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<12/24/1971 ~ 12:01 | Dakota Training Academy, Fronas, Gulop Region, Sprawn Valley>

Excitement filled the classroom of 706 that next day. Because the day of the week finally turned over to a Friday, many of the students were excited about having the time and capacity to practice skills of their choice over the weekend. Eliza had already explained to them that even though weekends are technically days out of school, that most training facilities (including Dakota) remain open to help those who wish for further experience. This gesture includes zones such as the dark room and personal tutoring sessions from the staff, all of which is free of additional charges from tuition.

Danny was absolutely certain that Jane was no stranger to such opportunities, being at a more advanced level and all. He stood beside his desk alongside everybody else. Today, Eliza was not very strict on everybody paying close attention or remaining seated. It would be ludicrous to even try to control this many people on a Friday morning. There had to be several other people by now that have already learned Radial Stars too. This means that the class of peers may soon become the competition of each other.

Taylor was waiting proudly beside Jane for the teacher's report check. Any moment now, somebody will ask her about the progress she made last night. Taylor didn't have any troubles remembering how it all went down, and her pride from the accomplishment resonated with her expression this whole time.

"Alright class. Would you please settle down and listen up?" Eliza had to wait an entire twenty seconds for everybody to lower their volume and pay attention. Still, not everyone was able to keep quiet about their day last night, whispering into each other's personal space to remain uninterrupted. "I know we all had fun last night with the training and practice of Radial Stars. This is only one of thousands of spells and skills that can be learned, and in a Leray match, one must obtain a large variety of skills that can be used against an opponent to triumph. So today, we will begin our next course of training on the basics of elemental magical attacks."

Taylor felt a little flushed. Even though some people have yet to master Radial Stars, her teacher was moving on anyway to more advanced skills.

"Today, instead of a class session or a lesson, we will jump right into learning the skills of either Fire Ball, Ice Ball, or Electro-Ball. You may pick and choose which elements to work with first, and the textbooks may help you with invoking such skills. Think of today as a free for all training session in our dark room." Just like that, the kids were packing up a little, preparing to move to the official dark room. It was clear they were truly unwilling to be patient about learning new spells.

"Now I know that some of you have not yet learned Radial Stars. That will severely impact your ability to learn any elemental type of spell today. So for those of you who have not already, practice Radial Stars first, and then move on to the next set of spells. You will have plenty of time to execute this training, because as a weekend assignment, I expect all of you to learn and be ready to demonstrate at least two spells of your choice."

"Two spells?" Taylor repeated softly.

"Piece of cake," Jane eased. She was of course talking to Taylor, building her confidence. Yet the entire class heard her and took it out of context. Jane was immediately getting judged behind her back, the others believing she was being arrogant for already knowing more than four spells.

"It very well could be," Eliza allowed. "But remember this. Even with Radial Stars learned and mastered, nobody has ever been able to learn their first elemental spell on the first day of attempts. Not even you, Jane."

Jane put her arm behind her head, not knowing how to respond to her teacher's demotion. Jane was obviously very competitive, and could get embarrassed easily at the thought of performing below the average of her classmates, but after the last remark that she failed to properly direct, it was defiantly called for. Eliza wasn't lying either. Jane remembered the moment when she practiced all day and night for Fire Ball. It took two days to learn it, not one.

"Let's get moving class. You know we can't go shooting off fire in the classroom."

Danny prepared to follow the rest of the class and Eliza too. There was something about the official training room that must protect the structure from all magical attacks, and the lecture returned to his memory. It was when Lisa was showing them around the school on Sunday, when they entered the dark room for the first time. Despite how amazing it looked, it was specifically designed for all walls, floors, and ceilings to absorb any powerful magic attack. That way, nothing would cause any structural damage to the building, like catching the place on fire with a Fire Ball.

The walk to the dark room was kept brief, with Eliza opening the entrance with her card. The metal door slide open sideways, revealing the strong blue glow of transparent haze in the room from magical lighting. "Remember kids, any one of you with a Leray license or training license may enter the training room just as I did, but only before five P.M. every day."

Danny pondered that same rule again. Always closed at five P.M.? They must try to keep the building empty at that time after for some reason. It must be enough stress having them here so long after each class gets out, and obviously they weren't expected to train in school during night fall. He figured it was probably for the janitors to do the cleaning jobs and fix the place up again for the next morning. Or it could be that the usual thirty minute class sessions is comparable to what the teachers get paid to stay in the dark rooms afterwards to monitor training progress... The assumption carried over an interesting concept however. Do janitors use some kind of cleaning spells?

Jane proudly stepped into the room with everyone else, taking her place near a specific corner. The room was large, but not in a way that was completely open. There were several corners and dead-end corridors designed to let students use projectile attacks against the walls in specific areas while keeping their sides covered against other stray hits. Jane remembered all how it works. The room was expertly designed in certain places for people to practice alone, or other sections with more than one person. Nobody however is protected from an attack in general if one ends up striking them, even by accident. Therefore, area attacks are exercised with more caution than normal attacks are. Jane remembered back a few weeks ago clearly. She would always stand in here, often alone to practice her close combat fighting styles. She always carried her two special daggers on her, prepared to fight anybody without even needing to rely on an attack. That was one of her specialties. Jane pitied anybody that thought about challenging her to a battle any day.

Of course, battling people even between classmates was widely forbidden, unless special permission was applied. Until the training licenses are upgraded to full licenses, nobody can battle in an official match with another person until then. It sure kept things more difficult for Jane without a sparring partner.

Danny walked up to the weapons storage area again, checking out all of the choices he could have with weaponry. After remembering that the use of weapons is both allowed in matches and non-lethal to opponents in Sprawn Valley, he really could choose to go with one particular style.

Taylor and the others dispersed, all towards different stations except for her. Jane quickly caught on that Taylor did not know exactly what to do, and approached her to assist.

Danny could not immediately decide. Daggers, knives, swords, clubs, maces, sharp edged gauntlets, even a pistol. There was no end to the types of weapons he was able to use, but the supply in this room was still limited more than he thought for each specific machine. They probably only let you borrow weapons from this place anyway. Danny focused on one in particular. It looked like some sort of advanced handgun, but not one he had ever seen before. The design was totally different, and the barrel was much too wide to fire any bullets. He could squeeze his entire fist inside if he wanted to. With a curious gesture, Danny held the grip with both hands, aiming the device at the wall in front of him. Nobody was standing near him to take any hits from whatever kind of ammunition this thing fires.

After bracing himself for any potential recoil, Danny pulled the trigger. The blast that fired from the gun nearly knocked him backwards and off balance, but not enough for him to mistake what just happened as the result. From the interesting charge up chain inside of the gun, the blaster shot out a strong pulse of blue glowing energy in the form of a small photon sphere, which disintegrated itself into the wall he aimed for.

"Interesting choice," Eliza projected.

Danny bounced up in place slightly from the surprise he got from someone sneaking up on him. Though he quickly assumed it was just his teacher evaluating what he was up to. After turning around, it was confirmed. "What is this thing?" Danny held up the blaster weapon closer to Eliza, hoping she could identify it.

"That would be a mark-two training blaster," Eliza claimed. Though it was not very descriptive for Danny's question, she still offered to expand on the full description she was giving for it. "The blaster is used for long range combat, firing a short pulse of energy at the target, and it does so without ever needing to cool off, recharge, or without expending any personal MP energy."

"Cool!" Danny liked the sound of that. A full burst of energy in the form of a projectile, free of his own magic? This was a dreamer's weapon. It must siphon its energy from the veil without the assistance of a person.

"However," Eliza continued. "The blaster shot does not do much damage at all. Its power level for one shot is about the same as Radial Stars, and it only fires one burst of energy at a time with a short charge up rate of one second. So if you want to rely on that thing in combat, you need tactics and strategy. Otherwise, you'll have to learn which skills are involved in powering the gun further."

Danny felt the air become more dense above him, or perhaps it was the crushed spirit of a lucky break combined with the pressuring idea that there are spells that change how the very physics of the blaster are used. His weapon was barely effective in a Leray match, but at least it was still something to rely on in a backup situation.

"But I will let you keep it if you'd like."

"Really?" Was Eliza serious? She was just going to let Danny have an energy blaster for free? "I don't have to pay?" She's only supposed to let him barrow the thing. What did he do right?

Eliza answered, "No problem. Though importation of weapons is costly, not enough people want to take the training weapons with them in the field anyway. If you want a blaster weapon that does real damage, you'll have to find the right store, and pay out of pocket for one."

"I get it." Danny felt a little less fortunate now that his blaster could barely do anything, but after a few imaginative scenarios about using it with combinations of magical spells, he felt more confident that this could very well be the support he was hoping for. In fact, if this thing could be used for self-defense without the assistance of his own magic, that could be better.

Meanwhile, Jane has been explaining things to Taylor regarding her training. "So don't forget that despite the damage and power increase from elemental attacks," Jane educated, "it will not be an easy thing to learn."

"But it is the same style as before, right?" Taylor thought that all skills and attacks of any power are learned in the same manner that she learned Radial Stars. At least that is what Jane told her earlier.

"For the most part," Jane corrected. "We're still only working on projectile attacks. Don't forget that there are plenty of support spells and area attacks as well, which are a totally different story to master. But as far as Fire Ball and the others go, it should still be your next focus." Jane waited for Taylor to take it all in and remember it in her head. "And don't forget that elemental attacks have strengths and weaknesses against other elemental attacks and defensive parameters. So in a fight, you have to choose carefully."

"I don't know if I can get that far," Taylor doubted.

Jane snapped, "Don't do that! Of course you can learn everything about this. But you need to practice on it, and don't ever give up." Jane paused for a moment, reluctant to admit something to Taylor. "Even I have trouble getting some basic level attacks in... Well, they're basic to me anyway. Did you know that I don't always invoke Electro-Ball correctly?"

"Wh-What?" Taylor winced. "But... Electro-Ball is just a simple elemental attack. You should have mastered that one weeks ago."

"I know," Jane admitted. "I have been focusing on other non-elemental attacks more than I should in comparison, but don't forget that compared to Fire Ball and Ice Ball, Electro-Ball has a slightly elevated power level. It does even more damage than the other two."

"It does?"

Jane continued the reasoning, ignoring Taylor's predictable surprise. "Electro-Ball is like any other unguided projectile attack, but electrical damage ranges a little higher since that damage is inflicted over a short period of time, not just immediate. It's called a jolt hold attack form. The person hit by any electrical attack is dealt damage over a short period time, which lowers their HP in that manner. But on top of being harder to control and master, electrical attacks also cause the opponent to feel a ton of different kinds of pains. Even with Leray protection involved, an electric attack can be nasty."

"I think I get it now," Taylor assembled. It's more difficult than it sounds, especially since Jane can't get it right. "So when do I get started?"

Jane held Taylor by the side, showing her and pointing to the area she was going to be practicing at. There was just a wall right there with nothing painted or attached to it. This was the area Jane wanted Taylor to focus on. "Use this wall to aim your attacks at. I want you to keep on trying to focus on shooting a Fire Ball from your hands, just like you did with Radial Stars yesterday."

"Um..." Taylor was still unsure that she could do this with ease. "How about another demonstration?"

"No," she denied. "I'm holding that one off for now, to teach you another short lesson." Disappointment painted Taylor expression, but she was at least listening to Jane's words. "I don't want you to think that you have to see an attack in order to invoke it successfully. Even if you have no idea what a particular skill looks like, all you need to know is its general description, and imagine it working for your benefit. The spell will happen the same normal way if you practice with it hard enough, but it's really as simple as shooting a ball of fire from your hands. You can do it Taylor, without even seeing one in action first. And once you can do that, you'll realize that some stronger attacks cannot be learned just by watching."

Taylor was still a little unsure about that, but Jane was right about one thing. I can do this. I did Radial Stars, which means I can do more. "Okay," Taylor prepared. "What do I have to do for a Fire Ball?"

Jane exhaled, relived that she was taking this better than Jane used to in the past. "Like before, focus your energy. Fire Ball, Ice Ball, and Electro-Ball are all magical projectile attacks, which means they are going to rely on special glyphrings. The Fire Ball glyphring is made from a fire symbol, but all you need to know it that you are making a fire elemental attack, and the glyphring will auto-adjust to match. Ice attacks use bright blue glyphrings, Electro-Balls use dark jade glyphrings, and fire attacks make red-hot colored glyphrings. Once you store that energy, make enough room for the glyphring around your wrist, and enough room for the fire attack. Once you release that energy, imagine that this time you are shooting a flying ball of fire from your hands instead of glowing stars. And make sure you maintain focus as well."

Taylor understood exactly what kind of strategy this would be. She has already done this before with the Radial Stars attack spell. This time, the attack type would be different with slightly similar variations.

"Ms. Eliza?" Danny asked. "How can I use magical spells when I can't even get a glyphring for them?"

"What's this about not producing a glyphring?" Eliza repeated.

Danny was ashamed of not even learning a single attack spell so far. "Yesterday, when I was training on Radial Stars, I couldn't get anything to happen. And now that we're supposed to learn elemental attacks..."

Eliza finished the sentence before Danny could. "Then you keep on trying." After receiving his attention to her serious face, Eliza explained rule number one to training. "You won't master anything by giving up so quickly, but you also need to have faith in yourself, enough to know that you can actually use a spell such as that. Don't worry about falling a little behind. Like I said before Danny, nobody learns an elemental skill on the first day of training to use one. They're spells with higher power levels, so you must train even harder to make those work. But for now, focus again on Radial Stars. Learn to focus your energy. Imagine yourself using Radial Stars at full power."

"But—"

"And most importantly, know that the only thing stopping you from success in this case is yourself, if you stop believing you are capable that is."

Danny had no further argument he could come up with. Eliza was right about this. Danny practiced hard last night, after trying to prove that he was as good as or better than Taylor at this magical stuff, but even then, he never got to make one use of Radial Stars. Maybe Taylor wasn't using some lucky break after all.

Eliza offered him more options. "There are plenty of more stations available for you to practice Radial Stars, and you aren't the only one training on that ability."

Danny looked around, hearing some of the cries and shouts of the names of battle skills. Most of them were people shouting, "Fire Ball!" But there were more who were shouting, "Radial Stars!" along with them. Nobody, even the users of Radial Stars managed to get anything out. That proves it. It proves that he is not the only one struggling. It must really take a ton of time and effort.

"And Danny? Don't be shy about thinking of excellent ways to make use of combination attacks with your blaster. It's more effective when used creatively in battle. Think on that once you've learned at least three spells or so."

"Thanks." Danny didn't know what else to say. His teacher had complete faith that he could do it, and she was not the only one either. Glancing over at Jane and Taylor who were busy practicing together, Danny remembered from before that Taylor was never one to give up on him with challenges. Jane had her own reasons for believing in him as well. With a solid state of renewed confidence, Danny chose an empty station, made up of two short vertical walls and a dead end. That is where he will practice again today.

"Fire Ball!" Taylor hollered, trying to shoot the stored energy out of her hands. Upon opening her eyes however, it was clear to her that not even the glyphring for a fire attack managed to show up in front of her. The attack failed completely.

"Good job," Jane coaxed. "You remembered to chant the names of different attacks, which will help you focus more on them after you've learned their abilities. Now just keep trying."

"But it's not coming close to working," Taylor complained.

Jane seemed smug, or just plain determined that Taylor had this in the bag. "Taylor? Please demonstrate to me a Radial Star attack."

"Huh? But..."

"Just do it."

Taylor wasn't sure of where Jane was going with this. She was staring at her intensely, waiting on her to comply. Taylor glared at the wall again, her own target destination for attacks. Once decided, Taylor remembered what it was like to use Radial Stars, and began charging her energy like before. This time, she kept her eyes open, not needing much focus for it. Radial Stars was practiced by her so much that it was all coming to her naturally. She barely needed to try and concentrate, but Taylor did not fool herself. She kept her cool and determination into charging the energy in the right places. Just shortly after releasing the energy all at once, Taylor raised her left arm. At the exact same time, that orange glyphring appeared on its own, much faster than it did the last time Taylor tried to invoke the ability. With a quick last minute push of the force stored up in her hand, Taylor chanted, "Radial Stars!" and immediately shot out a steady barrage of spinning orange stars towards the metal structure. It took two seconds for the entire barrage of glowing orange stars to bounce off the wall, falling to the floor before fading away shortly after.

Once the attack was over in a flash, Taylor winced in surprise at how easy that happened. Her glyphring faded away quickly before she retracted her arm, but it was done and over in just one try.

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Seeing the surprise in Taylor's eyes, Jane continued her chain of thought aloud. "You see, because you have already used Radial Stars correctly through constant practice and invocation, your mind has already gotten used to that ability, enough to invoke Radial Stars with ease. And because you've assigned the chant to Radial Stars, it triggers the rest of the process almost automatically. Some people call it muscle memory or nerve memory, but that's just how it works. That's why we chant the name of our skills out loud, even in battle."

"I only did in in one try," Taylor added. For over two hours, Taylor exhausted herself last night in front of Jane's house shouting the name and trying to use the skill. Now, even after going to sleep and waking up, she had no troubles with the new spell whatsoever.

"Fire Ball is not the same exact type of attack, and even the glyphring type is a little different. That is why it will take you some time to learn, just like it did for Radial Stars yesterday." Jane paused, preparing her next detailed portion of the lecture. "But once you finally get it down Taylor, using Fire Balls will be as natural to you as sucking in oxygen."

"Let's hope so," Taylor decided. She prepared herself again, calming her every nerve. "I just have to keep trying over and over."

"It can be frustrating at times, but always remember that no matter how many times you fail, you can invoke this spell."

"Okay." Taylor hollowed out her senses, focusing once again to try and invoke a perfect Fire Ball. In her mind, she imagined that a flaming ball of fire shoots through her hands, right through the formation of a red glyphring.

Jane wasn't sure how physically far Taylor was from perfecting her first Fire Ball, but by studying her body language and stance, it became clear that Taylor was just as determined now to get her Fire Ball down, much sooner than anybody else was going to.

Taylor ended up at the same road again, trying to invoke her move with her arm aimed at the wall. Even after chanting the name of the spell, nothing appeared to happen. That red glyphring, whatever it was supposed to look like was a no show despite her renewed faith.

Danny was having almost the same kind of luck with Radial Stars. Training today lasted for a long session of eighty minutes, for the full class session anyway. Even in all of that time, the best he could get was the glyphring that belonged to Radial Stars. In its best self-rotating form, he constantly found himself unable to shoot the stars out from the center like Jane and Taylor did last night. Even though today's training session had nearly ended, he knew he was not done yet. If the orange glyphring can generate itself around his right wrist from the command of his own mind, so can he shoot stars the same way.

"Time is near its end class," Eliza announced. She had been keeping a good sense for the time. They had minutes remaining. "Once the bell rings, you should all take a well-deserved break. After that, you may return here for additional practice before five. Or, you can train outdoors too. But watch your aim in the field!" The last thing she would need is another incident involving poorly aimed magic. Eliza remembered having to take some heat for an incident a while ago from a different class when a stray magic attack destroyed a neighbor's front door. The school got in so much trouble from that.

Danny had quickly forgotten that class began today at twelve P.M., much later than the standard class time. Dakota changed up the start time on certain days in order to fence in concentrations with breaks in a perfect balance. Though class sessions seem short, it's expected that students return to the school before five P.M. to brush up on studies or come here to the dark room for additional training, at least that's what Eliza told the class. This means that by now it must be one forty P.M., making it a little later in the day than he was used to getting out at. Still, there was going to be plenty of more time, since the sun level does not fall until six thirty. It must be inching closer to winter, even though it was not that cold outside at night. He took that hint by the time of the sun dropping.

Eliza injected the final act of her lesson plan for today. "But first... Jane? I bet you would like to demonstrate for us what an elemental attack looks like. The popular choice is Fire Ball, but I'll take one of the other two as well. Class? Watch closely."

Jane didn't expect to be put on the spot today like this, and she had just finished explaining to Taylor that demonstrations are not always helpful. Has Eliza forgotten that? "R-Right." The class was already focused on her, and it was too late to refuse. Seeing no choice but to perform an elemental attack, Jane took aim at the wall Taylor was trying to before, and she began to concentrate her energy.

For Jane, this was like a walk in-the-park-level attack spell, but there were people watching her, figuring out what an elemental spell invocation should look like. Nobody had forgotten that Jane was an advanced level student, and that naturally gave her an advantage over the other kids. However, this could also make everyone resent her more, since it takes a whole day or two to learn such spells, while Jane was about to perfect one on her first try. Well, first try for today anyway. Others didn't know how long it really took her to learn Fire Ball and Ice Ball, but that's because it happened outside of school.

After calming her nerves, Jane tried to block out all thoughts about her surroundings. From that moment on, it was relativity quick and easy for her to collect her MP energy, charging it into her body and her hands. A Fire Ball would be easy, and came naturally to Jane. Since she has shot several of these before in practice, failure was not expected nor was it an option. In just little time of two speedy seconds, Jane had created a perfect red colored glyphring in front of her, rotating in place on its own while the center section faced the wall. Like all glyphrings, the strange phasic noise it projected picked up in pitch as the charging magic became stronger. This glyphring however was different than the one from Radial Stars, so everybody picked up on the detail. The glyphring in size was smaller, much smaller. It was just a short holographic disk that was barely larger than the size of Jane's head, but perfectly wrapped around her right wrist. In the same moment she lifted and positioned her arm naturally, Jane opened her hand and chanted, "Fire Ball!"

With a short burst of magical energy being released by Jane, she successfully created a ball of flaming essence, pure fire that swept through the air of the room until it impacted against the wall. The Fire Ball quickly disappeared without any particular effect on the structure, but that is because the walls were designed to absorb all attack types. Regardless of how the Fire Ball looked or impacted, Jane perfectly demonstrated the full effects of the Fire Ball spell to the entire class, after which her red glyphring disappeared on its own, but not before Jane lowered her arm, dragging the glyphring with it. The others must not have known it from before, but the glyphring's center actually followed Jane's right wrist the entire time it was there, staying attached to help her change aim at any time.

"Great job Jane." Eliza was proud. An excellent work of training paid off in full.

Jane was able to shoot a Fire Ball for a while now, but it has been some time since she showed off any of her skills to the class. Hopefully, she was inspiring them to do better, not just making them become intimidated by her. Eliza took risks like that all the time, and now, Taylor would likely learn it from visualizing the event. It still went against what Jane had to do for some of her other spells.

"In just a day or more, all of you will be fully capable of pulling off that attack. Remember, I want to see at least two spells by Monday." Eliza had a wonderful sense of the time, because the bells tolled just on cue after finishing her assignment orders.

The class began to walk out of the room in a straight line, and Eliza was satisfied that her session was a success today, in her eyes. Jane however stayed behind, waiting for Danny and Taylor to show up in front of her. Taylor however was already by her side as it was. Danny came closer, wondering what to do next. "I have plans for you two to come over tonight."

"You made us plans again?" Danny pondered. What is it about Jane wanting to have them over all the time? It wasn't a rude invitation, but still...

"Will it be like yesterday?" Taylor inquired.

Jane seemed happy about announcing her next idea to the two of them, after having a long absence in her choice of friends. "Better. This time, we'll all have a sleep over!"

"Yay!" Taylor felt her cheer couldn't be entirely conveyed, despite her gesture of jumping her arms above her head high.

"Uh, What?" Danny already lost track of what happened. A sleep over? At Jane's?! He had been to other people's houses before in the past. Taylor was the sleep over girl, and he was the cool kid that hung out, if he had enough earned respect anyway. Jane was obviously not shy about having her friends over at her place at all. Still, no matter how she made it sound, Jane already had them stay a night this week. Danny distinctively remembered waking up in an uncomfortable position on the living room floor.

"Sleep over at Jane's!" Taylor cheered. She remembered being invited to some back in Kalamo, but after turning fourteen, her group of friends inched away from those sort of things. Even she believed it was kind of childish, but when you're this far away from home, there can be room for some better days. Jane was sixteen years old, and she was the one offering, so it can't be that awkward or strange.

"Well..." Danny was reluctant to even come up with any answer. "Okay, I guess."

"Aw don't worry about it," Jane eased. "Just do what you did last time, but know that we're watching at least one movie tonight."

"Sounds interesting enough." A Leray based movie was certainly something in itself. Danny knew that it was far from nighttime anyway, but he followed Jane and Taylor around closely, making himself part of the group as they both went out for lunch at the medical facility. That place seemed a lot more like a one story hotel than a hospital. They even had a place in the back for eating like this. Jane offered to pay for the meal, since the staff there can't always offer free food to anybody.

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Chapter Theme Shift: Morning Mirage ~ Yarn (Downtempo)

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For the remainder of the afternoon, Danny, Taylor, and Jane traveled around together for a while in the fields of Fronas, occasionally stopping for ten minutes to try and learn any spells they have not already. This of course didn't work, but there were plenty of other students around as well, trying the same thing in the middle of the field Fronas provided. They ended up bumping into Kain and Bella as well, getting better acquainted with all three of them.

For Danny, it was quite a nightmare though. He had not spoken or seen Kain ever since he agreed to get signed up, but as far as the guy knew, Danny and Taylor were supposed to knock some sense into a girl called Jane Venn. After bumping into them with Jane in tow acting all nice and normal, it had to be the most awkward situation he had faced yet. It could have been worse though. Kain could have told Jane what he and Taylor said behind her back before, yet he restrained himself enough not to. Still, aside from Bella, Kain is a total creep in everything he does. He just has that unfortunate vibe, even when Kain isn't doing anything. Yet somehow, Jane knows the guy to some light level. Oh well. Now Kain will probably continue to expect him to stay in school forever. This doesn't mean he has to though.

The rest of the day was really a drag, with everybody just being themselves until the sun came down. After Jane finally decided to show them into her house, that's where things got a little more exciting.

Danny was the only one so far sitting alone, staring off in the distance. Though he was obviously not interested in what was happening around him, Taylor and Jane were the opposite. After finishing another excellent meal made by Jane's mom, the four of them got into a discussion at the table. Danny had eaten as well, talking a few things over. But his excitement was the one thing now missing, his thoughts entranced.

"That's great to hear," Smith congratulated. "Jane, you may as well become a teacher someday."

Jane nodded at the very idea. "No dad. I'm becoming a Leray master, remember?"

Taylor was happy to see how involved they were with her. Jane's dad just got done hearing Jane's accomplishments from her. It was because of Jane that Taylor learned to use Radial Stars, and in just some more time, Fire Ball.

Tiffany chimed in, no longer busy with clean up detail. "I like the idea. We're very proud of your progress Jane."

Jane exhaled softly. She heard of this compliment before, even before getting any better at her own studies. Come to think of it, Jane has been slowing herself down this whole time in order to help her new friends. If anything, she has not really improved at all, but they didn't need to know that.

Tiffany continued, obviously proud to be ranting on about her daughter. "Come to think of it, you're practically old enough and skilled enough now to travel around Sprawn Valley, right?"

Smith exchanged disapproving glance with Tiffany. He seemed uncertain whether that was the best idea, but before Jane could pick up on it, the excitement already sank in. Jane knew it was her duty to travel around as soon as her graduation from Dakota is complete, but getting parental approval when under the age of eighteen is also one of the other requirements. Her dad always opposed the idea that she was ready as of yet.

It was true that the legal age to become a Leray wielder is eleven, but to travel without physical parental guidance requires the minimum age of fifteen, which still imposes getting permission to travel alone on top of that rule. Between fifteen and eighteen is the age in which you simply need general consent to start a Leray journey. "Really?! I can go wherever I want?"

Tiffany grinned, knowing that Jane was already getting just a little ahead of herself. "Well, you should train hard first, so that you don't get run down by experienced fighters. But..." Tiffany paused, looking at Taylor, and then towards Danny. "With your friends helping you, I can't see a downside."

"Yes! Thanks mom! I'll do my best, I promise."

Smith couldn't even breathe faster than Jane was talking. It was already happening. The day was already around the corner from where Jane will embark on some journey many wielders begin, and perform in several Leray battles against other people. It wasn't something that was uncommon even around here, but that also means she won't be home as often. "But you better check in every once in a while Jane."

"I promise to dad."

Taylor was enjoying the whole moment. Most people would never put up with showing any affection for their parents. Then again, Kalamo was not the sort of place where most families get along this well either. Several who weren't well off got involved with bad crowds, mostly by running off and disobeying their guardians. The general Kalamonian teenager was at least slightly rebellious by default, but the people of Fronas, perhaps all of Sprawn Valley were really nice to others. It really is like they've traveled into a whole other world.

Still in the same mood, Tiffany noticed that Danny was distracted with something on his mind. "What are your thoughts of having that journey Danny?"

"Wha?" Danny snapped out of it, realizing he must have missed an entire question about him. He didn't even remember hearing what it was, and now they were all staring at him... Guess the jig is up. How could he pretend to be as hyper as the rest of them? There was still the matter of training he did not exceed in yet. Though it was harmless, Jane and Taylor would be running around doing all kinds of things today, but he had other plans. "What was the question?"

Noticing the same thing the others had, Taylor took two steps closer to Danny, studying his expression for something significant. "What's wrong? Did something heavy get on your mind again?"

"Did he swallow a bug?"

Taylor managed to prevent herself from laughing just this once at Jane's totally random jests, elbowing her from behind to knock it off.

It was obvious enough he won't be able to keep this going forever it seemed, but was there even such a thing as the correct time or moment? Why can't things just go back to the way they were before? He survived the horrors of Sprawn Valley, almost learned to use Leray magic, and made a good friend here in the same process. But this just isn't right! Danny looked up towards Jane, trying to analyze what the bug thing was about, but quickly forgot about it since her randomness was to be expected. "Nothing's wrong... I just, I want to go back outside and train some more."

Tiffany seemed excited at the response, but not in an unexpected way. "It's only a matter of time before Jane has that effect on people. Go and train as hard as you need to, but not too much."

"Are you sure?" Taylor pursued. Danny was hardly a deep thinker, and it seemed obvious in the tone of his voice that he was not so excited about training at all. This deflection to get outside and train was defiantly a lie! Come to think of it, Danny had shown such little excitement in Leray magic for a long time, much less since that night he failed to learn Radial Stars. Does he really hate magic that much? What's going through your head, Danny?

Danny thrusted his arm back with a clenched fist as a determined gesture. "Positive! I'll only be right outside, and not for too long. I need to get that Radial Stars mastered." Finally finding the correct attitude and excited tone, Danny projected it to them perfectly while getting out of his seat.

"That's the spirit!" Jane encouraged. It took her a moment of silence to realize that the person next to her had mixed thoughts about it, after she said nothing back as well. "But don't be too long. It is late, and there are bats here."

Danny's expression quickly became worrisome. "Magic bats?" It wasn't much of a stretch. Danny heard of magical creatures in Sprawn Valley, but was Jane trying to warn him about bats that can fly around and breathe electricity magic?

Instead of any particular reply, Jane just burst into laughter for several long moments while her parents kept that annoying smile on their faces. Taylor could only stand back and watch. It wasn't that funny...

Danny shrugged, letting Jane laugh vigorously as seconds ticked by. She really behaves like a little kid once she has her energy, and Taylor was not too far away from this either. It figures she would imply something without meaning it at all. Oh well. Danny headed towards the door of the house, preparing to walk outside and practice a lot more on his skills.

Meanwhile, Jane and Taylor wished him luck. "See you around Danny," Jane waved.

"Don't take too long," Taylor concerned. Danny continued to walk forward, as if he couldn't wait to get to that door in hopes of avoiding being stuck inside any further.

Jane stopped Danny just before he left through the door, "Oh, Danny!"

After turning around, he waited to see what the fuss was about. "What is it?"

Jane answered swiftly, "Don't forget that Taylor and I only have two beds up in my room. So you'll have to get the couch again."

Danny remembered hearing those rules from Jane's parents. That wasn't the concern for him. Much for Taylor though, didn't Jane say something about her sister's bed being a biohazard? "Yeah, I got it."

"But we won't be asleep for some time, so join us too when you get back."

Before Danny could even agree, Smith nearly paralyzed him with a sinister stare that Danny's eyes detected. Danny shivered just a little, uncertain if from the lower temperature outside, or the serious look he had seen from Jane's father. Danny didn't feel that strongly about Jane. It's not like he asked her out anyway, but there wasn't an easy way to explain that to her father. If he tried to, he would probably say something stupid again without Taylor being there to help him out with that.

He briefly took his own time to imagine what dating Jane could even go like. Since this isn't a normal town, Jane might end up shooting Fire Balls and electrical attacks at him for even considering it. Jane was a lot of things, and that made her unpredictable. No thanks. I'll just have some night air. He gave them all a single nod that he understood, and closed the door behind him.

Jane noticed that Taylor was two steps more from being in a total trance. I wonder if she knows about her own feelings herself... "Come on," Jane hovered. "Let's go raid my sister's stash."

Taylor was brought to her attention after hearing about her sister, and then processed what Jane was doing. Edging for her to follow Jane up the stairs, Taylor noticed no reaction from her parents. Either she heard her wrong, or it was just another one of her jokes. If Jane's sister keeps a stash around, then made of what? And how is she supposed to sleep in Iona's bed? Jane didn't say anything earlier about cleaning the sheets.

It was a short distance to get to Jane's room. Taylor remembered it exactly the same as it was. A few items around Jane's bed were moved around, and some more appeared as well, but overall, the room was still exactly the same. She figured that Jane was going to make her sleep in Iona's bed, but after a quick inspection with her eyes, the mattress was actually cleaned off.

Jane hunched down towards the stack of VCR tapes lying on the floor, collecting all of them while heading for her bed. She sat down while sorting through them, calling out their names. "I've got the Dark Age series, Hallow One, Energy Crusades, Falling Star..."

Taylor believed all of these were fictional movies related to Leray magic. Whatever culture passes for them here, she was completely unfamiliar to any of it. She could already sense that this all really wasn't about the movie. Jane was going to do other things too, like braid her hair, polish her nails, and perhaps even talk about the boys she knows or used to know. Taylor was at least prepared for that, but she couldn't help shake away other things from her mind. "Surprise me," she ordered.

Jane remembered that neither Danny nor Taylor has heard of these things, being from out of the country, but there wasn't much else they told her regarding exactly from where they were from, or what their lives are like. It must be strange growing up in a place without magic, not even hearing of such things. The culture there must be very different. Taking Taylor's random idea into consideration, Jane decided on Agent Terria, which was a movie series about a particular Leray agent in the setting of a large city devoted to stopping crime. At least it was better than most of the other choices. Jane quickly turned on her television set and popped the tape into the VCR player.

Taylor sat in the middle of the floor with Iona's pillow, making herself as comfortable as possible, but she still couldn't stop thinking about everything. Most of those thoughts were now centered on whatever Danny was going through. The way Danny reacted to Leray magic was different this morning than it was last morning. Even before that time, his reactions to the concept were indescribably distant. It felt like he was just getting worse. Danny must really hate Leray magic.

Jane began preparing the movie, but noticed the look on Taylor's face. She had to be thinking something about Danny. Maybe he was putting her off or something. "So..." Jane wanted to ask Taylor about it direct, but it wasn't easy to find the right words to even ask.

"What?" Taylor was at least paying attention to Jane. That had to count for something. Jane appeared as if she was trying to get something out to her. Time for secret telling already?

"What are your thoughts on... Danny?" Jane tried to be as casual as possible, as the question could have had multiple meanings.

Taylor acted surprised, but took her time to answer as well. "Well... What do ya mean?" It was a hard question, being too broad.

Jane knew Taylor was going to try and be difficult. "Well he is a guy. You tell me."

Taylor still wasn't certain, but Jane might actually be into him. It wasn't too surprising. Danny is not bad looking for his age, and there have been times when he went out on dates with other girls back in Kalamo. The dates mostly ended horribly for both sides, but the reason had nothing to do with him cleaning up nicely. "I c-can't say for sure." Taylor could feel her voice getting a little shaky, and cleared her throat to fix it.

"Come on," Jane tensed. "Aren't you two..." Jane held up her hand and crossed her two first right fingers together for the shape of a heart to signify what she meant.

"N-no! We're not dating!" Taylor responded seriously to the question before it was even asked, turning her head and crossing her arms. "He's all yours."

Jane flinched; embarrassed that Taylor would even think that. It's not what she meant. "No, no, no!" She noted. Jane regretted not being more specific. "I'm not into him. Danny isn't my type. But I wanted to know if you were."

"Why would you want to know that if you're not into him?" Taylor knew of ways to throw out trick questions, but she meant to use it in a valid scenario like this one. Jane was either trying to hook up with Danny, or she was trying to match make him with Taylor.

"Come on girl," Jane teased. "I've seen the way you too look at each other. I'm surprised you two aren't boyfriend and girlfriend yet."

Taylor's jaw dropped. Me and Danny?! "Are you out of your mind?!" Taylor felt a little flush. She had not been approached like this before, especially not when it was about Danny. At best, she and Danny were like brother and sisters to each other, though technically not related by family in any way. But that wasn't important right now!

"It's just a thought," Jane admitted. "You both care about each other to some degree..."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we go out with each other," Taylor denied. "We're just good friends. We have been for a long time. And Danny's never made a move on me, so you thought wrong." What's with her and that crazy idea? Danny is just...

"I'm talking about how you feel about him," Jane renewed. "Not how he feels about you."

Taylor almost lost her entire chain of thought and selection for words. It took two entire seconds for her to say anything at all. "I don't fit in that category Jane."

Jane was smiling at Taylor, like she had happily won some sort of prize. "If that's the case, then why are you blushing?" She made things worse with how excited she sounded by saying that. Taylor's face was darkening with the saturation of her blood, and it had little to do with the temperature in the room. To her response, Taylor looked even more embarrassed, like someone had roasted her in a dilemma.

"I'm not blushing!" Jane was enjoying this, Taylor could clearly see it on her face. But if she was blushing, that could have meant anything. "I just... wasn't expecting that is all."

"Uh-huh. Sure. Okay."

Taylor knew what Jane was doing now, pretending to agree, and she was a poor actress for hiding any hint of sarcasm she had. "I'm serious. There is nothing between us!"

Jane gave it up for now, knowing there will be a next time some time. "We will soon see about that."

"What does that mean?" Taylor could not bear to take much more of this. When was Jane just going to give up and talk about her own love life? Wait, Jane isn't planning to do anything, right? She better not say anything to him!

"I mean one of you is going to fall for the other eventually. And I'm going to be all over it once it happens."

"It won't happen," Taylor calmly assured. She could only pray that Jane was not even serious about planning something to get Danny's attention either. If he knew even so much about this very conversation, Taylor would just die. No way! "Don't even think about talking to him about this."

Taylor is so adorable right now! But Jane knew it wasn't polite to mess with her emotions too much. "I wasn't planning to do anything," Jane promised. "Except..."

Taylor shot Jane a warning glance. "Except what?"

Jane continued, still sounding as happy and proud as ever. "Except, I plan to give myself a makeover. You should think about having one too."

"Uh..." Taylor was hung up on one particular detail. Jane was either completely insane, or just plain rude. Playing with people's emotions like that! Did she get some kind of kick out of this?

Back outside in the darkest of the night, Danny decided that he had trained enough. It wasn't actually that cold outside. Probably about fifty-nine degrees in Fahrenheit, but the wind that was picking up was just making things feel colder to him. The humidity was not very high either, despite the massive storm they had last week. Though he had time to think things over while practicing more magic, Danny still felt as though the entire group was just stuck in stasis. Yet feeling more accomplished, Danny took it inside assuming Taylor and Jane to already be tired out. He was out here for over an hour or so without interruptions.

Upon entering the house, Jane's dad was downstairs in the kitchen when he noticed his return. "Hey Danny. Got in more practice?"

"Yes sir." Danny was formal to Jane's father, uncertain about what he thought of himself. "Finally got Radial Stars to work."

"Well that's good," he replied. "We have enough food in the fridge to make several peanut butter jelly sandwiches, so if you get hungry again, you're okay to eat that."

Danny nodded, now returning his thoughts to what to do next.

Smith caught on to his uncertain decision of whether to go upstairs or stay down here. Even if Taylor and Jane are still awake, Danny might not fit in with getting a makeover, or polishing his nails. But he could have other motives for going upstairs. It was something Smith would not allow. Still, he was told to be nice, since Jane is supposedly his new friend. "I've set up the living room for you already if you feel sleepy. And the TV is set up too, so there is plenty to watch."

Danny was suddenly curious about that. Television sets were not just designed to play back VCR. They also had broadcast stations for movies and shows on live streams as well. Even if all they have here is Leray world news, it was better to go with that than some old movie he wasn't even comfortable with. "Smith? Does that TV... Do we get any stations here, like news?"

"Of course we do." Smith had sounded a lot calmer in response to Danny's question. With Danny's sudden interesting in hanging out downstairs and watching news, there was little to worry about. "We have shows and ProCom news. Might be a better way for you to learn what Sprawn Valley has to offer."

He has a good point. The news could show a ton about an area firsthand without him having to visit the zone. Danny decided to stay down here at least for now, and he started watching whatever was going to be on. Lucky these devices were more familiar to him than trying to shoot magical bursts of energy from his bare hands, and it's not like Taylor will be more than a room away if she needed anything.

Comfortable with his choice, Danny walked into the living room, realizing that the couch had its own cleaned sheet and comforter just waiting for him. But while he was preparing to set up the channels, he began thinking over other things, like the reason that he and Taylor are still here in Fronas. He and Taylor were supposed to head out days ago, trying to get deep into Junon's sector of Sprawn Valley. If Nyar lands here from the airport, and cannot find him or Taylor, what could happen then? Would his parents try to come and save him as well? That was a little harder to figure out. Most of the time, it seemed to him like uncle Nyar cared a lot more about him than mom and dad did. At the same time, the guy was tough as nails when it came to parenting, that being he did little to provide at all with such intentions.

Danny's father worked a lot of shifts; much of it had something to do with an archiving company, whatever that was about, though he was rarely home for any occasion, and that really just left his mother to do housework and maintenance. He then recalled hanging out with friends, exploring their houses as well. Most of the kids he hung out with were always older than him, trying to be cool. It was either some kind of an unofficial gang, or a group of deviants, or sometimes drug users. Even though he never got too involved with any of that stuff, this was often the status quo.

Now look what happened. Nyar came from New York to visit Kalamo in the past. For the most part, this reunion would not have been too different if they would have made it to America, but after falling off the Tidal Max and washing up here, everything was out of whack. Nothing was making sense anymore, and he didn't know how to think straight with everything that has happened. All of this Leray magic stuff is cool, but why is it more important to learn than reuniting with their own families? It's already been an entire week, which gives them less time to travel all the way down to Junon's airport zone. Instead, Taylor wants to stay and graduate with Leray magic training. Doesn't Taylor realize they are trapped here until they take action?

Danny knew there were ways out of this and reasons for leaving Fronas. Even if he has already disobeyed one of Nyar's rules, (staying out of Leray magic entirely), it didn't mean he had to disobey the rally orders as well. Next morning, he would be sure of what to do.