Raten awoke as usual, continuing the daily of routine, having a bath, being said 'hello' to by Nalia who he seemed to come across more often as well as Katie and Florian and making his way to the Fitness Hall.
"Now... let's try this," He laid on the bench, "without metal!" He lifted the weights off the bar with his bare muscles alone. At first, it was heavy for him and he was almost tempted to reinforce his muscles but he persisted. Eventually, with great effort on his part, he lifted them up, taking deep breaths and exhaling at intervals.
"I did it," he declared, raising the weights all the way up. "Now to do it thirty more times." He began to lift them again, the second time around was much easier until he started to get the hang of it.
Ace, who had just come out of the bathroom entered the hall with a towel he had been using to dry his hair and was surprised when he spotted Raten lifting.
Annie on the other hand was doing some crazy jumping rope exercises with Katie, the rope being held by two other soldiers. "You ready?" The soldiers holding the widely stretched rope asked. The girls replied with a 'yeah' and they began to turn the ropes from both ends starting at a high speed but they were able to keep up, performing incredible jumps.
After a good thirty minutes, Annie, Katie as well as the soldiers that had aided their training all fell to the ground due to fatigue.
"That... was pretty fun," Katie commented out of breath, much to Annie's amusement.
Ace who had finished drying his hair started off his training with what could only be called Monkey Bars for soldiers. Using his incredibly built muscles, he leaped from bar to bar while moving with precision. Due to the effects of a certain type of crystal, the bars could move so he needed to be accurate or he would land flat on his butt.
"Thirty seconds. That's pretty impressive. I think that's a new record," Florian, who had stumbled upon his training said as Ace landed perfectly on the ground.
"Hehe, thanks!" Ace replied modestly, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Why don't you try it? Take a break from the same old treadmill," he suggested.
Florian scratched his nape nervously. "I don't know... I'm not that strong physically. It would be more productive if I just trained my energy and increased my range of vision."
"Come on," Ace placed his arm around the boy's shoulder, "if you get good at this, you'll get better at accessing buildings and sniping points." He persuaded, encouraging his close friend who he had observed for the past year on that treadmill.
Florian contemplated for a while before deciding. "I guess it would help."
"Great! Now you're gonna want to make sure you're palms aren't sweaty or you'll lose grip on the..." He guided Florian on what to do and the latter nodded to every word.
* * *
Raten, after breakfast took a walk around the Base, specifically the outer part of the base within the optical illusion field. He laid on the field of grasses and flowers, raising his palm up to block the sun out. "What is with me? It's like my body's holding itself back," he stated aloud, staring at his hand, dissatisfied while thinking back to his fight against the Force User.
'How could a stupid forcefield -an ability made for defense- hurt me to the point that Ace had to heal me. I should have floored that guy.'
'I need to get stronger, much stronger. There's this strange feeling I have. If I was at even half my real power, I could take down those soldiers without breaking so much as a sweat.'
He got up, having made up his mind and made his way back into the main building. Climbing up the same 'stairs', he arrived at a Sector 3 and he was looking for somebody, Ace to be specific.
He took a halt, previously making his way to their room when he heard sounds from the Training Hall.
'Energy creation: Nii Blades.' Ace conjured two blades of energy before dashing at his opponent.
"Of course you're gonna pull those out straight away. Not gonna go easy on me, are you?" Florian swerved to the side before forming a small ball of energy, propelling it at Ace. The latter sliced it in two with his blades but it exploded in his face. "Dodging is always better than catching if you don't know what's being thrown your way. Don't get cocky."
"Fine." Ace cracked his neck. "I changed my mind. Looks like I might need it." He got back up, dispelling the Nii Blades. Instead, his arms charged up, being reinforced with energy, the same went for his legs. They pulsed with power.
"Spark Foot!!" Ace bolted, jumping in the air and sticking to the walls. He was quick, running in circles around his opponent, making it hard to know where he would strike.
'I'll reinforce my whole body.' Florian's body glimmered, a dim aura forming a protective layer around him. Ace appeared from behind, aiming to kick his sparring partner when...
"Ace, I want to train with you." Raten stepped into the Hall, interrupting the fight as Ace ended his Spell and Florian released his defense.
Ace stood there for a moment. "Really?!" He exclaimed, receiving a nod.
"I need to get stronger and you're the only that can help me," Raten stated genuinely, causing the boy to smile widely.
Florian stared at the ex-Spirit Soldier, hearing what he had said and remembering when they were on their first mission. Although he had remained on higher ground for the majority of the fighting, he had seen everyone when they were battling. Images of Raten killing Soldiers and Spirit Beasts with his sword and flexible Metal Zen flashed in his mind.
'That's not being strong enough for him? If anything, his power is elastic.' He thought, gazing at the two who were going through details of this so-called training.
"Let's make it sparring matches. We'll spar everyday for a whole week." They came to an agreement but there was one question Ace was dying to ask him ever since they found him in that forest.
"Uh, Raten. You've never told me what Stage your Spirit Shard is at. You hide it so well that I can't tell where it's at."
"I don't actually know."
"What? How's that even possible?" Ace and Florian asked simultaneously.
Raten touched the part of his chest where it would be; his right opposite to his heart and focused but he couldn't visualize it and tell what stage it was at. "I've tried this before. I can't tell where it's at."
"Let me try," Florian offered, his eyes radiated as he activated his enhanced vision, fixing them on his chest. An image formed, there was a Spirit Shard but something was off. It was surrounded by a mash of hazy colours all up in a mist. "What the hell?"
Raten and Ace waited intently on the answer. The latter himself was at the high stage of Red, Annie followed him closely at the Mid stage so he wondered where the ex-Spirit Soldier would be at.
The Energy User's eyes ceased their glow and a moment passed as he tried to come up with an answer for the both of them.
"Well?"
"I tried checking what Stage he was at," He scratched the back of his neck, "if he was a stage higher than us, then I wouldn't be able to see it. But I did and..."
"It was covered in this strange haze of mixed colors so I couldn't tell what stage you're at." He looked directly at Raten. "It's like you have Spirit Distortion."
"Spirit what?" Raten was dumbfounded.