Another chapter!
This was requested by templeofdecay!
To my reviewers:Jupitergirl132, rnburchett, Guest, Roc, templeofdecay, TrippyToastersAndABagOfChips, koryandrs, leontinees, and, nixt j, I say thank you!
ONWARD!

Isaac had been right. He knew it! After fighting all those annoying as hell water spitting statues in the Altin mines, they had to fight a bigger, badder, version of it, which guarded a tiny, tiny, chest. Thankfully, they didn't just rush into the situation after Garet had stupidly smacked a pillar instead of letting Isaac use Force like he had wanted which had made them run for their loves or die crushed under a boulder, and Isaac hated boulders, so they had been prepared and easily defeated the thing.

Ivan and Garet rushed off to open the chest, not even waiting for Mia to heal their injuries. Isaac simply sat on the tiled floor and let Mia heal him as the two jostled each other in an attempt to claim whatever was in the chest for themselves. Isaac would have chuckled at the sight were he not so frustrated. He still did not understand how the water disappeared from the mines so easily, and he was definitely surprised that none of it had drained into the large chamber they were already in.

"What the hell is this!?" Garet's voice echoed across the room.

Mia rolled her eyes, as she directed a Ply to Isaac's leg, but the boy had grown curious and stood up before she had a chance to heal, "What is what!?"

"Relax, Isaac. It's just one of those stones that gives us Psynergy, like the Orb of Force." Ivan called as they walked back to them, holding the blue gem high above him.

"Well, what's this one do?" Isaac urged, new Psynergy was always good… even if it was kind of expected.

Garet pointed back at the chest, "Label on that said Frost Gem."

Isaac's brow furrowed at those words. 'Frost Gem'? So… it would give them… Frost?

As if to answer his question, Ivan quickly used the gem to cast the 'new' Psynergy. As he did, several frozen particles appeared from nowhere and converged on a puddle nearby, freezing it into a small pillar.

"Oh, it's like my Psynergy!" Mia exclaimed, touching the small pillar Ivan had created.

Isaac's brain continued working away silently while the others all talked about how amazing the gem was and how useful it would be. It didn't take long for him to reach the conclusion that not only did they not need this at all, but that spending the better half of a day in a cave, fighting statues, getting soaked to the bone, and nearly being crushed by a giant boulder just was not worth it. Even if they did just save a town.

"Hang on… what's the point of that?"

"Well, now two of us can use Frost!" Garet explained joyously, snatching the gem from Ivan's hand.

"Why would we ever need to use it twice?"

"What if I'm out of Psynergy?" Mia asked curiously, obviously hurt that Isaac didn't take her wellbeing into account with his line of questioning.

Isaac turned to look dubiously at her, "Oh, come on, Mia. It is an extremely low-level Psynergy. If we just rest for a minute you'd be able to cast it again."

Mia merely shrugged, still saying that it'd be nice if he pretended to care.

"Well, what if Mia's Djinn are all on standby after a battle?" Garet asked.

"Again, resting for a minute would solve that problem." He really could not understand how the three of his travelling companions could be so dense sometimes.

Ivan stepped forward, snatching the gem back off of Garet, "Well, what if we swap around Djinn like we have in the past and Mia can't cast it anymore?"

"I'm sure one of us would gain it naturally, and if not, we could quickly switch back so she could cast it again." Isaac reasoned, "You know, like we do whenever we find a tiny plant that needs growing and me and Garet swap Mars and Venus Djinn around to cast Growth? I mean, why not just give us a Growth gem? It'd be far handier seeing as we wouldn't need to swap every time we found one?"

"Growth gem?" Ivan questioned, "Isaac, that has to be the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Who the hell would put that Psynergy in a stone? At least Frost has some practical applications!"

"Yeah, you don't see people going around saying: 'Hmm, I could really grow those vines on that wall'. They'd be more likely to say: 'Man, wish I could freeze this food so it lasts longer'!" Garet joined in on Ivan's assault.

"Oh, and I suppose growing crops and trees in a flash is useless?" Isaac countered.

"Yes it's useless, Isaac!" Mia retorted, "For one, you can't cast Growth on crops or trees, and second, every time you cast Growth on something, it shrinks back to its original size five minutes later! They'd be useless crops!"

"I'm just saying having a Growth gem would be easier than a Frost gem since you can already use it, Mia! Saves us the hassle of swapping Djinn around every time we need to use it! We don't need a Frost gem 'cause you can already use it!"

"Isaac, why can't you just see sense for once?" Ivan asked.

"Me!?" He responded dubiously, "Why can't I see sense!? I should be asking you three that!"

"You're the one who's not making any sense, man." Garet replied.

"All you're doing is wasting time. We could've left if you hadn't started another pointless argument." Mia said, with a distinct tone that told Isaac that the conversation was over.

"But…" Isaac tried all the same.

"Pointless." Mia shot again, before leading the two others out of the mine, while Isaac trudged behind them sourly.

It still made no sense. Why couldn't he just use Growth naturally? He was an Earth Adept after all.

TWENTY YEARS LATER

"Dad, dad, look! I cast Psynergy for the very first time!"

Isaac sprinted out of the Lookout Cabin to see his son's accomplishment. He had long looked forward to the day when his son would cast his first Psynergy. Jenna would be so proud when she heard about this.

"Look, I cast Growth on this plant and now it's big!"

At those words, the memories from twenty years prior in the depths of Altin mines came screaming back to Isaac, "Oh, so that's it!? You think you're better than me? Well, just 'cause I can't cast Growth doesn't mean you're better! You can't even use Quake! Let alone Odyssey! I didn't see you save the world!"

At this, young Matthew burst out crying just as Garet returned from a shopping trip to Patcher's Place. Isaac was immediately scolded and sent to his room, while Uncle Garet praised young Matthew.

Why couldn't Isaac just use Growth?

And that's that chapter!
I am working on the other ideas you guys gave me, but I decided on this one first since it follows on from chapter 3.So keep any ideas you got coming!

Your friend and writer,
Droory

(Oh, and I am aware that you get the Lifting Gem not the Frost Gem from the boss statue. You get the Frost from the first one, ut since I had already dealt with the first few in a previous chapter, I changed that. Meh, not like anyone cared.)