Chapter Two: Jinny's Hellish Training; Part One

I sat around the table with the rest of the Elementia, eating my food as slowly as possible. I felt sick at the thought of what Jinny might do to me in her so called "training session", but Jinny caught on easily. "You must not be very hungry." She smiled innocently. It had been about half an hour and I'd only eaten a small amount of the food that was prepared for me. She stood up and walked over to me, grabbing my wrist and pulling me up. I shivered at the aura she was giving off. "If that's the case, let's get started and work up an appetite huh?" She smirked at me and started dragging me off by my wrist.

"Noooooooooo!" I reached out to the rest of the Elementia as I was dragged off. Agni just chuckled and looked away, Daichi bowed in apology, Hanako looked like she was praying for me, Kazane giggled happily and waved, and Akari wished me luck silently.

"He's so dead." Agni snickered.

"He may get a good beating, but I know Jinny won't kill him for real...maybe." Hanako replied with a nervous smile.

"O-Ow! Alright that hurts, please let go! I won't run away..!" I tried pulling my wrist free, but she only pulled harder.

"Oh no you don't. I won't fall for that." She suddenly pulled me to her and wrapped her arm around my neck.

"Ack!" I grabbed her arm, trying to pull myself free from her chokehold.

"You'll get worse than this if you don't stop whining!" She squeezed me tighter, holding me in place with her other arm.

"W-What're you-" I blushed heavily suddenly as I realized how close her breasts were to my head and my face sparked, steaming as it turned red.

She looked at me and glanced down, blushing faintly herself. "Y-You little..!" She glared at me and punched the back of my head.

"O-Ow! Y-You're the one who-" I started, but she grabbed the back of my shirt collar and continued to drag me. "S-Stop it already!" She ignored me and continued to drag me with ease. "Man she's strong..!" I sighed and eventually gave up, letting myself be dragged.

Eventually, I was thrown outside and the bright sun's warmth hit my body, and I screeched. "It burrrnnnnsss!"

Jinny blinked and stared down at me, lightly kicking me. "Get up you nerd." She rolled her eyes.

"Fine." I huffed and got up, thinking it was pretty hilarious at the time.

"Anyways..." I took a look around as she spoke, taking everything in. We were in a type of arena made of stone that looked brand new. I guessed it was their training grounds.

"Let's not waste any time." She looked at me with a serious gaze.

I returned it, but started sweating a little bit. "A-Are you really going to just start kicking my butt..?" I muttered, backing away from her slowly.

"What do you take me for? I'm going to teach you to control your element and use it like us." I let out a sigh of relief. "And then I'm going to kick your butt while teaching you to fight with it." She smirked.

"Y-You're so evil..."

"Yeah, well, you deserve it, and you need to learn to take a few hits anyways. You're going to be taking a lot..."

"Right..."

"First, close your eyes and calm your nerves; try and shut your mind down. If you're worked up, you might go a little crazy." I nodded, closing my eyes and taking several deep breaths. I cleared my mind slowly, opening my eyes and giving her the usual blank stare I'd have on my face whenever I was alone. She nodded at me. "Good, you look like you're ready. Now, think of your element. Think of it coursing through you. Think of being the element itself. Think of being one with it."

I did as she said, trying to imagine everything she was telling me. I closed my eyes again, standing still as sparks start to fly off my body, and I felt as if there was actual lightning coursing through my veins. I slowly pictured lightning, in light sparks and then in bolts. Then, as if to reciprocate, sudden memories flashed through my mind in bursts of thunder and lightning. The sparks around me slowly turned to lightning, tearing up the ground and bits of the arena around me and I clenched my chest as it felt like my chest was being stung with by a thousand needles. The lightning burned the ground around me, leaving scorch marks in the arena, and I even started to float a bit. Sweat trickled down my forehead, shocking me and I flinched. "A-Agh..!"

Suddenly, I felt someone's arms wrap around me. I opened my eyes to see Jinny, hugging me, her eyes closed tightly as she grit her teeth in pain from being shocked by my lightning. "I-It's okay..! Calm down..!"

My eyes widened and I drew a blank, the lightning stopping, no longer hurting Jinny, and I fell to the ground. Jinny panted a bit, her body steaming from the lightning that shocked her. "You see...because of my training and not being a normal human...I was able to take that without dying..." She looked at me with a faint smirk. "Impressive...aren't I..?"

I stared at her with amazement, but slowly frowned. "I'm sor-"

She covered my mouth before I could say anything. "It happens to all of us silly... You only just started. I'm fine, really." She reassured me with a serious gaze before backing away from me.

"Right..."

"We should take a break, help ease your mind a bit." She smiled softly and lightly punched my side. "Come on, let's go sit by the trees." She turned and began walking towards the small patch of trees nearby. I followed her, looking around at the scenery around us. I had absolutely no idea where we were in the world. It was just a small mansion on top of a grassy plateau surrounded by the sea on one side and the small patch of trees on the other that went so far I couldn't see what was past them. I couldn't tell if we were on a small island or just a peninsula connected to a much larger mass of land.

Jinny sat by one of the trees in the shade and sighed happily. "I love this, sitting in the wilderness on a sunny day, just feeling the nature around you..." She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths through her nose. "What could be better..?"

I slowly sat down by the tree across from her. "Being indoors, playing video games or watching anime?" I joked and she just shook her head. I smiled, but it wasn't half bad, being outdoors like that. I took a couple deep breaths, feeling the wind blow against my skin, looking off into the distance before glancing at Jinny. She hadn't moved, and she looked so peaceful. I never actually took time to look and admire just how beautiful she was.

She sat with her knees to her chest, her arms crossed overtop of them. Her smooth blue hair was shining due to the sunlight that peeked in between the tree branches and leaves and reflected off of it. She looked so mature, and gorgeous to say the least. I finally noticed the tattoo on her shoulder: a rose surrounded by a circle of thorns.

I'm guessing she felt my eyes on her because she opened her eyes and glanced at me. "Take a picture, it'll last longer." She snickered.

"Can I?" I joked in return.

I swear I saw her cheeks turn a faint red, but I couldn't get a clear look as she turned away. "You pervert." She grumbled.

"You said it first." I chuckled.

"Yeah, but I was joking!"

"So was I. I've never taken a picture of anyone before, not even myself." I leaned back on the tree.

She blinked, looking at me closely. "And why not?" She tilted her head to the side a bit, as if she were confused.

"Well, I've never dated anyone in my life, and I'm kind of self conscious..." I averted my eyes and scratched the back of my head.

"How come? You're not bad looking at all."

"You should've seen me before the whole unnatural disaster thing happened." I chuckled nervously, running my fingers through my hair, feeling the light static again. "I looked like such a loser. I was a loser..."

"Hey, you are not and were never a loser." She said sternly.

"Don't say things about people you don't know..." I muttered. "I know it's hypocritical of me to say, but-" I hear the grass rustle and looked over to see Jinny on her hands and knees directly in front of me.

She looked into my eyes with a serious gaze. Her eyes were so beautiful that I almost forgot to breathe. They looked like gems sparkling in the sunlight. "Even if you were a loser, you have a chance to change that if you really want to, but you wanna know what I think?" I just tilted my head, unable to even speak at that moment. "I think you're fine the way you are, so don't feel a need to change." She snickered.

I couldn't help but gaze at her. "You know just what to say huh..?" I felt my cheeks heat up and quickly turned my head as they sparked so I didn't hurt Jinny.

She blinked and chuckled. "I'm just saying what I wished someone would've said to me back then." She slapped my shoulder.

I looked at her again. "For what it's worth, even though I hardly know you, I can tell you're a great person, Jinny."

This time, I was able to see her blush faintly. "How sweet." She smiled again and held out her hand. "Are you ready to get back to training now, you loser?" She joked, giggling.

"Why yes, yes I am." I smiled back and took her hand. She pulled me up and lightly headbutted me when I reached her level. "O-Ow, why?" I held my forehead.

She gigged. "Don't forget, I'm still gonna kick your butt."

"Yeah yeah..." I groaned.