1 Chapter One: Training Day

It had been a long time since Earth had last seen battle. The war with vampires had decimated so much, and so many innocent, had suffered the consequences of war. But Young Penny, lived now in a society being rebuilt. A once broken and damaged people, had come together to rebuild and regrow. To overcome and persevere through all of the challenges they had faced together.

Penny, at the young age of eighteen, had been watched over closely by her guardian Lysette who made sure to keep her safe for so long, but found it hard to let the young one go, to venture off into the unknown. She knew of Penny's importance, the sacrifice her mother and father had made, and could not help but do everything to teach her all she knew so that Penny could grow up to hopefully not make the same mistakes.

" You have to finish your breakfast" Lysette smiled as she placed down another plate of eggs and pancakes for Penny to devour. " What is this I see upon my plate? Pancakes but chocolate smiles with whip cream hair? This is an outrage" Penny smirked at Lysette who rolled her eyes and turned back to Penny. " Listen, if you really want that at your age, then we should probably have a long talk about how hard it is to even get chocolate chips these days" Lysette chuckled.

" I'm joking! This looks really good though. Thank you" Penny smiled at Lysette who was fixing her own plate of breakfast.

" So what did you want to do today? Any big plans? " Lysette asked as she made her way to the table and placed down her plate before pulling out a chair to take a seat.

" No..well..I don't know. I mean honestly, I kind of just want to sleep. I've been tired recently" Penny sighed as she began devouring the golden fluffy pancakes, which to Penny, had always tasted like heaven in a batter form.

" Well, it's your choice. But I was thinking, we could practice your fighting today" Lysette cocked a cocky little smile. Lysette had been training Penny for months on the best fighting techniques for self defense and Penny was showing an astronomical amount of skill and potential. It've been quite a long time since Lysette had last seen someone with the potential that penny posseses.

" Really? Does this mean I can finally starting learning some offense instead of defense...ya know..like you promised months ago" Penny remembered vividly the day her training had begun.

Lysette Head comes to her, and asked if she wanted to learn how to defend herself. Initially, penny didn't really understand a reason for learning that skill. But, after hearing about hearing the potential threat of " Impending doom" That Lysette had painted within Penny's head for five whole hours, she finally relented. And this, in the end, would have some benefit to it. At least, that is what Penny believed.

" Fine" Lysette sighed as she stuffed her face with a fork full of egg. " But, you are going to take your time. And you are going to listen. If you are going to do this, you are going to do this right".

The agreement made Penny squeal with excitement. It had taken a while, but she would finally get to have some real fun with this training. Penny had never been a supremely physical person. Fighting had never been something that she really had taken an interest in. This being for mainly two reasons. One, because she knew Lysette could destroy anyone who tried to cause them harm. And Two, because Penny possessed a gift. A gift of unimaginable power, a gift that was so beyond anything this world had ever seen, that nothing could stand in her way. Or at least, that is what Lysette had mentioned in the past.

From the very beginning, the sacrifice that penny's parents made had been apparent to her. And while she didn't know every single detail, she knew enough. She knew enough to know that she would not make the same mistakes that had been made by her parents. Lysette had always been open about Penny's parents. Their fate, their personalities, and the abilities they possessed. A lot of this, was hard for Penny to process because it sounded completely unrealistic however, deep inside, she always knew that Lysette spoke the truth.

" Let's do it" Penny squealed again, as she stood up and took her empty plate to the sink. " Wait..what? " Lysette questioned as she stated down at her own plate to see that it was still full. " Come on, let's train now. Come on" Penny knelt down beside Lysette, her eyes widened and her lip puckered out. " Pleeeeeeeease" she begged and after another Bite of her breakfast, Lysette agreed and they made their way outside to the front yard.

The house was small but the yard was quite massive. It stretched about two acres and provided more than enough room for their training. The home was also isolated enough where they would not often be disturbed. The nearest civilization being around 10 miles.

Penny stood firm in her stance and raised up her fist, imitating a boxer stance. Lysette looked on with laughter. " Put your damn arms down. You look like a fool" She barked and Penny obliged the request.

" Now, there are several different forms of offense. Physical, emotional, and mental. The stance you would want to take, is with your arms at your side " Penny looked on in confusion as Lysette displayed the proper technique.

" Wait..wouldn't that put me at a disadvantage? " Penny questioned, Lysette shook her head. " By having your arms down, and your head held high, you show your opponent that they are no threat to you. You want to maintain this posture until the enemy is close enough to see the look in your eyes" Lysette explained.

" Look in my eyes? " Penny asked, becoming even more confused by this lesson.

" The look that says ' I can hurt you, I can break you. Without breaking a sweat. Do you really wish to fight me'"

Penny scratches her head, trying to wrap her head around this explanation. " I'm sorry but that doesn't sound right to me. If all I'm doing is looking at them, that kind of leaves me a little open.." Penny points out.

" When you look at me, what do you think? In a fighting scenario..what do you think your chances are of beating me? " Lysette asked, her face now straight and void of emotion.

" I think you would probably break my neck in the first five seconds" Penny chuckled.

" Exactly. That is what you believe, and that is the attitude you are going to carry in this fight. You need to be confident. You need to be sure of yourself. And no, I don't mean overconfident. Don't underestimate your opponent. But with your eyes, show them that you won't back down. That even if they hurt you, you'll keep coming at them and overcome them" Lysette finally breaks a smile.

" I'd you do that, then you throw them off a little. And that will help you when connecting with the ass whoopin of their life time" Lysette adds as Penny begins to smile.

" Alright, that makes a bit more sense. But how do I actually..punch" Penny questions as Lysettes walks over to her.

" Hold out your arm " Lysette says as she watches Penny lift up her arm. " Now keep your hand, in a fist form" She places her hand over Penny's now clenched fist and squeezes down. " Keep the fist nice and tight, and pull your arm back" Penny follows this request and draws her arm back.

" Now when you punch, make sure you throw your first, hard, but also keeping your arm firm. You want to punch as straight as you can, this will help the force of the blow" Lysette explains and Penny does as she request. Throwing a few straight punches into the air.

" Good, now keep doing that, until that has been stained within your mind. Don't ever forget it. It's need to be second nature to you. To the point, where you don't second guess your technique" Lysette smiles as Penny continues punching the air.

The training comes to a quick halt however when Lysette and Penny hear two voices in the distance. " I'm telling ya Pete, she is a damn Witch. I saw her casting her spells and whatnot. She is gonna kill us before it's all said and done" one of the voices said as Penny and Lysette stood by one another, looking out to the treeline where the voices were coming from.

" I don't know Elles, you've said some crazy stuff before. You remember that time that you said there was a giant Flamingo telling you that the mayor was actually an iguana from middle earth..I mean.." the two men seemed to have been referring to Penny. Though, Penny had not really used any form of her powers except on accident a few times and Noone had ever seen it. So Lysette doubted they were talking about her. Though, they shouldn't be out here, this property belonged to Lysette and was private, for whatever that is worth in this apocalyptic age.

Eventually the two men were spotted coming out from the treeline where they noticed Lysette and Penny standing, watching them.

" Well howdy ladies" one of the men smiled and waved.

" What are you two doing out here? This is private property" Lysette barked back at the men, which made them put their hands down, ceasing the friendly gestures.

" Well, we were out here witch hunting. But apparently we got turned around because this is not the place" one of the men explained as Lysette crossed her arms. " There are witches out here to my knowledge. So I would advise you men to leave" Lysette couldn't be too careful. Whilst people had come together to rebuild, the war had made alot of people desperate. Motives could not be certain and she refused to put Penny in any sort of danger.

" I understand mam. We will be on our way" The men smiled and turned around, walking back into the woods, dissapearing.

" That was..weird" Penny admitted. " Yeah. Weird" Lysette agreed before backing away slowly. " Penny, we need to get inside" her hurried voice confused Penny a little. Lysette had always been a little paranoid but these were just two men. They could not have been all that much of a threat. However, Penny did as Lysette requested and went inside and locked the doors.

" Are you worried about those guys? They didn't look too intimidating. And they also didn't seem like they were here for us" though she tried her best to reason, it didn't seem as though Lysette had the same feeling.

" There are no houses for miles. And there are damn sure no witches in this area. They made that up" Lysette explained.

" Yeah, but if they made it up, why did they choose such a poor excuse. And what do you think they were even doing here? Penny asked. But Lysette didn't have the answers and that is what bothered her the most. Not knowing motivations, puts them in danger. Despite how skilled she was, even Lysette could not be too careful. Especially with Penny's life at risk.

" We may need to move. I'm not sure" Lysette sighed and peered out the window to the backyard to check and see if the men had returned, but the yard look clear of any trespassers.

" I'm sorry about the training but..well..I just want to keep you safe" Lysette apologized but Penny shook her head. " Its fine. If you think they are a threat, then we have to treat them like that. If you think we should move, then we will" Penny trusted Lysette and her feelings. She had never even lead astray by her wisdom and that has kept them alive this long. Though, things had for the most part been peaceful, that was only because of Lysettes instincts. Peace could be taken away at anytime and they had to be ready for the worst.