I still want to figure out how to increase the output of my ki attacks while avoiding blowing up the planet in the process.
I thought about my next step as I pulled the food out of the fridge. I turned on the TV as I waited for my food to heat up in the microwave.
After I heard the ding, I pulled out the giant bowl before putting another inside as I put the heated bowl on the table. I watched the news about some sightings of some super-powered people and tyrannic states and so on and so forth.
In Portland’s local news, they talked about my cooperation with the police. The police gave a statement with some evidence of how many criminals we pulled in during the time I was active as an ‘active assistant’. They certainly made it seem that they hired me.
Obviously, they didn’t know what strings I was pulling behind the scenes. As for what I had been doing in the underworld in Portland as a hero, only the criminals knew. The announcements I made as bait were only taken by a few small-timers for now, but it would soon develop into a little elitist club.
After I ate through the dozen bowels that could feed 30 people, I put them into the sink and soaked them. I would wash them the next day. I was too tired now and wanted to sleep.
I turned off the screen and, in the reflection, I saw a figure standing behind me in the corner. As soon as I saw them and turned around, they stepped forward.
“You have ignored my summon.” Lady Shiva said as she stepped into the light.
‘Oh, how dramatic.’ I thought as she made a ‘mysterious’ yet cliché villain/assassin/thief entrance. I had sensed her the entire time she was standing in the corner like a creep. My place was pretty big, and the nearest neighbor was a bit further away. Her being stronger made her stand out as well.
“Yep.” I popped the ‘P’ as I walked to the stairs leading to my blessed bed. “Was kind of busy. I will come to you when I want a fight, so it’s pointless for you to seek me out.” I said, determined to sleep. Although I was eager for a sparring partner, I was already done with my training for today.
“Lady Shiva won’t be refused!” She said in third person for whatever reason and grabbed my arm as she flipped over me, trying to put it in an armlock.
There was another reason why I didn’t want to fight her now…
“Yeah, how about no? I said I decided when I show up at your place, not the other way around.” I said as I gently brushed her chest, sending her flying through the room. She crashed through the solid wooden table and with a thud, her head slammed into my fridge, denting it in the process.
…I had grown too strong the last few days, and I was too tired to hold back properly.
I saw she was knocked out. Her life force diminished only a little, so she didn’t receive a lethal injury. She would be fine sleeping on the floor for the night.
In the last 2 weeks, my power level had doubled. I probably could have increased my strength faster with some magic beans, but alas, I didn’t have a talking cat farmer as a friend.
On my rest days, I poured my focus on ki control, but I just wasn’t talented enough it seemed. My strength increased faster than I could master it. It was honestly quite annoying to be this imbalanced.
It kind of reminded me of my past life when I started to train. Then I had built up too much muscle too fast and my tendons couldn’t keep up, leading to some avoidable injuries.
Although it wasn’t too bad as I made it to be, it still took me considerable effort to suppress my power to 1 000, which was just unachievable for even the greatest human martial artists without proper ki training.
Lady Shiva seemed to have learned something during her life as she managed to boost her life force considerably for a human, but even if she was impressive for normal humans, she was nowhere near even my suppressed strength level.
…
Lady Shiva struggled to stand up after being unconscious for an unknown amount of time. She started to probe her chest and ribs with her hand, trying to assess the injury she just received from the casual strike Nathan had dished out. She found two ribs cracked, and another broken. Fortunately, it wouldn’t poke a hole into her lung, and her organs seemed to be fine for the most part.
She stood up and walked to the bottom of the stairs before looking upstairs from where loud snoring could be heard. She felt like standing in front of a beast’s cave. If she woke him now, she was sure he would just kill her.
She shook her head and decided to leave. The next time she met him, he would have to be in a better mood or at least not as uncaring as he was just now, otherwise, it would again end as quickly as it did just now.
She felt bitter about being a mere annoyance just now, but there was nothing she could do besides try to gain an advantage with underhanded methods, but that wasn’t her style, and she couldn’t do that to another warrior she acknowledged not for his strength but for his natural talent.
On that thought, she wondered what kind of training he had done to look this miserable. She had experienced his prowess firsthand, and she found it hard to believe he would end up like that without having the city burn down as collateral of whatever calamity he had encountered.
“Pfft. I told you it was a bad idea.” Shiva heard from the newest protégé she had picked up here in Portland not long ago.
She turned around and saw a young, beautiful woman in leather. Her white hair was emphasized by the white fur on her outfit.
She wasn’t unlike Selina Kyle, who she had previously trained. She too ended up as a cat burglar and even adopted the tight leather. The similarities were aplenty. Fortunately, she still took her training seriously. Well, if she hadn’t, Felicia would have long died in the training.
She wasn’t finished training her by a long shot. There was still a lot of potential inside this girl. The same could be said about Nathan, who had turned out to be a lot stronger than she had previously estimated him to be. Or maybe he had grown stronger in the few weeks they had last seen each other?
Her visit and her previous summoning were so she could train the two together, but it seemed it would depend on the whimsical of the man snoring away. How annoying.
“We are leaving.”
She said as she walked out of the house, ignoring her bruised leg and Black Cat’s – that was the name she went nowadays – longing look upstairs.
She knew the two had a history the moment she had told her about her soon-to-be training partner. That she had asked about his staying place was surely because she had visited him beforehand, and even though he had knocked her out immediately, it didn’t seem like Felicia had informed him about her visiting him to let him know of her displeasure with him ignoring her summoning.
Maybe she should have, and Shiva wouldn’t have been tossed through the room like she was a plush animal. Felicia’s eyes narrowed as she looked upstairs. She licked her lip before she went out along with Shiva.
…
I woke up with a start as I felt something crash into me. I looked down at the blonde head burying itself into my stomach. With the sight, I couldn’t help but ignore my sore limbs and the still-healing ribs that were crying out in pain.
“Hey, Kara.” I greeted her as I stroked her hair. She looked up while resting her chin on my stomach. She smiled happily.
“I really appreciate the warm wake-up, but in the future try to wake me up more gently, okay? You have to think about the bed.”
“The bed? It is still broken from our… session last time.” She said, too embarrassed to directly address it out loud.
“Yes, this is the third bed already. I want to get a new one soon and I don’t want you to form a bad habit. It’s already bad enough that we break it during sex, no reason to provoke more destruction. What are doing here this early, anyway? I said you could come over at lunch. Don’t you have to help out on the farm?”
She was happy to change the subject. She gave me a thumbs up. “Already all done!”
I blinked at that. I turned to look at the clock on the bedside. It was barely 6 am. When did she wake up? I knew she couldn’t blitz most things since she had to wait for the animals to wake up, or did she forcefully wake them up?
“Did you force-fed your animals?” I couldn’t help but ask, and my assumption was confirmed as she looked embarrassed. I couldn’t help but scratch my head. This was simultaneously sweet and terrifying to imagine.
“I wanted to be here early so I could wake you up. Oh! Right! Come on, I have something prepared for you.” She then proceeded to pull me out of bed and showed me the set table.
“Since you know we couldn’t train last time as you wanted because... you know. I thought I would do it right this time!” She looked at me with that glint in her eyes that asked for praise.
I wasn’t stingy as I hugged her and kissed the top of her head.
“Thank you. I am lucky to have such a compassionate girlfriend.” I looked at the set table and my eyes twitched slightly. “It, it looks… good.”
Her eyes widened in delight before she frowned. “Why were you hesitating about saying it looked good?” She asked anxiously as she waited for an explanation.
I couldn’t help but be honest. This was about food, after all. I pointed at the plate in the middle. “Kara, you burned the scrambled eggs and the toast. I can see the container for sugar next to the scrambled eggs as well.”
I took a piece and ate it. “You already ‘salted’ it with the sugar… And why is there an entire unopened lemon inside the orange juice? These, these are steak knives, there is no steak here-“
“Okay, okay! I get it. I messed up…” She sat down disheartened, before burying her head underneath her arms.
“Don’t worry. It is still edible.” I said as I dug into the meal while I just hoped that my grimace wasn’t too bad.
Kara peeked at me from between her arms. She stood up and walked over to give me a hug before giving me a big smooch on my cheek.
“Thanks, Nate.”
“Hey. How about I show you where I wanted us to train after we finished this?”
“Sure!” She took a bite out of the toast she had prepared, which instantly made her gag. She opened her mouth and let the half-chewed food drop onto her plate.
“Let’s go out and buy something from a bakery.” She said before she instantly cleaned up everything she had made just a few moments ago.
She then urged me to get dressed before I drove us to a bakery that I have visited a while ago. Their pastries were just acceptable, but they had some top-notch bread.
We walked inside with Kara hugging my arm as she smugly looked at the few women that were observing us. I have been visiting this bakery for some time already and my appearance attracted attention. It felt nice how proud Kara was about being with me.
I was about to order before I froze up. Kara didn’t seem to notice, as she just ordered for the both of us. She had already memorized what food I usually bought.
The cashier looked at me with a smile on her face, “Long time no see. This time with twice the appetite, it seems.” She said as she started packing.
Kara looked between the two of us. “You two know each other?” She asked, unsure of how to interpret the situation with us knowing each other, especially since I frowned.
“Yeah. This is Felicia. I met her in San Francisco.”
“Oh? You still remember me? Seems like the good impression wasn’t one-sided…”
When Kara heard her name, she narrowed her eyes at the cookie-leaving cat burglar. Felica was determined to ignore my girlfriend as she kept looking at me. We quietly looked at each other until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“What made you move all the way here? It doesn’t seem like you did it for a job opportunity.” I asked, finally breaking the awkward silence. It was a good thing that there weren’t many people this early on a weekday.
“I was looking for you and when I heard you lived here, I moved cities…” I blinked at that. I didn’t know if I should be horrified or impressed by her level of determination, but that was some stalker-level obsession shit I wanted nothing to do with.
“… Just kidding.” She stuck out her tongue as if she had read my mind. “On a graduation trip, I had met someone who took me in and taught me about a side hustle, besides baking bread and pastries, of course. My mentor is currently in Portland, so I thought I would stay here for the time being.”
I asked some questions as I read her surface thoughts, and it seemed like she really was in Portland for a trip. She was ganged up by some gangsters and after she had beaten them; she met Lady Shiva…
She is getting taught by her?? Didn’t expect that she had such a talent for martial arts if she was noticed by that Asian lunatic.
Kara was annoyed after being left out of our conversation until she couldn’t stand it anymore, “Could you hurry up? We have places to be!”
“Oh, of course,” Felicia said with a smirk on her lips as she put several bags of bread on the counter for us to take.
Just as I was about to reach out for the bags, Felicia spoke up again. “This is for ordering this much and you know... I thank you for your patronage.” She then handed me a bag of cookies and brownies. There were some donuts as well. The smell certainly made my mouth water.
“Shouldn’t it be ‘We’ since it’s from the bakery?” Kara said snippily as she snatched the bag out of Felicia’s hand with force.
Felicia looked at Kara challengingly. “You are right. The staff shouldn’t do this on our own accord at the cost of the bakery, so these were just some out of my personal stash of pastries. I hope you like them. I put a lot of love into making them.”
“You just happened to have some lovingly homemade cookies?” Kara narrowed her eyes at the part-time thief, who responded with a raised eyebrow.
“I obviously made them for myself in case I get hungry during my shift. It’s good to practice it once in a while. I heard one can conquer men with their stomachs. You should try it.”
Kara looked like she was about to blow up. Felicia didn’t care as she turned back to me, “I hope I will see you around this time. Don’t want to miss you for the next few months like I did after we spent the night together.”
Kara said nothing and just dragged me out of there before she would shoot out lasers. She ignored everyone else, making them have to step out of our way as she dragged me into the car and drove back home.
“Kara, you don’t have a driver’s license... How do you even know how to drive?” I saw her clench her fist, and I just hoped that she restrained herself from breaking my steering wheel.
“I told you I was driving around tractors at the farm. This isn’t that different.” She said through her teeth as she cut off some guy at an intersection. She was obviously angry, but it didn’t seem to be targeted at me and I didn’t have to guess who she was angry at.
After pulling into my driveway, she dragged me inside before she blitzed to set the table with super speed.
I sat down, and we started to eat. She was still seething, but her anger turned to just annoyance as she stilled her rage with Felicia’s cookies. It seemed like I wouldn’t be getting any...
“At least that bitch knows how to bake. The only thing she is good for. What is so good with being able to cook something delicious, anyway?” Well, that’s a flag, especially after this morning.
“Don’t worry about it. It is not like you would never be able to cook, right? It would just take some practice.”
She smiled at me wryly.
“I have been practicing with Clark’s ma since I had moved in, but I barely made any progress!” That was admittedly concerning. Kryptonians could pick up things fast, super brain, and all that jazz.
“Kara, the only thing that matters is you improving. If it takes you a month or longer to cook something up, so be it. Besides, it doesn’t even matter that you have zero talent as a cook…“
“I wouldn’t say zero talent-“
“… you are still an incredible woman.”
She snorted at that. “Am I even worthy in your eyes? You said Saiyan’s worshipped food. If I can’t cook you something-“
“Saiyan’s can eat but aren’t that good at cooking either, besides I didn’t fall in love with you because of your cooking skills.” She was stunned for a second at my sudden love declaration before she approached me quickly to sit in my lap and followed up with a passionate kiss.
She explored my mouth as we just melted into each other before she pulled away to glance into my eyes as she whispered, “I love you.”
I just realized that I was moving quickly. I had already dropped the L bomb and fortunately; it didn’t backfire.
She nuzzled into me for a few more moments.
“Now, I had invited you for a reason-“ I began, which made her shoot up just as I was about to reveal to her a little secret of mine.
“Before that, I have a little surprise for you.”
She suddenly vanished as she ran out of the room with her super-speed before she came back in a red blur.
She spun in a circle as she slowed down, revealing the iconic red cape matching with the thigh-high red boots and the red skirt that was too short to be called anything but indecent.
She struck a pose, resting a foot on a stool, which almost revealed her privates to me, and one arm above her head.
Her outfit was incredibly tight, which revealed the muscles and her curves underneath the paper-thin material. She smiled at me with confidence, and all I could see was an honest-to-god superhero. An incredibly arousing one that was my girlfriend at that.
“How do you like it? You said you wanted to see me in a skir- W-whua” She exclaimed as I hugged her tightly, and my hands squeezed her firm bubble butt. My fingers roamed her booty until they got wet as I brushed against her lips, which made me realize she went commando. She let out a low moan in my ear as she leaned against me.
I quickly took a step back, making her almost stumble before she looked at me, confused.
“*Cough* I told you we would be training. If we start now, we will spend the rest of the day in my bedroom again. So... change up.” I said, heavy-hearted.
She pouted and asked, “A-are you sure?” as she gently leaned against me again. I felt her hand trail up my legs to my inner thigh.
I nodded in response, “Otherwise it will end up like 3 days ago with you skipping school the next day.” She bit her lip before sighing out.
“Alright...” She said disappointed as she went around me to go out of the room to change as she mumbled about not having school the next day.
I couldn’t help but watch her leave, noting that she didn’t use her super-speed and with a hypnotizing sway in her step. This girl would be the death of me, I thought as I saw the glistening trail running down the inside of her thigh...
I slapped my face to get myself out of my stupor as I thought about why I invited her today. I figured I could make better gains with a training partner, not only with the strength increase but with my ki and body control as well.
However, I had to reveal the gravity chamber to her, which I didn’t know how she would take. It wasn’t even that bad, but I couldn’t help but get nervous imagining her reaction.
She quickly returned with some leggings and a crop top, which wasn’t much better than before… “Alright, let’s go!” She raised an arm as she posed with a victory sign as she looked at me with mischief.
Great. It seemed like I would train my mental strength as well.
I told her to follow me. She didn’t continue teasing me, as she seemed excited about what I had to show her.
After we stepped inside the basement, I looked at the metal block embedded inside my wall, which I forgot to pull out and place back. Kara’s eyes had widened as she looked at the metal block and then peeked inside the little hidden hallway that was there instead of the wall she was familiar with. She had been down here a couple of times, but she hadn’t seen the secret entrance before.
I walked through the hallway with Kara closely following behind me. After I opened the door to the chamber, I invited her in. She stepped inside while I pulled the metal block back into its place and shut the door of the chamber.
I looked at her, seeing that she was already walking deeper into the chamber. She was just a few feet away from the door, but she was walking around as if she had lead in her shoes, which wasn’t too far from the truth. The chamber was set at a default of 10G, the gravity I found most familiar with.
She took several steps until she got the hang of it. She was obviously strong enough to endure the pressure, but her body, especially her organs, needed a short period to adapt to the unfamiliar gravity.
According to her, the gravity on Krypton was only slightly higher than earth’s, certainly not at the level of 10x the gravity. I didn’t know if the gravity on Krypton was portrayed as higher in the comics, but I didn’t care either, this wasn’t a comic after all.
After a brief minute, she had adjusted thoroughly. She turned to me with amazement in her eyes before she questioned me about it.
“It is a gravity chamber and currently it can increase the gravity to 100G. I got the blueprint from another escapee called Minion.”
“Escapee, from the Preserver?”
“Yes, exactly. Another thing, I- Kara, I am happy to reveal it to you, but I need you to keep this a secret. The ways to get the materials for this chamber weren’t precisely legal. So, if your cousin knew of this, I am not sure how well he would take it.”
Her eyes widened at me before she gave me a thumbs up, after which she continued to look around… Wait, what?
“T-that’s it?” I couldn’t help but ask.
She didn’t even look at me as she answered, “You are obsessed with training, kind of guessed you did some shady things. Your underground cage fighting for one- Yes, yes. It isn’t technically illegal, but shady nonetheless.”
She turned around before flying to me to give me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Wasn’t really a surprise to me that you would build yourself your wet dream of a training room with illegal means. Besides some of the laws, the humans have, were stupid.”
She opened a door, revealing some worn weights I regularly used. They weren’t that much heavier than normal weights, but that’s why I had a gravity chamber, hadn’t I?
I scratched the back of my head. I didn’t think she would flip out at me for not being prim and proper, even though I was a hero, but I had expected a bit more reaction than a thumbs up.
Although my expectations weren’t met, this could only be described as a good thing… right?
“Alright, let’s start our training.” I smiled as I saw her get into the stance that I had taught her.
I didn’t increase the gravity since I still had some broken ribs from the night before, but I couldn’t hold myself back and do nothing today, especially after Kara was so accepting of this.
It hadn’t taken her no time at all until she had adapted to the gravity and I estimated she would be able to endure the max settings with ease if she could bring out more of her body’s potential.
I stepped out of the chamber. My legs were jelly, and I was pretty sure I pulled a muscle or three. I had broken a rib or two as well. Numerous cuts and wounds were all over my body. Tanking my own ki attacks was a lot more dangerous than I thought and with the additional stress of the gravity, my defenses against my attacks were somewhat lacking, hence my miserable state.
I dragged myself along the short hallway leading up to the metal block barring my way. I raised my hand and gathered ki to use the resulting shock wave to push out the metal block.
I was too injured to move it with my body and my telekinetic abilities had already run dry after hours of using it, so this crude approach was my only option if I wanted to get out. I needed another room in the hidden hallway to shower and eat, in case I was exhausted as today.
My body was wrecked, and my mind was already mush. I could only think about eating and then going to bed.
The block of pure metal weighing just above a hundred tons screeched, and sparks flew as it shot out directly into the opposite wall, embedding itself deep inside. It seemed like I had miscalculated the force I needed. Meh. I was too exhausted and hurt to care about the little destruction I left behind.
With my still good right arm, I supported myself as I walked up the stairs out of my basement. It took me a while before I made my way to the shower. After standing underneath the water for a while, I cleaned myself with some soap, which fortunately only burned a little.
I wrapped a towel around my waist and headed straight for my fridge. I could sleep now as well, but I was hungry as well, especially after that session I had put myself through and I might as well give the body some nutrition to heal my wounds.
I couldn’t help but sigh out, thinking about the state of my body. Even though I had been careful the last 2 weeks not to overdo it, it finally happened. I broke a bone. Now I had to take a rest even if I didn’t want to.
Although I healed fast, broken bones weren’t that quickly healed. Going inside the chamber with broken ribs might lead to them poking a hole into my lungs, which admittedly would do for a good Zenkai, I guess, if I survived, that was.
I couldn’t be like Vegeta who trained regardless of his body’s state or Goku who used to break every bone in his body for them gains, I just didn’t have any Senzu Beans or convenient wishing orbs that would bring me back to the living if something happened.
Besides, even Goku had admitted that too much training wouldn’t be beneficial and instead would just be torture. Well, He did say that about the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and not about training in general, but oh well. Resting could only be a good thing as long as I didn’t pull a Gohan…
Either way, I would have to find a good balance for myself. Maybe I should first change it up a bit as long as I healed. I needed to find a sparring partner to improve my martial arts, and I needed to meditate to increase my ki control too.
The latter was a bit more important factor currently. My body and my ki are currently strengthening at a rapid rate and I need to master it one day or another. There was also the fact that I still want to figure out how to increase the output of my ki attacks while avoiding blowing up the planet in the process.
I thought about my next step as I pulled the food out of the fridge. I turned on the TV as I waited for my food to heat up in the microwave.
After I heard the ding, I pulled out the giant bowl before putting another inside as I put the heated bowl on the table. I watched the news about some sightings of some super-powered people and tyrannic states and so on and so forth.
In Portland’s local news, they talked about my cooperation with the police. The police gave a statement with some evidence of how many criminals we pulled in during the time I was active as an ‘active assistant’. They certainly made it seem that they hired me.
Obviously, they didn’t know what strings I was pulling behind the scenes. As for what I had been doing in the underworld in Portland as a hero, only the criminals knew. The announcements I made as bait were only taken by a few small-timers for now, but it would soon develop into a little elitist club.
After I ate through the dozen bowels that could feed 30 people, I put them into the sink and soaked them. I would wash them the next day. I was too tired now and wanted to sleep.
I turned off the screen and, in the reflection, I saw a figure standing behind me in the corner. As soon as I saw them and turned around, they stepped forward.
“You have ignored my summon.” Lady Shiva said as she stepped into the light.
‘Oh, how dramatic.’ I thought as she made a ‘mysterious’ yet cliché villain/assassin/thief entrance. I had sensed her the entire time she was standing in the corner like a creep. My place was pretty big, and the nearest neighbor was a bit further away. Her being stronger made her stand out as well.
“Yep.” I popped the ‘P’ as I walked to the stairs leading to my blessed bed. “Was kind of busy. I will come to you when I want a fight, so it’s pointless for you to seek me out.” I said, determined to sleep. Although I was eager for a sparring partner, I was already done with my training for today.
“Lady Shiva won’t be refused!” She said in third person for whatever reason and grabbed my arm as she flipped over me, trying to put it in an armlock.
There was another reason why I didn’t want to fight her now…
“Yeah, how about no? I said I decided when I show up at your place, not the other way around.” I said as I gently brushed her chest, sending her flying through the room. She crashed through the solid wooden table and with a thud, her head slammed into my fridge, denting it in the process.
…I had grown too strong the last few days, and I was too tired to hold back properly.
I saw she was knocked out. Her life force diminished only a little, so she didn’t receive a lethal injury. She would be fine sleeping on the floor for the night.
In the last 2 weeks, my power level had doubled. I probably could have increased my strength faster with some magic beans, but alas, I didn’t have a talking cat farmer as a friend.
On my rest days, I poured my focus on ki control, but I just wasn’t talented enough it seemed. My strength increased faster than I could master it. It was honestly quite annoying to be this imbalanced.
It kind of reminded me of my past life when I started to train. Then I had built up too much muscle too fast and my tendons couldn’t keep up, leading to some avoidable injuries.
Although it wasn’t too bad as I made it to be, it still took me considerable effort to suppress my power to 1 000, which was just unachievable for even the greatest human martial artists without proper ki training.
Lady Shiva seemed to have learned something during her life as she managed to boost her life force considerably for a human, but even if she was impressive for normal humans, she was nowhere near even my suppressed strength level.
…
Lady Shiva struggled to stand up after being unconscious for an unknown amount of time. She started to probe her chest and ribs with her hand, trying to assess the injury she just received from the casual strike Nathan had dished out. She found two ribs cracked, and another broken. Fortunately, it wouldn’t poke a hole into her lung, and her organs seemed to be fine for the most part.
She stood up and walked to the bottom of the stairs before looking upstairs from where loud snoring could be heard. She felt like standing in front of a beast’s cave. If she woke him now, she was sure he would just kill her.
She shook her head and decided to leave. The next time she met him, he would have to be in a better mood or at least not as uncaring as he was just now, otherwise, it would again end as quickly as it did just now.
She felt bitter about being a mere annoyance just now, but there was nothing she could do besides try to gain an advantage with underhanded methods, but that wasn’t her style, and she couldn’t do that to another warrior she acknowledged not for his strength but for his natural talent.
On that thought, she wondered what kind of training he had done to look this miserable. She had experienced his prowess firsthand, and she found it hard to believe he would end up like that without having the city burn down as collateral of whatever calamity he had encountered.
“Pfft. I told you it was a bad idea.” Shiva heard from the newest protégé she had picked up here in Portland not long ago.
She turned around and saw a young, beautiful woman in leather. Her white hair was emphasized by the white fur on her outfit.
She wasn’t unlike Selina Kyle, who she had previously trained. She too ended up as a cat burglar and even adopted the tight leather. The similarities were aplenty. Fortunately, she still took her training seriously. Well, if she hadn’t, Felicia would have long died in the training.
She wasn’t finished training her by a long shot. There was still a lot of potential inside this girl. The same could be said about Nathan, who had turned out to be a lot stronger than she had previously estimated him to be. Or maybe he had grown stronger in the few weeks they had last seen each other?
Her visit and her previous summoning were so she could train the two together, but it seemed it would depend on the whimsical of the man snoring away. How annoying.
“We are leaving.”
She said as she walked out of the house, ignoring her bruised leg and Black Cat’s – that was the name she went nowadays – longing look upstairs.
She knew the two had a history the moment she had told her about her soon-to-be training partner. That she had asked about his staying place was surely because she had visited him beforehand, and even though he had knocked her out immediately, it didn’t seem like Felicia had informed him about her visiting him to let him know of her displeasure with him ignoring her summoning.
Maybe she should have, and Shiva wouldn’t have been tossed through the room like she was a plush animal. Felicia’s eyes narrowed as she looked upstairs. She licked her lip before she went out along with Shiva.
…
I woke up with a start as I felt something crash into me. I looked down at the blonde head burying itself into my stomach. With the sight, I couldn’t help but ignore my sore limbs and the still-healing ribs that were crying out in pain.
“Hey, Kara.” I greeted her as I stroked her hair. She looked up while resting her chin on my stomach. She smiled happily.
“I really appreciate the warm wake-up, but in the future try to wake me up more gently, okay? You have to think about the bed.”
“The bed? It is still broken from our… session last time.” She said, too embarrassed to directly address it out loud.
“Yes, this is the third bed already. I want to get a new one soon and I don’t want you to form a bad habit. It’s already bad enough that we break it during sex, no reason to provoke more destruction. What are doing here this early, anyway? I said you could come over at lunch. Don’t you have to help out on the farm?”
She was happy to change the subject. She gave me a thumbs up. “Already all done!”
I blinked at that. I turned to look at the clock on the bedside. It was barely 6 am. When did she wake up? I knew she couldn’t blitz most things since she had to wait for the animals to wake up, or did she forcefully wake them up?
“Did you force-fed your animals?” I couldn’t help but ask, and my assumption was confirmed as she looked embarrassed. I couldn’t help but scratch my head. This was simultaneously sweet and terrifying to imagine.
“I wanted to be here early so I could wake you up. Oh! Right! Come on, I have something prepared for you.” She then proceeded to pull me out of bed and showed me the set table.
“Since you know we couldn’t train last time as you wanted because... you know. I thought I would do it right this time!” She looked at me with that glint in her eyes that asked for praise.
I wasn’t stingy as I hugged her and kissed the top of her head.
“Thank you. I am lucky to have such a compassionate girlfriend.” I looked at the set table and my eyes twitched slightly. “It, it looks… good.”
Her eyes widened in delight before she frowned. “Why were you hesitating about saying it looked good?” She asked anxiously as she waited for an explanation.
I couldn’t help but be honest. This was about food, after all. I pointed at the plate in the middle. “Kara, you burned the scrambled eggs and the toast. I can see the container for sugar next to the scrambled eggs as well.”
I took a piece and ate it. “You already ‘salted’ it with the sugar… And why is there an entire unopened lemon inside the orange juice? These, these are steak knives, there is no steak here-“
“Okay, okay! I get it. I messed up…” She sat down disheartened, before burying her head underneath her arms.
“Don’t worry. It is still edible.” I said as I dug into the meal while I just hoped that my grimace wasn’t too bad.
Kara peeked at me from between her arms. She stood up and walked over to give me a hug before giving me a big smooch on my cheek.
“Thanks, Nate.”
“Hey. How about I show you where I wanted us to train after we finished this?”
“Sure!” She took a bite out of the toast she had prepared, which instantly made her gag. She opened her mouth and let the half-chewed food drop onto her plate.
“Let’s go out and buy something from a bakery.” She said before she instantly cleaned up everything she had made just a few moments ago.
She then urged me to get dressed before I drove us to a bakery that I have visited a while ago. Their pastries were just acceptable, but they had some top-notch bread.
We walked inside with Kara hugging my arm as she smugly looked at the few women that were observing us. I have been visiting this bakery for some time already and my appearance attracted attention. It felt nice how proud Kara was about being with me.
I was about to order before I froze up. Kara didn’t seem to notice, as she just ordered for the both of us. She had already memorized what food I usually bought.
The cashier looked at me with a smile on her face, “Long time no see. This time with twice the appetite, it seems.” She said as she started packing.
Kara looked between the two of us. “You two know each other?” She asked, unsure of how to interpret the situation with us knowing each other, especially since I frowned.
“Yeah. This is Felicia. I met her in San Francisco.”
“Oh? You still remember me? Seems like the good impression wasn’t one-sided…”
When Kara heard her name, she narrowed her eyes at the cookie-leaving cat burglar. Felica was determined to ignore my girlfriend as she kept looking at me. We quietly looked at each other until I couldn’t take it anymore.
“What made you move all the way here? It doesn’t seem like you did it for a job opportunity.” I asked, finally breaking the awkward silence. It was a good thing that there weren’t many people this early on a weekday.
“I was looking for you and when I heard you lived here, I moved cities…” I blinked at that. I didn’t know if I should be horrified or impressed by her level of determination, but that was some stalker-level obsession shit I wanted nothing to do with.
“… Just kidding.” She stuck out her tongue as if she had read my mind. “On a graduation trip, I had met someone who took me in and taught me about a side hustle, besides baking bread and pastries, of course. My mentor is currently in Portland, so I thought I would stay here for the time being.”
I asked some questions as I read her surface thoughts, and it seemed like she really was in Portland for a trip. She was ganged up by some gangsters and after she had beaten them; she met Lady Shiva…
She is getting taught by her?? Didn’t expect that she had such a talent for martial arts if she was noticed by that Asian lunatic.
Kara was annoyed after being left out of our conversation until she couldn’t stand it anymore, “Could you hurry up? We have places to be!”
“Oh, of course,” Felicia said with a smirk on her lips as she put several bags of bread on the counter for us to take.
Just as I was about to reach out for the bags, Felicia spoke up again. “This is for ordering this much and you know... I thank you for your patronage.” She then handed me a bag of cookies and brownies. There were some donuts as well. The smell certainly made my mouth water.
“Shouldn’t it be ‘We’ since it’s from the bakery?” Kara said snippily as she snatched the bag out of Felicia’s hand with force.
Felicia looked at Kara challengingly. “You are right. The staff shouldn’t do this on our own accord at the cost of the bakery, so these were just some out of my personal stash of pastries. I hope you like them. I put a lot of love into making them.”
“You just happened to have some lovingly homemade cookies?” Kara narrowed her eyes at the part-time thief, who responded with a raised eyebrow.
“I obviously made them for myself in case I get hungry during my shift. It’s good to practice it once in a while. I heard one can conquer men with their stomachs. You should try it.”
Kara looked like she was about to blow up. Felicia didn’t care as she turned back to me, “I hope I will see you around this time. Don’t want to miss you for the next few months like I did after we spent the night together.”
Kara said nothing and just dragged me out of there before she would shoot out lasers. She ignored everyone else, making them have to step out of our way as she dragged me into the car and drove back home.
“Kara, you don’t have a driver’s license... How do you even know how to drive?” I saw her clench her fist, and I just hoped that she restrained herself from breaking my steering wheel.
“I told you I was driving around tractors at the farm. This isn’t that different.” She said through her teeth as she cut off some guy at an intersection. She was obviously angry, but it didn’t seem to be targeted at me and I didn’t have to guess who she was angry at.
After pulling into my driveway, she dragged me inside before she blitzed to set the table with super speed.
I sat down, and we started to eat. She was still seething, but her anger turned to just annoyance as she stilled her rage with Felicia’s cookies. It seemed like I wouldn’t be getting any...
“At least that bitch knows how to bake. The only thing she is good for. What is so good with being able to cook something delicious, anyway?” Well, that’s a flag, especially after this morning.
“Don’t worry about it. It is not like you would never be able to cook, right? It would just take some practice.”
She smiled at me wryly.
“I have been practicing with Clark’s ma since I had moved in, but I barely made any progress!” That was admittedly concerning. Kryptonians could pick up things fast, super brain, and all that jazz.
“Kara, the only thing that matters is you improving. If it takes you a month or longer to cook something up, so be it. Besides, it doesn’t even matter that you have zero talent as a cook…“
“I wouldn’t say zero talent-“
“… you are still an incredible woman.”
She snorted at that. “Am I even worthy in your eyes? You said Saiyan’s worshipped food. If I can’t cook you something-“
“Saiyan’s can eat but aren’t that good at cooking either, besides I didn’t fall in love with you because of your cooking skills.” She was stunned for a second at my sudden love declaration before she approached me quickly to sit in my lap and followed up with a passionate kiss.
She explored my mouth as we just melted into each other before she pulled away to glance into my eyes as she whispered, “I love you.”
I just realized that I was moving quickly. I had already dropped the L bomb and fortunately; it didn’t backfire.
She nuzzled into me for a few more moments.
“Now, I had invited you for a reason-“ I began, which made her shoot up just as I was about to reveal to her a little secret of mine.
“Before that, I have a little surprise for you.”
She suddenly vanished as she ran out of the room with her super-speed before she came back in a red blur.
She spun in a circle as she slowed down, revealing the iconic red cape matching with the thigh-high red boots and the red skirt that was too short to be called anything but indecent.
She struck a pose, resting a foot on a stool, which almost revealed her privates to me, and one arm above her head.
Her outfit was incredibly tight, which revealed the muscles and her curves underneath the paper-thin material. She smiled at me with confidence, and all I could see was an honest-to-god superhero. An incredibly arousing one that was my girlfriend at that.
“How do you like it? You said you wanted to see me in a skir- W-whua” She exclaimed as I hugged her tightly, and my hands squeezed her firm bubble butt. My fingers roamed her booty until they got wet as I brushed against her lips, which made me realize she went commando. She let out a low moan in my ear as she leaned against me.
I quickly took a step back, making her almost stumble before she looked at me, confused.
“*Cough* I told you we would be training. If we start now, we will spend the rest of the day in my bedroom again. So... change up.” I said, heavy-hearted.
She pouted and asked, “A-are you sure?” as she gently leaned against me again. I felt her hand trail up my legs to my inner thigh.
I nodded in response, “Otherwise it will end up like 3 days ago with you skipping school the next day.” She bit her lip before sighing out.
“Alright...” She said disappointed as she went around me to go out of the room to change as she mumbled about not having school the next day.
I couldn’t help but watch her leave, noting that she didn’t use her super-speed and with a hypnotizing sway in her step. This girl would be the death of me, I thought as I saw the glistening trail running down the inside of her thigh...
I slapped my face to get myself out of my stupor as I thought about why I invited her today. I figured I could make better gains with a training partner, not only with the strength increase but with my ki and body control as well.
However, I had to reveal the gravity chamber to her, which I didn’t know how she would take. It wasn’t even that bad, but I couldn’t help but get nervous imagining her reaction.
She quickly returned with some leggings and a crop top, which wasn’t much better than before… “Alright, let’s go!” She raised an arm as she posed with a victory sign as she looked at me with mischief.
Great. It seemed like I would train my mental strength as well.
I told her to follow me. She didn’t continue teasing me, as she seemed excited about what I had to show her.
After we stepped inside the basement, I looked at the metal block embedded inside my wall, which I forgot to pull out and place back. Kara’s eyes had widened as she looked at the metal block and then peeked inside the little hidden hallway that was there instead of the wall she was familiar with. She had been down here a couple of times, but she hadn’t seen the secret entrance before.
I walked through the hallway with Kara closely following behind me. After I opened the door to the chamber, I invited her in. She stepped inside while I pulled the metal block back into its place and shut the door of the chamber.
I looked at her, seeing that she was already walking deeper into the chamber. She was just a few feet away from the door, but she was walking around as if she had lead in her shoes, which wasn’t too far from the truth. The chamber was set at a default of 10G, the gravity I found most familiar with.
She took several steps until she got the hang of it. She was obviously strong enough to endure the pressure, but her body, especially her organs, needed a short period to adapt to the unfamiliar gravity.
According to her, the gravity on Krypton was only slightly higher than earth’s, certainly not at the level of 10x the gravity. I didn’t know if the gravity on Krypton was portrayed as higher in the comics, but I didn’t care either, this wasn’t a comic after all.
After a brief minute, she had adjusted thoroughly. She turned to me with amazement in her eyes before she questioned me about it.
“It is a gravity chamber and currently it can increase the gravity to 100G. I got the blueprint from another escapee called Minion.”
“Escapee, from the Preserver?”
“Yes, exactly. Another thing, I- Kara, I am happy to reveal it to you, but I need you to keep this a secret. The ways to get the materials for this chamber weren’t precisely legal. So, if your cousin knew of this, I am not sure how well he would take it.”
Her eyes widened at me before she gave me a thumbs up, after which she continued to look around… Wait, what?
“T-that’s it?” I couldn’t help but ask.
She didn’t even look at me as she answered, “You are obsessed with training, kind of guessed you did some shady things. Your underground cage fighting for one- Yes, yes. It isn’t technically illegal, but shady nonetheless.”
She turned around before flying to me to give me a quick kiss on the cheek. “Wasn’t really a surprise to me that you would build yourself your wet dream of a training room with illegal means. Besides some of the laws, the humans have, were stupid.”
She opened a door, revealing some worn weights I regularly used. They weren’t that much heavier than normal weights, but that’s why I had a gravity chamber, hadn’t I?
I scratched the back of my head. I didn’t think she would flip out at me for not being prim and proper, even though I was a hero, but I had expected a bit more reaction than a thumbs up.
Although my expectations weren’t met, this could only be described as a good thing… right?
“Alright, let’s start our training.” I smiled as I saw her get into the stance that I had taught her.
I didn’t increase the gravity since I still had some broken ribs from the night before, but I couldn’t hold myself back and do nothing today, especially after Kara was so accepting of this.
It hadn’t taken her no time at all until she had adapted to the gravity and I estimated she would be able to endure the max settings with ease if she could bring out more of her body’s potential.
