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 Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 6:42 pm
((Now this is what I missed about roleplaying! I'm thrilled to have found someone to roleplay like this with. Also sort of assumed your guy didn't leave the tall grass because I don't remember reading anything about it.))
William watched carefully in case Takena let the weight fly at him while it spun faster and faster. Soon, however, even his could only see an afterimage of it. He blinked twice to try and see it again, but the afterimage stayed between a blur and a solid weight. “He’s too fast for me, just like that Zaine guy in my squad. Ye gods I really hope I can get back to my former glory of the real world.” The female voice within his mind yawned, “Meh, I don’t see how such a slow-moving object could be too fast. Heck, I could bat that thing backwards in a heartbeat if I wanted, but nooo…..I have to be stuck inside your slow-a** soul. I wanna take a nap,” she added with another yawn before going silent. William, on the other hand, listened to Takena, “Basics indeed, but with my experience the basics are what I need now anyway. And I’ll have to get your name sometime as well,” he thought toward the female voice which didn’t respond.
Takena’s explanation continued until William thought the man was a fanatic toward the weapons in his hands. He changed the weapon that he was swinging around while William approached the grassy area once again. He was very much amused at the next feat Takena did; he became a human lawnmower, cutting down the grass around him with the chained kama. “If I ever get any land here I might want to call him up from time to time to cut my hedges and lawn,” he mused within his own mind. Takena’s sudden change of stance to a dance put William on edge. “What in the world is he doi—,” he began but was cut off when he saw something appear near or on the blade. “What are those?” his mind raced through what the things might be. All he knew was that they were coming straight for him, and he doubted he could dodge the huge projectiles.
His mind almost panicked, but his muscle memory from centuries of self-defense training told him to jump away. Almost the instant that he was about to jump, the female voice entered his mind, “Hmm? What’s going on—,” there was a surprised gasp before the voice screamed, “DOWN! GET DOWN YOU DOLT!” A spark jumped between his lower and upper leg muscles unwillingly dropping him to the floor with a loud thud. The wound in his leg screamed at the treatment, but then the leg went almost numb. “Don’t need that nerve cluster causing any distractions; off they go,” the voice said nonchalantly. He could still move the leg, but he could not feel pain from the wound anymore. “Wha-what the hell are you doing?!” he asked with a yell both at Takena and his Zanpakuto. The arm-thick projectiles flew over his half-crumpled body. “I’m helping you the only way I can, slowpoke. I can’t do anymore for a while though, so you’re on your own now.”
“Takena, I told you I don’t want to fight anymore. Why do my opponents never listen to me?” he asked in general before a gust of wind crossed the tall grass. “Hopefully he doesn’t see me with the wind blowing,” William thought before running as best and as fast as he could on hands and legs at the man through the tall grass. With a face of anger meant only to cause a split-second of hesitation, he shot into the small clearing at the man with a fake drop-hook of his left fist. His drop-hook spun him into a roll that brought him to his opponent’s back, or at least he thought his opponent’s back was displayed. With a ground level spin-kick to knock his opponent off his feet he quickly stopped the kick a foot away from contact when he remembered his past mistake. He abruptly switched his momentum by dropping his leg into the ground to shoot up with a strong punch at where his opponent’s middle back should have been.
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Posted: Tue Jul 06, 2010 10:51 pm
(( I thank you for the compliment, and must say the following: EXCELLENT DEDUCTION!!! You chose the only avenue of escape open to you, the only way I couldn't attack! Well done, sir! Oh, and furthermore, you forgot to call out your attack: "Shoryuken!" xd ))
Charles continues his kata as a volley of his strands flies. Momentum of the chain and kama keep him moving. He can't just stop without drastic movement or risk having a self-inflicted wound. Hearing the scream of outrage, Charles wonders just what happened, for if a strand- or hopefully several, landed he would be down. In the back of his mind, he does hope that he missed just to see what William might do. As it appears, his wish was granted. For whatever reason William managed to pick the only method open to avoid a strike. The tall grasses would have caught his strand making the adhesive useless, so no strike went low. Somehow he made a good choice.
After disppearing, William moves in close and low . . . again making a good choice. If Charles were still, he would have seen the hole in the grass moving. Between a light breeze and the motion of his kata the sight was lost. Here is where the advantage is lost. William's well-placed uppercut connects with the mid-back reigon of Charles, but that is not a place without 'interference.' A strong blow lands on his weapon that never got tested. The disk that he was carrying pushes into his back uncomfortably, and makes a loud crackle as the internal systems fail before their first use. "What? NO!!!" Charles tucks into a headlong roll to absorb some of the damage.
The motion of his weapon is lost, but his grip remains. In that roll, the kama lands heavily in the ground, and is ripped up with his roll. Composing the grip on his weapon, he hops up and spins to face William, only to feel several large pieces of metal and components fall from inside his clothes. Shattered, his SHOD disk falls easily from within the shihaksho, and each piece irritates Charles more. True, it saved him from a painful strike to his spine, but to be destroyed without use is infuriating. Scowling at William, Charles struggles to hold his temper. Calm. Think. Use it. This quick moment brings himself back into focus.
The device can be repaired, perhaps refined. But that is for later. For now, he rolls with the moment and takes up his weapon into another kata. For the second time, William has forgone his weapons and moved for hand-to-hand combat. This means he is most likely to rely on moves designed for damage using unarmed combat. If his chain is dancing around him, he is far more defensible. Defense is his best skill with the ksurigama, taking odd attacks to slip around other's attacks. Best of all, William is taking this seriously- almost dangerously so. That means this is likely to result in a spike in reitatsu . . . and Charles' ultimate goal . . . shikai. William will learn far more from his zanpaktou than from an instructor, he certainly did from Aitourensa!
The urge to pull out his trump card rises within him, but he resists that just yet. His special technique is a careful secret he is saving for something truly special. Instead, he decides on a little something familiar. With another burst of energy directed at his feet, he leaps high- that momentum canceling the kata as his weapon trails his motion. The moment he launches upward, he pulls another disk from his bandoleer, and fires it down to where he was after a short squeeze. The trick will be what William does with it. Up in the air, he has no way to hide his action. This time the projectile is not the same shape as before, but a sphere.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 6:42 am
((Thank you as well! The only problem though, was that my guy was doing a straight punch instead of an uppercut. Think of his leg acting like a pivot while his fist shoots straight forward with the momentum of the pivot.))
Surprisingly, his blow connected, almost setting him off-balance from the previous failure streak he was quickly chalking up. While he swung, the sheathed blade on his arm shifted forward, and struck precisely when he did, adding the force of the flat-ended gladius. There was a resounding clang of metal before he could more than easily recognize the crunch of it a moment later. “Not bad for a snail. You might just show me the reason I am part of you,” his Zanpakuto said with interest. While he withdrew his hand, the gladius slid back into place for the next blow. Takena’s yell really distracted him. Thinking that he might have hurt his opponent too much he ask, “Are you alright? I didn’t break any bones did I?” His eyes watched Takena’s movements carefully, and his conclusion was fairly simple, “No, he wouldn’t move like that if I had broken a rib or his back. I broke something he was hiding back there. Very well, press the attack.” Again he dove into the grass, finding it to be much to his advantage while Takena moved.
Like the predator he had already become twice, he stalked his prey, following him wherever he went. “I did not wish to fight you Takena, for I am injured. Now I don’t feel the pain of my injury, and I think I broke something of yours. Both could have been avoided had we not fought." Not one of Takena’s movements escaped his eyes, but he still couldn’t keep up like he used to be able to. “The element of surprise is my only weapon right now….let’s hope I can keep it in my grasp.” He followed Takena in the tall grass, observing him, watching him, making sure he learned everything about his new opponent before he made his next move. “The dance….I can see it and possibly block the kama with my weapons….but my body is too slow for that.” Takena abruptly stopped his dance and shot into the air with his kama trailing him. William’s eyes followed Takena’s hands to his bandolier where he saw him pull out something spherical.
He had seen the spherical object before, “A grenade.” Because he had been closely following Takena, he was right where the sphere was to go. “Aw s**t—wait! I’ve got an idea.” A devilish smile crossed his face this time, while his Zanpakuto realized what he was up to. “What do you mean you have an ide—no, no-no-no-no-no-NO!” “Oh yes…..” The grenade began to light up, signaling that it was about to explode like the last one he had experienced. William felt remarkable energy enter his legs before he launched himself into the air as high as he could to reach the grenade with his blades. With a crack from his Zanpakuto like a baseball bat hitting a baseball, he hit the device back into the air in a random direction. “Just get it—ngh—away.” His arms already prepared for the crash landing; he rolled off the ground until he lost control in mid tumble. Finally he came to a stop a few meters away, leaving a trail of crushed grass in his wake. With some disorientation, he got up from the ground to look at his opponent once more. After all, he couldn’t get up as high as Takena could and even then he would be fully exposed to his ranged and defensive attacks.
((Originally, I had my guy kick the grenade and fracture his foot, but that would have sort of ended this RP fight right then and there. So he basically punched that thing with the metal pommel of his attached swords to get it away. Similar tactic to throwing a grenade back at an enemy, but this time it's random. Take your pick of where it goes.))
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Posted: Thu Jul 08, 2010 10:02 pm
Addle-brained IDIOT!!! Charles curses himself as he falls back down to the ground. The grenade flies off like a foul ball and detonates mid-air harming nothing and none. The thunderous boom is still strong in the air as Charles lands in the grass, and he keeps his eyes trained on the waist-high grasses where William is. Despite his own fun at trying to provoke William's zanpaktou, he fell for the exact same trick he tried on his peer when fighting for the 3rd seat. Charles recalls it vividly . . .
Set on the open ocean, an empty oil tanker gently rocks with the current. The bridge of this massive vessel is blasted open, like a bowl, with a shimigami standing mid-air just beyond the hole. Without concern, he tosses a lit stick of dynamite into the blasted bridge to flush out a second shimigami. Charles, the only occupant of the blasted bridge, is left with few options. Picking up a large plate of metal, Charles swings it at the explosive. With a dong sound, the plate connects, and he moves with the momentum to turn his impromptu bat into a shield and huddles behind it. In the air, the shimigami was forced to deal with his own explosive . . .
Scowling at himself for falling for his own trick, Charles realizes his flaw. He has been fighting like a warrior. That is William's domain. Of course he will lose that way. Instead, he should be fighting like a scientist. In him, a feeling of approval washes over as he revises that thought into fight like a spider, not a panther. When the thunder subsides, he speaks aloud. "Consider this a learning opportunity William. I know I will. What you destroyed was an untested prototype. For me, this is an annoyance, nothing more. For you, you whine about a headache when an opponent can take you apart? Should I get a bandage for your 'boo-boo?' You should realize something."
With a rapid and soft incantation, Charles passes his kama and chain to his left hand a moment before a glowing orb of silver appears there. Grasping his hand on the orb, it bursts into a long shaft of energy and he looks to where the hole in the grass might still indicate where his opponent is. "Death does not wait for you to be ready! Death is neither considerate nor FAIR! Bakudo #63: Hyapporankan!" Heaving the weapon at William, it flies fast and true. Made of energy, it has no weight for the moment. Then, a few yards into flight, the rod explodes into dozens of rods, flying like buckshot across the field arcing down ever so slightly.
The moment his bakudo was away, Charles began chanting again, this time something a tad simpler. Powering through the incantation, he calls out his second spell just before the rods impact the ground- presumably stapling William to the ground. "Bakudo #26: Kyokko!" Like the surface of a still lake reflecting his image, he seems to shimmer and then fade from sight. This handy little binding spell doesn't last long, but it should let him dash into position through a jump without being seen. The nature of kyokko is to bend light around the individual, making them invisible for a short time. Furthermore, both presence and the sensation of reiatsu are also blocked. True stealth for all intents and purposes allows Charles to prepare for another strike. All that remains is to see just how William deals with a move that is both attack and distraction at the same time.
Preparing his ksurigama for the next strike, Charles watches cautiously- far more spider than panther.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 6:45 am
((I can be very understanding and patient, so don't worry.))
William slowly recovered from his tumble while he watched Takena descend toward the ground. Every second felt like an hour, every minute like an eternity. His breath comes slow in his calmed combat state. “What is he planning now?” he said while lowering himself into the grass once more to try and hide from his opponent. “Learning experience, pah! You should have considered it a learning experience from the beginning. I know I have.” He watched with curiosity as Takena formed the sphere of silver, and William began to run. “That can’t be the same attack as before; he was dancing back then, but I don’t doubt that something to my disadvantage will happen if I’m hit by anything he throws at me.” He chuckled at Takena’s attempt of an insult. “Sticks and stones…” William’s ears picked up words, but he could not make them out while running in the grass. Over his shoulder he sees Takena heft a spear of light, or so it seemed while telling him about death.
“Death….” the word passed over his lips like a recent bitter memory.
“He swings, but his opponent is faster!” the moderator yelled to the crowd. “Tso sends him a few swings, and a blinder. Noo, William fell for it. Tso grapples the opportunity and throws William to the ground. Wait, William’s getting back—no Tso got him. This could be the end of Will—again no, William breaks and picks Tso up as if he were a ragdoll only to slam him into the ground on his other side!” The moderator paused while the electronics flickered. “Looks like the weather outside is as bitter as this very fight! Tso jabs. William blocks a kick to the side. Tso’s having trouble keeping pace with William.” William delivered lightning blow after lightning blow, each as unpredictable as the last and each hitting their mark straight through his opponent’s defense. “This looks like the end folks. William’s done this before and it’s only a matter of time before Tso goes down.” An enormous crack of thunder shook the building while the electronics almost cut out entirely. A shadow of a figure stood on one of the poles of the ring, completely distracting him. “Ladies and gentlemen, we seem to be having a few problems due to the storm outside, please remain in your seats until we can resum—,” at that very instant, a lightning bolt shot through one of the upper windows and arced its way down to the ring where the two fighters stood. “Finally I have found you,” a voice whispered into his ear before the lightning struck him in the head. The energy coursed through him like wildfire; physically, mentally, and spiritually fusing itself with William. “You will thank me later,” it said into his mind before the bolt of excess electricity shot out his feet and into the ground. A second later, William’s body hit the ground with no other person injured. He stood above his previous body before he was suddenly struck in the head by the same shadowy figure he had seen standing on the ring pole. Otherworldy peace enveloped him before he was taken to Soul Society.
He snapped out of his flashback to find the spear hurtling toward him. “That’s not so baAAD!” he panicked for a nanosecond when he saw the spear break into dozens of smaller ones. “Crap –thunk– crap –thunk– crap!” the spears were coming down all around him and it was a wonder none had hit while he was running. He turned his head just in time to see a spear he couldn’t dodge. In a last, ditch attempt he spun around to try and knock it out of the air. Once again his body had not been nearly fast enough to keep up with his eyes and the spear struck his chest squarely before proceeding through to the ground. Like a horrible roller coaster, he stopped abruptly and fell to the ground on the spear of light. “Wha….ngh….what the hell is this thing?!” he said while trying to pull it out of himself. His eyes had been both looking at the spear in his chest and at his opponent, but when his opponent vanished, he chuckled with half panic half amusement, “Life was unfair….death is just ridiculous.” He began striking at the spear with his weapons in an attempt to break the thing. Over and over he struck at the strange spear in an attempt to free himself. After about a dozen hits or so, he gave up and attempted to pull the spear out with his hands. “Come on, come on!” He struggled and struggled, but to no avail.
“What arrre you doing?” his Zanpakuto asked with curiosity while looking at his current situation. She began laughing, “You really are helpless without me. Here let me—,” “No!” William yelled at her. “I’ll do it myself.” He started struggling with the spear again; first pulling, then striking. “I won’t…rely…on your…stupid…comments…and help…unless…I need to!” With every few set of words he began striking the spear harder and harder. “If you are a part of me, then we should work as one and not as two separate entities.” Sweat had long since begun to soak his haori. Some hidden power within him slowly began to flow into him while a very short chuckle came from his Zanpakuto, “Now that’s more like the person I chose.” Slowly, with every single blow, the spear began to crack. Blow by blow, his determination grew, and blow by blow he wondered where the power was coming from. Finally, after a few dozen strikes, the spear broke and vanished. “Yes!” he yelled in triumph while his breath came swiftly. He could hardly move from the effort, but he attempted to stand back up anyway. “Now where are you Takena?” he thought to himself while he scoured the area on his level and above for his opponent. His breathing slowed more to a reasonable level of rest while he stayed on his toes; he had wasted a lot of time trying to break free of the spear, so he didn’t doubt his opponent had been planning something.
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Posted: Fri Jul 09, 2010 10:01 pm
(( Two bits of bookkeeping . . . one, I wasn't running- but can easily incorporate it. Two, haori's are the garment worn by captains. We wear shihakshos . . . unless you are more powerful than I thought! O__o ))
Charles fights hard not to bark a laugh at William's reaction to the detonating Hyapporankan once his movement stops. So concentrated on moving, he didn't process that which is not essential. Still, his need to control himself holds true. If not for the second bakudo, William might see the broad smile on his face though. Not one of malice or predatory intent- but of success. New to the concept of conversing with his zanpaktou, William's comments are obviously not directed to Charles. That means only one other entity should be hearing him that would actually speak . . . and the forced contact with his weapon is a milestone that he has been waiting for.
Seeing William break the rod, he wonders just how much damage is done. The Hyapporankan is a bakudo- a sealing kido. Not meant for damage, but to staple an opponent to a wall or floor. Nevertheless, being speared by a rod of energy has to have done some damage. Likely some blood loss, but internal injuries shouldn't be too harsh. For certain, when this is done, Charles will have to escort his newest project to the fourth squad barracks. His flash step might not be the best, but doing so should solve the issues. Back to the moment, Takena. Forcing his attention to the moment, Charles looks on.
Charles does a quick analysis of his situation. He is largely unharmed, some light bruising on his mid-back. The Kyokko will not last much longer, but he is far from winded. He still has an aresenal of grenades to use, and his DARTs. Still, without a SHOD, the latter are nigh useless . . . or are they? He did tell William that they missed him on purpose. Perhaps that can work to his advantage. Strategies work through his mind as he considers his next plan of attack.
Laying his weapon over a shoulder, Charles pulls out two more of his shaped charges, and slinks through the grass to set all three of his specialty 'skyblast' models in a line perpendicular to him. Stepping back a few feet, he pulls out four of his DARTs, and carefully aims them with an upward arc. The moment they leave him the weapons become visible, but such is alright. Without a steady bead on him, William should be caught by surprise. As they come downward just beyond him, they should come blade-down. Picking his weapon off his shoulder, he begins to swing the weighted end just as his bakudo ends. "Looking for me?" Charles offers a smug smile and holds his ground. The web is set, and his quarry is studied enough to have a rough idea of the next step.
In the past, William has favored a direct approach. With impacts behind him, and a suddenly visible opponent not in the defensive dance, Charles is hoping to 'herd' William. Success means William will need more power than ever, drawing out his zanpaktou. Failure means he must be ready to defend, so his weapon is at it's most versetile- in motion. Unanticipated approaches are covered by two contingencies as well. One, distance. It will take time for William to reach him giving time to anticipate. Two, the three 'surprises' are set wide apart, so any semi-direct route should send his opponent airborne. Without fragmentation, these grenades are little better than a major push . . . straight up. That should disorientate William into a minor panic being airborne without recourse.
Despite his defensive nature, Charles is enjoying this experiment greatly. In fact, he hopes this is being recorded by the security system for analysis later!
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 6:23 pm
((Been busy all weekend and will be busy for the next 3-4 days. I've got finals this week, so I'm sorry for not being able to post.))
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Posted: Sun Jul 11, 2010 10:24 pm
(( no problem. Hell, at this rate you will be eligable to earn your Shikai by the time I force the issue! xd ))
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 8:36 am
((Heh, it wasn't your guy that I meant was running; it was my guy who had begun running. It was very badly worded. Regarding the haori, heh, mixed them up. And yes, if this continues for a few more IRL days, then I might be able to ask to have my Shikai released by this since it is well over 25 posts.))
William looked around frantically for his opponent who had completely vanished. The spear had hurt him a little, but it seemed nothing more painful than smacking his head had happened from it. “Where the heck is he?” he thought while scanning the grass for a hole or for unusual movement. “You have ears, use them,” came his Zanpakuto’s advice. “Right, as if I’d hear hi—,” there was a rustle before him and impulsively he punched before jumping back. His fist had hit nothing but a few blades of grass and thin air. There was another rustle before he heard the shriek of some sort of object flying through the air. His eyes locked onto a throwing knife off to his right which had literally appeared out of thin air. “Is he….invisible?” Another throwing knife popped into existence high in the air above him. “Raining knives?” His eyes jumped to yet another knife while the second one hit the ground safely behind him. “A distraction…” he thought while a purr of a growl entered his mind. “Strike swiftly before he can finish what he has planned,” his Zanpakuto said with vigor. His eyes jumped almost to the ground when the final throwing knife was thrown. His eyes had seen approximately the position of where it had appeared.
“Now!” both his Zanpakuto and he thought while he shot straight for where the knife had appeared. His ears twitched when something familiar began whistling through the air. “His weapon, the weight,” he thought before he immediately slowed down. “Looking for me—TRAP!” William had originally been awaiting his opponent’s appearance, but when he appeared and said that line he knew it had been a trap. His foot kicked something while he slowed down while his mind cursed at his horrible mistake. His eyes widened with a mixture of fear and realization while the device began to glow and expand just like the other two. He was in no position to get away in time, nor was he able to distance the device from himself again like the round one in the air. “H-help!” he meagerly said into his own mind while reaching for an unseen hand. A few sparks flew along his legs and back before he was turned around. “Like I said, I can only minimally force your muscles to contract, and even that can only be done every few minutes if you don't let me in.” His ears flattened against his head while the full force of the blast sent him flying through the air in a large arc toward another area of the facility. His legs smacked against the base of a tree, spinning him around until he crashed and rolled on the floor to a stop.
Thunder crashed around him while he laid face down in the jungle of his inner world. Rain trickled down his beaten face while his ears rang from the explosion. A barefoot figure slowly walked over to him and knelt by his side. His face was blank from disorientation and his mind ached from the sudden concussion. He felt a very soft touch against his cheek before the figure spoke a few words, “Rest now William; you have tried your best, but your opponent is not playing fair. Let Kuro Hantoresu deal with him now…” The soft hand began to grow dark fur and claws, slowly shifting to a more bestial form. A monsoon began to come down, completely flooding the forest, but he no long was on the forest floor; he found himself staring out across the entirety of his inner world from the charred branches of the tallest tree there.
William’s mind fell away to her overwhelmingly reassuring touch and he drifted back to his body. He could not move, nor did he want to move; both his body and mind hurt far too much. His swords began rattling in their scabbards; the noise slowly grew louder and louder until it suddenly stopped. A single spark jumped out of the right hand scabbard before silence broke over the forest once again. Several seconds of nothing passed without so much as a twitter of a bird. The wind stopped blowing through the trees. A low humming entered the air. The humming grew louder and louder, just like the shaking from before. This time, though, the humming stopped only to be very abruptly replaced by sparks flying all over William’s body. Infinite agony filled his limbs, but he could not shout. His mouth could not move, nor could he even breathe. His fingernails split apart while inch-long claws slowly emerged in their stead. His canine teeth squirmed under the pressure of fangs that began pushing them out. His eyes were a light-show of their own while they began to burn from an inner pain. His feet cracked and shattered while the bones grew and reformed into longer, ball-based feet. The transformation was as complete as it was going to get and everything grew still once again. The pain was still there and filled him to his fullest; his voice finally came but his mind no longer wished to yell in agony. He simply couldn’t utter a word, just like if one is scared almost to the brink of passing out.
A spark arced up his arm and his limb jumped to plant itself in a position to push off the ground. Another spark jumped to his other arm to do the same. Fear engulfed him while he watched his body move without his consent. Sparks started flowing almost at a constant rate from the swords on his arms. His muscles contracted from each electrical jolt that passed through them. Unbidden, he stood upon his feet and unbidden he began moving toward where he had flown from. His eyes moved extremely fast and without his will; all he could do was see what they let him see while looking around. As soon as he emerged from the forest, his eyes locked onto and zoomed in impossibly sharp on Takena. A spark hit his cheek, causing him to smile demonically. His legs began moving faster and faster while he sprinted at Takena. Even when he felt he was at his maximum speed, his legs continued to move faster. “Takena!” he yelled, but it was not he who was making his mouth move. The grass fell a few feet before him as if there were a powerful wind blowing it down to the ground just in front of him. The swinging weight was battered from its course by his claws before William’s body struck at the man with the blade-sharp claws, fully intent on killing. “Grr—no! Don’t kill him!” he struggled to yell. His arm halted in mid-swing before he took the opportunity to gain some control, “Stop…just stop…your name…stop it Hantoresu. You’re h-hurting me…”
((Your guy is in trouble unless he really lays on the heat now. I mean at least partial to half power defense and full speed. William is in a pseudo-Shikai released form. He hasn't released his Shikai, but his Zanpakuto is physically changing his body and filling him with some of her power, not to mention controlling his body with electrical shocks and signals. He's much faster now, but not as fast as if he were fully in Shikai. Slowly moving towards permanent Shikai release, which will be in a few days if I am permitted by my captain/the other captains.))
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Posted: Mon Jul 12, 2010 10:05 pm
(( I certainly hope that you gain the approval. Push comes to shove, we can drag our feet on this and stretch it out for another week or so. wink This has been an enjoyable romp! Either way, as unpleasant as this will be for Charles, he did ask for it. wink ))
Charles silently congratulates himself. Though the distracting blades don't really work, he was still prepared for a minor mishap. He was still able to prepare for the strike and his trap seems to work all too well. William steps on the weapon, and it goes off nearly immediately. What shocks him is how far the shimigami flies. "Odd . . . perhaps I didn't calibrate that unit correctly? Shouldn't have shot him that far." Charles calmly steps forward and collects his two remaining skyblast grenades. Thanks to the visor, his head's up display keeps him fully aware of where things land- including William to a rough degree. Charles has no intention of leaving his weapons willy-nilly around the field. Still, retrieving the DARTs seems excessive, so he leaves them be and turns to face the woods.
Standing at his ready, he begins to swing the weight again just to be on the safe side . . . just in time to see an explosion of speed fly at him. Stunned for a moment at the creature almost literally flying at him, Charles knows that he is quite possibly outmatched. As he comes to the conclusion that he is in trouble, the shockwave of William's approach washes over him and the bladed weight is batted out of rotation. Ohhhhhh poopie. Having not had a chance to properly store both the remaining skyblast grenades, Charles is suddenly glad for multipurpose weapons.
As fast as he can, he pulls out one of the hastily put away skyblasts and gives it a squeeze in a singular motion. With a feint, he appears to aim it at William to take advantage of the pause. Instead Charles at the last moment aims the weapon down and jumps. The weapon discharges, pushing hard against his hand. Prepared for that, Charles launches himself so high in the air as to buy time. "This . . . may have been a mistake." All this time, he had assumed that with enough provocation, William would achieve shikai through desperation. What he had not foreseen was the eventuality of release without control. Now he has a beastial being with every logical reason to hurt him. Charles does not enjoy being the prey.
As he slows in the air, he considers his options. William favors direct attack, even in this unthinking behemoth. Judging by the alacrity he showed from just before, he possesses enhanced speed. Not as fast as a flash step, but Charles is not quite a master of that either. To provoke the younger shimigami, he had used non-lethal moves and refrained from doing much in the way of attacking. Now, he realizes that this is beyond a test or experiment. Time to do something more . . . drastic. Oh, how he wishes the SHOD hadn't been damaged! Reaching the apex of his launch, he forces his own focus. Time is running out.
His mind racing, Charles struggles to find a way to proceed as his body begins the inexorable fall back onto William's playing field. Again, he considers pulling out his secret weapon. No- I can't unleash that yet. Especially here where all is recorded! Charles needs two things: to slow his opponent down, and to do enough damage to ensure his own safety. The former is his specialty, the latter . . . he hopes is enough. Using his visor for the targeting system, his weapon again comes to bear. Holding his kama in his right hand, he begins slashing like mad- again firing large strands of webbing down toward Willam. At the same time, he begins to chant and gather energy in his left hand.
"Ye lord! Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws." As the strands land, he has little doubt that the speedy and enhanced beastial would dodge most- if not all eight of his strands. Still, as much as he hates the thought of using his personal twist on combat to waste, his left hand crackles with life and energy. Landing almost exactly where he launched from, the ground is burnt and the grasses are pushed away from the spot where he lands, some of it still smoldering. Pointing directly at William, Charles unleashes his strongest offensive spell. "Hadō #33- Sōkatsui!!!" From his hand, a virtual explosion of light blue energy erupts in a straight line. All around him light seems to dim by comparison and Charles hopes this works. The blast is enough to result in a shockwave around him as the inception point. This has to work . . . this has to at least buy me some time!
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 5:34 am
“He’s goading me!” Hantoresu whined at William’s protests. “And now that I’m at least a little free, I want to show him some of what I can do.” William’s breathing was hard while he tried to keep his body still from Hantoresu’s jolts of electricity. “You’re….hurting….me….” he said slowly while he forced her to look at his bleeding fingernails which had been broken apart and forced out by her claws. “I can stop the pain if you want,” she impatiently offered before the pain indeed had stopped. "Nerves use electric signals, so I just absorb those electric signals to make you not feel anything.” William felt the sparks jumping less and less to his limbs to try and make them move, so he resisted less as well. “You took over my body without my permission.” She gave an impatient sigh before correcting him, “Actually, you did give me permission. I am a part of you, so my decisions are also yours. Deep down, you wanted to kick the living s**t out of him for continuing to fight despite your protests. Then you let me put some of my power into you. Finally, when you couldn’t move, you summoned me to help. I did nothing that you didn’t want, now let me fight!”
With a renewed nexus of jolts and sparks to his muscles, Hantoresu made him continue to fight. Her eyes widened at Takena’s move of holding the grenade straight at her, so she jumped back in a back flip to avoid the potential blast. On her way over, she saw that it had been a feint and landed fully prepared to charge at her opponent. “There,” she calmly said while determining where Takena would come down. With several stronger sparks, she shot off at his place of landing. She patiently watched Takena’s movements, memorizing exactly how, where, and when he used that strange white pillar technique. She dodged several of the white pillars and noticed that they looked both very stick and even bendable. An idea entered her head; without breaking pace, she grabbed onto the front of one of what she realized was spider web, and pulled the heavy weight around her body like a whip. With enough momentum to spin it completely around, she swung it like a whip at where Takena was supposed to be while falling. The sheer weight of the web pulled her along a little while her legs jolted to keep up.
“Great, now the web is stuck to my hand,” William thought while he watched and felt what Hantoresu did. “His weapon has the potential to be a double-bladed sword. I am just testing that. Oh and here comes the web removal spray,” she said while they listened to him chant something. Takena’s hand began to glow and Hantoresu prepared for the moment that she needed to hit. The web would hit roughly at the same time as the blast would hit her. “Got to time this right,” she explained to herself while waiting for Takena to release whatever he was trying to do. Finally, the blast came, but even Hantoresu had not anticipated the speed. Sure, she could easily follow it with her eyes, but William’s enhanced body was not quite fast enough to dodge. “Fine then,” she thought while holding the hand with the web out to block or at least deflect the blast. The blast hit her palm and sent her horizontally spinning through the air at an amazing speed. “Grrow!!” William shouted when he felt the burn of the blast hit his hand. “Hantoresu!” “I’m on it, I’m on it,” she quickly said before the pain disappeared. She landed in the grass and skidded to a halt on all fours. Her eyes swam for a second from the multitude of rotations, but a spark along the nerves to the eye fixed that. Her hands and feet dug into the ground before she shot off in a slight arc toward her opponent in the tall grass. “You’re mine now!” she thought with predatory lust at catching her opponent.
((Her "flying" took a few seconds, her landing and recovery took a few seconds, her running took a few seconds. I think Takena could pull some things off now. Oh and the web is still hurtling straight for Takena after a good portion was removed from the blast against her hand. Yes, she's controlling his body at times, so I used the female tense instead of male tense whenever she was fully in control.))
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Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2010 8:39 pm
(( Good one! I had to seriously scratch my head to come up with a counter here. ))
Again, Charles let the moment wash over him as the blast did what he needed it to. Watching William fly through the air, he wonders what in the hell he can do to stop his counterpart. As his target is blown away, Charles realizes that he was holding a strand. When his mind catches up to the moment, he realizes that William had tried to hit him . . . with his own webbing. That could work in my favor. The blast of his kido destroyed most of the strand, and a simple lean was enough to dodge the remnant that still flew at him. That attack was a failure only because he had one to override the melee strike. Still, he can't help but wish that his primary weapon to be tested was working. Without the time to see the extent of his damage, Charles can't know what happened. His eyes widen with a possible move.
As William finally touches ground, Charles darts off in a different direction. His HUD never was deactivated, and shows where the remnants of his disk were. Diving towards it, he grabs the electronics, and does a quick examination. Yes . . . YES! I can make this work!!! That strike destroyed the sonic delivery system, and casing are beyond simple repair- but the power source, broadcasting system, and most importantly the scanning system are up and running. With a hasty slash at the ground, Charles shoves his electronics half into the dirt, keeping the communications system above ground and his sensor below it. According to his HUD, the DARTS he threw are too far away, but he could chain them for effect . . . A devilish smile crosses his face. With a tap on his visor in just the right place, Charles begins to dash through the grass in a wide arc. Using long strides, he times his placement to fire the four remaining weapons off his thighs into the ground as close to maximum distance as possible. All went active upon impact, and he holds the system trigger. About half of the area should be affected- lucky for Charles it will be the inner half.
Unfortunately, William caught sight of him after his first DART was placed. His cursory examination of the SHOD weapon cost him precious seconds, and now he is on the run. True William is powered up- but Charles has one trick that he hopes his predatory partner doesn't yet. Judging by his lack of experience and knowledge, he likely can't perform a flash step yet. Charles breathes heavy as he dashes to the cluster of four DARTs. To save his proverbial and literal a**, he pushes into a flash step at the last possible moment. He actually feels his shihaksho tug a little from William's attempt to grab him. Flash step is a blinding burst of speed- but the distance is finite. He seems to disappear from one place, and appear further down the field. Were it not for the wave of motion in the grass one might think he did another Kyokko.
Diving into a roll, he picks up two of the DARTs, one in each hand while his ksurigama wraps around his right arm. A secret of his gattai kyuuten is that if used without releasing from the weapon, his chained partner becomes mildly prehensile- and for now that is being used for grip. Don't over extend yourself. Charles grits his teeth at that warning. One of his personal attributes is a high endurance for reiatsu for either kido or use of his ability through his zanpaktou. Still, he has fired a great deal of energy in a short period of time and the strain is starting to show. Overuse could lead to collapse. Still, he can't stop. Running around back toward the disk location, he completes a rough circle, if a bit more ovoid than he would prefer. On that course, he tries to subtly toss the remaining two DARTs roughly equidistant between the source and the two remaining weapons from his aerial distraction. Thanks to his circular route, he never took a straight line, always keeping at least a flank open to William instead of his full back.
After his last weapon is hilt-deep in the ground, Charles turns on a dime and does a short flash step into the center of his area. "Let's see how well you move now!" Holding his ground with a carefully wide stance, Charles presses a button on his bandoleer to signal the system. If this doesn't work, I will need to run for cover . . . and fast. A faint hum begins almost instantly. William is almost upon him. His system begins to activate, and despite being impaired works quite well.
S.H.O.D. Sympathetic Haromonic Octave Distributor. The disk was designed to scan what it is set upon, using a sonic scan. The frequency that is most disruptive to the material is automatically loaded into the distributor speaker, and a steady pulse of that same sound is begun. At least, that is how it would have worked if not for William's punch. The casing was split, and speaker destroyed, making the SHOD no longer able to work . . . alone. When the weapon was designed, Charles also thought of subsystems in the form of kunai-like spikes. Each is set with far simpler systems to receive and replicate a frequency. All are short range, but the Digital Acoustic Resonance Tethers are still fully functional. The disk is able to scan and broadcast, the tethers able to receive and pulse. Despite the damage, this sonic disruption system hums to life and works it's magic.
On a solid surface and with enough time, a blast of sympathetic sound will eventually rip the material apart. Soil is not a single substance. Instead, it is a handful of substances including the roots and plants growing there. Still, the system does not recognize that difficulty. The scanner merely used a form of echo to determine the correct frequency. At the moment, that is all the sophisticated system can do. The darts create a perimeter around Charles in which the ground suddenly becomes soft and pliable. Like a bog, Charles feels his feet want to sink in a bit, and he ducks down into the grass. Not invisible, but with his weight spread out across several points and a wide area. Still fully capable of moving as he needs to, his kama slides into his right hand while the chain remains wrapped around his forearm. What was once a firm meadow is now the equivalent to a swamp in texture as sonics keep the soil vibrating and moving. The true deviousness is that sight alone cannot warn somebody. The way William is leaping about, he will fall hard onto suddenly not so firm ground.
Again, in the back of his mind, Aitourensa offers a wave of approval to the continued attempts to manipulate and trap. The attempts to remain spider-like.
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 5:41 am
((Two can play at the crawling game! mrgreen ))
The dark blue sparks flowing over him shift and change to move his body around while Hantoresu still has control. Her hand comes within inches of her prey and it is only the strange movement she was barely able to see a blur of that saved Takena. Once she had found her prey again, she shot after him, trailing only by a foot or two. "I will admit, he is fast enough to escape a fraction of my speed. If it weren't for the limitations you set on me, I'd be able to catch him," she growled with annoyance at her master who quietly watched what she did from his temporary prison. It was true; he was attempting to hold her back at least a little, but his sub consciousness was the part of him that was holding her down in a paranormal vice grip. “The man moves and acts like a spider; always taking a subtle route but at the same time setting up traps all the time.” William watched with curiosity while Hantoresu threw out throwing knives here and there. “What is he up to this time? Obviously he’s setting up a perimeter of some sort, but for what?”
Hantoresu watched carefully what Takena did. “Of course he’s making another trap; he’s tried several times to catch you in one, and he’s succeeded a few times. I am different though,” she said while slowing down to drop into the grass on all fours. Patiently she observed her prey while it sets up yet another supposed trap. Finally he stops and does something before a strange sensation hits the ground. She felt the ground go very soft, too soft to simply stand on two feet alone. “Fine then,” she said aloud before running on the soft earth. The ground held her, but only barely and that only if she was moving. Because it was so soft, she felt the physical strain on William’s body, almost like treading water but not quite. She searched the grass where she had last seen Takena before slowly expanding her search to a broader area. Finally she found him, “Your tricks may have worked on my masterrr, but they won’t work so easily on me!” She jumped straight at him with the claws ready to hit his flesh and push him down into the soft earth. She wondered what he’d do when confronted with her.
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Posted: Wed Jul 14, 2010 8:15 am
(( oops . . . you made a boo-boo. Challenging a spider in his own web? twisted ))
Charles is elated! His sonic disruption system works, and even damaged it works well! Pity he has no time to celebrate. This new form of William's seems to like jumping around and bursting speed. With that in mind, Charles has now made the ground poor for running, and a good leap would end up sucking a person in on impact. Dispersing his own weight is all that keeps Charles from sinking in himself. Unfortunately William was not in the air as Charles had assumed he would be. On the ground, this panther was quite able to adapt in much the same way he has . . . almost instinctively. He isn't a fighter, he is a predator. Yet another parallel I didn't realize we had.
Then his opponent makes a mistake: he talks. Every time Charles has said something, it was to goad William into action- to lead him into a trap or help move him into position. Now he is in position and ready only to hear a goading from William. This comment does more than announce where he will be coming from, it offers insight into what has happened. Despite all the action and revelations William may have 'enjoyed,' Charles has been left in the dark for most of it. Suddenly everything makes sense. My masterrr? Of course! William is not unable to control himself, he isn't in control! That explains the shift in style and power. Charles narrows his eyes and reaches into a pocket. "Your master? Would not the subjects be drawn in with their king?" He is quickly running out of grenades, having used two of his skyblast models up, one of his frag grenades, and a shockwave. Still possessing two normal and two shockwaves, and a single skyblast. He also hides a pair of emergency ones on his untested arm deployers, leaving some options. Depending on them is growing tiresome, though.
By exposing his position, William opens himself to counter. Charles' ksurigama already has reiatsu in it to maintain the prehensile manner, and he decides to capitalize on that. Dropping his frag grenade on the ground, Charles steps on the device. When William is airborne, he tries again to use the softened ground to his advantage. His trap prevents fast movement along the ground. As such, trying to outrun the man is not going to work horizontally. Instead, he pushes off and jumps back while his weapon readies for his next plan. In the process of kicking off, his grenade is squeezed and arms. Charles should be just beyond the blast radius when it goes off . . . right where William is jumping into. On solid ground, this might be quite deadly. His jump did more than arm the weapon though. Pushing the grenade into the soft vibrating earth also limits the fragmentation's ability to kill. When the weapon detonates, the shockwave and noise are just as loud, but much of the explosion is spent on dirt, grass, and debris. Sure the impact of such material will hurt- and the blast wave should hurt a great deal at close range as well, but lethal? No.
To hedge his bets, for Charles is quite sure that this situation is not so easily diffused, he begins to gather energy in his weapon. One of his zanpaktou skills is to create a web that stretches out over a wide area. The more energy he puts into it, the wider the net. While training recently, he discovered that if he were to release his net anywhere but on the ground, it fired out in a cone. His thick strands normally entangle. Modifying his aim with the yokai mou (phantom snare) means instead of lining the ground, he gains a sticky net. William will certainly escape that blast. Thankfully, the sound and sight barriers it creates will give him room to manouver as he begins to slowly swing his weighted end again. Kama in his right, a circle of motion at his left, and slowly making his way back to the ground, Charles is both happy and concerned when the faint hum ends.
As it turns out, without the casing to protect the electronics, his SHOD disk was not protected against the soft earth. When vibrations caused the ground to become supple, it seeped into the system. That dirt now causes a catastrophic failure of the SHOD hardware- and without a source to resonate to, the DARTs shut down. The ground again becomes firm just in time to avoid muffling the power of that grenade. Just as well, William wasn't bothered with the soft earth anyway. For a moment, Charles even considers calling out to William to find out the name of who is in charge- but decides against it. He just gained an upper hand because of such arrogance in calling out. Why fall for the same trap himself?
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Eloquent Conversationalist
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