Time passed quickly, and soon both Honoka's friends and her sunsengnim would depart to their new lives. Before that though her sunsengnim asked for her to accompany him on a walk towards a certain building on the city during the weekend. She didn't quite catch the excuse he used to her family, but apparently it worked like a charm.
Getting into the car her sunsengnim would be driving they rode for a while until they came across a small, abandoned building on the industrial section of the city. Once inside Honoka could see that the place had seen better days and it was once a factory of sorts, but it was stripped clean of machinery now with only stains and some few random junk littering the place.
Honoka looked at her sunsengnim in confusion for a moment. "What are we going to do today sunsengnim?" Her face brightened as an idea occurred to her. "Are you going to teach me a brand new technique? Better tips on the Black Heaven and Earth technique? How about the Soul-Crushing Strike-"
"You better dodge this."
Before Honoka could respond she twisted her body and head to the side on pure reflex, evading a direct hit but still taking the blunt of the attack, strong enough to make her stumble backwards with her rolling back to better get some distance between herself and her assailant.
It was only when she fully regained her bearings that she fully realized that her sunsengnim had attacked her.
"Wha, what?"
With measured steps Chun-Woo Han came closer to his student, making her involuntarily step back at the same time. "My own sunsengnim fought with me once to test if I truly deserved to keep being his student."
Honoka stared at her sunsengnim still unsure about what was really going on.
"In other words", clarified Chun-Woo Han, "we're going to fight one-on-one, and you must impress me, otherwise I will make sure that you will never be able to practice martial arts again. If you don't defend yourself you might even die."
For a moment it's as if time is standing still, before something in Honoka's mind settles into place, an epiphany coming to her.
When she first set herself to learn from her sunsengnim she vowed that she would follow into a world where strength ruled everything. In order to protect herself, in order to protect her friends, in order never to be helpless again.
If she retreat now, she would be back to her pathetic self who couldn't do anything. While this path she decided for herself would be one full of strife, she would gladly shoulder that burden.
With her chosen path once more reaffirmed, she nodded to her sunsengnim and set into a stance she was taught. Chun-Woo Han himself stared at her for a few moments before nodding himself. He doesn't set himself into a stance, but Honoka knew that he meant business just by the slight shift in his posture.
Without asking for permission Honoka dashed forwards to attack him, mixing punches with feints in the hopes of hitting him, her forms and technique in line with what she was taught, even if she didn't had much experience against real life opponents in this kind of setting.
That was for nothing though, as she felt something hit her on her solar plexus feeling the air leaving her lungs, a follow up kick hitting her on the head and sending her back tumbling. If it were the previous Honoka the fight would have ended right then and there, but now Honoka had the determination to press on and rolled with the blow, returning to a stop with shallow breaths while quickly standing up.
"The Black Heaven and Earth is more than it's breathing techniques", said her sunsengnim, "it's how to maintain the flow of ki even without air, how to never stop a technique even while being stuck."
Honoka nodded, and returned to her stance intently observing her opponent. Not taking her eyes from him even for an instant, she managed to see his movements and with a great surge of inspiration she knew when to act, twisting her body in a circular motion to mostly avoid her attack and at the same time returning an elbow attack on him. It was blocked at the last moment, but Honoka realized that her sunsengnim was surprised by this turn of events.
He immediately counters with a punch of his own with his free hand, but as if a switch had been flipped on she tilted her head to the side while turning her body a little more, avoiding most of the blow's impact and allowing her finish turning while extending her other fist and scoring a hit on him, even if it was a weak one.
They both separated after that, and Chun-Woo Han looked pensive.
"I see, looks like you had some special talent and teaching you my school secrets wasn't a mistake."
This time he does set into an actual stance, instantly putting Honoka on edge.
"Let's see how far your genius will go."
She would meet his challenge, but first she need to figure out what she need in order to properly fight him. She quickly reached the conclusion that she need more speed. He was simply too fast for her to either properly land a blow or fully dodge his attacks, and he was holding back a great deal.
She was already enhancing herself with natural ki reinforcement, but that didn't seen to be working right now. How else then would she bridge the gap in speed? Remembering for a moment the Soul-Crushing Strike, how it gathered ki into the hand and released it violently alongside the motion of striking. If she try and apply that same principle to movement...
Her sunsengnim was already in front of her, and once more inspiration stuck. She gathered ki on her feet and stepped backwards, feeling only the wind passing over her head and seeing the shocked look of her sunsengnim. Reversing the directions she rushed forwards with her fist ready to deliver a blow, and in another instant she was in front of him inside his guard with her fist midway to his gut.
Only for herself to hit nothing in return.
"Jin and Tweh", came a voice from behind making her turn quickly in surprise, "to advance and retreat, two basic walking techniques yet vital in a fight between Murinim. Did you came up with that right now?" After receiving her nod he continued. "Need a bit more practice, but a very good first try for someone who never tried it before. The more I see you fight, the more I'm being convinced that teaching you the Black Heaven and Earth technique wasn't a mistake. Now let's continue Shirahama Honoka."
Too much adrenaline was pumping on Honoka's vein for her to realize that he didn't called her either 'squirt' or 'brat' this time around.
She continued to observe him, slowly walking around him before another fist suddenly shot towards her face and she barely managed to dodge it, the blow clipping her shoulder and still being enough to send her tumbling back a couple of paces.
"Don't just stand around!" Barked her sunsengnim, "if you're unsure of what to do either attack or retreat, but don't just stand around watching!"
Gritting her teeth she ignores the accumulated pain and is attacks, charging at him with a kick of her own, but it was dodged at the last minute and he countered her attack with a simple punch she took to the face.
With a grimace she sent a few punches and feints before retreating with her new speed, but her sunsengnim was after her like a cat chasing a mouse and they both spent almost a whole minute running around, which resulted in Honoka being too tired for the fight to last longer.
Before her sunsengnim could end the fight with the last word she really, really wanted to punch him in the face at lest once, so she charged with all pretense of defense lost. She couldn't block his attacks without it being broken and she couldn't fully dodge his attacks anyway, so defending at this point became useless since she was already on her last legs.
The only way to finish this in a satisfying manner for herself was to attack, attack, attack!
With a burst of ki she rushed forwards, gathering ki on her fist, letting out a battlecry.
"Ooooohhhh!" With a jump she punched with all her might at his head, but sadly he dodged it with a contemptuous ease, though his eyes trailed behind the blow before kneeing Honoka on the stomach.
When Honoka landed on the ground she couldn't help it and emptied the contents of her stomach. She was like that for a few minutes, and when she finished her sunsengnim was at her side with a cup of water and some fool smelling substance on a another cup.
"Drink this, it's a spirit medicine that will help you heal faster."
"T... thank you." Gingerly accepting the cup she downed it in a single go, almost puking once more at the nasty taste and drinking greedily from the water cup she was offered.
"I have another spirit medicine for you to take tomorrow to further help your healing, it's a pill so you won't be suffering the awful taste anymore."
"That... actually makes me feel better. Thanks sunsengnim!"
Looking up to her sunsengnim she waited expectantly, before he sighed. "Can't say you're untalented, in fact you could be considered a genius for managing to discover two walking techniques on your own and managing to actually perform the Soul-Crushing Strike correctly-"
"Really!"
"-but you certainly lack experience. Should have sparred more with you I suppose."
Standing up he looked at Honoka. "Now rest and when you're ready we will polish the walking techniques, the Soul-Crushing Strike and then I will teach you what I wanted to show you today. Hopefully it will last you long enough until we meet again."
"What are you going to teach me sunsengnim?"
He smirked at the question.
"One of the techniques that gave me the title of Nine Arts Dragon." He sounded far too amused by this turn of events. "The Dragon Ki to be more precise, it's not flashy but it will serve you well. It's an advanced ki reinforcement technique that greatly improves your strength, speed and toughness. The usual is that it costs a lot of ki to maintain for long periods of time, being good for short fights but bad for longer campaigns. On the other hand since you have the Black Heaven and Earth technique it will be easier for you to master it and learn how to keep it active for long periods of time. While you won't be a real master anytime soon, it should help you deal with a lot of crap throw at you."
"Now let's begin. If you finish quickly I will pay some cake for you."
"Yay cake!"
Shaking his head at the reminder that his student was indeed a small girl, Chun-Woo Han set out to give her his final gift to the girl. They would likely stay away from each other for years, so he wanted to teach her both the walking techniques and the Soul-Crushing Strike, letting her learn them at her own pace, but since she did them on her own he tackled one of the Nine Dragon Arts into the mix.
She was so talented, so determined. He didn't think much of her when he saved the girl from the kidnappers, only considering it his good deed for the day, but now she was his student and she was proving herself to be a prodigy of sorts.
He just hoped that she retained her innocence for a bit longer, but he knew it was a pipe dream, with what the girl had gone through and the kind of life she signed upon once she became his student. He only hopped that she would be strong enough to meet the various challenges that would come her way.