John watches Anna walk over to her husband and explain that she’s pregnant. Arron is at first ecstatic, grabbing Laurel and spinning her around. Then he sets Anna down and starts scolding her for not treating her body with enough care, “You need to listen to your body's needs. You don’t need to work this hard. We are safe here.”

  John nods with his branches, ‘that’s done now. So should I try to add some yin energy to the mix in my core? It could be great, but it also could make the problems three times worse,’ John hesitates. ‘Still, this is the best chance to experiment on plant growth. Perhaps we should have been adding some yin energy to the soil of all our plants. This discovery could change gardening forever!’

  With John’s love for gardening guiding him, he slowly converts water inside him into yin energy. He then carefully drips the energy into his core. John’s fractured seed core sparks and sizzles as if water was thrown into a forge.

  ‘It’s not the most promising start. Even still, it may settle down once things balance out.’ John continues to drip yin energy into the spinning sun and earth energy. No matter how much he drops into his core, it doesn’t stick. ‘Do I need to pour it in at a faster rate? But based on the current reaction, I could just explode too.’

  John warns joe, “be careful; I might explode.”

  “Moo,” Joe says with a tilted head.

  “Yes, even more than before!”

  “oom mo yun,” the demonic beast retorts while shaking his head.

  “I’m not an idiot. Not everyone can get along by just eating. This is your fault anyway. If I didn’t have to save you by using my leaves, I wouldn’t be worried about techniques,” John returns with frustration.

  Joe then steps farther away from John while eyeing his explosive hill mate.

  “Here we go!” John yells as he turns on the tap and a stream of Yin energy falls into his core. BANG! BANG! POP! CRACK! His fractured seed core shakes as more cracks appear on the core. Unlike the previous crack that was part of moving up a stage, these cracks look dangerous and fragile.

  Joe notices the change and cautiously steps back even farther. He sees John’s bark start to crack and unleash light. The leaves of the crazy bush begin to shrivel as they release steam. Joe doesn’t know what’s happening, but it doesn’t look good. He begins to look around and see the villagers living their lives.

  Joe jumps down the hill, creating yet another crater in the village. “Moooo moo snort,” he tells the first person he sees Douglas’s mom Harriet. Harriet's curly red hair bounces as she jumps in surprise. The small woman doesn’t know what to do. “I’m sorry, I don’t understand!”

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  More people come over wondering what's going on, but no one understands Joe. In frustration, Joe notices a pot that was filled for cooking. He dashes over and grabs it with his horn. He then turns to everyone and says, “MOO!” Before dashing away.

  Vickie yells at the brown streak, “There’s no food in there yet, divine beast.”

  Arron shakes his head, “There must be something wrong. He’s never tried to steal food before.”

  As they all watch their divine beast reach John, the bull turns his head, flinging the pot at the bush. The water splashes all over, but as it touches John, it bursts into steam. Seeing this, Joe worriedly looks at the bucket and then grabs it up again. Even the bucket that sat near the bush was starting to heat up. “MOOOUGH!” Joe wails as he runs back to the village.

  The villagers seeing this reaction, understand that there is some problem with John. Harriet starts panicking, looking all about like a small rodent that just heard a branch crack nearby. Marsha Roy’s mom, a tall woman with a pointed nose, complains, “where’s Gregory when you need him? He should be here at times like this.”

  Arron Grabs Harriet to settle her down and tells them, “Everyone start gathering water! Let the kids carry it up when they get here. Fill everything up!”

  Vickie breaks out of her shock and nods. Her big body moves surprisingly quickly as she tells the other women, “Come on, now is not the time to complain.”

  Marsha follows while waving her hand and says, “I know. I know.” While Harriet jumps but still follows behind.

  Joe is already by the well. He knows that the humans get water from it, but he doesn’t understand how it works. He also can’t manipulate the crank very well with his mouth. So he gives up, and dashes towards the nearby stream that the villagers used before the well was made.

  Arron runs towards the fire. They keep going at all times. He grabs the first bundle of plants that they keep nearby. One is to call for help. The second is for the worst-case scenario. It would tell anyone outside the village to escape. He throws them into the fire, and a burst of red smoke spews out of the fire. Black smoke would signal the village is lost.

  Arron then grabs a pot that was just filled and runs towards the hill. Before he makes it halfway, Joe barrels by him, making Arron stagger. At that exact moment, the boys run over from the training field.

  “What’s going on?” Franklin asks.

  Arron doesn’t stop moving towards the hill while yelling, “Go ask the women!”

  Mellisa, Laurel, and Anna also arrive soon after. While the sudden meeting is a bit awkward, no one has time to deal with it. Everyone begins grabbing whatever they can to fill up.

  Joe’s second bucket does much the same as the last. He eyes the bucket with anger before going back again.

  As Arron reaches the crest of the hill, he bulks. The heat is already enough to cause him to sweat. He grits his teeth and continues on. As he nears the bush, he can feel his skin begins to burn. He throws the water out, and steam bursts forth. Arron falls backward in pain but quickly returns to his feet.

  As Arron goes down the hill, he sees the boys, Laurel and Anna carrying different pots and even pans toward the hill. He shakes his head and waves them away. “It’s too dangerous! Leave the water here; I’ll take it up.” Arron then feels a hand on his shoulder.

  “He means we’ll take it up,” Wilbur states.

  Arron knocks the blacksmith's hand away. “I can’t let you do that. What about Donna.”

  “What are you talking about? You’re about to have a child too!” Wilbur bellows as his black beard blows out.

  Gregory also runs over. His grey hair plasters his head in sweat as he heaves. “We’re all men, so we’ll do this. There is no time to argue.”

  Everyone continues to battle the heat into the night. The men’s skin has become a dangerous-looking pink as they endure the extreme conditions. As the full moon reaches straight above them, everyone but Joe has reached their limit.