Bisky led the way to Masadora, and we'd been running for about three hours without even stopping. It took slightly less time than we had reached the end in the Hunter Exam during the first part of the First Phase.

"Look! We're here!" Gon exclaimed as we saw the fantasy-themed city.

"Whew! Finally!" Lizzy let out a heavy exhale, completely exhausted.

"Come on! Help me look for a department store!" Bisky shouted, getting overly excited to go there.

When we got to the store, there were lots of cards on sale. We took a look at some of them, reading their descriptions and identifying their ranks of difficulty.

"Just as we thought, they're only selling cards." Gon pointed out.

"Sorry for the wait. Let's head back to that rocky area now." Bisky held up three cards, showing a condescending smile.

"What?!" The boys screamed in shock.

"Oh my God!!" Lizzy complained, clutching her head in dismay.

Bisky used Gain to turn the cards she bought into shovels, flashlights, and a wheelbarrow.

"These are the cards you bought at the department store?" Gon asked.

"Yep! Let's head back to Masadora now. But this time, we'll be going in a straight line!" She turned around and pointed ahead.

"A straight line, huh? You don't mean..." Killua paused.

"Ugh. Please don't tell me..." I muttered, knowing what we would have to do now.

"Yeah! It's time to start digging!" Bisky cheerfully announced.

"Oh man..." Lizzy sighed.

"You boys, pick up your shovels and start digging! However, I need to talk to you girls for a minute." Her eyes were focused on me and Lizzy as she spoke to us. Gon and Killua did as told, and we stared at her in confusion.

We sat down on a rock across from Bisky as the boys were digging a tunnel. The blonde seemed serious about something.

"Have any of you done this kind of training before?" She asked us.

"Not really." Lizzy said.

"Hmm...I assume you two can use Shu, correct?"

"Yeah."

"How did you even learn this particular technique?"

"Oh, I just thought about it." Lizzy's blunt answer made the blonde stare at her in surprise.

"Really? Without any formal training?" She asked.

"Uh-huh. And I have grown a lot stronger now!" Lizzy looked at her with determined eyes.

"I'm quite impressed. However, you two need lots more training on your abilities. I saw them with my very own eyes while I was witnessing your potential trying to defeat those monsters. That's why I'm here to polish up your power!" She stood up and smiled brightly, putting her hands on her hips.

"You know, Grandma Millie would be happy if we told her that we met someone who was bound to train us." I commented.

"She would be very proud of both of you that you have grown stronger thanks to her old friend." The blonde replied before walking to the tunnel to check on the boys.

She sighed. "This is gonna take a while."

After hours of training in our Nen abilities, we had grown tired from the physical and mental strain put on us, as well as the hardworking boys. They managed to dig a tunnel through a rock, and they came back looking all worn out and dirty.

"What are you doing? If you going to rest, sit up." Bisky demanded, and we were confused and puzzled of what she was saying.

We were put into a sitting position, holding a rope with a rock tied to it.

"Starting today, this is how you sleep. Don't let go of the rope. There's a chance I might cut it, so keep a portion of your brain on high alert when you sleep." She explained.

So this is how we're taking it, huh?

With the rope in my firm grasp, I slowly began to drift off to sleep. Gon's screaming woke me up a few seconds later.

"OW! That really hurts!" He winced, rubbing his head.

"One more thing, when it falls, you have to put it back up." Bisky added.

I fell asleep again, only this time, Lizzy woke me up with her crying. She had loosened her grip on the rope, too. I sighed and tightened my hold on the rope before drifting off to sleep once again.

This continued every 5 minutes, with either Lizzy or Gon having their heads beaten up by the rocks. Even in the middle of the night, they still couldn't be wary when they were asleep.

"WAAAHHH! Why does it have to be so hard?!" Lizzy cried, clutching her head in pain.

We continued training as Bisky made breakfast for us. I noticed both Gon and Lizzy's heads were filled with bumps and bruises they got from the rocks crashing down on them last night.

"Oh my gosh. Are you guys alright?" I softly asked them as they ate their breakfast.

"We're fine." My orange-haired sister replied in an indignant tone, sipping from her bowl of soup.

"I'll be making the rocks bigger." The blonde told us. We looked up and noticed that the rocks above us were bigger than before.

"Oh man..." Lizzy sighed.

"Will you guys be alright?" Killua asked with concern.

"We'll be fine!" Gon grumbled, and then fell asleep along with Lizzy. The rocks came crashing down on their heads, causing both of them to scream in great pain.

Lizzy and I continued to train while Gon and Killua were digging. Bisky kept track of our progress, observing every bit of our potential.

Lizzy practiced her ability on things around her, like a small rock. She moved it around and changed its shape using her aura. Its distinctive feature was what made her powerful in mind.

I used my earth, water, and wind rings to enhance their strength. And I made sure to keep a distance from Lizzy to avoid interfering with her training and hurting her in any way.

"Wow! The rock's as soft as custard!" I heard Gon shout from inside the tunnel.

"Okay! Let's keep digging!" Killua replied.

It sounds like they learned Shu, huh? They're almost at the same level as my sister and I. They'll catch up to us in no time.

"Hey girls, we might want to keep up with them, so we'll have to start moving quickly." Bisky called to us.

"Right." Lizzy replied.

Bisky got down from her spot and moved along with us as Gon and Killua dug more tunnels through some rocks in front of them. As soon as we had caught up to them, they got through their last rock before reaching Masadora.

"We did it!" They both cheered.

"Wow, it seems like we traveled about five kilometers." I pointed out, looking behind us.

"And look! There's Masadora!" Lizzy pointed at the city ahead of us.

"Hello Masadora!" Killua shouted.

"For the second time!" Gon replied.

"Alright, let's go back to where we were." Bisky said, and I tried my best not to complain.

"Again?!" They yelled, making a fuss about it.

We ran for another five kilometers back to the same place. Bisky started explaining our plan.

"We're going to focus on collecting monster cards now. You have the physical strength to defeat every enemy you encounter here, but what you lack is strategy. The ability to think on your feet. That is important while fighting an enemy. In other words, combat analysis skills!"

"Combat analysis skills?" I asked.

"Now, I won't be saying anything, so you'll have to figure out your own ways of defeating the monsters." She added.

"Hey, get back here, puffball!" Lizzy exclaimed, trying to catch the Hyper Puffball along with Gon. I watched them as they ran around to keep up with it. When it bounced off a rock, Gon caught its tail, and it became a card. We smiled at his success.

"Yay! I got the Hyper Puffball!" The boy cheered, and my emerald-eyed sister pouted at him.

"Aww, I wanted to catch it!" She whined.

I placed a hand on her shoulder, reassuring her. "We'll find another one. Just you wait."

Killua went after the giant purple lizard next. We watched him jump on it and run to find its weak spot. He eventually found it and the lizard turned into a card.

We then saw another Hyper Puffball emerging from the rocks, and Lizzy was determined to catch it. She ran around, chasing it as it bounced back and forth on the rocks around it. Thanks to her great speed, she managed to grab its tail and turn it into a card.

"Yes! I got it!" She happily cheered, holding up the card.

"Way to go, Lizzy!" Gon smiled at her.

"You did great." I complimented her.

"Thanks you guys." She chuckled lightly and returned the smile.

We had enjoyed another pleasant night, our brains growing more vigilant as we slept while holding on to the rope. The rocks were huge now, but we managed to get a good night's sleep.

The next day, Lizzy wanted to catch the Bubble Horse, and using her own way of keeping track of the bubbles, she switched between Zetsu and Ten until she had reached the horse. She hopped on its back, smiling in triumph.

"Yeehaw!" She yelled out, and the horse neighed before turning into a card. Being her clumsy self, she fell on her bottom, moaning softly at the slight pain. She stood up and showed us the card.

"Yeah! I got the Bubble Horse!" She beamed.

"That's awesome!" Killua grinned at her achievement.

"Thanks Killua!"

"Okay, we'll now begin training in defense!" Bisky held up her fist and concentrated all of her aura, us watching her in wonder.

"Hold on. Isn't that..." I muttered, remembering the fight with the murderer about a month ago.

"That's right. This is the technique you've all been using. Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu, and Gyo all combined in this technique, called Ko! You focus all of your aura into one part of your body, and then attack. This gives it far greater power than your regular attacks could." She explained.

So that's the technique I used on Feitan to deal severe damage. Such great power it has...

"I'm going to attack you with my fist, and you must block my attacks without dodging!"

We all tensed up. Nothing could possibly counter that, right?

"Have you figured it out? That's right. If you use your aura to block normally, you'll take considerable damage. Instead, what should you do?" She asked.

"We should also use Ko." Gon answered, holding up a finger.

"You're half right. Ko against Ko. As long as you and your opponent are similar in power, a well-executed block will protect you. But, if your opponent hits you in a place where you weren't using Ko, you'll be destroyed."

"Then we should use Ko on our whole body, though that sounds contradictory." Killua stated.

"Exactly. This technique combines Ten and Ren. It's called Ken." Bisky continued explaining.

"Ken." Lynn repeated.

"You defend yourself by shrouding your body in much more aura than usual. Of course it isn't as strong as Ko, but it's far more practical."

I took the time to process everything she explained to us, getting to know more about the said techniques.

"Gon, use Ren please." Bisky ordered, and he complied, shrouding his body in aura.

"Ken is sustaining that for a prolonged period of time. Now, protect yourself from my punch, if you can."

She moved her fist slowly towards him. Gon braced himself for the incoming attack, although Bisky was going easy on him. He let his palm be hit by her fist, and all of a sudden, he got launched back. I widened my eyes in awe.

"You let your guard down when you saw how slowly I was moving. If you'd stopped using Ken, your face would've been crushed. That's the power of Ko by itself. When I add the speed and power packed into a normal punch, it gets many times stronger, perhaps even dozens." She strictly explained. An ambitious smile made its way to Gon's face.

"I'll start off slowly, and don't expect me to give you a warning. Keep using Ken, and try your best to withstand my attacks."

We stood there in silence as the two were about to fight. With his Ken activated, Gon could be able to defend himself from Bisky's attacks. But two minutes later, I could hear him straining to maintain Ken, and then he collapsed.

"Gon!" I cried.

"That was almost two minutes. If you want to stand a chance in combat, you need to sustain Ken for at least 30 minutes." She stated.

- One month later -

Bisky let us practice our Shu by having me and Lynn dig along with the boys. She also trained us in Ken and Ko every day, gradually increasing our strength as we went.

Now that a month had passed, we could be able to sustain Ken for 30 minutes. Bisky attacked us with her Ko, and we withstood its power as we got pushed back a couple of feet.

"Good. That's 30 minutes. You've certainly got a lot stronger over the past month." The blonde complimented Gon's skillfulness in Ken. She held up a finger, meaning that we had to use Gyo immediately.

"The number 3!" We all answered simultaneously.

"Ding! Lynn and Killua were slightly faster. Gon, Lizzy, give me a thousand push-ups." She ordered, and I groaned, dropping to the ground to start doing my push-ups. I did as many as I could before I got exhausted and stopped doing them.

"Okay, today we'll begin actual combat training." Bisky announced, and me and Gon looked up at her.

"Ken!" She commanded, and all of us shrouded our bodies in aura.

"In this state, both your attack and defense are at 50, so if you were to fight each other using Ken, you wouldn't deal much damage at all. So, what do you do?"

"We use Ko!" Gon quickly answered.

"No, you dummy! What if they hit you when you aren't using Ko?" She snapped.

"Uhh...increase our Ken?" I said, raising a hand.

"Weren't you even listening?!" She snapped again, and I sweatdropped at my denseness.

Killua raised a hand. "We use Gyo?"

"Correct." She activated her aura, demonstrating a new technique. "With an even split, right at the moment of attack, shift both defensive and offensive power of your right fist to 70, and the rest of your body to 30. And then, using Gyo, change the ratio of power to suit your situation. This advanced technique is called Ryu!"

I processed everything in my head, understanding some of the content explained.

"Now, set your right hand to 70 for offense and defense, and the rest to 30. It doesn't have to be precise, just try it out." She instructed us.

I struggled to follow her directions, trying to split my aura between my right fist and the rest of my body. I strained to keep the perfect amount in my fist.

"Left foot to 80, your body to 20!" Bisky ordered us, and I switched to redistributing my aura according to the percentage she told us to do. Again, I struggled to maintain the precision of my aura flow.

"Head to 60, your body to 40!"

We got tired of trying to use Ryu precisely, the said technique requiring so much aura to distribute to offense and defense.

"Do this for 30 minutes, three times a day. Add it to your current training regimen." She advised. I continuously panted, trying to regain my breath.

"Also..." She continued speaking, and we focused our attention to her. "We'll begin sparring."

"Hm?"

"Use Ryu the way I just taught you. Start by going slowly. When you're on the defensive, determine your opponent's attack power before defending with Ryu." She directed, and the boys got in a fighting stance, as well as Lynn and I, us beginning to use Ryu. "With that said, begin!"

"Lizzy, you make the first move." Lynn said before proceeding to redistribute her aura.

I nodded. Focusing 60 percent offensive and defensive power in my right fist, I slowly began to deliver a light punch, and she blocked it with her left elbow set to 65 defensive and offensive power. Lynn set her right foot to about 50 percent offensive and defensive power and moved it slowly towards my side.

Left foot, 70 offensive and defensive power.

I raised my left leg to block her incoming kick, and successfully defended myself. My sapphire-eyed sister then shifted her offensive and defensive power to 75 in her right elbow as I shifted mine to 50 in my left fist. I moved it slowly towards her face, and she easily blocked it.

Bisky watched us with solemn eyes as we continued to spar, observing our movements and our aura flow. I thought of the technique as hard to master, as it required me to not only control my aura flow with great precision, but also to determine the power my opponent used at a glance.

Maybe I could become strong like my parents, and someday, I would become one of the top five Nen users in the world.