Later that day, Xar picked Dachii up and drove him to his next destination. Toru and Noriko watched as he left.
"I did wonders for that kid. He should be grateful," Toru remarked.
Noriko fiddled with her thumbs and stared at him. "So…since we won…can I get the day off?"
Toru's eyes bore right through her. "No. Back to training. ALL. DAY."
She groaned as he shut the door, and he directed her back to the backyard, where other soldiers were training.
Meanwhile, Xar drove Dachii down a few roads, yet again passing the Asuka Festival area.
"Ugh…don't tell me this Shinjii guy is like Toru," Dachii said.
"Not exactly," Xar replied. "But that doesn't make it any easier, just so you know."
Dachii put his head down on the dash, and when he lifted it he saw they were in front of a giant gray mansion with stone decorated all over it. The front yard had plenty of heavy bars and weights lying around.
"Great, I see how this is going to go," Dachii stated.
Xar took Dachii out of the car and guided him to the front door. Once he knocked on it, it swung open a few minutes later, revealing Vice-General Ken Kojima.
"Oh, is our time with the boy?" Ken asked.
Xar nodded. "Yes. I'll be back for him soon."
He walked away, leaving Dachii alone with Ken. "Come in, Dachii. We've got some people waiting for you."
"Yay…"
Ken led Dachii inside, and the first room wasn't a living room. Instead, it was a weight room, and soldiers were busy working out and watching workout tutorials on the TV.
A buff female soldier bumped into Dachii as she walked by. "Out of the way, chump!"
"What goes ON in here?" Dachii asked.
Ken pointed to a door nearby. "That's where we're going. To meet with Shinjii and the others."
Dachii pressed his ear up to the door and he could hear groaning and struggling. "Do I even want to know what's behind there?"
Ken opened the door, and Dachii fell into the room. When he got up, he saw a training room with NO roof, and he saw Shinjii lifting two giant weights the size of boulders.
Shinjii noticed Dachii. "Hey, little man! Get your ass over here, it's time to get RIPPED!"
He pointed to a stack of cars next to him, which was at least a dozen.
Dachii looked at the cars. "I'm supposed to lift all of them?"
Shinjii nodded. "The key to power is strength! Not just ANY strength, PHYSICAL STRENGTH! If you can't lift, you can't fight!"
He tossed his weights away and walked over to the car stack. "Each of these cars is 20 tons. Once you lift these, we move on to the next batch! And the next! Until you're a physical POWERHOUSE!"
Shinjii cracked his knuckles and grabbed the cars, lifting all of them with ease. "Easy! Now you do it!"
He dropped them, leaving Dachii to approach the stack. Dachii took a deep breath.
"Okay, I've punched down steel doors, damaged buildings, and fought powerful opponents. I should be able to do this."
He squatted and grabbed the cars from below, and with a little effort, he got them off the ground and above his head.
Shinjii clapped, giving Dachii a hard pat on the back, which knocked him over. "Good! Next batch!"
He disappeared around a corner, and Dachii walked over to Ken.
"Why are we lifting in the heat?"
"The sun awakens the muscles," Ken replied. "And so we don't cause damage to the building."
Shinjii came back with 15 cars over his head, and he set them down in front of Dachii. "These are each 40 tons! Pick them up!"
Dachii got into position again, and once he felt some strain, he began to glow gray and activate his powers.
"Heavy…HEAVY…!"
As his body began to feel more and more weighted, he picked up the cars and lifted them. "Done…!"
"Nice! Now to the next! No more easy mode! Follow me!"
He turned the corner, and once Dachii followed, he saw two others lifting 20 cars each: Arata and Akari.
"What the hell?" Dachii blurted out.
Akari glanced at him, still lifting the cars. "Hi, Dachii."
"Why is HE here? Why are YOU HERE?"
Arata put down the cars, wiping the sweat off his face. "She wanted to challenge me, weakling! You're next!"
Akari set her cars down as well. "Ignore him. I decided to train because I was bored."
"Bored?" Dachii blankly stared at her. "How can a Princess be bored?"
She shrugged, and Shinjii brought out a stack of 20 cars for Dachii. "Little man, lift this! They're 70 tons each!"
Akari and Arata watched as Dachii got his hands under the cars and began to glow gray. "Okay, lift…lift…"
As he began to pick them up, his feet began to dig into the ground. "Lift…LIFT!"
As he got them into the air, Akari and Shinjii clapped. Arata just scoffed and folded his arms.
"Great lifting!" Shinjii said. "Now then, each of you will go through the ultimate test! The 2,000-ton car!"
"TWO THOUSAND?" Dachii asked. "Is that even safe?"
Arata pointed at him. "Haha! Are you SCARED?"
"No, I'm not scared!"
Shinjii disappeared, and soon after, he dragged a much bigger metal car behind him. "Who wants to go first?"
Akari raised her hand. "I will."
Dachii and Arata waited behind her as she sized up the car.
"Lift and hold," she thought. "Lift and hold."
Her eyes began to glow white, and she bent down and got into position. With some mild strain, she got it up into the air, before setting it down gracefully.
"Is there anything you CAN'T do?" Dachii asked. "You ace basically EVERYTHING!"
"Don't hype her up," Arata said. "She's not as good as she looks."
He stepped into her face, looking her right in the eyes. "I'll show you."
He stepped forward and he attempted to lift the car. After numerous attempts and grunts, he finally managed to lift it off the ground, and he immediately dropped it.
"See? You're easy work!"
While they continued to glare at each other, Shinjii gave Dachii a hard pat on the back.
"Now, LIFT!"
Dachii walked around them and prepared to lift the car. "2,000 tons? Do I have it in me, or…?"
He sighed. "Okay, bend down and lift. Easy."
He grabbed the car from below, and he used all his strength to try and pick it up, with visible strain. "Ugh…get…in…the…air…!"
His eyes began to glow gray, and he accidentally tossed the car into a wall, damaging it.
"Oh…sorry."
Ken shook his head. "Could you have at least tossed it OVER the wall, not right in the middle?"
Akari stood next to Dachii. "Great job. You're even stronger than HIM now." She pointed to Arata, who stormed up to her.
"Enough of your disrespectful mouth! Challenge me right now!"
He shoved her, and she lifted her hand, which glowed with white energy. "Alright, fine!"
Ken tried to get in between them. "Hey, stick to the training—-!"
But Shinjii interrupted them with a hearty laugh. "Haha! If two you want to duel, I'll allow it!"
Arata smiled. "Thanks, sir! Girl! Arm wrestle me!"
Five minutes later, they were inside the weight room, and a table and two chairs were placed in the middle. Everyone was gathered around, watching as Akari and Arata sat down.
Shinjii slammed one hand on the table. "You two know the rules! First one to pin the other person's arm down wins!"
Arata laughed in Akari's face. "Put your arm on the table, so I can win!"
"You didn't even beat Hikari," Akari pointed out. "Misplaced confidence."
"Back up your words!"
They both put their arms in place and tightly grabbed each other's hands. Shinjii counted down. "Ready, set, WRESTLE!"
They fiercely attempted to pin each other's arms down, and Akari began to have the edge.
"You're…easy…work…! Arata yelled.
He used his magic to infuse his arm with shockwave energy, but even as it released and knocked everyone back, Akari still stood firm.
"Dachii, who do you think will win?" Ken asked.
"Akari," Dachii answered. "She's got this."
As Arata struggled more and more to hold her off, Akari began to push his arm toward the table.
"I'm not…gonna…lose!" Arata exclaimed.
"Yes, you are," Akari said, calmly.
As he made one last push to pin her arm down, she slammed his into the table and stood up.
"Akari takes victory!" Shinjii announced. "Nice job!"
Akari walked up to Dachii. "Come on, let's go finish our training—-"
"OH, HELL NO!"
She turned around and saw Arata seething with rage, his entire body charged up. "You wanna go? Then LET'S…"
He tried to punch her, but she moved out of the way. "…GO!"
"Hey!" she called out. "You're going to damage the place!"
"I DON'T CARE!"
He kicked her, sending a powerful shockwave into her that sent her flying through multiple walls, and he jumped after her.
"Oh, dear…" Ken moaned.
The other soldiers cheered. "FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!"
Shinjii cheered alongside them. "Yes! Let's watch this battle!"
As they followed Arata and Akari, Dachii and Ken were left alone.
"What…did I just watch?" Dachii asked.
Ken sighed. "You just watched over millions in property damage."
BOOM.
Loud noises could be heard coming from other parts of the mansion, and an energy blast flew through a wall and nearly hit Dachii.
"WOAH!"
They saw a large ball of light crash into the training room, and when they went to check it out, they saw Arata and Akari moving at fast speeds, attacking each other with shockwaves and energy blasts.
"You ain't NOTHING!" Arata boasted, sending a shockwave at her.
Akari flipped over it and clasped her hands together. "It's clear you need to be taught a lesson."
She released her hands, and a giant explosion of energy shot out of her, hitting Arata and knocking him back.
"GRRR…!"
Shinjii's eyes glanced from Arata to Akari, enjoying the battle. "Yes! GO ALL OUT!"
Arata slammed the ground, making it shake and causing even more damage to the walls. Akari put up a forcefield around herself, withstanding the shockwaves.
"You're going too wild. It's time to stop."
He charged up his legs and fists and ran right at her. "MAKE ME!"
She dropped her forcefield and lifted her hand, which began to glow. "Okay."
And they both unleashed their attacks at the same time, destroying the entire training room.
BOOM.
After that, Dachii and Akari were escorted outside the mansion, and Ken and Shinjii stood in the doorway.
"THAT WAS GREAT!" Shinjii exclaimed. "COME BACK AND DO IT AGAIN SOON!"
Ken shook his head, running a hand over it. "Either way, now that the training room is damaged, you two should best be off to your next areas."
"YEAH! Little man, go pay Nakada a visit! Then come back and let's get PUMPED!"
Ken sighed and turned back inside, and Shinjii laughed before closing the door.
Dachii and Akari were left outside.
"Well, that Xar guy isn't here, so do you have any idea where Nakada stays?"
Akari pointed down the road. "She's far down to the left. Just walk, make a left turn, and look for the light blue mansion."
"Okay, but where are you going to go?" he asked.
"I'll…meet up with you later," she answered. "Let me see your watch."
He held out his arm and she activated it and tapped a few buttons. Soon after, her name popped up on it.
"What'd you do?" Dachii asked.
"I put my number in there. Now you can contact me if you need me." She began to walk away, but not before turning around and saying:
"Good luck with your training. See you."
Dachii watched her walk away, and then he looked at her name on his watch. "YES!"
As he walked in the direction of the next mansion, he bumped into a Voltian man with glowing green eyes.
"Sorry, my mistake," the man said, hurrying away.
Dachii watched him leave before turning back around. "Yeah, these people are weird."
Once Dachii was out of sight, the man began to cough blood, and he fell to the ground, dead.
Meanwhile, in a dark arena…
Venire was busy sitting on a chair with her legs crossed, and her eyes were glowing green.
"Hmm, it seems the target is still training. Should we strike now?"
A voice in front of her answered back. "No, we want to wait. When he's in the perfect spot, then we nab him."
She stood up, and looked directly at the source of the voice: Ionix.
"Alright. Let me know when you're ready."
Ionix turned around, looking at a large arena floor, which was dark and completely empty.
"Don't worry, we'll get him soon."
As if on cue, a lightning bolt came from the dark sky, hitting the center of the arena and making it glow yellow.
"Let the games begin."
—-