Just like when they fell asleep they woke up to the sound of the ocean. Lachlan woke up around the middle of the group, he did a few stretches to prepare himself for today. After that, he had some breakfast, a few fruit bars and some water, easy enough.
He did, however, immediately notice a difference. He quickly remembered they had slept on the island, meaning their bodies were still under the 2x gravity. But he felt as though he was beginning to get used to it.
After a while, everyone did the same. They did a few stretches before eating breakfast, they had a busy day, they needed the energy.
Finally, the moment everyone was waiting for happened. The last person to wake up was Joe, he had spent yesterday searching far and wide. Although he told them that the gravity increased again and became too much, he could still search the area where they couldn't.
Everyone stared at Joe the moment he stood he, he noticed and looked extremely nervous, "So Joe, where'd you get the water from?" Georgia asked. It was exactly what he was expecting. Even though it really didn't matter too much, they would find out eventually.
"Didn't your beast tell you, we came across a stream which had that water flowing in it," Joe was still nervous, he felt everyone's gaze on him.
"Take us there," Georgia demanded calmly. But not the polite calm you see in friendly people, the kind of calm you see in murderers.
"Alright, follow along," Joe said as he began to walk towards the shrubbery. He was internally crying, they didn't even let him get his breakfast.
As they reached the shrubbery Joe summoned Sandy and then continued. They followed. They walked a similar path as yesterday but once they reached their marks Joe turned right and walked in a straight line.
They followed for a few minutes before they could finally hear it. The rippling of water as it rolls down the rocks gently. They went into a full sprint, which wasn't too fast considering they were still under the effects of gravity.
Bursting through the shrubbery they landed on some pebbles, ones that look unique as they had bits of colour stone sticking out of them. Lachlan attempted to analyse it but came with nothing, he was hoping his eyes had that ability but was sadly disappointed.
They rushed towards the stream with their water bottles in hand, opening them up before placing them in the stream, filling them up quickly. They took a swig but noticed something immediately.
There was still the freezing effect, but it was much weaker, similar to a chilly breeze. Not to mention the warm effect after wasn't as pleasing, rather it felt as if they dunked their bodies in slightly warm water.
Joe quickly got nervous as he tried the water out and noticed the difference. Looking to his side he noticed everyone staring at him, they were ready to pounce on his if he doesn't explain himself.
"This is the same stream, it just might mean that the effect gets weaker the further it is from its source," Joe tried explained, he didn't fully know either but his explanation was logical.
"And where is the source?" They all asked.
"I don't know, I'm not strong enough to reach it yet," Joe complained. They knew what he meant; since the gravity increased again then it should do it more times. No matter what they'll eventually reach a point where they couldn't continue.
"Alright, we'll let you off this time, but take our spare water bottles and fill it with the water in your area," They said.
"You can use your beasts, they'll be able to get further than me and it would be a bit more efficient," Joe explained. They accepted that and summoned them, not all of them but one of theirs. Lachlan summoned Disaster as he happily accepted the request.
After that, they began their training. Although they should be exploring the island, if they wanted to go deeper they needed to get stronger and the only way to do that is to train. They used to water to replenish their energy, it was extremely effective.
They all got some thoughts on their minds. Although they were tasked to bring everything they find back, they wouldn't mind keeping the water a secret and hoarding it all to themselves. Hey, it could be seen that they're trying to protect the environment, should they speak of the water the military will take over this place and start collecting. Although some of them might have the intention of using it for good, some will think of only selling to the rich.
As they split up they did their own training. Everyone did some basic training, pushups, pull-ups on the branches and most importantly, squats and running. If they were going to deal with the gravity they needed to increase their leg strength.
Lachlan did all that and boxing. Although he didn't bring a skipping rope he at the trees to use as punching bags. Which brought some bad side effects. Although his grip was strong, his punch and skin, on the other hand, were not.
His skin was constantly breaking apart, leaving nasty gashes. It also caused a bit of blood to stain the tree, making it look a bit like a murder scene. But that's when he discovered a new feature of the water, it healed wounds.
At mid-day they all gathered at the beach again, to eat some food peacefully. Some of them looked like they had some important things to discuss, Lachlan included.
"So, I see we all have things we might want to talk about, who wants to start first?" Georgia asked as he looked around at everyone.
"I'll start," It was Simon, no surprise there, "Let's keep the water a secret, no one says a thing and we can keep it all to ourselves"
"But what about the military, this water could be useful to them," Phoebe nervously said. Although she also thought about it, it would also be rude to not tell as the water could be a lifesaver to people.
"What about the military? Sure it would be useful to soldiers but we don't know how much water there is. Once it stops they won't give any to people or the military, some corrupted higher up will only think of himself and sell it to the rich," Simon angrily said. It seems he has a bit of hatred towards the government, no surprise there. Everyone in the world might have something to hate about their government.
"But that corrupted higher up would be stopped, now that everyone's lives are at stake what's the point of having money, it's basically worthless now," Phoebe argued back. Her logic made sense. Although there were bound to be corrupt individuals, they'll be stopped immediately. Unless the entire government is entirely made up of corruption they can't be doing anything risky, otherwise, they'll lose the trust of the people and even their own military.
"We can do that instead. Since we found the water we should be in charge of it. We can create an organisation that distributes the water to the injured without charge," Simon was intent on not relying on the government.
"How about we do this. We'll tell the military the water is better here, cleaner and has more nutrients in it. However, we do have to give them something so we'll give them those pebbles we found,' Georgia calmly said. Phoebe was annoyed Georgia chose to side with Simon.
"Suppose that'll do. Or we can tell them later, we train hard for now and tell them that the water source is located deep into the forest," Lachlan suggested. People thought about it and it made sense, although then the military will still try and get it.
"How do we do that though?" Zoe asked. She was curious at how they would fool the military, they weren't professionals at lying.
"I'll lie to them. Tell them all that and we'll get Joe to go far into the jungle with the military, they'll eventually reach a point where they can't go on but see that Joe can. They'll then have to believe what we told them," Lachlan explained his plan. He had been lying to his family for a year, he's realised it wasn't such a bad skill to learn.
"Sure you can handle it?" Simon asked with the same cocky air he always has. He believed that Lachlan would crack under the pressure.
"Did you know I never had a head, the head that I'm using right now was created by scientists using the most advanced techniques, fusing different materials to create the perfect head that is almost identical to a normal head," Lachlan said confidently. Some of them immediately realised it was a lie but also realised that Lachlan was good.
"Huh, really!" Simon shouted in shock. He then thought about it and his face turned to pink, he was embarrassed he fell for it so easily. Phoebe also fell for it but didn't say anything out loud so no one realised.
"You're good," Joe said as he put his thumb up. He had more confidence in this plan than before, they could probably pull this off easily.
*Vroom*
Looking towards the ocean they noticed a speed boat coming towards them full throttle. It didn't look like it would slow down any time soon. And it really didn't, it slowed down slightly before going up the shore.
There were two soldiers on there, both at low rank but were unique. They were talented, which is likely why there were sent.
They stepped onto the beach and their expression changed. When they were told by their superiors about the island they didn't completely believe it, who knew they would be telling the truth.
The soldiers walked towards the group, Lachlan quickly analysed them and had a sigh of relief when he noticed they weren't too strong, nor did they have any tames. The soldier's names were Ethan and Devon.
Lachlan wasn't sure whether or not to go with their lie now, it would be better to do it last minute.
"Hello there, have you found anything yet?" Ethan asked with a stern voice.
Lachlan rummaged through his pockets and took out some bark, "Don't think for a second this bark is completely normal, it did come from the island after all".
Ethan and Devon looked at it and tried bending it, but of course to no avail. Of course it didn't bend, it took Lachlan's and Georgia's crushing grip to get some. They looked at each other and nodded, before placing the bark inside a bag.
"anything else?" They asked. They believed there should be more to this island, the gravity got them curious and doubtful that the group hasn't found anything else.
"What, the gravity increases the further you get, we have points where we can't continue walking," Lachlan explained. The soldiers believed it, this island was already weird enough, they could believe the gravity changes.
They then walked back towards the boat and grabbed onto the back. Using their strength they somehow managed to pull the boat across the sand, it really was impressive what people could do when they work together.
After that, they sped off.
Everyone didn't take any notice of it, they just thought they wanted to research it quickly.
Georgia looked towards Lachlan, "Why did you take some bark?" She thought of the bark as ordinary, she didn't know that her ability allowed for her to rip it apart so easily.
"The tree is massive, of course the bark would be normal," Lachlan explained his thoughts.
"What about the pebbles? we could have given it to them now," Phoebe asked.
"Do it last minute, that way they might not even have time to think much about it, especially once they fall for our lies," Lachlan explained. They suddenly realised this teenage boy wasn't as innocent as he seemed.
Now that there was nothing to interrupt them, they could eat and train in peace. After they finished eating they walked to their training spots.
This training went all the way to the afternoon, but when everyone saw the sky darken they headed back.
…
Back at the base.
"Sir, we have discovered that this tree bark is as strong as steel, but not only that, it is also incredibly flexible," A researcher said, with a clipboard in their arms.
"Good, if just the tree bark is this strong, the rock there much be much stronger," James said happily, he didn't expect for results so quickly, it pleased him greatly.
The researcher nodded and walked out of his room in a hurry. A few seconds passed and someone else enters the room, it was one of the people on the boat, Ethan.
"Tell them to gather whatever materials they can," James demanded.
"Yes sir," He replied, then ran off, getting the rest of the people to set off again.
"Huh," 'If we can get some stronger materials we can create some stronger equipment, not just weapons either, but drills or pickaxes as well. It would certainly make their life much easier if they had the proper tools' James thought.
…
Everyone had headed on back, they had their dinner and were about to sleep, but Lachlan decided to do something else. It was something that Calamity was begging him to do. Kill some more beasts.
'So you two want to get stronger?' Lachlan asked Disaster and Calamity. Catastrophe already reached a wall and couldn't advance anymore, which slightly disappointed Lachlan. He really needed to find out how to evolve them soon.
'Yes, so we can shut Catastrophe up," They both had the same response. It was pretty good to have an arrogant beast that bragged, it would push the others to train harder.
'All three of you can come out then' Lachlan summoned the three Rocs but Catastrophe wasn't as pleased as the others.
'Why're you summoning me, I can't get stronger than I already am' Catastrophe instantly complained. It was obvious he just didn't want the others to get stronger, especially Calamity.
'Just do as I tell you, go far away and strike the water with lightning. You're striking the ocean now, you're likely to get stronger from the number of beasts you'll kill' Lachlan lied to Catastrophe, getting its hopes up.
'Alright,' He agreed and flew off. The others followed.
Lachlan laid back down and waited, it only took 30 minutes for them to get back but he was already experiencing a massive headache. He quickly determined it had to do with the distance, meaning the further away from your tamed beasts, the more strain it puts on you.
But fortunately, it was definitely worth it.
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Name: Calamity (Blue Lightning Roc)
Age: Adolescence
Attribute: Wind/Rock/Lightning
Grade: Normal
Innate Talent: 1st Grade
Level: 10
STR: 50(+25), AGI: 49(+25), VIT: 100(+5)
INT: 33(+15), PER: 24(+10), WIL: 30(+10)
Weakness: Frail Wing Joints
Strengths: Lightning Speeds, Absolute Crushing Grip, Lightning Control (Semi-Awaken)
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Name: Disaster (Blue Lightning Roc)
Age: Adolescence
Attribute: Wind/Rock/Lightning
Grade: Normal
Innate Talent: 2nd Grade
Level: 10
STR: 50(+10), AGI: 50(+25), VIT: 100(+10)
INT: 33(+25), PER: 24+6), WIL: 30(+4)
Weakness: Frail Wing Joints, Naive
Strengths: Lightning Speeds, Absolute Crushing Grip, Lightning Control (Semi-Awaken)
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He also noticed they've got slightly stronger naturally as well. It could also mean he's got stronger as well, he has been training after all. He also noticed a difference in Disaster's weakness, it seems his personality is now a weakness.
He scanned Catastrophe and noticed it as well, he was not arrogant.
'What the hell, you told me I would get stronger!' Catastrophe complained. He felt as though he had been used against his own free will. He didn't get stronger at all.
'I said probably, I didn't fully know either' Lachlan explained calmly.
Catastrophe began sulking, Lachlan unsummoned the Rocs before heading back to sleep. Which he found slightly difficult due to Catastrophe's constant complaining.