After training with the beastmen for a week, Leo began to see progress in tempering his nerves with earth and rock energy. Once complete, he can finally start fortifying his bones with his three qi types.
Leo brushed off dirt from his training and began walking home. He looked up to see the clouds moving swiftly over his head.
'Sir, I detect a huge storm coming in. Those clouds in the south will be here in 3 hours.'
"Well, I guess I won't see the bison today. Joe will be upset."
'Sir, this storm will be a severe one. Please stay indoors so as not to get a cold.'
'Alright, Sprite, I will stay in.'
Walking up to the house, Joe sat outside, looking at the clouds rolling in. These days have been the best Joe had in a long time. He had lived with several vagabond groups. This place was the first one, and he was pleased. A gut feeling told him that this storm would be an important one. Then, looking down, he saw a young man walking up, and he couldn't help but smile at him.
"Hey, Joe." As Leo walked over, he patted Joe on the shoulder. "An annoying bird said we should head inside."
'Sir, I'm not an annoying bird.'
"Well, don't forget to invite the little lady in."
Turning around, Leo saw a curly brown-haired girl walking towards them. Her hazel eyes and that left dimple when smiles always make the bleakest days brighter. Today she was wearing a blue dress with white flowers on it. "Oh, you didn't dress up for little old me. Did you?" Joe winked at her and laughed.
"Of course not." She tried to act mad at the old man.
"So, you wanted to impress our little Leo here." When Samantha heard that, she turned bright red.
Leo couldn't stand her being teased anymore.
"Cut it out, Joe. We are lucky Samantha comes to join us so often." Leo said that and looked down. For some reason, he felt embarrassed.
"Fine. Fine. I give up. You two win. Either way, Miss Samantha, come in, and we can cook dinner. It is looking like it is going to rain anyway."
All three of them walked inside. Over on the counter, Leo, with Sprite's help, built an iron stove of sorts.
Leo went outside to grab some wood and started to hear thunder. Leo picked up a few pieces of wood and looked at the storm.
In the distance, he could see light flashes rolling through the sky. He walked back in to see Samantha and Joe talking.
Leo walked over to the counter and started preparing food to make stew. In this era, where most food was hunted and foraged, soups and stews became the best way to cook a meal.
After boiling the water a bit, Leo added in some dried meat and some grasses Samantha brought over. Luckily, Anna and Samantha have a garden they maintain. For most of the meals, Samantha came over, for she brought things from it.
*Kaboom*
A lightning bolt struck on the outskirts of the settlement.
"That was really close by." Startled, Samantha responded.
"Yeah, it was," replied Leo. 'Sprite, when was our last storm this bad?'
'Sir, our last thunderstorm was six months, three days, and forty-five minutes ago.'
Leo rolled his eyes at Sprite's over-informative answer.
"It has been a minute since we had a good downpour. Samantha, at least your garden will get a lot of water."
*Kaboom*
This bolt of lightning hit the blaster cannons in the center of the settlement. The same ones that fired on Joe and Leo before. The strike disabled the cannons unbeknownst to Leo and company.
"Well, I hope none of the men on the Defense brigade are out in this weather," said Joe. Over the past week, he had grown quite close to defense members.
- - - - -
Over in the council room, Jeff ran in to report to Jack and Anna. "Reporting that last lightning strike took down our generator for the main blaster."
"Damn it." Jack slammed his fist on the table.
"Call in the engineers to repair it at all cost. Go now." The Defense member exited the room in a hurry. Turning to Anna, Jack said, "I think we need to put everyone on high alert."
"I don't want to scare everyone, Jack." She looked out the window and then back at the man before her. "It is just a storm. It will pass."
"Anna, if any beast attacks while we are defenseless and hiding from the rain, we will be massacred."
"Just take a deep breath, Jack. This is my call, and I'm not going to cause panic through the settlement."
- - - - -
*Kaboom*
'Sir, I have analyzed the storm. There is a threat of tornados forming.'
'Sprite, what is a tornado?' Leo asked, sitting next to the window watching the rain. Joe and Samantha were inside talking about collecting rain for the garden.
'Sir, in the books you found in the ruins of D.C., it told me about when and what a tornado is.'
'I don't care how you know, Sprite. Just tell me what it is.'
'A tornado is a destructive vortex of violently rotating winds having the appearance of a funnel-shaped cloud. Usually in conjunction with a large thunderstorm.'
Leo pondered on this new weather phenomenon. He looked over to ask Joe or Sam.
"Do either of you ever hear of a thing called tornados?"
"I have. They are storms with strong winds." Joe answered, knowing Sprite must have mentioned it. "Do you think it will appear?"
Samantha dropped the cup of water she was drinking. "That sounds like Death Winds," Samantha interjected. "Those funneled winds kill anything it touches. If we see one, we have to stay far away from it. Okay?"
'Well, you only said threat, right? Then that means there isn't one at the moment.' By now, he understood the way Sprite said things indicates the importance of it.
Joe picked up the cup and said," Don't worry, Samantha, we should be fine."
"Yeah, I heard of it once and was curious, Sam. Let's forget I mentioned it."
'Sir, you are correct. At the moment, Independence has only a 34% chance of a tornado to appear.'
Leo grabbed Samantha's cup from Joe. He then refilled it and handed it back to her. "Don't worry too much. I have been through tons of storms and have always been fine."
Leo said that for Samantha as much as for himself. He needed to calm himself down.
A defense member ran inside the home and looked at Joe and Leo. "Sorry to disturb you guys, but we need your help. The generator short-circuited."
"I will go take a look, Joe. You can stay here with Sam."
"Umm, we were hoping more for Joe than you," Leo explained the defense member.
"Let me assure you, Leo will be able to get it working faster than I will," explained Joe.
The member gave in and said," Alright, come on."
"I will be back in a bit. Sam, can you finish the stew for you and Joe?"
Samantha wanted to stop him but buried that feeling. "It would be my pleasure." She responded so sweetly.
Leo smiled quickly and then ran out the door to follow the Defense member.
"Alright, bye, you two," shouted Leo halfway out the door.
Running through the rain, they finally got to the building with the giant blaster on top. Entering the building soaked and wet, Leo looked around, seeing many engineer members scurrying about.
He walked over to a man he talked to when building Joe's chair. The man was about 50 and had a long, grey, patchy beard. He was old, but his eyes showed great wisdom. "Young Leo, come over here."
"Hello, Gladius. Where is the generator?" Leo responded.
The older man had no problem with Leo. This young boy was more intelligent than most of the engineer members. Little did the man know it was all his little AI.
"Yes, yes. Come this way." Gladius led Leo to the center room with the generator in it.
'Sprite, scan the device.'
'Sir, the batteries and fuses were burnt out. The storage won't hold a charge anymore.'
'What can we do, Sprite?'
'Sir, we can use the parts from the hovercraft to fix the generator.'
Gladius waited for the boy to stop staring at the generator.
"What if we use parts from the hovercraft?" Proposed Leo.
Gladius perked up. "That's a great idea, Leo. Can you go fetch it for us in this weather?"
"Sure, let me go grab it." Leaving the room, he headed to the door. Gladius stopped him.
"Hey, Leo, catch." Gladius threw him a Swiss army knife. "Also, take my coat by the door. No reason to be out in the rain without one."
"Thanks, Gladius. I'll be right back."
Leo grabbed the jacket. After stepping outside, the rain continued pouring down. The wind was almost pushing it sideways.
Leo stood there for a second to try and remember where the bay was located. Shadow mentioned in passing that the bay was down south. Running down that way, Leo thought he saw an enormous shadow in the clouds.
*Kaboom*
The thunder reminded him he had a job to do. Leo stopped looking up and ran to the storage area to find the hovercraft.