"If we are going to spar, then we shall be doing so on my home territory," Akash said as we walked into the training room. 

I wasn't sure what he meant by that. Every time I had used the training room it had been the same, a featureless white room with walls that absorbed any manna that you threw at it. But Akash seemed to know exactly what he was doing. 

He walked over to the side of the entryway door and pulled a panel that I had never noticed before off the wall. Hidden behind the panel was a complicated looking computer screen that he immediately started to mess around with. 

The room physically flickered, as if it were being displayed on an old CRT television with a weak signal. It bended left and right in front of my eyes, becoming more and more distorted, until it snapped back into place now nothing like it seemed before. In fact, it seemed like we weren't even in a room anymore. 

The sky stretched out overhead, a trio of moons hanging lazily in the sky. We were in a forest, surrounded by luscious trees with rich green leaves. The foliage was so thick I could practically smell the green in the air. But not all was well on this world we had been taken to, because overhead there wasn't just a trio of moons. There was an ominous ship with what appeared to be a roiling ball of plasma in its centre. 

Realisation dawned on me. This wasn't just some simple training room with special walls that absorbed manna, it was a holo-room. A holo-room that could seemingly come up with any scenario, ready for people to train in a variety of different situations. 

"I have brought you to a memory of my homeworld, the only memory that I have," Akash said, brushing past me to take a place in the centre of the trees. 

"If that's the case… I suppose that ship up there is the human flagship, right?" I asked, my eyes drawn back up to the spacecraft. 

"Indeed, that is the flagship of the Human empire. They call it the Everest," he all but spat, "At this point it had barely entered our system. That ball of plasma in the center is the star of their home system, Sol. Though surely you should know all of this, being Human yourself."

"Like I said, I come from a colony world cut off from the Empire. Nice and peaceful, us, barely talked about our home system or the other humans that were left there," I lied as easily as breathing, though my words weren't exactly lies. We didn't speak about other humans from other planets back on my own version of Earth. 

"Nevertheless, we shall use similar rules to that which I understand you use with Yr'Arl. Lethal force will not be permitted, the bout is over when one of us falls unconscious or one of us surrenders. Do you agree to the terms?" Akash asked, bracing himself into a defensive position. 

I nodded… and then Akash was on me. 

I pushed BB down into our Synchro mode, and while I was just fast enough to bring my corona shield up, I hadn't been quick enough to avoid the vine that had come whipping at me. Akash wrapped the vine around my waist and whipped me off to the side, throwing me with considerable force. I flew through the air and crashed back first into a tree. For a hologram, those things felt just like the real thing. 

Akash was taking this seriously, so I couldn't spend any time getting my bearings or catching my breath. Without even getting up I activated my propulsion and my anti-gravity field, lining it across my back. I flew along the floor of the forest, narrowly avoiding a second vine whip. 

With a short pulse of propulsion I brought myself to a stand, and without breaking a sweat launched a trio of energy beams toward Akash. They weren't designed to hurt him, just to take his focus so I could draw my sword from its sheath on my back. 

The beams bounced harmlessly off of Akash's wooden hide, exploding off in the distance. In the time I had been on the ground Akash had already levelled up into his stronger battle form. Clearly, the wood in the holographic trees was real enough for him to utilise in his transformation. 

I hadn't noticed it before, but Akash's battle form reminded me of a gorilla. It forced him onto all fours, with two shorter back legs and two much stronger and longer forelimbs. I'd only dealt with him at longer ranges, but if he managed to make this fight up close and personal I was going to have to try hard to avoid getting hit by any attack launched by those arms. 

Another vine launched itself at me, which I was able to parry with ease. While getting up close and personal with Akash was a risk, it was one I was going to have to take considering my energy beams seemed to do absolutely nothing to him. 

I darted forward with my propulsion, as fast as I could, which to me felt as if I was only moving at around a third of my usual maximum speed. That was still fast enough to leap over another of the vines as it flew toward me. I landed on the vine and leapt off it, using it to propel myself just a little bit faster, and sheathed my sword once more. 

As I closed the final gap between myself and Akash I pooled the power of an energy beam into my hand and used it to cover my fist, before cocking back and slamming into Akash's face at the maximum of my current force. 

I was expecting an explosion of energy and for Akash to be sent rocketing back through the trees. 

Well, I got the explosion of energy, but all my strike had been able to do was push Akash's head back slightly. 

He turned to face me, and while he didn't even have a mouth, I swore I could see a cocky grin on his leafy face.