While Ryan, Dillian, and Sussan were off training. Josh, Jake, Ion, and Jessica were off doing their own thing. Josh and Jake actually wanted to work around their Seed Power and see what they could do. Experiment with it a bit. Ion and Jessica felt like tagging along just in case something may have happened. After all, who knew if the Sin Squad or anyone else from The World Government would show up. They had arrived at a decent area. It was open, so there would be no problem if people trying to hide or anything. Of course, that meant they were open since they had no place to hide.
That didn't matter to them right now. Josh would push up his glasses and concentrate. He had this feeling that the Seeds activation had to do with some type of thought or feeling. From what Ion and Jessica had told them, the activation was different for everyone. So, he would attempt to recall the time his Seed Power had first activated. Ion and Jessica stood there to watch, and ever so often, they would glance at Josh.
Jake already knew how to activate his. The activation of his ability came from the desire to not lose anyone close to him. It wasn't necessarily the will to protect like Don's Seed Power activation. It was more so that he just didn't want to watch anyone dear to him die. He was too late when it came to saving John's mother, but when it came to keeping John himself alive, he would do it. When he first found out about his Seed Power, he was scared of it.
I mean, who wouldn't be? He could not only control but create undead from seemingly nowhere. But, of course, the undead mainly came from the darkest of places. Like alleys and super shady spots. Which was why it seemed like they were coming out of nowhere. Jake knew how his Seed Power worked. He even tested it out a few times before Don had arrived.
His tests lead him to realize that he could create an endless amount of undead. Cool right? Well, there was a catch. Whatever pain the undead suffered, he would suffer in turn. The pain would come in the form of a stinging sensation. That wasn't all though, the more he created, the more energy it would consume. Eventually, he could end up passing out from fatigue. He would also get hungry and thirsty, so he would need to eat plenty of food and drink plenty of liquids to maintain a high energy intake. It seemed like the perfect Seed Power for him, considering he never wanted to kill someone with his own hands again. He hated that feeling. It felt terrible to him. This was one of the reasons why he respected Don so much. Don could kill someone without batting an eye. He didn't seem to feel anything from it either.
Josh finally started to get the hang of it. The feeling he had that day wasn't something one would normally think he had. It even surprised him right now. That feeling was hope. He was hoping he could save his cousin. He was hoping there would be no more death. Hoping to be able to get out of the situation alive. It was strange because he believed the activation of his Seed Power came from despair and anger, which he tried to use, but that was wrong. He had to delve deeper into the feeling he had gotten yesterday and when he found out it was hope. His Seed Power would activate. The same orange tint flared in his eyes which he opened.
He would survey the area and see several orange lights littering the area before him. They were set on the ground. Upon closer inspection, the lights were actually spherical shapes. Josh figured they were landmines. It was the most logical thing he could think of due to how they reacted. If one stepped on it or came close to it, it would explode. "Hey, Ion. Can you step over there?" Josh asked while pointing at the ground about five meters in front of him. Ion's brow rose, but nonetheless, he did as Josh asked. Ion figured that Josh had used his Seed Power, but he could just heal himself if anything happened. Sure the pain would be annoying to deal with, but he was used to pain. He had his limbs bitten, chomped, and even cut off all the time. So what was adding an explosion to the mix?
However, to Ion's surprise, nothing happened. Josh found this a bit interesting. "Okay, can you come back? Jessica, I want you to toss a fireball where Ion was just standing." Josh would request. Jessica would smirk, "Can I just do it now!?" She exclaimed with a grin. Ion had a wry smile across his lips. "Let's not be hasty, babe." Ion would comment as he started to make his back to her side. "I was only joking, babe." Jessica would blow him a kiss with a teasing wink. Ion would sigh softly and stand beside her. He would whisper something to her ear that the others couldn't hear, which caused her smirk to turn into a grin. "I dare you." Her tone of voice came off a bit more sensual but held this challenging vibe to it. Ion's lips curved into a smirk. "Tonight then. For now..." Ion would point towards the spot he was just in. Jessica, without delay, activated her power and tossed a fireball in the direction. It would hit the ground, but nothing happened.
Jake watched in silence the entire time, but when he saw Josh had a puzzled look on his face, he felt like maybe he could help. "Are you trying to see what can activate them?" Jake asked. Josh looked towards Jake and nodded. "Yeah. Yesterday your undead army didn't even cause them to explode, but when the Sin Squad touched them, they exploded instantly. What I also noticed was there was no damage done to the undead back then. It was as if those mines only affected the Sin Squad." Josh would comment, and Jake would nod. "I see. Maybe you have to set a target. At the time, our enemy was the Sin Squad, but this time there is no enemy. When you placed them yesterday, weren't you thinking of using them against the Sin Squad?" Jake asked. The way Josh explained it felt similar to how he controlled his undead.
Jake found out that he could split his undead into various groups and have them target certain things. He also found out that he could even have them protect something like a building or even a lamp-post. They would form a protective circle around it like some kind of meat shield. He also wanted to see if he could have them attack what they were protecting, and he could. They instantly turned around and started beating the crap out of the lamp-post he had them protecting. So, he had this thought that maybe Josh had to set his mines in the same way.
"I was." Josh would reply with a brow risen up in curiosity. "Then do it this way. Since Ion doesn't care if he loses a leg or two, have him stand on one of the mines. After that, switch the mine to activate if an outside force touches it." Jake would remark. Ion had overhead his comment and called out to him, "Hey! I'm not a masochist!" Ion would exclaim, and Jessica would giggle, "Maybe, maybe not." She would remark, which caused Ion to give her a certain look. "I'll be waiting." Jessica would wiggle her fingers as Ion made his way towards the spot once again. While he did, he would give Jessica the bird, which caused her to blow a kiss at him. "Love you too, baby." She called out to him.
Josh shook his head. "Women..." He muttered. "I don't think they are all like that. She's just a special case." Jake would add, and Josh sighed. "Maybe. Anyways..." Josh would look at the field of littered spheric mines. He would try what Jake said, but he also wanted to make sure Ion wouldn't be blown up in the process. The spheres would flicker brightly once, which caught his attention. "I think you are good to go." He said after a moment, and then Jessica tossed a fireball at the ground near Ion's feet. Ion closed his eyes, prepared to be blown away. Instead, the fireball hit the ground, and when it did, an explosion went off. The smoke cleared later, and Ion was standing perfectly still as if nothing had happened.
Josh would push up his glasses with a smirk, and Jake would nod with a smile. "It worked." Jake would comment. Ion had looked down to see both of his legs were still there. He then looked towards Josh with a thumbs-up. "Awesome! How did you do it?" Ion asked as he started making his way back to the group. "It was actually easier than I was making it out to be. All I had to do was think about shifting the settings for the mines. What interested me even more was that I could also set each mine to interact differently." Josh would explain, which caused Ion to smirk. It seemed Josh had a convenient Seed Power. Jessica was at a loss. "I don't get it, but basically you and blow shit up too, right?" Jessica would ask, and Josh would nod. "Basically." He would reply.
"Are you only able to place them on the ground?" Jake asked. "I was thinking the same thing." Josh would comment. "Let me try." Josh would look around for a moment. There were about fifty mines, well forty-nine now, considering one had just blown up. Josh would point at one of the mines out of reflex. The mine would turn white which seemed to interest Josh. He would move his finger into the air, and shortly after, the mine would follow his finger. There was a brief delay of a single second. With the mine in the air, Josh was pleased that he could do such a thing; however, he didn't know how to set it. All he did was point the finger at the mine, but the mine would return to orange color when he thought of releasing it in the air. He changed the setting of the mine then told Jessica to throw a fireball where he was pointing. Jessica would do just that, and a few seconds later, an explosion occurred in the air.
"Cool!" Ion would exclaim.
"Awesome!" Jessica would add.
"So you can, that's good." Jake would comment.
Josh would nod then dismiss his mines. The lights would fade from view. "So you can't see them?" Josh asked, mostly to everyone. They all shook their heads. "I see." Josh would comment. "Well, I've learned a lot of things today. I've also learned the drawback of using my Seed Power. Just activating it is fine. I can create a total of fifty, all within a field of twenty meters, but when I adjust the mines, it consumes my mental energy. The more I adjust it, the more energy it consumes. Right now, I am kind of tired. So let's rest for a moment." Josh would sit down on the ground, and the others would do the same.
"Well, you've got the hang of your Seed Power better than I did. It took me forever to figure out what the drawback of mine was." Ion would comment. Josh's brow rose. He recalled Ion having two. One for regeneration and one for super strength. "If I recall, you have a Seed Power known as Limiter Release, and another called Hyper-Regeneration. Correct?" Josh asked, and Ion would nod. "What are the drawbacks?" Josh asked since he was curious. Ion would lay back on the ground and use his arms as pillows.
"Limiter Release tires out my muscles. I can use it for at max power for an hour straight, but afterward, my muscles give in, and I can't move at all. I can cancel it before, and as long as I cancel my power within a span of ten minutes before the hour is up, I can still move, but my body is sluggish. As for my Hyper-Regeneration power, that drawback is a bit weird..." Ion would close his eyes with a tinge of pink on his cheek. Jessica would grin since she saw he was blushing. Josh and Jake were curious as all hell now. "What is it?" Jake asked bluntly. "Well... I..." Ion was stumbling over his words. "He gets horny as fuck!" Jessica exclaimed, which caused Ion's eyes to go wide and force him to sit up. "What the hell, Jess!" Ion exclaimed, and Jessica giggled, "What? There isn't anything to be ashamed about. At least it's not like mine. If anything, you got it pretty easy." Jessica would comment.
"Oh, sure. I guess you completely forgot what happened last time I overused it, huh?" Ion would roll his eyes at Jessica. "Oh, I remember. It was the best night of my life. The way you ravaged me and pinned me to the wall and ground." Jessica seemed to begin to imagine the time perfectly in her head. She began to look all hot and bothered as well, which caused Ion to roll his eyes. Jake imagined a beast taking a helpless woman; meanwhile, Josh cleared his throat to try and fix everyone's dirty minds.
"I guess we'll have to keep watch over you, but with that aside... What about your drawbacks? You suggested they were worse." Josh spoke towards Jessica. Ion wanted to protest about having people watch over him, but it seemed like he wouldn't be able to, so he just let it go.
Jessica looked towards Josh with a smirk. "When I use my Fire Seed Power, my blood begins to burn. The more I use it, the more I feel like I am burning alive from the inside out. I've learned to deal with it for most of it, but if I overuse it, my body passes out without warning. As for my Seed Power: Warp. It drains my energy. I can use the power several times, but I can't do it consecutively. There is a brief delay, where I have to wait before using it again. Then my Seed Power: Shared Sense..." Jessica's smirk would fade. "I don't think I can put it into words, but the best way to explain it would be that I end up losing my sense of self. I feel like I forget who or what I am. As long as I don't overuse it, that feeling goes away, and I begin to remember things that I forgot, but..." Jessica paused for a moment to hug herself.
"If I ever overused it, I feel like I may never remember a thing about myself. I can usually tell when I am going to overuse my Seed Power. So I cut the link off instantly. Doing so provides a shock between the person I shared my Senses with and me, versus if I were to just normally stop the Seed Power. The normal way takes time since it fades out, rather than just instantly stopping." Jessica would explain. Ion would move to embrace her. "I won't let you forget who you are. You are my girl, remember?" Ion would pick up the piece of his half-hearted necklace and hold it in front of her. A smile formed across her face, which for the first time made Josh and Jake see Jessica as just a normal girl. She looked like one rather than some psycho chick. Jessica would pick up her half and connect it to Ion's half. The two pieces fit perfectly, and she turned to kiss Ion on the cheek. "Thank you, Ion." She spoke softly, which caused Ion to smile. "Of course."
The two had their moment. After that, they would ask Jake about his power. At first, he was scared to tell anyone but decided to do so anyway. He shared everything from what his power could do and the drawback it had. Out of all the Seed Powers, they felt like Jake's was the worse when it came to the drawback. Sure, Jessica could possibly forget who she was. Still, as long as she didn't overuse her Seed Power, she could regain her memories. If one compared the pain factor from Jessica's Fire Seed Power and Jake's Seed Power. They were on equal terms; it was the other sides of the drawback that made Jake's Seed Power the worse in terms of drawback. He would get hungry and thirst as well, not to mention the loss of energy. It made sense, though, since Jake's Seed Power was quite powerful.
That was when they all realized that the stronger the Seed Power, the heavier the drawback. If that was the case, then what about Don's Seed Power? Ion and Jessica experienced it first hand. Surely, there was some kind of severe drawback, right? Jake and Josh also knew that Don had some kind of powerful Seed Power, mainly from Noah's stories.
However.
Their thoughts were interrupted. An undead came flying over them and slide beside them. They all looked at it and saw it was on all fours like some kind of wild beast. "The hell is that?" Ion inquired. "Don't know. I have never seen anything like it." Jessica would remark. "Looks like some kind of wild beast." Josh would remark, but Jake was shivering. "R-Run! We have to run!" He shouted and quickly got up to activate his Seed Power. Instantly, undead from the shadows began to pour out with a gray aura radiating from them. They would converge on the Feral Undead, and the Feral would begin swipe away at them. Each swipe seemed to either destroy whatever it came in contact with, be it the head, arm, ribs, or leg.
Everyone was confused with what was going on, but Jake was clearly shaken. It was then they realized why. They had turned to see it where the Feral came from, only to see a horde of more just like it closing in. "We need to head back to base! Now!" Josh exclaimed. "Jake over our rear. Jessica, when they get too close, blast'em. Ion, any that get through I need you to deal with! I'll set up mines in our pathway just in case!" Josh exclaimed and everyone nodded. They would keep a tight formation and run back to their base.