Umi and Yoko, in effort to find the materials to there next weapon, were sent after a monster called the Nepto Dragon, living off the Tharsis coastline. A highest predator on the food chain, it had evolved from what amounted to a giant sea serpent creature into a full on dragon, capable of dragon breath and fins where it's wings should be, a semi-amphibious creature, it would come onto land every so often so that the female would give birth, while the male guarded the cave in which the event was occurring.

They were looking for the fang of the Sea Dragon, much like the old-world's sharks, it would grow new fangs every so often to break through the barriers of any prey it fed on. This would be a dangerous battle, as Nepto Dragon's got extremely protective and territorial during this time.

"The caves up ahead Yoko, Are you sure we can do this?"

"I dont know, we've fought large beasts before, but this thing is a barrier killer, it wont be an easy battle in the slightest..."

He drew his sword and readied himself for combat, but found, it his surprise, that someone was already combating the monster. From the sounds of it, it was an destructive battle.

"Hanakan-ryu: Fuuka Chodan!

"Hey, whoever is fighting with it right now, they have an huge amount of Ki, that's rare around here, its also pretty darn explosive isnt it?"

Picking up on both of there power's from his ESP, he placed his ESP findings on his Archive, demonstrating the values as numbers, making it easier to gauge.

"His Strength Rating rates about 1500?! how interesting. We should join him in this fight, plenty of dragon's fangs to go around."

Taking his staff, he floated it on the air, ready to be used as a broom. He motioned for Yoko to get on while they hovered down into the cove, there was very little room to move around in. The fact the man was standing his ground against the dragon was a testament to his power.

"This one's a psuedo-dragon, it wont be nearly as difficult to combat, but it still wont be easy..."

Yoko, standing on the edge of Umi's staff was lowered down, the man, who was by far at least 60 or 70, fighting off the dragons savage jaws with ease. When it readied itself for a it's powerful dragons breath, the man did not move an inch. As it unleashed a spray of pressurized water, the man simply adjusted his body into a defensive stance

"Hanakan-ryu: Fuuka Gaeshi"

The dragons breath erupted from the its gaping maw and spliced apart the ground with extreme force, tearing away weathered rock with ease. The pressurized water blast was redirected off the body of the old man. Taking a closer look at the man with his ESP, he could tell that the old man was just emitting a lot of Ki and melding it into 'Ki armor', while a basic skill, it was put to amazing use that none of the Ki masters Umi's met before could manifest such an ability.

"Hey Oyaji! what are you doing here?"

Sadly, Umi caught the old man's attention in the middle of the battle, as he turned to face the two, the Nepto Dragon took its chance to attack the distracted old man. Seeking to swallow him hole, it launched itself forward at amazing speed, picking the old man up with it's fangs in a matter of seconds it tried, and failed, to devour his opponent, the old man, still covered in Ki armor survived the attack and began to punch his beastly foe in the face as it tried to eat him. Seeing that it was futile, it tossed him into the ocean, staying on alert to defend itself against further attack.

"Oh..... Yoko go fish him out..."

Rather than piss the Nepto Dragon off even more, Yoko hoped off of the broom and into the water, going to draw the old man out of the water. He picked the old man out of the water and carried him into the shoreline about 30 feet away from the entrance of the cove.

"Are you ok?..."

"GeroGero,Fragrantia floris, meis amicis vigorem, vitalitatem, auram salutarem Refectio!"

Taking a flower he found on the cliff-side, he used it as a catalyst to restore the stamina of the old man, now that he did not have his Ki armor protecting him, he was as frail and as weak as any man at that age.

"Are you ok? Someone your age shouldnt be fighting that monster, leave it to us"

Picking up his broom again, he lifted off into the air, only to be stopped by the old man.

"No, ive been doin' this since before your parents were born kid, it's a test, to see whose better, my Hanakan-ryu or the dragons fangs"

"Hanakan-ryu? never heard of it."

"Well, you will now, Hanakan-ryu: Fuuka Renshouda!"

The old man moved so fast down the shoreline it looked like he teleported, Umi assumed it was a Shundo, but it was far too fast to be simple Shundojutsu. Far around the corner he heard the sound of an explosion, assuming it was the suddenly lively old man.

"Looks like we should help him.. Ill go.."

Yoko shundo'd in to catch up with the old man, who was deeply involved in his battle with the Nepto Dragon. Grabbing his sword, he charged it with as much Ki as possible, electrifying the blade so much that it started to singe the ground around Yoko, he used Shundo one more time to bring him face to face with the Nepto Dragon, who, while being distracted by the Old mans savage barrage of attacks, sent his electrified blade straight into the side of it's face. The explosion was so large it pushed the dragon into the wall, who in the recoil sent Yoko flying into the wall too.

"Crap..."

He was sent through the wall with such force that his Ki armor could not protect him, damaging his body severely, so bad he was stuck coughing up blood while the Old Man fought the monster, who was unfazed from Yoko's attack.

"GeroGero, Agite Jovis Manus, Sanara"

Creating the healing array around his partner, he began the process of repairing the damage that occurred to his body, he received massive trauma to his body, something like a bad car crash to a regular human. He tried to repair the damage quickly, but found it would not be an easy feat to accomplish.

"I dont understand, we've fought monsters like these before. How did we fail so easily?"

"You kids may be strong for your friends, but that wont help you against AA level monsters like this one, Ill save you snot-nosed kids"

"....."

Yoko was busy coughing up his own blood, he felt the pain alleviate from healing spell that Umi was using, he was shaken from the attack. He watched the Oyaji do battle with the monster while the two were recovering. True to his word, he had the monster against the wall, keeping it from attacking the two of them while Yoko was being healed.

The old man, seeming frail and weak, was keeping up with a dragon five times the size of him, something he could not do when he put all his Ki into an attack. He studied the old mans style, the ki surrounding him was almost always in constant motion, moving from around his body to his fists and back it such rapid motion that it created a shockwave as it moved.

"Now the finisher!..."

The old man began to channel his Ki, ready to take the dragon down with one last attack, the level of Ki amassed could easily destroy a mage of Umi's caliber in one hit.

"Hanakan-ryu: Tenka Renshouda!"

Ready to strike down his opponent, he shundo'd closer to the Nepto Dragon, ready to take it out in one hit, he stopped, mid-air, the dragon was distracted, it did not attack him out of sheer fear of the next attack, but the man did not move, he lost his balance as he stood in mid-air and fell to the ground in front of the monster, taking a serious fall, he was more in pain from some unknown problem rather than the hit from the fall. His breathing was labored and unsteady, he seemed to be suffocating.

"Again? Accelerat"

Carrying Yoko onto his broom, he commanded it to move at a faster speed, swooping past the dragon's hind legs and grabbing the old man in front of him, he took of up the cliff side to regroup. He immediately began emergency treatment on his ally, repairing the damage to his body on a larger scope, rather than healing specific damage, just to be sure.

"What just happened? Is he ok?"

Yoko sat back as he watched Umi heal the old man, the damage done to him was already repaired thanks to the same healing spell, so he sat back and built up his Ki to alleviate the pain still left over.

"Om~Bhai"

"Your age is catching up with you huh Oyaji? Your heart almost gave out right now, you should not being doing this in your advanced age..."

Laying his magic circle of the old mans chest, he started to repair and remove the damage that was done to the heart, it appeared to be some minor blockage, but given that it was in the middle of a fight, and the mans advanced age, it would severely cripple the man. Umi worked quickly to remove the blockage so that the blood would continue to fluctuate, a simple process, he pulled it off quickly and the man's life was no long in any danger.

"Thank god for Sanare, this could have been a lot more climatic without it.."

The man was recovering from the simple "surgery" on the ground next to Umi while he called Yoko over so they could begin plan a strategy.

"I think we should give up for today, the Nepto Dragon is too good for us to beat alone, the birthing process will take about 2 days, maybe more if she is giving birth to more children. According to the Archive, the entire process could take up to a week, so we'll let him recover a little, hell, maybe he can teach us something, and we'll come back and take one of those teeth, sound good?"

"Im ok with that..."

Yoko knew he needed more practice in his Ki training, he had become lax in his effort to become stronger that he felt like he was being left behind. He had seen this old man do things with Ki Yoko knew could only be performed by masters, maybe if he trained under this man he would be able to gain considerable skill in a week's time, he wholeheartedly agreed.

"He's coming through"

Recovering after a few moments, the old man woke up, he looked around briefly before sitting back and resting, seeing that he was fine, Umi turned to him and told him about his proposition.

"Hey Oyaji! Since your still too weak to fight, and were not stronger enough to win, how about you train us? We have a week to get Nepto Dragon teeth anyway! so how about it?"

Waiting for the man's answer, he agreed, claiming he would definitely help Yoko, while Umi would be on his own for training.

"Sorry kid, i dont understand magic, you'll have to train on your own!"(Changed because Yellow is hard to see)

Leaving Umi behind in order to train by himself, he trained along the coastline on the other half of the beach, a little more than a mile away from the the cove where the Nepto Dragon was waiting. He met with the old man and they began their lesson.

"You use the Shinmeiryuu right?, the other strongest martial art next to Hanakan-ryu, they both use Ki as a major component of their attacks dont they?"

"...Yes..."

"Well, Mr. Silent, in terms of Ki power, Hanakan-ryu comes out on top, and since Ki is the basis of the style, i will teach you the methods to our martial art in order to strengthen your Ki, see this stone?"

Yoko looked over at the stone the man picked up, circulating Ki throughout his body, he picked up the heavy boulder and threw it at Yoko.

"Dont slice it, hold it up using your Ki..."

Rather than grab his sword, he followed the man's order and circulated Ki over his body, watching as they stone rolled onto his body, he held it up with his back, keeping the stone just above his back with a membrane of Ki.

"..This...is... heavy.."

"It's suppose to be, i'll be teaching you a way to increase the power of your Kokikou, as well as your ability to channel Ki"

Umi was left alone while Yoko trained, so he found another cove and researched topics from his Archive magic to begin his lessons in improving his skills. He had received some pointers from the Spiderman he fought in the arena and began to base his training on that

"The only attack spell i can probably learn.. the Sagitta Magica, well lets begin..."

Gathering magic around his body, just outside of his barriers, he charged it up into small blue lights which grew in size. Withdrawing his wand, he began to say the incantation.

"GeroGero, Unum Spirite Undinis, Coente Saggitet Inimicum, Sagitta Magica, Una Undinis"

Out of all the lights he created, only one survived to launch, after the incantation, Umi pointed his wand and let the arrow go sending it flying through the air until it eventually lost speed and faded away, knowing the potential he use to have with the spell, as well as delaying it, he thought it would be best if he could charge up the spell before releasing it.

"Alright, lets try this again, Test No. 2..."

Holding the boulder up with his Ki, he began to lift it off of his body and levitate it above his head, holding it above him with only his Ki Armor.

"How will this improve my Kokikou?.."

"It'll help you manifest your Ki in a greater amount than before, you have a hard time charging your Ki dont you? you go for speed rather than power, and thus, you suffer when fighting against larger, stronger opponents. There are monsters much stronger in AA rank than this Nepto Dragon, and if you want to survive, you're going to have to learn what I teach you ok kid?"

"Argh... Sure"

Yoko continued with his training, struggling to keep the rock up as minutes passed by

"GeroGero! Tres Spiritus Undinis, Coentes Sagitter Inimicum, Sagitta Magica....."

Producing three orbs of blue light around his barrier, he held the magic next to him with only his force of will, holding them with all of his might, he watched as one faded out of existence, before he had to release the other two.

"Alright i got 20 seconds for the delay, but i lost one.... lets try this again..."

"So... what is this Hanakan-ryu?"

Yoko focused on trying to keep the rock up, the old man was sitting there next to him, he seemed incredibly bored by the training methods. He tried to lighten the mood, but his social skills werent the best and it came out awkward.

"Oh, so your interested in the other art Shinmeiryu? well if you must know..."

He sat up, channeling his Ki with such intensity it gave off a large amount of heat, it was so sudden it made Yoko lose concentration, causing the boulder to drop, taking a fast action, he rolled backwards out of the way of the boulder.

"Put of by just a little posturing? you wont get very far if you lose concentration so easily. Start again"

"Alright, center them in a circle around my body, GeroGero! Tres Spiritus Undinis, Coentes Sagittit Inimicum..."

Creating a small triangle above his head and next to his shoulders, he let them stall for a minute to charge up power. He waited for the 20 seconds to elapse and began to release his spell.

"And let them coil around my body before releasing them. Sagitta Magica, Series Undinis!"

The three arrows of water shot forward, cutting short a few meters away, he considered it his first success. He would need to train much harder for him to be adequate at the spell, but in the meantime he stopped and began performing his magic power-up exercises by meditating.

"The Hanakan-ryu was created in a similar vain as the Shinmeiryu, do defend the people against demons, but we evolved away from exorcising and began the practice of defending our country. And of course, after the Shinmeiryu took over the defending. We moved to the magic world.."

Yoko was levitating the large boulder over his head, having only the Ki armor to keep it up, his focus was partially diverted from the old man to create more Ki, but he focused again every so often once he got the boulder to stay up.

"When we moved to the magic world, we were able to grow stronger than we ever could in Kyoto, and now, a majority of our school resides in Utopia, but i like to travel around still"

Yoko had heard the name Utopia before, in his magic geography class, it was in the southern half of the magic world, and was known for it's implausible weather and as the home of the Ki-users in the Magic World. He always wanted to go, but he knew he and Umi were not nearly strong enough to survive there.

"So, how long have you been practicing Hanakan-ryu?"
Yoko tried to keep the conversation going, it helped him to focus on something.

" How can i get stronger for Yoko? Well, i could learn attack magic, but im not really good at it, it helps to invigorate the berserk side of me...."

Seeking to use his maximum power to the limit, he began his magic power-up exercises. He activated his Dolere spell, using the new variety he had learned, he was able to chant it onto himself as a form of Reinforcement magic. This particular version required him to use it to increase his speed.

"GeroGero! Jovis corpus, precari nos dare nostrum sociae cum propere, Dolere Properus"

Channeling it into himself, he found that, given the nature of the spell he created, self-destructed on him. It took a few minutes for him to reform from his liquid, amoeba structure back into his human form.

"My buffs dont work on me... crap.... this is gonna require mental training more than physical... ready set Phantasmagoria!"

"I've been practicing Hanakan-ryu for at 600 years, and even then, I only got to the 4th Calibre"

"Calibre?"

"The Hanakan-ryu is specialized by levels of Ki, these levels are varied to allow for an all purpose fighting style. These styles take years to fully acquire and many more years to master. I have only come to the 4th level: The Tenka."

"Really now? Will any of those help me to strengthen my Ki?"

"Maybe, if you can keep this going for another day or so, Then maybe we can begin learning some of those Ougi you've been trying to master"

Yoko held out and resumed his training to lift the boulder, but by outputting a little more Ki, it that it obliterated the boulder,smashing it into hundreds of smaller pieces, the fact that he did it just from the power of the Ki he released was a good sign.

"Good, we're making progress"

"GeroGero! Jovis corpus, precari nos dare nostrum sociae cum propere, Dolere Properus"

Channeling magic through the legs muscles of the replicas of his ministrae, Umi could buff all three of them, as well as his replica Mortimer. He monitored the effects of his buff magic on the replicas with his Archive ESP. Keeping the buff on all four of them was easy, but it would require an extended amount of use, draining his mana to a small extent.

"Now for exercise no. 2: GeroGero, Undecim Spirirtus Undiales, Coentes Sagittet Inimicum...."

Maintaining the support magic spell on all four of the replicas, he's started the beginning incantation to his only attack spell. Instantly, 11 lights appeared in a circular position around his body. He delayed the spell for 20 seconds, at which point he lost two of them, and then launched them accordingly into the imaginary space.

"Darn, still only 9 arrows... maybe i should go further into the research i did on the delay spells..."