Bonus Chapter: Training Gone Wrong
The next day, after Lucius begged him again, Ronin decided to take him back to the base for more training. Since his son wanted to become a leafman like him so much, he thought it would be best to show him that not everything was just about sword fighting and packing punches. The soldiers lined up one-by-one greeting Ronin with a saluting pose.
"Ok, everyone. Listen up! We're going to do some more training exercises, but this time besides your usual activities. Today we're going to train on the back of your birds," Ronin announced. The soldiers all knew what that meant and went to the stables to get their certain birds. Pretty soon a dozen or so colorful hummingbirds stood in a perfect straight line while Ronin's was in front.
"Wow, a bird training exercise! Am I gonna fly a bird?" Lucius asked excitedly.
"Not by yourself, young man," Ronin said. He lead his son over to his bird as Lucius hopped up eagerly in front of the reigns. Ronin took them each in his hands and let out a cry, ordering the troops to fly out. With a swift jerk of the reigns, all of the hummingbirds took off in the sky. Lucius looked over his dad's shoulder and saw all of the soldiers in a triangular arrow-like pattern.
"Awesome! What's gonna happen now, daddy?" the little boy asked.
"Ok, troops! Jerk your birds to the left and right. This is a move where you must dodge hits swiftly and carefully in case of an enemy attack," Ronin said. He jerked the reigns left-and-right and the bird moved with his commands. Lucius saw the other soldiers do it, but not as perfectly as Ronin. Some soldiers bumped into each other, while others either made their birds spin or go front and backwards. However they still managed to stay on their birds without falling off.
"I wanna try, I wanna try!" Lucius said excitedly. He held onto the reigns as Ronin looked down with a shocked expression on his face. "No, Lucius! Don't-" but it was too late. Lucius jerked the reigns and the hummingbird took off with a straight zoom!
"WHOAA!" Ronin screamed while Lucius just laughed all the way. The hummingbird flew around in circles, backwards and forwards, side-to-side, and in zigzag motions. The other soldiers flying their birds just watched with wide eyes and opened jaws. Suddenly, their eyes had to dart upwards as the hummingbird twirled around in a spiral shooting high for the clouds.
"Son, let go of the reigns!" Ronin commanded as he held onto the saddle for protection. Lucius was perfectly intact as he continued to play with the reigns. He twirled them in one hand, jerked them side-to-side, up and down, back and forth. He continued to laugh the whole time as his dad was trying to get his hands back in control. Lucius twirled his arms around like two people twirling a jump rope, making the reigns bump into each other. The humming bird flew around like the movements of the jump rope, making Ronin cry out even more.
"Enough, Lucius!" Ronin boomed out like thunder. Suddenly, Lucius's laughter died down as his father looked at him with a very angry look on his face, which made him grow afraid. Ronin grabbed the reigns from his hands and finally managed to control his hummingbird. Lucius still remained firmly still as the hummingbird flew back to the troops.
"Please excuse that little distraction. I'm sorry everyone, but I think we need to end training early. I need to take my son home," Ronin said, looking down at Lucius. The little boy did not even dare to look up because he knew what his father would look like.
Queen Tara was gardening some flowers back at the tree home when Ronin's hummingbird pull up. At first she was delighted to see them, but grew confused when Lucius ran right passed her into the house, shooting right upstairs. Ronin landed the bird and walked over, taking off his helmet and looking at Queen Tara.
"What happened?" Ronin's wife asked.
"It was a complete nightmare! We had the worst day of training," Ronin said, tossing his helmet on a table once entering the tree.
"How was it bad?" Queen Tara asked.
"Lucius ruined one of my training exercises. We were going over bird movements and he piped in. Lucius grabbed the reigns and just went chaotic on the back of my bird!" Ronin explained with a little bit of bitterness in his tone.
"What? I don't know what possessed him to do that," Queen Tara said.
"He said he wanted to try," Ronin answered.
"He was probably just excited by all of the commotion going on. Now Ronin, I'm not saying what he did was right, but Lucius admires your skills a whole lot. He wanted to see if he could get the exercises right," Queen Tara said.
"I'm not upset about the fact that he ruined the training, I was upset that he put himself and me in danger. He was flying the bird like it was a forest war all over again! He was completely chaotic, Tara. It would've taken seconds for me to fall off if it wasn't for the grace of a saddle. Anyways, maybe taking him to training wasn't such a good idea. We have to end this."
Queen Tara was silent there for a moment. She knew that Ronin did have a point, but it also bothered her to face the fact that Lucius would be heartbroken. Little did they both know, Lucius was at the top of the stairs, listening to their conversation the whole time. Looking down at the floor, he dragged his feet upstairs and into his room.
The next day two of Lucius's friends came over. One of them was the son of two army soldiers, Raymond, while another was a blue Alpine Wildflower Jinn named Flora. The two of them were playing with some of Lucius's stuffed animals in his room while Lucius just sat on his bed, clutching his pillow. His two friends ran over to him laughing.
"C'mon, Lucius. Play with us," Flora said.
"No thanks. I don't wanna," Lucius said.
"What's the matter, Lucius? Why don't you wanna play?" Raymond asked.
"It's my daddy. I did something awful yesterday," Lucius said.
"Did you get paint all over your mommy's dress again?" Flora asked.
"No. I accidentally ruined daddy's training exercise by flying his bird around," Lucius said.
"Really? Was it fun?" Raymond asked excitedly.
"Raymond! Stop it," Flora said. "It shouldn't have been that bad. Did you get hurt?" she asked.
"Daddy said I almost made him fall off," Lucius answered.
"Whoa! That's rough," Raymond said.
"Maybe Ronin's already gotten over it," suggested Flora.
"No way, I know my daddy. I heard him talking to mommy and he's gonna punish me because I flew his bird around. He'll take my toys away and send me to my room every day. I know that he'll do it because he's like that. Not only that he also said he wouldn't take me to any of his training days anymore! I deserve it. I'm a terrible son!" Lucius buried his face in the pillow.
"Don't say that," Flora said.
"You're a good son! A very good son. You just did something that scared him," Raymond said.
"Easy for you to say," said Lucius.
As the three kids continued talking, they were unaware of the fact that someone was listening the whole time. Ronin stood there against the wall with arms crossed, but there was no glare or frown on his face. It was a look of pure guilt. Ronin now started to regret what he said back to Queen Tara, let alone the fact Lucius had overheard their conversation. With a small breath Ronin exited the hallway and walked downstairs without any words.
The next morning, Lucius was still in his room sitting on his bed. He bounced slightly up-and-down clutching one of his stuffed animals. Suddenly, he heard footsteps outside. "Lucius?" It was Ronin. The boy gulped and had to find a place to hide. He hopped off the bed and started to scurry around. He looked at the closet, but ultimately crossed it off knowing that he would find him quickly. He looked at the bed covers which could easily be pulled off. The toy box? Maybe. Sucking in a deep breath, Lucius headed towards his hiding spot.
Ronin showed up a couple seconds later, looking around for his son. There was no sign of him but he knew that it shouldn't be too hard to find him. Once fully inside the room Ronin walked around looking for Lucius. He opened the closet but all he got was hangers filled with shirts and shoes on the floor. He lifted up the bed covers but there was nothing but sheets and pillows. Next he tried looking underneath the bed, yet nothing remained.
"Son?" Ronin wondered where he could have gotten off too. Suddenly, his eyes darted to the left. There in the corner was a huge toy box. Looking around Ronin walked over slowly and stared at it, shifting his hands towards the lid. With a quick flick of the wrists the lid flung open, but again all he got was stuffed animals, things made out of sticks and leaves, and a play sergeant hat. Sighing, Ronin closed the lid leaving nothing but darkness.
Lucius flung his toys out of the way and peered around in the darkness, seeing the crack of light from outside. He thought he heard his father's footsteps exiting the room, however it was kind of hard to hear when you were underneath a pile of stuff. He pulled his arms free and set them on top of the lid, slightly lifting it up.
"The coast looks clear. I think I'm ok," Lucius thought to himself. He opened the lid more and looked around, seeing no Ronin in sight. Wiping his forehead, he crawled his way out, feeling relieved he did not have to see the scary face of his father. He walked over to his bed with a smile on his face and plopped down. "A-ha!" Lucius grew startled as the bed covers flung themselves over and Ronin randomly appeared out of nowhere! Lucius fell backwards onto the floor with a couple of stuffed animals breaking his fall.
Ronin looked down as Lucius flung the toys off him. He looked up at his dad and backed off. "Don't you come near me!" Lucius warned. Ronin sighed and got off the bed, shifting towards his son. "I warn you! I know you'll yell at me!" Lucius continued to warn, but Ronin still did not listen.
"I said I warn you! I know I'm a bad son. Just say it," said Lucius. Ronin stopped and bent down to him, holding out his hand.
"It's ok, Lucius. You don't have to worry," he said. Lucius looked back at his father and saw his hand, reluctantly taking it. Ronin lead him back towards the bed and sat him down on his lap. Ronin looked down at Lucius who clearly had a depressed look on his face.
"Son, we still need to talk about yesterday," said Ronin.
"I already know what you're gonna say. What I did was wrong and you'll never take me to training days again. There, end of discussion!" Lucius said.
"No, I'm afraid it's not. Look, Lucius. I know that you were really excited and all, but what you did was very dangerous. You could've hurt yourself," Ronin said.
"I just wanted to try it out," said Lucius.
"I know, but that's not the point. The point is you put me and yourself in danger and I was terrified. I was afraid that you were going to fall off that bird or cause an accident that I probably would never get over. I wasn't upset that you were flying my bird, I was upset about the fact that you put yourself and me in danger," Ronin explained.
"I'm very sorry, daddy. I swear it'll never ever happen again! I won't go to anymore of your training days," said Lucius. He hopped off the bed and started walking out, however Ronin commanded him to come back. Lucius turned back around and hopped right back on the bed.
"Not so fast, young man. I know I said that we needed to end this, but truthfully I never meant it. I know how much these days mean to you and it made me feel guilty about it all. So you're still allowed to go," said Ronin.
"You listened to me talking, didn't you?" Lucius found out.
"Not the point again! On days like that it's not for playing around, it's time to get serious, son. You can't always run around and play. Sometimes you need to just stay back and let the professionals do their job," said Ronin.
"I get it now. I sure learned my lesson," said Lucius.
"Well I'm afraid it's not done just yet. I am going to have to take some of your toys away for a couple days," Ronin said.
"What? But I thought I learned my lesson!" Lucius said.
"Sometimes a long talk doesn't quite cut it," Ronin said. Lucius pouted and gathered up some of his toys, handing them over to Ronin. Ronin set them on the opposite side of the bed. Lucius sighed and was glad to have it over with finally. Ronin laid back on the bed and Lucius followed him, staring at him fully in the eyes. Ronin smirked and started to roughhouse with him, making Lucius laugh.
"You're not so bad," said Ronin.
"I know! Let's go, great steed! Downstairs we march!" said Lucius. Ronin took him on his shoulders as they marched out of the room and downstairs. Ronin and Lucius laughed all the way down. Father-and-son bonds are meant a thousand words, and this one was surely one of them.
FIN
Whew, finally done! Here's another chapter. I know this chapter may seem a little harsh, but I assure you that I never mean any of my stories like this to be harsh. Plus wouldn't you react the same way Ronin did? Maybe, maybe not. Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed this little bonus chapter. :)
What did you think? Leave me a review and tell me what you thought! :)