"What?"

"You know how hard you are to find Mr. Jones? Or Mr. Smith? Or whatever you go by these days?"

"That's the point of not wanting to be found and don't bother trying to guess. How did you find me anyway?"

"It's easy to locate someone when you've got more that a few senate members in your back pocket."

"Good for you. What do you want?"

"You know what I want!"

"And you know I'm not going to give it to you. Guess this was a waste of both our time."

"Hold on now. You should know that we are already making progress towards our goals, the only reason I want the information is to save time and lives along the way."

"I don't really give a rat's a.s.s."

"So you don't care that people will be subjected to intense torture like pain because you refuse to hand over a few notes?"

"Bingo. Guess you're not as dumb as we all thought you were."

"To think my father held you in such high regard."

"He held me in high regard because I stuck with him until the end. I held him in high regard because he knew when enough was enough. Too many lives were wasted on that project. Your dad understood that and shut it down."

"He was just scared. He could have made humans immortal, but he was too short-sited."

"Is that why you killed him kid?"

"My father died from a heart attack which had nothing to do with me. If he were still alive, I'm sure he would be thrilled with what I've done with his work. Thanks to me, Global Sciences has become the leader in biotech engineering. That was something he could only dream about."

"No kid. His dream was to help improve the world, not help destroy it."

"We are not trying to destroy the world, we are trying to save it. My father just forgot that part in the end. He was more focused on the test subjects that had become monsters than he was on pus.h.i.+ng through till the end."

"No one regretted Frankenstein's monster more than Dr. Frankenstein himself."

"What the h.e.l.l does that mean?"

"Sigh. Never mind."

"Look. The information from the experiments with that fossilized plant belongs to the world and it's something we need more than ever. It's obvious that what my father did back then was only the prelude. The world is changing once again. Whether you like it or not old man, people are changing. The more we understand, the better prepared we can be. Tell me, how have you and the others been affected?"

Grandpa Crowe paused for a moment. Despite knowing that nothing good can come from responding, he knew that there was no point in hiding it.

"Some of them went insane and killed themselves. Some of them didn't go insane and still killed themselves. And as for the rest? Well, we might as well be insane for all that it matters." Grandpa Crowe couldn't help but s.h.i.+ver at the thought of the pain his body went through every time his energy flared up. Bill had it pretty easy since it just affected his head due to that crazy eye. As for his brother Chu, he was lucky since he didn't come to the states until after everything had ended. As far as Grandpa Crowe knew, he was still unaffected.

"Hmm... interesting. You know, we've found that the energy that is taking over people is like an illness. And illness's can be treated. Having that information will help us greatly on our path towards a cure."

"Heh. Sweet sounding words. But I have never heard of a drug company that actually wanted to cure diseases, they just want to sell more drugs to treat it. You're a business man Declark, your father was the scientist. Don't get your rolls reversed."

"Fine. I will pay you. 10 million, tax free. What do you think?"

"I think i'm old and won't live that long. Sorry, I'm at detestation. Hope you can find me again some other time," and with that, Grandpa Crowe hung up the phone as he pulled into Bill's driveway. By the time he got to the end, he saw Bill and brother Chu sitting around and drinking a bit while brother Chu was once again trying to teach Bill how to play mahjong. Seeing the look on Grandpa Crowe's face, they couldn't help but ask what was wrong.

"The kid found me which means the government will be coming to find us soon."

"Do they know how many of us are left?" Bill asked with concern.

"No, I don't think so," Grandpa Crowe answered after thinking it over.

"That's good. What do we do about Laz? We can't drag him into this," Bill asked.

"Maybe it's time that he got going?" Chu suggested.

"Yeah, maybe..." Grandpa Crowe seemed to hesitate.

"I know. He won't go if he knows we are in trouble. Even though he's just a little s.h.i.+t, he's got b.a.l.l.s on him, that's for sure."

"Brother Chu, have you arranged the dojo?"

"Already done. He's set to go in a few weeks. He will be safe there," Chu said while shuffling the tiles.

"And after that?" Bill asked.

Grandpa Crowe didn't say anything for a bit, just staring up at the dark sky.

"Can he take that thing and get out of here?" He finally asked.

"You sure? Driving a bike around a hick town like this is one thing, but that thing?"

"It's fine. He's more mature than either of you give him credit for," Chu interjected.

"Alright. I will get it ready. What about you brother Chu? Where will you go?" Bill asked.

"Go? Where would I go? And who would teach you two stubborn old men how to play something other than poker and blackjack?" Chu asked while raising an eyebrow at Bill.

No one said anything, but all three of them smiled and the tiles were picked. Sometimes, friends didn't need a reason to stick together, they just did.

...

Laz just sat there and continued to circulate the energy around him, keeping it moving. While the girls were absorbing the energy from the mixture he had made, they didn't seem to be paying attention to the outside world as they were deep inside themselves. Laz slowly got up and walked to the flower, using his finger to dip into the nectar and directly put some into his mouth. He then walked over to the small pond cupped his hand and reached in. After pulling out a good amount of the water, he drank it straight from his hand. He then went back and sat down. As it was, his body was much stronger than it was the first time he had tried them both. They didn't provide a ton of energy like they did in the beginning without taking bigger servings. Because of this, although he sometimes used it, most of the time he wouldn't. It was his hope that he could save some for the future and it seems like it was the right choice.

Laz sat back down between the two girls and activated his sense, taking a look at both of them. It seemed like Malene had gotten the hang of it as he saw the energy of source essence circulating around her system in the way he had described. He couldn't help but be awed by her ability to pick it up this quickly, but them remember that she was rather tuned to it due to her power.

Looking over at Kennedy, he could tell that she was struggling a bit as the energy was trying to go everywhere within her. While circulating his own energy, he reached a hand out and gently set it on her stomach while reaching out with his sense. In doing so, he was able to cause the energy to stop

going beserk and start rotating around. Kennedy briefly opened her eyes after feeling Laz's hand, but closed them again after she felt what he was doing. Taking her cue from him, she just followed the path he laid out and continued it on her own.

Seeing her do so successfully, he removed his hand and closed his eyes, focusing again on himself.

It didn't take long before he felt a fluctuation in energy which caused his eyes to shoot open and look at Malene. Suddenly, he saw her whole body light up like a light bulb before it calmed down again. He knew that she had made a breakthrough into the mid stage awakening. Coming to, she opened her eyes and her gaze met Laz's while the smile on her face was beaming. He gently put his finger to his lips while smiling and then pointed to Kennedy. Malene got the message and didn't say anything, but instead closed her eyes again.

It only took a few minutes more before Kennedy's entire body lit up as well. This time, both Malene and Laz witnessed it happen. Kennedy couldn't keep her composure as she felt her entire body fill with energy as though a dam had broken and flooded her insides with it.

"This feels amazing."

"I know, right?" Malene added.

"So now what?" Kennedy asked.

"Stand up and try it out," Laz said with a smile on his face.

Both Kennedy and Malene stood up. Kennedy seemed to stand still for a moment before practically vanis.h.i.+ng from sight. Before either of them discovered it, she was already at the other end of the park area, as though she had just teleported over there. In another moment, she was back again just as quickly.

"Oh wow. I can't believe how fast I am. Oh wait, there's more..." Kennedy extended her arm and opened her hand, palm side up. Closing her eyes for a moment, she seemed to focus really hard before a small green fire appeared a few inches above her open hand.

"OH WOW. THAT'S AWESOME," Malene said excitedly.

"What about you?" Kennedy asked.

Malene thought for a moment before getting Aqua to come off her shoulder and rest in her palm again. He had just been sitting there and was being quiet while everything was happening, almost as though it didn't affect him. In truth, he was just really surprised at this place that Laz had brought them and felt that he needed to let Malene do these things on her own. Had Laz suggested something dangerous, then he would have said something.

After he was resting on her palm again, Malene's body lit up with a blue light that flowed towards her hand and into Aqua. After a moment of this, she turned her hand upside down and lowered her arm. Then, before everyone's shocked eyes, Aqua started growing. Originally, he was only a few inchs tall, but now, he had grown to be over two feet tall. It was a shocking difference.

"Eh? So that's it? He's now a toddler?" Laz asked as though not understanding why a bigger Aqua was any more impressive than a tiny one.

"That's it eh boy?" Aqua grabbed out his sword which was now almost a foot long and pointed it at a nearby tree. Suddenly, a bright blue flash shot out from the tip of the sword and hit the trunk of the tree that was about a foot in diameter. The tree practically exploded from the light hitting it, causing the entire top portion of the tree to suddenly tip over.

Everyone jumped after seeing this except Vivi who just turned over while sleeping and covered her head with her paws to block out the loud noise.

"What do you think now, huh? Want to mess with this toddler?" Aqua then aimed the tip of the sword directly at Laz's crotch, causing Laz the silent cross his legs and bend over a bit as though protecting his jewels.

"Nope. No. I'm good. Totally good."

The girls and Aqua couldn't help but laugh at Laz's sudden display of fright. Aqua swung his sword around a few times and then flew around a bit to get used to his new size. Everyone just silently watched him, fascinated.

"Alright, I need some time to adjust in my non corporal form. Do take care mistress but call me back out if you need anything," and with that, Aqua suddenly vanished in a burst of light.

"Laz... Thank you." Kennedy said as she walked over and gave him a big kiss on his cheek.

"Yeah, perver... Laz. Thank you." Although blus.h.i.+ng red, Malene copied Kennedy's actions and gave Laz a kiss on his other cheek.

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"It's the final gift I can give since I won't be around to protect you both. Just... keep doing it like I showed you. You will become stronger, hopefully strong enough for whatever you have to do in the future." Laz said this while looking at Kennedy, knowing what her goal was. Now that she was leaving, he wouldn't be able to help her. Kennedy stared back in return, meeting his gaze. Although he said nothing further, she knew that all of this was to help her. She couldn't help but feel her heart race for this young man who had given her so much.

"Let's.. um... head back," Kennedy said. Everyone nodded in agreement and made their way to the path back after picking up Vivi.