The Pentelements *SLOW UPDATES*

Ch. 35 Break It

"Hush up you pervert."

"Let's go up another hundred." Kevin suggested, ignoring them.

Todrick set the resistance, and this time, it took Scott a whole lot more effort to try and break the device. He squeezed his hand as hard as he could. After a few deep breaths, he was able to break it.

"Do you want to keep going?" Todrick asked him and Scott nodded.

"I want to see how strong my hands are. Just let me catch my breath for a second."

"Alright, why don't we go a bit slower. How about we up the resistance by... three? Since you struggled so much."

Another nod, and Todrick got everything set. When Scott was ready, he tried to break it again. It took a lot of effort and a lot more time, but he was able to do it.

"My hand's starting to hurt a little." Scott commented, awkwardly massaging it around the metal attached to his palm.

"Makes sense. You are putting a lot of strain on your hand and pushing it to its limit." Kevin explained. "Do you want to stop?"

"No, no. I can do this."

"If you say so. Let's go up another three, see if you can break it."

Todrick set the resistance, but this time, Scott couldn't break it.

He tried and tried but it wouldn't budge. Even after straining as much as he could until he was red in the face, it wouldn't break. After about four minutes of trying, he gave up.

"I can't break it." Scott mumbled, sounding surprised.

"Go down one, see if he can break it then." Kevin told Todrick.

He nodded and fixed it. Scott struggled for a while, and just as Kevin was about to suggest changing the resistance again, they heard a crack.

"Almost... got it..." Scott strained. A few deep breaths later, and he finally broke it. "Oh my gosh, that was so hard!"

"That's what she said." Avi mumbled to himself, so Kirstie wouldn't hit him again.

"Welp, we finally know the limit of your left hand. Do you want to see the limits of your right hand now or do you want to wait a bit before we try again?" Kevin asked as he wrote something down on a clipboard.

"When'd you get a clipboard?" Scott wondered aloud, getting distracted.

"Not important. Now answer the question."

"Oh, uh... I can keep going."

"If you say so. Todrick, if you will."

"What? Oh right." He went over to Scott and grabbed his hand. "Sorry, I'm just... so blown away right now." Todrick explained, taking the metal hand off of Scott's fleshy one.

He adjusted the joints so it would fit on Scott's opposite hand, but paused when it came to the pressure.

"Should I change the resistance or keep it the same?"

"Since it's his dominant hand, it's bound to be stronger than his non dominant one. So keep the resistance the same."

Todrick nodded and released Scott's hand.

"Alright, do your thing!"

Scott smiled and took a deep breath. A bit of strain later and surprise, surprise, it broke.

"Told you the dominant hand was stronger." Kevin teased.

"Don't act like no one knew that before you said something." Todrick countered, repairing the metal. "Since he still struggled a little, should we up the resistance by five hundred instead of a thousand?"