Zephyria - Chapter 25

In preparation for Vanguard’s arrival, Ryan had transformed Laboratory C into an identical gym to Yami’s Force Force. It contained replicas of all Yami’s free weights and machines so they need not worry about a lack of physical training facilities. Today, however, they did not use Laboratory C, for it would take too much time and effort to accurately gauge one’s total physical strength through various lifts.

Instead, Ryan took them to Laboratory D, an insanely large and seemingly empty hall. Ryan used his harness to activate a switch, which caused a large compartment in the floor to open and unveiled another flufferino, about five times bigger than Tedi but nowhere near as soft. It was blue and resembled an over-simplified yet undeniably cute aquatic mammal.

“Introducing, Over-Whale-Ming!” Ryan exclaimed, with his arms stretched out proudly.

Silence.

As with the Shiba Inn-u, it was met with lukewarm reception, though mostly because of the overwhalemingly long name. Even Elektra looked at him unimpressed. This pun was a new low for him, and it made it ever so tedious to address this cuterino whale.

“Or Ming for short? :)”

Mild relief, followed by genuine affection.

With Ryan shortening the name, the Vanguard members had no qualms with le whale, with Elektra going as far as to hug the mammal. Amber followed suit excitingly, perhaps even more enthusiastic about it than her electric friend. Amber secretly loved aquatic mammals for an unknown reason, and casually semi-loved semi-aquatic mammals too (otters, hippopotamuses, platypuses etc).

Amber’s face became red, and she looked towards Ryan with both disappointment and frustration.

“Why he not so fluff? ” she muttered.

“Yeaa why? (TT)” Elektra seconded, though only her voice could be heard from the other side.

Ryan, having just seen a glimpse of Amber’s cute-loving side, hurried over to reassure her. Constantly receiving poor, unenthusiastic responses had made him more protective and appreciative for the rare, interested ones.

“I’m sorry :C This flufferino is specialised to test and train physical strength.”

Amber crossed her arms and turned the other way.

“Barely counts as a flufferino.. (u_u) ” she said under her breath.

“Yea! Barely counts! (x_x)” the voice of the lightning girl supported.

Before Ryan could cry due to the sad forces against him, Xero wrapped his arm around Ryan and gazed upon Ming.

“Don’t mind those two weirdos. What’s this Ming for anyway?”

“Well, unlike Tedi, Ming’s functionality is strictly purposed to compute and train physical strength. Ming is powered by a lesser version of Yami’s sOr, a Super-Rare Type [Resist].”

The floor then lit up to reveal distance benchmarks across the hall, prompting Elektra to join the rest. Ryan then turned to address the group as a whole.

“Ming has a base weight of 50 kg, however its density can increase based on the distance you push or pull it. As the whale moves past each 20 meter milestone, it will become 10x heavier. This means that:

At 20m, it will increase to 500kg

At 40m, it will increase to 5 tons

At 60m, it will increase to 50 tons

At 80m, it will increase to 500 tons

The rules are simple: move Ming as far as you can via physical strength alone. Augmenting your body with sOr tech is allowed, however you cannot move it with the aid of sOr powered projectiles or environmental warping. This means that Yami cannot reduce Ming’s mass, Amber cannot shoot her cannon to propel Ming, Xero cannot ice the floor to reduce friction and Aloe may not let her orbs do the lifting for her.”

Xero’s face soured. “Man those rules are too strict :/”

“I’m aware.” Ryan replied. “However this will be the only test with such limitations.”

He then leaned closer to Xero and reassured him.

“Don’t worry. You’re not the only weak one here c:”

“Eh.”

“Anyway, all of us will take it in turns. The distance will automatically be recorded and your strength attribute will be calculated. It’s programmed to automatically return to it’s starting position after each test. Any questions?”

“Can I kick it?” Elektra asked, gently rubbing her legs. “That’s where my strength comes from.”

“Indeed you can! Would you like to go first?”

“Hm, nope. Why don’t you show us how it’s done. :3”

“EHHH.”

———-

“You can do it Ryan!” Elektra cheered.

“I can..” Ryan halfheartedly replied.

Yami, concerned, turned to Hikari. “Can he really do it?”

Hikari shrugged. “He told me he recently started working out, but I’m not sure if he’ll move it past the benchmark 20 meters.”

Ryan activated his sOr harness and thousands of strings wrapped around both of his arms, forming gauntlets of his own. As he grabbed the handles at the front of Ming, these gauntlets latched onto them, with several more strings weaving around the handles to strengthen the grip. He then pulled.

———-

“Woa, he actually pulled it further than I expected..” said Yami.

“Indeed I have!” Ryan declared, gleefully celebrating with Elektra. “I’ve been training for a while now, gradually increasing my strength to keep up with you guys!”

That turned out to be a slight overestimation on his part.

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By the time Gale had finished her strength test, Ryan had sunk to the floor out of embarrassment and shame. He sat there disappointed that his efforts were not enough to keep up. Xero joined him on the floor for comfort and “emotional support”.

“Don’t worry bro,” he whispered. “You’re not the only weak one here.”

“Eh?”

Touch.

Xero smouldered into the distance. “It’s okay, fifth and sixth isn’t too bad. ”

Gale crouched down besides them, smug as a bug.

“What are you guys even talking about, those two muscle-heads haven’t even had their turn yet..”

“EH?!

———-

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By the time everyone else had finished, Ryan and Xero’s hearts were crushed.

They couldn’t even hug Ming for comfort given his immense size and lack of softness, so they settled for embracing Elektra and Amber instead.