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Trunks the First Master

Burning Attack - 900 Ki Points
Trunks performs a series of rapid arm movements before placing his palms forward, with the thumbs and index fingers touching each other to form a small diamond shape. Then, he fires an energy sphere from his palms towards the opponent. This attack can be used with one hand, as he has demonstrated while using his sword in his other hand.

Battou-Jutsu - 700 Ki Points
By sheathing their sword, the swordsman can strike at the opponent with twice or even three times the normal speed, usually ending a fight if the opponent is hit with the sharp side of the blade.

Sheath Follow Up - 500 Ki Points
A continuation of Quick Draw, if the opponent actually managed to dodge the Quick Draw the sheath in the other hand would then greet them in a limb or the face. The force of blow can break the bone of what it hits of nothing is there to protect the target. 5 (Must know Battou-Jutsu)

Hiryuusen - 800 Ki Points
When the swordsman cannot use their natural sword arm, they spin rapidly around in a quick circle before stopping and releasing their sword from the sheath, launching the sword at a speed that cannot easily be blocked. If it connects, it can send an opponent literally flying backwards for more than ten feet. (Must know Battou-Jutsu)

Knock Up - 600 Ki Points
When confronted by an opponent, the swordsman can thrust his hilt of the sword upwards to collide with the target’s chin, sending him straight up into the air. If in a building, their head may get stuck in the ceiling.

Shinken Stance - 400 Ki Points
The swordsman will extend both his arms while keeping his sword horizontal with the ground and leveled with the opponent’s head. In doing so, the user can adapt to any change in the opponent’s movements although it is extremely risky to use if the opponent changes movements twice rapidly.

Hiten Mitsurugi Ryukansen - 600 Ki Points
The user will slip around the opponent with their sword and strike at the back. With one fell swoop of the sword, it can crush any bone it can come in contact with (if sheathed or as a reversed blade) or destroy a 3-foot thick wall of solid granite.

Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuukansen Tsumuji - 800 Ki Points
Starting with the Battou Jutsu, the user will sheath their sword before rushing in towards the opponent. If the opponent attacks, they will be left open, as the user will be able to dodge any form of attack the opponent will try. After the dodge, the user will draw the sword at an extremely fast pace, striking the opponent in any vulnerable place possibly killing them if it was with the blade of the sword. (Must know Battou Justu)

Haisui no Jin - 700 Ki Points
A sword stance where the user sheaths their sword and stands in a formless position without holding their blade. It is a form where only one move may be performed and the user will no longer be able to recover for the rest of the battle. This technique grants the user their entire strength to dispose so they will possibly able to surpass their opponent.

Crashing Slash- 900 Ki points
The user becomes more beast like. As he runs towards the opponent with one sword. He attempts to slash the opponent with the first blade. If the first strike misses.. Trunks will follow up with his second blade to the midsection trying to cut into the opponent and drag him away.

Raising Flame- 1000 Ki Points
A very powerful attack with incredible speed. Trunks shoots a flaming phoenix that slices, rams, and pulverizes the target with great force. He can even ride along within the phoenix to initiate the attack up close and personal if he so chooses. If the foe is much weaker, then this attack can even deprive them of their regeneration.

Crimson Slash- 900 Ki Points
Trunks slashes with a torrent of blade-shaped flames that strikes the enemy in a spiral formation. Every time the enemy is hit with a blade, it explodes and burns the enemy.


Goten The Wandering Warrior

Tekken - 1000 Ki Points
A hand to hand fighting style that is based on beating the hell out of the opponent with mere brute strength. They do not focus on strategy but more on the attacks at hand.

Single Finger Flick - 700 Ki Points
Focusing much of the users strength into their forefinger, the opponent is flicked hard and sent flying backwards, bleeding from the area that was hit. (Must Know Tekken)

Shino Ryu - 1300 Ki Points
An old style of swordplay that relies heavily on brute strength as well as speed. It has no sword style nor any set strategies other than pushing forwards and defeating the opponent.

Matoi - 900 Ki Points
A sword skill that is able to cut through anything by mere strength regardless of how blunt the weapon is. The cut is so clean it is thought that only diamonds can make a cut as clean as this technique. (Must Know Shino Ryu)

Kamatachi - 900 Ki Points
By swinging the sword with tremendous force, it creates a literal cutting vacuum of air that can cut deep within whatever it hits. If the opponent is close enough, it can even sever an arm or a leg at a distance. One rather interesting characteristic of this technique is that if the opponent is in fact wounded, they do not bleed as much as they would normally have. (Must know Matoi)

Wild Kamatachi - 1000 Ki Points
User increases the power in both of their arms before striking at the opponent, creating what would look like a web of vacuum like beams created from the blade to charge the opponent. They are rather hard to dodge but still able to be avoided by those whom already knows this technique. (Must know Kamatachi)

IIron Hide- 1500 Ki Points
Goten covers part of his body (or the entirety of it) with Ki-steel scales to dramatically increase his offense and defense. When punching while covered by these scales, Trunks is capable of creating powerful gusts of wind through mere kinetic force. +3 in defense -2 in Speed

Ki Dragon's Lance: Demon Logs 1000 Ki Points ( Must Know Above): Trunks turns his arm into a large spearhead, from which a large number of Ki spears are fired towards his enemy multiple times in rapid succession

Karma Demon: Ki God Sword 1000 Ki Points( Must Know Iron Hide)-
Goten claps his hands together above his head, and, in a moment, swipes down on the ground a gigantic sword generated between them,

Forty-eight hours until the last few portions of his training were complete. The platinum haired warrior would learn the basics to survive outside of the academy and the basics to become the best swordsman of all time. He did not know it of course, for the way Sonya has her way of teaching more than one move a day, Reiko thought that there would be a myriad of moves for him to learn and he was sort of right. While Sonya was only going to teach him the basics there were many schools outside of the West City Academy that taught similar techniques. It was just that without learning the basics one would never get far or reach the goals he or she should accomplish. One of those schools that taught similar techniques was the Kikoukenjutsu Academy.

The Kikoukenjustu Academy is a school which unlike West City Academy, puts more emphasis, more focus on swordplay. As a result learning techniques here would be much easier for the platinum haired warrior since he has had years of training with the Cryptic Chaos. As for the twin swords the training with those should not be difficult at all. The platinum haired swordsman would find out that when he used the two swords his defense and agility would be quicker than if he used the Cryptic Chaos.

Reiko found himself outside of the Academy taking in what it looked like from the outside and perhaps what the appearance would be when he would take a step inside. It was only a few hours or so since Sonya gave him his two day break. It wasn’t that he was obsessed with training that he found himself here. The platinum haired warrior decided to walk around these new lands and find out what was around here. Reiko wanted to make a trip to Central City for he heard that it was a nice place to meet new people, relax, and do almost anything. He just managed to find the Kikoukenjutsu Academy first by flight; luckily for him the non-exclusive classes which were practically free from anyone started in another hour, which gave the platinum haired warrior enough time to rest once more. Plus he had his dual weapons with him, leaving his signature blade at the West City Academy. It was about time that he put these blades to good use.

For the non-exclusive classes there were a few people that looked like they never touched a blade in their life. Perhaps it was just another hobby to them or they thought it was wise to learn a blade even though they may not use it for defense for as long as they lived. Then there were those who showed more grace and skill with the blade than Reiko’s peers in the advanced class of the Xim Academy! Of course, Reiko himself did not know that he was an exclusive member of the academy yet for he had to finish what Sonya gave to him first before she would disclose that information. He stood outside and when he began walking towards the entrance he saw a panda. An enormous innocent looking panda was seen outside sweeping up some debris when it made eye contact towards the platinum haired warrior.

“…………………….”

“……………………..”

“Is the entrance through here?”

The panda bear nodded and was thanked by Reiko before he went inside, where he practically saw a glimpse of the Xim Academy through his eyes. It was similar to the platinum haired warrior entering the Xim Academy for the first time. The platinum haired warrior saw swordsman at the novice level all the way to the high class elites. Their choices of weapons were similar to the Xim Academy as well. Some students favored having one sword while a few went down the platinum haired warrior’s path and decided to go with dual wielding. And just like his first Arrival to the Xim Academy he saw someone approach him after talking to the two masters. It seemed like the person that was walking up to the platinum haired warrior was the one that was teaching the non-exclusive techniques. Well, at least some of them anyway, for when the platinum haired warrior would return he can practice these moves with the true masters.

“Are you here for some classes?” the man asked.

“Um sure.”

“Right this way….”

Half a minute passed doing introductions to the new people, what the Kikoukenjutsu School was about, some info on the masters, recommendations to join, etc before they began some techniques. Unfortunately, the platinum haired warrior’s swords were not needed for the non-exclusive moves. Their first technique they were going to learn involved bare hands: Tekken. The Tekken style’s main focus was to deliver as much damage to an opponent as possible. Depending on the user this involved moves that were impressive to the eye or moves that were dirty and cheap. The platinum haired warrior was seen shirtless sparring with another person that was about Reiko’s size but a bit shorter and had more muscle on him. The fighters were told that they did not want to see flashy moves just pure strength

“And……go.”

The Kikouken student had no problem starting it off by faking a jab or two before going for a successful double leg takedown on the platinum haired warrior. From there the student took the mount position, lying on top of the platinum haired swordsman’s upper body as he laced his hands together and attempted a devastating hammer smash towards Reiko’s face. Reiko lifted his hips just in time like the instructor told him to do which caused the student to get off balance and completely missed his strike. Off of his back the platinum haired warrior got a few punches in, especially one that gave the student a bloody nose. Unfortunately the next right shot that the platinum haired warrior attempted to deliver was caught by the student’s left hand and he ended up putting Reiko in a smooth arm bar. Just when he connected the instructor told them to stop, take a break and allowed two more students to fight.

The platinum haired warrior spent sixty minutes practicing Tekken, mostly warm-ups, exercises and a few rounds of fighting. The technique was down but the instructor wanted to make sure. Their next move was a bit simpler for the platinum haired warrior after hearing what Sonya told him about Ki energy. The objective was to channel their power into their forefinger and when they flick their test dummy, a simply flick would feel like a punch and the test dummy would be sent flying backwards. The platinum haired warrior stood next to the students as they all channeled their strength and ki energy into their forefinger. Once they had their energy channeled, the test dummies were brought out for the students to use the technique. Some of the students had a tough time doing the technique or the dummy did not fly far enough for a first time user. Luckily for Reiko he had an excellent teacher who knew her stuff, so when he gave the dummy a flick with his forefinger, the students along with teacher were shocked as how far the dummy flew.

“…………………..”

“…………………..”

“Excellent job, what was your name again?” the instructor asked.

“Reiko..Reiko Seldab.”

“That was an excellent display of the single finger technique. If the dummy was a human it would bleed from the area that you hit it from.”

The students along with Reiko practiced the technique a few times, along with the Tekken style before their non exclusive classes were up for Reiko. In reality, as soon as they learned the techniques, they could leave anytime, but the platinum haired warrior told him he would consider joining in the future. He then picked up his weighed armor and put it back on before leaving. The instructor was happy to hear that but in the back of his mind he thought it was a lie. That was when the first master placed a hand on his shoulder from behind and told him some good news.

“Don’t worry, he’ll come back. He’s not done at the Academy yet.”

words this post=1366
26,752+1366=28,118-1700(Tekken/Single finger flick)=26,418

Ryan flew towards the Kikoukenjutsu School as fast as he could, with determination in his eyes and a newly found reason for his training to continue. His home was in possible danger of some maniacal villain who was collecting the Dragonballs. Who was he and why was he collecting them? These were all answers he wouldn't be able to find as he was now. He would need to train and become stronger to be able to even survive a fight with this man. But that was further along. For now, training was the only thing Ryan needed to be worried about. Training and becoming stronger so that he could help his friend when the time came.

As Ryan neared the Kikoukenjutsu School, he could sense the man he was looking for. Word must have come from the West City Academy that he was coming, because he was obviously waiting for Ryan to show. Ryan began heading towards the power level when he saw him, but he wasn't standing still. He was waving his arms rapidly, which confused Ryan. Was something wrong? It wasn't until he slammed his arms in an 'X' across his chest that he said something. "Burning..." Ryan's eyes went wide as he knew what was coming, but it wasn't enough time to completely move. The man's hands were thrust forwards and he yelled out "ATTACK!" and the technique came hurling at Ryan. Ryan dodged, albeit barely, and drew his Gunblade from its sheath, charging ki into the cylinder. He wasn't sure if this was an attack towards Ryan, or if training had officially begun. Until he figured it out, he wasn't about to try and kill someone.

Ryan began with his own signature technique. The Rough Divide. He brought his sword behind him then slashed upwards, the blue beam shooting forth towards his assailant. The attacker easily dodged and flew up to met Ryan, blocking the strike sent to meet him. "Well, I was wondering when you'd finally show up. I was beginning to worry about you, nephew."

Ryan's Uncle was an older man, his hair mostly grey, but some specs of black still showing. His beard was neatly cut short, and his icy blue eyes seemed to pierce you right through. His build was muscular, but he could still move with the swiftness of a true warrior.

Ryan drew back his Gunblade and sheathed it, knowing that it in fact was just training. "Uncle, it's time to fulfill my father's dying wish. You killed him, now give me that skill. I'm afraid we'll need it soon. And before you ask yet again, yes, I have no hard feelings. Neither did he. Live by the sword..."

"...die by the sword. Alright, but first things first, what's got you so on edge? I can see it in your eyes that there's something on your mind.?"

Ryan looked to the ground and away from his Uncle. "I'd rather not say just yet."

"Alright, but I want it out of you at some point." He turned and waved for Ryan to follow. "We've got much to do then, that much I can tell." He led Ryan inside as the wind began to pick up, bringing in dark clouds that indicated rain. After inside, the two of them walked immediately to an arena." I would really love to catch up and chat, but it seems you're in a hurry, so I'll go ahead and teach you what I can. Then I'll send you over across to the other building to learn from a good friend of mine. He can teach you the other half of what this school has to offer."

"Alright, let's get started." Ryan only nodded as he drew out his Gunblade, but was confused by the shaking of his Uncle's head. "Nonono, we need to teach you how to fight from your Gunblade being sheathed, as if you were in some situation to where you needed to start fighting immediately, and unable to draw your Gunblade from its sheath. This is known as Battou-Jutsu. It is the basis of half of the techniques within the Kikoukenjutsu School's sword mastery. Now, sheath your Gunblade." Ryan did so and crossed his arms, listening to his Uncle. "The Battou-Jutsu leads into the Sheath Follow Up, the Hiryuusen, and the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuukansen Tsumuji. I know you already know how to perform the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryukansen, so I do not need to explain that one. But the rest of these, along with the Knock Up, Shinken Stance, Haisui no Jin, and the Burning Attack, which you've already had the privilege of seeing, I will teach them to you and make sure you know them. Remember, you become stronger with every technique you learn, and every day so does the opponent you will face. Now, I will explain the technique to you, then we will test it out between us."

Ryan's Uncle cleared his throat then crossed his arms, looking towards his nephew. "The Battou-Jutsu begins with your sword sheathed. The technique relies purely on how you draw your blade, and the speed and strength of which you draw it with. It has great potential in ending a battle if the attack hits, but it can also be dodged. Which is where the Sheath Follow Up comes into play. The Sheath Follow Up is a follow up attack with the use of the sheath. You continue your momentum, altering your movement only enough to slam the opponent with your sheath if he is attacking you. The force can break bone if there is nothing to protect the target."

"The Knock Up is a great technique to use while starting from the Battou-Jutsu, but the Battou-Jutsu is not required to use it. The Knock Up is usable from almost any point in the battle, as long as you're in close quarters, that is. Just bring up the hilt of your Gunblade and smash their chin with it. With enough force, they will be sent flying into the air, and if you're inside, their head will get stuck in the ceiling. Very useful to finish a fight with the next attack."

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Ryan and his Uncle sat in silence as they drank their tea. It was a special herbal blend that increased the ki flow, allowing it to be used more easily for the next hour after consumption. It was excellent if you needed that extra surge of ki to get a difficult technique mastered. Nevertheless, neither of these was the case.

Thirty minutes had passed since the two of them sat down, and it was about time for the two of them to train. Ryan's Uncle stood up and dusted himself off, strapping his sword to his right side. He was obviously left handed. Ryan had fought very few left handed combatants. The only other being his father. Ryan did not pick up that trait, being right handed instead. "Okay, kid. It's time for us to start. I doubt you'll need to try more than once or twice to get these down, so we won't have much to do. After you learn these, as a treat, I'll teach you another technique. The Burning Attack."

"I already know what it is. You greeted with me, remember?"

"I know. You saw it, and that was only a fraction of what it could do. I was holding back." He went to the furthest side of the arena and took to the Battou-Jutsu stance. "I know it's not your normal way of fighting, but it's still good to know. Diversity helps when facing different opponents."

Ryan mirrored the stance, his hand sitting on the hilt of his Gunblade, ready to draw it at a moment's notice. He wasn't sure who was going to attack first, with his Uncle just standing there with a smirk on his face. He slowly begins to sway backwards, but uses the momentum to whip forward, whipping out his sword, using the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryukansen in an attempt to test how well Ryan grasped the concept of the Battou-Jutsu. As expected, Ryan dodged swiftly to the side, whipping out his Gunblade and comboing the Knock Up with a Sheath Follow Up before his Uncle escapes his reach, knocking him instead across the room. "Good! That's what I want to see from a Greyson!" He stood up and rushed Ryan again, forcing him to block instead of dodge. "Remember to reassume the stance when you can. It's a lifesaver." He then flipped Ryan's Gunblade out of the way, but not out of Ryan's hand, and blasted him backwards with a Ki Blast. "You know, you're good, but you have a long way to go. Remember, use everything at your disposal. Don't limit yourself."

Ryan stood up and wiped his mouth, reassuming the Battou-Jutsu afterwards. There were still a few techniques he'd have to try out. He didn't want to use the Haisui no Jin just yet, and the Hiten Mitsurugi Ryukansen Tsumuji seemed a little dangerous. So he'd stick with everything else. Again, his Uncle pursued him, but this time, Ryan held out his Gunblade straight out, assuming the Shinken Stance. Upon seeing this, Ryan's Uncle swerved to the left. As Ryan moved to strike, his Uncle moved yet again. Ryan's only course of action was to continue with his own movement and dodge roll to the side. He then reassumed the Battou-Jutsu upon standing, but his Uncle had already sheathed his sword and began moving his hands rapidly, eventually sticking them straight out. "Burning..." Ryan was ready this time, he drew out his Gunblade and held it down to his side, ready to launch his own Rough Divide at a moments notice. "ATTACK!" The blast came hurling towards Ryan, but he was ready. "Rough DIVIDE!" With a swift upward slash, out came his own Rough Divide, the blue beam flying forward to meet with the blast. Instead of a struggle happening, the slash cut through the attack, sending it in two directions and dissipating soon after. The two halves of the Burning Attack flew to each side of Ryan and dissipated just like the Rough Divide. "Very good. Train that one enough and you'll be able to do that to a full strength attack. Learn to keep having your ki feed it and force it further towards its target, and you'll have yourself a game breaker there." He then waved Ryan over and smirked. "It's time I taught it to you that little trick as well. Give you an attack to use if you lose your sword. I recommend that you learn others as well, but this will be a good starter for you." He walked outside, motioning for Ryan to follow. It was raining rather profusely, but Ryan hadn't noticed because he was concentrating on his training at the time. The path outside was a covered walkway, and allowed for practice of ki attacks in the rain.

"Now, the Burning Attack is really fairly simple. It's just the rapid arm movements that make it look complex. It's just the same few arm movements performed repetitively. This is to build up the ki into a sort of store along the arms and in the hands. The movements don't take long, and it's startup is fairly quick. After you finish building the ki, you cross your arms along your chest, to bring it all together, sort of harmonizing it with the rest of your body. It allows you to hold the ki long enough to thrust your hands forward and fire the blast. I want you to give it a try, and practice until you can do it at a moment's notice. Here, let me show you the arm movements." He demonstrated the arm movements a few times slowly so Ryan could get it down. Eventually Ryan began mimicking the movements to learn it himself. He was always better at learning while doing. Ryan's Uncle stopped and watched as Ryan continued, moving his arms faster and faster at each attempt. It was rather simple. It just looked complex, like he said. Eventually, Ryan turned towards the "range" and began charging the ki into his arms. He crossed them along his chest. "Burning..." And then thrust them forwards. "Attack!" The blazing ki blast flew forwards, hitting a target off in the distance. It was much stronger than the ki blast, but drained more. This would take some getting used to. Again and again he fired off the Burning Attack until he couldn't fire another shot. He stood, panting, as his Uncle finally spoke up. "That's enough for now. You still have much practice to do. I can see you still concentrating on the Burning Attack. Come in and sleep. We'll continue tomorrow. Same for everything else I taught you today. You may have them down now, but repetition always makes one better." Without another word, the two of them went inside. Ryan's Uncle led him to his room and left him there. Ryan didn't even undress. He just fell onto the bed and went to sleep. He had worn himself out.

(1158 Words. 3995 Total)

Ryan stood in the middle of a field, nothing all around him. Gras was the only thing he could see for miles, which was strange considering it was dark outside. The wind blew calmly, the grass swaying back and forth gently. The light from the moon was blocked out by the clouds that had rolled over. Despite the calm wind, the clouds hinted at a storm quickly approaching. Lightning flashed in the distance, and the boom of thunder followed a few seconds later. It wasn't far off now.

Ryan himself was dressed differently than his usual attire. His clothes consisted of a ronin's kimono, all black, even the details. His hair was tied back, swaying with the grass in the wind. The only thing that remained the same from his usual outfit was his Gunblade, still slung to his left side. He stood with his hand on the hilt of it, ready to draw it at a moment's notice. He seemed ready to fight, like he knew there was going to be one.

When one dreams, they usually have the dream and do not realize they are dreaming. They have their dream and then they wake up. Most of the time, they do not remember their dream, but occasionally, one remembers the dream and they wake up, living their lives like normal. Very rarely, some even realize that they are in their dream. It usually ends soon after. Some take interest in their dreams, as most of them actually have some meaning to them. But the meanings, while they may seem great, are very minuscule. Ryan's dreams, however, are very vague. For two reasons. One, his dream is always the same. It may not be every night. Two, he always realizes he is in this dream. And in this dream, he is always standing in the same spot. It always starts this way, just the same as it always does.

The wind picks up and the clouds begin rolling quicker. The lightning flashed in the sky, slowing as it flashed. As it faded, the speed increased to normal again. It flashed only three more times in this fashion before the rain began to fall, slowly as a sprinkle at first, but it quickly picked up speed to be a full on storm. With the rain came the enemies. One at a time for a start. They would rush Ryan with their swords drawn, but the young swordsman would quickly cut them down, his Gunblade providing the edge he needed. The ki rounds fired off in the cylinder sending the vibration down the blade made it difficult for anyone who connected with the weapon to keep a grip on their blade, but these were all obviously amateurs. The real battle was to come, further ahead of all of these novices.

Eventually, the foes became more difficult to dispatch, taking more and more hits to go down. It was as if it was all a test for Ryan, or they were summing up his abilities, gauging him for what they had in store. But he didn’t think of this at all. All he thought about was surviving the seemingly endless hoard of attackers. The more they attacked, the more fierce the thunderstorm became. It was a full on fight between the sounds of blade meeting blade and lightning crashing against the sky. One could feel the static in the air, building up around them.

Ryan eventually began heading towards where the enemies were coming from, meeting them as they came along, one by one. There was no end in sight as warriors fell before Ryan’s Gunblade. The enemies began coming by the twos. It was a wonder Ryan had not succumb to weariness. But then again, this was a dream, and he knew it. So why was he having this dream? Why did it always play out the same? He knew how it played out, so the dream lasted a bit longer each time, every time he went a bit further and every time he woke up before he was about to die. But why? Eventually, he’d find the end of this dream. Eventually.

Ryan continued forth until he was fighting entire five man teams, the multitude of them seeming to come from the thunder crashes and lightning strikes themselves. It took many swift dodges and fluid movements to dispatch the enemies before him. The waves were one right after another at this point, and he was getting close to where he was struck down last time. With another squad down, he dodged an enemy coming from behind, the strike that had woken him up before. With this new enemy before him, he took the Battou-Jutsu stance, his hand on the hilt of his Gunblade. He thought he might as well try what he has learned recently to drive this fight further into this dream, to hopefully find out what was at the end of it, or at least get closer.

This new enemy was different. It moved in a way that indicated it was no mere novice. It had a technique to its movements, and fought with the clarity of a warrior. This was to be different than he had faced so far. Ryan had been paying too much attention to reacting to the movements to notice what the weapon his enemy was holding was. He just knew he was fighting a masked apparition. One who wore the same kimono as he, only darker. This was strange. His opponents up to now had been wearing the armor of a samurai, but this one wore just a kimono. Why? He deflected the enemy’s attack and then jumped back, pointing his hand forwards. It was time to take it to a new level. He fired a barrage volley of ki blasts at the enemy, but each one was met with the weapon his enemy was holding, the very same weapon that Ryan held in his hands. The Gunblade. He couldn’t fathom it. Ryan thought his was the only Gunblade to exist in this world, so why would another appear in his dream?

He continued his fight against the apparition, the lightning continuing to strike at the ground behind them, the thunder booming past as a shockwave. Their Gunblades met in a fury of strikes and counters that caused the both of them to reel back, and head at one another again and again. The battle seemed to last for just as long as it took to reach this enemy in the first place, and going even longer than that. The battle was very repetitive, continuing the vicious cycle of attack, defend, counterattack, defend, jump back, repeat. The struggle was endless, and Ryan didn’t know how much longer he would be able to keep up. Fatigue was finally setting in, and Ryan’s breaths became shallower and more frequent. Sweat rolled down as the rain pattered against him, the lightning becoming more fierce now as the battle raged on.

Ryan’s downfall came as his Gunblade slipped from his hands in a defensive maneuver, the rain causing the hilt to be slicker than he realized. He was thrown back by the impact and his Gunblade was thrown away and out of reach. It stuck out of the ground at an angle, the blade shimmering in the lightning flashes. Ryan scrambled to his feet and began charging raw ki into his hands. He was going to blast this guy to kingdom come. But when Ryan stood up, his opponent was gone. Nothing was there. No indication of where he had gone, it was just the thunderstorm and he. He tried to sense the opponent, but all he could sense was himself. Thing of it was, he wasn’t the only one there. He sensed another one of himself. How could that be? Unless…

Ryan's Gunblade was sent flying, as was his opponent's, as they each connected with a triggered shot. Before he could even draw back, he saw his opponent's eyes, behind the hair that fell in front of his face. It was the exact same shade of red his was. Red streaks then appeared in his black hair as the wind blew it out of his face. Ryan was froze with confusion. It was him. He was fighting himself. A crooked grin crossed his dupe's face as he blasted Ryan point blank with a ki blast. Everything faded to black as the rain fell. The last thing Ryan saw was his own Gunblade along with his dupe's coming down for his chest.

Ryan bolted upwards in his bed, a cold sweat evident on his face. He was panting as if he'd been working out for hours. He contemplated his dream for a moment. The only conclusion he could come to was that to truly surpass your limits, you need to be able to conquer yourself. It was too early for this. He threw the covers off of him and got dressed. Afterwards, he walked out to the training area and stood, looking to the sunrise as the wind blew his hair and jacket. The air felt refreshing, but it wasn't until he caught a pink spot in the corner of his eye that a smile crossed his face. "Well well, look who decided to show!"

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"That's damn good to hear! Well, what's next on the agenda for you then?" Ryan stretched as he faced to the 'shooting range' and began concentrating ki into his arms. Inquick series of movement, his hands were then crossed across his chest. "Burning..." he then thrust them forwards and shouted "attack!" The heat based maneuver shot forth, incinerating a target. He smirked to himself and then turned back to his friend. "I'm only about half done here, but I could grab one of the texts and just practice along the way. It be great to practice with someone who can regenerate themselves too. So I can see full force what I'm learning can do, considering I'm still weaker than you."

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Ryan just smirked and shook his head as his friend successfully learned the Burning Attack after one attempt. It truly was amazing what races other than humans could do. "Ya know, that little ability of yours is gonna help you out a whole hell of a lot against an enemy, that is, if you can study their movements enough. I'm guessing in battle you can't concentrate on everything at once. Just now, you noticed how I moved my arms, and concentrated on it. But do you know why the arms need moved that way? The reason behind the startup? That also rests in successfully learning the attack too. But we can get to that later. For now, I still have a whole other teacher to go through now that I'm done with Master Trunks's techniques. I have to go on to Master Goten's now, and apparently my last teacher has already set up for me to learn with the new one. So I'm a little concerned since he picked the teacher."

Ryan stretched again and then put his hand to his stomach as it growled loud enough for Bubbles to hear. "So, whaddaya say we go do a bit of hunting or fishing? I'm starving and I just realized I haven't eaten since yesterday at lunch."

(-900 Burning Attack, -700 Battou-Jutsu, -500 Sheath Follow Up, -800 Hiryuusen, -600 Knock Up, -400 Shinken Stance, -800 Hiten Mitsurugi Ryuukansen Tsumuji, -700 Haisui no Jin, -5400 total
216 words. 488 left)