Mutant animals

Summer, 17:20
Location: Indmart, Earth;

"Wake up, guys— we’re here,” Theo called out from outside the car.

“Hmm... did we already reach your home?" Leo muttered groggily while rubbing his eyes.

‘Umm, already? It shouldn't be this fast. Did I sleep that long?’ Victor woke up rubbing his forehead and eyes, full of confusion.

“Nope, get out and help me sort out all these trolleys,” Theo's voice came from somewhere near the trunk.

“Tsk... fine," Leo sighed, stepping out while massaging his temples. Victor followed, adjusting Noir on his shoulders, who peeked out from his hoodie.

After coming out, both tried to stretch instinctively but stopped mid-motion and went back to the car to fetch their masks.

“After living in comfort for so long, I almost forgot how crappy everything smells”, Victor mumbled while Leo nodded to express his affirmation in this matter.

“Did you guys notice that the masks are less effective than before?" Theo asked, handing two heavy bags to Victor and four to Leo, while keeping two for himself.

“Now that you mentioned it... Yes, it seems… although it’s not that obvious”, Victor said while shoving the bags in the car's trunk.

“Okay, whatever… but why the hell am I carrying four?" Leo asked in a vexed tone while shoving the bags in the car.

"Because you are the strongman here,” Victor and Theo replied in sync.

"Quit whining and load faster," Theo ordered, while rearranging the bags in the trunk for more space.

"Haah… hai hai— what the hell?! What did you buy? Why are there 5 trolleys, and why are they XXXL?" Leo gawked at the towering carts.

“Food, meds, and mainly components. Almost 3 trolleys are full of components only… we need to upgrade everything and make new things to adjust our new selves," Theo explained calmly.

“Hmm... I can't find any major gear. Only auxiliary components. Will we be making things from scratch?" Victor asked in bewilderment while rummaging through the bags.

“Nah, like previously, we will visit the disposal unit and scavenge the parts we need... The new law has increased the cost of the gadgets more than expected, so you have to be ready too... Now hurry up, it's already suspicious that we have so many trolleys,” Theo sighed.

"I don't think everything can be loaded in this car", Leo said, shifting a few bags to create more space.

"Naturally, I ordered a pickup, and it will come in a few minutes”, Theo said while checking his phone.

Kreeeeee……

“Ugh… what was that? Fuck I feel dizzy!” Victor clutched his ears and slumped back into the car.

“Mouw”, Noir meowed weakly from under his hoodie.

“Urgh…” Leo slapped both hands over his mouth, trying not to throw up.

“Huh… what happened to you guys?” Theo panicked and ran towards Victor and Leo with water.

Gulp…gulp… haah…

“What happened?” Theo asked again.

Victor and Leo didn’t reply. Instead, they stared blankly up at the sky, scanning it with furrowed brows.

Theo followed their gaze. “What? Is something up there?” he murmured. A perplexed expression appeared on his face.

“You didn’t hear it... did you?” Victor finally spoke, rubbing his temple. “No way you’d be this calm if you had.”

‘What was it?’ Theo handed Victor a soda, glancing at Leo, who staggered toward the washroom to vomit.

Gulp…Gulp…

“We heard something... shrill. Like ear-piercingly high,” Victor said, massaging his scalp. “Our enhanced senses made it ten times worse.”

“Yeah, it's something like a bird but not quite… It's more terrific… something you can hear in dinosaur movies… that type… but why are you not affected?” Leo explained while wiping his face with his handkerchief.

“I didn’t hear it… I was wearing the earphones in noise cancellation mode.”

“Then were you able to see what it was?” Victor asked with a serious expression.

Beep... beep... beep…

“Nope, I didn’t… don’t worry, we can see it after we get home… and maybe it was just some bird… we haven’t adjusted to our new senses yet, it can happen.” Theo shook his head.

“Maybe…” Victor muttered.

"Ok, guys… if you are stable, let's finish up and get going," Theo said, glancing around.

15 minutes later...

"I didn't think it would take only 15 minutes... we are faster than expected...” The trio looked at everything with mild surprise.

“You guys recovered quite fast…”

“Well, it's natural, I guess, after all the enhancement is all rounded,” Victor replied, clenching his fist as he glanced up at the darkening sky.

“Let’s move."

They got in the car and started moving once again.

***
Summer, 19:35
Location: Highway 14;

“Now that I think about it, where are we going to keep all these things? Do you have that much space in your house? I guess not," Victor questioned, glancing at the stacked bags beside him.

"Relax. I got it all covered... I have already called for a pickup truck and we are going to move most of the things from my house to the villa", Theo replied calmly.

“Fucker... that means we will go to your villa again?"

"Yep", Theo said without missing a beat.

***

Summer, 20:14
Location: Theo's Villa;

“It took longer than expected,” Victor muttered as he got out.

“Haah... I am drained. Let’s go sleep...,” Leo groaned.

“Hold up— just a few more minutes,” Theo said.

Packing, hauling, and moving everything had been exhausting enough, but doing it with heightened senses was torture; they had to wash their hands after each packing. The accumulated dust on some objects, when dusted, the dust in the air gave them nightmares; they felt like something creepy was crawling all over their skin.

“So… what now?” Leo asked, glancing around. “We’ve done everything, but… man, this place really gets creepy at night.”

Theo stepped back onto the porch, stretching.

“Wait a bit, Victor—come with me to double-check that we’ve unloaded everything,” Theo said with a smile.

“Sigh… okay, let’s see…” Leo sighed as he sat on the porch.

Tap... tap...

“Okay, all clear— send the truck”, Victor said, patting the side of the container.

“Okay, guys, after a few minutes… You can open your masks. There is a small lavender flower field nearby… with this much distance, it should be tolerable.”

Theo removed his mask first and took a deep breath. “Tsssh… hmm, as expected, not too overwhelming… haha… at last, some mental peace.”

Leo followed, inhaling deeply. “Yeah… this is nice. Finally, some mental peace.”

“Hmm… what’s this… this smell… somewhat like iron?” Victor mumbled.

“What iron?” inhales deeply “yes, there is some other scent too, but I am not quite sure what smell is this… it’s kinda weird…”, Leo wrinkled his brows after taking a deep sniff.

“Umm… this smell is somewhat familiar,” Theo murmured.

“Something familiar to you…huh… It’s blood!” Victor widened his eyes and inhaled deeply as if to locate the source.

“Huh… now that you said it, yes, it's blood…” Theo’s eyes narrowed.

“Blood, are you guys sure?” Leo spoke while looking at their friends.

“Noir would have been much helpful now, unfortunately, she is sleeping…” Victor frowned, looking at the dark surroundings.

Theo’s expression turned serious. “Let me grab a flashlight.”

***

“Let’s go, I got a torch…” Theo returned holding a big torch.

“Wait… Leo went to grab something that could be used as a weapon,” Victor said, looking in the direction of the garage.

“Here… I got some steel batons.” Leo came back, awkwardly holding three batons.

“…”

“Good timing… let’s go!”

***

“Why the hell are there so few streetlights here?” Leo muttered, his eyes wandering everywhere, looking a little scared. Everything looked still and eerie; everywhere, it was only plain land that seemed to stretch on endlessly.

“Because there are no roads!” Theo snapped back.

“What the he…” Leo was a little stunned. This was not the answer he was expecting.

“Stop arguing, you two… we are already close to the source…” Victor cut in, and his serious tone made them stop as they increased their speed.

10 minutes later…

“Uh… where the hell is it!” Victor said while pulling his hair.

“Don’t be discouraged, boys, let’s do it! ... We have nothing to fear… even if something happens, we can run!” Theo said with a grim expression.

“Theo, at least say something good with your damn mouth for fuck’s sake!” Leo snapped.

“Uh… okay”

“Leo, you try this time,” Victor spoke as he rubbed his forehead.

“Okay… this direction”

10 minutes later…

The trio at last came to a place which is pretty far from Theo’s villa.

“Thick stalks swayed in the wind, their leaves producing slicing whispers as moonlight occasionally filtered through, dappling the ground below. The scene was at once oddly calming, enchanting, and undeniably eerie.” Victor said with a grave but poetic expression.

“What’s that…? Hey, Theo, is Victor possessed or something?” Leo looked at Victor with fear in his eyes.

“Ah… nah, just this... smell of blood, moonlight, and this creepy bamboo grove triggered my poetic instincts,” Victor explained with an awkward expression.

“This area belongs to Mr. Pollok, I guess.” Theo changed the topic.

“So, we are trespassing?” Leo raised a brow, though he didn’t like the thought of trespassing, but it was weirdly exciting.

“Technically, yes, but you don’t need to care. They have already moved, so it’s empty,” Theo said in a low voice.

“Well, good enough… let’s search this area… the concentration of smell is highest in this area.” Victor nodded softly.

“Victor, Theo, see that area… red…shit, you guys were right, it’s blood!” Leo shouted, looking at the red area.

“Let’s go closer…”

The trio gripped their weapon as they moved closer towards the stained area. As they moved closer, their heartbeat sped up, and the smell became unbearable. When they were close enough, they saw a headless corpse of big rats; all of the bodies were killed similarly, and a total of 20 corpses were scattered there… their blood forming a large puddle in that area.

“Leo, take the torch and keep a lookout in this area. Inform us if you find anything more.” Theo passed Leo the torch, then grabbed a stick from the ground like a forensic investigator.

“What is this? Which animal only eats heads?” Victor said with a grim look in his eyes.

“Theo, what are you doing?” Leo exclaimed, looking at Theo, who was poking the bodies with a stick.

“You look out carefully…I am just checking how these guys are killed…” Theo took some photos under the illumination of a flashlight.

“The heads are brutally bitten off…hmm… my analysis is that it’s done by something hook-shaped… a crowbar-type thing… Theo, take one for a sample if possible.” Victor looked at Theo seriously, who was observing the corpse.

“I was planning on doing that… judging from the blood, I think this is recent… sigh.” Theo took out a wrapper from his pocket.

“Victor, any idea which animal it can be? You took biology in school… any idea?” Theo asked as he carefully wrapped a body, collected some of the blood, and some samples of the leaves and soil surrounding the bodies.

“Umm… I am not sure, many animals eat flesh but exclusively heads, and that also in this area… and the animals found in this area are mainly cats, dogs, foxes, hyenas, and deer, from what I have observed… none of them meet the criteria…” Victor appeared to be in deep thought.

“Guys, we don’t have much time. I hear some big movements…” Leo dimmed the torch to a minimum, but enough for them to see.

“Okay, let’s flee…” Theo wrapped his things and took a can of spray from his pocket, and sprayed it everywhere.

All three of them fled from the scene.

It can be said that the retreat was a good decision on their part, as a few minutes after they left, a pack of hyenas gathered near the vicinity.

***

Summer, 05:25
Location: Theo's Villa;

"I never thought someday I would sleep so late and wake up this early,” Leo muttered, brushing his teeth.

Ptui…tooh…tooh…

“Well, I will be surprised if you could even sleep peacefully, it was a heck of a night… But I don’t think Theo even slept, judging from his excited face last night…” Victor said as he wiped his face with a towel.

“Well, at least I woke up early… I even texted my mom too… this will keep them occupied for some time… heh…heh”, Leo said with an evil laugh.

“Good Idea, I should text it too… they will be shocked”.

“There is some good news and some bad news, guys, so which one do you guys wanna hear first?” Theo’s voice came from the kitchen.

"MAAAW"

“…” “…”

"I am not taking you to the bath now… your teeth need to be brushed… don’t expect I forgot you didn’t brush yesterday…" Victor's voice came from the gym.

"Uh... where was I? Yes, good news and bad news, which one?... it doesn’t really matter, both are not that good…", Theo said while placing the plates on the table.

“Let’s go with the good one first, then…”, Leo said as he sat at the dining table.

“The good news is I got our detailed report and it’s confirmed that what we were doing was a good thing and will help us in long run… and from what I discovered this is not the final… we will go through another ‘evolution’… the whatever energy our bodies are collecting is slowly accumulating and once enough is accumulated it will evolve us… Something like those power-ups from cultivation novels… the rest need to be tested”, Theo explained the last part with excitement.

Leo's expression froze. ‘This lunatic... how many tests does he want to do? We have already done what we can, and he wants to do more tests.’

“What's today's breakfast?... I remembered today is Theo's turn." Victor changed the topic of the test.

"Yes, I remember, plain bread toast with butter and boiled egg", Theo's voice came from the kitchen.

"That's simple... don't we need more nutrients?" Leo asked with a baffled expression.

“Why the hell do we need more nutrients? Our body already has more than enough energy, which keeps increasing, and we need to digest, and you need more? ... We are already walking nukes, isn’t that already enough?"

"Hahaha… I am joking ... of course it’s enough!" Leo tried to avoid everything with an awkward chuckle.

"Good! You get it... so after some anonymous discussion with Victor, we together have created a training plan which we will try today, and if it's good, we will be doing it for the whole summer vacation”, Theo said while stuffing the bread in his mouth.

“Huh, when did all of this happen? And what is the bad news?” Leo was again feeling baffled.

“At night, we went to sleep after you, remember? So, with our numerous experiences from anime and novels, we decided on adding a combat practice after digesting exercises”, Theo said as he adjusted his spectacles in a way that reflected sunlight in Leo's eyes, momentarily blinding him.

“Fuck!"

“And here is the bad news, last night after some detailed investigation of the corpse, and the footage from the car cam, the one where you guys got dizzy. I didn’t find anything except a hazy silhouette of a bird… the size of an adult eagle, I guess. And for the corpse, as Victor has guessed, it was done by something hook-type thing… after piercing the head was forcefully torn apart… problem is I am still baffled which animal is this?”

“Huh… after pulling an all-nighter, you still can't confirm it?... Don’t you have that DNA analyzer?” Victor looked at Theo with a confused expression.

“The machine needs time and my AI to analyse it, and truthfully, I am not an expert in these matters.” Theo raised the glass to drink his orange juice.

“Tsk, what a mess… is being walking nukes not enough!” Leo grumbled.

“Well, don’t be scared… it might not be that serious at all… first! We can confirm this started with this weird energy, let’s call it ‘Mana’ from now on, but what I can tell is we don’t need to take tension, even if some animals are mutating, it can’t be that fast…” Theo paused a little.

“From the data collected, what I can tell is, it’s not that our body is slowly absorbing energy, it’s because the energy is low that it's thin… and if animals mutate fast, shouldn’t there be any news?” Theo explained in a serious tone.

“If it’s like this, then it’s okay… to be heroes, villains are also needed.”, Leo spoke with conviction as he overcame his fear.

"Don't you want to know what we will be doing?" Victor spoke as he took a bite from the toast.

"Huh... Yes, do tell... what you guys now come up with your experiences of anime and novels!" Leo said with a sarcastic tone.

"Well... It’s nothing special. We will do exercises as usual, focusing on all parts of our body so that the energy spreads evenly. Lastly, for combat training, Victor and I will attack you, and you will defend.” Theo explained everything with a straight face.

“Ah, and yes, while defending, you can counterattack too,” Victor added.

“What the… and lastly, why the hell did you decide to name it ‘mana’?” Leo was used to their shamelessness, so he didn’t mind and asked what intrigued him the most.

“It’s not like you don’t know what is Mana… we don’t know what this energy is called, so 'mana' is a better nothing.” Theo shrugged. “It’s the term we are most familiar with, after all.”

***

Summer, 12:40
Location: Theo’s Villa;

“Okay, I guess it will be sufficient for today, after all, combat will also digest some energy too”, Theo said as he sat on the bench wiping his face from sweat.

“Victor, man, how are you not even sweating today?” Leo said as he flopped down beside Theo.

“Well, it may be because of my body temperature… my body is evolving somewhat differently from you guys… look, I am not even tired.” Victor shrugged, still jogging at a light pace.

“Ugh… the world is unfair… sigh…It would be much better if our bodies could absorb the energy automatically without doing all these exercises”, Leo sighed while staring at the ceiling.

Theo raised an eyebrow. “Uh… did you forget what I said? Our body is already absorbing the energy, but the problem is the energy is not getting distributed evenly… the passively absorbed energy is mutating our cells…but that is limited to some areas only… so, by exercising, I am making sure the full body gets benefit.”

“If I am not wrong, this is also strengthening our body and increasing our capacity to hold the energy, too,” Victor explained.

“Will evenly spreading and increasing the capacity be a good thing?” Leo asked while frowning.

“I don’t know, from all the anime, novels, and all that, what I can see is that all protagonists do this… and we got a chance, so why not!” Victor said with conviction.

‘I am speechless…’ Leo thought internally.

“Now that I think about it, you guys are talking about combat, but did you guys know how to fight? Did you watch any tutorials?” Leo said after 20 seconds of silence.

‘Uh, Shit, I forgot...’ Both Victor and Theo looked at each other.

Looking at the silence, Leo can guess that they didn’t.

"Don't tell me, you guys forgot that in the excitement of beating me.” Leo looked at the duo in silence. “I am truly speechless...”

“Doesn’t matter. Today, we will just do it casually. With the data we will collect, we can come up with what everyone needs by tomorrow... uh, the next time... and while we are at it, we can try to control the energy, too.” Theo thought of an excuse.

“Okay, say no more… heh…heh”, Leo got excited.

“Khu khu… let’s start... I can’t wait to bash you guys with my steel fists.”