Three months fly past within the blink of an eye for Grim'Lok.
"For the last three months you two have been diligently training to understand Chikara, so now I'm gonna teach you the basic techniques all trained warriors know." Risaki Payne's voice echoes through the training hall, Grim'Lok and Nay stand next to each other.
"Techniques?" Grim'Lok's voice carries a hint of confusion.
Risaki nods, "Yes. Techniques are what separates a warrior from a civilian." He walks to a picture on the wall, The picture is of a man that resembles a lizard standing next to a young boy.
Nay and Grim'Lok immediately notice his change in demeanour but don't get to point it out before he turns back to them.
"The first and most important technique of a warrior is Kikanchi."
Grim'Lok stares at him confused and Nay chuckles. "He means energy awareness dummy."
Grim'Lok quickly turns to her and throws his arms up, "How was I supposed to know!" As he says this Risaki pivots his foot and his body becomes a blur.
"Extend your Chikara and tell me where I am." Risaki's voice sounds as if it's coming from Everywhere all at once.
Quickly Grim'Lok extends his Chikara outward sensing for Risaki, "Behind us!" Nay shouts causing them both to turn around with raised guards.
Risaki attempts to flick both of their foreheads but their eyes follow his movements, Grim'Lok dodging and Nay blocking the flick.
Risaki grins as he pulls his arm back. "Seeing as you both already know how to do this proves you two can take the Exam." he blurts out
Nay looks at him with suspicious eyes. "What Exam?"
Risaki smiles as he walks past them. "The OMEN Exam of course."
Nay's eyes open and Grim'Lok again looks confused. "OMEN? What's that?"
"Uh, only the greatest organization of warriors in the entire word!" Nay declares, causing Risaki to let out a hearty laugh.
"Eldoria's shield, some say." Risaki says and his voice is full of wisdom. "You know, I used to be a part of OMEN?"
They let out an audible gasp.
"What do you mean used to?" Grim'Lok asks and Risaki's cheerful expression drops momentarily as his mind flashes with memories of the past. "Don't worry about it kid."
Grim'Lok's face flashes with anger before he starts protesting being called a kid. Nay puts him in a headlock and Risaki clears his throat to gain their attention.
"Alright. Now I will show you technique two." Risaki tilts his straw hat as he starts walking forward, "Channel a thin layer of Chikara into your feet."
Riskai begins to leap back and forth. "If you listen closely, there is no sound. That's because the thin layer dampens vibrations caused by steps. This technique is not full proof though as it only muffles the sound of one's steps, and it is called Muon Ho." He stops, and turns to them. "Now you two do it."
Nay quickly and easily summoned a thin layer of Chikara at her feet, jumping around to test her muffled steps. Grim'Lok on the other hand has summoned a thin layer at his feet but the sound isn't as muffled as Nay's.
"Look like someone's better at soundless movement than you Grim'Lok." Risaki says and Grim'Lok looks at Nay then back at him. "What's technique three?" Nay asks with a giant smirk on his face.
"Right, Let's head outside." Risaki turns around and walks towards the door, Grim'Loka and Nay following behind.
He leads them to a gigantic tree that has various different scars inside its bark. "The third technique involves you climbing this tree."
As Risaki says this Grim'Lok starts to celebrate. "Climbing? I've been doing that all my life!" Nay crosses her arms and pouts.
Risaki walks towards the tree, "Watch this." He puts his foot on the tree and begins walking up it. "He didn't mention climbing it like this." Grim'Lok murmurs and Nay laughs.
Risaki walks up the tree to a branch at least 60 meters into the air.
"Meet me up here in the next," He looks at the sun that's still high in the sky. "60 minutes. Chop, chop."
Grim'Lok looks up at Risaki but Nay walks towards the tree putting her foot on it. "Alright." She takes a deep breath before jumping up and sticking her feet on the tree, her body now horizontal.
"Good work!" Risaki watches her as she slowly but surely starts walking up the tree.
Grim'Lok seeing this runs at the tree trying to run up it but he forgets the most important part and he crashes to the floor. "Don't forget to balance the output of Chikara in your feet, it's extremely similar to the Muon Ho." Upon hearing this Grim'Lok sighs and thinks to himself "Great, my weakest skill, output."
Grim'Lok sits up and watches Nay as Nay stands next to Risaki realizing she beat him in record time. "And it makes it worse that I lost her. She's definitely gonna rub it in."
He rises to his feet, planting his foot back on the tree. "Let's give it another shot."
The wind rustles the leaves around him as he begins pushing his Chikara to the bottom of his feet. Focusing as much as he can he begins to lift himself off the ground and onto the tree.
With a hard push he starts running up the tree to the Shock and Amazement of Nay and Risaki. "He's actually doing it, and in only 2 tries? He might be even stronger than his father at his age, Let alone me."
Grim'Lok makes it halfway up the tree before he starts to slip. "No!" He screams out as he slowly starts to fall backwards. Just as his feet leave the tree, the Mark of Uken pulsed causing a large amount of Chi to gather in his feet pulling him back onto the tree. "What the hell just happened?" He thought to himself.
He walks to the branch seeing Nay stretching. "What took ya so long?" She says with a grins before turning to the lake nearby, as he turns the mark on his shoulder is slightly revealed and Risaki notices immediately. "That mark… So he did die that day."
Grim'Lok stares at the lake in the distance, his mind completely blocking out all other things as he locks onto the rippling water.
"The next technique is the Water Surface Walking technique, The Mizu Hokou."
"What I want you two to do is jump off this tree and land on top of the water." Risaki looks at them with serious eyes causing them both to shudder. "It's the same technique as the other ones, focus your Chikara into your soles and you should be good."
Grim'Lok wastes no time feeling Chikara surge through his legs, He jumps all the way from the branch to the lake summoning his Chikara into soles.
He barrels towards the lake and as he makes contact with the lake's water a giant explosion of water engulfs him.
"We have to go help him!" Nay screams out as she's about to jump but Risaki puts his hand out infront of her.
"Keep watching."
As the explosion dissipates it reveals Grim'Lok standing on the unstable water, "What's the holdup? The waters nice." His voice is full of arrogance, his tone carrying a new found confidence.
Nay looks down at him and with a smile jumps off the branch.
As she soars through the air she gathers all her energy into her soles.
"C'mon you got this!" Grim'Lok's words seem to fuel her as when she makes contact with the water she doesn't even cause an explosion.. Instead her foot stands on top of the water as if it were solid ground.
As they turn to the shore Risaki is already there with his hands behind his back.
"Good job you two. Now come, it's time to get ready for the final basic technique."
Grim'Lok and Nay water walk towards Risaki as he speaks. "This final technique is unlike the rest as it is one of the most used and well known ever."
"I will be teaching you how to Chikara flicker."
As he says this Grim'Lok immediately thinks back to the times he heard his parents talk about this.
"Grim'Lok your mother was regarded as one of the best flicker users ever."
Grim'Lok clutches his necklace as he hears this.
"You already had the foundation, channel your Chikara into your lower body," As he talks he bends his knees then suddenly he vanishes
He appears behind them leaving a faint afterimage where he was just standing disappearing as quickly as it was formed. "And release it as a focused burst of acceleration. If used right you should appear as if you've vanished into thin air leaving only an afterimage."
As he finishes talking almost in unison Nay and Grim'Lok vanish like he did. "I wonder where you went." Risaki's voice carries a hint of sarcasm as sends his Chikara outward sensing for them.
Suddenly a ball of Chikara whizzes past his face. "Found ya."
In a burst of speed he summons a Chikara ball himself, grabbing the one that just barely made it past him. He throws the ball as hard as he can towards their position creating a shockwave that kicks up dust.
"Fast!"
Grim'Lok's thoughts rang through his head as the ball came barreling towards him faster than he could react but not perceive.
He channeled all his Energy into his lower body once more before sending out a large burst. He just barely managed to flicker away as the balls barrels through his afterimage. He appeared next to a nearby tree panting heavily. "Looks like someone forgot how to manage his Chikara reserves."
Later that day, Grim'Lok lays on top of his bed inside the Dipea-Kicho Dojo. His body aches from Chikara overuse and he's trying to steady his breathing. Suddenly he hears a knock at the door. "Come in!" He screams out as the door opens.
But who steps inside isn't who he expects. Uken stands in front of him, her robes flowing in a wind that isn't present to Grim'Lok. "We meet again, Wolfshire." Her voice is as calm and eerie as when he met her.
"Here to prepare me for the Exam?" He asks jokingly and she nods. "Indeed I am."
Grim'Lok stares at her dumbfounded as he sits up. "What?"
Uken giggles before walking towards him, each step making the mark of Uken pulsate more and more. "Let me see the mark." Her voice is gentle yet so commanding and Grim'Lok pulls his shirt off revealing the Mark of Uken fully glowing.
"So it's already activated?" She inspects the glowing mark on his shoulder. "How many times have you used it?"
Grim'Lok thinks to when he almost slipped off the tree outside, "Once? Why?"
Uken chuckles as she reads his mind. "You slipped off a tree? How embarrassing."
Grim'Lok waves her off, "You don't see me popping up on you talking about your mishaps!"
Uken touches the Mark on his shoulder with glowing hands. "Enhance."
As the words leave her mouth the Mark glows even more intensely as four more symbols appear around it. "This should keep it from activating all the time during the Exam."
The world around her starts to distort as she quickly turns around, "I must leave now. Try not to die during this Exam love?" She doesn't even let Grim'Lok talk before she vanishes into thin air.
"Always leave as quickly as you come. I should pack for the Exam. We're heading to Archfield in the morning, he said.."