Chapter 18: 18. Octopus Knits Sweater

*Buoom!*

"D*mn it…" Zeff sighed.

He lifted his head up so that he could survey the destruction he had wrought. Around him were countless craters in the ground from his many failed attempts at doing something as simple as grabbing a leaf from a tree.

He had been working at this for 3 days now with very little progress. He had tried and tried but only got a single insight up until now.

When he would jump without looking up into the trees he could actually control his jumping a bit better. But only a bit. The lowest he had jumped was still far above the tops of the trees.

The upside was that he would likely level up his Armored Hide skill again soon and also his Physical Enhancement skill maybe…

The downside? Sylvan had said they would stay here, training in the woods while living in a strangers house, until one of three things happened. When either the Rings found them, the owner of the house returned, or Zeff was able to grab a single leaf from the tree.

Of course he had grabbed MANY leaves by now. But he had to 'jump in a way as to be able to grab a single leaf at the height of your jump' as Sylvan had put it.

"Can you at least give me some advice!" Zeff yelled at Sylvan who was sitting in a try taking a nap.

Zeff was beyond frustrated with Sylvan by now. He slept all day and only woke up occasionally to laugh at Zeff's failure or to eat. Yes, he was really sick and often too unwell to do anything… but Zeff couldn't help but be a little frustrated at his hands-off approach.

Sylvan didn't even open his eyes but only sighed and said, "If I told you everything we'd be here all—"

"'Everything', he says! Doc you haven't told me anything! You haven't even walked me through our fight the other day!"

"I have told you enough… If you'd only use your head."

"My head has been out of order since the first time I *Fell From ORBIT* and landed on it!"

"Quit complaining!" Sylvan demanded, raising his voice and jumping from the tree. "When you are on the street, fighting someone who wants to end your life, they won't stop to 'walk you through' the fight!" As he said 'walk you through the fight' he bobbed his head from side to side making a pathetically whiny face. Made 'jazz' hands on either side of his face and changed his voice to be a piping, high-pitched mockery of Zeff's. Then he continued, "And they sure as Sally won't give you any tips! You think I'm only here to teach you how to throw some punches?! Is that all you think combat is? You have to learn how to think and that 'thinking' is learned and used both in, and outside of, combat!"

Zeff could only huff in frustration, but he knew Sylvan was right.

*Zawhhp*

"H-hey!!" Zeff stuttered. "What are you doing?!"

Sylvan had ripped a large oak tree up from its roots like he was tearing up weeds from his garden and held it over his head like it weighed absolutely nothing. "I'm simultaneously giving you your final hint and letting off some steam…" Was his terse response. He tossed the tree to Zeff. "Catch."

"What the he— Are you crazy?!" Zeff screamed as the tree came flying towards him. Without thinking he lifted his hands to catch the massive tree just over his head.

*Kuuoom!* reverberated the thick trunk as it landed just above Zeff's head, firmly in his outstretched hands. He grunted from the weight and his knees wobbled for a second, but after a terrifying but brief struggle, he slowly stretched his body to its full height and lifted the massive tree high over his head.

"Are you trying to kill me?!"

"Shut up. Think."

"Think about what?!"

"Ask yourself: 'How is this a hint?', foolish boy."

"What? You threw a tree at me, and now I'm—" Zeff's voice trailed off.

"Now you're… what?" Sylvan asked raising a skeptical eyebrow as if to say 'There's no way an idiot like you figured something else out that fast.'.

"I'm holding this tree… over my head?! Like, over it!"

"Yuh-Huh. And—?"

"It didn't crush me… but I also didn't toss it into outer space…?"

A knowing smirk crossed Sylvan's lips. "Why do you think that is, boy?"

Zeff's mind was racing. He felt like he was just on the verge of getting something big, but he couldn't quite understand what that something was yet. He scoured his brain for information, any clue that would point him in the right direction. He he did his best to remember everything that Sylvan had said to him since they began training and even before.

Zeff gasped.

He remembered how he had flown out of his bed and got his head stuck in the ceiling the first morning he had awakened with his powers. He hadn't thought much about it at the time, but it was strange how afterwards, he had simply walked to to the restroom with little to no effort. Even now, he didn't have to control his strength to do *everything*. He could do push-ups that day without throwing himself through the ceiling, too.

But why? Why were such things so easy but jumping was hard?

Sylvan had mentioned… how he could fight now, defeating six trained officers, because the connection between his mind and body was stronger. So did that mean he only had to see or imagine something to be able to do it? Sylvan had also said something about fish-eye lenses… and drawing a straight line…

Zeff tossed the tree to the side where it hit the ground with a loud *Thoom!*.

"A line…" He recited.

He closed his eyes and, lifting his hand, he drew a line in the air.

'I don't need to see, to draw a line…' he thought to himself. 'I've done it a billion times before. I only need to imagine it and then do it. In fact, trying to use my eyes, while looking through a curved lens, would only result in a curved line…'

Zeff's eyes shot open. "Sylvan!!" He laughed. "I get it now!"

Sylvan, standing just nearby, was wearing a doubtful expression on his face. "What is it boy? Did you figure something out?"

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Zeff could see Sylvan wasn't at all convinced but it didn't matter.

"Yeah!"

"And…?"

"It's imagination!" As he said it he waved his hands in an arc over his head as though tracing a rainbow.

Sylvan nearly hit the floor, almost fainting from disbelief. "Imagination?! Zeff-boy, you can't be serious. Is that—"

Suddenly Zeff, as gracefully and smoothly as though he had been doing it his whole life, jumped into the air with an agile somersault, the height of his jump just reaching the bottoms of the trees.

*Pluck* whined a single leaf as Zeff snatched it from its resting place with inhuman speed.

He fell to the ground where he landed in a three point position like a super hero, the hand holding the leaf cast grandiosely and dramatically out to his side.

"Fmmhmhmm!" He chuckled villainously, wagging his head as though he, himself, couldn't believe how awesome he was. "Was it really always this easy? I—"

"EASY?!" Sylvan wailed. Zeff was taken aback as Sylvan cantered angrily up to him with a look of sheer disbelief and shock. "Boy! It's just not possible! You'd have to be—"

"A genius?" Zeff finished. He crossed the arm holding the leaf in front of his chest and, resting his other arm's elbow on it, he grabbed his chin, letting out the most pompous and arrogant laugh he could possibly produce. "I'm glad you finally noticed, old man." Zeff didn't really understand why Sylvan was so worked up, to be honest. He only knew this was a perfect moment to get back at him for the beating he had received a few days ago.

Sylvan, however, did not look at all amused. "How did you do that?!"

Zeff wasn't quite ready to stop his teasing but the stern look on the doctor's face told him he had better let it go before Sylvan got angry.

"I just imagined that—"

"Be serious, boy!"

"I am being serious!" Zeff huffed.

Sylvan only raised an eyebrow and said, "Well? Explain."

Zeff could only sigh. His fun was over now. "Well, as you said before. I'm wearing new lenses and I have to draw a line, right? But I realized, it shouldn't matter what kind of lenses I'm looking through, a line is always a line. I can move my arm in a straight line with my eyes closed."

Sylvan didn't seem to be following what Zeff was implying so Zeff went on. "My ability to see, has nothing to do with my ability to do something I've done a thousand times. So I just—" He bound into the air and grabbed another leaf like it was child's play, "—do it. That's why I could walk, hold a spoon, or lift something, like that tree, for example, without having to worry about—" He trailed off as Dr. Sylvan's face began to contort and his eyes began to bulge like he was getting confused and angry all at once.

"Zeff-boy! That's just it! You've never caught a tree or jumped several meters into the air! That explanation makes no sense!"

"But—" Zeff began holding the leaves up as if to say, "But the proof is inthe pudding, old man."

"Not to mention," Sylvan interjected, "You rendered the fish-eye lens analogy completely useless at worst, and moot at best. I struggled for countless weeks just to learn how throw a ball without it disintegrating and you—"

The doctor threw his hands up in defeat. The point of having Zeff catch and hold the tree was to get him to see that he *could* control his strength,which Zeff had rightly understood. Sylvan, however, had expected him to find the next clue by asking 'What are my muscles doing while I hold this?' as Sylvan had inquired of himself months ago. Answering that question would have showed him that his muscle fibers weren't just stronger but they could twitch faster. And eventually, after several weeks or months, he would discover that he could activate his muscles for a shorter time in order to achieve explosive yet controlled strength feats…

But Zeff had gone a completely different (and even erroneous) route and still achieved what seemed like perfect control…

Zeff could only shrug as Sylvan looked at him incredulously and pointed at the two leaves in his hand. "I guess I didn't need six months after all."

*****

Zeff had no way of knowing, but he had learned in three days what had taken Sylvan more than a year to do. Sylvan had guessed it would take Zeff six months because Zeff would have Sylvan himself there to coach him. Sylvan could never have imagined that Zeff would learn to control his strength in such a short time. In fact, it should be impossible. Literally, impossible.

Zeff had completely misunderstood the fish-eye lens analogy. The lens did not represent his 'sight'. It represented his 'senses', his very perception of the world and even how he interacted with it. His imagination or his ability to imagine an action, as he himself had admitted days prior, did not necessarily correspond to what he was capable of in actuality.

Simple tasks were no problem. But anything beyond normal human capabilities should take hours and hours of intense training to learn to do. Zeff could draw a simple line easily enough. Even Sylvan, minutes into his transformation, could do such a thing with no problem. But jumping into the trees and grabbing a leaf as Sylvan had instructed? That should have been like having your brain transplanted into an octopus's body and instantly being told to swim while knitting a sweater…

As Zeff suddenly did a double back flip, landing on one foot, his arms in the air like a kung fu master, Sylvan could only think somberly, 'Sorry I doubted you, Finnius…' Then he added aloud, "But there's no way this should be possible…" He scratched his chin thoughtfully. 'Unless…'

*****

"But anything is possible for the Amazing Mr. Corad!" Zeff responded, interrupting the doctor's thoughts.

Presently Zeff had turned his two leaves into make shift pom-poms and was cheering his own praises. "Z! E! F! and F! Zeph-uh-nah-ya is the best!" he intoned, shaking his butt in a most ridiculous manner.

"Enough already!" Sylvan begged with a wry smirk. "We get it, we get it. Sheesh!"

"So, off to save my dad!" Zeff shouted with glee.

Sylvan at once burst into forced laughter. "You think you have the power to save your ol' man?! When you can't even beat *this* ol' man!" He guffawed, pointing at himself with his thumb. "Nothing has changed, boy. Maybe you are a bit gifted. But we're still going to go see Dr. Fynn."

Zeff's shoulders suddenly fell, but he was only saddened for a moment. He knew that him learning how to control his strength wasn't enough… He would have to—

"And you still need to learn how to fight!" Sylvan stated. "And I got about 5 minutes left of power use!" Sylvan lifted his arms, getting into his signature 'street fighter' stance, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Come! Let's dance, boy.

Zeff smiled and then got into his fighting position, copying the doctor's stance. "D-don't break your hip by accident while trying to dance, old man…" Zeff mocked awkwardly.

The doctor sighed, "…Also, we have got to work on your trash talk."

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