Face planting the dirt Jet rolled to dodge a kick. Rick was determined to beat his lessons into Jet, now he is relentless. Jumping to his feet Jet blocked Rick's sword swing. Then he stepped towards Rick to grab his wrist. That hadn't gone well, Rick flipped him over his shoulder slamming Jet into the ground.

Rick backed off and readied for Jet to get back up. To his surprise Jet did not get back up. He had no idea what was going on in Jet's head. But the kid was relentless in his training now. It had only been three days and Jet had made leaps in his training. He knew that Jet was far behind others his age, but at the rate, he improved. Well, Joey was right Jet would be a true monster. Now Rick moved forward realizing Jet was out cold. So he picked Jet up and brought him over to a fire laying him down.

It didn't take long for Jet to wake up and groan. "That hurt." He said as he sat up.

Rick threw some small sticks at Jet. "Today you start sneak training and pickpocketing."

Jet looked at the red sticks then back at Rick. "You want me to pickpocket?"

"Is there a problem with that?"

"Aren't pickpockets thieves? Why would I learn that?" Jet was confused.

"Well, yes. But, you are training under me and you need to learn how to sneak. A lot of people don't need the skill. However, you are the type who will need the skill. Being able to pickpocket is a useful skill. You may need a key for a door that can't be picked. As for sneaking, you may need to steal documents that could save lives, or not get caught following your targets. These skills can be used for good reasons." Rick explained.

"Then what are the red sticks for?" His sneaking was definitely lacking, so Jet wouldn't complain about the odd training.

"Those are for you to put in their pockets." Rick waved his hand around the camp. "They all have blue sticks for you to steal."

"And if I get caught?" Jet was certain there would be a punishment.

"You're learning. If you get caught stealing a blue stick, you get to clean their armor. If you get caught putting the red stick in their pockets, you run around the group for an hour, as fast as you can with no magic." Rick had a devilish smile on his face.

"What if I don't get caught?" Jet figured it wouldn't hurt to ask.

"They help the cook with the meals for the day."

Jet just blinked at Rick. 'How is that even fair? Well, I am the one being trained.' "Sure thing boss. I'll get right on my criminal activity training." Jet gave Rick a thumbs up and watched Rick walk away shaking his head.

Jet walked out of the camp, but not out of sight. Grabbing up his bow he readied to start training. However, he put the bow down, then started to cast a fireball. Every time he cast something, he had a strange feeling inside. Almost as if he could feel the magic moving through his body. He was not sure how long he stood in place trying to figure out what it was. So he kept casting a fireball over and over. Then something clicked in his head and a smile crossed his face.

"You're going to scare some people with that smile." Rick walked up beside Jet. "So I noticed you weren't doing bow practice, you know during our lunch sparring."

"You walked off and started a conversation with Captain Coal. So I figured I would do something else."

"You really are taking the training more seriously." Rick thought Jet already had been taking the training seriously, but now he felt that Jet had held back.

"Yup, and I just figured something out." Jet lifted a hand and created a fireball.

Rick's eyebrow raised as he immediately knew what Jet had done. It wasn't like kids his age couldn't cast silently. But he hadn't even been able to use magic for a few months. He thought that was a bit unfair, it's not like he hadn't tried to learn silent magic. But it had never clicked for him. "Well, now we need to step up your training again."

Sweat dripped off Jet as he sparred against three people now. He wanted to know why he would ever need to fight like this. Jet dodged a few more swings before Rick made him face plant the ground again. But this time Jet kicked Rick on the back of his knee. As Rick fell he stabbed Jet in the chest.

"I'm starting to think you have a grudge against me." Rick got off the ground.

"You seem to always block me from hitting anyone else. So I am trying to get you first." Jet also got back up.

"Not a bad idea, too bad you're years and years behind me." Rick laughed as he walked off.

'That was weird.' Jet thought as Rick walked off. He hadn't heard Rick laugh once. Well, not what sounded like a genuine laugh.

After a few weeks Jet had gotten used to his schedule. Early morning archery, afternoon sparring, and his magic training at night. He was currently wandering around the forest. Of course, he wasn't far out, but when the group moved it was his free time. So he went out into the forest and hunted, it made for great practice with a bow.

Listening Jet heard a bush move and grabbed an arrow. It was another rabbit, he had already caught two of them. But that seemed to be all he saw since breakfast. Raising the bow Jet aimed and fired, killing a third rabbit for the day. Then jogged back to the group.

"Hey Jet what you got for lunch?" The cook asked.

Jet handed over the three rabbits he had found. "Not much today."

"Every bit helps, and the soldiers appreciate it greatly. Having meat in every meal helps with morale." The cook gave Jet a wide grin.

"Well, I better be off for more training, later Garry." Jet said as he walked off towards Rick. A chill went down his spine as he walked over. There was no one around Rick. That usually meant Rick was about to make changes to the routine.

"Jet we're changing up things a bit. We will be moving sparring tonight for longer practicing. Magic will take lunch break now since you seem to have a natural talent at it." Just like Jet thought, Rick lessened his magic training.

Jet just sighed. "But, magic is the biggest thing I look forward to."

"I know, and once we get to Hope I got a friend that can help more." Rick waved Jet off.

That made no sense to Jet, why wouldn't Rick just teach him more magic? It was like he didn't want to use his own magic. Although, Jet's seen him use magic so he didn't know why Rick tried not to. He figured it was none of his business. "So what are we working on today?"

"Earthen wall," Rick said simply.

"Do I get the spell for that?"

"No, just think of a wall of spikes in front of you." Rick was pulling Jet's leg, but he was curious if he could do it. Jet however reached out with his magic and created a wall of earth.

"You're right, not much of a difference." Jet looked over to Rick who stood there wide-eyed. 'I'm guessing I wasn't supposed to be able to do that.' He thought while looking at Rick.

Rick then rubbed his forehead and walked around in a circle. Mumbling for a while Rick turned to Jet. "I'm going, to be honest, I'm not sure if I can teach you magic. Now before you say something I can teach you some. But no worries, I know a few people that can help you more."

"So what am I learning today?"

"Something I have worked on for years. I think you may like it." Rick reached out a hand and a fireball started to form. But this one was different from the usual. It started to shrink and spin slightly. When Rick let the fireball go it exploded knocking over a tree.

Jet stood there looking at the downed tree, along with everyone else in camp. Some of the soldiers nodded their heads when they saw the demonstration. Some now knew without a doubt who Rick was now. Of course, Jet was left clueless. "So how does the spell go?"

"I found the spell in an old ruined town. However, you will not learn the version I know. The spell I use is pure fire and it takes time for it to start the spin. You Jet know all four elements, so I want you to practice using wind to get your fireball to spin. The spell also compacts the fireball for the explosion." Rick explained.

Jet thought about what Rick had said. 'A compacted fireball would explain the explosion. If I could make an implosion, Nah I wouldn't know the first thing about how to do that. But, I'm sure I could compact the spell further than Rick.' He must have stood too long thinking since Rick smacked him across the head.

"You're thinking too hard." Shaking his head he looked Jet in the eyes. "Let's try just working on making the fireball compact first."

So after a few days, Jet found that compacting a fireball wasn't as easy as it sounded. It did however help when Rick gave Jet the spell to use. Using it helped him feel the way the spell worked. He also had found out the wind would not mix with his fire. No matter what he tried would make the two elements combine. So in the end he just kept trying to compact the fireball more, and more. Until one day he managed to get a result of an explosion twice as powerful. Him and Rick were looking at the results.

"I'm not sure if I should be happy or pissed." Rick sighed and grunted out. He then kicked a small rock and watched it skip on the ground. Of course, everyone in the group felt the same way after watching Jet use his magic. "It's a shame you hadn't come here over seven hundred years ago. You could've learned so much more. Too many spells have been lost to time."

"Maybe I can create some and bring them back." Jet thought aloud.

"No people have tried, we're missing something important to relearn the lost spells. People like you can cast the Magic's without the spells. But some of us weren't born with that kind of luck." Rick almost sounded like he was pouting at this point.

"Then I'll just have to figure out away. Never leave your chances up to luck." Jet never did like the word luck. Mostly cause he was certain his was bad luck. Then again he did get to see another world, so it couldn't all be bad luck.

Rick laughed at Jet. "So just like that, you plan to find a way to change magic."

"I never said I would change it. I will just figure out how it works. There is no reason why everyone shouldn't be able to use magic the same way I do." Jet looked out into the forest.

"Who knows, nothing is impossible. But I bet it will be tougher than you think." Rick walked up beside him looking out into the forest.

Jet lifted his hand and started to make a fireball. Over the last few weeks, he had found a way to incorporate the explosive fireball on the tip of an arrow. Even could use wind magic to make the arrow fly straighter. The fireball started to compact more and more. His sword practice was going well too, even got one compliment from Rick. He shot the fireball forward watching as it exploded. The wind and hot air blew by them. Jet had a small smile on his face. 'I will figure out how the magic system works here.'