“You’re an early riser!” Jessa yelled to Jraken.

   “I wasn’t getting much sleep anyway!” He yelled back from the lone tree in the field where they had agreed to meet.

   Jessa made her way through the knee-high grass. “I always get here a little early and eat breakfast. You eaten yet?”

   “Guess I sort of forgot.”

   “Here,” she handed him a couple bars of oats, nuts, and fruit. “My mother sends me gobs of these things.”

   Jraken chuckled as he grabbed them and started eating. He did not realize how hungry he was until he took a bite.

   “Does your mom do anything like that?” She asked.

   He shook his head. “Nah. She’s dead.”

   Jessa spit out a mouthful of half chewed breakfast all over him. “Oh geez, I am so sorry!” She started wiping the food off his clothes. “I mean about your mom. The spit-take I blame on your poor delivery.”

   He smiled. “She died when I was little. Grandpa Locke tells me I remind him of her. That her spirit lives on inside me.”

   “That, that is beautiful, man.” Jessa said as she took another bite. “I’m sure she’d be proud to know you started at the academy two years early.”

   “Maybe. To be honest I don’t really know anything about her. It seems like my family would rather pull out their tongues than talk about her.”

   “That’s too bad, but if your Grandpa says her spirit lives on through you then it’s pretty safe to say you know her as well as you know yourself.” Jessa said taking another bite of her breakfast.

   “Yeah. I guess so.” Jraken said optimistically.

             

    It was not long before Hiali and Kolzer showed up as well.

    After introductions were made, Jraken suddenly felt the need to confess he had never fought alongside a team before.

    “Well, to be perfectly honest none of us have.” Kolzer said to comfort the prince.

    “I wasn’t able to get a team together last year.” Replied Jessa. “This will be a debut for all of us. So, let’s start with some one-on-one sparring to see where we all stand skill wise.”

    “I’ll take Jraken!” Kolzer said popping his knuckles.

    “How about you and Hiali spar first?” Jessa suggested. She was not about to let anyone but herself be the first one to take on the young fire prince.

    “Fine.” Kolzer said disappointed.

    Hiali gasped at Kolzer’s reaction to having to spar with her and threw a large gust of wind at him to let him know she was not to be taken lightly.

   Kolzer was knocked back but not over. He let out a booming laugh and responded, “It’ll take a bit more than that, Hiali!”

   Hiali put her wrists together and extended her arms up. Soon a dark disc of wind could be seen swirling above her. “This is a new trick my sister taught me on break!” Hiali yelled out as she hurled the disc at Kolzer.

   One of the first things an Onyxian student training to be a warrior learns, is to cover themselves in armor. With skill, an Onyxian can manipulate almost any non- organic solid matter. So, in most cases, they could use their surroundings to create this armor. It was an unwritten rule that one could not get into the Jhori Academy without first mastering this technique.

   Jraken saw that Kolzer had not yet put on his armor and yelled, “Look out!” to the large first-year student.

   Kolzer covered his face with his arms and the wind disc sailed right through him.

   Jessa laughed softly at Jraken’s look of shock. She knew her cousin would be perfectly fine.

   “I felt that one! Nice attack, Hiali!” Kolzer yelled out, rubbing his arms.

 

   “But how? He didn’t put up any defense! That attack looked like it could have sliced him in two!” Said Jraken.

   “Kolzer comes from the Diamond family. His bloodline is held in as high regard as the Royal family on Onyxia.” Jessa explained. “Every child in the Diamond family is bathed in a special sand water until they come of age. It smells awful and you get sand everywhere, and I mean everywhere!” She said shaking her head from the memory of it. “I was the only kid who could tolerate Kolzer back then, but the result was more than worth it. His flesh became infused with minerals, and with proper training he is now able to harden his own skin to much higher densities than your average rock armor.”

   “Incredible! Do you have this ability?”

   “Both parents must be from a warrior family, and your father must be a Diamond. My mother was a Diamond before she married my father, but she decided to become a Hardu instead. The Hardu family is not of the warrior-class.”

   “At least you were able to train with such a gifted sparring partner.” Jraken said as he returned his attention back to Kolzer and Hiali.

 

   Hiali kept throwing more discs at Kolzer. Making it difficult for Kolzer to approach her. Every hit stopped him in his tracks. He did not seem fast enough to evade the attacks, so he just had to absorb them and tread on. 

   Hiali’s discs started to look smaller and were being thrown with much less velocity and accuracy. A few of them even missed their mark and gave Kolzer his chance to jump forward.

   She anticipated this and used the wind to help her leap back and out of reach of Kolzer.

   “You look a little winded!” Kolzer yelled to his opponent. 

   Hiali was breathing very heavy. All the energy she had used creating and throwing the wind discs had taken its toll on her.

   “Is that blood I see on your arms? I thought you were indestructible!”

    Kolzer checked his forearms and found they were covered in small scratches. Each one spilling less than a drop of blood.

   “Oh yes!” He laughed. “If I take too much more of this, I may need a bandage!” He started charging her way with his arms crossed up in front of his face.

   She jumped high into the air and used the wind to keep her afloat as best as she could. She had not mastered the ability to levitate and was nowhere near being able to fly. She could however use the wind to make great leaps that would keep her the distance she needed to be from Kolzer. She knew there was no way she was strong enough to deal any damage in hand-to-hand combat. She focused on one disc instead of saving up energy to create a barrage. With as much energy as she felt like she could spare, she sent the disc hurling down at Kolzer.

   “It’s got a nice curve on it, but it’s still pretty predictable from this distance!” He shouted as he dodged the dark flat cyclone. As soon as it passed by him it exploded, sending enough wind to knock him off balance. Dust and grass soon filled the air. 

   Hiali dove into the dust cloud and landed a hard high-flying-kick right to Kolzer’s face. Which knocked the large student back two paces and onto his back. She pounced on top of him and continued to unleash an onslaught of punches to his face.

   He took several blows before he grabbed both of Hiali’s wrists. She screamed in frustration and starting kneeing him with everything she had. He threw her aside and got back to his feet.

   “You are getting better!” He said as he wiped some blood from his nose. “Try it again!” 

   Hiali was breathing even heavier than before. She fell to one knee and held up a hand. “I’m spent.” She took in another deep breath. “That’s all I got.”

   “That hardly seems fair! I should at least get to punch you back.” He paused to see her reaction.

   She shrugged her shoulders to indicate she was too tired to care.

   “I’m kidding! I must say I am impressed. Those disc things really started to hurt!” He said as he walked back with her to the lone tree.

   “Thanks.” She said casually.

   Jessa could see that Hiali seemed to be disappointed in herself. “Nice work, Hiali.” She told her as she returned. Jessa had never been on a team before, but she knew every team needed a captain. Being the senior member, she felt this mantle fell upon her. Jhori Philosophy taught her that a good leader was always positive and uplifting.

   “Yeah.” Hiali replied somberly.

   Jessa knew this kind of attitude would fester and become infected if not treated. “I think you’re going to be very surprised to find out your skills are being tested against above average opponents.” She told Hiali. “Kolzer and I’s test results were amongst the elite on Onyxia. If you keep training with us, you’ll be elite in no time.”

   Hiali gave her a faint smile.

   “Not to mention Aerosi often have a difficult time dealing with Onyxians.” Jraken added in.

   “Very true!” Said Jessa. “Now let’s see how a prince of the Pyrans does against an elite Onyxian in the making.”

   “Okay.” Jraken said with a sly smile.

   Jessa knew that Jraken had to be a capable fighter in order to pull off the stunt he did in the courtyard. Kicking Kaizo’s fiery attack into the sky without igniting it was nothing short of a miracle. It was not unheard of, but the fact that he was only 13 years old made it a special case. That attack was too large for even some of the instructors to deflect and most of them were ex-agents of the Jhori Quadrant.

   “Don’t you dare go easy on me.” She said to Jraken as they walked apart to begin their match.

   Jessa lifted the ground beneath her over her body and modeled it into intricate and ornate armor. “This armor can take a lot of heat so don’t worry about me! I’ve sparred against several Pyrans in my advanced combat class!” Her voice was muffled as it went through her self-made helmet.

   “Okay.” Jraken said as he got into his stance.

   Jessa lifted her arms towards Jraken and shot stone spikes from her knuckles at him. They came in at incredible speeds. Even one could do serious damage if it connected. She wanted to prove to him that she was not playing around. She meant business.

   He deflected each one that would have hit him with his bare hands and let the others go by. Dust and grass shot into the air with each shot he deflected into the ground.

 

   “He’s got incredible reflexes! I’ll give him that!” Kolzer said, amazed that Jraken could even see the spikes coming at him. Let alone deflect them into the ground.

   “No kidding.” Said Hiali, who’s eyes were glued to the young prince. “Have we seen him go on the offensive at all?”

   “I wasn’t actually there during the Kaizo incident, so I can’t say.” He admitted.

   “Neither was I. I don’t doubt that he has the skill for incredible offensive attacks. It’s his motivation that worries me.”

   “How so?” He asked as Jraken continued to deflect the stone spikes into the field.

   “Well, for instance, he seems very laid back. Like a little too laid back. I just don’t think he has any killer instinct in him.” She replied.

 

   Jessa lifted the ground beneath her to catapult herself towards Jraken. They exchanged attacks for a while. She could tell pretty early in the exchange that he was going to be too fast for her to be able to get a hit in. She knew it may be risky, but she decided to start dropping pieces of armor that were weighing her down. If nothing else she hoped the increase in her agility would catch him by surprise.

   Still the young Pyran prince easily moved around her attacks. She could feel herself slowing down and saw that her opponent, who had mostly been on the defensive, showed no sign of fatigue. Almost as if he were just toying with her. All his attacks were obvious and easy to block. They also had much less force behind them than she would have anticipated.

   She reached out and reconnected her aura with the armor pieces she had dropped earlier. Then she flung them at Jraken which finally seemed to knock his block off. She took the opportunity and kicked him in the chest. Which sent him sailing back several paces.

   “Come on now, prince. I know you’re holding back.” She said as she got into a stance and waited for him to get back on his feet.

   “You are too. You were way faster with that kick than you were with your other attacks.” He said rubbing his chest.

   “Don’t underestimate me.” She warned.

   “Noted.” He replied.

   She dashed at him and increased the speed of her attacks even further as she kept removing pieces of armor that she felt she didn’t need. She based this on the consistent attacks she saw coming from her opponent.

   He kept up with her no matter how fast her attacks got. He eventually got the upper-hand and kicked her legs out from under her. Forcing her to land on the ground awkwardly.

   “I think you might be a bit faster than me.” Jessa confessed. She got up and stretched out joints that ached from her tumble with the floor.

   “Guess you’d have to take off all that armor to find out.”

   Jessa let all the armor she had left on her body fall to the ground. “Guess you’re right.”

   She charged after him again. This time Jraken was getting pushed back by her attacks. She could feel herself gaining control of the fight. Just as she was confident that she was about to overpower him, he turned it up a notch. He countered a punch and threw her over his shoulder several paces.

   She quickly got up to her feet. “Alright. You’re good. You can definitely fight.”

   Thunder crashed loudly and a hard rain started to fall. Kolzer and Hiali ran out to see what Jessa wanted to do.

   “Dang! I hate rain!” Kolzer yelled, squeezing water out of his beard.

   “That’s enough for today.” Said Jessa. Normally rain did not bother her too much. This heavy rain, however, would prevent Jraken from being able to fight at his best. Which is what she really wanted to see. “Same time tomorrow?”

   Everyone agreed and went on their separate ways.

 

 

   Later that day Jessa met with Kolzer and Hiali after the last morning class to discuss their new teammate.

   “He didn’t exactly scream prodigy.” Said Hiali to kick off the conversation.

   “Did you see the way he deflected those rock bullets?” Kolzer asked trying to defend his new teammate. “That was not ordinary!”

   “Impressive, yes. Will it win us this tournament though?” Jessa asked.

   “Do we have anyone else in mind?” Hiali responded.

   “Not exactly.” Jessa confessed.

   “The tournament is in a few days! We’ll never find someone else in that amount of time!” Kolzer yelled.

   “Alright.” Jessa said before releasing a long breath. “Even if Jraken is a dud. Which is unlikely. He will still get us a lot of attention. Everyone will be tuning in to see what he can do. When they do who will they see? Us! That’s who!” She said confidently.

   “Nice! Then it’s settled!” Kolzer said joyfully.

   “Besides, I have a hunch as to why Jraken seemed to be holding back. As much as I hate to do it, I believe it is something I can utilize for the good of the team.” Jessa explained.

   “You lost me.” Kolzer said pointing his index fingers towards Jessa.

   “Jraken has a schoolboy crush on your cousin, numbskull.” Hiali said while punching his shoulder.

   “Ohhh! Right!” Kolzer said. “And you can manipulate him for personal gain.”

   “Well, don’t say it like that!” Jessa said already feeling guilty from the idea.

   “Sorry. I meant feed his hopeful heart with nothing but empty lies and deception to do your bidding.” Kolzer said sarcastically.

   “You are not helping.” Hiali said at him.

   “No. Kolzer’s right. I’m not going to string him along. I’ll tell him tomorrow I don’t see him that way.”

   “Whoa, whoa, whoa. There isn’t a middle ground here?” Kolzer said nervously. “Why don’t you just wait until after the tournament?”

   “Fine. Let’s just hope he snaps out of whatever weird funk he’s in by the time of the tournament. If he doesn’t toss some fire at our enemies then we may as well kiss the championship goodbye.” Hiali said as she got up to leave.

   “Maybe the adrenaline of being in front of all those people will do something for him!” Kolzer said optimistically.

    Jessa just nodded in response. Her mind was still debating on whether or not to go through with her plan. She normally did not have a soft spot when it came to royals, but Jraken seemed different. He was nice, considerate. He did not seem to care how powerful people thought he was. He was last person that she wanted to hurt.

   Unfortunately, her ambitions outweighed her morals.