They gathered plates of snacks and had some more light talks with the princess about their worlds. Then their group was chaperoned off to the suites, where they would be staying at. Guys and girls were given separate dorms and were led off, by several maids, through the estate.

"I guess they're giving us the royal treatment, eh?"

Tobi gestured at his brother, impressed with their suite. However, Osei was unimpressed.

"I'm fine with just the minimum. They're doing too much."

Kayed was ecstatic, flipping over channels on a holographic TV.

"We did help them out. If they want to treat us, let them."

Tai rolled his eyes.

"You mean Sarah helped them."

Kayed looked back over to Tai.

"She's one of us, right? No 'I' in team, remember."

He looked back at the channels, finally finding an interesting show, and sat back.

Tai shook his head and left, to set his stuff up in his room.

Tobi chuckled, as he and his brother followed after Tai.

"Kayed remember, we gotta head out in an hour."

Kayed waved back at them from the couch.

"Got it!"

Tobi and Osei went down the hall to choose their rooms.

An hour later...

Guards came to pick them up and escorted them, to the training grounds. They flew at jet speed in a private Azurian aircraft, for 30 minutes, to ridiculously large training grounds, outside of the city. Dozens of large outdoor arenas the size of two football fields were positioned distantly from each other with wired walls enclosing them.

Akio was waiting for them at the entrance. At his sides, his son, and granddaughter stood, greeting them with smiles. Beside Kaieda, was a large darker skinned man.

He had a large nose, and a scar over his eye, adding to his fierce gaze, which made some of the Novas uncomfortable. Akio stepped forward.

"I hope you've had some time, to relax and eat up, because you will be training here, until sundown."

He noticed some of the Novas looking dismayed, but he continued anyways.

"This is General Roku, Chief Commander of the Azurian Army and a leader of the Azurian Hashin. Our strongest elite force, which deals with planetary intelligence and operations."

Kiala raised her hand, quickly and he nodded.

"Are they the ones who saved us that day?"

He smiled and nodded once more.

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"That's right, however at the time, only the ones at the forefront. All 32 Hashin, train here every day, to expand and perfect their Iko."

He turned to look at the rest of the group and set on Tobi.

"I'm sure you've heard of this word before. Iko is a fundamental of life. Your enemies know this."

Sarah had tried finding more info about it but was only able to give them a crude explanation. Akio continued, raising his right hand towards the training grounds.

"Here, each of us will train you in the three basics of iko. Sani iko, sila iko and roho iko... Once you have mastered these techniques, you'll become far more powerful than you are now."

Kalista was skeptical, speaking up only once he had stopped.

"How is it supposed to make us stronger?"

Yori and Kaieda raised their eyebrows in alarm. That was the worst question she could have asked. They caught a glimpse of the sinister smile crawling over Akio's face.

"In many ways... For example, have you ever felt something like this?"

His facial expression turned deadly serious, as the breeze around them began to pick up. All of them felt pressure unlike, they'd ever felt before. It wasn't sinister, more calming, but requested them to submit immediately, to the will of the monster before them.

Jacira dropped to her knees, holding her chest, then fell over, unconscious. By instinct, Kalista, Carina, and Tai immediately went into first gear, however, it remained difficult for them to breathe and stay standing, as foam started to form at the sides of their mouth.

"What... is... this?"

Tai tried to say, before dropping to his knees, the other two followed suit, seconds later, as their side effects started to kick in. Their hands were the only thing stopping a faceplant to the floor. The rest still had just as much difficulty, but remained standing, unable to move, in second gear.

"I've felt this before, but not on this scale."

Norah lurched, feeling her stamina drain away, by the second. Osei tried taking a step forward but quit halfway.

"So this is the gap, we have to cross."

Tobi looked around, noticing everyone else having just as much difficulty, but barely remaining on their feet, in second gear. However, Kiala was calm, maintaining third gear to exert back the same pressure.

Akio, stroked his beard while watching them struggle.

"Ho, ho, look Roku, this one has ascended far, while so young."

Roku had his eyebrows slightly raised in shock.

"Yes, it would seem... She may be the one."

Kaieda looked at his father with concern.

"Father, don't you think this is a little-"

He was cut off by an intense release of dangerous pressure coming from Yori, startling Akio.

"Grandpa, are you trying to kill our guests?"

Akio scratched his head.

"My bad, I guess I went a little too far."

He lowered the amount of pressure he was releasing and the Novas began to regain their composure, shutting off their transformations. Norah and Amaara ran to check on Jacira, who woke up momentarily. Tobi glared at Akio, seeing the stress his people went through. However, Akio did not flinch.

"That's the fire you need! A leader should at least be able to protect his people, in an event, when someone with incredible iko, should appear."

Kaieda shook his head while scratching the side of his beard.

"A normal civilian might have entered into a coma, from the amount, you released."

Kaieda cleared his throat and stepped up.

"Each of you will be training with one of us until you master iko. Jacira and Runa, you will be training with Yori."

He turned his attention towards the rest.

"Kalista, Tai, Carina, you'll be with me."

He looked back at Roku, as the Commander stepped forward.

"I'll train the Rennayan warrior, the girl, and the human boy."

His cold eyes flickered across each of them, then he turned and began to lift off.

"Let's go."

He said plainly, then jumped high up onto a flying stone platform, jetting towards a far-end training grounds. Osei, looked at Kayed and Norah, realizing he was talking about them. They shrugged it off and flew off after him.

Akio jumped up onto a flying rock platform, with his hands behind his back.

"Tobi, Kiala let's see how fast you two are."

Leaving them with a wide grin before he took off. They didn't hesitate to go after him.

Kaieda looked at his trainees.

"Unlike them, I don't want you using your abilities for a bit. We'll be running to our training grounds."

Tai and Carina sighed, groaning, however, Kalista began stretching for the run.

Yori smiled at Runa and Jacira, who had just gotten back to a hundred percent.

"Well... shall we?"