00101. Tao doesn't play around.

Theo let out a grunt as he picked himself up from the floor for the hundredth time tonight. He shot a quick glare at the person who placed him there as he said, "You know this counts as child abuse."

A chuckle escaped Tao's mouth as she said, "Tell that to someone who cares."

Theo cast a quick glance at the only other person in the chamber with them, besides his clones. Agatha shook her head as she said, "You did this to yourself."

Theo let out a sigh before he waved his arms in the air. A complex spell matrix formed in the air before him and turned into a massive shield that surrounded him completely. It was almost ten feet tall and thirty feet in diameter. As it slowly rotated around Theo, it began to shimmer in a golden light as it reinforced itself.

The next second the spell flickered before it exploded and Theo was launched from his place. Theo spun in the air a few times and then slammed into the floor. His momentum slowly died as he rolled repeatedly on the ground, before he stopped face down in the compacted dirt.

After a few moments Theo groaned as he pushed himself up. He was bruised and bleeding from a head wound as he asked, "Did truck-kun find me?"

Tao raised an eyebrow as she said, "No. You overpowered your spell and I used it against you."

A pink haired girl appeared next to Theo as she said, "Give me just a few minutes and you'll be fine."

"Thanks for the help Sakura."

The girl nodded but focused on her task as Tao walked up to them. Tao looked over Theo for a few moments before she said, "Don't think we are finished because you suffered a head wound. We still have another hour until we're done with today's training."

Theo resisted the urge to flip her off. He was already doing punishment training, no need to make it worse… If it could even get any worse in the first place. He unconsciously shivered at the thought she would extend the training for another week.

He would be lying if he said the training wasn't effective. Maybe there was a study done that said beating people to make them improve at something didn't work. But Theo was currently living proof of the opposite. In the past four months under Tao's training regiment, Theo had made massive improvements in his spell casting.

The spell he just used was proof of that. When he started, that spell was the size of a basketball and would barely hold together. Now it was strong enough to tank a good amount of damage. Unless he went against Tao, she could still destroy it in one hit with no effort at all.

As Theo stood up from being healed, Tao said, "Next I want you to attack me. Don't hold back either and start whenever you like."

Tao then turned around and walked towards her favorite chair. Theo frowned, attacking Tao wasn't fun, it was worse than just defending himself. You had to attack and defend at the same time. Theo weaved his hands around forming a barrier first. Once it was completed he summoned a small bolt and shot it towards Tao.

Tao was in the process of pouring a cup of tea as the small golden bolt sped towards her. When it was less than a foot away, a golden spell formula appeared no bigger than a golf ball. It stopped in the bolt's path and seemed to suck the spell inside itself. Afterwards it disappeared without a trace.

Tao took a sip from her tea cup before she smugly added, "I said you can start whenever you like."

Theo let out a sigh, he hated when she did this. Theo began to weave his hands around as one golden bolt appeared. Then ten, a few moments later over twenty were floating around him. He continued till over sixty two formed, his current limit.

They settled into an orbit around him as he continued to weave his arms around. Slowly the bolts began to spin around him faster, Tao paid no mind as she sipped tea and chatted with Agatha. After half a minute, one of the bolts broke the pattern and rocketed towards Tao.

That was the signal which launched the rest, all sixty two bolts streaked towards Tao at once. They flew so fast that they looked like golden laser beams stretched out from where Theo stood. Tao never paid attention to them as they flew towards her. About a foot from her body the golden lasers seemed to freeze.

Theo watched as it seemed like time was being frozen around him. His bolts had slowed to a crawl. The light trails from their passing just now starting to fade, each one trying to catch up to the bolt that created it. Theo wanted to say something but could only watch as his bolts slowly crept towards Tao. It seemed to last forever as he watched the bolts slowly inch closer to her.

As the first one was about to slam into her, it disappeared into nothing. The little golf ball was back and it seemed to move in normal time as it zipped around to collect every bolt Theo used against Tao. Once it completed its job, it sped back to Tao and around her. It seemed to copy Theo's bolts as it orbited around Tao and sped up.

It didn't take long till the little gold ball looked like a golden halo of light around Tao's body. Theo was still almost frozen as he tried to move his arms, trying to stop what he knew was coming. The golden halo began to glow brighter as bolts appeared in the air around Tao. The bolts themselves stayed in the same place but multiplied over and over.

Within a second over five hundred bolts hung in the air around Tao. Just as Theo's arms started to move, time slowly resumed and the bolts streaked towards him. His arms barely moved as the first bolt hit his shield. As more bolts impacted his shield he was pushed back. Ten, fifty, one hundred, two hundred. As the bolts impacted his shield, they lifted him off his feet.

As the last few bolts landed on his breaking shield, time fully returned to normal. He was blasted across the chamber and slammed into the far wall. His shield finally broke on impact and he was left partially buried inside the wall. He laid there for a few moments before he extracted himself from the wall and fell to the floor below. His shield had protected him from most of the damage, but his body still hurt all over.

After standing up, he slowly started to walk back towards Tao before Theo glanced over his shoulder for a moment. The wall behind him was filled with countless craters, all of them made by him. Theo shook his head, Tao really didn't pull her punches. She always used just enough power to not seriously injure him, but more than enough to make his whole body hurt.

A normal person would never be able to keep up with the abuse. But with Theo's unique physical makeup, he healed a lot quicker than normal. Within a few hours he would be feeling better if they stopped training now. But that won't happen, once Tao starts a training session. It didn't stop till she was satisfied with the results. Which meant he would make a lot more wall art tonight.

vvvvv

Theo woke up the next morning, still feeling a little tender. Tao ended up making him train an extra two hours last night. The only good thing, if he could even call it good, was his body didn't look like it was run over by a truck. His healing factor was a little weird as it focused on visible damage first then worked on deeper issues.

At least that's what it seemed like to him, since his bones still ached from last night's training. He had yet to break a bone or be stabbed in a vital organ, so he wouldn't know for sure until something like that happened. Hopefully it never would, but Tao was scary with her training and they were only doing things she considered basic so far.

Theo shook his head, it was only this bad because he kept making jokes about her red hair…

And maybe all the weird clones of Fury he made…

Naw it was probably all the ginger jokes. Redhead's definitely have fiery tempers and Tao would be a prime example. Joking aside, it's probably from the new influx of hormones from a teenage body and no longer having to keep herself tightly controlled because of her connection with the dark dimension.

Theo shook his head again as he got out of his bed. It didn't matter much for now, he should be going back to normal training next week. But until then he's free, so he'll use that time to visit Tony and check in with him. It was over four months since he last saw him and he wanted to check in on the progress of their joint venture.

As Theo moved to his closet, he used a cleaning spell to refresh himself before he picked out clothes for the day. After getting dressed he moved through the house to his siblings room.

He found Milly sitting up in her bed, her hair a complete mess as she stared blurry eyed at her feet. Theo moved next to her bed as he said, "Morning sleeping head. What woke you up?"

Milly pointed at the window, the blinds weren't closed properly and the sun was shining through the gap. It landed right where her head would be if she was laying down. Theo chuckled as he asked, "Want me to help you pick out clothes or are you gonna do it?"

Milly let out a yawn as she fell back onto her bed. This time with her eyes facing away from the sun's piercing light. Theo shook his head and moved to pick out her clothes. When he was finished he moved to do the same for his little brother. He tried to wake Milly up a few times but she didn't wanna get out of bed.

Theo decided he would head downstairs instead and spent a little time on the computer until the rest of his family came down. As he was having breakfast with his family, his mother said, "Since school will be out soon for the summer, what does everyone think about going on a little trip?"

Milly perked up as she asked, "A trip? Will there be cake?"

Jacob smiled as he looked over from where he was feeding Issac and asked, "I thought we were going to talk with everyone else first?"

Daniel nodded as she said, "I've already talked with Mary, Sara and May. They all think it's a wonderful idea." Daniel turned to Milly as she said, "There'll be cake, candy and cookies. But only if you behave."

Milly nodded seriously as she said, "Milly will be good for cake."

Jacob let out a little sigh before he smirked and said, "Well what have you planned, since you already asked everyone?"

"Dream Ventures Amusement Center. They have a zoo, water park, and two amusement parks. One of them is made specifically for kids under ten."

Daniel smiled at Jacob as she said, "They also have adult based attractions, a golf course, full spa, indoor and outdoor go kart tracks. With four different types of go karts."

Jacob nodded along before his eyes lit up at the word go karts. As he scooped up a spoonful of baby food for Issac he asked, "How far away is it and how much will it cost?"

"It's a six hour drive or so from here and it'll cost about twenty five hundred for a week. That includes us and the kids with a two room suite."

Jacob nodded as he said, "So I would have to close the shop for about ten days. That's doable, but what about the cost of the amusement park and attractions?"

"Our stay includes a day pass to both amusement parks, the zoo and water park, for us and the kids. Everything else would be a separate charge. The go kart area allows you to purchase day passes though." Daniel finished with a smile.

Jacob returned the smile as he said, "Looks like we're going on our first family vacation. Well extended family, but that just makes it more fun."

Jacob glanced at the kids as he asked, "What do you think? Amusement park rides, candy and a bunch of other fun stuff to do for a week with everyone?"

"Sounds good to me, dad."

"Ya! Milly gets cake for a whole week!"