A little while after we had finished eating, we all gathered into a large room which looked kinda like an arena. 

"This is our training room. Here we practice our fighting skills and improve our magic powers." Raiden explained. "As I mentioned before, we train during the day so we can fight the monsters at night." He continued. "We can access our powers during the day, but they're not as powerful as they are at night. Nevertheless, we still need to improve our abilities whenever we can, so that our power can grow. We cannot be reliant on power alone, we need to learn skills in order to accurately take down an enemy."

"That's amazing." I uttered.

"Today you can watch us train. This way, you can see how we fight and gain an understanding of how we use our abilities." He concluded.

"Woah...so you're actually gonna fight right here and now?!" I questioned with excitement.

"Yeah, we pretty much do it everyday." Souta commented.

"Yeah, how else would we train?" Kira expressed with a soft grin .

"Right!" Raiden called out. "Let us now demonstrate our abilities so that our new, soon-to-be team member can learn." The others all nodded in agreement.  

It was decided that there would be three matches of two against two. The teams would be:

- Raiden and Souta vs Hikki and Matsuo

- Misa and Aimi vs Kira and Chiyu

- Yuto and Kuro vs Asahi and Enyo

"First up: Souta and I verses Matsuo and Hikki!" Raiden declared.

"Alright!" Hikki called out. "I'm super psyched for a spar right now!" He jumped up in the air enthusiastically.

"Yeah! My bodies been itching for a serious workout!" Matsuo stated with a determined grin. He began stretching and flexing his muscular arms. Hikki, Matsuo, Raiden and Souta all moved out towards the middle of of the arena.

"This will be fun." Kuro said.

"It certainly will." Aimi agreed.

Misa put a hand on my shoulder and gently pulled me back. "Stand back, things are about to get a little crazy." She warned with a smile. I glanced over to the four boys who were about to spar and then back to Misa.

"Are they gonna be okay?" I asked.

"Don't worry, they won't go too crazy. Besides if things do go overboard, I'll be on standby. I am kind of a doctor after all." She revealed. I smiled back at her. I liked Misa, she seemed like a really nice person and she was caring like a sweet older sister.

Hikki stretched his legs. "You guys better prepare yourselves!  I'm not gonna be taken down so easily this time!" He stated confidently.

"We'll see about that, Sport." Souta responded.

"We won't let you go easy on us just cause your the leader, Mr. Lion King." Matsuo said to Raiden.

"I wasn't planning too." Raiden responded clearly. He then drew out a normal sword from nearby and swung it towards them. Souta also grabbed a simple bow, but I didn't see any arrows with it. It was unusual but I decided not to dwell on it. 

"Wait, won't Matsuo and Hikki need weapons too?" I questioned.

"No need to worry!" Matsuo shouted from across the room. "The only weapons we're gonna need are right here!" He pointed to his biceps.

"I don't need your strength to help win this fight Matsuo, I can outrun anything thrown at me!" Hikki grinned.

"Let's see you do just that then." Raiden replied with a sly smile.

"Good luck Hikki!" I whispered. I was secretly rooting for him.

Enyo lifted his arm up, to signal for them to start. All four boys tensed themselves up, ready to fight. They all had determination in their eyes, I could tell they weren't gonna hold back. I was so excited and a tiny bit nervous. I almost couldn't sit still.

"Gentlemen! When your ready..... Let the match....... BEGIN!" Enyo announced as he swiftly swung his arm down, like a knife. 

Not a second after he did, Matsuo was the first to react. He transformed into a Bull and charged towards Raiden. Raiden jumped up high and transformed into a lion (while holding the sword in his jaws). He lept onto Matsuo, but he threw him off with his super strength. Matsuo transformed back and clapped his hands, which sent some kind of powerful blue shockwave towards Raiden. But Raiden also transformed back and sliced the shockwave with his lightning powered sword. Matsuo jumped up and launched some powered punches at him. Raiden swiftly dodged them and blocked some with the flat side of the sword. All that time he managed to remain unfazed by any of the blows.

"Come on! Is that all you got!" Raiden said in a sort of taunting but encouraging manner.

"I'm just getting started!" Matsuo smirked.

At the same time, Hikki sped towards Souta. Souta transformed into an eagle and flew up (while carrying the bow in his talons). Hikki ran up the walls, then onto the ceiling and bounced off like a spring, straight towards Souta. 

You'd think moves like that would surprise anyone, but Souta was prepared for this. 

"Nice try!" He screeched.

He flapped his wings to create a large gale, which blew Hikki back. Souta then turned back into a human midair. He raised the bow and formed what looked like an arrow made of air and shot it towards Hikki. It was fast as a speeding bullet and with Hikki in the air, he wouldn't be able to dodge it. The arrow pierced his shirt and pinned him to the wall. Souta then dived straight for him. Hikki gasped and quickly poofed into a hare, so he could fall back down and dodge Souta's incoming attack. Souta continued to fire multiple air arrows at Hikki, but the little hare swiftly managed to evade them.

This was turning into a real brawl. My eyes were darting back and forth between them like ping pong balls, desperately trying to keep up with the fight. I couldn't look away for even a second. Misa wasn't kidding, things were getting crazy!

Matsuo was starting to get exhausted from the number of punches he was inflicting, but Raiden managed to stay focused. Then just when the moment was right, Raiden hit him in weak spot causing Matsuo to recoil a bit. During those small seconds, Raiden turned back into a Lion and let out huge roar that sounded like raging thunder. The force sent Matsuo back and crash into Hikki who struggled to get out of the way. Souta next used his whirwinds to pick up Matsuo and Hikki.

For the final move, Raiden pointed his sword at his two opponents, channeled his magic through it and unleashed a powerful surge of red lightning. It zapped them like flies in a bug zapper and they fell to the ground, twitching randomly.

My hands flew to my mouth in shock. Was this going too far?

"Raiden and Souta Win!" Enyo declared.

Hikki and Matsuo instantly got back up, which was a relief. I suppose I shouldn't be surprised that they weren't too hurt from a spar among friends. Especially if they train everyday to fight evil monsters in the dark.

"Aww Man!" Hikki whined. 

"DAMMIT! Just lost my edge!" Matsuo groaned.

"Sorry guys,  better luck next time." Souta apologised, as he patted Hikki on the shoulder.

"No fair Souta! You had Raiden on your team!" Hikki pouted.

"Yeah! We all know no one can best him. Why else would he be our leader?" Matsuo added.

"You can't always rely on strength and speed alone." Souta pointed out.

"Souta's right, it's not just the power, it's skill and precision too." Raiden intoned.

"Yeah, yeah we know..." They uttered with disappointment.

I felt bad for Hikki, but I had a feeling Raiden and Souta would win. Matsuo and Hikki dragged themselves back over to where the rest of us were standing.

"Don't feel bad Hikki. You were great out there!" I comforted him. Misa stepped forward. "Come on, chin up boys! You know you're already awesome, now let's get those scratches gone shall we." She put both her hands on each of their shoulders and a small green light shone from them. After a second she let go and Hikki and Matsuo's minor injuries vanished. 

'Wow she has healing magic too! She really is a doctor!' I thought excitedly.

Asahi laughed. "Guess the big strong bull really is all muscle and no brain!" He taunted the said bull. Matsuo glared at him. 

"Say that again Snake! I dare ya!" He raised his fist to him.

"Alright now! Asahi and Enyo vs Yuto and Kuro." Raiden barked.