The door to the Graysons' house opens, and all three men walk in. Mark looks depressed and angry and walks up the stairs to his room. Ethan looks as he always does and walks to the kitchen to get something from he fridge. Debbie looks at this and stands up.
"So... how badly did that go?"
"I pushed them pretty far. It's what both our sons, but especially Mark, need."
"Did you maybe push too far? Mark never did learn how to fight properly. Only the introduction from Ethan." Debbie asks.
"Are you questioning me?" Nolan exclaims loudly, causing Ethan to stop stuffing his face and look around the fridge door.
"What the hell has gotten into you?" Debbie asks, displeased.
"I- I don't know. I'm sorry. Both our so-" Nolan stops talking. Both he and Debbie look to the kitchen, where they see Ethan stuffing his face with meat at the counter and looking at them.
"Oh, don't bother about me. I'm invisible."
Debbie and Nolan give their son one of the looks that tell him he's walking on thin ice. He has seen that one countless times and sighs. He stands up and then walks up the stairs into his own room.
"You were saying?"
"... both of them got their powers so late, I wasn't prepared for this. It changes things. I can't help but think that maybe our lives would be better if they hadn't gotten them at all."
Mark closes his door to be alone, but a moment later, he hears a knock at his window. He sees his brother grin at him from outside and wave his hand, signalling to come outside. Mark groans in desperation. He loves his brother, he truly does, but sometimes his energy is just too much for him to bear. He was never tired and would usually do something at all times. But Ethan was also the only one who could pull Mark out of the dirt and make him stand upright again. Whenever he felt down, Debbie or Ethan usually lifted his spirit. And as they entered puberty, it was mostly Ethan.
"What do you want?"
"To kidnap you, of course."
"Huh? Whaaaa-"
Mark doesn't manage to finish his sentence as Ethan grabs him and throws him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Then, the younger of the two twins shoots into the sky.
"What are you doing?" Mark asks, pushing Ethan off of him and trying to push him away. But he forgets that they are flying and almost falls.
"Hahaha, come on, you slowpoke. Is that all you got?" Ethan challenges his brother and flies forward.
"Oh, you'll regret that!" Mark shouts and chases after his brother.
Their chase leads them to a faraway location in the mountains somewhere. Mark finally manages to tackle his brother, and they crash to the ground.
"Alright, alright, I give up. Hahaha."
"So, why did you lead me here?"
"To train."
"Ugh, no thank you. I've had enough of training for one day." Mark says and waves his brother off. But Ethan grabs his hand and stops him from leaving.
"What Dad did today might have seemed like excessive, but you will come to understand that it wasn't."
"What do you mean?"
"True, Dad gave us some tips about flying and what was different now, compared to before, but it wasn't training, not truly."
"Then what was it?"
"A demonstration. A way of seeing whether or not you have what it takes to grow and become what you always wanted."
"A hero?"
"In a way, sure. But it's more than that. You see, it wasn't the way you looked when you were punched that mattered, or how much it hurt. What matters is how you react now and how you will continue. Will you give up, or will you take this as a way to push further and crush your limits? Will this become your motivation?"
"..."
"You need to understand that you will encounter challenges that might appear insurmountable at first. And then it won't matter how you deal with success, but defeat that counts. You get me?"
"I think I do. So if I sulk and whine about it..."
"Exactly."
"So what should I do? I didn't train like you did."
"We'll just do it now. Close your eyes, Mark."
"Why?"
"Just do it."
"Okay okay."
Mark closes his eyes.
"Alright, you have been to all my fights, right? You know the correct stance if you want to box for example. Take that stance as well."
"Sure."
Mark takes a basic fighting position, hands raised and left foot forward.
"Alright. Now, I want you to remember the moment, Dad punched you."
"Urgh why-"
"Stop whining and do it."
"..."
"Now, imagine the pain you felt. Feel the pain. Can you feel it?"
"Yeah."
"Imagine that you can touch the pain. Slowly push the pain into a small ball, right where your chest is located."
"..."
"You got it?"
"Yes."
"Good. Now, have the pain flow into your right arm. All of the pain, make it flow into your fist."
"Okay."
"As soon as you do that, punch out. Give me your most powerful cross you can manage. Let out all that pain and anger you felt and have bundled with one punch!"
Mark does as he is told and then suddenly punches forward. He still has his eyes closed and follows his brother's instructions. He feels the punch and doesn't even realise who he is punching. His fist zooms through the air and hits Ethan in the chest, since his brother is almost as tall as their father.
*BOOM*
Ethan's body shoots through the air and hits a tree, falling to the ground right after. Mark opens his eyes and realises what he did.
"Oh, shit. ETHAN! Are you alright?"
"Bahahahahahahaha..."
"Are you... okay?"
"That was amazing, Mark. That was perfect. An incredible punch. We need to work on your horrendous technique, but other than that, it was a beauty."
"You mean it?"
"Of course. Now, come on. Time to show you how to throw a proper punch. Dad is right; things have changed, now that we can fly and literally push ourselves through space-time. But the basic principle is still the same. A proper punch comes from the hips first. You rotate and then..."
*BOOOM*
Ethan punches the tree and makes a hole. Mark looks impressed and widens his eyes.
"Woahh... sick bro."
"Yeah, yeah, now you do it."
Ethan and Mark spend their time training and learning how to throw a proper punch. After Mark gets the basics down, Ethan goes on to train how to throw punches in the air. He saw his father do it and knows how it should be done. He saw it now and will get it down very quickly. But he wants to learn it together with Mark, so he can also keep up with his speed... at least somewhat. To get Mark over his fear and not have some form of trauma develop, he tells him that they will trade punches. All except below the belt is allowed. Despite Mark's whining and protests, they end up doing it after Ethan allows him to punch him a couple of times.
After several hours, Mark grows tired, forcing them to stop.
"How are you not tired? Is that truly all training?"
"It definitely helps. It's funny how you didn't want to, but now you still have to train. I'm not saying I'm happy about that, but you should have listened to me." Ethan says.
"Yeah, yeah. So how about doing that physics problem you told me about? I could use your help there. Mr. Hiles is not a fan of me."
"Haha, of me neither. He doesn't like it that I'm so quiet."
"Really?"
"Yeah, what is it with the teachers? If you talk with your neighbour, you're too loud and bother the lesson. But you're also doing something wrong if you don't say anything. How bothersome."
"True. Last one home, does the dishes for a week!" Mark shouts and flies off.
"Oh, sweet summer child."
Needless to say, Ethan arrived home faster than Mark. It was truly incredible; the way he took to flying was like a fish to water. He started to implement the new physical feeling slowly into his fighting style. He could feel that something about his new power allowed him to do what he did. In terms of martial arts, Ethan was constantly improving. The Ethan of tomorrow was not the same one compared to yesterday. And now, he had something new to discover and experience and was having the time of his life.
"Haha, I'll enjoy this week," Ethan says as they walk into the house.
"Ugh, why did I suggest that?" Mark groans.
"You flew in the wrong direction as well. Hahaha"
"Look at you two. Where were you?" Debbie asks as they enter the house. It was late, and she had prepared dinner for them.
"Oh, hey, Mom. We were just doing manly things. You know, sweating, punching wood and brooding." Ethan says, causing his mother to chuckle.
"Is that so? Well, then get cleaned up and come down. Dinner's on the table."
.
The next day, Mark felt much better. As usual, his brother made him feel better. He punched the bad mood out of him quite simply. His mood drops, however, as he hears the voice of Todd behind him.
"Hey, Mark Grayson..."
Mark groans and turns around.
"...and I don't see your brother anywhere nearby to protect your sorry ass."
"Todd, please. Just don't-" Mark says, but he is interrupted by Todd pushing him against the lockers.
"Don't? Hehehe. Don't what? Don't kick your ass again? Or what? Are you threatening me? Or do you need a replay of what happened last time, ass?"
"Hit me," Mark says.
"..."
"Go on. Hit me as hard as you can."
*Thud*
Todd hits Mark in the stomach, but he doesn't say anything and just takes it. After what happened yesterday, Todd's punches feel like love taps. It's like Ethan said.
"Again."
Todd slaps Mark across the face.
"Again. Harder."
"Urgh"
Todd punches Mark one final time. The people around them look at them and gasp. Todd realises that he's the odd one out and insults Mark one final time before walking off.
"Freak!"
But before he can leave for good, someone else stands in front of him. The large stature of Ethan, with his hands in his pockets, stands there, with his baggy clothes that somewhat hide his powerful physique. He bends lower slightly, looking at Todd.
"Hello Todd, having fun?"
Todd doesn't say anything and runs off. Ethan looks at Mark and sees that he's displeased for some reason. After training together yesterday, he should not feel bad, but maybe it's a psychological effect that he had to take the punches instead of dishing them out.
"Where are you going?" Ethan asks.
"I need to punch something," Mark says, and his brother nods.
"Same place, later?" Ethan asks.
"No. I want to try something else."
"Sure, just tell me if you need help. I'll do some training as well."
Ethan watches his brother leave the school and leaves as well. Usually, they have the same way home, but he's not going home right now. Last night, he used the time to train. Thanks to his limitless stamina, he never truly sleeps. It was hard for him initially, and his infancy was a horror for Debbie and Nolan. But Debbie, no matter how tired or at the end of her strength she was, she never refused to come to him when he cried for some reason. As he grew a bit older, he thankfully discovered suspended animation. Something he can tap into and enter a hibernation-like state. After he started to do martial arts, he used meditation to get through the nights, but he mostly used the night to learn, train and do other things.
Last night, Ethan went to train his flying skills, and he will do the same today. Mark is dead-set on becoming a hero, and he doesn't truly have that wish. But just because he doesn't want to be a hero doesn't mean he might not need the skills of one. He may also earn a lot of money that way. So Ethan returned to the forest he was at with Mark yesterday and during the night and continued his training.