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 Posted: Thu Nov 11, 2010 10:09 pm
Setting:Back in the furthest outskirts of the Sereitei there is a forest dense with ancient trees, most of which have never even had eyes set upon them. In the middle of the greenery is a waterfall which has been flowing, legend has it, since before the Sereitei itself had been established. Due to the canopy above it seems as though the location is cast in a constant twilight.
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Posted: Fri Nov 12, 2010 1:06 am
"Why are you so fearful of wielding me, Lerato?" Her voice was unlike any other he had heard. It made him shiver, but he wasn't sure whether it was out of excitement, wonder, or possibly fear. "Are you so much of a coward that you worry that you can't control a part of yourself?" Her words, though silken to the ears cut straight to his heart. It was true that he sometimes feared his own sword; worried that he might get cut by the edge of his own blade. After she received only silence she let out a heavy sigh and whistled, the beating of wings filling the air in Lerato's inner world. "Think about it Kid and get back to me."
"I'll never get used to this..." He murmured to himself. He leaned back, arms resting on the water that seemed to expand over the entirety of the space and watched as his zanpukato spirit flew about silently on one of her two giant birds, only the occasional screech breaking the oppressing silence. 'She's never going to respect me if I stay afraid of her...' He pondered as he watched her turn lazily through the air with the great beast. "It's not you I fear My Queen." He knew he didn't need to yell. She was listening; always listening. "I doubt you understand, as concern doesn't seem to be your strong suit but as a shinigami, as a person, I must worry about the welfare of those around me and let's be honest... you're sort of a wild card for now."
"And whose fault is that?" The voice pierced his ears making him duck despite knowing she was far, far above him. "Really boy, how many times since we first met have you come to visit me? How many times since you've learned my name have you called upon my force? None." She screeched, flying down towards him.
"I know, and that will change very soon I promise."
~~~
The sudden sound of crashing water almost overwhelmed him as he came back to consciousness. Looking down he noticed that he was covered in goose bumps and his teeth were chattering ever so slightly. "Damn..." Standing he tied his zanpukato back on to his waist, his pants completely soaked from sitting under the waterfall. It was almost as if the frigid waters had washed away his anxiety of what was to come. "I hope the Captain can find this place alright..." He himself had stumbled upon it on one of his late nights out and had memorized the path immediately despite his own vague makeshift directions. This would be his first time ever going up against someone of a captain-class level and to make the whole matter worse it was his Captain, Fefnir. A man who utterly amazed and terrified him.
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Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 11:15 pm
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Always with the out of the way spots, these Squad members...
The forest was awash with sounds of animals and a soft wind gusting through the trees. It wasn't as if there was anything particularly different about this forest as opposed to any of the other ones that were scattered around the world they lived in, but for some reason this one seemed to be just that much more difficult to navigate compared to the usually sparsely vegetated locales around. It wasn't a terrible place to do training if one were doing something regarding stealth or had an affinity for earth or plants, or if one simply wanted to get away from the synthetic sounds of the city, but for the purposes they intended to use it for, a plain would have been so much more useful. Even ground forces even fighting, and skill in combat wins out, but here, tactics and would triumph. To the red man silently stepping through brush and blooms alike, it it was rather immaterial what advantage his ward would care to draw on in such an environment, simply because everything around them was flammable.
He sighed. Whenever he burned things down, he always ended up paying for them out of pocket, so hopefully it wouldn't come to that. This was shikai training, after all, and not some exercise in deforestation, but one would be surprised how often those two things became one and the same. Fefnir put the idea out of his mind for now, though, and devoted his attention more to the thin stream in front of him. His instructions on how to reach the requested area as well as a rough description of what he was looking for had included a waterfall, so the easiest way to locate it would be to follow the water against the current. There was really no way for him to be sure of exactly which waterfall, if there were multiples neither were aware of, but it was really the best bet he had, being unaware of the landmarks named in his directions.
The better part of an hour later, he came across what was undeniably a picturesque scene, and with his keen powers of observation, noted that it was a waterfall ("Just like the one I'm looking for!") with a figure standing in the shallows. Now normally, Fefnir would have walked up to Lerato and told the shinigami that they were starting, but of course there was a lesson to be taught here. The captain was adept at controlling his reiatsu and made common practice of suppressing the intense amount of energy he often exuded simply for the the practice or for the safety of those who worked with him, so even as he walked through the woods, he was nigh imperceptible by way of reiatsu sensing. The red man, who by all rights should have stood out against the dominant greens if not because of his long red hair then by his matching carmine uniform, made himself a ghost with the training he'd gotten in Squad Two, and kept himself just out of the boy's eyeline. He'd wait to see how long it took for him to be noticed, not particularly hiding but not announcing himself either.X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Whoever writes in BLOOD,
_____Does not want to be READ
____________But LEARNED by HEART...
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Posted: Thu Nov 18, 2010 12:52 am
All it took was a breeze. "You're hiding?" Despite how much Lerato strained his eyes to see, the red man eluded him. Hopping down from the top most rock under the waterfall he went in search of his current mentor. "No matter how much you try, Sir, you won't be able to hide yourself completely. You see, these trees hold scents much longer then the open plains." He called out into the wilderness, his head on a swivel to see if he was walking in to a trap. "And you carry with you a scent unlike any other in all of the Sereitei, burnt leaves and spice if I'm not mistaken." He tried to recall the scent that had coated the inside of the Captain's office. 'You'd think that someone as tall as he clad in red would be easy to spot in the middle of so much green and brown...' "Hey Captain, ever heard of a book called Where's Waldo?" He asked, chuckling as he envisioned a shinigami version of the famous child's activity book. Taking another whiff into the wind he did he best to pinpoint the location of his mentor.
"Got ya." His voice boomed through the vegetation as he finally set eyes on the figure in red. "You're surprisingly quiet for your size. I'm glad you could find this place. I'm afraid I'm not the best at giving directions, especially when I don't have any actual names of landmarks to work with." Smiling he craned his neck a few inches to see Fefnir completely. "I hope you don't mind the location. I figured I'd need as much to my advantage as I could get, and this seemed like the only place that I might stand a chance." Turning sideways he stole a glance at the waterfall. 'I best not get too far away from it if I intend to make this at least some what interesting.' "I should thank you once again for taking your time to meet me out here. My Queen has been badgering me for ages, trying to get me to fight someone. Let's get this started shall we?"
His lips twisted up into his signature half grin, a thin but condensed layer of reiatsu appearing just in front of his right hand. "Bakudo #21, Red Smoke Escape." He knew he'd have to move quickly; while the smoke would be quite thick for a few minutes it wouldn't last with the breeze that was blowing through here nearly constantly. "Lift your chin and shock them, Robin Egg Mistress." The forest was filled with the screech of eagles and hawks and the occasional crack of a branch as Lerato made his way back towards the water where he felt he had the best chance. Now in the clearing one could make out that his zanpukato had gained a length of chain as well as a kunai. 'Breathe. You won't be able to concentrate if you're light headed.'
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Posted: Sun Nov 21, 2010 10:37 pm
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
The boy's attention to detail was... uncanny. Within moments of arrival, Lerato sensed something was amiss and began to search for the source. Fefnir didn't move, save for the faint swaying left and right he did to better blend himself with the plants, nor did he reveal himself, but merely observed the methods his squad member employed to sniff him out. Little did he know, his turn of phrase was exactly how it was being done. Conveniently, Lerato told him well enough what he was doing, announcing that the captain had a unique scent and that the plants around had held onto the fall spices and ashes that he'd not managed to get off himself. The expectation was that the waterfall would serve a threefold purpose; the crashing water would serve to hide the sound of his movement more effectively, the water content in the air would help to hide or completely eliminate smells, and finally, the waterfall itself would be a distracting visual to pull attention from his actual location. Only two of the three had worked, but it worked out for the best anyway, since the point was to be caught with some telltale thing giving him away and to measure the awareness of the boy, and by that standard it had been successful."Got ya." he said, voice loud even in the noise-saturated forest, or perhaps because of it, and then followed the proclamation with some wordy phrases that basically equaled 'I know this forest better than you, hope that suddenly makes me better than you or at least helps me get really lucky'. Fefnir smiled a bit when he mentioned he might stand a chance, simply because no one had been a match for him in a very long time, and even those opponents he'd faced at three quarters strength. Really, it was a bit absurd to think there would be a chance of victory as it were, because this was training, not some kendo match. Besides, the very fact of Fefnir's superior strength and skill as a captain was what made this training worthwhile.
The captain made no verbal response to Lerato. Until the training was completed, they were enemies, and the easiest way to turn a confrontation against oneself was to have mercy and empathy for the one you seek to defeat. The process of cutting himself from the emotions and memories, humanity as it were, used to be terribly hard, but anymore it was more akin to another day at the office; write a letter, fill out forms, shut down your mercy and kill Hollows, make some coffee. You just had to stop thinking of them as a person for long enough to deal a killing blow and it was all the same as cutting tatami mat rolls. You've heard about those berserkers, who simply gave themselves over to the hotblooded passions of combat? Fefnir was the exact opposite. Cold logic ruled the mind, and without silly things like fear or hesitation, it was easy to find it in others and strike. What seemed to be there was feral, animalistic bloodlust, but what was within was a perfect calm in the eye of a storm.
By the time Lerato used his kidou, there was nothing but a frigid contempt in the eyes of the captain. The boy didn't need to know the preparations that had been made for this, nor the machinations of a career killer in the highest order. He simply reached into his right sleeve and pulled one of the numerous straps covering the arm covering glove within, tightening it. He pushed his reiatsu down until it was nearly nonexistent, and with a casual walking pace strolled around the cloud in the direction the wind was coming from. He'd activated shikai, as shown by the length of chain now attached to his sword. Two things became immediately apparent: one, this chain was an impractical weapon useful for opportunity attacks and little else, and two, the boy could only reliably use the much more useful sword end with one hand, lest he make the chain completely useless. There had to be something to this, some unknown useful skill, or the foe had really been shafted when it came time to get a zanpokuto. One solid sword blow to the chain would disarm him right now, and teach him to stop playing around with trinkets such as these.
Fefnir drew one of his two swords, electing to use the one from the black sheath on his back, and held it in both hands. As someone used to dual wielding, he could have done what the boy was forced to do and maintained the effective strength behind a blow, but he was making a point here, and so he would put the force of both hands behind it. With a leisurely sort of trotting pace, the red man strode across the river directly at his enemy, no tricks or speed techniques, and brought his zanpokuto down on where the chain was, not intending to hit the body in possession of it, but instead to demonstrate how the weapon was a liability to him at the moment.X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Whoever writes in BLOOD,
_____Does not want to be READ
____________But LEARNED by HEART...
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Posted: Mon Nov 22, 2010 2:04 am
‘Great, I’ve pissed him off.’ A single thought was all it took to make adrenaline explode through Lerato’s body, setting things into slow motion. Everything around him was crystal clear, the dew on the leaves, the water crashing over the rocks in the creek, and the killing intent in Fefnir’s red eyes. ‘Relax… wait…’ There had to be something the Captain would do that the third seat could use to his advantage. Waiting for the strike was like waiting for a train to come careening into him. He tightened his grip on both ends of his zanpukato, the coldness of the steel coming through the wrapping. After what had seemed like an eternity to the young man Fefnir brought his blade up and then down at the chain. As quickly as he could Lerato crossed his arms and let the Red Man bring the chain closer and closer to the ground, uncrossing his arms as he did so that the blade would hopefully become ensnared. An audible ‘umph’ escaped the boy’s lips when he was forced to the ground. ‘Think, don’t let it end this quickly.’ He planted his left foot on a nearby rock and shoved with all of his strength and attempted to jerk his captain’s sword from his hand. Using the momentum he had acquired from the push and a quick jerk of his right leg whilst still in the air he flipped, perhaps not over him, but at least eye level with his opponent. Realizing he needed to distance himself he let the kunai side of his zanpukato go, landing a good distance away from the Red Man on a rock.
‘Release me before you get yourself killed. I want my chance at him!’ The words rang in his ears as clear as day, though to everyone else it would sound like nothing more then a cacophony of bird songs. ‘You have no more a chance against him then I.’ Despite his complaints he obliged, holding each end of his zanpukato out so the chain was taunt. “From dusk until dawn- The storm shall forever rage- Unleash the fury, Queen of the Cyan Lightning.” Water from all around him started to pull in towards him and the closer one got to him the more they would feel the tiny hairs on the back of their neck stand on edge. Literally in a flash the sword from his unreleased blade shrank down to a kunai just over seven inches, the other growing three to match it’s counterpart. As if to finish the whole ordeal the chain extended until Lerato had his arms out comfortably at his sides, a small droop occurring in the middle.
Tossing the weapon in his left hand to his right and rolling his shoulders was all he could really do to prepare for his next move. Condensing reiatsu into his left hand he jumped and as soon as he was parallel with the ground below him spoke, “Hado # 54, Abolishing Flames.” It would have been stupid to think that the kido would have hurt the captain of fire, but with any luck it would give Lerato enough of a distraction to set the second part of his attack into motion. He hit the ground and rolled over his left shoulder and, wanting to put as much force behind his attack as possible, utilized the kinetic energy from his roll to lash one end of what could only be called a whip at Fefnir. “Azure Sparrow Strike.” One would have to strain their ears to hear the name of the attack, especially over the whistling cause as the free end cut through the air. Once it reached the end of it’s slack a loud snap sounded, a perfectly straight bolt of lightning shooting out of the end towards the carmine clad man.
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 8:32 pm
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Lerato had done something not smart with his already not useful chain weapon; he attempted to wrap Fefnir’s sword with the chain by crossing his arms. Unfortunately, he hadn’t quite thought out the way he was going to do this effectively, and as a result of putting his arms under a sword would have lost them both if the red man weren’t as careful as he was. Just before the blade would have cleaved off his forearms, the captain made a last second effort to stop his zanpokuto, in the process allowing it to be captured by the boy. “Arms, severed.” He declared in a patient monotone, as if this were of no more consequence than taking the tea off, “Dead.” His opponent continued to enact his plan, allowed in a time he would not have been permitted in any real combat situation, and with the wrapping came… a misunderstanding of just what he could do by controlling the sword in such a way. Lerato felt that he’d done sufficiently to grab it, inhibiting the upward, downward, left and right movement, but what he hadn’t considered is that it was considerably easier to move slightly forward and stab him at such a close proximity, or to simply pull straight away and release himself. Fefnir elected to do the first, and with a slight push gave what would be a rather painful poke to the man’s torso, declaring again, “Dead.” His choice of tactics certainly reflected his unfamiliarity with the type of steel he was using, but that would come with time and practice. Things would come together for him eventually, but maybe not as soon as he’d like to think.
His foe released the sword and leaped backward to a large boulder, as if he’d put enough space between them, and began reciting one of the longest shikai release phrases the red man had ever heard, which gave him plenty of time to pursue, but he elected not to for the sake of the training. He called out, “Too slow, fatally wounded.” The boy then elected to launch a kidou of some variety as he jumped from the large rock, and as luck would have it, it was a fire kidou. Now, while Fefnir was a user of heat and flame, unless he was in shikai, he wasn’t immune or resistant to anything about it other than some of the heat, so the kidou would have been effective if the captain hadn’t planned for his own skills. Rather than cloth, his shihakusho was composed of flame retardant materials which protected him from any stray bits of fire that might crop up around him. It wasn’t a bad spell, really, balanced well with good power and accurate as anything, but it simply wouldn’t have much of an effect. Not that Fefnir was going to be hit by it, mind. He took his time, waiting for just the moment he wanted, and just when it seemed he was going to just take the blow, he dove to one side to get out of the way. The thing about fire kidou is that it’s very, very hot, and it created a large spray of steam and water as it struck the riverbed, and that was very conducive to not being seen as you get away. Fefnir utilized his speed to get to his feet and dash toward where he’d seen Lerato drop last. Just as he caught sight of the boy, a loud crack could be heard alongside a blur of movement, and a bolt of what looked like lighting shot through the spray.
Now, two things happened, which were either completely ingenious or sheer dumb luck. The large splash from the kidou, the spray of water in the air, pulled the energy as it traveled through and sucked it in like a sponge. That water, being connected to the water of the stream, conducted that electricity brilliantly into the larger body and in turn to Fefnir, who was standing in it. They say that one goes numb about two seconds before being struck by lightning, but the water gave no such luxury, moving one current through the other with frightening speed. When that energy met with the red man's skin, just before he declared his opponent dead again, it provided one of the most excruciatingly exquisite forms of pain he'd ever experienced. It was as if every fiber of muscle in him suddenly pulled itself apart, and a burning feeling Fefnir found rather comforting and familiar set in alongside a feeling of lightness, like his head had just been filled with air. Things were a little blurry after that, but the advantage of falling into water is that it doesn't hurt when you hit.
The good news was that electricity in water is weakened based on the amount of water it must be spread over, so since it was in a stream, the volts had been drastically reduced and the time it would take to become harmless was short. The bad news? It was still a good enough jolt to knock someone on their a** if they were in it, which they both were at the time. Fefnir blinked himself awake quickly enough enough, and though he felt like he was going to puke, staggered to his feet, cold from the river water and in a good deal of pain from the tearing his muscles just did, but certainly not down and out. Step one, get the hell out of that water. Step two, find the kid and make sure he didn't drown. Step three... he'd get to in a little bit when his head stopped hurting. "Hey...!" He called, throat strangely dry for someone just fished out of the water, "You alright, Lerato?"X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Whoever writes in BLOOD,
_____Does not want to be READ
____________But LEARNED by HEART...
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:40 am
Lerato managed to push himself up from the water with very little difficulty. While others would have normally been stunned by the electrical current, Lerato felt alive. "I'm fine." He called out to his Captain. Looking down at his arms he observed the consequences of his stupidity. A long line on each of his arms now trickled blood, another on his chest from where he had been poked with the end of the captain's zanpukato. 'Damn it...' It's a good thing the Red Man had decided to take pity on him or else he'd be both dead, and with a closed casket, his arms laying beside him in his grave. 'I better get away from here... he's going to be pissed.' He quickly looked around, picked up his zanpukato which had fallen into the stream, and started for the side of the river bed. "I apologize Captain! I told you I wasn't used to her viciousness!" Setting his eyes upon a bundle of ferns he decided to take cover but not before performing a kido to hide his presence, "Bakudo #26, Curved Light." The film of reiatsu that coated his body quickly went from an opaque forest green to a translucent olive color before he disappeared, the only sign of where he went was a very slight rustling of the leaves as he dove in.
'He's too fast...' All he could think of was his inability. 'Don't count yourself out yet. There's nothing worse then someone who counts themselves out before the last punch has been thrown.' Her voice filled his ears and though it was forceful, rude even, it lifted his spirits. 'Alright, so what do I do?' 'You're asking me? I say go in with chains blazing and face him head on, but you're the one who prides his self on strategy.' Looking down at his zanpukato he quickly made a decision: stay as concealed as possible, and fight at what distance he could muster.
"Ye Lord." He started the incantation even while he was in the collection of ferns, his previous kido still concealing his position. "Mask of flesh and bone, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man." His voice was little more than a whisper as he sat, waiting for the opportune time to emerge from his nest. "Truth and temperance, upon this sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claws." He finished as he shot out of the foliage, aiming his right hand and kunai at the last place he saw his captain, bracing it with his left hand and kunai. "Hado #33, Blue Fire, Crash Down!" The ball of blue energy, nearly the size of a basketball, ripped from his palm, expanding the further from him it got. If the young shinigami was lucky the accidental jolt Fefnir had received earlier would still be clouding his mind and would make it difficult for him to dodge the Hado. Unfortunately Lerato didn't normally have good luck when it came to battling his superiors. His attack would have also brought up a question of his intelligence. The captain was obviously able to dodge the kido as shown earlier when he dove to the side at the last moment. This time, however, Lerato had a plan for either outcome and since he was mainly buying himself some time figured that the his choice was strong enough to make it seem as though he was attacking full force without using too much of his reiatsu.
'Just a while longer...' He moved as quickly as he could to find another safe spot. If he was going to make this interesting, he was going to have to bide his time until he could find an opening in the man's defense, strike quickly, then start this little game all over again. The best way to do it was to cast a kido from one spot, run to another, and repeat the process while he tried to remain unseen. As time went by, though, the tips of his kunai took on a deep royal blue hue, the only sign that the young shinigami was preparing for an attack. Sooner or later though he'd have to present himself to the Red Man so he could unleash his attack. 'Hopefully this goes as planned.' It was a silent prayer that he knew was falling of deaf ears; the Queen having no sympathy for those relying on 'hope'.
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Posted: Fri Dec 24, 2010 10:18 am
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
The young man answered his captain, and in an instant the red man's eyes snapped to where he suspected his enemy was. He might have been a bit foggy from that electric blast, but instinct was instinct. He saw the last flashes of a leg before Lerato disappeared, cleverly hidden by a kidou, and then, nothing. It was a good choice for the situation, since not only did the bakudou conceal one's physical presence, it also masked their natural reiatsu to a great extent. Unless the boy was stupid enough to stay in one spot and focus a lot of reiatsu into a small area, making it too concentrated outside his body to be hidden, he'd be basically undetectable by normal means. Fefnir needed to make himself scarce until he could get the drop on his enemy.
Easier said than done, since he's invisible... the tall man mused as he looked around at the ground around him for his zanpokuto, finding it rather quickly in the clear and eerily placid water. He certainly wasn't going to make it easy on Lerato, and leaving one of his weapons behind was only going to take any challenge out. In fact, the captain decided that it might be a good time to show him how a real shikai ought to be used. He took one, two, three leisurely steps over to where his sword lay in the river, and when he reached down to get it, whispered just loudly enough for Lerato to hear. "Roar, Arthion..."
It was as if the water were suddenly afraid of him. The river changed its course and fled from his touch, creating a cat's eye shape to avoid him. The sword on Fefnir's waist was gone, as was the blade that had been laying on the now dried ground, and on his hands appeared long, ominous, golden gauntlets, fingers tipped with two inch long claws that just seemed to beg for flesh to rip into, heat rippling from around them and warping their form to the observer. Slowly, carefully, he brought himself up to stand straight, and looking at the general vicinity of where Lerato had been before he disappeared, found himself staring down the proverbial barrel at a rapidly expanding blue kidou. This time, he made no effort to avoid the attack, and simply allowed the fires of it to lick his skin, caress it as a lover would, and pass on its way into the ground behind him. Being a fire spell, it had no effect on Fefnir other than to bathe him in comfortable heat for a moment and show him the exact location of where the spell had come from. He saw rustling in the brush; clearly Lerato wasn't thick enough to stay there after telegraphing his location, but his movement made noise and moved plant life in a way the wind did not, and Fefnir had been trained in the Second Squad in methods of tracking foes. The red man had a general idea of where the boy was at, but couldn't pinpoint exactly where off the cuff. So, instead, he tried a different tactic.
"I thought this was shikai training, not run and hide and use kidou training!" Fefnir called to no particular direction, instead projecting his voice to try and fill the clearing as much as possible, "Olly-Olly-Oxen-Free! Time to stop hiding, kid, or I'm gonna have to start seeking, and you're not gonna like that!"X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Whoever writes in BLOOD,
_____Does not want to be READ
____________But LEARNED by HEART...
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Posted: Wed Dec 29, 2010 3:15 am
"Well unless you know another way for me to stay alive during this little bout of ours than I'm afraid I'll be forced to use a combination of the two." Stepping out of his current hiding place he could do nothing but stand there as a wave of heat cascaded over him, bathing him in a warmth that reminded him of a hot summer's day. 'If it's this hot over here, how in the hell am I supposed to get close to him.' Looking around he could only see one thing that could prove useful to him; the waterfall no more than twenty yards to his left. 'I wonder if I can get to it in time.' Alas, it was his only hope. "Bakudo #9, Geki." Without bothering to see whether the binding kidou took hold he jumped, hopping across a few fallen logs and wet stones until he had reached a pool of water. Jumping in he soaked both his body and clothes in the icy water. 'This better work or I'll be back in the fourth squad in no time..' He thought to himself, emerging from the water and sprinting at the Red Man.
Steam literally billowed off of his skin as he was rapidly dried, his clothes holding onto the coolness of the water just long enough to keep Lerato from burning too quickly. "Can you see me now, Captain?" The words came off more of a growl than he originally intended. Picking up as much speed as he could he dove forward. His intentions were to slide under the man's legs, hoping that his kunai would slice into the captain's inner ankles while Lerato himself came out on the other side. 'If I can just reach the water I'll be fine.' He could already feel his skin starting to blister, his clothes near the flash point.
'What are you doing? You're going to get us both killed!' More mental daggers bombarded him. All he wanted was to make the damn b***h proud. Just one compliment, that was all. 'Shut the hell up! I have to get close to him to be able to do anything, and your constant put-downs aren't helping!' Of course, the only part of this that would be audible at all would be the Queen's constant chirping as the two had the internal argument. 'Maybe if you weren't so afraid I wouldn't have to constantly put you down. Grow a ********' pair!' As his anger grew so did his reiatsu, bubbling until it leaked out in barely visible tendrils that licked around both his hands and his weapon which had become a deep navy blue by this point. 'Give me just a few more minutes and you'll see just how afraid I am, you old hag.' He snapped. All there was to do now was wait. At this range the move he had been planning on using would hopefully give him an advantage, the nearby water an emergency fail safe incase the burns started to get too bad. "I ******** hate heat blisters..." he mumbled under his breath. 'Just gotta make it to the water...'
[Sorry that it took so long v.v]
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 12:36 am
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Lerato was a good kid, but sometimes he missed simple things. It was apparent he had a thing for theatrics, which isn't too bad when you can still get effective combat out of it, but that was a subtle art he hadn't quite gotten the hang of. The first rule of stealth is to be quiet, and yelling to an opponent, while cloaked, that you're hiding and that's how you plan to stay alive is sweet and delicious irony. Not that Fefnir was particularly appreciative of it, since he had the more pragmatic view that in real combat such a thing would get the boy killed, fast. His eyes merely flicked to where he thought he'd heard the voice, no other physical sign allowed to be shown that would indicate Fefnir knew generally where the foe stood. If he was going to be so easy to pinpoint, there would be a point made. It was uncertain whether the boy didn't have the proper scope as to how to treat this training, or if he was simply not taking this seriously, but in light of either, there would need to be a serious talk given to put things into proper perspective. In the back of his mind, the dragon growled, displeased with Fefnir's methods. He was ignored.
For now, he'd need to ensure he didn't tip his hand. The best lessons were taught in light of failures of the contrary method. Lerato would reveal himself somehow, and that would be the way by which learning would occur. Surely enough, there was the feeling of reiatsu forming itself, more briefly this time, and with it came what felt like an invisible string passing that energy along to surround Fefnir. That... just wouldn't do. With some effort to put his reiatsu in the right place he prevented the red glow from actually reaching where it was intended. Then, another silly act. He landed solidly on fallen logs, causing them to make a cracking sound, then onto rocks, which clacked together, and finally, a splash into the water. It couldn't have been more obvious where the invisible boy was if he'd drawn a map. The dragon growled again, louder this time, again ignored by the man in red. Then, he traipsed his way through the river in a nice straight line, splashing along the way until he announced himself, again, with voice on top of his merry jaunt through the river, and not only was it stupid to talk during a sneak attack, he had the gall to TAUNT Fefnir.
He did a quarter turn, put a solid foot down, and crushed the ankle the boy lead his slide with, followed by a one word response, "Clearly..." This time, Arthion spoke."Clearly you're coddling him.""This is training. I can't go all out here, I'd kill him, and then what use is he?""He's useless now.""That's what training is for; to make him NOT useless.""He's not learning. Allow me.""What? Wait, no! This is MY training! But...You're probably right. No, you're completely right. Do it."A quick flash of fire was the outward response, starting at the tips of the fingers and cutting up and over his arms as if they were dry grass. The flame touched his shoulders, his head, and if Lerato had been looking closely, he might even have seen some draconian features as the tongues burst away from the skin of his face. Not that he'd have much time to look whilst a clawed hand roughly took him by the neck and brought him upward against the force of the weight on his pinned ankle. The result was a nice ninety degree angle with a burning sensation on top. That wasn't all, though, and not nearly the worst of it.
The best lessons are the ones that are taught when the contrary tactic fails.
A broken ankle and a burned neck are far from the level needed to demonstrate the point.
Fefnir took his other hand and shoved it into Lerato's stomach, just below the ribcage. When it's said 'into', it doesn't mean against or any number of synonyms equating to only the outside. No, the claws most definitely went into, as in penetrated the skin, muscle, and some organs. He then gave a sharp pull outward, and with a strong pop, the sternum broke and the central puncture wound split up and down when the hand removed itself and a much different angle than it had entered. The end result was something very akin to an anatomy class display of what a car crash fatality looks like."Worthless."It was distinctly feminine, but containing not even the slightest bit of an emotional attachment, save for palpable anger. The word was only used because it was apt and because it was necessary. If there was half a brain in this child's half alive body, he'd learn the lesson. That lesson? In combat, there is no room for fancy tricks and flashy taunts. An enemy will kill you without hesitation if you try.Kill you.
Kill... Lerato.
I've killed Lerato.
Dear God, I've killed Lerato!X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Whoever writes in BLOOD,
_____Does not want to be READ
____________But LEARNED by HEART...
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Posted: Tue Feb 01, 2011 11:16 pm
'You know every time you open your mouth you give away our position, right?' Her voice, as cool as the water around them, filled his ears and submerged his mind in a plethora of retorts. He wanted to tell her that it was all a part of some large plan, that in the end he would be granted the upper hand, even if it was just a very slight advantage. Oh how wrong he would soon learn he was. 'You'll end up killing us both, just keep quiet. If you want to use kidou to hide, then do exactly that. If you hide keep quiet, and stay still, you'll be able to watch his moves, you'll be able to see his weaknesses.' As Lerato moved from spot to spot he could swear he felt the man's gaze baring down on him, but his eyes were so unmoving that there was no sign of any life coming from the giant in red. "Why is he just standing there..." The young shinigami asked himself. Looking back he should have known better. 'Stop charging him. Turn around while you have the chance. He's waiting for you. You'll be nothing more than a mouse to him. Listen to me!' Sadly Lerato had let his pride get the best of him, his flamboyant style of fighting doing nothing more than annoying the carmine man. 'Don't worry, I have this under control.'
No sooner had the boy dropped into a low slide did he realize his mistake. The closer he got to his trainer, the more clearly he could see the look in his eyes. For a man that could literally be the physical embodiment of fire, his eyes were as cold as ice. 'What have I done...' That thought alone drowned out all the others, including the voice of his zanpukato telling him to dig in one of the kunai to avoid falling victim to Fefnir. Crunch. The sound rang out across the forest, a few birds even rising from their perches from the sickening sound; his ankle shattered from the massive force. Before Lerato could even open his mouth to illustrate his pain he was grabbed around the neck, searing hot metal shriveling his skin in only a fraction of a second. Once this was all done and over with there was one thing he would never be able to rid himself of, a dark purple hand print that wrapped around his neck, forever holding a high shine to it. With what little resistance to the burning he was allotted due to his own reiatsu he did his best to struggle, only to thrash about futilely. In the back of his mind he heard a humming, but that's where the noise ended. His bright blue reiatsu now clearly visible.
But the worse was yet to come. As his eyes shifted downwards Lerato was just in time to witness Fefnir's hand tearing through his abdomen, puncturing both his stomach and liver before ripping up through his diaphragm, tearing through the lower ends of his lungs before bursting out of his chest breaking his sternum. The life starting draining from his eyes as soon as the gauntlet covered hand was free from his chest. Looking up he could have sworn that there was a dragon like figure behind the red man. Closing his eyes in a slow blink Lerato did his best to remain conscious. When he opened them though he saw a black dragon, and in front of it a ghost from his past. "Captain... Yukimaru?" His voice was little more than a whisper, made even more difficult as the words tried to escape his throat through a heavy coating of blood. With his reiatsu finally dropping the gauntlet that wrapped around his neck was given no fight, allowing for a nearly perfect brand of a semi-humanoid dragon claw that would forever mark him as Fefnir’s student. All strength left him as his eyes closed for what he thought would be the last time, body slumping towards the ground with only the strength of the carmine colored man to support him.
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 9:51 am
X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Oh ******** bleeding, oh god he's bleeding, what do I do what do I do he's gonna die I killed him he's bleeding he's dying...
These and a million similar thoughts hit all at once, and then suddenly, in the dark tone of truth, just one.
I AM JUST LIKE HER.
This was the knowledge that he lacked. This was the last thing that could happen, the last lesson she could teach him. Fefnir had only ever seen the outside of his teacher, what she wanted him to see. She kept up her appearances until they reached the battlefield. Then, Yuki was heartless. The real teacher had a lust for violence. The real teacher loved every moment of the pain she inflicted. The real teacher was cold and indifferent and sadistic and deranged and perfect in every way for what she was required to do. She was the weapon that they needed to fight Hollow, someone with no fear, no qualms about death, but fully embraced every second of it.
And she had made him into the same.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this point. It wasn't until a moment later that he realized he was doing both.
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The rest of that trip was a daze. People were a blur of motion and sound completely incomprehensible to the murderer captain. The Infirmary in Squad Four seemed distant, only the bleeding boy on the cart in focus, empty eyes full of accusation. You did this, they said, you killed me. They worked hard to piece him back together, and they succeeded where medicine couldn't with spells and luck. Hours passed without notice. Day turned to night, and back to day again. They had operated for fourteen hours when someone came out to tell the killer man that they'd almost lost him, but Lerato had pulled through. Fefnir held back the urge to vomit at the sight of the blood on the healer's apron.
He is just like me. Please God, let him be better than me.X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X
Whoever writes in BLOOD,
_____Does not want to be READ
____________But LEARNED by HEART...
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Posted: Sat Mar 19, 2011 12:31 pm
[A short stint of this will take place in the Fourth Division. Should anyone want to see some of the actual healing, please check there.]
What had it been? Minutes, hours, or perhaps even days. The man couldn't be sure. Time had seemed to slow to a stand still, it's increments running together until they were indiscernible from each other. 'What's going on?' He tried to murmur the words, but his lips fell short and instead did there best to draw in even the tiniest bit of air. In the background, faded from his distance from them, he could hear laughter, but felt the warm touch of falling tears. 'Am...I dead?' The feeling was unlike any other he had come across. This was peaceful, and even painless, in comparison to when he passed on from his human life. 'Why are they crying over me, don't they know I brought this upon myself?' He asked, screaming 'Stop your damn tears!' over and over in his head. It didn't matter anymore though. What was done was done, and there was no way to change the past.
Then he was met with a silent blackness. It was almost suffocating in it's absoluteness. "What are you doing child?" Her voice broke threw to him like no one else could. Her voice alone gave him reason to breath in this oppressive place. "Do you really want to die? To let go, and prove to all of them that they were right? That you couldn't cut it as a shinigami?" He wanted to respond. Oh, how desperately he tried, struggling against the bondage that the darkness ensnared him in. "If you really are that weak, then I'll understand. I will accept my fate as the lowly zanpukatou of a child who was unfit for power. All you have to do is say the word and I'm gone, and you can find your peace in this place." Her voice carried to him on the softest of winds, but it crashed into him like a tidal wave. Silence once more. Lerato beat against the invisible chains that shackled him to the ground, doing his best to muster his voice to call out to her. He wanted to live. No. He needed to live. He needed to prove his worth. "I guess silence is better than a yes. Do me a favor then. When you get back to your body, thank that brute of a teacher for me. Perhaps he'll make you a fighter yet."
A small twitch moved across the young man's face, though whether it was an attempt to smile, or a natural reaction to the pain he was left to be examined. Around him he could hear muffled voices, silent spells warming his body while others did their best to cool his massive burns. How long had they been at work? It was impossible for him to tell. At last though something gave him a clue as to where exactly he was. A strong whiff of disinfectant. He had to be some where in the fourth squad and slowly he started to regain his senses. They were still muddled up with pain killers and other drugs, but at least he wasn't surrounded by nothingness anymore. Through the pain and the drug induced haze, Lerato opened his mouth. One favor. One thing to do before he could lay back and try to relax. "Th...thank you... Fef-nir." His words came out as a harsh whisper, but they were as clear as he could make them before he finally let himself rest and be healed, reveling in the pain of the training session.
{Fin}
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