The day following the incident with the prisoner. Around noon Josh opened his eyes and saw the sky. He had decided to sleep under the stars instead of in his tent. He felt more connected in the open. He had stayed up late practicing using his powers. He even did a little training wielding two Powers at once. However he was not yet good at that.
Staring at the sky just noticed it was a slightly cloudy day. "Such a good day to do my pre-adventure errands." He said to himself. Getting up he cleaned himself up and headed down off the roof. As he got down he saw Joe and James carrying a reinforced cage. They were bringing it from the warehouse to the previous kennel area.
He waved and hollered. "good morning" they returned the gesture and continued walking. He then went to get a boxtruck ready.
They had four working box trucks along with three broken down ones. half a dozen vans and several cars. With three heavy duty trucks and many trailers. They even had one semi truck along with four trailers for it. He preferred one of the box trucks and that is what he got ready. As He was getting it ready he noticed, that the box truck Joe and James had took, had a huge dent in the side of it. He just continued getting his truck ready. After pulling it out and bringing it to the wall. He got out and went to tell Joe he was heading out for errands, and to ask him about the truck.
Upon reaching Joe. He and his wife were having an argument with another adult couple. Greg and Connie they lived in the community. Josh heard Greg yell." Keep your despicable son away from my daughter.
Joe replied." He's a grown man I don't have to tell him what to do. Your daughter is grown as well. They can make their own decisions. And if you call my son a name again we are going to have problems.
Greg couldn't take it anymore and he jumped towards Joe. before he could reach him a fireball landed in between them. When the fireball hit the ground a line of fire shot straight up making the two couples back up. Josh then walked forward and said." That's enough. We're a community were meant to stick together. They're obviously in love just leave them alone. Let them be happy.
Before Josh could say anything else Greg and Connie stormed off. Laughing Joe said." thanks for saving me from that crazy coot." Josh laughed hysterically and said" as if I needed to help you. Anyway I just came to tell you I'm headed out in one of the trucks too get some stuff for my adventure. I also wanted to ask you about what happened to the truck, the one that you guys took to find the cages."
Joe with a slight frown spoke. " I've been procrastinating telling you. But it seems animals have slightly mutated from the power in the air. At least the one who attacked us. We think it was a cow but it was 5 foot tall, and probably 3 tons overweight. It had glowing green eyes and sharp metallic looking horns. It worked more of a beast than a cow. He's still out there"
Josh was shook. " Animals are getting Powers too. That can make things more dangerous. But I can't worry about that right now Joe, we have a plan and I need to go. I'm about to leave I'll see you soon my friend."
Do you want anybody with you to help?" Joe asked and josh replied." No thanks I'll be all right. Thanks for asking though." He then walked away and headedback to the truck. Before getting in the truck he created a earth pole out of the dirt. Then getting in the truck, he stuck the Earth pole out of the window. He touched the ground with it. Once he did he activated the earth power, the wall spread apart opening a doorway. After pulling out he, touched the ground with the earth pole again. After the Earth wall sealed he shrunk the pole, to the size of a flashlight. He then put the Earth pole on the passenger seat. Then he drove away heading to his first stop.
Josh's first stop was about thirty miles north. He was about halfway, when he noticed a group of three people. They were running from a giant monster cow with green eyes. " That must be the same cow, that Joe and James ran into. Or maybe there's more of them." Josh gulped as he thought. " I should help them, they're obviously not going to live if I don't."
Speeding up he headed straight towards the group. Seeing him they started to panic, they thought they were being attacked from two angles. But just before the truck reached them, it swerved around them. And then grazing the cow and continuing on.
The group was baffled. And the cow was pissed. It started chasing Josh's truck. It Caught up to him quickly, he was surprised because he was driving at forty miles an hour. Speeding up slightly, he just barely dodged a ram attack from the monster cow.
Josh kept this pace up staying just in front of the cow, for about two miles before slamming on the gas. He quickly pulled farther ahead and within minutes he could no longer see the cow behind him.
"Good at least those people are safe. I will just have to take the long way back." He thought. He was almost to his first stop. He could now see it. A moderate sized building, with a sign that was half falling that said collectors center. " It looks pretty banged up"
As he pulled behind the building, he activated his purple eyes. He could tell there were no energies in the building. However he could see the cows energy. It couldn't be more than a few miles away. He would have to move quickly. He noticed that the cow's energy was terrifying. Compared to a persons power, It had to be atleast at the power of level five. Except it was condensed at a much greater degree. "Quite scary" he thought as he headed in the building.
As he entered he saw, he was in the warehouse part of the building. He searched around he found a few supplies a couple knives. A good amount of fabric. All stuff he could use, but not really what he was looking for.
He continued to the display part of the building. Majority and the stuff of this part had been taken. He noticed a heavy old fashioned iron suit. It was mostly covered by ceiling tiles that fell. That is probably why it was still there. "This will be perfect for Joe" He loaded it into the truck with any other odds and ends he could find. He then noticed a steel door at the far end. The only place he hadn't checked.
Reaching the door, he began to try and open it. He noticed it would not budge. Activating his level 6 strength he tried again. After a few seconds of effort, then an angry punch. The door fell back and Josh entered. This was it this is what he was looking for.
It was quite large Inside the room. Spread around there were dozens if not hundreds, of medieval type weapons. Swords, Shields, armor, nice and many other old style weapons. Using his super speed he was able to load the box truck, within ten minutes. He took everything, and then took one last look around the shop.
Josh couldn't help but think of how lucky he was, that nobody else got in that room. Josh was too ecstatic and wasn't paying attention. As he walked out of the building he heard loud steps but it was too late. The monster cow rammed into Josh as he noticed the cow. It had found him already.
Josh was stabbed through the stomach with one of the metal like horns. And he was stuck as the monster cow kept running, and bouncing around. It then started to fling its head aggressively. Josh then went flying off and into a tree. As he made contact, the tree cracked in several places from the impact. However it stayed standing. Josh slid down the tree after crashing into it. he hit the ground and spit out a small amount of blood.
Looking up Josh saw the cow coming at him again. Josh activating his speed power and raising it to level six, was just able to jump out of the way. The monster House smashed into the tree crumbling it to pieces. The cow tried to stop quickly causing it to tumble and roll a few times. However that wasn't enough to stop it. It quickly got up, and started charging at Josh again.
"Crap I need to do something" Josh thought as he activated his light power to a low degree in his stomach. The wound was starting to heal. He then switched his speed power for strength. " I will put everything into one punch and finish this. " He saved only enough energy to heal himself.
The two ran at each other. When meeting, Josh threw his fist out, as the monster cow tried headbutting him. Josh made sure to move around the horn and punched the monster cow right in the forehead. The impact was large and both of them were sent flying back. Josh rolled on the ground and went unconscious.
Coming to Josh opened his eyes and immediately checked for the cow. Across the lot he saw it. Except something was different, it was missing its head. Josh had done it. He was so relieved. He's in checked his wounds and saw he was healed. "I must have been unconscious for a while" he thought as he noticed it was already getting later it would be getting dark soon. He did not want to travel yet, because he was low on power. He began to draw power in and after a while, when he was ready. Before he could get back in the truck, he activated his purple eyes. Looking around no one was close. Except he still saw a large amount of energy in the cow.
This was confusing for Josh, he went to check it out. As he got to the side of the car he took a better look. The energy inside of it was condensed in its center. Josh activating his strength power, held his hands in the open position. Using his fingertips as a blade, he shot his hand into the cow. He pulled what looks like the energy out. It was a silver crystal flowing with energy.
Josh could tell he could use his power, to draw out it's energy and absorb it. But he wanted to experiment with it so he didn't. He wrapped it up with some of the fabric he found, and put it in his pocket. Before he could leave he had noticed something. At some point another Powerball had formed in his core.
Maybe it was from his fight, or maybe when he touched the crystal. So much was going on, he didn't even notice it. He could tell it was at the fifth level. He needed to know what the power was. Activating it and pulling it out, he felt something as if his bones were hardening. He then hit his hands together and not only was there a clapping noise, there was a clinging noise as well. "This power turned my bones to metal" he thought. " This is great I will have to experiment more later.
After playing with the new power a little longer. He had got back in the truck, and headed on his way to his next stop. He had a huge smile on his face as he drove. He continued to think" if there are more animals that turn to monsters, and they have these crystals. Maybe we can collect more. I will try to empower items with the one I have. Maybe I can even find another while I'm running my pre-adventure errands."