BoI V

"Pyro!" The queen called in fear as she immediately moved and swam toward her son and pulled him from being drowned in the water for the fifth time already since the time they started training. She sighed as she looked at her kid with a frown while he tried to catch his breath and cough water from his mouth. "Are you okay, darling? We can stop right now."

Pyro took in a sharp breath from his small nose and breathed out using his mouth, trying to regain his breath back again as he frowned and shook his head. Andromeda saw a deep yearning for learning with those eyes, and a fire that screamed silently that he wanted to keep going. These eyes were very much the same eyes that she saw in the past, none other than her husband, King Phantom.

Before, they didn't get into the Naval Armies that easily, even when Phantom was the son of the king, he was treated the same, and since he was not that skilled before because of his thin physique. He went through all the hardships before he got the perfect physique he had now, and he was near to giving up, the people around him told him to back off and just focus on assisting his father, but his passion for becoming a Naval Army kept him going. She was his friend back then already, and she stayed beside him when he was already doubting himself, that was where she saw the fire in his eyes when he didn't indulge in the negative thoughts looming around his mind.

It seemed that Pyro got it from him. She sighed and pulled his son back up, steadying him with her hands both on his shoulder. Pyro looked at his feet, but Andromeda took his chin back up and made him look at her. "You can do it. Just look straight and take your doubts out of your chest, alright? I'll save you over and over again until you get it."

The small prince nodded, and the queen took it as a cue to let go of his shoulder, and let him get the force again as she moved back from her previous place where she was watching him and where the prince was supposed to reach. They had been spending more than an hour already, she had demonstrated how and what he was supposed to do, and Pyro thought that it was easy, but when he tried it, he couldn't move, probably because he was still adjusting to that was why her mother was patient with him.

"Use both of your feet! Presence of mind!" Queen Andromeda yelled again as she watched her kid try to stand and fall on his knees. He was trying to float on the water again. His knees were shaking uncontrollably, and Queen Andromeda couldn't help but click her tongue and shook her head at the sight. They had been focusing on balancing on the water using the shoes where air was coming out from the back like a rocket booster that kept the naval soldiers able to stand on water and able to move around without falling.

Currently, she was once again training her kid, Prince Pyro, in using the shoes and making him used to the feeling of being on the water where the battle mainly happened. She understood that he was only seven years old, and it was his first time trying the rather very complicated shoes that always pushed him forward if he wasn't fighting the force. The first time he tried it, he fell right on the face and Andromeda had to pull her son back up who almost drowned. It always happened, but she didn't have any worries that Pyro would give up. As she had seen earlier, he was definitely sure about what he was doing which he loved.

Pyro tried again and muttered to himself to stop his shaking legs. It was like he was commanding and scolding his own legs for shaking too much even though he wanted to still it. It was cute to see, and Andromeda tried her best to suppress the smile that was making her face. She could certainly see her husband in her son, and it was nice to see a mini-Phantom. This was just their dream before, and she didn't know she would bear the child of someone that would be one to be written in the history of great leaders.

"Yes, that's right, Pyro! Keep it up!" She encouraged him upon seeing Pyro already trying to stand on his feet and had finally stopped his shaking legs ceremoniously. "Now, look at me. Set me as your goal to reach. Bend your knees slightly. Imagine you are skating on ice, keep your feet on the surface, keep yourself light."

She saw how Pyro comprehended everything that she was saying, repeating her words to himself, and did exactly her mother's advice. He took his first move, and he almost fell again because the shoes were slightly forceful and strong, and one step pushed him forward and almost made him fall face first on the water like how it had been earlier, but he managed to defy the force and pull himself backward until he stilled himself again and balanced on his feet. He started moving, until he was in the middle of the pool, almost there to her mother.

Queen Andromeda had a huge smile on her face now while he was approaching her. This was huge progress, it was making her proud to see this such a huge leap. However, what they both didn't expect was when the shoes suddenly stopped releasing air, and Pyro's progress was completely halted as he looked at his mother in confusion, but then he screamed in fear when he suddenly fell right into the water.

"Pyro!" Queen Andromeda immediately drove to him and picked him up by his collar and hugged him by his small waist. "You did good, baby. That's one very good progress. We'll tell that to your father later. Are you okay?"

"Yes. But what happened to my shoes? Is it defective? What did I do?" He curiously and worriedly asked, looking at his shoes that were now not releasing the boosters and had become completely just normal shoes. It was his first time using the shoes for naval armies, the queen had to personally request for a pair of shoes of his size so he could practice so he didn't know about the complications of using their shoes and why it was suddenly turning off itself.

"No. The shoes are powered by the boosters under the soles of your shoes, and the air was only limited. It can be used for an hour and a half, but before it could die down like this, the naval armies should have already changed it if the battle didn't end within the time span the shoes could function, or else…" Queen Andromeda looked at her son with warning eyes as if those were enough for him to know what would happen. But in case it's not, she still continued, "Like what happened to you, once they failed to do it, they would drown and eventually die."

"This is deadly," the kid innocently remarked as he frowned. His eyebrows were creased as if he was thinking about something deep. This face that he was making reminded Queen Andromeda of herself, that was the face that she was making whenever she was thinking of something as well. King Phantom usually mentioned it to her and would unwrinkle her creasing forehead through his forehead kiss, remarking that she would immediately look older if she would keep on doing that.

She did the same to her son, she kissed his forehead which surprised him and caused him to look at her as he stopped thinking of what he was previously thinking about. He cutely glanced at her mother in confusion, he was surprised why she did that, maybe because it was his first time doing that in front of his mother, and her mother's first time doing that to him.

"It is deadly, but your father is thinking of a possible way to replace these shoes with something more convenient. A lot of our naval armies that failed to switch the air supply were drowned to death and only a few were able to be saved. It's part of the training, though, but if the fight was too engrossing or too intense, armies usually forget or had no chance to change their air supply which mainly caused accidents and death," she explained carefully, bringing them to the side and sat on the cement before her own shoes could put them both in danger.

"That's sad. This should be changed into a more convenient one that doesn't cause death and make the armies focus on just fighting," he said, pouting as he took the shoes off his feet and observed the newly made and personalized shoes made only for him.

The soles of the shoes were thick, and there was a hole behind where the air was coming out and pushing them forward. It was made of rubber and lithium under, they were made to float on water. There was like a door under, and when he opened it, the bottle of compressed and pressure air was there, it was just small, but with enough to fit air to last for a while. It was simple and helpful, but they were not that convenient, especially since it could cause death to those that were in the middle of the fights.

Queen Andromeda was in awe at how mature her son was. Was she like this before? She couldn't exactly tell if he got hers or her husband's way of thinking, but she knew Pyro was a smart kid, more advanced than any kid around, and he was definitely someone who had the possibility to bring more change to the Island of Jussey, and she couldn't wait to see that.

"These shoes are the most basic thing that should be learned in becoming part of the naval armies. This is the foundation, and if you want to be good at being a naval army, you should master this first. If you fail in this, everything will follow, so you have to master this first before anything else, okay?"

The kid nodded cutely and smiled at her. With this simple act, the queen's heart already melted at his cuteness. She couldn't believe that this kid came from her, he had her blood and so of her husband. Two powerful types of blood as considered by the community. "You're there to help me with this, right, mother?"

She smiled sweetly at him and combed his wet hair. "Of course. Mother will always be here for you, my precious kid. Also your father? He will be thrilled to teach you all of this, and those that he knew. He loved to share everything with his kid. And like I always say, your father is the best when it comes to naval armies in his times."

For some reason, his smile lessened, it turned to a tight-lipped smile and his eyes became sad. "Father is always busy out there. I don't think he has time for us anymore. I don't want to bother him."

Queen Andromeda's heart squeezed. She understood her son, her husband really had become busy with everything that was happening around the island. It wasn't like they weren't happy about that, they were happy that he was working hard. As a king, it was really his job to make things and renovate everything that he thinks was needed his attention and do everything that would be for the island's welfare. However, in exchange, he was completely sacrificing his time for his family, and to see that their son was looking for his presence proved that he was being missed.

"It's okay. He'll make time for you soon. I'll talk to him."