Chapter 16: 16. Promise Broken…

"How is this supposed to help me again?" Zeff asked Sylvan with a critical scowl.

"Knowing your limits is one of the first steps to lasting growth, boy!" Sylvan cried from a good distance away. He was sitting a few meters away in the shade of an oak tree chewing on a granny smith apple that he had found in the house.

"The second step is: not stealing other people's food." Zeff retorted with a wry smirk.

"These apples would go bad if I didn't eat them, Zeff-boy, but never mind that. Focus."

"Focus on what?!" Zeff yelled.

"The landing." Sylvan stated, then he took a huge bite from his apple and urged Zeff on.

'This bag of bones is trying to kill me…' Zeff thought to himself as a cold bead of sweat rolled down the side of his face.

After he had woken up from his soiree at the Skill Tree at around 5:30 AM Sunday (roughly a day and a half after falling asleep), Sylvan hadn't wasted a single second. Within ten minutes he had cooked, practically thrown Zeff into the shower (which was ridiculously nice), and dragged him outside for so-called 'training'. They hadn't even had the time to discuss what Zeff had seen or done at the Skill Tree. For some reason Sylvan seemed to be quite eager to get this training underway. It was almost like he was trying to distract Zeff.

"Jump with everything you got." Sylvan had demanded as they got to a patch of forest that was about a two minute walk from the house. "Give it as close to 100% as you can. Don't hold back."

'This is a horrible idea…' Zeff thought presently, as images of him falling to the ground with Sylvan in his arms flashed through his mind.

"Okay. Here' goes…" Zeff said aloud with a sigh.

Just as he began to gather himself for the jump Sylvan cried out, "On the way down, don't forget to keep your legs closed! Wouldn't want a tree branch to impale you through your b—"

"Oh, c'mon, Doc!" Zeff moaned accusingly.

The doctor simply shrugged and made a face that seemed to say, 'I was only trying to help.'

"Alright…" Zeff sighed, turning his attention back to the task at hand. "Let's just do it, yeah? Just, like, 'BOOM!' go for it… I can do this…" After an apprehensive pause, another deep breath, and then yet another awkward moment of silence, Zeff finally bent his knees and, exerting as much power as he could, he jumped into the air with a loud grunt.

*DUOOM!*

Zeff shot off into the air like a sniper bullet and nearly as loud, kicking up large chunks of earth and sending out a gust of high powered wind across the ground that knocked Sylvan over.

"Ahhhh!" Zeff cried at the top of his lungs as he soared up and up and up at break-neck speed.

*Prrsh* whirred the alert screen as it popped up directly in front of Zeff's watering, wind-slapped eyes. "Conditions to unlock <<Active Skill: Roar I >> satisfied. SP Cost: 2 (prepaid), Unlocked. Effect: If an enemy (or non-ally) is not aware of your presence, they will instantly receive Phobia I upon activation of this skill. Refunding: +1 ISP"

'How wonderful… Now go away so I can see!' Zeff thought to himself as the popup window closed.

The moment the window disappeared was the exact moment Zeff reached the apex of his jump. And also the exact moment the beams from the early morning sun hit him, giving him his own personal sunrise.

He gasped in both awe and wonder as, high above the trees, almost touching the clouds, the world opened up to him. Zeff had never been so high, he'd never even flown in a plane before. So the world he saw for that brief moment, as the wind ceased its howling and the fight between gravity and his upward acceleration reached a sudden stalemate, was a moment he would likely never forget.

It seemed to last for minutes.

The beauty of the world, sprawled out like a quilt with sections of gold, yellow and green, knit together by thin gray lines of pavement was so beautiful to Zeff. As he watched cars, small as little ants, driving about their business, he couldn't help but feel small himself.

'And somewhere out there in that great big world my parents are waiting for me.' He thought as tears began to well up in his eyes. But they weren't tears of joy, nor awe, but of frustration.

Zeff hardly had time to process his emotions as Gravity started to get the upper hand and pull him back down to earth, accelerating him to terminal velocity.

Zeff didn't even bother screaming, though horror gripped him as the distant trees began to approach with frightening speed. He had had no idea how high he would go when he jumped with his full power and, despite shattering his own expectations, he new he would be alright.

Moments before hitting the ground he turned over on his back and wrapped himself into a ball, preparing himself for the impact.

*BUOOM!* thundered Zeff's body as it fell like a missile to the earth, sending up a cloud of dust, and making a crater about as large as an SUV in the ground.

Zeff laid there on his back, dazed but unharmed, looking up at the early morning sky.

Suddenly Sylvan's smiling face came into view as he craned his neck over the side of the crater. "Why didn't you land on your feet, boy?!" He laughed.

"Not even an, 'Are you okay, Zeff-boy?!'?" Zeff asked, mimicking the doctor's voice perfectly as he stood to his feet and began to pat away the dust.

*Prrsh* came the alert screen which read, "Armored Hide I >> Armored Hide II. +2 SP"

"Sweet." said Zeff out loud as he dispelled the window.

Sylvan, noticing Zeff seemed to be looking at something floating in the air in front of him, commented, "Firstly, you need to learn how to look at that screen without looking at it. You look weird just standing there with your eyes crossed…"

Zeff, his ears burning from embarrassment, was just about to comment in response but the doctor went on, "So, did you unlock a skill?"

"No… Well, not at this moment." responded Zeff still annoyed by Sylvan's earlier quip. "A skill leveled up, though."

"Very good."

"Was that the whole point of this 'training'? To get me to level up my Armored Hide Skill?"

"Nope. I had no idea you had such a skill in the first place…"

"What?"

Sylvan began to walk back to his spot under the oak tree. "I told you dRas malfunctioned, right? I had only one skill on my skill tree after I put on the dracoRex: Physical Enhancement I. It's one of only two skills that I have, the other being an unlocked skill."

"Wait just a minute! That means—"

"All of my SP has gone to upgrading Physical Enhancement." Sylvan reached his perch under the tree and sat down in the grass, then continued, "The skill has upgraded three times now, and is max out."

"So, that's how you caught my punch the other day!"

"Oho. You were really worried that an old-timer like myself could stop you in your tracks, huh?" Sylvan beamed.

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Zeff blushed. "I-I was just curious, is all!"

Sylvan chuckled to himself and grabbed another apple that had been sitting on the ground.

"So what was the purpose of me jumping into the Exosphere?!" Zeff grumbled, jumping out of the small crater.

"Do it again." Sylvan commanded, ignoring his question, then bit into his apple. "But this time jump up and grab a leaf from that tree." As he said it, he pointed to some leaves directly above Zeff's head.

"What?! Is that all?" Zeff scoffed. "I just jumped at least 1 mile into the air. Grabbing a leaf from that tree is nothing!"

Sylvan only chuckled, sitting with his back to the tree and his eyes closed as if resting, and simply urged Zeff to jump with his free hand.

"Ha. What kind of training is this…?" he said to himself as he gathered his strength to jump. "It's as easy as—"

*DUOOM* boomed the wind as Zeff shot into the sky like a human rocket.

Sylvan didn't even bother opening his eyes, but a smile crossed his lips before he took another bite from his apple.

Seconds later *BUOOM!* went the ground as Zeff's body slammed into it with incredible force.

Zeff was utterly shocked. "W-What just happened?"

"Not so easy, now, is it?"

Zeff didn't speak but waited patiently for Sylvan to explain, suddenly fully invested. Sylvan felt a strange blend of satisfaction and regret as he looked into Zeff's determined eyes. 'Well, Finnius, my old friend…' he thought as he stood to his feet. 'There's no turning back now…'

"Have you ever gotten into a fight before, Zeff-boy? Do you have any fighting experience whatsoever?"

"None. But what does that have to do with—"

"Didn't you think it was strange that you could fight 6 trained police officers having zero combat experience, even to the point of punching one of them solidly enough to kill him."

A shadow was suddenly cast across Zeff's face, as he clenched his jaw hard, and cast his eyes downward.

Sylvan felt bad for stirring up the past, but he had to make a point. "Well?"

Zeff stared blankly at the ground with a somber expression for another few seconds, then muttered, "Yeah, I guess it was strange."

"W-well…" Sylvan began. "Why do you think that is?" He didn't give Zeff a chance to answer for fear that his mood would worsen. "What you have now that you didn't have a few days ago is a better connection between your head and body."

"I have a stronger neck…? Well, I got shot th—"

"No, boy! Between your *mind* and your body. You fought like a seasoned veteran because your body and mind, either thanks to the dracoRex or the dracophage itself, are more connected. What you imagine is what you can do!"

Zeff tilted his head to the side as though he were trying to solve a riddle. "I don't see how that ties into me training by jumping into outer space."

Sylvan sighed. "What do you think would happen if your image of doing a task differed from what was actually necessary to complete that task? Say, for example, you wanted to draw a straight line while wearing fish eye lenses."

Zeff thought about it for a moment then responded, "Even if the line seemed straight to you…" he thought a second more and added, "It would actually be a curved line?"

"Precisely, boy! And to draw a straight line in reality, you'd have to—"

"Draw a curved line on the paper!" Suddenly something clicked. "So you're saying that now, after putting on the dracoRex, I am wearing fish-eye lenses? And to get the result I want, I have to learn to see the world through these new lenses?"

Sylvan chuckled. "I couldn't have said it better myself, boy. In order to grab a leaf from the tree,—" he pointed up into the trees, "—, in order to control your strength, you are going to have to 'recalibrate'. You have to learn all over again 'how to draw a straight line'."

"OK…" Said Zeff scratching his chin thoughtfully. "I think I understand, somehow. I can do just about anything I imagine, but what I image doesn't necessarily correspond to what I am actually capable of."

"And once you complete this training you should have a pretty good idea of what you're actually capable of."

"And how long should that take?"

"Hmm…" Sylvan put his hand on his chin pensively and said, "It took me about 6 months…"

"Ah, h*ll naw!!" Exclaimed Zeff walking over to Sylvan until he was standing directly in front of him. "You expect me to spend 6 months jumping through the trees like a little monkey?!"

Sylvan was taken aback by Zeff's sudden outburst.

"Not a chance!" Zeff continued, "I'm going to save my Dad!"

"Save your dad?!" Sylvan repeated incredulously. "I haven't even told you where he is yet!"

"You're going to tell me or I'll go look for him myself!"

"Don't joke around, boy! You—"

"I haven't seen my dad, my parents, in more than 10 years! That's years of birthdays, new-years, Christmases, Summer vacations, all alone! But now I have power! Now I have you!" Zeff balled his fists and scowled, fuming through clenched teeth. "Do you think I'm joking?! Do you think I have time to mess around in the woods for 6 months?" Zeff's saffron eyes began to gleam ominously, light red smoke began to rise from his body, and his voice, deep and guttural, boomed through the early morning air, "Do you think I won't burn this whole d*mn country to the ground…?"

A shiver ran up Sylvan's spine.

But truth be told, he wasn't at all scared of Zeff. Rather, he was scared *for* Zeff.

"Okay. You win." said Sylvan, throwing his hands up in defeat as he walked backward, creating distance between him in Zeff.

At once, Zeff's eyes stopped their gleaming and the crimson smoke stopped flowing from his body. "W-what?! Really?"

"Yeah." Suddenly Sylvan got into fighting stance. "If you can beat me in a fight, that is."

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