Caleb's POV

I took a breath and stared at my father trying to read him. I felt a drop of sweat trail down my face and I sighed. Come, you can keep going. We were at the part of my day where we spar.

I kept my breathing steady and took a chance. I lunged a punch at him but he hopped away. I followed him and tried again. This time he blocked it, took my arm and pushed me away. I landed on my knees and quickly got up to see him running towards me. I sped forward to meet him. He aimed to punch and I ducked low while sweeping my foot under his feet.

I turned back and saw he was still on his feet and came straight for me. I flipped over him, grabbed him by his shoulders and slammed him down onto the ground. He quickly stood up when we heard a ringing. Mother was putting an end to the session. She gave my father a look and he responded by telling me, "Take a lap Son and t take your time."

I nodded and did as I was told. I ran through the forest at a comfortable speed taking my time get back. I hated to admit it, but I was getting tired and the run was welcomed.

Mother only ever stops our sessions when she thinks I've had enough. A part of me wishes she would let me push myself further but a part of me thanks her for it. I'm too stubborn to admit when enough is enough. At one point in my life, I had a tendency to faint from the work which made my Mother struck a deal with my Father. She'd allow him continue to train me when school was not in session as long as he would let me have the opportunities to be a child when Mother would give the word.

When I made it back to the house, I saw my parents still talking. I stopped shortly trying to read their body language. Father was uncomfortable and Mother was softly defiant. My mother noticed me and waved me over.

I walked up to them still reading my parents. My mother looked at me with gentle eyes while my father looked at me uneasy. He doesn't like it when we get interrupted or when I go off on my own to see Annie but my mother is very persuasive.

"Son, your mother thinks it's time again."

I nodded.

"Remember to be back by dark." He continued.

I smiled. "Thank you Father." I hadn't seen Annie since my birthday.

He smiled back at me as Mother rubbed his back. He doesn't like me traveling that far but Annie and her family are the only friends I have.

Mother kissed my father's cheek. "I'm proud of you Dear."

He looked at my mother and tried to smile.

"Now Caleb, please clean up before you head out. Just because your father trains you for hours doesn't mean you have to smell like it."

I laughed. "Yes, Mother."

I did as I was told, happy to have time to visit Annie. I grew fairly attached to her since the day we met. I had never experienced fun like that before and it was nice to be a child for a little while.

After I cleaned up, I ran into the forest and hopped into the trees. For variety, I like to travel in the trees. About halfway to Annie's home, something shiny caught my eye. I stopped and started heading towards it. To my surprise, I saw a toy… well it looked like an oversize dragon robot toy.

I heard a bang and then some crying.

"Princeton!" I heard.

"Mr. Sonic?" I couldn't see them so I ran around the dragon and saw Mr. Sonic picking up Princeton.

"Mr. Sonic!" I called out.

"Caleb?"

I noticed the dragon's mouth out of the corner of my eye. "Look out!"

Mr. Sonic noticed the dragon's mouth glowing and ran towards me with Princeton.

"Woah." He hopped into the trees. He gave me Princeton and told me, "Hang tight."

I saw him spin dash right for the dragon's head but the dragon smacked Mr. Sonic with its tail. Princeton started to cry and I shushed him. I looked up and saw that the dragon faced us. I hopped towards another tree watching the dragon move.

It followed us but he didn't open his mouth or swing its tail towards us. Huh… It turned around suddenly. I stopped to see Mr. Sonic running towards the dragon. The flames escaped the dragon's mouth and Mr. Sonic changed direction at the last second and ran towards me and Princeton. He picked us up again.

"Oh!" I saw the dragon disappearing but his fire breath followed us for a short while.

After a few seconds, Mr. Sonic set me down and handed Princeton to me.

He knelt down and grabbed me by my shoulders. "Run to the house as fast as you can. I'm going to take care of this thing, okay?"

"Yes Sir."

Without a second thought, I ran towards Annie's home with Princeton in my arms.