Zeka and Liora are sitting in the same spot as yesterday, peacefully watching the same tree, as if they have a bond with it. Zeka's breath was heavy this time, making it very clear that he was struggling to breathe. The air was low inside his body, and his brain kept going running in a complete circle, making every thought hard to form.
Genseki was standing alone this time; the other kids were trying to make a new move, his eyes were on Akari, the lazy girl who was just existing there without causing chaos or anything, just... existing. And his eyes were sparked with something... different.
A rock suddenly hit Genseki's head from behind. Liora threw a rock to steal his attention while she was trying to calm Zeka from his third day of activation. She didn't speak; she just looked at him for a moment before looking at Zeka again. Genseki watched her as if she was inviting him to sit with them instead of just standing there doing nothing, and he accepted. He walked toward them and decided to sit next to Zeka instead of Liora. wanting to understand him better — after all, they'd likely be stuck together for a long time.
Once he sat down, Zeka started panicking more with breathing, choking after he realized one of the kids suddenly sat next to him, and he barely knew anything about them. Genseki's worry started to rise, thinking he had made a mistake by sitting next to him.
"Did I... do something wrong? Should I move away or..."
He asked quietly, trying to make things less stressful than they looked. But Zeka didn't pull away or anything; he just sat there awkwardly. He didn't know what to say. Should I apologize? Ask him something? Uhm... Zeka thought as Liora nudged him. She nudged him by the waist, making him jump from the sudden contact. He looked at her for a moment, knowing this was a sign to speak or just say anything as he turned around to meet Genseki's gaze.
"So... Uhm... Y-Your name is... Genseki... right? M-Mine is... Z-Zeka... Lior- I mean... Liona gave it to me..."
Zeka hesitated; his gaze kept drifting away, unable to hold a face-to-face with someone else besides Liora, as Genseki looked confused but almost understood his hesitation, as if he had just seen himself through how Zeka spoke. He felt a connection between them.
"That's a... Nice name. And yeah, my name is Genseki. I thought her name was Liora, though. Am I wrong?"
Genseki asked as he looked at Liora, who was already smiling when Zeka called her Liona and was actually holding his promise. Genseki observed them and decided to not ask more about it. It must be a promise, or something, I think. Genseki thought quietly as he looked at Zeka's body; it was slightly trembling. Is it fear? Or was it the activation actually doing a lot of things to him?
"By the way, I saw you yesterday making a fire out of your hand. Is that your power? Zeka?"
He tested his name on his tongue, trying to pronounce it right as he waited for his answer. Zeka looked at him again and lit a fire with his hand, just by lifting his hand over the ground. It was more controlled, less panicking, but still hesitant. Genseki looked amazed when the fire just suddenly existed on his hand without it looking complicated. Genseki would've taken a few seconds before creating a rock; Zeka just... did it.
Genseki lifted his hand to try and make a rock, and he did take seconds to create one. He looked at Zeka, and a smile was drawn on his face.
"The difference is huge between us. You must be talented... Zeka."
Genseki spoke as he threw the rock he made to the tree where Zeka and Liora were watching earlier. Zeka didn't speak; he just accepted the compliment quietly without making it look like a big deal or flexing with it.
"By the way, the scientist said he wanted us to create a 'real' move this time, something that would help us in some combat or whatever."
Liora added as she looked at both of them. Genseki raised his gaze to look at her, but he took a glance at Akari, who was standing still there without a partner to talk with; she was watching both of the twins making moves.
Genseki didn't move, though; he just stayed still waiting for Liora to finish her sentence.
"So, should we try something today? Like naming a cool move or something?"
She stood up and tidied her shirt for a moment as she looked down at Zeka and reached out her hand, offering him a hand to help him stand up. Zeka held her hand, but he was still breathing heavily; his mind, at least, had gone quiet for a moment.
Genseki stood up by himself as he looked at them, waiting for any 'real' move she had just mentioned.
"I'll try to make something cool, watch!"
Liora's excitement was very high as she stayed still, thinking about what the move should look like. And an idea came to her mind.
She made the ground filled with water, and it started to rise up until the waist of the three of them. She started to move around as if she hadn't just made the water cover her whole leg. She reached outside the small cube of water she made and turned around with excitement and looked at them.
"Whoever reaches here first wins!"
She gave a challenge as she stood still, waiting for Zeka and Genseki to reach her side. But both of them looked confused; why would she give such an easy challenge to do? But when they tried to move, they realized why.
The water kept fighting them, and it was moving in the opposite direction when they tried to move. It was a trap to make them use their legs forcefully to reach the other side. They tried to keep fighting the flowing water, but it kept pushing them backwards, making it impossible to even move forward.
Zeka had an idea to try and prevent this trap by moving backwards and turning around, but when he tried to do it, the water kept fighting him again even though he changed his direction.
"Aha! That was a tricky move, Zeka; too bad it wouldn't work!"
Liora said as she was jumping when she realized her power idea was working perfectly well with them. And Genseki tried to think about a solution to just get out of the cube. This is where he decided to use his own power against hers.
He imagined a couple of rocks covering his legs. It fused with his own leg, making it one layer instead of the skin beneath the rock; the rock became his skin. And it worked; he started to move forward slowly and was about to reach the other side of the cube. But when he looked behind him to check what Zeka was doing, he was already at the same pace as Genseki. Genseki was shocked when he found Zeka next to him. He looked at his waist to find the water was boiling while he walked through; the water was changing into steam while he kept moving forward. Zeka decided to make an aura made out of a thin layer of fire to melt whatever was in front of him.
And he was moving faster than Genseki was. Genseki immediately tried to run to reach the other side faster.
"Tie!"
Liora shouted as both Zeka and Genseki passed the cube at the same time; Zeka was gasping, his body straining against the suffocation clawing at his chest; Genseki was just annoyed he hadn't won.
Liora giggled when both of them looked upset as she tapped Zeka's shoulder, giving him a sign that looked like she was saying 'well done'.
Meanwhile...
The scientist was sitting somewhere weird, not in the experiment room, not in the room where the kids slept; it was a different one, hidden somewhere inside the Lab.
"Three days down, three more to go. Right little thing? I don't think you could hear me. Yet. But soon you'll."
The scientist lifted a small cage shaped like a ball and closed it firmly from the outside; you couldn't see what was in it.
"The actual experiment number 'one thousand and nine' would finally start."
The scientist laughed quietly as he threw the ball at the corner of the room next to another small cage that looked similar to the one he was holding. But it was shinier... glowing with... Light.