eatle finishes harvesting some coconuts, landing down from the coconut tree, and places them in the winery, where mutated yeast instantly turns the water within into wine.
Beatle puts the bowl beneath the faucet that ejects the wine, as he places the instantly-developed wine into a cooking pot where onions, garlic, and chicken are being sautéd. The wine is absorbed by the chicken, adding coconut vinegar quickly after. He adds squash, carrots, raisins, and plain hot water. He then adds two tablespoons of salt, a sprinkle of pepper, five pieces of sugar cane muscovado the size of bottlecaps, and a teaspoon of honey.
Beatle successfully makes Chicken Stew made from native materials. Of course, he made this instead of Tinola, a regular Chicken Soup, since they have a guest...
Miguel Azral spins in the air and kicks the training dummy thrice. "COLD KICK!!!" The dummy freezes over.
Miguel sneers. "WOOOOOOO!!! Awesome! Now, where's my daughter?"
"Patience, Miguel. I know you worry. But I sense that she's fine," said Beatle.
"Again. Very Promeeth-y," said Miguel, as he sat with Beatle who placed the meal before him. "Where are the others?"
"Working. My family do not have... time to eat together. Not while running this empire," said Beatle.
"You're gonna need Prometheus' help," said Miguel. "He could provide a lot of help..."
"No!" Beatle raised his voice. "Sorry. I mean... You also need his help. Clearly."
"Something tells me we both wanna be left alone by him."
"What gives you the right to ask a good question?"
"What gives you the right to not eat what is given to you?"
Miguel nods. He takes a sip of the broth. "Whoa! Sour! Sweet... Savory... WHAT IS THIS STUFF!?!?"
"Coconut Chicken Stew. Braised well enough to near perfection."
"Hey, Daddy!" smiled St. Princess, Beatle's daughter. She walks to Beatle to show him a drawing.
Beatle speaks and hugs her. "Otototo!!!" He kisses her forehead and cheek as she giggles. "Aw! What's up, my baby?"
"Daddy, look! Look at my painting of the landscape!" His daughter spoke, showing Beatle the beautifully artistic landscape of Baguio.
Beatle smiles and hugs his daughter. "That is absolutely wonderful, love!"
Miguel smiled, a bit saddened by this, but nonetheless, he was happy for Beatle.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Beatle smiles and turns to Beatle as St. Princess returns to her room. "Back to training, kid."
"Okay," said Miguel, finishing his meal.
"Kidding! You have to wait for one and a half hours."
"What? Pro used to tell me to fight right after eating..."
"Didya puke after?"
"A few times, actually!" smiled Miguel.
"Yeah. No shit. Now, do listen and make sure you rest before you train again."
Miguel looks baffled. "Huh..."
Miguel begins typing into his laptop.
Beatle's eyes widen. "You write as well?"
"Yeah. Don't read a lot, though."
"Your story?"
"Fanfiction right now... But I have my originals! When I'm not superheroing, I work as a writer, researcher, and editor!"
Beatle smiles. "I used to do that as well. it was... nice to be normal..."
Miguel smiles. "Mine was about a fantastical storyline filled with love and adventure."
"Medieval steampunk soap opera."
Miguel smirks and nods approvally. "War changes people..."
"It does," smiled Beatle. "But not all the time, kid. The best way to survive is to get stronger."
Beatle and Miguel then walk into the forest that afternoon, where Beatle places an atang of meals before a statue. The offering is well-cooked and is pre-given before dinner.
"Got it," said Miguel, as he switches to another tree.
Beatle prays the rosary in Latin as well as other prayers and Miguel smiles, proceeding to pray with him.
Beatle smiles after praying. "Now, you may train," he said, as Miguel excitedly jumped up and blasted a spinning flame kick.
"HELL... KICK!!!" Miguel yelled excitedly. He lands on his feet and begins punching the tree over and over.
Beatle sighs. "Don't punch that tree... Could be a Kapre's home."
"Fine," sighed Miguel. "Gimme a dummy..."
Beatle warps out a dummy that Miguel beats up with ease.
Beatle smiles, warping out a robot with katanas.
"The fuck? Sorry, but what are those!? Y'know? Like the meme? HAHAHAHA!!!" Miguel somersaults backward, dodging the robot's blade.
"This... is a Training Droid. You're meant to kill it," said Beatle.
"Sentience?"
"Nope," said Beatle.
Miguel smiles. "Got it."
Miguel blocks its attacks with his stone claws and dodges the blade by splitting his body into pieces, each stub growing tentacles that attach themselves to the robot and he crushes the bot.
Miguel seeps his tentacles into its wiring and tears the bot to pieces.
Miguel smiles, regenerating midair and doing a superhero landing. "Awehsomeh..."
"It's... 'awesome.'"
"It's called a catchphrase, dillweed," smirked Miguel.
Beatle smiles.
"Huh... My whole life, Pro treated me like a soldier."
"Of course. He doesn't care."
"Untrue. He's been... vulnerable... before..."
"Really? Never thought I'd hear about that. Kid's been... through a lot... Especially when he wiped out that Factory City."
"He wiped out a city?" asked Miguel.
Beatle sighs. "You didn't know?"
"He... doesn't tell me a lot of stuff..."
"He wiped out a city that genocided your kind for a living."
"Still... I know he's done this before... I've read the history books... but... Hearing it from someone else like this..."
"It sounds... evil... doesn't it, kid?"
"Yep," said Miguel. "It's... not okay... But... I'm sure I could change him."
"He did. He stood down and didn't kill the rest of the factories."
"Good... thank you, Mr. Beatle," said Miguel.
Beatle sighs. "You thought I was just like him, didn't you?"
"Yeah... At first... But... knowing you, you act a lot like me..."
"Heh..." Beatle sighs, as he warps out hundreds of robots before Miguel.
Miguel transforms into an Aswang and Diwata State.
Beatle's eyes widen. "A Pantheon?"
Miguel smiles and beats the robot down, breaking them to pieces with ease.
"Impossible... Is he... the one?" Beatle asked himself as Miguel beats the robots down. "Is... he...? That can't be... Is he... the prophesied hero meant to lead my army? Is he... His grandkid...?"
"Hey, Beatz! What was the stuff you cooked earlier?" asked Miguel, landing before Beatle.
"It's... my variation of Adobong Puti. It ain't traditional. Had some foreign variations. But it's meant to be sweet and sour rather than salty."