"Got us a smart ass, aye?" The man said as he punched me in the face, knocking me off my feet and into a tile wall, cracking it.
[Total damage 5% Repairing.]
I got up and brushed myself off. The guy was much faster than I had assumed, and he came for me again. I ducked under his first hook but had to block his jab, knocking me back.
Before I could react, the guy jumped at me, punching me in the face again. I was knocked to the ground, and the bear of a man jumped on top of me.
[Total damage 10% Repairing.]
Then the punches started to rain down, and I was reminded of a similar scene from this morning. It hurt, but not as bad as you would think, and the pain was actually letting up.
[Total damage 9% Repairing.]
Orpheus said this was one way to train, so I just lay back and enjoyed what was now akin to a face massage.
[Total damage 7% Repairing.]
Oh?
[Total damage 3% Repairing.]
The man jumped back from me, panting, his fist covered in blood, but it was all his own. I took a deep breath and hopped up, stretching my arms; man, did I feel good!
"Thanks! Man, I really owe you one! I needed that more than you know!" I said as I ran my hand through my tangled hair.
"HOW IS YOUR FACE SO PRETTY?!" Sofia screamed at me from the partially opened door.
"Shut that damn door, woman, before I come over there!" I growled, and the door slammed as Sofia squeaked.
"What the hell is wrong with you!?" The big man asked as he stared in disbelief.
Instead of answering, a tree branch burst from the wall behind me and grabbed him, ripping him back out the hole in the wall and flung him off into the distance. I just had no time for people like that.
"Sofia, let's go. Places to go, hopefully, fewer people to throw," I called out, and Sofia came running over to me as she burst from the closed door.
"I am not even going to ask what happened there, Papi, but you are scary. That monster hit you so many times, and yet you get up looking like you just spent the whole day at the spa?!" Sofia exclaimed, and I nodded.
"Yeah, I have some pretty strange abilities, but I will need your help in figuring them out. For now, If you don't mind, I am going to carry you," I said to Sofia, and she smiled warmly, making me falter slightly.
It was the first genuine look I had gotten from her, making me look at her just a bit differently. I got the tree to take us down to the ground from the second floor and put me down.
The trees were now connected to the university, and I was starting to connect with more of them around me. Grass grew up under me and pushed me forward at high speed toward the university.
The ground was ripped up in front of me, and Sofia was watching in amazement as we weaved around the dead cars. While this was happening, I was spreading out to all the trees in the area to connect with them to spread to where people needed help.
I couldn't help the entire city, but I could provide more Great Trees with this. That reminded me to look back, and the tree was still growing.
There was much to figure out how I could monitor the bad humans from coming in and trying to disrupt the peaceful ones. Among other things were the food and water, but I was really hoping the hospital would have had some kind of fruits or vegetables I could have made us of.
"Are you okay, Papi? Looks like you have something bothering you, right?" Sofia asked me as we glided along, carving out a path of greenery as we went.
"Food, water, people like that guy I just had to kill. There is no way right now to get the first two things, and the last one is going to start popping up a lot more soon," I said as we reached about halfway to the university, making good time.
"I get that, but you are pretty smart, and you make decisions pretty fast. That guy would have just gone and found other girls, so I think you made the right choice," Sofia said, and I nodded.
"The world no longer has a place for people like that if I have anything to say about it. I want everyone to feel safe, but we are a long way off that. For now, we are going to try to save who we can," I said, and Sofia nodded up to me, then started looking ahead again.
I wished I could slow my brain down, but it was trying to help me figure out how to solve the food problem. So far, walnuts were the only edible thing that I had scanned, which would help, but I couldn't just feed people nuts.
The last glaring problem was water, but I was sure that Sofia would be able to help me figure that part out. I just needed to know how plants move water from their roots to their leaves, and that problem would be solved.
The university was coming in sight now, and I could see that my buddies were still strapped to the ground where I left them. I could sense that the girls were all at home now, except for Melody, but they would make it back before me.
"Is there a reason those people are grown to the ground, Papi?" Sofia asked as she stared at the men that were bound entirely in the grass.
"More miscreants, but I don't think these ones are quite as bad as the last. They are going to take us to their leader so we can have a little chat, but first, I need to send the boys from the dorms here to the Great Tree. Then we will come back for these guys," I explained, and Sofia grinned up at me with closed eyes and nodded.