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 Posted: Sun Jul 18, 2010 2:41 pm
 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxΔkiyama Σriko xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx十番隊 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxJūbantai-Taichō  Several months passed by like meaningless days as the battle raged on. Cho showed no external sign of physical exhaustion whereas Eriko was panting to keep air in her lungs. Once or twice, the Shinigami had managed to block rather forceful blows of the spirit’s sword with her own but that did not matter much as Cho switched effortlessly to Hakuda and still managed to hit her with the blade. Currently, they were playing out a chasing scene as Cho maintained Fuxaasuto Kooru while running Eriko down and knocking trees to their sides with missed sonic vibrations at the same time. Ever so often, the older girl felt her bones rock within her body and her hearing go beserk as the waves hit from behind her. Was this another example of those true powers about which Cho was talking? There have been minor explosions, super glue and now this, sonic air waves. She jumped a low branch and managed to dodge another.
“Is that all that you’re good for, Akiyama?” Cho shouted, running at a slower pace on purpose, “Missing one direction attacks? You’ve got to be kidding me.” Truthfully, she was quite pleased that her master could dodge this at all since the span of the wave was a wide and lengthy one. Of course, the other female did not need to know this. If she was dodging and making an effort to block, it should not be that long of a wait before she actually countered with an attack of her own. Unfortunately, it would more than likely be a Gureisu attack as her body had not taken to Hakuda as yet. “Come on, you can’t run forever. Eventually, time will catch up with you.”
Sadly, it was the truth but Eriko could not bring herself to face her Zanpakuto spirit. She knew what it felt like to be belittled unconsciously. Her father might have been a cruel man but it was his nature. He knew nothing about how destructive that could be especially for the youngest girl in their family. It was a blessing that her older brothers had not grown up to be like him even if they never tried to lessen her workload. However, that was no excuse to hurt another being and so no apology that she could formulate would ever be enough to satisfy such pain.
“I don’t want your apology. I want you to grow a backbone, fight me and win!” She halted the screams and slipped into her natural speed again to hop the higher branches of the trees amongst them as well as to send two explosive wing disks down at her opponent within nanoseconds. The disks had previously caused banged up knee joints, temporary paralysis and lack of sight for some supposedly precious moments for the Shinigami. These two in particular would do away with both of her arms if not dealt with appropriately. There were hardly any methods of stopping the explosion itself but that only left the choice of getting it to implode elsewhere and keeping out of that range. The slight whizzing sound would be the single clue to its approach for such a close reaction time, it might as well be silent in her opinion. Akiyama kept running. The disks exploded within millimeters of her. However, when the dust and mud cleared, her expected armless body could not be seen.
“Over here,” Eriko called, kneeling on her left leg some branches away from the sprite. She had both of her arms still intact. “Dodging might be all that I’m doing now but at least, it’s keeping me alive. Besides, you should not repeat attacks like that.” They smiled at each other in a seemingly understanding manner before she disappeared in another direction via Shunpo. Deep down, she knew that her Shunpo was child’s play with Cho. In the end, if she could not make a move, she would die despite the amount of healing drops around them. It would just take time. She had figured out about the rain and its power after her nearly slashed off head simply put itself back together, everything healed, connected and in place. It was kind of a wake up call since nothing else could have contributed to it in her mind.
So her speed was increasing as well as that her hearing bounced back well from the calls, thought Cho to herself while following the girl at a relaxed pace. Those were good things but not good enough. She would have to push this in some more to obtain more satisfactory results. With a new action plan in mind, the Zanpakuto spirit dipped down to ground level and zigzagged through the trees till she was right under her opponent. Effortlessly, she kicked herself up in the air at speed to rival that of when on the ground and sent Eriko flying into the skies. When she arrived seconds after, the female Shinigami was coughing up blood and hunched over in the air due to Air Walk. Cho took up position a few miles away from her. “How is that fear coming along, Akiyama?”
“What are you talking about, Cho? I haven’t been able to head or tails of pretty much anything that you have said since the first day.” Eriko spat out the last bit of blood as her injured body parts were affected by the rain at last.
“Oh, don’t play that. What else could be stopping you from hitting me? You’ve dodged some of my advances almost completely and become a lot more aware of me as an opponent and your environment.” Her naturally playful eyes hardened. The light tone of her voice left. “The next step is obvious.” She had refrained from using this move for the battle partially because it would be confined to the woods and would destroy it most likely before even touching Eriko. Up here, it was a better playing field. Her sword was jammed into its saya and the opening for her wing disks relaxed in preparation for being used in quite an extreme manner. “Jixyuufuku,” she whispered before reaching into the literal pouch of her shoulder blade and pulling out all five disks to be thrown Eriko’s way. The disks would not only come from her but from her five clones as well. Yes, Eriko’s reaction speed had improved a great deal but thirty explosives would be a challenge even at her slightly higher level.
She watched wide-eyed as the swarm of exploding disks came towards her. This was no one direction attack. If she moved, they would change direction as if it was not a problem. Essentially, she was trapped. The next step is obvious, Cho had said. What if it was the obviousness that scared her? She could not bring herself even to imagine lifting a finger against her sword but figuratively, she had done so already. We are not about fear. Fear kept her in line but out of danger’s way. Once she was out of danger, the ones to protect probably still were. Eriko moved her blade to her side, pointing downward and allowed her reiatsu to flare in the form of light green flames.
“Nice but it won’t be enough.”
“I’m not finished,” Eriko responded through gritted teeth. This was the most complicated attack that she had conceived of doing with Gureisu but it should be enough. No, it will be enough. The flames extinguished and a presence fell on the entirety of the forest. It was thick, stifling, halting and simply heavy with fear in its most pure of form. Cho held on to her own throat as the reiatsu pushed down continuously on the area. The still standing trees broke at the base. The clones disappeared and the released disks dropped out of the sky one by one, causing singular explosions to take place beneath them.
“Ha, is this it?” Cho inquired with a grin, “Is this you think what Gureisu is all about? I’ll admit that fear is quite a way to go but even you can do better than this, Akiyama.”
“I sacrifice it.”
“Huh?”
“I sacrifice my fear of disappointing the ones I love.” Once the words left her lips, a sword made of released reiryoku but as sharp and lethal as a real katana pierced Cho at waist level. “My fear of not fulfilling my duties in all respects.” Another sword. “My fear of winning.” As the list continued, more reiatsu swords attacked Cho’s person and made her wish that she had not cancelled the special skin that came with Shikai. With each sword, the rainfall lessened so not even the skies could help her. “Finally, Cho,” Eriko uttered, bringing up her sword at last, “sacrifice my fear of losing you again.” With that, the Shinigami stepped off and reached her in the blink of an eye to stab the old blade through the white-haired girl’s heart. “I’m sorry.”
Cho felt her body start to descend with that of her master. The first trial was over and finally, with a bit of trust, she could teach the other female her Shikai and Bankai. The reiatsu swords faded from sight and the blade lodged in her heart soon followed suit. When the pair touched ground, Eriko was holding Cho bridal style at the edge of the overflowing pond that could be found at the center of that world. The Shinigami rest her in it and after some minutes, she was back to normal. A weak smile managed to creep on her face as they sat there in near silence, save for the rushing of the pond’s flowing waters. “You know where we have to go from here, right?”
Eriko nodded. They would have to start over – everything. Gureisu and flattery were no more whereas the moves that Cho had used during their previous fight were just the beginning for her. She felt as though there would be much more in store for both of them as she learnt these new attacks and how to use them as effectively as possible. However, she was ready for the training if it meant regaining Cho as a friend and fighting partner.
“Glad to hear you think that because we’re starting now,” the sprite chirped as she stood at the water’s edge. “First, we’ll go through Shikai and then Bankai, as it should be. There are some other things but we will get to that as time goes on. Come on, let’s get you introduced.” Unlike her previously cold greeting, Cho bent down, pulled Akiyama up by the hand and led her to the nearest explosion site since it would be more like an open field and that was what they needed exactly at the moment.
»Chōxxx蝶xxxButterfly« "Freedom comes at the price of your fearful ways. Pay it."
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Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:34 pm
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxΔkiyama Σriko xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx十番隊 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxJūbantai-Taichō Training for a more powerful Shikai was not fun. The Chorionic Membrane was the scratchiest thing that Eriko had ever experienced and that was not even the worst of it.
“Stop your wiggling and try to get Furainguduumu right this time.”
The pouch located at her left shoulder blade was not helping anything either. It had been a few weeks since her victory and the only ability that she had managed to master was the ridiculously painful and bothersome skin that the Shikai granted her. Apparently, in reality, Cho was all about protection – and explosives. The membrane is supposed to give her invulnerability for quite some time before even a scratch could appear. It was a cool aspect but it came at one hell of a price: comfort.
“I said stop it with the fidgeting. You don’t want one of those things getting loose before being pulled. It’s a wedge of pain…literally.” Cho shot her a look from across the vast pond. Usually the teacher would be right there next to the student but these explosives were tricky. They would not detonate if the thrower was alone but add another person, anyone and havoc would ensue for all concerned parties. She pulled another one from her own back and threw it at a far away tree. Fortunately, it exploded a few feet before reaching the adult plant. “Now, you try. It’s not that hard.”
Eriko eyed the other patches of trees where they had been practicing this uncomfortably but pulled one out all the same. As soon as she had taken what she needed, the pouch sealed itself seamlessly against her flushed skin. She pinpointed a tree on Cho’s side and threw the disk in a natural arc. It was supposed to detonate a few feet before it but the disk did not go off till it touched a leaf. Physical contact was not the main goal; she knew that but it made it so much easier to blow something up if it could be sensed physically.
“And that is your problem,” the sprite said, flying over to her. “You have to allow yourself to believe that you can hurt your target without touching it.” For some reason, she caught a flash of Masashi-Taicho’s face from the girl’s mind but ignored it. Such matters could be dealt with at a later point in time. Currently, she was barely making it through Shikai and there was so much more that Cho had not taught her as yet. The spirit pulled her master to her feet and influenced her gently into an easy walk away from the pond. “I think we need to look at this from a more innate perspective.” Her right hand went out and immediately a pastel-coloured butterfly landed lightly on the tip her extended index finger. “As you already know, my name means Butterfly but I don’t think that you have ever made the connection between that and the new Shikai abilities about which I told you. My releases are based on the life cycle of a butterfly from the hardened skin of the egg to the strong wings of the adult. Try to think about it in that way.”
The female Shinigami sighed and watched as the winged insect left Cho’s finger. “Do you want me to start thinking like a butterfly, then?” At the other girl’s immediate affirmation, she let out another sigh but reached into the pouch again, trying to figure out how the blasted things felt for someone who was born with them. They’re probably very comfortable or at least, not this bothersome. Her hand swung out and released the translucent padding at a tree a couple of miles away from them. Again, it imploded before time but she did not feel as bad this time. If the membrane could be mastered, what was a little live ammunition?
[Time Skip – 3 months]
She had been running around in a circle for almost a fortnight now and there were still no clones to copy her movements. Jixyuufuku was proving to be the most difficult of the abilities to control or even to conjure for that matter. She had sliced through things till poison infected the plants for weeks. Her screams were not piercing as those of Cho but the desired effects were there. So, why could she not picture five more of herself?
“That’s not what moulting is about, Akiyama. It is a complete shedding of one’s skin. Don’t think copies. Think about you, even it sounds self-centered.” That day they were nowhere near the pond as its healing properties would not be needed if everything went well enough. The spirit leaned against a sycamore and watched her master’s pathetic attempt at what is the easiest thing for her besides breathing and fighting. Ever so often, a shadow appeared but nothing substantial. Eventually, she slid down the trunk to be more comfortable while following her with simply her eyes. It was almost a week when the first full-fledged clone appeared and Cho had nearly hurt herself with surprise as two Fuxaasuto Kooru hit her flush in the face.
“I have one,” squealed Eriko.
“Five more to go, get to it,” replied Cho drily, settling back into some state of comfort. Fortunately, it was only took her a few hours to get the others so another three months could be used for training her how to use Jixyuufuku in conjunction with her other capabilities, Shikai or not. The whole process was tiring as the focus had to be expanded five fold and Eriko would fall into emotional wells when it did not work out as well as it should have. Slowly, her mind was able to connect with its separated parts and send the attack so that it can be executed in the exact manner as Eriko had achieved it. On the one day of relaxation after Cho had stated that the Shikai had been obtained and learnt to the best of its strength at this point in time, the pair walked through the woods, linked at the elbows and gazed at sections of the forest as it grew again in front of their eyes. The pond was flowing out to those in need of it especially, whether above or underground. »Chōxxx蝶xxxButterfly« "Freedom comes at the price of your fearful ways. Pay it."
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Posted: Mon Jul 19, 2010 9:38 pm
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxΔkiyama Σriko xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx十番隊 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxJūbantai-Taichō By the next day, everything seemed to have reverted to how it was on that first day almost a year ago in that world. “Now, you learn Bankai but I must warn you. How it happens in here and how it happens outside are slightly different.”
Eriko nodded surely. “Understood, where do we start?”
“Right here,” Cho said, fading in and out of sight until she was directly in front of Eriko and tapped the girl lightly on the forehead. It was a harmless gesture but as she strode away, the Shinigami fell to her knees before hitting the earthen floor unconsciously. Unlike her future outside transformations, she was already in the inner world and so nothing happened to her body in reality. However, that if she were awake here, the pain of the transformation to come would be very real to her. As it was, her brown hair went black and a shot of green appeared at its front. Her clothes and footwear left her stark naked for a mere second before black cloth pressed itself against her and green threads tied them together. Finally, her shoulder blades shifted to fit the biggest change of all as large wings grew out of her upper back in the semblance of Monarch wings. Automatically and still very much lacking conscience, Eriko crawled along the ground to the nearest of trees and held onto it with her body upside down and vertical in relation to the trunk. There, she stayed for days, flapping her wings and getting used to their weight. As the sixth day rolled around, her mind came back to intense clarity so the subsequent screaming was not much of a shock to Cho as the girl dropped on her head and saw the outfit for her Bankai for the first time. In fact, she was chuckling when Eriko pushed her up against the same tree trunk. “It was a lot funnier than I expected.”
“You think that this funny?” Eriko’s wings moved at her words to indicate that that they were the thing in question.
“Yes.” Cho grinned, grabbing Eriko by both wrists and flipping over her, bringing the girl to her back. “You see, my Bankai is not complicated. It is rather simple.” Her right foot wedged under Eriko’s head and kicked her back up to her feet. The grin was gone now. “If you’re weak, it is as well. Ready for some fun?” The onslaught started almost immediately with punches, swinging kicks and other sorts of jabs. When Cho realized that this was probably on the best manner in which to teach Bankai, she cancelled hers and led Eriko towards the mossiest trunk in the whole place. “Kick it. Kick it until your bones break and don’t stop. I’ll bring pond water for you for as long as it takes but you’re going to have to strengthen your limbs a lot more for what I have in store. So, kick it.” She did not even wait to see the first attempt and ignored the primary groan of pain that took place behind her. They kept at it for some more months with Cho correcting her stance and approach always to keep the standard as high as possible. After the kicking, they moved on to punches without any form of a break. Eriko’s knuckles shattered on impact but one dip in the pond healed them within some minutes.
I have to get better, Eriko thought to herself as the days blended into months easily all the while pushing herself to surpass Cho’s expectations. It was different but it was going to be hers and she needed to be able to use it to its utmost potential. There was no way around that in her mind. Her body was stretched and pushed where physically it was not supposed to be. Besides the freelance kickboxing on the tree, she raced her Zanpakuto spirit as well to learn as much as she could from her before returning to the real world. It took almost a year before Cho considered her ready to fight one on one and none of the special Bankai abilities had been revealed as yet. They fought for weeks non-stop with Eriko being more able to hold her own in a Hakuda-based fight but not good enough to land a hit on her opponent. More weeks passed before it became apparent that they could fight as equals in any sense of the word. Their entire environment was utilized as they moved without hesitation from the ground to the trees to the sky, regardless of the direction or speed. It was a dance between the two within its own right.
“Okay, I think you’re ready for it,” Cho said at long last, blocking Eriko’s back swing kick to her face and pushing her away at the same time, “Tsubasa Sentou Ki.” As soon as the words left her mouth, a gust of wind entered the area forcibly and wrapped itself around Cho’s body along every possible limb. The sheer power of it was amazing to Eriko and perplexed her greatly that the girl’s small frame did not simply crumble underneath it all. Then, she saw it: the determination of her eyes not to let that happen. “Wind is a force to be reckoned with and it would not hold back from devastating those who cannot withstand it. This is the main power of my Bankai since it helps a Hakuda fighter the most.” While she was speaking, the moving air tightened and slackened according to the whims of its wielder. “It will increase your already improved normal foot speed and lend much force to your strikes, whether it is to cut a hole into your opponent’s side with a punch or reach him across the field with a swinging kick without having to move. Those are just examples and you learn best by experience. Begin.”
Eriko took a breath, called the name of the attack and took her next lesson in stride.
[Time skip – 9 months]
It had been worth it. Eriko stood facing Cho with her Zanpakuto blade on her back and not at her waist. After that first battle between them using Tsubasa Sentou Ki, they had done it over and over again until she had come as close as possible to beating Cho in that form before moving on to the other wind-based ability. The pollen was still scattered over the place but Cho did not seem fazed by that in the slightest. She was just happy that no limbs had been lost during that training session especially when Eriko had combined Tsubasa Sentou Ki with Kafun Sutoraiku. The cleared pathway could still be seen from the pond as it stretched on for hundreds of miles.
“Are you sure that that will fix itself?” Eriko asked sheepishly again, eyeing the evident destruction.
“Don’t worry about that. All you should be concerned about is working through your issues so that personal stuff is not as scary anymore.” Again, Masashi-Taicho’s face was broadcasted but she understood now why that would happen. “And being careful with the third Bankai ability, I will be right there with you when you’re ready to use it.”
The Shinigami nodded at her. It was nearing the time for her to return. “Thank you for everything, Cho.”
The spirit shook her head, blushing of all things.
I do not fight alone.
I will never let you fight alone.
My sword is my friend.
I will help the one who wields me willingly.
And I will trust in her.
As she trusts in me.
l Exit to Jūbantai-Taichō's Quarters l »Chōxxx蝶xxxButterfly« "Freedom comes at the price of your fearful ways. Pay it."
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