With Jon easily surpassing even his previous best in this exercise without breaking a sweat and taking a victory lap, all Ally wanted to do is to cuddle her love and never let him leave her side while Pethant questions the true gap of power and skill between him and his master.
'A true master cameraman indeed...' Pethant murmured, as Jon exited the training area with hundreds of points.
'Remember.' Jon said, putting on his master hat, 'approach this exercise as you would any other mission, and work as you would any job. The ART of the PANTY SHOT lies in the way you approach the problem, rather than the outcome. Being process-driven is what's going to bring you the utmost success in life, I think.'
'MY-LOVE! You-look-like-a-nerd!'
'Do...do I?!'
'Master...I understand.' Pethant said, bowing his head fully and humbly taking in the lesson. Then, he fixed up his red spiky hair and stepped onto the edge of the training area.
'ESCALATION 2, ACTIVATE.'
With winds of power flowing tightly around his body, Pethant approached the training mission a second time.
In the meanwhile, Ally seemed woefully distracted as she reformed one of her fingers into a figure eight before placing it against the nose ridge of Jon's. He appeared undisturbed by the playful android's movements as he looked on at his apprentice taking a second crack at this.
'AHHHHH!' The same screams as before came, and then the entire training arena shook and quaked before Pethant was chased back out of the training area by literal hundreds of Police NPCs.
Pethant seemed genuinely distraught and upset when he was out, and the first part of his body that touches the ground on Jon's and Ally's side are his knees and then his hands.
'Why...why did my tactics fail like that...'
'You-look-too-craaaazyyyyy~' Ally said, pointing her silvery fingers at Pethant who looked at her with rivers of manly tears across his face, 'too-shonen...'
'She's right!' Jon said, giving Ally a strong rub in her head to which she lets out an erotic moan and twisted her body against the side of his, 'there are parts in the code which outlined the visual triggers.'
'Visual triggers???' Pethant asked, and then Ally grabbed onto her hoodie and raised it up overhead, revealing her flat silvery stomach and Pethant's own reflection on her body.
With red spiky hair, a determined look in his eyes, a strongly identifiable white tank top with his bulging muscles filling it out, and stretching every fiber of its existence, there is no way Pethant can fit into an ideal framework of a modern city. Rather, he belonged in a fantasy story about saving the world from the demon king.
Placing this guy in an urban setting, and he looks like a club bouncer at the best and a homeless gym bro at the worst. It is only natural that this guy will draw all of the attention once he got into a three-meter radius of anybody else.
'Take-this...' Ally took off her top without any regards for social norms, and Pethant screamed just like the other girls before turning around with a blushed face. Ally threw her black hoodie towards Pethant and asked Pethant for his white tank top in exchange.
'How can you just...get naked like that!!' Pethant shouted before slowly rolling off his tank top and held it behind him for Ally to take.
'I didn't take you for being the shy type, Pethant.'
'I am only shy when it comes to....this!' Pethant protested, 'how are you not deterred, master?'
'Being a professional cameraman means that you can always keep a straight...' Jon said before Ally spun around towards him and puts on the white tank top right in front of him as the fabric rolled around her breasts and flicked it up and down, 'okay now Ally, that fanservice is way too blatant. People might get the wrong idea about the story.'
'Master...you meant that I am not there in terms of both my mind and body?' Pethant said, still dwelling over what Jon said earlier before he was distracted by Ally's actions too.
'Yeah, something like that.' Trying to still his own thoughts, Jon forced his head to turn away and look towards Pethant, 'now think not only about your movements but also your presence, Pethant. Keep those in mind, and you shall pass.'
'Five points!'
'Five points!'
'Three points!'
'Ten points!'
'AHHHHH!'
This time, Pethant did well, and he was only jetted out after scoring twenty-three points. Knowing what he had to improve on, he charged into the training area fearlessly again and again. In the meanwhile, Ally is simply holding onto Jon's arm and refusing to move, though she was watching the entire process too.
Jon was about to say something about her when she lets go of his arm and entered the exercise.
'Ten points!'
'Thirty points!'
'Thirty points!'
'Ten points!'
'Ten points!'
'FIFTY POINTS!'
'WHAT?!' Both Jon and Pethant stopped what they were doing and looked over at Ally, who's sitting on top of a high building and waves at them.
'Fifty? What the hell was that?' Pethant asked, running towards Ally who pointed towards a holographic picture projected on the screen.
It.....it was white underwear with a few holes towards the cheek, and the buttcheek had striated glutes underneath it.
HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?! Pethant dropped onto his knees as his legs gave in under him.
'Don't give up, Pethant.' Jon's encouraging voice came through the silence, 'don't give in. Don't look at the others, look at yourself!'
'Master...' Pethant looked at him with teary eyes again and nodded his head hard as drops of manly tears were flickered everywhere. Then, he dived into the training stimulation again.
An entire day of training later, the closest that Pethant had gotten to is sixty-nine points, though drastic improvements are still seen all across the board in terms of his movements, stability, hand mechanics, and other qualities. Overall, Jon is extremely pleased with the training progress, though Pethant is still not satisfied with it.
With Pethant going straight back home after a day of training, Jon wondered if he should confront the individuals within the Cameraman Association regarding the looming shadow that was behind Beacon's debut, the superhuman kidnap and experimentation and their attempted murder at the hands of Purgatory, but there was something else on his mind.
'Ally.' Jon said, sitting down at the table across the extremely sexy android who sat across from him wearing Pethant's white tank top and absolutely rocking it, 'I checked the code, and the only way to score fifty points is by taking a panty shot of the other participant.'
Ally was sitting with her legs crossed on the chair, and she nodded repeatedly with a bright smile on her face.
'You remember what I said initially, regarding power scaling panty shots?'
'Remember, if you can take a panty shot of an opponent without them being able to react, that means you are much much stronger than them!' Ally copied both Jon's posture, voice and tone that morning exactly, and Jon realized that her eyes are probably recording everything that she is seeing, particularly anything that he speaks. Perhaps he needs to watch his mouth around her as not to make her sad with his seemingly uncaring remarks.
'That's right.' Jon said, scratching his head, 'to be honest, when you said you were designed to take down the Ten Fingers, I wasn't taking you seriously. But...'
'Jon...' Ally said, her tone now clearly fearful and sad to his surprise.
'But you are stronger than I thought!' Jon said hurriedly, 'and that is great! If you are willing, I would like to ask you to help us figure out the people that are behind a lot of bad things.'
'my-love....' Ally said, looking down at the table before shaking her head intently and putting up her smile once again, 'I-will-do-anything-with-you, MY-LOVE!'
'Please....for me....no, for us.' Jon said, 'for all of us. That's what we do as Cameraman. We capture the truth.'
Ally nodded, though Jon doubts she truly understood what he meant. No matter, since she will be with them for a long time, and Jon will teach all that she needs to know in due time.
The second day of training ended with Pethant finally being able to pass through the training exercise with one hundred points on the dot without trigger an alarm once, and he is looking surprisingly good in formal wear, which made him fit into the archetype of the young working-class that still had enough mental energy to keep somewhat fit and strong before hitting the bar every Friday evening.
'Manners...maketh.....man.' Jon said, as Pethant came out of the exercise and took off his black leather gloves after a job well done, and he gave him a slap on the shoulder as a compliment, in which he responded with a manly nod.
'Let's have a duel between Ally and Pethant then.' Jon said, clearing away the simulation structures and resetting the environment., 'Whoever takes the more embarrassing picture of the other wins. It's simple stuff.'
'I will be serious this time.' Pethant said, putting on his full body camera battle suit for the first time in a few days, 'ESCALATION 2, ACTIVATE!'
With power filling the air around him, Pethant prepared for Ally's attacks, but she vanished just as lightning quick as he remembered Jon did, and before he turned around, the battle was over.
'WHYYYYYYYYY?!'
This time, the holes in Pethant's underwear are on the right butt cheeks, though his glute striations are equally as impressive.
'That was really good work for you two today.' Jon said, chopping away at the vegetables before tossing them into tomato soup, 'I think we are now ready to do some more digging.'
'Digging?' Pethant asked, 'Are we not taking in missions?'
'Digging-treasure-for-my-loooooove?' Ally asked, and Jon shook his head.
'We are going to be using Ally's powers and do some...investigative journalism.' Jon said, 'this time, instead of being called towards scenes of action, we are going directly there for the story. I have gotten a tip from a friend about the truths of the Heightened generation, the experimentation of Superhumans, and the entire underworld. We are going to start our searching from there.'
'What is the tip, master?'
'the RED BLOB.' Jon said, looking over with dramatic expression and practical effects with his waving fingers, 'the material behind all of the unnatural heightened generations.'