Chapter Two; Part Three

It didn't take me too long to wake after passing out. I woke to the view of tree tops. I knew it hadn't been very long because the sun was still in the process of rising. I felt something soft under my head, confusing me, so I started looking around with just my eyes, my vision still slightly blurred.

"So you're finally awake... Good, I was worried." I looked up to see Jinny looking down at me, a smile on her face and her blue, water droplet eyes seeming to glow with the reflection of the sunlight. My vision finally cleared and my cheeks grew red as I realized my head was in her lap. I quickly tried to sit up, but she grabbed my head gently and pulled it back down in her lap. "No, you need to rest. If this is about me then I'm fine with it. I'm the one who put you like this anyways." She ruffled my hair.

This was more about the good of my heart rather than her discomfort, but I decided to keep that to myself. "W-Why not just take me to my room?" I asked, flustered.

"You're actually kind of heavy bud. I could carry you in a water bubble and risk drowning you though if you'd prefer." She chuckled.

"N-No no no! This is fine! Really!" I sweated at the thought of it.

She snickered, laughing at me. "I was just kidding. I wouldn't actually do that to you silly..." She smiled as she began running her fingers through my hair, making me blush faintly. I never knew having someone play with your hair felt so nice. "Go ahead and get some rest. I'll wake you up when it's time for breakfast, alright? I promise I won't force you to rest all day because you trained all night. Just rest for right now, mentor's orders." She chuckled.

I sighed and closed my eyes. "As you wish, 'sensei'..." I muttered sarcastically before starting to fall asleep.

Jinny continued running her fingers through my hair. I could tell she was watching the sunrise, even with my eyes closed. As I was falling asleep, I heard her say a couple more things. "You better take responsibility for making me almost miss my daily routine child..." She muttered with an annoyed tone, and there was a pause before her next work. "Idiot..." I don't know why, but I feel like she was smiling when she said that. After that, I fell asleep.

A couple hours passed after that and I groaned a bit as I felt Jinny shaking me and I felt my stomach growl. The smell of delicious food coming from inside the house didn't help. I slowly sat up, stretching, practically every bone in my body popping as I did.

Jinny stood up and stretched as well. "Let's head inside and eat breakfast, then we can get to continuing your training, alright?" I nodded with zero complaints and we both headed inside to have breakfast with the rest of the gang.

"How's training going Sanda?" Kazane asked as she stuffed her face.

"Oh um, it's going good. I managed to shoot some sparks from my hands." I held up my hands and fired a couple tiny sparks into the air.

"Wow, that's impressive. How long did that take?" Hanako tilted her head.

"Took him all day to accomplish. Though tiny sparks aren't really gonna help in a fight, so he's still got some work to do." Jinny told her.

"Hey, I'm trying." I smiled nervously. I was a bit surprised that Jinny didn't tell anyone about my nighttime training, internally grateful for that, but I managed to not show it.

"See? We told you you could do it. Keep up the good work. You'll get there in no time with the progress you're making." Daichi said with a smile.

I smiled brightly at the praise I received. "Yeah! I'll get it done by the end of today!" I then quickly finish the rest of my breakfast and run out of the mansion.

"Hey, wait up!" Jinny half sighed half groaned and ran out after me. Afterward, I continued my training with Jinny, trying to fire an actual bolt of lightning from my palms. I fired spark after tiny spark from my hands, doing my best to extend the sparks into bolts of lightning. The more I fired, the stronger and longer my sparks became, almost like a game where the more you use your skills, the more those skills level up. By the end of the day, I manage to fire entire lightning bolts with relative ease.

As the sun went down and darkness started to cloud the sky, I held up my hands. My arms trembled slightly and my eyes had a faint glow and sparks coming from them. I began to imagine lightning running through my body, focusing that feeling on the palms of my hands, and they began to spark. I then brought my hands together, putting all my focus on the space between them, and my arms began sparking as well. I stood at the edge of the plateau and forced the electric feeling in my hands outward, and it finally worked perfectly. A yellow bolt of lightning fired from the palms of my hands, going off into the distance and eventually fading.

I panted and fell on my knees, cheering. "FINALLYYYYYY!!!" I raised my arms to the sky in victory.

"Pfft..." Jinny held back a laugh. "Good job. You did it in technically the same amount of time as Agni; he didn't train at night. At least not that he's told us."

"So does that mean...since nobody technically knows except you and me, in everyone else's eyes I technically beat Agni?" My eyes sparkled in hope.

"I mean yeah, I guess so."

"Yeah!" I jumped up, pumping my fist into the air, but immediately fell face first to the ground and passed out from exhaustion. Jinny shook her head and called Daisuke out to carry me inside.

Over the course of the next few days, I'd learn how to do different things with my lightning: shoot off multiple bolts at once, control the lightning as I was firing it; change its direction, make it stronger, etc, shoot it from a place other than my hand, encase my entire body in it, encase certain parts of my body in it, etc.

After another day of training was set to start, Jinny suddenly sprang this on me. "I think we're ready to get started on battle training." I felt my soul fly out of my body that day.

"S-Sorry, I think I misheard you... What did you say..?" I asked in a slightly higher pitched voice.

"I said we're gonna start battle training today." She smirked. "Don't worry, just hand to hand with no elements, for now." I find it funny that she thought that would calm me down even a little. "Too bad we're already out here and you can't hide behind your breakfast huh?~" She teased.

"L-Leave me alone. I can still run away!" I turned and started running, but a stream of water shot up from the ground in front of me, causing me to stop in my tracks.

"You were saying?" Jinny asked with a sweet smile on her face.

"C-Can't we do this another way..?" I smiled nervously, a streak of sweat rolling down my forehead.

"Nope, the best way to learn is from first hand experience. Prepare yourself kid!" Jinny charged at me.

My screams and grunts of pain echoed throughout the land, as well as the sounds of Jinny's grunts as she, essentially, just kicked my ass. I laid on the floor, covered in bruises, and everything hurt. I looked up to see Jinny with a satisfied smile on her face. "There, now you know how to take hits. Shouldn't be so bad when you get into your first fight with the Dark Elementia."

I groaned and buried my head in the dirt. "You did that just for your own amusement didn't you..?"

"And to let out my pent up frustrations, but yeah, you're right." She snickered.

I held up my hand and flipped her off, but that only made her laugh more. "Aww, come on, don't be mad~" She picked me up from behind by my shirt and looked into my eyes with a confident smile. "You really will be able to take more hits now. Just wait until we start training for real, you'll see what I mean."

I sighed, no longer surprised at her immense strength. "Yeah, I'm sure."

She gave me a light headbutt before dropping me. I caught myself quickly, grunting and glaring up at her as she started heading inside. "Hurry up, before I eat your dinner."

"Don't you dare touch my food!" I shot up and I no longer felt any pain suddenly at the thought of losing my food.