Kai and John were finally having a nice conversation.
"Finally, my suspension is over," John said.
"I know," Kai answered. "But it was kind of nice not to work for a while."
"Yes, I know. And now we can go back to patrol… and maybe get a mission," John said.
"Come on, man. Don't think about missions now," Kai replied. "It's the weekend, and it's early morning. You should take this time to relax."
Kai was trying to spend time with John so he can get closer to him. He believed that if their trio was closer, then most of the trouble between them wouldn't have happened. Normally, he would've expected Ren to be the one to do this—but since Ren was the one in conflict with John, this job was on Kai.
"But we already spent enough time relaxing during the suspension," John said. "I'm sick of relaxing. I want to go back to a mission. If it were for—"
Kai put his hand on John's shoulder.
"Come on, man. I said don't blame him for this," Kai insisted. "If you two just communicated better, none of that would've happened. So please stop blaming him, and just act normal when we see him next time."
Right then, the door opened, and Ren entered.
"John. Let's go fight right now."
That was the first thing Ren said to him since their last argument.
John gave Kai a look without saying anything. Ren didn't know what that look meant, but Kai did. He immediately stood up.
"Ren… what the hell are you saying?" Kai asked. "This is the first time you two have met in a while, and you want to fight him? Are you still angry about this whole thing?"
Kai sounded disappointed. He knew Ren was better than this.
"No, Kai. I'm not angry," Ren said. "I'm actually excited. I only want to fight John to prove him wrong once and for all. There's no malice behind it."
Kylie frowned slightly.
"To prove what?"
Then he paused, and his expression shifted.
"Wait… does this have to do with you training by yourself for the past few days?"
John stood up immediately, giving ren An interested look.
"Well, Kai—if he wants to prove something to me, then I have no problem with that. Let's go to the training room right now."
And with that, the three of them moved to the training room—the same place they had fought for the first time.
But this time, only Ren and John were going to fight.
Ren got into a fighting stance, and John picked up a wooden longsword—again, he didn't pick up the bow.
John honestly didn't expect much from Ren. Especially since he got into a fighting stance, he thought maybe he finally took his advice… but it didn't seem like it. Unless this was a bluff, and he actually improved in the way John told him to.
And with that, John dashed towards Ren and swung his sword.
But Ren managed to dodge it—because he wouldn't make the same mistake again.
John kept striking, but Ren kept dodging. For a few seconds, they kept doing that until Ren sent out a few shades from the side. They tried to strike John, but John managed to dodge the two shades that came at him.
For a second, he thought: He actually listened to me.
But then he blocked a kick Ren sent.
Oh. He didn't.
John tried to make Ren fall by deflecting his kick, but Ren managed to bring his leg back quickly after the kick got blocked. But that put him in a weird angle, so John tried to take advantage of that.
But that was a trap.
Ren sent out a Shade Jab from his elbow.
John tried to Dodge it, but it wasn't successful. He tried to dodge, but it hit his shoulder.
BAM.
It pushed him back a little, giving Ren plenty of time to reposition himself into a safe stance.
Then John got his posture back and looked at Ren.
"You know you're doing much better than before," John said, "but what does that even prove exactly?"
"Oh, don't worry," Ren replied. "I will prove my point pretty soon. I'm not done."
Ren dashed towards John, and John did the same.
John was anticipating and focusing on REN's movements and on what he would do so he could make sure he wouldn't get caught off guard with whatever Ren was do—
BAM!
Ren's fist hit John in the stomach so fast he couldn't react,m and the power behind it was so strong it sent him flying back into the wall.
But before he crashed, the security system activated, creating a forcefield that cushioned the crash.
Kai was absolutely shocked. He didn't understand how Ren sent John flying.
Then he looked back at Ren. and John got out of his shock and also looked back at ren.
And they were both shocked at what they saw.
Ren's right arm—the one he punched John with—was covered with black marks.
The back and front of his palm had marks in the shape of an X, and his fingers had marks that looked like a bunch of them were wrapped around his fingers. Even though there weren't any layers on his fingers, the black marks looked like it.
Those black marks that were all over his arm were his shades.
Cass' advice had helped him more than anyone could realize. Even though it was simple, it was what he needed.
And the part that helped him the most was this: when she gave the example of herself—when she said she explored everything about her ability, everything it can do—and she experimented and researched until she made the techniques that allowed her to become as strong as she is now, in the way she wanted.
That part helped him because it made him realize something.
He wasn't doing that.
He wasn't exploring everything his ability can do and experimenting with it.
He was inside a box.
And what he meant by that was: he had been using his shades like ropes—using them as whips, something to bind with. He had been restricting himself in the way he could use them, unconsciously.
The only time he didn't do that was when he created Shade Jab—but even that, he did unconsciously.
So when she helped him realize he wasn't actually using his ability to the fullest, it made him think of everything else he could do with his ability.
And then inspiration hit his mind.
A possibility.
So he went back and researched until he managed to create this.
An exoskeleton made out of his shades—specifically placed inside his body and outside of it the sheets are thin so it doesn't interfere when he moves his body and it doesn't interfere with the inside of his body as well the exoskeleton give him strengthen beyond belief.
It's super durable, and he can exert a large amount of strength with it.
It was incredible.
And he honestly never thought of using the fact that he can summon shades inside his body like this before.
It was truly funny, when you finally realize the thing you wanted was in front of you the whole time—and once you see it, you can't help but think you're dumb.
He was truly grateful to Cass for her help in creating this technique.
The technique named: Shadow Skeleton.
Kai and John approached Ren to see his arm more clearly.
"What the hell is this?" Kai asked in disbelief, not getting what his friend just did.
Ren just smiled and said, "This is my Shadow Skeleton. I basically used the fact that I can summon my shades inside my body, and the fact that they are super flexible and tough, to create an exoskeleton—giving me insane strength. Now no one can complain about me using my martial arts and ability the way I want."
He specifically looked at John when he said that.
John was just focusing on Ren's arm. Then he opened his mouth. "So how much strength does it give you?"
Ren cooperated and told him, "Well… my Shadow Skeleton's strength depends on the strength of my shades. And if I have to judge the strength of my shades right now, I would say they're as strong as extremely powerful ropes. But if you're asking the top strength of my Shadow Skeleton right now… well, I can't really tell you that."
Ren said while scratching his cheek awkwardly.
John hummed. "So you can't use your Shadow Skeleton on your whole body?"
The Shadow Skeleton is strong. It allows him to punch more powerfully and faster than ever before, but he can't use it yet on his whole body—so he can't just move extremely fast or exert his full strength. And Since a punch uses the whole body, he doesn't know the full strength of the Shadow Skeleton yet, which is very disappointing for Ren currently.
"So why can't you use it on your whole body?" Kai asked on the side.
"Well, the thing is, to create a Shadow Skeleton on my arm, I use five shades. That means for a limb, I have to use five shades. So if we count both legs, both arms, torso, and head… I need thirty shades to create the full Shadow Skeleton. And I currently only have eight shades. During my time of non-stop training, I doubled the amount, but it's still not enough for me to use it," Ren explained.
Ren. John called out his name, making both of them pay attention.
"You proved me wrong. That's something I never thought was possible, so I'm going to say this—probably for the only time you will ever hear it," he said so seriously that both Ren and Kai tensed.
"Ren… you are meow."
"What?" both Ren and Kai said unconsciously.
"I said you are meow. You were truly meow," Kai repeated, making them look at each other in disbelief.
Not knowing what was going on, John noticed and explained, "This is the highest form of compliment in my language. You probably don't understand it since you have no idea about my language."
Ren and Kai simply burst out laughing.
John looked confused for the first time.
And the trio actually bonded a little.