A month passed in the blink of an eye.
Every morning, before the sun even touched the treetops, Kai sparred with Nadya, Sven, and Isaac. No abilities. No weapons. Just fists, grit, and a lot of bruises. Isaac struggled the most at first, even though he was allowed to use his mutant power. His missing arm left a glaring weakness on his left side, but he made up for it by weaving in his phasing ability exactly as Kai had drilled into him - phasing through attacks when he couldn't block them. It wasn't pretty, but it worked.
Then, after the morning beatdowns, Kai threw himself into Takeshi's brutal routine. It never stayed the same. Every day, Takeshi would ramp it up, adding more bodyweight exercises, longer runs, steeper climbs, and harder endurance drills. Kai could barely keep up, often finishing long after Takeshi, who completed the entire brutal session blindfolded without so much as breaking a sweat.
