The Psynergy Training Grounds were divided into four areas for each of the four lighthouses: Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. Each one was dedicated to the path that our parents and the rest of the group followed leading up to the lighting of said lighthouses. In theory, we truly did have a nice grasp of what sort of challenges they faced while going through this ordeal. In theory, we knew generally what to expect when we went through those challenges. In theory, perfect plans are just that, perfect. There is a reason why the words 'in theory' can be substituted with the word 'hypothetically'.

-.-.-.-.-

The Mercury Lighthouse seemed so simple from afar…

"Tyrell."

"…Yes, Karis?"

"The targets that we're supposed to hit with Fireball Psynergy."

"…What about them?"

"You're supposed to hit them. Not the mechanism that controls whether or not the door opens."

"…Thank you, I had no idea about that, Karis."

"…That had better have been sarcasm, Tyrell."

After waiting for the people running the Psynergy Training Grounds to do damage control and repairs, we tried again.

"Matthew…"

"Yes?"

"Next time you try and climb a tree, please don't slip and fall off."

"Agreed, I'll do that."

"And avoid breaking any limbs."

"That too."

"That includes the limbs of other people too."

"…That too."

"Hey you guys? Little help with some healing Psynergy please?"

"…Sure thing Tyrell. Um…thanks for uh, breaking my fall, Tyrell."

"Thank me by healing me, please."

The next day after Tyrell slept off the entire broken limb thing (Thank you, Cure!) we went for the third try. After all, third try's a charm, right?

"…Hey, Matt?"

"…"

"Matthew, are you afraid of heights or something?"

"Shut up, Tyrell. And no I'm not!"

"So what was with the screaming and windmill-ing thing?"

"…I was just surprised, Karis."

"Alright then, so if that was just 'surprise', what was the death grip on my waist for afterwards?"

"…Shut up, Tyrell."

Unfortunately, we all needed to reach the top of the 'lighthouse', so we had to try one more time.

"Look, Matthew, once we're all the way up, we jump to the lighthouse, okay? See, Tyrell made it and he's fine up there! RIGHT, TYRELL?"

"YEP! IT'LL BE FINE, MATT! AND IF YOU SLIP OR SOMETHING, I'LL CATCH YOU!"

"…Could you let go of my hand, please? Or at least loosen your grip or something?"

At this point, Karis was kind enough to tackle hug me right into the little geyser of water. I naturally kept my cool at being held both platonically (IT HAD BETTER HAVE BEEN PLATONIC!) and standing on top of the little geyser of water.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAH!"

Alright, so maybe I was a little unnerved. …Just a tad… Oh fine, I was having a panic attack, happy now!

"Matthew, stop squirming! Tyrell, catch!"

She shoves me towards the platform. Tyrell swoops in and grabs me and yanks me onto the platform…unfortunately for me, the geyser had started to go down mid shove, and a part of my body hit the edge of the platform that I really, really wish it didn't.

"Uh…sorry, Matt? You okay?"

"…"

"Are you whimpering?"

"…"

"…Karis, what—"

"Just throw the fireball, Tyrell."

-.-.-.-.-

Thankfully, we'd finally completed the Mercury Lighthouse area…and we got to have a break before starting the Venus Lighthouse area.

As for completing this area, well…

"Maybe this combination for the tracks will get us across!"

"Hey, Karis? Are you alright? You look a little gre—"

"BLERGH!"

"…I didn't know you got motion sickness, Karis."

"Ew…and it's all over the tracks…what did you have for lunch, Karis, because whatever it was, I definitely don't want to order it."

"…Yuck…that was…disgusting."

"Um, Karis? I don't mean to be rude or anything, but could you—"

"No way…I'm too nauseous for using Whirlwind right now…"

"…"

"…Hey, Matt? Can you use—"

"Nope."

"Darn, me neither. You'd think having a Jupiter Djinni set to you'd let you use Whirlwind, huh?"

Attempt number two was a little smoother; since we knew which tracks should be changed we only had to make one trip. The Kraken part, however…

"Um, Tyrell? I can—"

"No way, I'm the Mars Adept here! I can do it!"

"But Tyrell, you haven't even hit one yet."

"They're really fast, alright?"

"…You just ran out of Psynergy, didn't you."

"…No I didn't!"

"Then why are you pacing?"

"…Um, I feel like it?"

"…Hey Matthew, how much time do we have left?"

"…Fifteen seconds."

"…Should we tell him?"

"No need."

"ARGH! STUPID TARGETS! STUPID TIMER!"

After Karis 'suggested' (read: demanded and swapped Gust and Chill for Forge and Fever and gave me Forge) that I throw the fireballs, we went for a third try.

"Wow, this part's really weird!"

"It's just a jumping maze, just follow us, okay, Mr. No-Sense-Of-Direction?"

"Hey! I'm not that bad!"

"Um, Karis? Tyrell? The time limit?"

"Right. Lead the way, Matthew."

"…Um, Karis?"

"Yes?"

"…I have no sense of direction, too."

"…Hopeless. Alright, I'll lead."

After a lot of jumping, we reached the bottom of the platform.

"Hey, where're the stairs!"

"Wow, I actually agree, Tyrell, how are we supposed to get up there?"

Before I could say anything about the little plant dancing in the sunlight, Karis and Tyrell started searching the entire little island.

"Oh, great, there's no way up!"

"Did they forget to fix this part or something?"

Before they could have us run out of time, I decided to step in.

"Hey Matt, what are you—"

"Growth!"

"…Oh."

So we climbed up. As per our agreement for moving targets, I took out the crudely drawn boards. Thankfully, Tyrell was too busy being embarrassed about not even noticing the dancing plant to try and fight me on it. Karis was fairly quiet as well.

-.-.-.-.-

So, after another break, we went forward to the Jupiter Lighthouse area to make our attempt at somewhat following in our parents' (well, my uncle and mother's group's) footsteps.

Again.

"Why won't this darn thing's tongue just stick out already!"

"You just broke the mechanism that does that, Tyrell."

And again.

"I am in no mood for throwing up again! I'm waiting right here!"

"Oh, come on, Karis, this is kind of fun! They just go around and around and around on their little water tracks and—hey, Matthew, you can't wait with Karis! I can't use Move Psynergy!"

"…Fine."

"…Matthew, we're supposed to jump on to the little platforms to get across, not swim. …Matt, stop flailing and just get to the dock! Oh great, the Earth Adept sink-like-a-stone-in-the-water thing…"

…Have I mentioned that I might have inherited my uncle's fear of water? Oh, and again.

"And a one, two, three, JUMP!"

"…(whimper)…"

"And a one, two, three, JUMP!"

"…(meep)…"

"And a one, two, three, JUMP! Alright! First one! Do your thing, Matt!"

"…Move."

"Alright, one down, two to go! Come on, Matt, a one, two, three, JUMP!"

And, you get the point, right? For the platform, after I Fireball the heck out of the Poseidon cut-out like I did the Kraken (only a little more intense, since, um, I wanted to…make sure that they were hit, yeah! Nope, no need to vent any nerves over the water, thing, not at all! …Okay, maybe a little.) we had quite the time with the windmill portion.

"Ow, get offa me, you jerks!"

"Not the face, please not the face!"

"Ouch."

Especially once we realized we couldn't all go at once.

"Ooh, wow, I'm dizzy…"

"…Agreed, Tyrell…"

"Oh, hush you two! Matthew, if you would?"

"Fireball! …Fireball!"

"Great, we're done. Now let's get dow—TYRELL, CAREFUL!"

-.-.-.-.-

After Karis got Tyrell to collapse on the platform instead of off the side of the platform, we took our break. Then we got started on tackling the Mars Lighthouse area. As for how well we did…

"HOTHOTHOTHOTHOT! THAT'S HOT!"

"THAT'S WHY MATTHEW WAS USING MOVE ON THAT PILLAR, YOU HOTHEAD!"

"BAD PUN, AND STILL ON FIRE HERE!"

"Alright, Tyrell, I'll give you a hand then."

"ANYTIME KARIS—WAAAH!"

This is the cue for the splash as Karis shoves Tyrell into the little stream below to put out the flames.

And attempt number two…

"Umph…my butt…"

"…we did try to get to you hurry up that vine before the flamethrower killed it, Tyrell."

"Well, there goes finishing this area off on the second try…"

And attempt number three…well, let's just say we weren't prepared for what happens after we threw Fireballs at the cutouts…

"Ow…did we seriously just get our butts handed to us by a—"

"—wooden contraption lovingly named the Dim Dragon? Yes, yes we did, Tyrell."

"Well that doesn't mean you have to be snippy about it, Karis."

"You knocked me out with your Djinn, Tyrell, I'm allowed to be snippy about it."

Thankfully, we managed to win against the Dim Dragon for attempt number four, mild contusion aside. Which is healing aggravatingly slowly, thus I'm contemplating the wait away by thinking about the annoyance caused by going through those blasted Psynergy Training Grounds. Oh well, at least we don't have to—

"Matt!" Tyrell yells my name about a hands-width away from my head. "How're you feeling? Ready to go yet?"

"…Almost, Tyrell. What is it?" I reply sardonically. What is he so excited about, anyway?

"Oh good, let's get going then!" Tyrell yells, oh so lovingly throwing me over his shoulder in a fireman's hold (come to think of it, a horrible pun, considering his element) before darting back outside to join Karis…right in front of the Psynergy Training Grounds entrance.

"Alright! Let's go get that second chest behind the Dim Dragon!" Tyrell and Karis yell, in perfect unison. I merely began to cry. Manly tears of course.

This took a little longer than expected to write. And quite a bit longer than expected to proofread. If you spot any typos that I might have missed, do let me know, please?