Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 88: Cultivation

The trio got to Laz's place quickly. Laz popped in quick to get Vivi and grabbed a few things before throwing them into a knapsack. Coming out and locking the door, Laz headed back down the stairs with Vivi to find the two girls waiting for him.

"Hi Vivi," Malene said without much thought. Vivi yelped back in acknowledgement.

"Oh my, she is so cute," Kennedy commented. Laz realized that this was Kennedy's first time meeting Vivi.

"Yeah, she's eh... cute." Although Laz thought so as well, he still couldn't forget her rather larger size when she had fought beside him. During that time it would have been more actuate to call her vicious, but Laz didn't voice these thoughts out loud. The feeling that he got from Vivi was that there was some secret that he didn't know about. Even though they had only spent a little time together, Laz kind of liked the feeling of not being alone all the time. Plus, since Vivi wasn't a person, he felt more relaxed around her.

While Kennedy had bent over to pet Vivi, the appartment door underneath Laz's had opened and his grandfather walked out.

"Oh ho, Lazarus, you have some friends eh? And some beauties at that," Grandpa Crowe commented.

"Of course grandpa, I take after you. Weren't you always telling me how you were chased after by many pretty girls when you were younger?"

"Ah, that I did and that I was. And back then, it was very rare for girls to be assertive enough to chase boys too.. ha ha!!" Grandpa Crowe couldn't help but smile from ear to ear while thinking about those times.

"Hey, who exactly is chasing after you, pervert!" Of course Malene had to defend herself from this, else others might think she was interested in him.

"Good Evening sir, my name is Kennedy," Kennedy humbly introduced herself and extended her hand to shake.

"Ah, such a nice young lady. No need for the sirs here. Just call me Ol' Crowe or grandpa is good too. And what is your name young miss?" Grandpa Crowe gently lifted Kennedy's hand and kissed the back of it before turning to Malene. Laz noticed this action but didn't say anything. Although it could be considered a form of greeting in various parts of the world, in truth, the old man was just having the time of his life flirting. Seems like today is one of his better days.

"Malene. Nice to meet you grandpa!" Malene said as she too extended her hand to which Grandpa Crowe took and kissed the back of it as well. Despite being somewhat in his later years, the old man still looked good for his age and came off as very charming. Once you combined that with a bit of natural grace and his well practiced gestures, the man could get anyone to warm up to him. He mostly used it on the ladies however.

"Oh, I see my grandson must have been doing something right to make friends with you both. Truly young and full of life. It reminds me of Laz's grandma back in the day. She was always the energetic one and liked to have her way, never taking no for an answer. Probably the biggest reason I ended up married to her, god rest her soul." The old man lowered his head as though uttering a brief prayer. Malene and Kennedy looked on while blushing a little at the praise.

Laz couldn't take it anymore.

"Oh? Was that why? I thought you always told me it's cause she had huge knockers that you could lose yourself in for days? And legs that went on for miles? And an ass that you couldn't believe? One that you enjoyed slapping just to see it wiggle like jello? When did this all change?" Laz spouted out while the old man froze up in the middle of his "prayer." The girls froze for a moment after hearing Laz's list of accusations before turning an even brighter shade of red and trying their hardest not to giggle.

"Oh to be young and to not know when to shut up..." Grandpa Crowe took a quick jab at Laz's arm before turning back to the two blushing ladies.

"Well dears, this old man must be off. Things to do and not much time left to do it. Please be nice to this young grandson of mine. He's a good kid, despite that mouth of his." He bowed briefly before walking over to his truck. He got in, started it up and drove on by, waving as he left.

"So that's your grandpa huh?" Kennedy was the first to recover and asked.

"Yep. One of a kind. He was quite the ladies man back in the day, or so he says. And the stories he has..."

"He's still quite the ladies man. After all, there is a certain charm about older men that young men can't copy," Kennedy commented.

"He is, much more smooth than someone else I know," Malene interjected..

"Oh? And who is this non-smooth guy of which you speak hmm?" Laz asked with fake innocence.

"You! Or least your behavior. Obviously you can't even grow facial hair yet, so that's still pretty smooth" Malene shot back while making fun of him.

"Me? I don't remember you having any hair either. Unless you shave or I don't know... wax it?" Laz replied, thinking himself quick witted.

"AHEM..." Kennedy cleared her throat to get their attention while she glared at Laz.

"UH... oh, yeah, where is Vivi?" Laz tried to change the topic with the first thing he could think of.

"She bolted as soon as she heard the door opening. I'm not sure where she went," Kennedy replied albeit a bit coldly.

"Oh. Well she knows the way that we are going so it should be fine. Lets go." Laz quickly walked past both of the glaring ladies before finding his way to the trail and beginning the brief walk to the abandoned park clearing wanting to escape. The girls just exchanged looks with each other before smiling and shaking their heads. They then followed after Laz.

The walk was short and soon they all arrived in the desolate park. Malene, being extra sensitive to source essence, soon noticed the weird lights coming from the strange flower and small pond.

"Wow, it's beautiful," she commented as they came into view.

Kennedy, not as adapt at seeing the energy as Malene, felt something in the air she couldn't describe, but wasn't able to see it.

"What is it?" Kennedy asked. Laz had taken a quick seat on the stone bench beside where Vivi had balled up and was laying down. Due to the extra energy in the air, it was actually a bit warmer all around the area which Vivi found to be very comfortable.

"Um...Oh yeah." Malene raised her hand and called forth her energy, allowing Aqua to appear.

"Hehe, I've got this," Aqua said as he flew over to Kennedy. Before she even knew what was happening, she felt something touch her forehead as Aqua had extended a hand and rested it there. Laz could only look on confused as he saw a brief flash of light appear in front of Kennedy's head before she quickly closed her eyes.

"WHAT WAS THAT? OH MY..." When Kennedy opened her eyes again, she was able to see a small, blue dressed man fairy thingy floating in front of her. Aqua flew away quickly to land over on Malene's shoulder, taking a seat. Kennedy was dumbfounded by not only Aqua's appearance, but also by the strange lights that now lit up the park.

"Wait, you can do that?" Laz asked, looking over at Aqua.

"Of course. It's just tuning her eyes to see source essence. Easy stuff."

Both girls stood in wonder while looking at the strange sights, taking in the two oddities. Laz got up, walked over and grabbed both their hands before returning to the small bench and dragging them both down into a sitting position.

"Alright, welcome to my secret spot. I'm not clear on a lot of the things here and we don't have much time. So just relax here for a moment." Laz swung the knapsack around and took out a few things that he had brought from earlier. It was just two water bottles and two metal thermoses. He walked over to the flower first and opened both containers. Carefully, he bent the flower down so that a bit of the nectar spilled into each thermos. He then walked over and using the metal lid, scooped some of the water into the thermos as well, filling it up. Although Laz didn't know how much to combine, he was able to use his special sense to feel how the energies of both things reacted to each other. Luckily, he was spot on with both which allowed for both metal thermoses to be almost completely full.

Walking back to the girls who were staring at him while wondering what he was doing, he quickly sat down and grabbed the two water bottles. Being extra careful, he slowly mixed in a drop of the now golden blue liquid into both water bottles before closing everything up. He handed one thermos to each of the girls and slowly spun the water bottles, allowing the liquids to mix. When he was done, he handed them to the girls as well.

"Alright, I'm going to show you both something and I want you to remember what you see. You need to try to copy what I'm doing." Laz had a very serious look on his face as he said this. He then closed his eyes and focused on not only drawing in the energy floating into the air, but also rotating it around his body. Every breath he would move the energy closer and closer to becoming a complete cycle. The various ice blue and golden colored energy in the air was also flowing around as some of it entered his system. Due to the low light and the bright lights from the energy, both girls were able to see how the energy was flowing through Laz.

Once he had completed the cycle, he was able to have the energy flow much quicker as it started circulating around on it's on. Both girls could see the energy's path as it flowed around Laz. He did this for a few minutes before opening his eyes.

"Alright, I want you both to take a sip from the water bottles and try to feel and circulate the energy just like I did. Get it to flow enough where it can complete the cycle on it's own and then let it keep going for a while. This will help improve your body, store more energy in your body and better understand the energy in your body."

"This is... cultivation?" Aqua asked, looking over from the bench. At some point as Laz had his eyes closed, Aqua went over to go take a nap with Vivi before realizing what Laz was doing.

"Is that what it's called?" Laz asked.

"Yeah, how did you figure out something like this?"

"Bit of luck," Laz replied back without giving it much thought. Vivi nuzzled Aqua's head and drew closer. It looked like Vivi had whispered something in Aqua's ear.

"Oh I see. Bit of luck mixed with a whole lot of stupid, eh? Sounds about right for you." Aqua nodded as though agreeing with Vivi.

"Psh, whatever." Laz turned back around to watch the girls. They both took a large gulp of the special water before closing their eyes in an attempt to use their energy like Laz had shown.

At this point, Laz could only watch on helpless if something were to happen. From this point on, they would have to depend on themselves to get strong.