Prism Academy 5- Chapter 30 (Patreon)

Chapter 30- Tandem Training

Once everyone was awake and gathered round, we all drank coffee and had a variety of pastries. It was nice watching the girls not care about what they ate. Supers just didn’t get fat, so it added a level of freedom. I waited until the caffeine seemed to kick in before I filled them in on my idea.

“So, I want us to try tandem training, but we’re going to need to do it outside. The plan will require space, and I don’t know if even the training floors down below will be able to contain what I’m hoping for.”

Jill smiled, “I’m ready to go anytime.”

Molly slapped the table, “Oh no you don’t. You got to do it before. I want him in me this time.”

That led into a spirited but mostly friendly argument as all seven of my bonds got in on it. Even the newest ones weren’t shy about expressing why they should be the one to get to try Tandem mode out with me next. One thing that did concern me was the way that Petra, Gabi, and Hua all gathered together and didn’t say a word during the argument. Even Eve gravitated toward their group, but she stood slightly apart from them.

I understood that they weren’t full bonds, but there was still a permanent psychic connection between us. They were part of the team and I didn’t want them to feel like less than. I tried coughing to get everyone’s attention, but in the end I had to try a new ability.

Telekinetic Construct

I formed seven paddles in the air. It was probably a bit ambitious for my first go at using the ability, but they all took shape.

ANOP said, “I can help you manage this ability. All you need to do is design the construct and make sure I know how you want it used. Holding the constructs together once created is simplicity itself.

“Well, get their attention, then will you?”

“Just to clarify, Master Aden, you want to spank all seven of your bonds?”

“They’re all conveniently standing up while they argue around the table, so why not?”

For just a second, it seemed like there was a rush of emotion from ANOP. I might have been mistaken. She was an AI after all, but if I’d felt that same sensation from one of my bonds, I would have pegged it as smug satisfaction.

Then she swung the nearly invisible telekinetic paddles. That might have been part of what made this evolution so successful in battle. It did disrupt the air and distort the light slightly, but you had to really be paying attention or be able to feel them with another evolution if you didn’t want to be caught off guard by the ability.

The small squeals and yelps that they all let out were a testament to how absorbed they’d been in their argument. They should have felt some of my intention through the bond, but nope. The blows weren’t hard enough to harm any of them, but they were still shocking.

Jen whirled around and glared at me.

Jill asked, “Hey what gives?”

Kenna teleported to the other side of the room and Priska phased out. Molly took on a fluid form and Willow sat down thus removing the target, and oh what a target it was. Only one of my bonds didn’t try to avoid the paddle.

I shook my head. I should have seen that one coming. Sybil just leaned over the table even more and jutted her ass out. “Oh, don’t stop now. I was being bad, not listening to you.”

It was clear she was being playful. She liked to try to shock me. The expression on her face combined with her words was so convincing that if it weren’t for the bond, I might have thought she really expected me to keep it up. Instead, she just winked at me and asked, “You wanted to say something, Aden?”

I dismissed all the paddles, but before I could respond, Hua asked, “Did you freaking just do one blow to seven at the same time?”

Something about her comment made me think of a tailor and flies, but I couldn’t remember the details of the story my dad had told me as a kid. Either way, I simply nodded and then added, “To be fair, ANOP helped. I created them, but she was able to control their movement.”

“No fair, that’s cheating. Controlling the movement of multiple items is the hard part. No wonder you’re so good at everything.”

I shrugged.

Eve however asked, “How is it cheating? ANOP is a part of this team. In fact, she’s been inside his head longer than any of the rest of you have been around. They are certainly more closely integrated.”

Hua’s face got red as she replied, “If you don’t know how using an AI is cheating, then I don’t know how to explain it. It takes all the work out of it. The art of using his ability is gone, and now it’s just lifeless.”

I raised my voice a bit. “Stop it. We aren’t going to start fighting. Team Aden is one team. There isn’t a team for the bonds, and a team for the appropriations. Eve is just as much a part of this team as anyone else. The bond clearly creates a deeper connection between my and the seven of them, but my head is so crowded now that it had the benefit of diluting the effect a bit. That means, I can see clearly that the only way we’re going to pull this off is if we work as a team.”

A few of them stared at the ground. I felt embarrassed coming from Hua, which wasn’t what I wanted. I teleported to her and pulled her into an embrace. “That means you too, Hua. You can express your opinion, but let’s not put any of our teammates down.”

She stole a kiss and seemed to let it go. A part of me wondered if that was all she’d been after in the first place.

Jen said, “You’re right and we shouldn’t be arguing, but I get the feeling that something is different this time. So tell us what’s going on, please.”

“Yeah, ANOP analyzed what went wrong with the merger between me and Jill. And I’m going to try to avoid innuendos as much as possible. If I use some, it’s not intentional and we really do need to focus.

“Basically, her body wasn’t able to handle me. Now, she is stronger especially with the Bonded Affinity boost. Perhaps with that she’d be able to handle it, but the thing is I’ve also become stronger. So I believe we need to try the merger differently. One of you will have to ride tandem inside of me rather than me inside of you.”

I shook my head as some of them snickered.

Molly said, “Oh, I didn’t know you were that kinky.”

I let them get it out of their systems before I said, “That’s why I’m going to try this first with Molly and then Priska, since they will both be able to join with me. Molly by letting me swallow her and Priska by phasing. Understand?”

“There’s more isn’t there?” Sybil asked.

“Yeah, but let me keep some secrets at least.”

They didn’t like it, but they all agreed. With that, we teleported to the south of Mexico City. An observation that I hadn’t originally made became apparent. When Krig had destroyed the city, he had also destroyed any shadow creatures which were anywhere near the city.

In my mind, he remained a more dire threat than the shadow in some ways, but the shadow was more pervasive. There hasn’t been any reports of Krig showing up anywhere else and none of the psychics could find his mind, so we were going to test out this tandem mode and then launch an offensive against the shadow.

We also brought along Sophia and Tess. Sophia was going to monitor Eve with some testing that we had in mind, and Tess was going to monitor the results of our merger. She had become my go to general science advisor even though many of my bonds also had a fair amount of aptitude. It was always easy to forget that Molly had an advanced degree in chemistry when you watched her smashing stuff.

They set up the machinery they had brought in a negative space container created by Sophia. Once they were ready to monitor our change, I asked Molly if she wanted to go first.

“Sure, I’ve swallowed you enough. I guess turnabout is fair play.”

I pinched my nose between my thumb and index finger. Molly just giggled. But an instant later, she had transformed into her fluid form and then shrunk down till she was smaller than a marble and sitting in the palm of my hand. I smiled at her and sent out my mind to hers.

She was still my Molly, no matter what shape she took. I established a complete psychic link between us. The bond already made us close, but this was the kind that would make us share sensory input.

Link established. Sensory exchange: 99.4%

That was pretty damn good. Sometimes even Sybil didn’t get one like that. Thinking of her made her laugh. “Yeah, I heard that thought. You should be proud. You’ve become a powerful psychic, too. Your finesse could still use some work, but you’ve come a long way.”

Rather than respond, I simply swallowed the small pellet of condensed fluid, which was Molly. She tasted sweet going down, like really sweet.

“You didn’t think I’d turn into a bitter pill did you?”

I grinned. Then I felt the integration happening. It moved even faster than it had with Jill. I felt her course through me. Her body spread out, and we merged at a level that had only happened a couple of time. Our identities were shifting together. I felt not only her evolutions filling me, but also her hopes and desires.

As a person, Molly was even sweeter than whatever chemical she had turned into as she let me swallow her. It was an intense experience, but I trusted ANOP to maintain a buffer and not let myself lose myself in her. That trust granted me freedom and I could just savor the union. It all happened in under two seconds, but it feel like hours as I knew her and she knew me.

Tandem Union at 99.8% completion.

With that, I started integrating our abilities.

Capacity integration is having a multiplicative effect as during previous integration.

Current capacity is at 179% of combined capacity and growing.

ANOP was also feeding all of the data to Tess’s machine. That allowed everyone else to monitor the results.

Combined capacity at 236%

I was so powerful. It felt like nothing I’d ever experienced. Being in control was better. There, I could admit it. Merging with Jill had been great, but I was reveling in the way this boosted me while allowing me to be in control.

After thirty-four seconds, we reached full power.

Combined capacity at 311%

Stat Integration Completed.

Aden-Molly as a singular entity:

Strength - S (74%)

Lifting - S (76%)

Force Application - S (72%)

Speed - A (99%)

Movement Rate - S (1%)

Reaction Rate - S (80%)

Agility – A (45%)

Dexterity - A (73%)

Durability - S (99%)

General Damage Resistance - S (99%)

Stamina - S (99%)

I moved and felt amazing. I was so fast. The merger pushed me even beyond where I’d been. I still didn’t know what would happen if I pushed past S Rank but this would do for now. I imagined that the fight with Krig would go must smoother now.