"Did you manage to get that pretty lady's number yet, Ethan?" Mark asks as they sit on the roof of the house.
"You mean Olivia?"
"Yeah."
"Not yet."
"Did you ask her then?"
"No."
"Oh, boy. I see that I have to teach you how to do it as the elder brother." Mark says.
"I'm clearly the older brother."
"Nu-uh, I am. It says so on our birth certificate." Mark says smugly.
"I call fake news."
"I have two witnesses. Mom and Dad. They were present and can confirm my story. I rest my case."
"Hmm, quite a strong argument. Very well, you win this round."
"Haha. So, why would you not ask her for her number? I think she likes you and is interested."
"You think... she's flirting with me?"
"..."
"..."
"Hahahahaha" "Hahahaha"
...
"Do you remember what Dad told us when he explained where he comes from?" Mark asks.
"Of course. He said it was awkward at first, and after explaining that he was an alien called Viltrumite and comes from the planet Viltrum, all you heard was that you would be able to fly one day."
"That's what my child-like brain picked up. It's normal."
"He also told us about Viltrum and the responsibilities of being a Viltrumite. Helping lesser-developed worlds and how he came to Earth and met Mom."
"Right."
"He said it was a lot to take in at one time, but it didn't feel like that.", Ethan says.
"Seems like he was right. Things did change for us during puberty."
"Well, I'd say late puberty. We're almost 18, dude. Puberty starts at 13, so that's like 5 years late."
"Don't tell me you were missing out on anything. You had unlocked parts of your Viltrumite powers a long time ago." Mark says.
"And I told you, you would as well. And here we are."
"True. We're going to be able to fly..."
...
"Do you want to try?" Ethan asks.
"Let's do it."
Mark and Ethan stand up and walk to the edge of the roof. Mark takes deep breaths.
"Don't look down; look up. I can fly... What if I can't yet?"
"Stop doubting yourself, Mark. You unlocked our Viltrumite powers, so that means all of them. Most things in life are mental, and you have to stop doubting yourself all the time. Come on, we'll do it at the same time. If we fall... well, we have to test our durability at some point, right?"
"Right. Dad always said it was a reflex. So, if we don't want to fall, we won't. How did you do it?"
"Well... I just jumped off a building and into some trash. Turns out, it worked."
"So like we're doing now."
"Yeah. Okay, let's do it."
Ethan jumps into the air and uses his mind to order his body to float. And as he does so, he just stops in the air, floating at the same spot.
"Haha, wow. Okay, now me." Mark says and runs forward, jumping into the air. And he also manages to float in the same place.
"Whoo-hoo!" Mark shouts and flies higher into the air.
Seeing his brother do it, Ethan also follows and flies into the air, turning around and trying to get a feel for all of it. Mark has trouble balancing somewhat, but catches himself again, flying higher and higher.
"Haha, this is quite liberating."
"Whoo-hoo-hoo-hoo!"
Mark is very excited and shoots as he flies higher. However, suddenly, a plane appeared a very short distance in front of him.
"Oh, shit!"
*WHOOOSH*
The plane misses him by a hair and pulls him into its currents, causing him to lose his cool and float higher aimlessly. Mark starts to breathe hard as the air gets thinner and thinner. He sees the edge of the world and suddenly falls unconscious for a second. This causes his body to lose altitude and fall. Ethan sees his brother's peril and flies towards him, grabbing his hand just before he falls to the ground.
"WHOAA!"
Ethan manages to somewhat regain his balance and stop Mark from crashing into the pavement, but he also is new to this, and while he knows how to use his mind very well, he has never carried something since he has been flying for a few minutes just now. They still hit the street, but only lightly.
"Ohh... thanks, man."
"Sure thing. Way to go into this blindly, Mark. You take baby steps and not giant leaps." Ethan tells his brother.
"Haaa... it was so liberating."
"I know what you mean. Well, we better hit the sheets now. Otherwise, Mr. Sleep-In won't manage to wake up in time."
"I'm not a morning person, Ethan. You know that."
"Haha. Ok, let's go."
.
*beeep beeep beeep beeep*
Mark's alarm goes off at 6 AM sharp. He silences the alarm and groans, still feeling sore and tired from his first attempt at flying yesterday. He sits on the edge of his bed and groans, trying to wake up. At that moment, his brother crashes into the room with a loud bang.
"The fuuuuun has arriiiivved, yeah! Thank you very much. Morning sunshine." Ethan says with a bright smile on his face, seeing the bags underneath his brother's eyes.
"Ugh, zip it Terk. I feel like shit."
"And you look like it, too. Well, no can do. Dad said I should come and get you. Shake your bed. We're hitting the sky today."
Mark doesn't say anything and just walks out of the room.
"Haha, there's some coffee ready for you."
After some coffee and putting on some pants, the twins meet their father in the sky, where he is waiting for them in his Omni-Man suit.
"Well, let's begin."
"Sure."
"It's kinda like how you walk, and you don't think about balancing anymore, but when you two were babies, you did. You're baby fliers now. You have to focus on staying upright, focus on going the direction you want to go. Understand?"
"Yeah, I think I got it," Mark says as he floats around the place aimlessly.
"It doesn't look like you do. What about you, Ethan?"
"I got it as well. Mind over matter, simple."
"Follow me, you two." Omni-Man says and flies higher.
Mark and Ethan follow. Ethan could do it faster, but he takes his time, trying not to embarrass Mark. He will take his brother to train later on since he knows how much he desperately wants to be like their father. But other than that, he will have to train on his own. Ethan pushes that urge to test his limits back for now.
"You can wear yourself out flying. Moving fast is like tensing a muscle. You're much better off if you relax that muscle from time to time, use the momentum you're building to carry you forward." Omni-Man continues his instructions.
Ethan realises that he most likely won't have that problem. He has never managed to hit his limits when it comes to stamina. He had limitless amounts of it, and as long as he wasn't out of the count, he would continue forever. It was a truly broken aspect of him, and if you add the growing physical strength to it, there are insane things he will be able to accomplish. Mark tries to apply what their father tells them right away, not quite managing to do it. Seeing him struggle, Omni-Man gives further tips.
"Okay, so you're gonna have trouble relaxing. It's kind of like peeing your pants on purpose."
"What?" Mark asks.
"Peeing your pants on purpose. You know, you spend your whole life trying not to pee your pants, so letting go, peeing your pants on purpose, it's next to impossible."
"How- how do you know this? Who would try that?" Mark asks.
"Me."
Omni-Man and Mark look back at Ethan and see his amused expression.
"What? I knew it was next to impossible, so I tried it. I don't like being told that something's impossible."
"Haha, of course you did. Nevertheless, you both are far better at flying than you should be. Late-night practice? Is that why you're so tired, Mark?"
"Uhhh..."
"We did. It was fun. Mark almost passed out from the low air pressure."
"What? How high did you fly?" Omni-Man asks.
"Mark almost kissed an airplane so roughly 10 miles," Ethan says.
"Quite ambitious for your first time. Very well, let's land over there."
All three fly down, but only two of them manage to keep control over their flight.
"Slow down," Omni-Man says. "Land. I said, Land. Why aren't you slowing down?"
"I can't," Mark shouts.
"Stop. Just stop!"
"AAAHHH"
*BOOM*
Mark crashes to the ground.
*BOOM*
And right after, so does Ethan.
"Bahahahahaha, that was awesome." Ethan laughs.
"Why did you crash, Ethan? You didn't look like you were losing control a second ago."
"I thought it would be funny to crash this way. And we have to train our durability at some point, right?" Ethan says and shruggs.
"Hmm. Okay, well, I suppose it still counts as a landing. Come on, get up, we'll try something else." Omni-Man says.
"I think... I'm getting used to this a little." Mark groans.
"That's the spirit, Mark. Crash it until you land it. That's a good motto."
"No. That's not good, Ethan. Try to hit me, Mark." Omni-Man says.
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Mark puts his fists up and sends out a very weak jab. Their father just moves to the side.
"Use your whole body," he tells Mark as he tries but fails to hit him.
"You can punch with your arm, but if you punch with your shoulder, your hips and your legs as well, it'll be much more powerful. Your brother already knows this since he has been training in martial arts for a while now. It'll take a while to get the hang of it, but if Ethan helps, I'm sure you will progress speedily."
"Okay," Mark says, and Ethan nods his head.
He told his twin to come and join him, but Mark didn't like pain. Ethan didn't particularly like pain for the sake of pain either. He liked what came together with pain, and that was gain. He hadn't felt pain for a long time now, and he saw this as a chance to change that.
"Now, with us three, as Viltrumites, we can freely move ourselves through physical space. That's how we fly. So we don't have to pivot on our feet and push off the ground. We can literally push off anything. We can create our own leverage." Omni-Man says. "That will also be new for you, Ethan. I know how talented you are when it comes to fighting, but fighting in the air is totally different."
Mark rises into the air again and uses what his father just told them. He pushes himself forward and tries to hit him. However, the same thing happens as before. Omni-Man just moves out of the way.
"Good... but try it a little more like this," Omni-Man says and pulls his right fist back.
"Like what?" Mark asks, not realising what is about to happen.
Omni-Man punches forward. His fist shoots through the air and approaches Mark's chest; however, just as that is about to happen, Ethan pushes his brother out of the way and takes the punch instead.
*BOOOM*
His father's fist impacts his chest and takes out all the air from his lungs. Ethan falls back but manages to backflip and land on his feet. He feels it... something he has been missing... pain. Something clicks inside his head, and a wide, savage grin appears, threatening to split his face.
"Haa..."
The friendly and kind Ethan Grayson who loves his family above all things suddenly disappears for a split second, giving way to something more primal and dangerous... and then it stops.
"Hahaha, that was amazing, Dad. You went for quite some strength there. I can still feel that punch. It's been a while since I felt pain from a punch." Ethan says and smiles.
"That is very impressive, Son. But it was meant for Mark to teach him something about the harshness of our people and our life. You shouldn't have interrupted."
"Then you could have said so. I saw that my baby brother was in danger and reacted without realising it. Reflex, if you will." Ethan says and rolls his shoulders.
"It doesn't look like you hit Ethan that hard, though," Mark says.
"That's why it was intended for you, Mark. Listen, if you really want to do what I do, you have to be prepared for anything. No one is going to pull their punches. Come on, I'll show you. You need to experience it." Omni-Man says.
"What?"