The Halfa Prince

Chapter 8: Not as Easy as it Looks

Danny's POV

I arrived at Clockworks tower and flew in the window leading to his main chamber. My mentor in his middle aged form and he looked.... concerned, which was rare.

"Clockwork?" I said hoping to gain his attention.

"Hmm?" he mumbled back.

I walked over to Clockwork and tapped his shoulder, "Clockwork? Are you ok?"

"You're 3 minutes late," the time ghost spoke. "Yeah sorry about that, I had to take a detour. Walker's goons were on patrol and ever since my last prison break I now owe him 5 thousand years," I apologized.

"Ah yes of course, now come. We have much to do," Clockwork spoke as he shifted to his toddler form and exited the chamber. I followed suit and we went to his main room where I did most of my training.

"So what'cha got for me today? Targets? Telekinesis practice?" I asked eagerly.

"Actually, I have something new for you today," Clockwork said with a sly grin.

I smiled, "What is it?"

"I am going to teach you how to make your own ghost portals," said my mentor.

My eyes widened, "My own portals? Not that I'm not happy to learn that but why so sudden?"

I asked the time ghost. "You will be needed a lot in the Ghost Zone and you will not always have time to travel to your parents portal or find a natural portal that leads to the Ghost Zone," Clockwork responded.

I nodded, understanding the usefulness of this skill. "It is not an easy skill and it make take you a few times to create a large enough portal to step through. Now creating a portal requires a lot of focus, patience, and energy. It is important that you do not try to put all your energy into creating a portal or else you could fall unconscious or be so weak that you can not even fly into the portal," he explained.

I nodded, "So what do I have to do first?"

"First, picture in your mind where you want the portal to transport you to," Clockwork instructed, "We'll start with a close distance area. Picture my chamber in your mind."

I did as he told me. Closing my eyes, I imagined the high ceiling, gears all over the place, the time screen, the time medallions, everything. "Ok, now what?" I said.

"Now hold out your hand and let the energy flow from your core to your hand, while keeping the image in your mind," Clockwork told me.

I raised my hand so my arm was fully extended and my palm was facing out. I focused on the energy in my ghost core and let it flow out and collect in my hand.

"Good, now slowly let the energy out, letting it take shape of a small circle while keeping that image in your mind," he instructed.

I continued to picture the chamber as I slowly released the energy stored in my palm. I could feel myself quickly weakening. I was almost on the verge of passing out when I stopped. I stumbled back and almost fell, but two strong hands caught me and helped me stand upright.

"How'd I do?" I asked as I put a hand on my forehead trying to shake off the dizziness.

"Why don't you look?" Clockwork said in his middle aged form as he helped me stand upright.

I turned to look at my work. What I saw was a portal slightly smaller than my hand.

"Are you kidding me?!" I cried, throwing my hands in the air.

"I told you it would be difficult," my mentor said.

I sighed, lowering my hands, "Yeah, I guess I was just expecting it to be a little bigger."

"It takes time Danny. You will get it eventually. Until then, let's practice your telekinesis. You have been improving greatly in it," Clockwork said, patting me on the shoulder.

"Thanks Clockwork," I said to my mentor. He nodded and floated to the other side of the room, "Now," he spoke loudly, "Levitate that book over to me."

He was pointing at a brown leather book resting on the coffee table. I pictured imaginary hands lifting the book and it slowly rose. "Float it over your head this time. You need to practice keeping it in control," Clockwork slightly shouted.

Taking a deep breath in and releasing it I focused on lifting the book over my head. The progress was slow but the book made it over my head and I lowered it so that it was in front of my face. I slowly floated it towards Clockwork who was a good 20 ft. away. This part went faster than when I was levitating the book over my head but it still was pretty slow.

After what felt like forever the book landed in Clockwork's hands and I leaned on my knees, wiping sweat off my forehead. "Excellent work Danny. You skills are getting much better," Clockwork congratulated as he lightly gripped my shoulder.

I stood up straight and smiled at my mentor, "Thanks, but I'm still struggling a lot."

"You were able to successfully levitate the book over your head without dropping it. I know you didn't see it yourself but you made the book rise to a considerable height. I am very proud of you," Clockwork told me.

My face broke into a wide grin, "Coming from you, that means a lot." Clockwork nodded, "We'll do one more exercise and then you can take a break."

I nodded and prepared for the next exercise.

A/N: So I know Clockwork may seem a little OOC in this but I just love the father/son relationship between these two so I made him a little nicer and more smiley. See you in the next chapter.