Ascension (Closed, Galihan)

[Firechild]

The birds peeped and twittered in the morning sunlight, as one Arashi Mouretsu stood in the rear court of Division Seven. There was two courtyards within Division Seven, one of which had the Well of Power that helped the members of Kidou Corps amplify and train for Kidou that was beyond them normally. The other, only Iko and Arashi himself were allowed into. Some secret project the Captain had been working on for several months. It was a twenty square foot square of grass, except for the rockface that rose up at the far end. An opening in the stone revealed some sort of cave, lit up by Kidou lights it descended seemingly without limit. Arashi himself stood satisfied at the opening, observing his finished work. "Iko...this is it. The new training grounds are finally complete..." He said to his vice captain with a smile. "We need a name...we'll work on that later shall we? If Tsuno from Squad 2 comes, I'm downstairs. I promised a special...training, to help us both achieve our goal..." Not even Iko, the girl that Arashi felt closest to in all of Soul Society knew about his desire to learn the art of Flash Cry. Giving the girl a one armed hug, he descended into the cavern, a grin on his face.

One hour later...

The air was filled with sounds of combat, impacts from fists and legs could be heard throughout the underground training facility of Division Seven. Looking to be more like a rocky valley with a bright blue sky that seemed to stretch for miles in every direction, the training grounds were designed, and crafted using none other then Kidou. The captain's Kidou for that matter, it was his secret project...and he finally finished it. A pair of circles with pillars of energy were in front of a massive boulder. A garganta-esque portal was fixated on the giant rock, psuedo-hollow poured out of it, all of them were of Gillian level. Mouretsu Arashi stood around twenty yards from the portal, his legs spread out in a horse stance, his chest and back bare as he faced the oncoming Hollow Replicates. Hissorihime, his haori, and the upper half of his shinigami robes lay folded on a stone near a large platform that acted as an elevator to get from the barracks to the training ground. A pair of the hollow launched themselves at Arashi, who leaped into the air, dodging there attacks. The Captain curved his body and aimed it downwards, his hand curled into a fist as he descended upon the Hollow, cracking one of the masks in half, before that Hollow vanished on the spot. Arashi's leg twitched as he landed, and he spun swiftly delivering a roundhouse kick to the other Hollow, causing it to disappear and vanish. The portal closed shut, leaving a black line which pulsated softly with a dark light. Arashi straightened and sat down on a nearby stone, breathing hard from the exertions. An hour he had been training, nonstop...needless to say he was a little tired.

[Galihan]

It really was a fine morning. The morning sun left the sky a glazed in a rosy golden shine, the cool air was refreshing on the tired bodies of the handful of men from Squad Two who were finishing up their morning training under the supervision of the stand-in leader of the division, Vice-captain Azuka. Tsuno spent most of his days of late overseeing training of the new admissions into the squad, but that wasn't going to help improve himself get stronger so that he himself couldn't take the reins as the official leader of the division. In order to get stronger, one needs to push his limits against one of equal or greater strength and that was hard to come by given that he was reluctant to approach a fellow vice-captain and request they take a break from their busy lives and spar, and it would be even more foolhardy to approach another squad's captain to make that same request. But if he had the chance he would gladly train with anybody, and it just so happened that he had had received an invitation to meet up with the honorable Captain Mouretsu of Squad Seven. Tsuno liked Squad Seven, lots of people did, they were a very likable crowd for the most part. Not at all the stuck up snobby weaklings some people liked to make them out to be, most of those people who did were more likely just envious that they couldn't harness their own reishi into deadly balls of elemental energy or were just muscleheaded swordsmen who never bothered getting to know the lot.

Within the second courtyard of Squad Seven, Vice-captain Chiyo was lazing about peacefully in the sun, staring at the beautiful sky without as much as a worry. It did irritate her slightly when he got as affectionate as he did, but was comforting to feel the captain's arm around her, it reminded her that she wasn't alone and that was nice. She pulled up a small shamisen from her back onto her lap and began plucking at the 3-stringed instrument, humming a simple melody to accompany the tune. One who was truly sensitive to the subtle fluctuations of reiatsu would be able to feel her energies ever so slightly pulsate up and down in rhythm with the music, subconsciously maintaining the tempo. After about an hour's passing, just sitting about and making music, there was some sort of commotion going on nearby.

"That must be him."

What was the deal with these people? Tsuno was starting to question whether or not he really meant it when he thought that Squad Seven was a likable crowd, but then again he didn't hold it against the unranked men who questioned the Squad Two vice-captain who claimed to have business with their own captain. Tsuno was dressed as he usually was, in the dark uniform of the Omnitsukido, and when they showed themselves it normally meant bad news for somebody.

"Show us your warrant or else you aren't coming anywhere near Captain Mouretsu or the inside of our facilities!" Yelled a pair of generic shinigami who wouldn't let the 2nd Squad's vice-captain pass. "You aren't getting past us without permission from our superiors!"

"But I DO have permission from your superior! Captain Mouretsu himself specifically requested that I meet him privately this morning!" Replied an irritated Tsuno.

"Show us proof that you've been invited here!" The first guard shouted, and the second added "Tell us who you are, now!"

"I've already told you that, damnit! I'm Vice-captain Tsuno Azuka of Squad Two, I've came here to see Captain Mouretsu by his personal invitation! Where's Chiyo-san? She should know that I'm supposed to be here."

"We'll see about that." "Yeah, we'll see!"

"I'm sure you will," Tsuno growled irritatedly, at that moment noticing the pale white figure that was the Vice-captain of Squad Seven. "There she is now, Chiyo-san! Can you get these guys to move? I don't want to keep the captain waiting."

Iko was able to hear the commotion from the inner courtyard where she and Captain Mouretsu departed, it was no use waiting on those overprotective regulars to let the outsider into their secret haven, so she took it upon herself to escort the fellow Vice-captain directly to the captain since it was clear after the first ten minutes that nobody else would.

"That's enough, gentlemen. You may go." Iko dismissed the guards.

"But ma'am! He's Omnitsukido,he-"

"I Said, that enough. Gentlemen. You may go." She repeated, an obvious tone of irritation in her usually kind voice.

"Yessir, uhh I mean Ma'am!" They uttered, before making a run for their lives.

"Im sorry about that," Iko apologized to the fellow Vice-captain. "They're new. Well not that new, been around enough to learn to fear that uniform of yours, but not enough to recognize the faces of other squads. They'll learn in time."

"Yes," Tsuno sighed tiredly. "They all learn to not trust everyone else, but that doesn't help anyone, does it? If only your captain and I trained more often then our squads would get along together, and that would be a step towards the whole Thirteen Squads being a single cooperating force, that'd be nice..."

"Wouldn't it be?"

Finally Tsuno had been escorted to the underground training grounds under the Squad Seven courtyard, and was let inside. It appeared to be a secret training area, a massive underground cavern with an artificial sky, not unlike the hidden training complex under Squad Two's headquarters that he himself made optimal use of whenever he could. Tsuno witnessed Captain Mouretsu dispatch a large hollow with a kick to the mask. Impressive to say the least, and it was clear that they would be able to learn lots from each other. Many times Tsuno had considered offering Squad Seven's 3rd Seat advanced hand-to-hand training in exchange for kidou training, which Tsuno was in need of, but this was even better. As far as Tsuno knew, Captain Mouretsu would be able to learn more from Tsuno than 3rd-seat Shimazu, and of course the captain would have much more to teach to the Squad Two vice-captain who lacked great talent for kidou.

"Im sorry Im late, Captain Mouretsu!" Tsuno called out to the captain below. "Held up by a few of your men who didn't trust me, but Chiyo-san dealt with them already!"

((OOC, might I ask that maybe the pseudo-hollows not be adjuchas-strength, seeing as in perspective that is saying that you have been killing beings with the strength comparable to a vice-captain in single hits.))

[Firechild]

((Sorry for the long wait Galihan, had a lot of crap going on over the past month or so.))

A sheen of sweat glistened upon the Captain's face as he gazed up at the shifting reishi near the ceiling, imitating fluffy clouds on a bright day. It had been a long time since Mouretsu Arashi had done any sort of serious training, in particular that which had to do with harnessing ones physical energy to release in forceful blows via the arms and legs. The fact of the matter was, Arashi was skilled at martial arts yes, as most Shinigami were. But that's it. Only his sheer strength was what gave him the ability to dispatch the psuedo-hollow with such ease. A truly skilled martial artist, even one that had half the strength that Arashi himself did, would probably be able to best the Captain without much trouble. There in lies the problem the Wind Master faced. The one obstacle above all else that prevented him from directing the flow of reishi, in tandem with his physical energy to achieve Shunko. It was simple, so simple...yet so frustrating. The Captain of the Kidou Corps was being bested by plainly, and simply; a lack of skill. That was just what Arashi had planned to fix within the next few days. "He should be arriving soon..." As if right on queue, the voice of Vice Captain Azuka Tsuno called out from upon

"I'm sorry I'm late, Captain Mouretsu!" Tsuno called out to the captain as he descended upon the platform. "Held up by a few of your men who didn't trust me, but Chiyo-san dealt with them already!" A pleasure to deal with as always. This particular member from Division 2 was a particularly decent person. One who's company Arashi actually enjoyed, unlike a few choice Divisions.

"Indeed? Well than I must apologize for the hassle they caused you. I will speak with them later. I will insure you have a definite pass for next time." As usual, the excitement got to captain of Division 7, and he was careless enough to forget to let the guards know he was expecting a guest. Arashi got up and walked over to where Tsuno would step down from the lowering platform. "Well, as you know why I have asked you to come here, there isn't much point in delaying any longer is there?" The Captain smiled as the platform finished it's descent. Holding out a hand to the Vice Captain, Arashi nodded in respect to the man who would be his training partner for however long was needed. "Shall we begin?"

The Captain turned and lead Tsuno towards where he was fighting before, only this time there were no Hollows in sight. "Why don't you have the first move eh Mr. Azuka?" Arashi said with a grin as he slid into a fighting stance, facing the Division 2 Lieutenant with his hands in a defensive position.

[Galihan]

The formality was very welcoming every time Tsuno dealt with Arashi. Being allowed to come back here later without any hassle would be most appreciated if they were going to be training on a regular basis, but then it just might have been easier if Tsuno just dressed like the usual shinigami instead of always clad in his Onmitsukido uniform. Given that enough time was wasted already, Tsuno decided he'd best take Captain Mouretsu's offer and get this training session underway. He bowed to the captain in respect as was customary for most martial arts competitions, and set down his zanpakuto to the side so not to get in the way for this exercise, which would not require any weapon asides from the combatants own bodies.

"Of you insist, Captain Mouretsu. I'll be happy to comply."

He took notice in Arashi's fighting stance, and estimated how he'd best approach him in combat. Of course, the goal wasn't for either of them to defeat the other, but to push themselves to get stronger. He would need to help Arashi improve his hand-to-hand combat skills, and in return hopefully Tsuno would become a much more talented practitioner of kido. By acquiring the shunko technique, Tsuno would have another trump card asides from his Raging Phoenix hado spell and his newly acquired bankai, shunko being a much more practical and discreet method than either of he previously mentioned abilities. Tsuno ran rather quickly towards Captain Mouretsu, keeping low to the ground and taking a very aggressive stance with his arms pulled back to throw some punches towards the captain. Tsuno called out to Arashi as he prepared to throw the first blow in this contest.

"Prepare yourself!"

Closing the distance between himself and Arashi, Tsuno thrusted both of his palms out towards the chest and abdomen of Captain Mouretsu in hopes of slipping past his defensive stance and landing a hit that could leave him stunned for a moment to allow Tsuno to grab his arms and throw Arashi backwards. OF course doing so would be a difficult combination to pull off against a powerful opponent, but he would still try and hopefully succeed in his strategy for now. A good opening move, hopefully they'd get a lot of progress done today and be well on their way to achieving new levels of strength.