"Bro, you just had to make this weird" Tenny said as a ball of sweat dropped and he looked with embarrassment.
"It's not that I don't care about Michael's safety. After all, he's my brother..."
"Then why?" Kyron asked, puzzled.
"It's exactly for the reason that he's my bro that I know. Michael is alright. As long as it's him, he'll be fine." Tenny answered.
"Besides, I don't think he'd want us to be worried about him"
Kyron marveled at what Tenny said. As it turned out, it was he who was at fault. He did not trust enough in his master's strength, which led to his unneeded anxiety, or so he thought.
"Exactly right!" Michael said calmly
Kyron and Tenny froze at the sudden voice of Michael. They turned their faces slightly, away from themselves and toward the door leading to his room.
It was open, and there stood Michael, in front of the door's entrance. They never noticed it until he actually spoke, not even Kyron.
"H-How...?" Was all Kyron could say.
"It's simple. With this, I know you've not used your abilities even once for the past week. If you have, you would have sensed me." Michael said, smiling softly.
"When did you wake up?" Tenny said, his eyes widening with surprise.
"With all the noise brought about by your arguments, It'll be even more surprising if I was still asleep." Michael teased.
"How long was I gone for?"
"You mean today?" Tenny asked.
"I mean since our last talk," Michael said.
"Oh, you don't know? A whole week!" Tenny stated energetically, as though expecting an apology.
"I see... That was longer than expected, but it's still fine." Michael thought aloud.
"Then why didn't you wake earlier?" Tenny asked. "And why did you not talk to us immediately mom left, or at least check up on us once in a while?"
Tenny was already getting emotional.
"That's because it wasn't me..." Michael stated flatly.
Tenny's expression changed a bit "What do you mean by that?"
Michael moved inside his room as he said, "It's rude to keep you outside, come in."
Tenny looked at Kyron who was still a bit shaken up, and Kyron looked at Tenny too. Sensing mutual agreement, they both decided to enter. Michael sat on the chair by his study, while Kyron and Tenny sat on his bed, with Michael's affirmation, of course.
"For your question Tenny, I told you my body needed a great deal of rest, right?" He asked, with Tenny nodding his head.
"Well, if possible, I would have liked to remain shut in until complete recovery, but since mom would end up worrying and reacting, and you guys might overreact, I decided to use an alternative instead." Michael continued.
"A-alternative...?" Kyron said, confused, while Tenny flushed with embarrassment on what Michael had said.
"Yes, it's one of my ability 'SENTRY PERFORMANCE', which allows me to program my body to only do particular things at intervals in order to allow my brain rest during that period," Michael stated.
"What? Is that even possible?" Tenny asked, astonished.
"It is" Michael answered.
"And since my body only does specified things, like waking, freshening up, having breakfast, sleeping, walking, having dinner, sleeping, then rinse and repeat, it allows me to save energy without doing other unnecessary things."
Tenny and Kyron were dumbfounded.
"That's why I never talked to you, because it was not programmed. I needed to conserve enough energy to recover early. I hope you understand." Michael said.
"When you put it like that, you know we can't object," Tenny said, scratching his head slightly.
"I am just glad you are fine Mas- I mean, Michael," Kyron said as he met his master's face.
"So have you made a complete recovery?" He quickly added.
"As far as recovery goes yes, but I still have a long way to go in properly syncing my abilities with my body," Michael said while moving his right hand with his eyes fixed intently on it.
"It would have happened sooner if I had just slept without interruption, but there's no use complaining now."
"So, what now?" Tenny asked, hoping it would be what he was expecting.
"Oh, we train," Michael said, almost naturally, and then looked at Kyron to ask
"How have your studies been going? Good, I hope."
Tenny dissolved into the background as Kyron stiffened as he said, "Yes, I have learned all you told me to, as well as did some leisure reading on the History of this world and its civilization."
"That's good, you've exceeded my expectations." Michael smiled, proud of Kyron.
Kyron's heart trembled as his eyes widened at the sudden praise given to him by his master. He quickly turned away and said, "I am not deserving of such praise!"
This statement made Michael partially regret saying anything in the first place.
"Well, for now, fill me in on the important matters that have happened, then after that, we'll start our training," Michael said.
"About that, how do you expect us to train our abilities? We obviously can't do it in the house, and our parents have eyes on us so we can't just go about doing whatever we like." Tenny asked in curiosity.
"We use you."
Michael's eyes were on Tenny for some reason, surprising both boys.
"What? Me?" Tenny questioned, raising his voice a bit.
"Yes, you. You opened the Gate to Valeria, and so you should have synced with its frequency. Valeria is the perfect spot for training. You should be able to open a new one at any given location if you have the skill." Michael said.
"But I don't even know... Oh wait, don't tell me... You're going to use that forceful ability activation?" Tenny said in dread.
"Bingo! And we'll keep using it to open the Gate to Valeria and back every day until you get a hang of it. It's part of your training. Simple enough, right? Michael said with a smile.
"Eh... Y-Yes I get it..." Tenny replied nervously, clearly recollecting the hurt he felt when it was used on him the first time.
"Well, that's enough idle chatter! Let's go!" Michael said as he stood up and started stretching his body and doing light exercises in preparation.
"Wait... Now?" Tenny asked in shock, looking at Kyron while expecting him to back him up.
Kyron turned, looking at Tenny's desperate face, and nodded in seriousness, making Tenny relieved that Kyron got the message.
"We are ready when you are, Michael!" He said in earnest.
'What the FU$%!!!' Were Tenny's exact thoughts, but it was too late to back out now.
After all, he was even the one who had been the most fired-up for the training.
"Y-Yeah... Whenever you're-"
Tenny was still speaking nervously when Michael suddenly touched him, forcefully activating his ability, and sending Tenny into indescribable pain.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"
TO BE CONTINUED...