35 Strengthening. (8)

The Essence flowed to a point, and once enough had gathered, it began to form some kind of shape. Whatever it was forming into was huge, and tall. Rhee watched on as the shape became clearer and clearer, and the Void Knight stood with his mouth wide open as Chief Nura's silhouette was perfectly mimicked. In under a minute, an Essence Clone of Nura had been created, and although the figure was almost ethereal in appearance, it was still almost a perfect likeness of the massive Adonian.

"Rhee." Relovan called out with his eyes still closed. "You might be wondering what I'm doing right now, but I am shadow boxing. I visualise my opponents after having observed them for a period of time, and then spar against them. This does tend to get pretty intense, so if I look like an idiot dancing and flailing about on my own, just keep that in mind."

"…uh, sure."

Rhee watched as the clone version of the Chief dashed forward, closed the distance between itself and Relovan, and unleashed a punch exactly as the real Chief had done so many times in the past two weeks. And much like when the punches connected, when the clone's punch hit Relovan, the Enforcer was launched off his feet and flew backwards. The only difference was that this time, after eventually coming to a stop, Relovan hopped straight back up to his feet and took a deep breath.

"Well, that worked pretty well."

Relovan rolled his neck a few times as the Essence clone broke apart, and the Essence returned to him. He then went straight for his bag, pulled out a fresh set of gym clothes and changed into them. Afterwards, he rummaged through training equipment and pulled out a set of ankle, wrist and body weights. He put them all on and adjusted their respective weights. After doing that, Relovan then secured the chain of a 'sled' to his waist while also setting its weight. Once all the extra weights were set, Relovan went back to the computer, and did something, before stopping and looking like he was in deep contemplation. He then looked at Rhee and smirked.

"…you know, you might be needed here after all."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm just saying, I think it's actually a good thing that you're forced to be here. Also, just as a heads up, I'm going to be altering the gravity within this room. I know that you're currently stronger than I am, but I figured it would only be proper to warn you."

"Yes, thank you for the – wait a minute! You're wearing those weights and you're increasing the gravity in here?! Are you trying to kill yourself, Enforcer?!"

"Not at all." Relovan said with a grin. "On the contrary, I am trying to live. The goal here is to obtain strength, and I will do what I have to in order to do just that."

Rhee looked at Relovan with unblinking eyes as the Enforcer set the gravity to that of Planet Bfoom, which had twenty times the gravity of the Blargon planets. There was a tangible and very visible effect on Relovan, who looked as though he just had something extremely heavy dumped on him. He looked at Rhee with an expression that told him to get out, and he did just that, leaving the Human to do his thing. The first training session was especially brutal and it all looked dangerous, particularly because Relovan was doing a lot of agility training. It didn't take long for Rhee's services to be called upon as he had to rush in when a double ended punching bag smacked Relovan square in the face and practically knocked him out. The healing and subsequent recovery were much quicker comparatively, and this meant that the Enforcer could get back to work earlier than he had when he was training with Nura. This was pretty much the pattern of things for the next few weeks, and towards the end of the second week, Rhee was looking particularly concerned. Mishaps were still happening, so he was still healing Relovan, and despite the time that had elapsed, progress appeared to be marginal at best. The Human Enforcer had set the gravity simulator to deactivate whenever somebody else would walk in, so apart from the first time it was set, Rhee had never been in the room with Relovan when the gravity was altered. Relovan, who was sitting in the room taking a short break and having something to eat, was interrupted when the door opened and Rhee walked in. Bumps, bruises and scrapes adorned almost every bit of exposed skin that Relovan had, and he looked at the Void Knight and nodded.

"Rhee."

"Enforcer."

"What's up?"

"Nothing really, just checking in on you. Do you need anything? Any healing?"

"No, I'm alright." Relovan, who was looking about as shabby as he had ever been said as he chewed. "If anything, I could do with more food."

"More food?!"

"Yeah, my energy requirements increase when I do strenuous activities."

"…and that's all that you need?"

"Well right now, I need to get back to work, so that means I need you to leave."

Relovan shooed Rhee away dismissively as he stood up gingerly and stretched a bit. The Void Knight left the Enforcer to continue with his workout, and much like the previous occasions, he watched through the windows as Relovan struggled with his work. The following morning, when Rhee came through to see Relovan, the windows had all been covered, and there was a note on the door.

"Void Knight, I need to focus so I ask that you refrain from coming in until I actually call for you, or come out myself. R."

Rhee read the note out loud, before looking at the door and sighing.

"…why does he only refer to me as a Void Knight on paper?"

After letting out a slight sigh, Rhee sat down cross legged in front of the door and waited patiently. He figured he would be waiting for possibly a day or two, but when a full week went by, Rhee thought about forcing his way inside to check and see if Relovan was still alive. It had been quiet for entirely too long, and he was worried that something had happened to him. There was a boisterous hubbub outside, with the hubbub sounding as though it was approaching the Training Room, and the closer it got, the louder and more chaotic it sounded. A few moments later, the door almost disintegrated as it exploded open. Nura triumphantly strode in with his customary grin on his face.

"Rhee!" He boomed. "It feels like it's been forever! How are things going?"

"I really don't know, Chief Nura." Rhee said with a shrug.

"Huhhh?? You don't know?"

"I really don't. The last time I saw the Enforcer, he didn't look like he had made any progress, and then he left me that message on the door."

Nura looked towards the note and read it from a distance, before grinning and stomping towards the door.

"LAWMAN!" Nura thundered. "I'M COMING IN!"

As the Chief raised his foot to kick the door in, it slowly swung open before he could do anything. It was ominously dark within the weight room, and as soon as the door was open all the way, the same Essence vapour that the Nura clone was made from flowed out from the door, before Relovan's silhouette appeared. He walked out of the room slowly, and a pungent smell flooded the nostrils of the two men. Rhee tried to maintain his composure, but failed miserably. His nose was particularly sensitive, and he was struggling hard not to react. Nura on the other hand inhaled deeply, and seemed to bare all his teeth as he looked at Relovan with a glint in his eyes.

"…that smell… is that the Enforcer?"

"It's the smell of progress, my dear Rhee!" Nura said as he stepped closer to Relovan. "Yo, Lawman! It's been a while, hasn't it?"

"Doesn't feel that way to me, Chief." Relovan replied as he looked up at Nura. "In fact, it feels like I was just with you."

Nura looked somewhat confused, but just brushed the statement off and continued to look at Relovan. There was a discernable difference with the Enforcer's physique – namely that he had actually gotten quite a bit bigger. Nura eyed Relovan in silence, before clenching his fists so tightly that his knuckles all cracked a little bit too loud.

"How about it, Lawman? I know I just got back, but how about we administer the test again?"

"Do you mean right now, Chief?!" Rhee asked.

"Yes, right now."

"Enforcer Relovan was locked in that room for a week! Who knows when last he ate, or slept? …or bathed."

"I have no problem with that if you don't, Chief." Relovan confirmed.

"Huh?!" Rhee said as his gaze switched over to Relovan.