Chapter 29 – Ouroboros
...
<Japan / Tsu / 12:43>
"When Momo said she was rich I thought she was exaggerating..." Toru muttered in bewilderment as she stared at the HUGE mansion in front of her. "When she said her house was big I thought of a small mansion or something... BUT THIS IS RIDICULOUS!!!! IT'S LITERALLY MY ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD!!!"
Lena nodded absentmindedly at Toru's outburst as she looked around, no doubt the mansion easily caught the eye but Lena couldn't help but stare at the other two distant structures of the mansion with wide eyes. "And that's not to mention the gigantic entrance that looked like a freaking national park."
"It must be as big as UA" Kyoka said before she heard some hurried footsteps approaching the mansion's gate. "So this is what one of the richest families in the world buy..."
The door slowly opened to reveal an unusually happy Momo, she seemed to emit a bright aura that would easily outshine the sun and hit them like a death ray, only instead of death, happiness and flowers.
"Welcome!" Momo exclaimed with a wide smile that immediately made them adore her like puppies, the power of her aura was terrifying. "Come in don't be shy!"
'She's too powerful!' I thought as I covered my eyes trying to avoid her contagious aura, but to no avail. 'Sorry dad... I lost this fight...'
We followed her through the giant corridors of the mansion which were beautifully decorated, it was a little scary to think about how expensive everything was and what would happen if we messed up even a little but Momo said not to worry.
We talked about different things about what we wanted to train for and ideas we had in mind for the Festival, mainly theorizing about what the trials might be as it is well known that every year the trials are chosen randomly.
After walking around for a few minutes, we finally arrived at a huge training room.
They literally had everything you could imagine and more, there were some machines that I had never even seen in my life and I was pretty sure they were state of the art.
The room was divided in three parts, there was a space for energy drinks as well as shakes and healthy food, a space for sparring, another one where all the machines were.
There was also some staff spread around the place, possibly to protect Momo from any nonsense.
Since we were already dressed to train we decided to start right away, but not before stretching and warming up slightly to get our bodies warmed up.
While we're at it, you have to say that Momo literally has the perfect body for a hentai manga.
Lena was a little surprised to see the big assets Toru had hidden, sure they weren't as big as Momo's but they were pretty close to mine.
And Kyoka's small but round butt was simply exquisite.
Then Lena stopped to think. 'Um... I don't find boys attractive... but girls do... one thing to investigate later.'
Leaving aside the doubt of Lena's sexuality. Tory and Kyoka were a bit lost about what to do, they had never been to a gym before and although they had more or less an idea of what to do they didn't know for sure.
Momo proposed that we work out in pairs.
Lena was with Kyoka, and Toru with Momo.
We did this mainly to make sure they were doing the exercises correctly and not hurting themselves in the process, as well as to observe their limits in the various exercises and take note for next time.
Unfortunately we knew that in two weeks the results would not be great but it was better than nothing and it would give Kyoka an idea of what we would be doing after the Festival.
So we all started to exercise.
As Kyoka wanted to strengthen her body in general Lena recommended her to do varied exercises, not knowing how long Kyoka could last exercising Lena didn't demand much from her but from time to time she would ask her to do some more repetitions.
Surprisingly she did quite well, she seemed to have a naturally athletic but out of shape body.
'This will make things easier' Lena thought as she did her own exercises, while she may be supervising and correcting Kyoka to do the exercises correctly, that didn't mean she was standing like a post.
The surprise came when Kyoka told her about her idea to train her Quirk.
Lena originally thought it would be something to amplify her sound power, but nope.
It turned out that she wanted to train the wires of her Jacks to function as a kind of whip, apparently she can stretch her Jacks up to 6 meters long at most.
This was because Kyoka doesn't know how to fight hand-to-hand and doesn't have the body or the time to learn, so she opted for this slightly risky idea.
'Um... this could be interesting' Lena thought with a smile. 'I should ask Momo if she has an instructor in close combat...'
***
<Japan / Shizuoka / 19:27> <PoV - Lena>
"Phew..." I slumped down on my couch at home with a satisfied sigh.
I had returned home after the training with the girls, I may have stayed enjoying the massage room a bit more than I thought I would but it's only minor details.
Staring at the ceiling for a moment I took a deep breath before jumping up and heading to the basement.
Turning on the light I could see a large basement divided into three sections, well, it was more like everything was separated into three corners than sections.
First was Dad's supercomputer along with some strange devices and various machines. Then there was a small sparring space. And finally, the capsule.
Taking a deep breath I turned on the capsule before entering and closing the door.
The place was dusty and some furniture lying around, at least the lights were working which was a miracle.
'I don't like this place...'
The reason the capsule wasn't dismantled was because it served as a life insurance in case the Slipstream broke or failed. Dad would just have to get me inside to stabilize my condition and fix the Slipstream so I could get back out.
Taking a sharp intake of breath to calm my growing nerves, I went to the center of the capsule to sit cross-legged on the floor before closing my eyes. The place smelled a little damp but it was no big deal.
I began to concentrate on my breathing and my pulse.
Gradually every sound or distraction disappeared, leaving me alone in the infinite darkness.
I could feel the same strange sensation that ran through my body's cell house, the sensation of being completely underwater but not actually in it.
This strange sensation was none other than my energy.
The energy swirled in my chest forming a small whirlpool, this was the center of the Slipstream. The device that kept you anchored to the present and my current crutch.
I slowly moved my energy into the infinite darkness until it hit something, instinctively I knew it was the wall of the capsule.
'Why does it have to be so small...'
With another breath I began to send more and more energy towards the wall until....
FUUUUMM!
The capsule had ignited.
'Well...'
The sensation was now more oppressive, it was as if my body was trapped in a very tight place as a slight pressure settled in my chest.
My breathing quickened before I forced myself to calm down.
'You can't fail now... you lived here for a while, you can do this...'
Calming my shaky breathing as fear began to creep up my back, I severed my energy connection with the Slipstream.
Leaving me alone, inside the capsule.
I felt a ringing in my ears for a moment before it disappeared.
The constricting sensation only increased making me nervous and quickening my breathing.
'Not now... breathe...'
Gritting my teeth tightly I forced myself to keep my mind focused on my goal.
Turning my vision back to myself I can see them.
Where the Slipstream used to be there was now a void, a black hole-like vortex that seemed to constantly glitch.
But unlike a black hole it was not trying to swallow me whole, rather it was taking my energy and sending waves throughout my body. These waves when they reached the ends of my body small amounts were lost in the infinite blackness.
'So that's why I lost so much energy when I was here...'
'But why can I see it now?'
Suppressing my curiosity as I felt my concentration weakening, I began to move the waves in reverse trying to apply pressure on the hole.
The waves collided with the hole sending a painful spasm throughout my body that almost made me faint.
My breathing cut off for a moment before I quickly resumed breathing.
'The pain is mental, the pain is mental, the pain is mental.'
Ignoring the pain and the involuntary movements of my body, I kept my concentration on suppressing the hole with force, I can see it slowly shrinking in size... a few inches.
"GUAAAHHH!!!" And then an overwhelming pain that made me lose all concentration.
"Haa... Haa... Haa... Haa" My body was shaking uncontrollably as little bolts of lightning shot out of me in random directions. "Sh...it..."
It felt like something was touching my heart and squeezing it tightly.
I gritted my teeth as my vision began to blur and my breathing rapidly accelerated.
'I can't breathe!'
I began to hyperventilate and brought my hands to my neck, my heart seemed to want to burst out of my chest as my own weight held me in place.
My senses were strange and unrecognizable but familiar voices began to buzz in my ear loudly.
"AGH! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!"
I looked around but saw only walls.
Walls.
Enclosure.
Prisoner.
Panic began to rise up my throat reaching into my mind.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE! GET ME OUT!"
I started throwing punches against the wall tackling it, not realizing that tears of fear were streaming down my face.
"I don't want to..."
"I don't want to be locked up..."
"Help..."
Slowly my vision began to darken.
"Help... please... dad... someone..."
And everything went black...
***
<Two weeks later>
"Welcome to the UA Sports Festival!"
...
...