Chapter Seven: Trials to Overcome

/The Previous Week\\

Sean's eyes fluttered open, he sat up, and looked around, noticing that the sun was high in the sky. He'd fallen asleep trying to identify his problems. He stood up, and looked around him, his gaze circling the entire clearing, and came upon the mattress.

Sean took a running start and leapt ten feet from the tree. He threw his feet out, and they struck the tree, yet his feet didn't strike quite in the center, so the momentum he had caused his feet to slip off of the smooth mattress cloth and he fell with a crash to the ground.

He sat up, and laughed, "A person's fighting abilities can reflect a person's lifestyle," he said. He wasn't aimed right, he was veering away from his course. He walked to his spot and sat down, and placed his head in his hands, with his eyes closed on top of his palms and began to breathe very slowly.

Concentration was the key to meditation, Sean had read books on it, but had never tried it. Breathing was best slow; five counts for inhaling, five for exhaling. If he could keep the steady breathing while concentrating on something strong, his body would fall asleep and his mind could truly explore itself.

He didn't know how long precisely it was that he sat there in silence. His body told him, that in physical terms it was hours, but it truly felt like mere minutes. Sean could see everything, a world in his own mind, full of duties, functions, thoughts, and memories. He looked through each one of his most treasured memories, for they were what seemed to reveal themselves to him. Almost every one of them included Melissa.

Slowly, over time, Sean was coming to a conclusion, he could feel it, but he couldn't grasp it, but he felt it coming to him, which was progress.

Finally, the most important, yet most disgusting memory came into his mind, the memory of their fight, seeing her glare at him like that. Oh, how he'd regretted being so bull headed as soon as the door slammed shut. Sean let go of the concentration and woke up, he knew what his greatest problem was.

It was not his enemies, not his problems, directly, but himself. He was his own source of all his sorrow and pain, he was the reason so much pain had been caused to his friends and himself, to her…

Sean stood up, as realization flowed through him, and anger at his own ignorance strengthened every muscle in his body. He took three steps and leapt at the tree again, stretching his feet out in front of it.

With a crack he struck the tree, and every limb shook due to the force, dying leaves fell, followed by a small number of healthy ones. Sean kicked off the tree and back flipped in front of it, and began punching furiously. The entire barrage of punches struck strong and dug deep into the mattress. Sean could feel the tree under the mattress as he plunged his fists into it again and again.

He whipped out his sword and slashed at a smaller tree to the side, cutting halfway through it, then with an extra kick it crashed to the ground. He proceeded in slashing and stabbing in every direction with all his strength, for hours on end, until the sun was setting. He heard his breath seize as he continued to slice, cutting air and wood, but he did not stop, despite his fatigue. He had only so much time to become stronger before his friends and he would be needed again.

Into the night Sean cut and kicked and punched and tore his way through his own problems, until finally physical limits had been long passed, and he collapsed onto his back, asleep before he hit the ground.

/One Week Later\\

Fires surrounded Ben, but they were not his own, in fact, they were meant to cause him pain. And pain he was caused. Immense pain surged around Ben, but as he had been instructed, he did not budge an inch. This exercise was for Red-Eyes.

Rrrgg, I hate this, Red-Eyes said irritably.

"You hate it? I'm the one being burned to a crisp!" Ben yelled. "AAAAAAHHHH!"

Above his head, the Wingly trainer of fire pumped more magic into the flames, filling them with more heat. "You must master your own element!"

"I have that mastery!" Ben yelped. "This is overkill! Serious, SERIOUS overkill!"

At this the flames were only strengthened. Ben's skin burned unlike ever before, but it just kept coming. He was so tired of it, so angered by this pain, so….

Ben clenched his fists. "What do ya say, Red-Eyes? Wanna master the mastered?"

Mmm, indeed, I don't like being told how to use my own element. He answered.

Ben concentrated on his spirit, then spread the field out over the flames surrounding him. It was easier than he thought it would be, but after all, it was his element. It was fire, the possession of the creature that gave Ben almost all of its own powers. Thusly, when this creature wanted the fire to be out, it would be out. The eye in the center of his armor gleamed orange, something it had never done, as the Dragon used the extent of its power.

The Wingly master had been resisting this the whole time, but finally they had figured out the key, it was time to give his all in resisting their power, in the end, it would only make them stronger.

Ben felt the Dragon doing something it hadn't ever done before, slowly, gradually growing in power before his own chest. He could feel the energy.

Ben, I'm sorry, but I need you to give this your all, draw me out as greatly as you can without causing permanent damage. Red-Eyes said.

Ben gave a small nod. He placed his feet wide, feeling the intense heat around him that would turn any other human into ash. He filled every pour of his body, every vein of every muscle with his power, drawing out the Red-Eyed Dragon as powerfully as he could.

Muscles bulged, skin stretched, as Ben's body tried to adapt to the power of a Dragon. The Wingly was beginning to tire, and watched as within the flames, Ben's eyes changed to blood red, and the pupils became reptilian slits. The stretching tore some cuts in his skin, and his human grunts were met with a Dragon's growl. This was the most dangerous part, Ben could die if he slipped, but he walked into this, knowing full well the possible consequences. The Wingly had confidence, every other Dragoon had made it out okay, and Ben was the strongest of them all.

Finally a beastly roar rushed from Ben's white lips, and the entire city of Ulara silenced, even the wind seemed to cease blowing through the trees. There was a pop, and suddenly the flames around him rushed into the now white hot Red-Eyed Dragoon Spirit.

Ben's frightening features subsided, besides the cuts, along with his power, and Ben fell, exhausted, to the ground. "Whoa," he whispered.

The Wingly smiled and used a small amount of his power to heal Ben's few injuries. "Very good. Very good indeed."

"Thanks…wow…" Ben said in amazement.

You'll find that your power has been kicked up a notch, but it is not the limit of your abilities, you and the others have only been through one day of this training, you shall endure seven, each day doing this, and practicing with the finest weapon masters Wingly-kind has to offer.

"I haven't done that today though," Ben said.

"No, no you haven't, you will be going to meet your personal trainer after an hour of rest," The Wingly master said. He put forth a hand, but Ben waved his own.

"I think I can get myself up, but thank you," he said. He sat up, with a fierce sense of accomplishment in his eyes. He limped feebly out the door to meet his equally exhausted friends.

"That was not cool, at all," Ben said.

"You think you had it bad? They buried me!" Mike said. "They had rocks and soil appear from no where to launch at me, very quickly."

"They tried to drown me! And I had to be chained to the floor so I couldn't swim up!" Brittany said.

Christie was still rubbing her eyes from being exposed to an artificial sun, and Melissa was squinting due to being stranded alone in blackness full of something to cause her pain for who knows how long. Rob was warming up finally, after suffering from wind chill unlike any he'd ever experienced, and Brad couldn't stop shaking his limbs.

Each had successfully gained control over what they'd been placed up against, but each was also guaranteed more difficult trials to come.

Over the next hour, conversation was scarce to none, and everyone laid down somewhere to rest their bodies. Once the hour had passed, however they were surprisingly rested. They weren't nearly as sore as they felt they should have been, and they walked together to the weapons section. There seven Winglies, each carrying a weapon identical to one of the Dragoons, met them and led them to separate rooms to train vigorously different techniques to increase their speed and precision until long after the sun had set behind the horizon.

Everyone met again, dragging their feet and sagging their shoulders, wiped out from swinging their weapons, or in Christie's case, dodging attacks to reach a suitable firing position.

They all collapsed into their separate beds and fell asleep immediately.

But one Dragoon wasn't sleeping, he was the only one of them not in Ulara, however. While these seven Dragoons trained together for their first day, Sean had already had nearly seven days under his belt. After his first night of training, he had started the training he'd been given by Anna from the beginning. Precision and speed were the targets he had desired to acquire, and he'd spent two days working on techniques that suited such accessibilities. Then gradually he began to increase his power behind his slashes and swipes. When not doing that he was envisioning multiple enemies, not just Darteth, but himself, his friends, Melbu Frahma, and even Zachwell. But he had decided to cease fighting Zachwell, it was just to strange for some reason.

He pushed on, everyday practicing also with disarming techniques and hand to hand combat, in the case that he'd need it. Sometimes he would simply go all out on his primitive punching bag for the sake of increasing stamina.

Every day and night he toiled, eating only in the mornings, being sure to take in a day's fill. Then he would go on until fatigue overcame him. He was pleased to see that the moon was further and further across the night sky every time he fell onto his back to finally rest.

Tonight was special, he could tell, something just felt good inside him, perhaps his friends were finally reunited with their bodies again. He hoped there hadn't been any problems. Then, for the fourth night in a row, he fell asleep pondering how he'd confront Melissa when he returned to them.

"A few more days," Sean said. "Then I'll get back to them, they'll be stronger than ever, I'll be stronger than ever, hopefully not just in body. Oh, Melissa I want so badly to talk to you…" He said as his eyes closed and he drifted to sleep.

Authors' Note: Thank you all so much for the gargantuan amount of reviews last chapter! Sorry that this one was so short, but next chapter will be better, we promise. But in the meantime PLEASE DON'T STOP REVIEWING! Spike is better but still rather unstable, so please keep it up. Until next chapter, adios!