Chapter 146: Dormant

In the East Branch's Medical Wing, Jenny and Monica and Harley waited for Howard to wake up.

He had extremely bad third degree burns on his right arm that had slowly healed, but Jenny mentioned that his Ki Cells had started to act strange. She looked at some of them under the microscope and found out that they seemed to be afraid of Ki. It was almost like they were normal cells, but slowly regaining their Ki Cell properties.

"This is so strange. The Ki Cells in his body seemed to have been drained of some of their mitochondria. I think this means he over exerted his energy, but how? Ki Cells are extremely robust. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to live for thousands of years."

"I don't know, but he's cute when he's asleep," Harley grabbed his hand, and gently kissed his palm. She had on a black long sleeve shirt without pants because she had planned to sleep here overnight. She had on stockings that went up to her beautiful waist, and a gentle smile parting her lips. "How about we kiss him until he wakes up? Maybe that will do the trick?"

"I-I need to think. I'm going to be in the lab. I need to figure out a way to fix Howard's Ki Cells. I-I may be able to use someone elses' blood to revitalize them. Hold on."

Jenny went to the East Branch's high tech facility that greatly eclipsed any lab she'd ever been to even on the surface.

There were hundreds of fancy machines that the noncombatant Horned had created, and she had almost 100 assistants to work with her. A few of them even had medical degrees because noncombatant Horned grew their horns later in life. On average, a noncombatant Horned was around 25. 

One of them, Abigale, had a biology degree from her dream school, Montgomery University. Though it was just a town school, it got applicants from all over the world because of their research on the Horned. 

Montgomery City was a place where the most Horned had ever appeared in the world, and no one knew why. Some people speculated that an ancient family had once settled down there, and some of their grandchildren were more likely to have Horned children. However, she already analyzed her and Howard's genes and compared them. They were so different, they didn't have a common ancestor for at least 10,00 years!

"I-I see you have some Ki cells there? Want to work on a project with me. I can be your teacher?" Abigale smiled and patted Jenny on the back. "Ugh, I can tell you're so down! Come on Jenny! I'll see what I can do!"

"Howard, Howard is keeping something from me," Jenny lamented and put the culture under the microscope. It was a high tech electric microscope that Abigale made from scratch using a self made generator from used car parts. "I was his childhood friend, I tried to kill him once, I left him a love letter, and now I'm dating him. We were in a room together for a day, but it felt like eight months! I-I I have to solve this myself!"

"You're smart, but you got to work on teamwork," Abigale tapped Jenny on the back. "Anyways, if you need my help, remember I have 10 years more experience than you do. I might be able to figure something out."

"Thanks," Jenny smiled and put on a thick pair of round glasses. She pushed her brunette hair to the side and focused all her might on trying to save Howard. "I-I promise I'll make it happen!"

###

Jenny spent a lot of time in the lab over the course of three days.

She used dozens of ingredients to try and get Howard's Ki Cells to recharge. He still hadn't woken up, and things seemed to be returning to normal at the East Branch. Unfortunately, there had been 1005 failed trials. She only had a few ingredients left with different enough chemical compositions to affect the structural change of the Ki Cells.

"Let's see. Heh, Sea Root Extract." Jenny ground it with a pestle and then synthesized it down to its pure elements before putting it on the Ki Cell. "One of the rarest roots in the Furance for some reason. Even though it has the most common name ever!"

Swoosh!

Howard's Ki Cells instantly seemed to turn into a ravenous beast when Jenny put the Sea Root Extract inside of the culture. It ate it, and instantly seemed to expand rapidly. However, a second later, it seemed to return to normal.

"Did-did it just eat the Sea Root Extract?" Jenny rubbed her eyes. "So strange. Let me mix it with a catalyst and see what it does."

###

Howard still hadn't woken up after 4 days, but his body seemed to have regained its full strength.

When he had been fighting General Lorklan, he thought he could do it with only activating the 2nd Array of Fire King's Last Stand, but for some reason his body chose to activate the 3rd array.

Since Fire King Last Stand had 6 arrays, it wouldn't cause any permanent damage, but it really would make him sleep for a week. The girls didn't know he'd soon wake up and be beady eyed and ready to go. They were in shambles. Monica hadn't fixed her green hair in days and had running mascara. Both of the girls were in long shirts with stockings. Who needed to dress up when you were waiting for someone you loved to wake up.

"I-I found out something really interesting! Open his mouth wide!" Jenny ran in the door with a smile. "I know what he needs! He needs a special kind of catalyst!"

"English!" Monica said, "What are you talking about!"

"I-I made him a drink that will replenish his Ki Cells quickly!" Jenny ran in with a small white canteen in her arm. "Haha, open his mouth wide! We're about to get a fully recharged Howard and I bet he'll be better than ever!"