After everyone was done eating their breakfast, all of them went out to the royal gardens to begin Austin’s training.
“Thank you for letting us use your garden for our training.” Gaster said to Celestia.
“Anytime, but do be careful around my flowers. I planted them and took care of them, I don’t want them to be damaged by your training.” Celestia said to Gaster.
“Not to worry princess, we will be careful around your flowers.” Gaster said
“So what is this training you are going to do with Austin?” Celestia asked curiously.
“You will see when we go outside.” Gaster said.
The princesses, Sans, Papyrus, Gaster, Frisk, Austin and Wingdings made it to the garden. Celestia, Luna, Sans, Papyrus and Frisk sat down on the side of where Gaster, Wingdings and Austin are.
“Now Austin, do you know our training rules?” Gaster asked Austin.
“I think I do, but could you give me a refresher?” Austin asked Gaster.
“Alright. You can’t use your shapeshifting powers. What I want you to do is to focus on your soul and not let anything disturb you.” Gaster explained the rules.
“So I should meditate, right?” Austin asked.
“Without getting disturb, yes.” Gaster said.
“And what should I do?” Wingdings asked Gaster.
“You go sit with the rest. This will only be us.” Gaster said to Wingdings.
Wingdings nodded and went to the rest to watch.
“Now Austin, sit down and relax. Reach deep within your soul and connect with it.” Gaster said to Austin.
“Right!” Austin said to Gaster.
Austin sat down in a cross leg position. He then started to get relaxed and closed his eyes. Austin couldn’t see anything, but he tried his best to see within his soul. As Austin was doing that, Gaster looked at him and he summoned a bone.
“What is he doing?” Celestia asked, sounding worried.
“Disturbing him.” Sans said to Celestia.
Gaster then struck Austin in the leg with the bone. Austin wince, but remained relaxed. Gaster continues to hit Austin with the bone several times. Celestia was stunned by Gaster’s action and got up with mad eyes on him. Sans saw this and stopped her with his blue magic.
“Let me go!!” Celestia commanded.
“Sorry princess. This is their training.” Sans said.
“By striking him while he is vulnerable?!?” Celestia yelled angrily.
“Well... yeah. We tried everything with him.” Sans said.
“But have you done everything that doesn’t involve violence?” Luna asked Sans.
“Not really. We got our magic by doing this stuff or just by sparring.” Sans said to Luna.
“Well maybe humans have a different way of getting their magic!” Celestia yelled.
“Maybe, but I don’t question Gaster’s training and you shouldn’t too.” Sans shrugged.
“Well I am going to question it. This is technically abuse to a child!” Celestia yelled.
“Ugh fine I’ll speak with him and see if we should try something different.” Sans sighed.
Sans got up and went up to the two.
“Hey G, I’m not sure this is working.” Sans said to Gaster.
“What do you mean? I think we are making some progress.” Gaster said to Sans.
“Well the princesses don’t like seeing the kiddo hurt.” Sans said.
“I’m not really hurting him, I’m not going to hit him full force on him, that’s just cruel. Now let’s see if we did get progress. Austin did you see your soul?” Gaster asked.
“No... but I feel a bit cold.” Austin said.
“But it’s a nice day today... let me check your soul.” Gaster said.
Gaster checked Austin’s soul and he was shocked. Instead of it being better, it just got worse. Austin’s soul got more darker in where the grey areas were.
“This it bad... very bad.” Gaster said worriedly.
“What’s wrong Gaster?” Austin asked Gaster.
“Your soul is getting worse, much worse.” Gaster worriedly said.
“Well of course it is! Your HURTING him!” Celestia yelled.
“Well I did this with my boys and their magic is just fine.” Gaster said.
“Well monsters souls are different than human souls.” Frisk said to Gaster.
“That is true.” Gaster said to Frisk.
“Wait why didn’t you say anything when he did that?!” Celestia asked Frisk in a mad tone.
“I thought he was going to let him meditate, until I saw the bone and then he struck him. I was scared and I didn’t know what to do.” Frisk said to Celestia.
Celestia looked at both Frisk and Gaster with angry eyes, until Austin touched Celestia’s leg.
“I’m fine, please d-don’t be upset with them, they are only trying t-to help me.” Austin said to Celestia.
“But he could’ve hurt you really badly.” Celestia said in a worried tone.
“I’ve been through w-worse and I’m still here right?” Austin said to Celestia.
“Yeah your right, but I hate to think of something bad happening to you.” Celestia said in a worried tone.
“And so do I. I’m very sorry Austin, I didn’t mean to make things worse. Please forgive me!” Gaster said as he bend his head down in shame.
“I already forgave y-you.” Austin said with a smile.
“Maybe we should do another approach to this.” Papyrus said to the rest.
“Yes. Perhaps we should only do the meditating part.” Gaster said.
“That’s sounds like a-a plan.” Austin said to Gaster.
As the dust of the argument began to settle, Austin’s soul returned back to the grey areas. Austin reposition himself back to the cross leg position and closed his eyes once again. He took a deep breath and started to relax once again. Austin was now in a dark space, he looked around the room. He noticed something in the distance, a heart. Austin walked towards the heart, seeing the color of it. It was golden, a yellow gold color. Austin reached out his arm to touch, but out of nowhere two chains wrapped around the heart and had a lock on the middle. Austin looked at the now chained heart with surprised eyes. He felt something pulling him away from the heart. He was pulled away from the heart to the point where he can’t see it anymore. Austin then opened his eyes wide open and saw everyone eyeing him, in amazement and in shocked.
“Ugh... what happened? W-Why are you all staring at me like that?” Austin asked.
“You were glowing.” Gaster said to Austin.
“I was glowing?” Austin asked, confused.
“Yeah you were glowing bright yellow!” Papyrus said with a sparkle in his eyes.
“Really?!” Austin said, surprised.
“Yes, but then you stopped once you opened your eyes,” Gaster said to Austin. “Did you see any thing?” Gaster asked curiously.
“Well I was in a dark area. Their was some shape in the distance a-and went over to the shape. As I got close, it was a yellow gold heart and it was glowing brightly when I a-approached it. I went to touch i-it, but chains surrounded it and locked it, then I got pulled away from the heart, now I woke up to see all you surprised.” Austin explained.
“Hmm chains on your heart... that may be an issue.” Gaster said in a worried tone.
“What does it mean Gaster?” Sans asked Gaster.
“It means Austin’s soul doesn’t think Austin is ready for the power yet.” Gaster said to everyone.
“B-but how am I g-going to fight Necrafa without my soul powers?” Austin worriedly aksed Gaster.
“I’m... not sure anymore.” Gaster said with his head down.
“But you study souls, how can you not know anymore?!” Austin yelled worriedly.
“Your soul is unique than any others. I thought I got it figured out, but now I’m not sure anymore. I need more research on your soul to see what it means.” Gaster said to Austin.
“So what should i-I do now?” Austin asked.
“What you should do is to keep meditating a few times a week and if you find anymore of those void visions, let us know. Okay Austin.” Gaster said to Austin.
“Right I will Gaster.” Austin smile.
Gaster nodded and turned to Sans.
“Sans I will need your help with some... important things.” Gaster said to Sans.
“Important things? Celestia asked curiously.
“Sorry princess, but it’s only for Sans and me.” Gaster said to Celestia.
“I understand.” Celestia said, still not trusting him.
“That’s enough training for now, but make sure to meditate to see more of those visions and see if they get better or worse.” Gaster said to Austin.
“I will try my b-best Gaster.” Austin said to Gaster.
“That’s what I like to hear,” Gaster said as he placed a hand on Austin’s head. “Now enjoy the rest of the day, Sans and I got some... stuff to discuss alone.” Gaster said to Austin.
“Okay I will meditate a-and let you know if I see these visions again.” Austin said to Gaster.
And with that, Sans and Gaster left the garden.
“Am I really not worthy o-of my powers yet?” Austin asked sadly.
“Oh sweetie don’t feel down, you will find your powers eventually.” Celestia said softly.
“But what if Necrafa is h-here and she attacks u-us without my powers. How will I protect you all?!” Austin said with some tears in this eyes.
“Don’t worry Austin, you have friends that will support you all the way!!” Papyrus said happily.
“That’s right! We will support you however we can!” Luna smiled brightly.
“We are all here for you Austin!” Frisk smiled.
Austin looked at them and wiped away his tears. His eyes then went from sad to determined.
“YEAH!! I WILL GET MY POWERS AND STOP NECRAFA’S REIGN!” Austin yelled confidently.
“That’s the spirit!” All of them said.
“How about we take a break and I, the Great Papyrus can make my homemade spaghetti.” Papyrus said excitedly.
“Okay!!” Frisk and Austin said in unison.
As Austin, Frisk, Papyrus, Celestia, and Luna was about to go inside, Luna said one question that made Papyrus gasp.
“What is spaghetti?”
Papyrus was now rambling about spaghetti over and over when they went inside, but little did they know... something was spying from them from afar.
“Why are these stupid droids not back to report anything yet?!” Grievous complained, moving side to side with his arms at his back.
“Patience general, we just set them out to the nearest village and castle.” Necrafa said to Grievous.
“I know, but the sooner I grab this child for you, the sooner I can slaughter more Jedi!” Grievous growled.
“Yes yes, you love to kill Jedi, even though you become a coward when you fight Obi Wan Kenobi or Skywalker.” Necrafa smirked.
Grievous growled at turned away from her, knowing she’s right.
“General?” A droid said with a probe droid with it.
“WHAT!!!” Grievous yelled at the droid.
“O-one of the droids came back and it has something to show you.” The droid said in a scared tone.
“Excellent! Plug it to the screen.” Necrafa said to the droid.
The droid nodded and the two went to the giant tv screen. The probe droid sat on the control desk and the battle droid plug a cord into the probe droid. The screen turned on and Grievous and Necrafa looked at the screen. They saw Austin laying on the grass with Gaster right in front of him, hitting him with the bone.
“It seems we’re too late. The skeleton family beat us to him.” Grievous growled.
“A small delay, but it will not stop our plan, in fact it may improve it.” Necrafa sinisterly said.
“What do you mean?” Grievous asked, confused.
Necrafa pointed at the screen. Grievous looked at the screen and he sees Austin’s soul turning a bit black.
“He has hate in him.” Necrafa said to Grievous.
“What does that have to do with your plan?” Grievous asked.
“Must I explain everything to you.” Necrafa sighed. “I will use my magic to create a shadow to make him hate these ponies and the skeleton family.”
“Ohh... now I see. But what about his shadowy friend?” Grievous asked.
“Don’t worry about that. When I make the shadow I’ll use a spell on it to create a virus for The Golden Child’s friend to make him sick or even dead, it will depend on the shadow way of making Austin feel hatred.” Necrafa said with a evil laugh.
“Well if you think it will work... let’s do it.” Grievous said with a chuckle, but ends up having a coughing fit.
Necrafa summoned her staff and dark magic was being formed from the top of her staff. She shoot the magic towards the ground but it started to form a black tornado. Grievous used one arm to block his face from the wind. As the wind was starting to settle down, one final strong gust hit both Necrafa and Greivous, which Necrafa didn’t get effected, but Grievous almost fell, but he kept balanced with his metal talons. They look at the shadow figure that looked just like Austin, but completely black with white sinister eyes and mouth.
“You know what you must do. Go!” Necrafa commanded.
The shadow nodded and vanished from Necrafa and Grievous.
“What if he gets caught by the ponies or the skeletons?” Grievous asked.
“They won’t. I made the shadow to be in his mind, making it invisible to others, except for that other shadow, but you know what will happen if they cross paths.” Necrafa said.
“So if by chance this fails, what is your next plan? Grievous asked Necrafa.
“I already have my next plan prepared. If the shadow version of that child fails... I’ll use t h e m.” Necrafa said evilly.
Then both Necrafa and Grievous started to laugh hysterically.
The blue Pegasus sitting in the white void was meditating, but something didn’t feel right to him.
“I feel a disturbance in the force... a new creature is born, but not for any good intentions. It feels dark, darker, yet darker. I have a feeling it will go for our young hero. I must warn him that this thing is coming for him before I’m too late.”
The Pegasus transformed into a ball of light and teleported away from the white void.
To Be Continued...