I Am A Flyer

Real Training Begins Now

Jett followed Raven unhappily, dragging his feet as he went. He wished he could just run away, but he was still a little concerned about that freakish black cat. Although, he didn't see it anywhere...

Raven took him through a nearly invisible gate in the huge, barbed fence. Beyond it, was a large, grassy meadow, with a single, giant oak tree in the center. Ravia took off at once, making a beeline for the tree.

Jett looked around, appreciating the wide-open area. He stood still, and leaned his head back, gazing up at the deep blue sky, which was half-covered with wispy clouds. As he straightened, a sudden gust of wind pushed against him, nearly pushing his small frame over. A faint smile ghosted across his face.

"Hey, kid," Raven's voice called from near the tree. "If you're done yet, come over here."

Jett's smile disappeared. With a dull sigh, he trudged over to the tree. As he neared, he saw a series of what looked like metallic poles laid on the ground. About three feet long each, they were placed parallel to each other, creating something that looked similar to a ladder.

Raven stood in one of the spaces between two poles. He was smiling. Jett couldn't help shivering.

"All right," Raven cheerfully exclaimed. "Now watch me, kid."

Moving slowly, yet smoothly, Raven began to move sideways. Always facing forwards, he took strange, sideways steps, his feet alternatively crossing over the other. As he moved to the end of the poles, and moved back to the other side, Jett realized that Raven was stepping over the poles. And no more than one foot landed in each space.

This was strange. Why was Raven making him watch this?

The violet-eyed flyer came to a sudden stop, a hand resting lazily on one hip. "I bet you wondering what I'm doing, right?"

Jett gave a careful nod, trying to not let his thoughts show on his face. He was sure that if Raven caught him thinking about stupid flyers, it wouldn't go too well.

"It's an exercise," the flyer explained. "One which you're going to do every day from now on. Two hundred times, from side-to-side. And for every week, you'll add on fifty."

Jett stared in disbelief. "W-wha -?"

This was insane! And unfair!

"Here," Raven grinned. "Let me show you something else." And right before Jett's eyes, Raven blurred. The blur shot sideways, and back, covering the entire stretch of the poles in mere seconds. And all too suddenly, Raven was standing beside him. Jett nearly jumped out of his skin. Never in his entire life had he seen someone move so incredibly fast! That was just inhuman! He backed away from Raven, eyes wide with shock.

The flyer just crossed his arms, and looked cool. "If you do that exercise properly, your ability to take rapid steps like I just did will increase. And who knows? Maybe you become half as fast as me."

"F-fast?" Jett managed to stutter out, his mind still trying to process what he had just seen.

"Yup," Raven agreed, and jerked a thumb at himself proudly. "Speed is my forte, kid. And don't forget it. Because if you try to run away again. . . .let's just say I won't have any trouble catching up."

Jett shivered under that dark tone, and looked around uneasily. "Um. . .where'd that cat go?"

"What cat?" The flyer had an I-have-no-idea-what-you're-talking-about look on his face. "Stop stalling, kid. Get to work." Raven pointed at the poles laid on the ground.

Unhappily, Jett went over and stood in a space somewhere in the center of the whole 'ladder.' Raven nodded approvingly. "Good. Now start moving."

Grimacing nervously, Jett awkwardly stood on one foot, while bringing his other leg across the other, like he had seen Raven do. Only problem was, the poles were quite far apart, so he had to stretch as far as he possibly could just to get that other foot in the space.