Training Begins

2. Training Begins

Time goes, as it's supposed to, and now, I'm finally big enough to not be called a midget. I was a whole 4 feet tall now! That's only a foot and a half shorter than my mother!

As for the years, I have no idea. I think it's somewhere close to 60 years, but I can't tell you for sure.

Waking up in the morning, I stretch a bit, and immediately run towards the kitchen. Our house is a normal one, with three bedrooms, a kitchen, and the sitting room. There was no bathroom, but we have a small waterfall in our backyard, so.. not much of a loss.

As for the toilet, one benefit of being a God, is that you don't need to shit, or urinate. Everything I eat is either somehow utilised by my body, or magicked away. I do miss it sometimes, the feeling of freedom that you get after dumping a big ass load.

Anyway, we don't need food per se either, but mother always taught me, "It's a good habit to always know what non Divine beings do, and keep a habit to do it like them."

This is also why I sleep, and why I bathe daily, despite not needing it. Though, I think, my human subconscious appreciates it.

"Good morning, mother." I say, hugging her as a greeting once I'm in the kitchen.

Mother smiles and rubs my head. She says, "Good morning, Theos. How did you sleep?"

I never told you how I looked, right? Well, this is a surprise. I look exactly the same as I did before my death. Well, except younger. I'm brown skinned, a bit on the fair side, black haired, and brown eyed. So, like a typical Indian. Not too handsome, not ugly either.

My guess, was that I subtly used my own Celestial gift to make sure my body mirrored my previous one. Or magic. Could be anything. Honestly, this is the Marvel Universe, anything is possible.

Smiling at the affection in her eyes, I rinse my mouth at the sink, and say, "It was good. I dreamt about my Mum last night."

"Oh?"

Wiping my face with a towel, I explain, "I saw her travel all over the Universe! Did you know there's a planet made entirely of someone's head? It looked a bit like mum, though, so it scared me a little."

Mother already knows about my precognition, as I'd woken up a few times, sweating in fear. I've seen Knull 100s of times and he always scares me.

Mother chuckles, puts a plate in front of me, and says, "Your mum told me about it. The place is called Knowhere, and it is the severed head of a Celestial. But don't worry, he isn't related to you, other than you being of the same species, and the one who did it is already trapped. He won't return."

I nod, thankful for that, and eat my breakfast. It's a fruit salad, which being from Gaea's personal garden, is way more tasty than ordinary.

Knull. That's a sobering thought. He's trapped, not dead. Trapped. I don't think he can even die. He was there before Death, right? I think.. Not like I can check the fandom website when it doesn't exist.

There's a very big chance that he will return, and he will return with Vengeance, ready to track down every Celestial within the Universe. Which currently amount to myself, and Ego, if he actually is a Celestial that is. I will definitely have to get stronger.

Ego got his butt kicked when he was near the source of his power. By Mortals! I'll also have to get smarter than that idiot.

But.. if hundreds of Celestials could only trap Knull, what difference would I do?

Problems for another time. Done with my breakfast, I get up and begin running to go outside.

"Where are you going?" Mother asks, making me pause right at the doorstep, her voice ringing warning bells in my mind.

Trepidation in my voice, as something in hers warn me of something, I answer, ".. to the waterfall?"

Mother nods, and turns back, making me breathe a sigh of relief. She then says, "Come back when you're done. Your lessons start today."

Oh, crap. Lessons. Do I, a 60 year old man, have to have lessons?

"Yes. And you're not a man, you're still a child. Talk to me like that when you're taller than me." Mother says, still with her back to me.

Damn, I spoke out loud?

"Yes. Now go."

Taking what remained of my dignity, I sulk outside, and go towards the waterfall. Lessons. She's already taught me all the manners, and strategy, so what now?

"Good. You didn't dally." Mother says, as soon as I'm inside the house.

She was sitting at the table, her hands locked in front of her. Her whole demeanor spoke strict teacher, but her face said, 'I am just an innocent girl.'

Sitting down in front of her, I ask, "What are you going to teach me, mother?"

"Everything, my son. But first, I'm going to begin with teaching you to use your gifts." Mother says, with a somewhat stern look on her face.

It's not much effective, as she's a really soft mother.

"Oww!" I yelp, rubbing my head in the place where she hit me.

Glaring at me, she says, "Pay attention."

"Sorry, mother. What gifts were you talking about?" I ask, rubbing my head one last time as the pain goes away.

Mother looks me in the eyes, and begins, "You are the son of an Elder God, me, and a Celestial, your mum Madonna. So, you have Divine talents from both of us. Probably."

Blinking, I ask, "Probably?"

Mother shrugs, and says, "I know you have the gift of foresight, and your Armour because of Madonna, and you have the gift of talking to animals from me. But.. other than that, I have no idea."

My armour, which I seldom wear, as it is pretty cumbersome. I'd rather roam around without being surrounded by metal, thank you very much. There's no feeling of air on my face, no touching the ground, and no feeling anything. It's too comfortable.

Maybe once I figure out how to change parts of the armour, so it lets only air inside, I'll start wearing it again.

Thinking it over, and getting a bit upset, I ask, "So, what now?"

"Oh don't pout, Theos. You do have gifts, you just haven't discovered them yet. Now, I will guide you through the first step of discovering your gifts." Mother says, smiling gently at me.

I too, smile at her, nodding readily.

She does something, that's a pretty big shock for me. She lifts her palm up, and a tree branch comes in through the window, grows a guava, from scratch, right in front of me, and deposits it right in her hand. As she brings the guava to her mouth, the tree branch recedes, and leaves the way it came.

"What the fuck?!" I exclaim, somehow still surprised.

In all my 60 years of life, mother has never let me know that she could do this. I never even saw her do it in all my past visions!

I should have bloody known just by the fact that she's THE Earth Goddess, but still, as I said, she never showed this to me.

"Language, my son. But I will excuse it for this once." Mother says, smiling at my reaction.

I point at her, then point at the window, and at her again. "You- uh- the tree-.. -Why did you not do this everyday then?! You always sent me to pick the fruits!"

I again receive a slap on my head, as mother glares at me softly. She says, "And allow you to become lazy? You're my child, and no child of mine will become lazy. Plus, it was also to teach you to take care of plants. What do I always say?"

"Take care of nature, and nature takes care of you." I grumble out, knowing she's right.

But, damn. I could have tried it before if I even suspected it! I could have had a training montage way before this!

I did learn how to speak to animals without any error within a month! I also taught myself to swim within a few days, and hunting within a couple months. Damn, controlling trees could have taken at most one year!

"So.. how do we start?" I ask, getting excited to learn this. Mokuton, here I come!

"Meditation." One word from Mother brings me crashing down. Goodbye Mokuton.

Another slap hits my head, and mother says, "Oh, grow up. Meditation is not that hard. You just have to try not to fall asleep."

I simply nod, because it is too tempting to completely reject. Well, it's not like I'll take decades to learn how to do it. And even if I do take decades, I have like half a million years till the important Marvel stuff happens.

Closing my eyes, I focus on one thing, and one thing only. Mokuton, Dattebayo!

SMACK!

"OWW! COOL IT WOMAN! Trying to meditate here!" I yell, glaring at mother.

SMACK! "Don't you dare raise your voice at me, Theos! Godchild or not, I will.. discipline you."

".... Sorry mother."

"Good. Now, be serious, and focus on your breathing."

--- A few months later---

Taking a deep breath to calm myself, I sit down on the ground. The only distraction, being the sound of the waterfall in front of me, but I don't let it distract me.

Focusing on the sound itself, I lift my hand upwards, and smile. Right in front of me, was the small lemon sapling whose seed I'd just planted 2 minutes ago.

I had finally done it. I had grown a small plant right from the seed, without waiting for any time.

"YES! YOU SEE THAT MOTHER! I CAN DO IT!" I yell, excitedly looking in the direction of our house.

Getting no answer, beside a few snorts that come from the observing monkeys, I turn back to my sapling training.

Before I can manipulate fully grown trees, I had to manipulate saplings, and then grow saplings from the seed. This was me doing the second step, well beginning to do the second step. It still takes me time to do it, which is not something I can afford in between fights.

Well, not like I'm going to actually use exclusively Mokuton while fighting, but still.

Why am I doing this, you ask?

Well, for starters, it's Mokuton! Who wouldn't want to do this?! Next, it's a precursor to every type of training I might do in the future. From all the novels, stories, fanfics I've read in my past life, that I remember a little bit, training in one thing usually helps when training in another. At least, the principal is similar in all training montages.

So, yeah. I'm training my ass off.

I raise my hand to make the small sapling give me it's fruit, and without looking, I bite into it.

"Yeackh!" I grimace, and spit out the fruit. I'd forgotten it was a lemon tree, and now I bloody bit into it.

I immediately run towards the lake formed by the waterfall and rinse my mouth a few times. Maybe I should stick to picking fruits by hand for now.

~~~

A/N: I need your help, in deciding what type if armour he should have. Or should I just keep it to the fans imagination, never describing it in the story?

Anyways, Tata!