~ Now then, shall we start buddy? ~

[Since we have a full belly and no threat around us, why not?]

I have a sudden feeling of Deja-vu. Oh well, whatever.

~ I have two pieces of good news and two pieces of bad news. Which do you want to hear first? ~

[Bad news first.]

~ Ok brace yourself. First, our suits are gone. As in poof, gone, vanished in thin air. I have searched every inch in that pond before you woke up but nothing. ~

[Meaning we just lost our last piece of armor, and by extension our cloths.]

~ Correct. Second one is a tad bit severe. Try to use your sonar. ~

[Why?]

~ Just use it. ~

[Ok, but I don’t get…]

I abruptly stop speaking. I can’t use my sonar. Why you ask? Because I can’t feel my breath (Remember, this breath is the one that fuels his sonar ability. Read 01-04.).

~ Yes. Our breath is gone. I can’t feel a single speck of breath inside me. ~

‘Calm down Roy. Panicking won’t help.’

[That pond is somehow responsible for this.]

~ My thoughts exactly. ~

[(Sigh) great. What are the good news?]

~ Our equipments didn’t vanish in this air. Here’s your knifes and ID card. ~

[And the next good news?]

~ Try to imagine as if something is spilling out from your hand. ~

I raise my eyebrow, but refrain from questioning. Obediently closing my eyes, I focus on my hand and do as Mike instructed.

~ Ok. That’s not what I expected but, open your eyes. ~

I open my eyes and look at my hand. And what I see promptly makes me do a backflip and get away to a good distance.

Masses of black smoke is swirling where I was just sitting.

[WHAT IS THAT!?]

~ That’s your ability. ~

Mike raised his left hand. A moment later, a bright light started emitting from his hand.

~ This is my ability. I can create light. ~

[You mean we have superpowers? We have evolved?]

~ Cool right? ~

The black smoke dispersed within minutes. I relax and sit down again. Lots of things happened in a very short amount of time. I would be lying if I said I am not excited that I have superpowers, but right now one particular thing is bugging me.

[Mike, before you regained consciousness, did you hear something like ‘cut hard line’ protocol?]

~ I don’t exactly remember. Why? ~

[I heard it just before waking up. That voice sounded like…]

~ If you are thinking something like the suit merged with your body, forget it. I distinctly remember chief saying that those suits are not symbiotic. ~

[I know. But that voice awfully sounded like my suit. Oh well. For now, we need some cloths, at least some pants.]

~ I forgot to tell you one more thing. Earlier when I was examining the suit-guy's body, your ID card scanned the dead guy and marked the job as done. ~

[Nice.]

I took the suit-guy’s pants, Mike took pant-guy’s pants. Then we proceed to toss the dead bodies in the pond. Their bodies disintegrated within minutes. The suit-guy wasn’t laying. Guess we were lucky.

We leave the cave and proceed towards the town. On the road, I start understanding my new found ability.

Producing the black smoke is quite easy. I just have to will it to come out from any part of my body. That takes care of producing the element however I want. But what is this smoke actually?

I try to feel the smoke. Nothing. Neither Mike nor I can feel it.

I try to smell the smoke. Nothing. Neither Mike nor I can smell it.

I try to change the shape of the smoke. Nothing. It just falls on the ground after being produced.

I try to throw the smoke. Nothing. I can’t hold it or put any force onto it to throw it.

I try to cover a bit of water with the smoke. Nothing. No visible change.

I catch a small rabbit and cover it with smoke in an attempt to suffocate it. Nope, not working.

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS THIS!? Does it even do anything!? I start getting frustrated. Please don’t tell me I got a useless ability. Mike is petting my head in an attempt to console me.

~ (Petting my head) there there, everything will be alright. ~

[Hey Mike.]

~ (Puppy dog eyes) yes my love? ~

[Stop doing that. It’s creeping me out. Anyway, did you figure out your abilities?]

~ (Serious tone) to some extent, yes. I can create light. I can create colored light too, like green color light, yellow color light, you get the idea. ~

[Meaning you are just a living light source.]

~ That’s what I thought. But there’s more to it than meets the eye. ~

[Such as?]

~ Think about it this way. I can create light, right? What if I create a VERY bright light in less than one second? ~

[A very bright light in one second? Like a flashbang?]

~ (Smiling from ear to ear) bingo. ~

[At least you got a good ability. (Sigh) guess I am the unlucky one.]

~ You don’t know that. ~

[How else would you explain my useless ability?]

Mike fell silent. That’s what I expected. I didn’t expect him to know anything about this black smoke. At least if I knew what this black smoke is actually, I could have found out some uses for it.

~ Let’s eat something. You are tired and hungry from all those experiments, right? I will cook the meat for you. ~

I give Mike a fake smile. I know he is trying to cheer me up. I am really grateful for that. But, it’s just that I can’t feel any joy within me. I slumped down beside the fire Mike made, feeling its heat.

I stare into the fire and realize just how much vulnerable I feel without my sonar. I feel cold, so I inch a bit closer to the fire. I don’t remember the last time I went this long with sonar off. Today, it took me a great deal of effort to catch the rabbit. Without sonar, I didn’t know where the rabbit will be and I had to rely on raw physical effort to catch it.

~ (With a clear hint of agitation) Roy, what are you doing? ~

[Nothing. I... I just realized just how much I relied on sonar.]

~ (Close to shouting) Not that! Don’t you feel hot!? ~

[No. I rather feel cold.]

~ (Shouting) ROY YOU ARE SITTING ON FIRE RIGHT NOW!!! ~

[What?]

I wake up from my trance and look in front of me. I feel a shiver run down my spine and I scurry away from the fire. I can feel the cold sweat forming on my back. Just like Mike said, I was literally inside the fire.

Hold on!

How did I NOT feel the heat? Normally, when a human is close to fire or specifically heat, he will try to get away cause of his natural instinct. Why didn’t I? A sudden realization hits me. Is it possible?

[Mike, I think I know how my ability works.]

~ (With an excited voice) Oh yeah? Do tell. ~

[Watch.]

I get close to the fire and produce the smoke, letting it wash over the fire.

[Come close to the fire.]

~ Ooookay. (Getting a bit closer) what? (Getting a bit more closer) what? I don’t feel anything. ~

[Exactly the point.]

I absorb the smoke inside me. Just then…

~ THE FUCK!!!??? ~

Mike got away from the fire with a speed impossible for a human, or at least that’s how it would have been if it was a cartoon.

[Figured out my ability yet?]

~ Heat negation? ~

[No, I don’t think so.]

~ Then what is it? ~

[When I say ready, punch me on my left palm.]

~ Huh? Why? ~

[Just do it.]

I imagine a layer of black smoke forming just behind my skin on my left palm. I point the palm towards Mike.

‘Ok, it’s now or never.’

[Ready.]

~ (Sigh) fine. ~

Mike took a stance.

[OI, THE FUCK ARE YOU PLANNING!?]

~ You just said punch me. You didn’t say how hard. ~

‘Oh shit.’

[WAIT WAIT MIKE TIME OU…]

BOOOOOOOOO………………PSSSSSSSSsssssssssss.

A sound similar to a small explosion was going to ring out, except it never did. Imagine the force of the explosion is spreading in form of a sphere with my palm as the center. But the sphere, after spreading for a bit, began to shrink rapidly until there was no sphere.

And with this, my experiment is successful. What Mike did was dangerous, but it confirmed my theory further. Most likely, the black smoke absorbs energy. When on fire, it absorbed the heat. When punched, it absorbed the impact. I am sure I can absorb the explosive force of a grenade, or the impact of a bullet, though I don’t want to test it right now.

[Hey Mike did you see tha… (Abrupt stop)]

~ How? How did I do that? ~

Mike standing there absent mindedly, exchanging his gaze between his fist and me. He is murmuring the same thing continuously. I stand in front of him and pull him into a tight hug.

[Hush, hush baby, calm down. I am right here, uninjured, alive and well.]

Mike snapped out from his trance. He looked at me, touching my face to confirm my identity then started weeping while returning my hug.

~ I am sorry Roy, I am really sorry. I just wanted to play a prank on you. I didn’t know how I did that. I swear I didn’t want to hit you that hard. I swear I didn’t know I could punch that hard. Please forgive me, please forgive me, please, please, please ~

I just continued to hug him and pet his head. I whispered into his ear.

[I know Mike, I know. I know that was an accident. I know you will never hurt me. Besides, I am not that easy to kill. We are the invincible duo, remember?]

Mike chuckled a bit at my response.

~ You just copied the last line from me, didn’t you? ~

[It worked, right?]

~ Yeah… (Wiping his tears) so how did your experiment go? ~

[It went perfect, thanks to you. My ability is, or at least a part of it is to absorb any form of energy. Mind you, only energy.]

~ So you just absorbed the force of my punch? ~

[To me, it felt like I was hit with foam.]

~ Thank god. At least I got an unbreakable punching bag. ~

[OI.]

~ Just kidding, just kidding. So what’s next? ~

[As good as it is to know that I can absorb energy, I don’t know anything what this black smoke actually is. I have to find out what it is, or find out the one who knows what it is.]

~ I got your back. But how to find out about it? ~

[I think our best bet is Alice. She is a trader, so I daresay she travelled a lot. She got to know something about it or at least point us to the right direction.]

~ Fair enough. Let’s hurry to the town. ~

When we reached the town, it was pretty late. We went to the crimson caravan straight and asked for Alice. Sena informed me that Alice was out for a few days now and she should be arriving sometime tomorrow afternoon.

[Okay. Then I guess we will be coming back tomorrow. Later.]

~ Bye Jin. ~

Sena called out hastily.

“Wait.”

[Yes?]

“You do know that mom is not in today, right?”

[Yes, you just told us.]

“And… You know… Young women… L-like us, tend to be a bit… fearful of spending a night alone, right?”

[No we don’t.]

“Ah geez, get a clue will you?”

Sena jumped into my arms and passionately kissed me. I just smile wickedly.

[Sena, if you don’t tell me what you want, I won’t know.]

“(Tears in eyes) uuuuuuuh, meanie.”

[I don’t know what you are talking about.]

Sena leaned on me and whispered into my ear.

“I want you to love me… a lot… tonight.”

[(Petting Sena on head) good girl.]

I pick up Sena in a princess carry and go to her room. On the way, we met Guru who just shrugged and patted me on my shoulder. I lay down Sena on her bed, and started doing the assignment she asked of me. Mike is also starting his assignment with Jin.

Somehow today. I am more aroused than normal. Somehow, today her body seems more erotic, her moans seems more alluring, her squirming seems more seductive. All of this together, is making me harder than I have ever been.

But all good times must come to an end, and so did mine. I released a massive amount inside Sena, who reached her eighth orgasm (probably ninth, I lost count at five) upon receiving my seed. I wait a bit before separating myself from her. Mike still going at it. Jin has a face of pure bliss plastered on her face.

Sena is panting heavily. Her well-endowed chest is shaking with her ragged breathing. This spectacle made me hard once again. I pulled onto Sena’s leg and made her come close. I spread her legs easily since she offered no resistance, or to be specific she could not offer any resistance. She mumbled something about being sensitive after being made to orgasm so many times, but I paid no heed and entered her.

After god knows how long, I have ejaculated for the second time. By this time. Sena has already lost her consciousness. But my manhood showed no signs of calming down. What do I do? I don’t really want to attack Sena while she is unconscious. Looks like I have to take care of it myself. I see Mike is also in the same predicament.

Seems like we got superpowers, in more than one ways.