"So then he was all, ' how didn't you know I can't make a fire ward? You could have killed me!' How in the world was I supposed to know a brainiac like Thompson could form a simple ward? Literally everyone can do that. Right, Alina?"

I tried my best to humor Tobias as I finished stretching, but there's no way I can take his side with a blunder like this. "Listen Tobias, I need to establish one thing if we're going to continue to talk about this: you're in the wrong here, and you need to apologize to everyone." He deflates visibly when he hears that. But If our training session the other day made me sure of anything, it's that he's more intelligent than people give him credit for. He just needs some guidance. If he tried harder at school then he probably would've been able to beat Tyson when we first met, or at least made a better effort.

"Once we're done here, you should go ahead and get that taken care of so things aren't awkward for everyone going forward. I can't believe you didn't know what didn't have any elemental affinities. You two never talked strategy before getting into a situation?"

He scratched his head at the idea. " Nah, we really just briefly talked about who was going to do what, or called dibs on somebody and rushed into things. It's been working out so far. You've never even worked with Thompson, so how could you tell?"

As I thought, attention to detail isn't one of Tobias' strengths. "It was more of a theory, but a while ago when he saved Tyson and I, I saw one of those bolts he casts and it looked strange. I couldn't confirm whether or not it was a byproduct of his homemade focus, but it's typical for a bolt of force to have some sort of hue indicative of the caster's affinity. Using force is just the product of inefficiently cramming magical energy until it's nothing but a dense clump of destructive power with only hints of the type of affinity that was used to mold it. I've never seen a force casting with a gray tinge to it before seeing Wyatt cast. It was like he was shooting fog bullets or something. Tyson had more experience with him than I do, he'd probably be able to give us another hint if he were here..."

"Yeah... how is he doing?" Tobias inquired with notable concern. "Why haven't we.. you know, paid our respects and all that?"

"Mr. Travers has been dodgy about the subject. I've seen Wyatt go in and out of where the room they're keeping him in from time to time. I just haven't mustered the nerve to question him about it." I can't bring myself to be completely honest about the situation. I'm too scared to press them about what they could be doing with Tyson. I'm not naïve enough to think that he can be resurrected. Mages have sought after that kind of power for as long as the concept has existed. There's never been a recorded success on any level, not even something gross like a zombie. Once someone is gone, that's it for them. We all know that and yet...

"Yo!" Tobias brings me back from my thoughts, snapping is fingers obnoxiously. "Don't space out on me yet. I'm gonna land a solid hit on you today fair and square. I don't want you making any excuses about it later!" He starts bouncing on his toes, ready to begin our training session.

This is what I need, some good practice and a distraction. "Whatever you say Tobias, I'll let you make the first move."

He doesn't waste any time. With a flick of his wrist he emits a huge burst of flame that envelopes the training room. I instinctively ward my body to reduce the impact, but the attack proves to be more focused on volume rather than potency. Even with the modest amount of magis I coated my body with, the flames were nullified on contact. The whole room had been filled with a haze. A smoke screen? A little obvious, but at least it seems that he's picked up on the fact that he can't overpower me head on. Scratch that, I can feel his energy surging as he tries to rush me in my moment of alleged blindness. I quickly cast a wind-based shield in his direction. We clash, and Tobias is thrown off balance thanks to the wind changing his direct attack into a glancing one. With his weight shifted I channel magis into my fist and lay into my sparring partner with a well-earned liver punch. Something catches my eye when I make contact. I swipe the object from the back of his waistband and disengage, emitting a gust from my body to clear any smoke between us. Once Tobias finishes reeling from the punch, his jaw dropps as I twirled the item that I took from him during the skirmish.

"H-hey careful with that thing! I wasn't gonna use it on you I promise!"

I ignored him, sensing the grip of the tool attempt to siphon off whatever magis I have to feed it. "I doubt it would have done you any good anyways. What do you have to gain out of using something like this? When it comes to magic emission, your output and shaping abilities are above average. What is this supposed to fix?"

Tobias muttered inaudibles for a moment, refusing to make eye contact.

"Well?"

He lets out a sigh. "Aside from the thing looking cool, I thought it could help me do some major damage in the future without any charge time. I'm slow at channeling, and everyone and their mom know how to deal with fire. I can't do much else, but if I can use that to cut out the charge time I can be way more helpful when that Strauss creep eventually shows up. I just need to get some practice in with it, that's all."

I walk over to the side of the room and put the prototype focus in my bag for later. "When we had that exchange just now, you were leading with your off-hand. I'm going to take a guess and say that it hasn't felt quite right since you used this thing yesterday?"

Tobias just stared for a moment with nothing to add, which was more than enough of an answer.

"I've only handled this thing for a few moments, and I can feel it aggressively trying to load up any magis I had to give from my fingertips. These seals that Strauss placed on me might have done me a favor in slowing down the process. That's probably the reason it was stowed away as a prototype."

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I make my way back to were I had distanced myself and crack my knuckles. "On that note, what made you think that you needed to rely on something like that in the first place? There's plenty of things that you can improve on."

"I'm not really sure what that last part was supposed to do for my confidence, Ferreri."

I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

"We'll see how confident you feel after we finish sparring today." I begin channeling what I can, wind-based magis coursing through my body and permeating my pores. A show of force to show him I mean what I'm about to say. " Your training menu going forward consists of defense and only defense! I want you to show me your best shield spell. Get ready!" I widen my stance and pull back both hands as I channel as much wind as I can muster, molding it into a sphere. Just like my father and Grey used to train, trial by fire.

* * *

Anything that isn't sitting behind the shielded seating area would've been swept up into this bullshit already. Fererri started flexing on me after landing a lucky shot on me and stealing my new focus, and know she's raising a storm in the gym telling me to run defense? She's gotta be tryin' to kill me!

"Hey I think I should tell you before I get knocked into next week, I don't know how to use the shield spell!"

Her eyes dim down once my voice finally carried to the eye of Hurricane Alina. "... That so?" She yells back to me.

"Yeah! So uh... maybe let's start light and I'll ease into the whole defense thing. I always thought it was for chumps because that basically means that you're planning to get hit. Am I right?"

She just stands there... continuing to charge. "Am I right?! Alina?"

She lets out nervous laugh, which makes me even more worried. I'm supposed to be the one whose unsure of the situation after all.

"Okay Tobias! I need you to stay calm!" She yelled over the storm she held in her palms. Why doesn't she just dispel and reclaim what she's channeled so we can start fresh.

"I haven't channeled or emitted this much since getting sealed. The truth of the matter is... I kind of have to let this one fly! I'm not channeling any more magis into it, but I've packed so much that I'm finding it hard to dispel!"

Do or die huh? I guess I should be used to these kinds of stakes lately. "Okay yeah sure, why not. What's the stupid incantation again?"

Incantations are always for bozos who are just learning how elements relate to one another. They amount to little fables about how Father Sky, Mother Earth, and their Maiden all work together to give us the ability to use elements. As far as I'm concerned they're just memory tricks. As far as affinities go, everyone knows you've either got it or you don't.

"His heavenly grasp forms a union with her nurturing embrace. I am sheltered by their warmth. O' hearth, grant me protection from harm... Shield!" I hadn't tried this since I was a tyke, but it was like riding a bike pulling up disc of between myself and Alina. It's dense enough to be called a shield for sure... but that would could still blow me a way if I dont-

"Shit!"

My fire shield dissipated leaving me back at square one.

"What happened? We have to try again Tobias I'm getting tired from just holding this now!"

She knew as well as I did that the moment I faced what I was about to block with that puny fire shield my confidence shook and I lost the shape. It was embarrassing enough just reciting that dorky incantation!

"Try imagining a real shield Tobias!"

"Like a knight in shinin' armor?"

"Sure! Just do something different and don't quit!"

I need something solid. "Union of blaze, merge with stone and remain steadfast. Shield!" I plunge fire into the floor beneath me, molding it with the building's foundation to and bringing it in front of me. It's crude, but with a little more investment I think this can hold. I use my off hand to douse the makeshift shield in protective flames like my first try. Now we're cooking!

I brace myself against the molten targe I've made for myself, feeling much more confident now.

"Alright Ferreri, let 'er rip!"

* * *

I'd be lying if I said I wasn't impressed with Tobias. On his second try he managed to conjure a stable shield made of two different elements. All I had to do was make him think that I couldn't handle my own strength. It was finally time to put this little charade to an end.

"Here we go!" Vacc-shoot! I'm not sure how that would have sound if I yelled it. I'll have to keep mentally workshopping the name of that art.

The wind continued to churn towards the sphere I sent flying at Tobias. Just like it's namesake, It started to pull him into it the closer it approached. He does well in keeping himself from losing his footing. The sphere explodes on impact sending a boom throughout the training room. Tobias is sent flying back to the opposite end of the room from myself, but he stands firm after taking the hit, with about half of the earth used to core his shield still remaining.

He drops his guard and reveals a grin. "How abut that?! Nothin' beats the fundamentals, just like I always say! Whooyeah!:

I let him celebrate on his own for a while while I plan what we're going to practice next.

"Great work Tobias! We're just getting started, but that was a great show of effort and ingenuity. I'm not sure if you did it on purpose, but basic spells like that are influenced by their elemental composition, so the flame base actually fed off of some of the magis from my wind-based art. The earthen core was a brilliant touch for the sake of stability in both the physical composition as well as the mental portion of imagining what the shield should be like. Well played!"

He blushes and continues to chuckle. "Well what can I say, some guys just got it ya' know?"

"I guess so! With a bit more practice you'll be casting without incantations, and you'll be able to quickly summon shields in no time. You'll just need a little stimulus to get going." I start to charge up again.

" We're going at it again already?!" He gets into a fighting stance, with reluctant body language.

"Oh you bet, full force! This is training for me too after all. If I get the most points today, you'll be going to apologize to Wyatt. If you get at least half of my points, I'll tell you all about my showdown with Mr. Travers."

He flared up at that. "Hold up, there's no option for me winning? You're baiting me with a good story too! That's devious Ferreri, don't think this'll go your way again I'm new and improved!"

"Here I come!" With wind augmenting my movements, I make a charge straight for him wtih mini cyclones mounting my wrists.

Time for some fun.