Chapter One Hundred Thirty One: The Training Begins

Shawn had felt it best to let the two hash out their issues before they began their training. However, Penny seemed adamant and wanted to push through it all and actually try to be productive. She pleaded with Shawn to start the training and after a while, he finally agreed.

Shawn and Penny lined themselves up, opposite of one another whilst Keera watched on from the side, nursing her injury. She tried to channel her energy into her ribs so that she could heal herself but she was having trouble doing so. For Keera, she needed to be able to concentrate to allow the energy to transfer properly but the pain she was in was preventing her from that concentration.

Penny and Shawn began their training by getting a feel for each other's strength. Both took heavy shots on one another and neither one seemed to back down. When it came to physical strength, they were evenly matched. But Shawn, then removed his weapon, his signature scythe and Penny hesitated. She wasn't sure how to remove her own weapons or how to summon them.

" You've summoned yours before. But that was through anger. There are safer ways to do it" Shawn explained.

" You need to clear your mind of any and all things and focus on one singular thing. Your life. Think about what you would need in this moment to save your life, one single thing, and when the image appears to you in your mind, reach out with your hands and grab whatever it is, and it should appear before you"

" That makes no damn sense " Penny sighed as she tried to clear her mind but could only think of random things. Potato chips, a pair of shoes, and for some reason, a chicken.

Before Penny could even grasp the last though, a clucking sound could be heard in front of her. After looking down, she noticed a small chicken, pecking at the dirt near her feet.

" I don't think that's going to work" Shawn laughed which frustrated Penny. " I know it's not. I just..I can't focus properly" Penny was upset, she knew this would be something important. She knew she needed to master this and yet she didn't know if she could. Most of her magic didn't consist of her needing to focus too much, but this was going to be a little more difficult.

Again, she tried to focus. This time even more so than the first, and after a while, she managed to finally get summon a somewhat flimsy sword. It by no means would be capable of defending her, but it was the best that she could do. " Dammit" Penny scoffed as she through the sword on the ground.

" Perhaps we don't work with weapons. You might not even need one" Shawn pointed out as his scythe disaapeared.

" Whether I need one or I don't. I should still be able to do it and I can't" Penny placed her hands on her head, trying to force her mind to be as clear as possible to no avail.

" Like I said, don't worry about it. We can work on it later. Right now, let's see how strong your strongest attack actually is. Use your magic, I don't care how much damage you think it will do, just cast it at me" Shawn seemed confident that he could handle her at her strongest and Penny, whilst slightly worried, trusted that her father knew what he was doing.

And so, after channeling her Magic through her body and to her hands, Penny released a giant fireball from her hands which propelled towards Shawn who, with a slight flick of his finger, deflected the fireball and flicked it into the sky where it exploded. The explosion shook the world itself for a few seconds before everything returned to normal.

" For some reason I thought it would be stronger than that. But I know that you are stronger. It's just that you're not channeling properly so we're going to have to work on that too. Your attack should have pushed me back at least" Shawn had assumed she was stronger but now realized she needed far more work and training. Though it was true that she technically was stronger when feeling extreme emotion. Magic could never be stable through emotion therefore it was an inefficient way to cast.

" Don't get discouraged. We are going to work on this and it's going to take a little bit of time but we are going to get you where you need to be" He assured Penny.

" How strong do I even have to be? How strong was Kara or Gabriel? Were they not the strongest from the Underworld? " Penny questioned.

" Gabriel was strong because he was a capable warrior. He was tough and never surrendered. Kara was adept in magic, she was a natural of sorts. And her magic was indeed very strong. However, it took her a while to polish her strength and because of the drama, she never reached her full potential. But things are going to be different now, They both will be voided of any distractions. Which to me means they will most likely be several times stronger than before" Shawn reasoned.

" But I thought together they were even stronger?" Penny had always heard of the perfect power couple and how they could stop anything that stood in their way.

" They could have been if they weren't toxic. But that is the issue, they didn't know how to be healthy with one another and that held them back alot" Shawn answered.

" So right now I'm not strong enough to take on either one of them. Based on what you think is there going to be like? " Penny asked Shawn who nodded.

" Even if you were, I want to play it safe. So that is why we are going to train until we get you to a certain point. If you want to know more pass that, Then you can continue your training but we need to get you stronger" Shawn had a plan, though it more than likely was not a perfect plan, it was a plan nonetheless.

If he could train his daughter to overcome most of the challenges she would be facing then they were in the clear. But he wanted to go a step beyond that and prepare her mind as well for what was to come. Because things could get chaotic in an instant and right now, Penny was not mature enough to handle it. She allowed her emotions to get in the way on too many occasions. And at the very least, he wanted to make sure that she could control them.

" I want to try an experiment" Shawn called out.

" Its going to probably upset you but this is something I feel, probably would help you" Shawn explains. Penny gives a nod of approval, not knowing what her father had planned.

In an instant, Shawn had changed forms. From what was once her father, now stood a replica of Ember in every way.

Things were going to be far more difficult than she had thought.