The trio had learned a very hard lesson on Genbu Mountain. The truth of the matter was that it was designed for advanced students of the academy. The three of them were definitely not beginners, given their ability to fight off that giant scorpion in the Training Course as well as the oversized Gero at the beach earlier on, but they were not advanced, when it came to combat. Their amount of laziness, or rather, Hitoshi's laziness was showing itself as the three of them nearly got their butts handed back to them on a silver platter when they'd trekked up the mountain.

Barely making it back to the Crystal on the beach before their strength was going to give out, they sat down, under it, thinking about what they needed to do next. They would definitely need to get stronger before tackling the Mountain again. They couldn't, very well, go back to the academy and use the Training Course again. Not yet, anyways. They were already at the beach, so it stood to reason that their training would have to be done right where they were. After taking a brief rest, they stood by the Crystal and started looking around the area, hoping to find something to hone their skills against.

Thankfully, the beach's maze was home to a variety of monsters, some of which they had not encountered in their previous visit. Aside from the most common monster, the rainbow-colored Gero, were huge bat-like creatures, referred to as Palm Bats, as well as another breed of fish. They had large fangs and were a lot skinnier and darker in color than the Gero, whom were referred to as Jawfish. The three of them remembered them as they encountered them, remembering a lesson on campus about the existence of the creatures. They recognized them from the descriptions that Tarou recited as they encountered them.

Sticking near that large crystal, the trio trained hard, fighting off everything they could find to put in their path. Each battle was relatively straining on them, but they fought longer and longer, not willing to give up. With the crystal nearby, they used it's radiance frequently to replenish their strength before jumping back into battle, one again. The fighting was long and hard, but they'd begun the fighting and had brought all of it to them. Knowing that the majority of the monsters inhabited the water next to the maze, Hitoshi thought it wise to make good use of Tarou's skills.

Having a Thunder spell readily available, Tarou had brought a lightning bolt into the water, itself, electrifying all of it as the waves carried the electric current the spell emitted. This send a shock down into everything below the waves, causing every last Gero and Jawfish to be forced to the surface. As soon as they came up, Hitoshi and Sei were prepared to attack and send them flying back into the ocean. Repeating this strategy let them fight off a lot of monsters very quickly. With them slightly shocked, pun not intended, from the initial spell, it was easy to subdue them and build up their strength.

One by one, the battles went by, and nearly an hour had passed before they decided to take a break. Tarou stopped casting the spell and they took out the enemies, one at a time, until the wave of monsters stopped coming towards them. Once it looked as if it was over, they all sat down next to each other, under the radiance of the crystal that was shining it's aura around the area. Their breathing lightened as they took in the light. They'd definitely picked a good place to train. They could stick around and use the crystal to their advantage, healing up every time they needed to. It was amazing that they didn't keep these around campus. It would help people, tremendously, with keeping up with their training.

As they were sitting still, a jawfish spawned and launched itself towards them. Hitoshi and Tarou had been looking the other way, not even noticing it's presence. As it lunged at them, Sei looked and began to be in shock. The other two weren't paying attention at all. Jumping to his feet, he held his sword, only to see the monster fly past him. Turning, he saw it open it's jaws and slash across the backs of his two friends. They fell over, stunned from the impact. Sei, seeing no alternative, turned to face the monster, whom had turned towards him. He knew he couldn't easily deal with it on his own, but he was hoping he could weaken it.

He knew of a technique that he'd been working on, but had never mastered. He concentrated all of his energy into his blade and only hoped that it could work. The fish jumped back at the two stunned individuals and he held his blade into the air, the atmosphere changing. “Get away from them! Twilight Blow!” A dark cloud formed out of his sword and rushed into the fish. Screeching, dark clouds were covering it's eyes, immediately blinding it. It flew out of place and fell to the ground, flopping around, helpless. Hitoshi, coming out of his stunned state, saw the fish and quickly launched himself into a Double Cut, sending the monster flying.

The two of them thanked Sei for helping them, and Sei was almost surprised that the technique, Twilight Blow, had actually worked. Not complaining, the two joined him as they continued their session of training for the next hour. Once they'd felt they'd gotten at least a little bit stronger, they healed themselves at the Crystal again and left the area around Houjo's cabin. They could have spent much more time there, training themselves up, but there were important tasks ahead. They couldn't risk spending too much time in training when the disappearances might be happening at any time. They had to keep pressing onward, hoping that they were now strong enough to tackle the Mountain.