Birds chirped overhead, and a gentle breeze rustled through the leaves as the forest environment became fully realized around them.
While running through the forest paths, they quickly discovered the full extent of their enhancement. They weren't getting tired at all, even after several minutes of constant movement.
Kinnetos realized his top speed used to be around 12 miles per hour, but now he was easily hitting 17 mph while maintaining perfect control. He was able to leap over fallen logs that would have required careful climbing before, clearing them in single bounds. His vertical jump had improved dramatically too - he could now manage a 10-inch vertical leap, which seemed impossible compared to his previous abilities.
Sarah found she could grab tree branches and pull herself up with ease, her grip strength allowing her to swing from branch to branch like the trees were playground equipment.
Monty discovered he could jump much higher than normal, easily reaching low-hanging branches that had been out of reach just minutes before. His balance had improved dramatically too - he could run along narrow fallen logs without wobbling.
"This is incredible!" Sarah called out as she dropped down from a tree, landing in a perfect crouch that absorbed the impact effortlessly.
"I feel like I could run for hours," Kinnetos added, not even breathing hard despite the sustained sprint.
"Don't get too cocky," Axe called out from his position by the trees. "Time's up. Now let's see if all that enhancement helps you catch someone who knows these woods better than you do."
"Give me a 10 second countdown," Axe said, backing toward the forest.
"Okay," they replied in unison, starting to count down from ten.
As they reached zero, Kinnetos and Monty looked at each other. "We should probably have a plan," Kinnetos said.
"Well, we only got 3 minutes," Monty replied, glancing at his phone screen.
But Sarah was already sprinting straight into the forest, not bothering with strategy. "No time for plans!" she called over her shoulder.
"Sarah, wait!" Kinnetos shouted, but she was already disappearing between the trees.
Kinnetos and Monty exchanged a quick glance, then took off running right after her, both looking at their phone maps as they moved. The red dot showing Axe's location was already moving quickly through the forest, weaving between trees and changing direction unpredictably.
They ended up splitting up as they kept getting confused about where Axe actually was. The red dot on their phones seemed to be everywhere at once - sometimes moving in circles, other times doubling back on paths they'd already covered.
But gradually, they started to get smarter about it. Instead of chasing the dot directly, they began trying to predict where he was going and cut him off.
Finally, they managed to get him cornered. All three of them emerged from different sides of a small clearing, with Axe standing in the center, looking completely calm and not even slightly winded.
"Got you!" Sarah said triumphantly. With sweat beating down her head.
"Finally!" Kinnetos added, closing in from his side. His breath heave.
Axe looked at all three of them surrounding him and smiled. "Okay," he said simply.
Then he took a deep breath in and jumped straight up an incredible 9 feet, easily grabbing a thick tree branch above their heads. In one fluid motion, he pulled himself up onto the branch and immediately began leaping from tree branch to tree branch like some kind of forest monkey.
"What the hell?!" Sarah shouted, staring up at him in disbelief.
"How is he doing that without body enhancement?!" Monty yelled, watching Axe bound effortlessly between trees that were spaced several feet apart.
Kinnetos looked down at his phone - the red dot was moving rapidly overhead, jumping from tree to tree faster than they could run on the ground.
"He said he wouldn't use body enhancement," Kinnetos called out, "but he never said anything about him taking the solider serum!"
Axe's voice drifted down from above as he continued his aerial escape route. "Three enhanced paradox users and you still can't catch one regular human! What does that tell you about relying too much on raw power?"
"Time!" Axe called out, dropping down from a tree about fifty yards away. "Three minutes are up."
As they snapped out of their failed chase, Sarah started breathing heavily and fell to the ground in exhaustion and confusion.
"How… how did he do that?" she gasped, looking up at the tree branches where Axe had been moments before. "That was like a 10-foot vertical jump!"
Kinnetos and Monty were equally winded, despite their body enhancements. They'd been running at full speed for three minutes straight, trying to track someone who was apparently part monkey.
"I don't get it," Monty said, hands on his knees as he caught his breath. "We had enhanced speed, enhanced strength, enhanced everything. He was just… normal human."
"Was he though?" Kinnetos asked suspiciously, looking toward where Axe was now standing casually against a tree. "Normal humans don't jump 10 feet straight up and then parkour through the forest canopy."
Axe walked back over to them, not even slightly out of breath. "Good question. What did you observe during that chase?"
"That you lied about not using enhancement?" Sarah said from the ground, still trying to catch her breath.
"Did I?" Axe asked with a grin. "I never breathed in any energy, never activated any paradox abilities. Everything you saw was purely physical skill and knowledge of the terrain."
"But the jumping…" Monty protested.
"Years of training, hell that a days work for Violet," Axe replied simply. "What's the lesson here?"
Kinnetos stared at Axe in disbelief. "Jesus, there's nothing fucking normal about you."
Axe chuckled. "The lesson here is that enhancement doesn't work as a replacement for everything. At some point, you're going to face someone who's just strong enough through raw talent, and your body needs to be able to adapt to that."
He gestured to the three of them, still catching their breath despite their enhanced abilities. "Working out isn't pointless. Physical conditioning means something. If you just use body enhancement all the time, it's gonna weaken you overall."
"So we shouldn't use the enhancement?" Sarah asked, finally getting back to her feet.
"No, it's good to use," Axe clarified. "But it should supplement your natural abilities, not replace them. You need both - actual physical fitness AND the ability to enhance when necessary."
He pointed up at the tree branches where he'd been jumping. "I've been training my body for years. The enhancement just makes that training more effective. But you three tried to use enhancement as a shortcut instead of combining it with strategy, teamwork, and actual athletic skill."
Monty looked thoughtful. "So we need to get in better shape AND learn to use the enhancement properly?"
"Exactly," Axe nodded. "Power without foundation is just wasted energy."