The brothers sat in the living room watching TV on the couch. They had spent dinner and sometime after being chewed out by their mother. With Danny admitted he was the one at fault for his broken arm. Omitting how it happened. Eventually, Diana dropped the topic. Releasing the boys and chasing them out of the kitchen. James kinda wanted her to keep going so he could pull up the video and show her he did explicitly tell Danny not to touch anything. But that would also be showing what else he could do.
Now close to an hour since his arm broke Danny’s arm was once again in perfect condition. “Tell me if your arm starts to feel funny,” James said from the other side of the L-shaped couch.
“…Why…?” Danny asked in a drawn-out manner.
“Danny, you are probably the first person to ever drink a real healing potion”.
“I thought you said you tested it!” He retorted.
“Not on myself. Anyway, just let me know if you start feeling funny.” He wasn’t going to tell Danny about possible side effects. That would just scare him, and James didn't know what might happen. He couldn't exactly call his testing of the liquids thorough there was always the possibility of something happening he had yet to see. The chest was supposed to be for daily necessities. Having both food, water, a change of clothes, and a first aid pack there were even some wet wipes. The red healing potion was something James had just recently added after testing to make sure it was safe enough. The green goo or Med-gel was there to seal the occasional cut or abrasion. It also soothed burns, reduced swelling, and relieved pain.
“So how did you get all that stuff in there”?
“If it's small enough I just use a ptop or a tablet, for some objects I made a little cart with a TV and a battery to-”
“You can go inside a picture while inside a picture”?
“Yes?" (I’ve never gone full recursive but-) Danny had just given James some ideas. (There would just be more floating screens right?)
Trying to get the conversation back on track. Danny finally remembered to ask some important questions. “Why didn’t you just use one of those beans? Wouldn’t they have healed me?-" After a brief pause, "Actually, expin why was I paralyzed!”
“Starting from your first question, I have never needed Senzu Beans in there.” He had only been using it for target practice and had recently added the target goblin. “Yes, eating one would have healed you. I still don't know how you have an appetite after eating one... A question for you, what did it feel like before you couldn’t move”?
“I felt my whole body puff up like a balloon.” When the process started for Danny he was already on the couch waiting for the inevitable only to feel his body puff up before falling limp on the couch.
“Lucky you. I got to feel all my muscles snapping.” This was down to their difference in lifestyles and physiques. Danny had a rge imposing and burly figure. While James had a slim almost gaunt figure. Though this had changed through his practice with Ki, he was finally able to gain some muscle. He now had a mostly normal slim build. There was also a difference in their recovery time. James had to lie on the floor for over an hour waiting for his recovery. Danny was able to recover within 20 minutes. James went on to expin, “Swallow one whole and you have to wait for it to digest, taking into account metabolism so, about 5-10 minutes. If crushed, broken or chewed the effect is more immediate”.
“That still doesn't expin why it paralyzed me,” Danny said.
“Well, are you a well-trained warrior with an exceptionally honed body?” This was the easy way to put it. Expining the full process of every muscle aligning in the most anatomically perfect condition would be time-consuming. While Danny had his own consideration about the magic healing beans he went on to ask about the stuff used to fix his arm.
“By the way, why did you have a goblin in your shooting range?” Danny was curious why James was using a goblin for target practice.
“Not answering, pick a different question”.
“Really? Fine, what can't you pull out”?
“Myself.” It was something James learned over his first week. While he could understand not being able to interact with an image he was already inside. After coming home, he tried the same with some baby pictures, and they felt like normal pictures should. (A way to make sure there is only one of me?) He couldn't help but wonder. He had only had this power for a few weeks, it wasn't enough to say what he could do and not do definitively.
For example, he can’t enter videos he was in, but he could enter the end continuing the events inside or enter the point before by changing the sequence of events by overwriting them. So long as he wasn't on screen he could reenter. Maybe he might be able to control the floating screen with some time? What he could say for certain was that an image needed minimal detail. It didn't exactly work on a simple drawn line. And some sense of depth though this seemed to vary from image to image. It also didn't work on anything smaller than his fingers either. A specific style it didn't work on was pixel art, and James could not quite grasp why.
There was another thing that he wouldn’t tell Danny because he wouldn’t understand. Throughout the st few weeks, James had been testing some things and it appeared as if he was incompatible with the RPG system that came with certain game worlds from isekai mangas. As of yet, he had not seen one of these mysterious windows appear in front of him while messing around. Though he did consider getting a Status System from one of those worlds might just make things too easy.
As James was in the process of thinking Danny asked, “Could you pull another me out of a picture?”.
(Two Danny’s?) The thought alone was a nightmare. “No”.
As the brothers continued their conversation “Ok, I get it. But could you please expin that?” Danny asked pointing towards the bnket Scooter was stored in. At their father's request, it had been pced in the living room for safekeeping. But it gave everyone a strange feeling. Every member of the family swore it moved. While James had a theory he would need to test it. This led to James setting up a test. He came back to the living room after a few minutes holding a medium-sized framed photo, taken of a tree on a windy day from the inside of a window. Pcing his hand inside the picture he left it there while they watched the TV.
After 5 minutes, James seemed fine.
After 10 minutes, he seemed mostly fine. As if he was holding something moderately heavy.
After 15 minutes, he began sweating.
After 20 minutes, his breathing began to pick up.
After 25 minutes, he was starting to sweat profusely, and his breathing grew rougher.
At 30 minutes James took his hand out of the image, looking like he had just run a marathon.
“Holy…” Danny said as James took a moment to catch his breath.
“W-What?” James asked as he wheezed. Trying to catch his breath. When he finally looked up he saw the picture, it was just a photo of a tree from the window of a house now, the tree was moving! Leaves were blown off the tree as if there was actual wind. (Did it- become a video?) James questioned. It looked like a slow almost stop motion-esque video. After the awe of the windy tree had passed. The photo being left on a nearby TV tray, the brothers returned to their positions on the couch. It was mostly quiet until Danny asked, “What did you mean when you obtained Ki”.
“I’ve taken some pills and meditated”.
“And that does what exactly?” This was hard for James to expin. The formation of a Dantian alone was already over James’ head. “It would be better if you experienced it yourself,” James said before coming back with a mud-colored ball or a Cleansing pill. Danny had no clue regarding anything cultivation-reted. His closest knowledge with Ki was Dragon Ball and that was fuzzy at best. He didn't even consider the dangers of accepting things from his brother before taking the pill.
An hour ter, Diana confronted James, “Why has Danny been on the toilet for the st hour”?
“He’s getting a detox?” James answered with a mischievous grin.
END
