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His hand swung through the air as it missed its target. Indeed she was far faster than he had anticipated. Her ‘accident’ or so she had practically claimed while flipping out of the way of his hand, was so perfectly timed that he couldn’t help but think she was much faster than him. He rolled his eyes at her comment before he lost sight of her behind a tree. Immediately he slowed down to check where she had gone but when a finger poked him in the back of the head, he spun around with his hands ready to throw someone. His overreaction was in vain, for she had gone as fast as she had appeared. His ears listened very carefully for any unnatural sounds around him, but he could not hear any.

“You know, at your current rate she’s going to keep your necklace. You’re so slow compared to her, even in this form.” Hantoresu’s words annoyed him, not because they hurt but because they were true. “It’s not like you’re helping much. I mean what happened to the almighty speed of lightning? Hmm?” A loud growl entered his mind from her anger, “You never asked for my help besides entering that second form! Try again.” William let out a sigh at her retort; indeed he was not being fair on her, for she had consented to help him if he helped her. He looked around for his prey, but she was nowhere to be seen on the ground. He smacked his head and looked up just as he heard the faint but very familiar tinkling of his necklace’s metal links. “So will you help me?” he asked Hantoresu kindly. There was silence in his mind before she said, “Call me the Goddess of the Storm, and I might just consider it.” He chuckled at her struggle to at least hold some power over him, but he played along, “Will you help me in my time of need oh Goddess of the Storm?” “Maybe later,” she mused but at his protests she consented with a pained laugh. “Ok, well…all you have to do is reach within yourself and pull out my power.”

William touched the trunk of the tree Hinata had climbed with one of his claws, finding that he could more than easily dig his claws into it. “And how exactly am I supposed to do that?” Silence fell over his mind once again, “Well I don’t know; maybe I need to push it into you. In any case, it might be good for you to at least learn the technique’s name. It is called Inazuma Kiba otherwise known as Lightning Fang. It should make you able to outrun even that Captain without her Shikai.” William thought about the concept, “Ok, go ahead and try to push the power into me; I’ll try to allow it to take me over but no funny business.” “I already told you I’d cooperate with you so long as you cooperated with me.” She went silent, and William was left with his original task. Everything had happened within only a split second of him looking up at Hinata. His tail twitched back and forth while he crouched to jump. His claws came out instinctively while he grappled the tree. It took barely a second to get up to her, but he knew she would move. Immediately he began following her; she moved faster at first, but he eventually caught up again. If she looked back she would see the same glow of a hundred thousand sparks in his eyes and a few dark blue sparks jumping between his fur as well.

William frowned at the speed with which Hinata had escaped his initial tree assault, and he began to worry when she managed to still stop him when he had chased her. He gave a growl of annoyance when his claws screeched across Hinata’s blade. “Hantoresu, why haven’t I sped up yet?” There was silence for what felt like an eternity but lasted only a mere split second before she answered, “It takes time to charge the power.” William’s eyes rolled before a wind whipped up from nowhere to hit him with a few leaves and twigs. He covered his eyes with his free hand, but his other hand had stayed in contact with the blade to register movement. There was an ever so slight increase in pressure around him before it vanished, likely because of Hinata’s skill. His claws were now touching the thin blade of a rapier, and he knew exactly what that meant. “Hantoresu, I don’t have time anymore. How long until it’s done charging?” “Give me a moment,” she said before he felt the hairs on his neck stand on end. The sky began to darken once more above the glade. “Hantoresu!” William said aloud with impatience and worry.

“Step slowly away from her; make it look like you want to talk. Just stall for a few more seconds,” Hantoresu ordered. William was about to protest when Hinata spoke, daring him to attack her. He didn’t know what to say; if he backed off and asked for a quick breather she’d likely attack him, but if he attacked her he would be at a heavy disadvantage in speed. He looked at the blade and slid his claws along its length down to the tip before slowly getting back up. “I take it that is your Shikai, Captain? If I’m not mistaken, a rapier was meant for agile combat, demanding the wielder to be very dexterous. In the real world they were used in duels of honor or even for sport. The sword itself I did not like, but the way it was handled inspired me to develop a similar hand to hand combat style.” He paused from his small recall of times in the past before hopping up and down on the balls of his feet in preparation of a harder fight. He grew very impatient with Hantoresu, “How much long—,” he began but was cut off by her yelling. “Brace yourself!” Not a second later a lightning bolt arced down and struck him square in the back, sending him to his knees. Electricity flew over him for seconds on end while it frantically attempted to reach the ground. Some of it did manage to hit the occasional wet leaf to leave it smoking, but most of the heavily prolonged lightning bolt was essentially sucked into the claws of his Shikai. The most sound he made that could be heard over the crackling of burning air was a sudden cry of surprise which ended once he was on his knees.

The lightning bolt finally cut off after several seconds, allowing him to move once again. “Please warn me if you do something like that again Hantoresu,” he mumbled aloud before slowly standing back up. The sparks flying over him had been extremely large during the process; now they were fairly small but almost five times as fast. He could feel something ever so lightly touching his muscles under his skin, but he did not know exactly what was happening. “Now you should be at maximum speed.” His eyebrows scrunched together in confusion, for he did not feel any faster than before. “Are you sure it’s done? I don’t feel any different.” Hantoresu sighed, “Just try moving, but be careful what you do.” He waved his arm in front of his face and was shocked to see how it blurred. Like an astonished child he continued to wave it until his eyes could easily keep up with it again. “Woaw…” he muttered before smiling. “I hope this works like you said it does,” he thought before his feet dug into the ground to push him at roughly five times his previous speed straight at Hinata. If she was expecting anything less than extremely fast, she would lose the necklace. One of his hands aimed for the necklace while the other carefully watched her rapier, ready to block with the claws or direct the blade away from him.

((Just to make it clear, it has been roughly a minute since he started trying to use Inazuma Kiba which means it is fully active. The lightning strike and storm (without rain) was merely a visual effect. Thus, William is now at his current maximum speed. It is roughly five times faster than his initial Shikai speed boost, so it should at least surprise Hinata that an unseated can move so fast ;I'm not saying she won't react perfectly at all, just that she might be somewhat surprised. William will not be able to move faster than this, so if she continues to speed up he won't be able to keep up or get his necklace back for that matter.))

William’s arm flew by his captain’s head, unintentionally cutting a single hair which had sprung up in place of his necklace. “Gods, she’s still faster than me…I guess the only way for me to get my necklace back is by getting into her personal space somehow. That sword might make matters a little difficult though.” He had thought all that in the fraction of the second before his captain hit him in the back. It had been a very precise strike, made to do exactly what she had intended, but he doubted she had predicted his next move that well. Instead of attempting to catch himself, he let his chest fall forward while his legs started to go over his head. With his hands he corrected his head-over course, spinning him around with his right arm anchored into the ground. His eyes suddenly caught sight of a leg headed for his head, and he playfully put out his left hand with claws bared as a warning not to strike him there.

“Come on, I’ve given you all I have at the moment. Get your necklace back already!” Hantoresu told him with annoyance at watching him be so clumsy. His tail whipped through the air while his legs came down to the ground ready to pounce once again. This time he used all four of his limbs to launch himself at the space just before her. His eyes carefully watched her blade lest it come to bare on him while he swiped at his necklace. The swipe at his necklace had only been a distraction while he sidestepped ever so closer to her; his left arm was poised to try and stop the blade in her hand if it came closer to him. Cautiously he tried to get close enough to her so that she could not use the blade effectively. “It would appear that even with this power active, you are still my superior in speed. There must be an immense gap in power between each different rank then. Well it also doesn’t help that I’ve been here for only a short time and just managed to achieve Shikai. I will consider these things when I either accept or ask for a duel with someone else.” Sparks jumped all over him, making it look like merely touching him would jolt the assaulting person.

((Quick question: is your Shikai blade a double-sided rapier, a fencing-like sword, or a single sided rapier?))

“She’s really making this difficult for me,” he thought to himself when his hand was knocked to the side. “She’s far too fast for me to catch, so I must somehow outsmart her.” He made it look like he was about to jump at her again to see how she reacted to his movements before stopping only a foot away from her. “I’m well aware that a plan must first be formed instead of just swinging your fists in the hopes of landing a strike. I would not have lived for hundreds of centuries in the real world had I not thought before acting. But a plan while in close combat is debatable. Some masters say that you should trick your opponent into making a mistake; others say that one should not need to think while fighting, for one's movements should be as fast as a raging river while as fluid and calm as a gentle stream.” He sidestepped to the right before commencing his newest attack.

“A few swift jabs here,” he thought while doing it, “A few measured punches, dodge, right swing, left leg, jump kick…” he soon found himself aiming strike after strike at her, testing what he was up against with every missed blow. He threw a punch or two to her sides and shifted around to the right a little just to make sure she missed if she swung at his opening. He swung with his right fist next, closely followed by a sweep of his leg to her legs, and finally jumped into the air to strike the necklace away with his foot.

He was fairly certain his strikes would not find their mark given her speed, but he was simply sizing her up more. He landed from his jump and shot to her left on all fours before swiftly standing in the danger zone. He reached toward the necklace with his right, to try and distract her while his left subtly went for where her weapon hand might be if she tried to block his right hand with it.