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[...Ashley doesn't manipulate ice, if that's what you're thinking.. >>;]

Ashley watched silently, still rooted in place as she peered around the doorway, it was cold, and she shivered slightly as she huddled into her sweatshirt, zipping it up slightly. She tugged her headphones down around her neck and then folded her arms tightly across her chest, trying to keep warm. Her sweatshirt was just a little on the thin side...

And then the male she was watching allowed himself to be hit. For a second she froze in horror, almost expecting his head to go flying off, since it was a sword that had hit him. But he simply fell to the floor, and the ice... things mobbed him. Her eyes were widened now further than ever as she stared. She wanted to help but.. what could she possibly do? She couldn't even control her powers! She might just end up causing more damage.

Though, shortly after the ice things all shattered, causing her to one more jump in alarm. She hesitated a few seconds, watching as he stood, ice forming in his hand. Then she took a very small step forward, watching him nervously, and then reminded herself he was fine now, so she shouldn't interfere. She bowed her head very slightly, standing nervously by the doorway, wondering if she should ask if he was alright or not.

[Wait, does he still look like the last picture I remember? With the ears and tail?]

Ginseku Entered the Hand to hand combat training room, and turned on one of the droids, which instantly reflected a hologram image over itself, so that it looked exactly like ginseku. He pulled out the scroll that he had hidden, and butter hopped atop his head with a huge leap.
"The first thing you must do, is train continuously, until you cant move anymore. Then, you will summon forth your second wind, the energy you have hidden deep within thyself. This is the most powerful kind of energy anyone can have. And you shall learn to use it with ease."
He looked up at butter.
"Thinki i can do it?"
Butter hopped in reply, saying yes in a happy squeal.
Ginseku pulled butter off of his head, putting him on a weightbench as he walked onto the mat. He bowed to the robot, the robot mimicking. Suddenly, there were two cracks, and the robot disappeared, as well as ginseku. The sound of blows being exchanged echoed through the room, though Ginseku and the robot were barely even visible. small, feint images passed through the room, like ghosts, of Ginseku throwing an attack, and the robot countering. This continued for about 4 hours on end, The sounds never ceasing. Then there was a thump, and ginseku was on the ground. scratched, bruised, and a bit bloody. Butter seemed shocked, then squealed in fear.
"No..."
ginseku coughed up some blood.
"...Worries..butter...I can do this.. Just..wait..The robot'll be the one down here ..soon..enough.."
Ginseku closed his eyes, seeming to die for a moment. In his mind, the storming tempest faded, and sunlight blew through. Suddenly, ginseku felt Stronger than ever before, and his wounds seemed to get better instantly. He rose to his feet slowly, gathering his focus.
Suddenly, ginseku wasnt there anymore, he was behind the robot. he had moved so fast, That the sound barrier couldnt keep up enough to make a crack! Ginseku delivered a hard knee to the robots back, and he flew forward a few feet, spinning into stance again. the pair disappeared again, but instead, this time, the ghosts of ginseku and the robot occurred at higher speeds. even the ghosts seemed to move quickly. The robot would attack ginseku, and the ghost would disappear in time to escape, then reappear in a weak spot of the robot, and attack. all before the after image, which only lasted for less than a second, faded. it only took three minutes, and several cracks from the robot, to end the fight. Ginseku stood there, the robot being the one on the floor now. the rachisu looked at ginseku with shock.
"that..Was awesome..."

Ginseku walked down the hall, till he reached the fire manipulators Room. butter still accompanied him.
"This next technique shall teach you to Summon your Inner flame forth as the form you would take as a deity. Note, that this technique is only to be used in extreme emergencies, it is extremely powerful and very draining. I think i can hold it back, dont you butter?"
butter squealed again, saying yes.
He entered the red tainted room. he turned on a droid , reading the instructions in the scroll.
" to perform this technique, you must focus your mind. Look deep within yourself, to the source of your second wind. find The fire, the source of you energy. you shall learn to release it as a fearsome attack. Look into the blaze, become one with it. Then allow your hands to do as they please."
Ginseku memorized these instructions as he bowed to his opponent. He reached deep within himself, focusing intensely. He could feel his second wind pushing him back with resistance, but his focus didnt fail him. Suddenly, the Droid attacked. Ginseku lied. 'I wont become 50 differentpeople and attack you to keep you busy while i focus.'
There were immediately 50 clones, and all attacked the droid.
Ginseku began to focus again, reaching back through his second wind. He could feel it now, The rising heat of fire, flowing through his body. He could see it too. Suddenly, his hands began forming handsigns. a purple ring of flame began to encircle his body, and he himself seat ablaze. As this happened, the droid fought the clones, taking out one after another. there were 11 left now. Ginseku formed a final handsign, and that was it. The purple flames engulfed his wings, and he began to float, the flames expanding out. They began to take shape, and soon ginseku found himself engulfed in a tremendous phoenix of purple flames. Just as the droid finished with the last clone, it looked up to its demise. Ginseku pointed down, and the phoenix flew forward in a tremendous attack. The droid had no chance of escape. It melted right on the spot. and the Phoenix left no hint of burn on the ground at all. He slowly landed, looking at the mass of burning ore and plastic wire coating. Butter came out from behind a fire extinguisher, scared. Ginseku picked up the scroll, reading the name of the jutsu. "Fierce deity of flame jutsu...Thats rough. come on butter, we hav emore to do."
Butter followed along, mildly happy.

Ginseku Walked down to the weaponry room, butter pushing him along. ginseku had already read what to do next. This was the last thing on the scroll. Turning on the Droid , ginseku smiled. He grabbed several weapon, trhowing them out in the air as he focused his Ki. He formed three handsigns, his hands diappearing before the weapons fell. suddenly, they ceased their fall, suspending themselves in midair. They began to fly towards the Droid randomly, like a swarm of wolves attacking randomly as a pack. The droid attempted to defend himself several times, but couldnt stop the blades from reaching him. Ginseku stood there, meanwhile, focusing intensely. suddenly, all of the blades attacked one last time, quickly. the Droid was torn to shreads. The weapons mounted back o the walls as ginseku stood straight up again. He walked out of the training room slowly, smiling. Butter hopped alongside.
"Lets get to that hotspring now. i need such a break..."
Ginseku looked down at his belly, and his potbelly had disappeared! he was fit again! no, wait...FITTER?! how was that possible!? he had only worked out for one day, and ll that excess fat was gone already!?
"dang...cool."
And with that, ginseku left the traininghall, heading towards the Springs.

It seemed Ashley didn't need to worry so much about entering to see if the male was ok because, after a few seconds more, a fog surrounded him. Then a light flashed, and when she had blinked her eyes back open, she saw a winged, white wolf standing in the room. Her eyes widened almost beyond proportion as she stared, still standing back and hopefully unnoticed by the doorway. She jumped back quickly when the wolf exited the room, making sure to stay out of its way as she noted the teeth. It seemed she hadn't yet been discovered.

She jumped again when the wolf howled, and quickly scrambled out of the way of the ice that was creeping towards her. Finally she paused, after being sure she was safe for the moment, and watched as the wolf ran and busted through the doors, disappearing outside. She stared almost stunned for a few seconds until she slowly snapped herself out of it, and let out a small sigh, watching the white fog float before her face due to the sudden coldness. She rubbed at her arms lightly as she made her way carefully to the exit, feet slipping around but not quite giving out. Eventually she reached the grass of outside and smiled faintly as she started off towards some currently unknown destination.

izumi ran in and past many rooms "come on its gotta be here some where" she said, as she was running. "here it is, magic class" walks in "h-h-h-hel-l-o" izumi said(kinda said that is) the teacher replied "whats wrong?" "o-oh nothing, just got worked up about getting here on time" izumi said back

(this is a pre-made post, continued from the ending of Rayan's post in the roleplaying dojo.)


"Wind fist!"
Austin threw a punch with great force, and the whirlwind which engulfed his arm launched itself with invisible speed at the training dummy. A deep, fist-shaped indentation appeared in its chest, before it was uprooted from the floor and knocked with a dull THUD into the wall behind. Austin flexed his hand questioningly, wondering what had restrained his power in that last punch; normally, the blast shot straight through the dummy, and it would've remained in its stationary position.
"Huh..."
Austin crossed the room to where the dummy had been planted, examining the tear-away pattern the rigging post had split in. There were a few bristles and splinters sticking out of the back end, indicating that the punch had slowed down, and dropped a bit in it's trajectory; even if it wasn't as powerful as his normal punch, it should've broken clean, not bent back before cracking open.

Ginseku coughed, unsure what Austin was displeased with; It was a deadly blow, and anyone could see it, so what had changed that Austin could see?
"What's wrong, Austin? Did you expect him to counter, or something?"
Gin laughed for a moment, giving his friend an earnest smile.
Austin looked back from his kneeling observations, to his friend Gin.
"No, nothing like that, something just feels...off. Like my power has weakened, or something."
"We are indoors, there isn't any moving air to naturally accumulate. Of course it feels off."
"No, No. Even when we're indoors, my power is better than this."
Ginseku thought on this for a moment, and when he could come up with no viable explanation for the phenomenon, he decided to throw a tease.
"Maybe you haven't been training properly, or enough?"
Austin stood up, turning to Gin.
"Yeah, that has to be the answer. I'm too lazy to train. I mean, I'm just here for fun, because I like to second-guess my ability and break stuff in the process."
Ginseku's jovial attitude took a small dive.
"Hey now, no need to get snappy about it. You know I was just kidding."
"Some things, you don't joke about. If my ability has diminished, even the slightest bit, I need to fix it. Sand Nation depends on me. They entrusted me with these techniques, and ONLY because i'm predisposed to use them naturally; I only know what I know because of luck and hard work."
"And I wouldn't know about hard work? Don't lecture me, dude. We've been through it all. You know where I got a good..70% of my scars. And that's a lot, I'm sure you're aware."
Austin grit his teeth.

"Spar me."
Gin was thrown by this request. Austin hadn't asked him to spar since back when they'd first met, and after THAT time, they'd made the mental note not to go down that road again. But here they were, and here the challenge was, yet again.
"Why?"
"Your joke holds a bit of truth; I haven't sparred with anyone in a while. Perhaps the reason my technique is so rusty, is because i have yet to battle an actual person since your confrontation with Kirai."
"So?"
"So. Cut your arm and summon up a Bloody Doppleganger."

Ginseku kicked his foot up, and leaned back against the wall coolly.
"I don't think so."
"What?"
"I'm not really in the mood."
There was a blur of movement at Austin's side, and the high-pitched whine of a blade piercing air. Ginseku barely reacted in the time available, and tilted his head to the side. Blood dripped down from the lobe of his ear, where a small cut had been freshly made.
"That's not cool, man. I wouldn't throw wind shuriken at you out of nowhere."
"Still not in the mood?"
Austin smirked calmly, and Ginseku growled challengingly.
"Forget a Doppleganger. Let's spar."
Ginseku kicked off of the wall, launching himself into a high speed running posture. He took long, swift strides that nearly disappeared in their speed.
Austin sidestepped slightly to his right, then kicked up his right foot, placing it with light elegance on Gin's breast-plate. Gin stopped immediately, turning his body to halve the impact damage. He swung his leg around, and struck the inside of Austin's thigh, knocking it back down. Austin kicked it back up immediately, flying off the ground in a ramming knee. Ginseku threw up his guard, bracing against the strike and sliding back on his heels. Austin clenched onto Ginseku's neck with his forearms, and flicked him around to the side with a strong jerk of his entire body. He released him from the grip, and as expected he was heavily thrown off balance. Austin took but a second to regain his own, before taking off to attack again, but his right leg gave out on him, and he fell to a knee.
"Damn."
Austin hadn't felt the full impact of Gin's kick at first, but it was a precise strike. He quickly rose to his feet.
Ginseku spun around to face Austin, having regained most of his senses. Austin's knee wasn't clean, but he could already feel the bruising on his forearms.
"This is getting us no-where. Get serious so we can get better."
"...I can't. I only cast wind against enemies. Sparring is fine, but technique?"
"You're in the same boat as me. I haven't had a serious sparring session in a while. If we need to walk separate paths for this to be okay, that's how it's gonna be."
"..."
Austin sighed heavily.
"This is a cruddy way of saying goodbye."
Ginseku did a double take, confused.
"What the hell?"
"You're planning on leaving to go be with Ryuka again. After you've handled your business with Kirai."
"Well, yeah, obviously I have to do that first. That's the only way I can go see her."
"But you're telling me we can't be friends...I really don't understand, Gin. What is it rattling around in your head right now?"
Ginseku looked away, not wanting to answer. He scowled slightly, Austin's words stung somehow.
"I don't know what it is, Austin, but we can't be friends right now. I need your help, but it can't be as a friend."
"And what after?"
"Then, I need to go away for a while. Who knows how long? You know I'll find you. That will be our time."

Austin wiped his eye. What an irritating b*****d Ginseku could be at times.
He cast his tear aside, and gripped an imaginary handle in his right hand.
"By the binding winds, I summon Kazekatana."
A twister formed in his grip, which lengthened out, and churned heavily, reforming itself. It compressed itself into the shape of a guard-less katana. He reached up slowly, and gripped the lower half of the handle with his other hand.
Ginseku grinned slightly. He pinched the fresh blood from his earlobe, and formed the Kanji for Musou on the back of his hand. He formed a hand seal, and took a stance. A great white light engulfed Ginseku's being, and slowly drained away from his body in a wipe, solidifying before him in the form of a long Katana, with cut inscription in the bevel. Ginseku gripped the handle, and a bright burst dispelled the light.
Austin leapt left, then right, advancing with great leaps. He spun around and struck with a Yokomen strike, and Ginseku countered with a reverse Shomen. He folded on the point of blocking, and struck for Austin's hand, but Austin raised his blade, glancing it off overhead. He leapt back, retaking his stance. His blade churned, sucking in more wind. It lengthened, and the tip of the blade became wider, and more like a cleaver. He took a spear-wielding stance, and quickly thrust at Ginseku.
Gin sidestepped, cleaving upward to split the length of the spear in half. Upon breaking, the tip exploded in a burst of air, knocking Ginseku back a few feet and taking him off stance. Austin advanced, splitting the remainder of the staff into two short-blades. He lead with his right foot, and entered an Arnis Redonda strike, slashing downwards with dangerous, machine-like repetition.
Ginseku's blade moved quickly, having trouble keeping up with the speed of the shorter blades, which moved easily with their size in this range of combat. Ginseku thrust his palm outward, knocking Austin's wind out of him, as well as knocking him back a few feet. He heaved for a moment, being a regular smoker, and spat up a wad of phlegm.
"Thanks, I was having trouble getting that out."
Austin combined the two short swords by the handles, making a double-blade staff. He spun it around his fingers with apparent ease, despite the speed it was going.
Ginseku advanced this time, knowing that Austin wasn't very adept at using this form of weapon, even though he believed he was. He kept his blade back, in a drawing-strike, and spun at the last second, causing Austin to flinch and enter a pinch-reaction. He flipped over the strike, and though he indeed dodged the first one, Ginseku was able to easily pivot his hips and flip the blade to strike backwards.
Austin felt the blade press against his back, and tried to move with the path of least resistance, but to no avail. He cried out in pain as a gash formed across his back and ribs. He leapt forward and rolled, coming out of it to stand and swivel around to face Ginseku again.
He gripped at his wound, and looked at the fresh blood on his hand. He licked his finger, curious as to how his blood tasted. It had a very..Iron-like flavor, somehow. It was good to know.
He tied a knot in his shirt, causing it to compress to his torso like a temporary bandage. He gripped his blade staff, and reformed it. It became a rod with a curved blade; a sickle. The lower blade lengthed out, and became limp, except for the bottom end, which lumped up in a thick ball. Austin picked up a length of the limp wind, and began to spin the ball, whirling it at his side.
Ginseku assumed his stance. Austin was likely to strike with the weight to distract him, and then advance with the sickle.
Austin swung the weight quickly, hurling it at Ginseku's side. He guarded, and the ball wrapped around his blade. Austin quickly cut the limp wind chain with his sickle, and immediately the weight burst, temporarily blinding Ginseku. Austin leapt forth and swung, planting the tip of his sickle in Ginseku's forearm. Ginseku cried out, as the dead blood from his earlier bruise, along with fresh blood, began to ooze out. Ginseku swiped at Austin, and he released the sickle, ducking the strike and leaping away.
Austin heaved for a moment, drawing in a great deal of breath. The sickle in Ginseku's arm dissipated calmly, instead of busting his wound open as Austin would normally let it do. Ginseku gripped his wound.
"Got me in the damn bone that time."
"Boo-hoo. I'm not your friend, remember?"
Ginseku scowled slightly. He took a profuse amount of blood from his wound and ran it down the length of his blade.
"Musou-Bureka."
Ginseku's clothing tremored greatly in the back, and it ripped open, revealing two medium length wings, with a healthy fill of black feathers. Ginseku took a stance. A few of the feathers from his wings detached themselves, and flew almost magnetically to the blade. They wrapped around, making sure not a single patch of blood was left visible. The blade glowed red, and the feathers seemed to burn away. The blade took on a black-steel hue, but had no reflection, no shine to it. It gave off a terrible feeling.
Ginseku crouched, and quickly sprung, flapping his wings once for extra speed. He flew through the air with a single bound at Austin. Austin quickly focused his thoughts, and brought an open palm up, summoning a small whirlwind before him. Ginseku fell straight into it in his haste, and was thrown upwards into a cage of swirling air. Austin reshaped the whirlwind into a ball, and began to compress it slowly.
"Do you yield? Say it, Ginseku!"
Ginseku lashed out, and a great wave of black ripped open the whirlwind. Instead of bursting, however, the whirlwind seemed to be consumed by Ginseku's sword. It wrapped around Musou-Bureka, and quickly dissipated.
Austin scoffed.
"How?"
"Musou-Bureka decants the given form of any technique by breaking the bonds of energy put into it. It absorbs Ki. And it has an endless capacity to do so."
"Hah. A useful skill, but that alone won't fix this."
Ginseku landed softly, folding his wings.
"If all you throw at me is imprisonment techniques and weapon forms, yes, it will."
Austin compressed Kazekatana again.

"Come."
Austin leapt forward, and a twister formed beneath his feet, forming a slipstream. He rode it like a board, swerving to the right and coming up behind Ginseku. He swung at his left wing.
Ginseku felt sad in his reaction; He broke straight through Austin's blade, and cut across his sternum in a near-death blow.
Austin smirked. He had taken the strike in order to distract Ginseku from the whirlwind beneath his feet. When he was slashed, he glanced his upper body back, and raised his feet, directing the whirlwind into Ginseku's gut.
Ginseku's eyes went wide, and his sight went blank as he felt a drilling impact toss and swirl him across the room into the wall behind him. He crumpled against it, though he made an indentation, and fell into a limp pile.
Austin hit the ground before Ginseku did. He struggled to pull his head up and glance at the results of his efforts; it seemed like he'd gotten the better of Gin.
But Austin was hurt. Badly hurt. Regardless if he was still conscious, if he didn't get attention soon..
"Why do you always make it so difficult, Ginseku? Sometimes, I can't stand it."
Austin struggled to his feet. Each step felt like it took an eternity. By the time he'd reached the door, he was sure an hour's time had passed since he first recovered from the ground. He looked back at Ginseku.
"You'd better hold true. Get stronger. Beat Kirai, or I'll beat you senseless next time."
As soon as he was through the doorway, he collapsed in a bloody mess, and closed his eyes for a nap.

Ginseku coughed at first, waking up with a fluttering of his eyelids. He gripped his chest in pain when he attempted to get up; his abs felt abnormally sore and bruised. He lifted his shirt, and confirmed his suspicion, before rolling onto his side slowly from the wall. He used his hands to push himself to a kneeling position, then looked around the room. After a moment, his senses returned to him, and he could feel a heavy thumping sound in the back of his head.
"God-dammit. Friggin Austin.."
He searched the room for a moment, looking for him, when he remembered what had happened, and noticed the trail of blackened blood spattered across the room.
"Must've left.."
Ginseku slowly stood up, then bent over just as slowly, to retrieve his Katana, Musou, and it's sheath. He sheathed the blade, and, with a single hand-seal, he dismissed it in a burst of smoke.
He made his way to the door shortly after. He had to get to the hospital.
Badly. It felt like his ribs were shattered, and he needed the stab-wound on his forearm sealed shut.
He staggered slowly through the room, limping slightly from one foot to the other, until he'd made his way through the front entrance.