The Boy in the Forest. (Training. Sub-chapter)

James walked into the forest with his satchel full of new equipment. Being an inventor had paid off, and it paid off good. James rested the satchel on a rock. He began removing the equipment, and setting them on the ground nearby, as he always did, especially before training. His contacts, though, he put directly into his eyes. James finished laying out his equipment on the floor in a line. He put them on in the same order as he usually does. Gloves, wristpad, then cloak. He stuffed his communicators back in the bag. He didn't need them today. It was just him today. As he tied his shoelaces, he thought of what he should practice today. I'm thinking Soul Sorcery. He programmed his wristpad, and set his contacts to detection mode. He couldn't risk an ambush. James aimed his hand at a nearby tree. "Manifesto Terra Es!" A small rocky orb, about the size of a bullet appeared in his hand instantly. He clenched a fist, then released it, signalling for his wristpad to launch it. The rocky orb disappeared, and in front of James was a tree, as was stated earlier, but now, with a hole the size of a bullet clean through it's trunk. James examined the size of the hole he made. It was semi-satisfactory. He pointed the glove at another tree. Suddenly, an alarm was triggered near him. It was his contacts, warning him of a nearby presence. He brushed it off. Gotta be a rabbit or something. Then James remembered. His contacts only detect things with powerful auras. He tensed, and prepared for battle.

James' wristpad was beeping like crazy now, whatever this being was, it was right behind him. It had him cornered. It was no use trying to run, and he probably couldn't win if he tried to fight it. Then, he heard a voice. ""What the hell are you doing out here, kid?" What was he doing out here? Why he had a right mind to... He turned around. It was a woman. He sighed. "You come out of nowhere, set off my alarm, then ask me what I'm doing here?" James paused. "You have no respect for privacy." He said, looking the female dead in the eyes. He knew he couldn't take her, but he at least acted like he could. "Anyway, if you must know, I'm out here practicing with some new equipment." James flashed the glove and wristpad at the woman. He blinked, and changed his eye colour to green. He looked the woman over. Despite her blatant rudeness, she still was quite attractive. He smiled. "Any particular reason you're stalking an 18 year old?"

James watched the woman speaking intently, she paused for the right amount of time, and spoke clearly. An intelligent speaker. She looked away from James. Breaking eye contact? She just lost some points on the intelligent speaker scale. "Also..." she said clearly, "I'm not stalking some eighteen year old. I was sleeping about five feet in that direction. Someone needs to pay a bit more attention to the things that surround them." James knew he wasn't paying NEARLY enough attention as he should have. But of course, he was training. What was to be expected of him? To pay attention to every single gust of wind? No. His job was to further his own power. James looked at the woman. “New piece of equipment huh?” She asked. “What’s it supposed to do?” First things first. James responded to her last declaration. “Pay a bit more attention? As you said earlier, this is a forest, and quite frankly I’m out here to train, not sleep. Unlike you.” James looked the woman in the face. His equipment. He looked at his gloves, then his wristpad. “Look me in the eyes.” James changed the colour of his contacts from green, back to his natural silver. “What my equipment does is no easy question to just simply answer.” James gestured at his Cloak of Shadows. “This is my cloak. All I can say about it, is that it does what it’s name implies. And quite well at that.” James lifted the glove. “Are you familiar with the concept of mana?” He looked the woman over. She didn’t appear to be the mage-ly type. He put two fingers on the woman’s forehead, and said an incantation. “Duo-Manifesto Ater Es!” James’ Cloak of Shadows brightly flashed, and he felt the mana surge through it as he turned invisible. He waited a moment until he was almost certain that the darkness had claimed her. He took a few steps behind her, and released the incantation. His cloak flashed again, and he was visible. He tapped her on the shoulder from behind. “This, is what my equipment does.” James said arrogantly.

James listened to the woman insulting him. She knew not of the power he wielded. "Inexperienced? That was an adept level incantation!" The woman had caught his hand. She apparently really doesn't like touching. OCD maybe? James wanted to find out more about this woman now. She'd piqued his interest. He would observe her. Quite frankly, she seemed like they standalone type. James had a plan. He could toy with her emotions. He'd make her betray her own nature. He'd make her so dependent on him, that she'd barely be able to function, then he'd show her her own error. Because after all, that's all humans are to him. Toys to be tinkered with. The only difference between her and a complete stranger was that this one was just particularly interesting. She hadn't revealed much about herself yet other than that she likes sleeping in random forests. James laughed inwardly. Who sleeps in a forest? She said she was bored. James laughed. "If you're bored you can sleep. You seem to have already taken a liking to tree bark. Here, let me pull you up a leaf pillow!" James gestured at some leaves. "Now then, if you wouldn't like to sleep on a tree all day, you could help me. My contacts say you're more powerful than you're letting on. Perhaps you could teach me a few things? You obviously have enough experience, because you seem to think I don't." James folded his arms. He changed his contact colour to blue.

James watched the woman laugh at his request for aide. Her loss. If she wants to keep sleeping on trees, that was fine with him. He'd just go back to peaceful, quiet training. James closed his eyes. It would be calming, training alone. Sometimes it was all he had. James heard a loud noise, then crashing. He opened his eyes to see a tree fall over onto another tree, then that tree proceeding to fall on the next. The woman had done this. Honestly, he had her figured out for strong, but that was overkill. Those poor trees. They didn't stand a chance. He looked at the woman with a blank expression. It was almost as if he was asking her without words, Really? She spoke, but only to boast her own power. James felt like chucking a boulder at her, just to see how fast she could form that energy ball to save her own life. He smirked. He muttered the incantation for Dual-Manifestation of Nature, and made the first, second, and third fallen trees stand themselves up. He proceeded to use the incantation for Dual-Manifestation of Life, and healed each of the fallen trees back to normal, in succession. He looked over at the woman. "What'd you do? All I see are some perfectly normal trees. All that power and you're still refusing to show me? I'm beginning to think you're all talk." He nodded his head in the direction of the trees he'd just repaired. James smirked again.