Who's PURGATORY?

'Did someone say PORK...' A thick voice came through the crowd before a much bigger figure emerged, 'You want a piece of me too?!'

'Who...' Pethant looked over only to be stunned by the mountain of flesh walking out from obscurity, like a cloth that somewhat resembled a green jumpsuit is clinging on for its dear life on his body, 'never mind me asking...'

'That was a molly whop by the reporter...better luck next life, Icy Assassin!' Wolfy said with a surprising tone, 'Generator, it looks like today's stream will go on for even longer!'

'Looks so to me.' Generator replied, 'and our next butcher is HUNGRY PIG, a fitting opponent for the meat on the chopping board, don't you think?'

'Absolutely, G.' Wolfy said, 'the devourer of cities...the one responsible for the disappearing for an entire district's population...the Hungry Pig made his ravenous return! How will the fresh meat respond?'

'Say my introduction properly!' Pethant said, finally able to get rid of Kelvin's body that's still stuck to his fist before tossing it towards Wolfy's feet.

'Well, you did promise.' Generator said, and Wolfy growled angrily before giving in.

'Pethant, an okay strong guy who likes spicy pork bowls and is a professional reporter....just fucking get on with it now.'

'I will enjoy your flesh.' Hungry Pig said before he.....wiggles his way towards Pethant. Compared to anything that resembles a humanoid, he is more akin to a Hutt with his lower limbs obscured by his outward bulging stomach that nearly drags on the floor. Instead of walking, it appeared that he is actually shuffling from side to side, lifting one side of his stomach at a time instead of his heavily inflamed feet.

He rolled past Kelvin's body and absorbed it as if it was a single chip. The icy assassin's body is nowhere to be found, and Hungry Pig stopped when he is around five meters away before raising his short stout arm and pointing his finger towards Pethant, 'you are much better than a tier 5, are you not?'

'What did you think....?' Pethant didn't want to reveal his true power levels, but his pride got the better of him, 'OF COURSE I AM NOT FUCKING TIER 5!'

'Good.' Hungry Pig said, 'that makes you worth devouring.'

Then, he clapped his hand together before an enchanted pattern glowed from his exposed stomach and shards of ice formed around his belly button before a jet of icy streams was shot out. Gigantic spikes were formed on the ground before it started traveling towards Pethant at breakneck speed and pierced through the after the image of him.

'That was Kelvin's ability!' Pethant thought to himself, as he threw his camera suit all the way to the side and dodged the other way. The trail of icy spikes continued chasing him across the room, and finally, Pethant decided to cut the boring sequence and slammed his fist into the shards. The first spikes of icy shattered upon the impact before the shock wave traveled all the way back to Hungry Pig's stomach and splattered off a chunk of his flesh.

'Ah, Hungry Pig immediately started displaying his power of Digestion, where he was able to use the abilities of the superhumans he ingested and digested.' Generator explained, 'however, it doesn't appear the reporter's ability is anything too spectacular...'

'You are not flavorless...' Hungry Pig commented, 'I like my meals spicy, even when the ingredients are bland.'

Then, he slammed his fist together before strands of flesh extended out from the side of his body and formed into tens of outreaching arms. Then, all of those arms shot out from his body before curving in the air and reaching towards Pethant. Knowing that nothing good will come of making physical contact with him, Pethant lined up his fingers before slamming it into the ground.

As those hands shot through the air and surrounded him all around, Pethant cut out a piece of floor material with his bare fingers before swinging it like a cricket bat and splattering all of those pieces of meat upon impact. Those arms are many, but their durability is less than up to par, as Pethant easily repels those attacks before launching the piece of ground material at Hungry Pig. However, he ingested the chunk of material too without sustaining any damage.

'There are no ways for the reporter to fight through Hungry Pig like this.' Generator said, 'the durability, versatility, and variability of Hungry Pig's array of powers are just going to be too much for Pethant to handle.'

Just after Generator finished saying this, Hungry Pig channeled the various elements and launched it all towards Pethant, who resorted to dodging around the arena. However, his speed wasn't good enough this time, and shards of ice, packets of water and blades of wind cut into his flesh and stuck there.

Then, Hungry Pig slammed his fist into the ground, generating a traveling shockwave that knocks Pethant high up into the air before he locked him down in the air with telekinesis.

'Looks like this is the end for reporter-san.' Wolfy said, 'I hope he has had a good taste of the last good spicy pork bowl before dying here.'

'I have.' Pethant said, letting out a long-held breath before shaking his head, '...just as I thought I can hold this back a bit.....doesn't look like I can now.'

'Oh?' Generator saw the change in Pethant's facial expression as well as body posture, 'looks like the desperate struggle is here.'

'ESCALATION 2...ACTIVATE!' Pethant said, breaking free of Hungry Pig's stranglehold on him before knocking him away with a blast of air. Then, he crash-landed onto the ground, shattering the floor underneath him as whirls of wind formed around his body. Then, he dropped into a lunge stance, pulling a fist back before punching the air. A shock wave exploded out from his knuckles before a massive blast of air shot through the air and crashed into Hungry Pig's gigantic body.

However, this wasn't it, as Pethant took another step forward. A small tornado formed by his side, bringing up all of the dust and dirts around him before forming into a tight tornado.

'Eat this, pig...KICK OF THE TORNADO!' Pethant said, before sending off a roundhouse kick, whirling the tornado around him and kicking it towards the Hungry Pig. The tornado's size increased with every meter it was going and went to fully envelop Hungry Pig by the time it arrived there. Then, it picked up the gigantic body and flung it into the air.

In a panic, Hungry Pig threw out an array of abilities in order to get out of the holds from the tornado, but it was to no avail.

With his body being brought higher and higher up into the air, Pethant then measured himself and performed a Kick of the Tornado in the other direction twice, slamming his gigantic body onto the ground into a massive splat as he stopped moving too.

'ESCALATION 2...deactive.' Breathing long and deeply out through his nose, Pethant took himself back down to his normal superpowered state and looked on at the two commentators, who carried mysterious smiles on their faces.

'I apologize officially to you for our previous troubles, Pethant.' Generator said with his strangely gentle voice, 'anyone able to utilize ESCALATION 2 deserves respect.'

'Shit. As much as I hate to say it.' Wolfy said, shaking his head in disbelief, 'guess we have to be serious this time.'

'Yeah, no shit.' Pethant pointed his fingers at them, 'you wanted this to be my purgatory? How about I enlighten you with my fist?'

'Tsk. Don't get carried away.' Wolfy said, 'before you can challenge me, you have one more obstacle. PAINFUL NIGGLES, you want in?'

JUST WHAT ARE THESE VILLAIN NAMES? DO THEY JUST BE CALLED WHATEVER THEY WANT?

A slim figure even smaller and shorter than Kelvin appeared from behind the fog, and the so-called Painful Niggles walked in front of Pethant. She appeared to have been a little girl, though her eyes are lifeless, and her grey hair tied into twin-tails only hinted at her sadistic nature.

'You sure are strong, big bro.' The little girl said with a sweet voice, 'but you are going to die here, alone and without help.'

HUH? Pethant tilted his head to the side and wondered what is going on. Is she just going to insult him?

'Um.....are you lost? Are you not going to fight?' Pethant asked.

'You are really just a piece of shit, you know that?' The little girl continued the random outburst of anger and hate, 'you thought being a cameraman makes you righteous in pursuing the truth, but you are just going to become one of those corpses hanging dry and being jacked off to!'

'WOAH.' Pethant took half a step back, that's one hell of a foul-mouthed little girl.

But still, is she just spouting out insults? What is that going to do?

Seeing the lack of reactions on Pethant's face only made the little girl angrier, and she slammed her fist down to her sides before continuing her verbal assaults, 'even people with no tongues know spicy pork bowls are the worse than pig shit! And you are this small because of all those bowls you have eaten!'

A sharp headache exploded out in his head, and Pethant felt himself losing strength in all his limbs as he dropped onto his knees.

What?! What is going on? Grabbing onto his chest, Pethant felt the ringing headache echoing in his head like an alarm that never went away. He's visions are turning dull, and all that's on his mind are the pains.

What.....she called me small...? How dare she...what a piece of shit....I am small...? All of the bigorexia that Pethant had put away throughout all of those years came flooding back at this very instance, and the pain is only echoed by his own fear and regret...if he had not skipped those sets, or stretched before lifting...or eaten those meals on time...

NO! FOCUS ON THE PRESENT!

Taking control of his mind and breathing deeply in and out through his body in order to control the sympathetic state that his body is in, Pethant recollected whatever's left in his mind and analyzed the situation.

The little girl's handing out insults like flyers, and yet there are no effects until she commented on his physique...Pethant thought back to all the lifting knowledge that he has learned back then, especially the one new thing he learned about.....niggly pain.

No way, is pain science going to get him out of the situation today?

The biopsychosocial model pain stated that pain in the body can result from either biological, psychological, and social stressors...so is this what the girl's power is? Is she able to induce pain from negative thoughts?

Pethant looked up at the girl who's making a face at him before pumping out her tiny arms, most likely mocking lack of a bicep peak. His ears are ringing so much that he couldn't actually make out what she is saying. However, the thought of his biceps being mocked only exacerbated the pain further.

He winced on the ground as manly tears flowed out from his eyes.

No...he cannot go down like this...If she is able to control him by playing on his negative thoughts...then he just needed to turn his deep-seeded insecurities into his strengths, turn his negative thoughts into positive affirmations.

But.....but how is being small a good thing? Pethant thought, as the question banged against the side of his skull and actually increased the pain even further. Pethant can hear himself screaming in agony now.

Being small...is good...for...fitting through doorways?

No.....this isn't a positive thought at all!

Being small.....

'If you are small, that means you can always get bigger.' All of a sudden, his gym partner's words came out of the thinnest crack form the layers of memories.

No.....he is right. If Pethant is small now, that means he can get bigger...that means he can improve still! It's crazy to think that he still has more room to grow even after all these years of lifting and training, first as a professional fighter and now as a cameraman!

Now, the pain in his mind is gone, and the blurred vision and ringing in his ear is no more. He remained crawling on the ground for some more time and regathered himself before pushing himself to stand up to the little girl's surprise.

'What.....WHAT?!' She was taken aback by Pethant's rapid recovery, or rather character development, and tried to run away, however, Pethant reached out with his hand and grabbed onto her shoulder before bringing her close and giving her a hug.

'Thank you for giving me character development.' Pethant said sincerely before pushing her away and gave her a big ol' smack across the face, 'BUT IT'S NO GOOD TO HAVE A FOUL MOUTH, LITTLE GIRL!'