Sadly, both Toga and Akira rejected, saying that they were tired.
In defeat, Sora could only return to his room and start inspecting that mysterious force from earlier. The exact same force that not only saved him from Eri's quirk, but also helped his body break through.
Searching within his own body, Sora meditated and tried recalling the feeling. The feeling of when the force moves to protect his body and the time when it transformed his body.
He searched, and it took him two hours before finally finding it. It was a pitiful amount of force, but he finally found it within his body. The mysterious force was within every portion of his body, motionless and calm. It's presence was small and the amount was pitiful, shows why he could never feel it until today when it lived on its own.
Sora gathered the force together and formed a single unit. Which was barely anything at all to him. Curiously enough, Sora was able to control it.
It made him wonder, what's the use of this thing and how was it born within his body?
Rubbing his chin, Sora began to study the force and test it out.
First, was attacking.
Gathering the unit into his arm, Sora felt his strength elevate. His strength had risen by about 1.5 times more than what it usually is. It isn't much, but if he had more units of this mysterious force, it would be quite amazing.
Sora punched forward lightly and the force dissipated into the air. When Sora checked the inside of his body once more, he didn't seem to find it anymore.
Was that all?
It worried him. If that was all the force he had, did he just miss out on a golden opportunity?
Worried, Sora tried looking for the force once more and summoned it. Then, like magic, it appeared again in his arm!
With a wave of his hand, Sora used the force once more before attempting to summon another. It happened again, appearing like magic. Sora continued to try over and over, but as he did, he began to feel like his body was being consumed.
It was weak, but he could feel it, his body was growing tired and his strength had decreased by a little. Even the strength of his healing had weakened.
Frowning, Sora got thinking.
The force didn't seem to be infinite, but instead limited. Not to mention that it seems to be like the human body is the one creating it, causing it to weaken when it is forced to create more.
Then what he was feeling was simply a result from overdrafting his body. It was exhausted, and the only way to recover is to not summon the force. Then, how will the force recover naturally?
If the force was born from the body, then it must be dependent on the body. Which meant, as long as the body rests and recovers, the force will recover as well.
Then this force… it's something created from within the body. A true force of the body, not like the quirk that seemed to be a cause of a mutation.
This mysterious force can be unlocked by anyone!
Sora's eyes lit up as he discovered a new source of power. If he doesn't have talent, then this force should make it up and make things interesting!
Then what name should it have?
Inner Force
It was born within the body, it only seemed apt that it should be called like that.
But then one question remained, how was it created?
Recalling something. Sora recalled another time that he had felt this type of fatigue before. When he had first used the Great Body Forging Technique. He felt tired after using it once and knew that using it more than one time a day would lead to hurting himself.
Then that meant that his body created the inner force through the Great Body Forging Technique and then developed the ability to store and generate its own after breaking through his limits. Which must be why he has a single unit within his body.
But then, what would constitute the amount of inner force he should have? The inner force was born through the Great Body Forging Technique, but it didn't start storing the force and generating it on its own until after the breakthrough. In all these phases, a strong body was required.
Would that mean that as long as he got stronger, the amount of force within his body would continue to grow? Or would it grow once he breaks through once more?
It was only more questions, but Sora knew that only time would tell.
Deciding to test it out, Sora jumped off his bed and began performing the Great Body Forging Technique. He closed his eyes and his senses focused on the inner force within his body.
Moving his arms and performing the stretches, Sora began to feel the mysterious force within his body move. A tiny portion from a single unit appeared and traveled through his body and passed through every cell in his body, but yet he felt nothing.
It wasn't like the first time he had trained in the Great Body Forging Technique or like the next couple days after that. Instead, it was like the time when the technique no longer had any effect on him. That's when it occurred to him, what if he added more inner force to the technique?
With that thought, Sora began training in the technique once more, but this time he used the entire unit of inner force. Then, he really felt it! The force was affecting his body and he can clearly feel the strengthening effect.
Although compared to his monstrous strength, the effect was hardly noticeable, but it was already great enough! As long as he continues to train, he will be able to increase not just his strength, but maybe the amount of inner force units within his body. At a certain point in time of the future, he will be able to use more units in the technique and obtain more strength from that compared to now.
'Looks like what I thought earlier stays true,' Sora thought with a smirk. "Only time will tell."
With this newfound strength and knowledge to grow stronger, Sora laid down on bed and happily went to his meditative sleep.
***
That night, whilst everyone slept, Eri was having the time of her life in her dreams.
In her dream, Eri was running in the mountains happily with her new family, her papa Sora and her mommy Eve.
They were running through the forest and playing hide and seek together.
But suddenly, it started pouring. Eri stretched her little hand out and felt the rain dribble onto her little hands. She giggled and turned to Sora and Eve.
"Haha, it's raining! Let's take cover!" Eri said with a laugh as she ran and with Sora and Eve.
"How about here?"
Eri turned her little head and started giggling when she saw Sora place a small rock over his head. With her hands on her stomach, Eri giggled and shook her head.
"You're silly papa!"
Then, she turned and found Eve holding a small leaf over her head.
"Look! An umbrella!"
Eri chuckled once more and shook her head.
It went in for a while as Eri saw her parents acting silly as they searched for a place to take cover. Eri looked hard and soon found it. A small cave that they could possibly fit in.
Running to the cave with her mommy and papa following, Eri felt like the caves entrance was shrinking. Once she arrived at the cave, it was at the size where only she could enter. Sora and Eve stood outside in the rain.
"Achoo!"
"Stay in there Eri, don't get sick, okay?"
"Don't worry about us, honey."
Eri looked at Sora and Eve with determination in her bright eyes. Stepping out of the cave, Eri's little quirk grew a little and started growing as she began to use her Quirk.
"I will save you both from sickness!"
Eri stepped out of the cave with a smile and looked up at Sora and Eve whom already had red and runny noses.
'I can do this!'
Eri encouraged herself before placing her hand on Sora. But her Quirk didn't work as she expected and Sora turned into a little.
"Papa!"
Yelling out worriedly, Eri reached out Sora, but before she could do anything, the baby lifted its chubby little hands.
"Wait! It's okay. I have a special ability…" baby Sora closed his eyes hard and pushed hard like if he wanted to use the bathroom.
But Eri looked at Sora in amazement as he turned back into an adult.
"Wow! That's amazing!"
Sora nodded with a smile and Eve stepped forward.
"Okay honey, relax and focus, okay? Take it slow…"
Nodding, Eri followed her mother's instructions and used her air Quirk again. This time, she calmed down and used her quirk slowly, letting Sora age backwards slowly.
Together, Eve and Eri watched as Sora turned from a young man into a child around six years old. Once Sora appeared to be about her size, Eri stopped using her Quirk and smiled brightly at Sora.
"Wow! You did it!! That was amazing! Now me!"
Eve looked at the five year old Sora and smiled brightly as she turned to Eri in excitement. Jumping up and down, Eve ignored the rain falling on her.
"Okay!" With a happy laugh, Eri smiled and walked over to Eve and used her quirk. There, she also managed to make Eve younger and small enough to enter the cave.
"Great! Now we can hide from the rain!"
Entering the cave together, the family of three realized that the cave was barely big enough for the three of them. It was enough and happily waited out the rain, hoping it will disappear.
Roar!
When the family of three were planning to hide from the rain, Eri heard the roar of a bear and turned in fright. There, she saw a bear roaring and trying to enter the cave.
Eri was shocked and hid behind Sora in fear. She stuck her little head out and looked at the bear in fear. Eve and Sora looked at the bear in surprise as well and stayed away, looking at it vigilantly.
Roar!
The bear continued to struggle, trying to enter the cave, but nothing worked. It tried lying down and crawling in, going in reverse, and even just sticking its head in, but nothing worked. It roared helplessly and flopped to the floor. It looked up and stared at Eri in sadness.
Roar…
It's roars turned gentle and Eri even began to feel more brave. She slowly stepped out from behind Sora and approached the bear.
"Honey, wait!"
Eve called out to Eri, but the little girl only turned to smile at her mom.
"Mommy! This bear needs our help. Although there's hardly any room in the cave…"
Eri slowly stopped talking when she suddenly noticed the cave had expanded and contained more space.
"Wow! You're so kind and brave!"
"A hero!"
"Ehehe…"
Eve and Sora praised Eri for her kind thoughts and her heroic actions, making cute little Eri blush joyfully. She gingerly skipped over to the bear.
"Hi Mr. Bear! I will help you!"
With her little hand outstretched to the bear, Eri placed her little fingers on the bear's wet nose before using her quirk on it. They all watched as the bear shrunk in size and turned into a cub that could finally step into the cave to take shelter from the rain.
Roar!
"Yay!"
"Amazing Eri!"
The bear cub roared happily at Eri before it ran into the cave excitedly. Then, what followed were the cheers of her parents and her happy giggles in the cave.