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 Posted: Mon Jan 10, 2011 11:00 pm
(Wrap this up) "You really want this..." Bull muttered, gathering his resolve. Kaisho was hard to break, which would be a good quality in a future Squad Seven Captain. Battle was obviously his passion, and the current Captain wouldn't deny him what he loved. He mustered reiatsu around his arms as he prepared for Kaisho to continue his onslaught. Crossing his arms before him, Bull caught Kaisho's icy wave in the crook between his gauntlets. The two conflicting reiatsu screeched as Bull's superior force dismissed Kaisho's.
While he was able to successfully block the crescent of ice, Bull's reaction time was not good enough to evade Kaisho's "Gaten," which ensnared itself around Bull's arms, which shielded his face and neck, as well as his torso. Kaisho was showing an impressive degree of strategy in the face of a tough opponent. Though, even though strategy can defeat the most powerful of opponents, it has its limits.
Bull would tests those limits. "I'll show you what it is like to become one with my Zanpakuto." He said as he struggled against Kaisho's bindings. "As you wish..." He said as his eyes began to glow. "Bankai..." He called as his reiatsu exploded, causing his body to be enveloped in light. The sheer force of Bull's reiatsu shattered the tendrils ensnaring him.
As the light dimmed, Bull moved into Kaisho's personal space, now free of any impediments. Bull's gauntlets were revealed to have evolved to become fully extended up his arms. Now lustrous red and gold, the gauntlets gave off a continuous glow. "Tekken Yatakeni," Bull said, naming his Bankai.
The glow of Bull's arms became blindingly intense as an orb of light built in his hand. "This enough for you?" He said as he pushed the orb towards Kaisho's chest and ignited it, causing an astonishingly large explosion in Kaisho's face.
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Posted: Sun Jan 30, 2011 1:47 pm
{{ Part 1. }} ~~
Kaisho’s intended plan seemed to work well, his follow up successfully snared his Captain by the torso and limbs. Bullene’s Lieutenant found it important to have a plan in combat, and prided himself on being able to utilise his sharp mind with equally impressive actions. However, as Kaisho was just about to find out, strategy is only part of the battle. It became clear that, while undetered by the fact that he was facing someone with undoubtable prowess, he was not yet ready to be considering a match-up such as this outside of training. With Bullene entangled in his Shikai’s ‘Gaten’ aspect, it was not before long that he deployed his remaining tassel, only this time announcing ‘Heki’ as the command.
The icy spear-like attack burst through the ground in front of Kaisho, racing at Bullene just as he spoke and struggled against the binding ice tassels. It was at that moment, everything seemed to slow as Kaisho’s eyes fell upon the lips of his master, widening alarmingly as he heard the mouthed command. In a single instant, the icy shackles once binding Bullene down disintegrated in a burst of light and force, the fragments vaporised by the resonating energy. The attack, so close to the end of its destination, had also found itself destroyed by the release of reiatsu and and light caused by the release of Bullene’s Bankai, Tekken Yatakeni. There was a noteable change in his Captain’s Bankai, as it now trailed up his arm much further, and the distinctly vivid red and gold colouring of the gauntlet made them not only imposing, but appealing.
However, Kaisho had not the time to waste on such lustre, and while he remained quite dazzled by the sheer power expressed in the releasing of Bankai, the Lieutenant found himself faced with a fiercely intense orb of light. Too bright to glare at, Kaisho shielded his face with his forearms and tried to step back from it, only to feel a sudden rush of energy and force akin to an explosion strike at his body. The orb had indeed exploded, dealing an intense shockwave that sent the Shinigami reeling, causing a great deal of harm to his chest and arms. The upper half of his kosode was torn and burned away from the explosion and Kaisho’s chest and arms had suffered burns that were severe enough to, in conjunction with the shockwave, shred several layers of skin and cause him to bleed.
Kaisho’s body tumbled around along the ground, with short, sharp grunts of pain passing through his lips as each impact with the floor forced yet more air from his bruised lungs and bleeding chest. The explosion had sent him a great distance away from his Captain, though eventually he rolled to a halt, bringing a deathly silence as he lay face down, surrounded by a small billow of dust. “So that’s the power of Bankai?” Kaisho found himself thinking, a bloody cough finding itself onto the floor next to his face as he tried to move his body.
He stood up, looking towards Bullene with an agonised expression on his scratched and dirtied face. His breathing was heavy, and occasionally he would spit out a clump of bloody saliva, his mind processing everything that had just happened. He could feel hiimself contemplating the idea of quitting, but for what purpose? If he quit, how would his Captain feel? Kaisho asked him to go to the trouble of releasing Bankai, and for the purpose of respecting Kaisho and helping him to achieve what he set out to achieve, did not question his request. If he decided to quit, there was a possibility that Bullene would feel he had wasted his time and his choices. Bullene specifically watched over Kaisho as he seeked the key to unlocking his Shikai, and saw Kaisho fit enough to be his right hand in the choices he would make in the future. Bullene watched him grow, ascend and develop… and yet… to give up now would shatter everything; the respect, the bond, the memories. All of it would lose its place in his Capain’s mind and soul, the very foundation they built would crumble in an instant.
If that was not enough, how would the rest of his friends and comrades feel towards him if they knew he had quit? His friends had been there with him from the very beginning of his arrival in Sereitei. They shared his joy, and rejoiced at his accomplishments. They came to his aid when he felt the most vulnerable, and welcomed his aid in their time of need. They all grew and developed together, and none thought about giving up so easily, but if Kaisho were to do so, being one of the few currently training to attain Bankai, they would feel disappointed and dishearted to hear such news. His comrades, both superiors and subordinates alike, would see him as a quitter from then on. He would be seen as a Shinigami that can not deal with the pressures that lie ahead, and unfit for the role he had yet to play within Sereitei.
Just then, a sudden release of reiatsu flowed into the air. The epicentre of the sudden, remarkably heavy pressure seemed to be coming from directly behind Kaisho. Stunned by the sudden rush of pressure in the atmosphere, the Shinigami took a little while to turn and see exactly who or what it belonged to. However, as Kaisho turned to face the one responisble for emitting such a strong reiatsu, he noticed a tall, medium-built man. This man had long white hair all around his head, which was parted either side of his face due to each parting being knotted around a small silver ring at the very bottom. The man was dressed in an icy blue coloured clothing, which is comprised of what looks to be a sleeveless kosode that covers the left side of the torso, and a single legged hakama covering the right leg. A large black sash tied along the waist was knotted above the left hip, with one of the sash’s strands folded loosely around the left leg, falling just short of the ankle where it is then clipped together by a crescent-shaped clip fastened through the corners of the long strand.
There were certain details that made him person seem quite strange, the first of which being that there was a long thin sleeve on the right arm of the stranger, which until he moved in to attack Kaisho with a thrust of his weapon, seemed to be held in place by absolutely nothing. As Kaisho dodged and made his way around the back, however, he noticed that the kosode was in fact a sort of cape, twisted around the body and tucked into the hakama, with two arm openings and only one sleeve. Upon looking closely in that instant, he also noticed that the skin was an oddly light shade of grey with freckles. They were not just normal freckles, they were white in colour and covered the man’s entire body. As the attacking stranger relaxed his attacking stance, Kaisho gasped as he noticed that weapon was actually his Zanpakuto. “Hey, what are you doing with that? Who are you?” Kaisho said, a little flustered by this sudden turn of events.
The man’s head turned, the four sections of hair that was fashioned in the same manner as the front swayed to the right, as he looked over his left shoulder with a narrowed gaze. Kaisho noticed that the man had a marking on his forehead, that of a white moon in its crescent phase. The Shinigami was beginning to make sense of it all now, and at the very least, knew the identity of this new arrival. Kaisho smiled faintly, taking up a more relaxed stance. “Why the long face, Kangetsu?” Kaisho teased. “That took you far too long. You should’ve recognised my reiatsu immediately.” Kangetsu retorted, turning his body around and quickly lunge again, this time with a sideways slash. Taking a step back, Kaisho nimbly sprang up and back from it, his nostrils gently flared at his Zanpakuto spirit’s response. After Kaisho nestled back down to earth from his leap, and silence fell between the two as they stared at one another. Kaisho eventually broke the silence with, “Maybe, but can you blame me?” hinting at the wound on his chest and the expectation of Kaisho seeing a horse spirit confronting him.
~~
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 5:47 pm
{{ Part 2. }} It was not long before another spell of silence fell between the Shinigami and his Zanpakuto spirit. It was only short, and this time Kangetsu was the first to speak. “In your moment of desperation, you decided that you were going to summon me here.” Kangetsu began, “You were thinking about how worthless you would look if you gave up, weren’t you? How everyone else would think of you much differently if you decided not to finish what you started; finished what you desired to start. Do you not find this situation ironic?”
Kaisho’s eye contact slid away from his Zanpakuto, staying silent for a moment as he mulled over his choice of words. “What is so ironic about a Shinigami calling on his Zanpakuto for help?” He asked, rather agitated by the questions being asked.
“Your desire to summon me came from your lack of resolve. I am not here to help you.” Kangetsu answered. With that, the Zanpakuto spirit charged at Kaisho once again, and this time his approach was much more aggressive. He came at Kaisho much faster and harder than before, thrusting forward with intent to drive through the Shinigami’s earlier wound. The nimble Lieutenant of Seventh Squad, while still psychologically hindered by Kangetsu’s words, shuffled his body to the right with a quick ninety degree turn with his back to the broad side of the large weapon. The movement tore the fabric of the Shinigami’s kosode slightly in passing, but failed to make any mark on Kaisho’s person. However, Kangetsu’s watchful eye fell upon and opportunity, and while looking at Kaisho staring back at him, decided to take action. The Scimitar shifted to a horizontal position, the sharp edge just centimetres from Kaisho’s back, and pulled his body level with his straightened right arm to face parallel to Kaisho. With a little contraction in the trapezius and back muscles, Kangetsu’s arm came back from Kaisho’s back another inch, but allowed the Zanpakuto spirit to swing forcefully, vying to cleave the Shinigami in half.
Seeing this attack develop, Kaisho had little time to come up with an action in response. However, the Shinigami did manage to do something. As the blade’s edge turned to him, Kaisho quickly looked back over his right shoulder, planting his hand on the broad flat side and vaulted over the cleaving attempt, alleviating the pressure on the blade by lifting his hand off to avoid becoming imbalanced by the movement of the scimitar. Landing in a crouched position the safer side of the attack, Kaisho swiftly swivelled his body anti-clockwise, extending his left leg out towards Kangetsu’s stomach to land a flat-footed side kick. The kick connected, and though it wasn’t particularly powerful, it was enough to sent the Zanpakuto spirit staggering back a few feet, which gave Kaisho more space to get up and decide what to do next. Kaisho decided he would attack again, making use of his leg reach by stepping in close and performing a much stronger kick than the one before. Kangetsu managed to pull the Scimitar back in time to stop it from hitting his body, but even with the flat side of the blade blocking the attack, it sent the Shinigami’s inner spirit reeling back a few tens of metres.
“I’m surprised.” Kangetsu finally said, recovering quickly from the slight winding he took from Kaisho’s last kick. “You seem to have noticed that I am wielding our Shikai. And you possess a modicum of strength, even in your dulled state, Kaisho. However, if you think you can beat me with that pathetic lack of resolve restraining you, think again. You have no idea what you have gotten yourself into, what you are fighting for, well let me demonstrate it… very clearly this time.” He added, coming at Kaisho again with his Scimitar. The Shinigami noticed that Kangetsu’s speed and power had increased much more, and could hardly move away from the slash aimed across his upper chest, stepping back just enough to prevent. It made a shallow laceration across the part of his body that had been burned previously, reviving the burning sensation for a moment before the sword’s effect kicked in moments later, as the light wound spat a sliver of blood and then froze over with a tinge of claret in its hue. Subsequently, Kangetsu rattled off a series of slashes, each one moving at a different angle to the next. Kaisho found it hard to shimmy between each one without some form of nick to his arm, leg shoulder or face.
Kaisho eventually managed to shuffle rapidly behind Kangetsu, putting a reasonable amount of distance between them. By now, Kaisho had amassed a lot of frozen over cuts on his body, only shallow, but the cold ice was playing games on his body temperature. It was certainly going to give him trouble moving quickly and effectively, and with his body working against the cold, he would be sure to tire quickly from more severe attacks. Before Kaisho could worry about those issues, he found an opportunity to attack. With Kangetsu in the process of turning to face the Shinigami, Kaisho held his hands up with his palms facing out to the spirit. Kaisho gathered reiatsu, forming an orb of light that quickly turned a fiery red. “Hado #31, Shakkaho!” Kaisho announced, the orb grew into a fireball the diameter of his chest, and sent it out at Kangetsu. Meanwhile, Kangetsu had turned to face Kaisho, and upon hearing Kaisho announce the destructive Kido, the Zanpakuto spirit announced an attack of his own; Shiro Enko.
The outcome of the two attacks was obvious to Kaisho, and took a massive leapt into the air when he heard the attack Kangetsu unleashed. As Kaisho looked down at the destruction of the landscape as a result of the cold wave of reiatsu, a large gash had been carved into the floor, within it a rather large structure of ice jutted out just like those in his wounds, causing him to gasp. Just then and by complete surprise, Kangetsu zipped into view in front of the Shinigami, Shikai aloft, ready to cut him down. . With a swift slash, Kaisho felt his chest pried open by the sword’s cutting edge, blood gushing out into the air as the deep wound spanned from his right shoulder to his left hip. As insult to injury, the Shikai’s effect froze the wound over, adding yet more agony to the stinging, throbbing sensation. As Kaisho fell, his body became limp and his consciousness swayed into a state of limbo. “This again…?” Kaisho thought, teetering on the edge of consciousness as he hit the ground below, staring up at Kangetsu with blackening vision. “No… this is different… last time I was slashed from behind and impaled, this feels different. He could kill me now, end this… this agony I am feeling, yet he chooses to stand there looking at me as if he’s waiting for something.”
Kaisho turned his head, coughing up a large clump of blood as his wound spewed out. Kaisho began to ponder his situation, more on why his Zanpakuto was not coming to finish him off. “Is he waiting for me to die? The b*****d, he wouldn’t just do that to me… he would respect me enough not to do that. He wouldn’t just leave me to die slowly and painfully. He must be waiting for me to do something, but what? My body is fighting the cold, and my blood is seeping everywhere. Yet… that face… his eyes and his expression. It’s as if there’s something I can do, like he wants me to remember something. Think, Kaisho… think… just what is it that I’m missing?” Kaisho’s thoughts were whirling, even as his eyes began to close.
His mind searched around, thinking back on everything he could possibly remember, with nothing at all to show. He could hear Kangetsu’s words on how he lacked the mindset to defeat him to achieve the ascension he was after. However, without realising it, he had begun the first step to gaining what he needed, just merely by trying to find the memories he needed to regain his will to survive. Those were same memories that would give him the will to stand up and fight, the ability to persevere, and the stength to succeed. By sustaining his consciousness long enough to find those answers, he was already slowly beginning to build his resolve. His reiatsu slowly began to rise, an aura of his energy surrounded him, thicker and thicker, until it was radiating off him into the air. One by one, the memories started to surface, and with each new memory came a stronger pulse to his reiatsu. He could remember the words he said the first time he neared defeat, and those of which he used to stir an unconfident Shinigami into believing himself once more.
“Strive. Strive to challenge yourself… but don’t ever do something your head and heart cannot agree on.”
Kaisho’s eyes shot open, firstly noticing that Kangetsu was still looking at him, noticing that both of them were emitting the same reiatsu aura. He also noticed that the bleeding had become but a mere dribble in comparison to before, while the wounds were strangely still open and filled with ice. For the first time in this entire encounter, Kaisho actually smiled, staring back at an expectant Kangetsu. “Well?” The Zanpakuto spirit probed. “Thank you for not giving up on me, Kangetsu, I was finally able to find my reason for fighting you.” Kaisho began. “I made a decision with my head and heart to accept this challenge, and yeah, there’s a lot of people who are counting on me to see it through until the end and not quit, but that’s not all. I didn’t want to do this for them, I made the decision because I thought that I was up to it, and me being me, I wanted to just give up and turn away. You could see that in me, but you could also see the reason I initially took up the challenge… what my reason was. That is how I was able to summon you, I knew that as risky as it was, you’d be the one to force me to remember that reason.”
Kangetsu remained nonchalant, moving his left hand over to the hilt of the sword, clutching it now with both hands. He suddenly jolted into a burst of pace, racing at Kaisho with the intent to cut him clean through. “Tell me that reason, while you still have a breath in your body.” Kangetsu hollered, readying himself to swing his sword. In that moment, Kaisho’s expression changed to one of a man with focus. Anticipating the attack well, Kaisho quickly darted up towards Kangetsu, landing a pre-emptive strike to the Zanpakuto spirit’s lower ribs with a deftly aimed uppercut. The blow cut Kangetsu’s advance suddenly, his body froze as the breath from his lungs were taken away. Kaisho rounded Kangetsu a moment after as he moved to Kangetsu’s back, moving his other arm into a forearm smash to the corner of the back of Kangetsu’s head, hurtling him into the crater Kaisho once occupied. Dust billowed over the Zanpakuto spirit, and as it did, Kaisho decided he would speak again, answering Kangetsu’s earlier question.
“You want to know my reason for summoning you here and battling you? My reason for being here is to strive past my current limits, and to break free of the restraints I place on myself. Is that reason enough?” Kaisho said, staring at the cloud of dust expectantly. Just then. Kangetsu came rushing through the cloud, holding the scimitar tightly with intent to attack again. “Bakudo #8, Seki.” Kaisho uttered, orbs of respulsive energy forming over the Shinigami’s hands, before using it to parry the incoming attack. However, instead of the kido dissipating, it retained its shape and strength, Kaisho’s training to maintain Seki in such a manner long ago paying off in actual combat. As Kangetsu was shifted back by the spell’s repulsive power, his eyes flickered with a sense of relief, almost as if he had been biding his time for the moment where Kaisho could at least stand on equal footing with him once again. With perfect synchronisation, both parts of the same entity heightened their reiatsu even more, staring confidently at each other before moving in to attack at the same time.
Blade against barrier, fist and foot against steel. As one made an attack, the other was quick to react and defend, switching roles between offence and defence at a moment’s notice, time and again. Kaisho rallied off a series of punches and kicks, landing hits to the shoulder and face while Kangetsu seemed to be on the back foot, but eventually found and opening with a quick parry. Now Kangetsu was on the charge, slashing away as Kaisho nimble strafed and expertly blocked, though finding the large Scimitar nick his chin and cut across his left leg. Soon though, Kaisho found an opening as Kangetsu slashed down, managing to clutch the Zanpakuto spirit’s wrist, wrenching his wielding arm and shoulder with a quick sweeping movement under his shoulder, before powerfully striking at Kangetsu’s upper ribs with a knife kick, an audible crack released into the air. Kangetsu rolled and reeled at the force of the attack, which had broken a rib, giving them both a chance to fall back for a moment to gather their composure. With blood trickling from both, and neither looking like they could last much longer, they knew that the fight would have to end.
“Well… this is it, Kangetsu.” Kaisho said, his words stammering from fatigue, his consciousness sustained by what strength he had left, combined with sheer willpower. “So it seems, Kaisho.” Kangetsu responded, he too just about able to keep his balance. Both adjusted their stance, quickly preparing for their final attack, almost certain of what the other was going to try. “Hado #33…” Kaisho said, moving his hands crossed over with palms facing Kangetsu, his reiatsu manifesting around him in large quantities as it began to chennel to his palm. Kangetsu had moved the Scimitar to face Kaisho with the tassles flaring wildly facing him, straightening as Kangetsu’s reiatsu channelled into each of them, speaking in tandem with Kaisho. “Tsuibi Hyouchuu…” He began. Both finished their verbal commands at once, and with that their respective attacks streamed with trememdous force through the air. Kaisho had used Soukatsui, the blue crashing fire kido, whereas Kangetsu used the icy piercing attack of Tsuibi Hyouchuu; Heki. Each attack met and vyed to overwhelm the other, and in the heat of the moment, Kaisho and Kangetsu let out a passionate roar, sparking yet more strength in their attacks until an explosion of their energies engulfed them both.
“Thank you, Kangetsu, for everything.”
“I’m not just Kangetsu anymore, Kaisho. I am….”
“…. Soudai Shiro Kangetsu.”{{ Finished. }}
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