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Post by Galihan on May 17, 2009 12:49:45 GMT -4
When Shin was describing his zanpakuto to Tsuno, the vice-captain couldn't help but chuckle a bit when he noticed the subtle mannerisms that all said Shin was telling the truth about Kumori. If what he said was true, then it was obviously her semi-manifesting herself into this realm to interact with Shin in person, seemingly unknown to anyone who was unaware of a zanakuto being able to do so. Indeed it was very awkward to anyone who couldn't see her, but still see Shin's responses what appeared to be her very awkwardly intimate nature. And then Shin asked him about his own zanpakuto.
"Lotomasa..." Tsuno began with a sigh if that were any inclination as to their relationship, and not a good sigh either, but one of irk and disappointment.
"He's not that bad as a partner, since he doesn't try interfering with my life like your's appears to, but we still don't get along very good when it comes down to accepting our differences. As you know, I enjoy working hard and being engaged in the world, but he on the other hand couldn't be happier right where he is, sleeping and lazing about like a sloth. Of course, no matter how you look at it, while the zanpakuto is a part of your own soul but it is still a weapon, a killing tool, so if I don't need him to fight then I let him be, he likes it like this so that's all good.
But when I do need him, we have different view on how fights should be fought, which causes issues as you could very well imagine. I enjoy thinking, using my mind as a weapon to formulate tactics and plan strategies, but he on the other hand just wants to rush in and rip the enemy to pieces like an explosive whirlwind of recklessness. He tries to fight with instinct alone without any doubt of victory once action sets motion, where I try to rationalize and find the surest path to victory because the mind is a greater weapon than teeth. It's what separates a warrior from a beast, and it's been one hell of a time mastering the compromise between strategy and instinct.
Do you remember when those arrancar attacked Rukongai and the captain and I tried to fight them off? What makes them so powerful is not that they possess such amazing power, but that their power entirely their own, and not divided between themselves and their blades like we are. They have it all at their disposal so they only have to have instinct to fight, but we have to synchronize ourselves and unify our minds and blades into a single soul. Finding that perfect bond, to achieve the ultimate power we need to trust our power with one another and become one, yes, we are two complete opposites yet still the same, two halves to one soul... does that sound like it makes any sense?"
He wasn't sure how corny or bullshitted that speech would sound to Shin, it wasn't like Tsuno wanted to just spill out into a monologue about his zanpakuto, but it just came out the way he felt it. Tsuno and Lotomasa truly were opposites but still two halves to a whole warrior. Tsuno just wanted to try and pass what he knew onto others in the time he still had to teach, because he had the feeling that he was very close to becoming a much busier person who wouln't have the time to do so later if he was to become a new captain, and especially with the news he heard from his wife that she was expecting. Yes, might as well get the philosophic teaching out of the way now when there was nothing better to do than recover, since there was going to be much else to do in time.
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Post by Darkoda on May 19, 2009 21:41:57 GMT -4
Shin heard Tsuno’s chuckling at his predicament with his crazy spirit. Well there went some more of his pride. The only solace was that Tsuno wasn’t one to actually repeat this to anyone, or try to blackmail him. Well at least he hoped so, anyone he heard mentioning this incident outside of him was going to die otherwise.
Tsuno’s response to his question was quite interesting. He really didn’t expect his vice captain’s zanpakuto to have the personality of a lazy bum. He wondered exactly what part of his soul Lotomasa was supposed to represent, although they seemed to deal with that difference in opinion well enough. Their fighting styles appeared to be on opposite ends of the spectrum though. Tsuno preferred analysing things before acting, plotting out strategies to disable his opponent, whereas his zanpakuto preferred to charge in and just go berserk until everything died. It was like leaving someone from the 12th and 11th Divisions together alone; just asking for trouble.
“Do you remember when those arrancar attacked Rukongai and the captain and I tried to fight them off? What makes them so powerful is not that they possess such amazing power, but that their power entirely their own, and not divided between themselves and their blades like we are. They have it all at their disposal so they only have to have instinct to fight, but we have to synchronize ourselves and unify our minds and blades into a single soul. Finding that perfect bond, to achieve the ultimate power we need to trust our power with one another and become one, yes, we are two complete opposites yet still the same, two halves to one soul... does that sound like it makes any sense?"
It sounded a bit crazy, but in some weird way it did have some basis. An arrancar’s zanpakuto is merely their hollow nature contained within a blade, whereas a shinigami’s zanpakuto contains essentially another soul. As such, they would have an easier time fighting at full power without having any inner conflicts to worry about. Case in point; in order to attain bankai, the full potential of a zanpakuto, one must be capable of gaining dominance over their spirit, for the right to wield their full power. That in itself requires one to be fully synchronized with their spirit to even manage to materialize it fully into the world. The sheer level of trust and respect that was required for a shinigami to wield their full power was a massive pain in the ass.
“I can see your point, essentially arrancar don’t have to work together with anyone, and thus they can reach their full potential much easier than shinigami, who have to cooperate with their zanpakuto in order for their power not to be dulled.”
Well something along those lines anyway. Discussion about the mysteries of spirits was one thing, but his arm was back in working order finally, and they had a spar to finish. Shin was now a bit curious to exactly what Tsuno’s released zanpakuto was like. He was never around whenever he got into a fight, and obviously a vice-captain isn’t going to release on a bunch of unseated trainees, so he really had no idea about his shikai beyond it being fire based.
“Round 2 then, huh? Try not to get yourself killed.” With that sad show of support, she went back to their inner world, allowing him to actually leave the spring. He jumped out of the water, releasing his reiatsu a bit to get rid of all the water in his clothes. With his back to Tsuno, he pulled out one of the chocolate bars he had within his robes and started munching on it, talking to Tsuno between bites. “So, where to next?”
He really needed to go take a look at the sparring grounds around here sometime. The only ones he actually payed attention to were the ones with all those odd shaped pillars and small mountains scattered about.
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Post by Galihan on May 23, 2009 20:18:32 GMT -4
Comparing Tsuno as a whole to a mix of persons Squad 11 and 12 would not be entirely without justification, but it was definitely something you'd want to word out in a way that didn't imply him to be a smart weakling or a strong oaf. On their own, the shinigami being the strategic planner and the zanpakuto being the savage berserker was a reasonable comparison if you looked at Tsuno as an example, in fact that was the basis of what he would consider the ultimate dialectic of battle, the tactical mind and the strong body combining into a single ultimate soul that would be able to apply deadly force with strategic precision. That is what Tsuno considered a warrior of Squad Two should be, and hopefully that'd rub off on his subordinates in time. To be able to make the best decisions in battle and act with utmost precision. That unison was what made Tsuno believe with confidence that they were ultimately stronger than their so-called rivals the arrancar, and by training to perfect the body, mind and soul, Tsuno was certain that he would be able to make his disciples skilled enough to prove that.
Getting out of the water himself, Tsuno raised his own reitasu to try off just like Shin did, and couldn't help but have an eyebrow twitch at the sight of the 5th-seat so blatantly indulging on chocolate while next to the vice-captain like he was, as if intentionally doing so for the sake of annoying him knowing full well that Tsuno was such a strong advocate for healthy eating. But however, fact that the sweets were in his pocket all along couldn't have been very good for the robes themselves. Everyone has at one point, assumably, accidently left a chocolate bar in their pocket before to find it a mushy melty mess later on. Out of curiosity, one would have to wonder how it must have been after being in his pocket after intense training ending with a massive flamethrower and followed by a hot bath... Tsuno was actually more surprised that the chocolate wasn't completely melted down to running liquid to soil Shin's shirt.
"So, where to next?" Said the 5th-seat between bites. Well, at least they were just finishing up a break in their training, as opposed to if he was slacking off while on duty to indulge on his chocolaty cravings.
As one might try to argue, chocolate would probably not be that bad of a choice to eat given that the sugar and caffeine could provide a slight boost of energy and concentration, but in Tsuno's opinion the actual benefits were probably some sort of exaggeration made up by that weird 3rd-Seat from 12th Squad who was always seen clinging to either fellow Vice-captains Kiataro-kun or Chiyo-san. Ultimately, there was no point to getting upset over chocolate as much as he wanted to ,as odd as that may have sounded, Tsuno decided he might as well get on with the training lesson.
But back on the task at hand, where to? The area in this sanctuary down here below Squad 2's headquarters, its adjacent territory and the land privately owned by the Special Forces spanned for quite a distance underground so there were lots of different arenas to choose from. The sand arena they were in was by comparison not very large at all compared to say, the vast mountain arenas that were impossible to miss while down here, where quite a few people tended to train at one point or another. What to do next for this training, Tsuno was not entirely sure.
Since the last round was primarily practicing their hakuda (hand-to-hand) skills and kido spells against one another, perhaps the next session could be used to train either their swordsmanship or agility. Doing so would help master all four aspects of Shinigami warfare, also known as Zankensoki. So either they could find a pair of Asauch (training zanpakuto used by unseated shinigami unable to communicate with their real zanpakuto,) to spar one another, or play a game of shunpo-tag. Personally Tsuno was moreso in the mood for tag but if Shin wanted to practice his zanjutsu then Tsuno wouldn't complain.
"Well," Tsuno replied to Shin, trying his best to ignore the 5th-seats' unhealthy snack,
"Im thinking where we should train should probably be in the mountain chamber, you know the one I'm talking about, But what to do?" He paused momentarily, obviously pondering what to do next.
"We could find a pair of Asauchi in order to train our swordmanship, that, or we could just play a game of flash-tag and practice our shunpo for a while. Either are fine by me since they both build essential skills as a shinigami and especially as a member of the Special Forces. Do you have a preference yourself?"
Seeing as it was Shin who would have more to learn from Tsuno than the other way around, the vice-captain decided he might as well give the less experienced of the two decided the match.
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Post by Darkoda on May 26, 2009 1:11:22 GMT -4
Shin may have looked like he wasn’t paying Tsuno any mind, but one did not get a seated position in Division 2 without being highly observant, and Shin was sure that Tsuno was not at all pleased about the candy bar. If one thought that Shin intentionally ate the thing in front of his health-nut vice captain to irritate him.......well they would be right. Hey, it was in his nature to mess with people, and not even being someone he respected was enough to avoid that; just ask Kazue, he attempted to annoy him nearly every time they met, and generally succeeded. Besides, Tsuno really needed to over his health obsession. Shin consumed more sweets in a week than most people in a month for near two centuries and he was stronger than some vice-captains. Well Shin consumed more food in a day than most people could ever eat in a week anyway but that was beside the point. Maybe he should just get Hana or Kazue to give him a decent, impossible to understand theory on sweets being good for you.
On the grounds of the non-melted candy bar, well there were many ways to use kido if one was creative besides hado and hadoku; like disguising a zanpakuto as a cane, creating sand out of nowhere, or making heat-proof wrapping for your sweets kept on your person. Well, that’s what he would say if asked anyway. It worked well enough anyway considering that the heat from Tsuno’s flamethrower – and he was going to get revenge for that – didn’t melt it.
Well, Tsuno replied to Shin, pointedly avoiding staring at the chocolate bar – Shin’s smirk grew at that.
Im thinking where we should train should probably be in the mountain chamber, you know the one I'm talking about, But what to do? A pause. Shin took this time to disintegrate the wrapper – why throw it away when you could just vaporise it with your reiatsu?
We could find a pair of Asauchi in order to train our swordmanship, that, or we could just play a game of flash-tag and practice our shunpo for a while. Either are fine by me since they both build essential skills as a shinigami and especially as a member of the Special Forces. Do you have a preference yourself?
Well Shin obviously had a preference for speed, but the entire point of all this was for him to better himself to deal with Kumori, and for all he knew, she would pull him into a sword fight for the sole reason that he wasn’t that good at it. And if he got into a game of shunpo tag, he was sure that he would end up forgetting his purpose here anyway so might as well get the annoying part over with.
“In a real fight, instead of relying on simply Hoho or Zanjustu, against a strong opponent you would need to use everything at your disposal to win. Personally, I see little point in using Asauchi, besides the obvious reason that no sane shinigami would allow themselves to be separated from their zanpakuto spirit, even sealed, zanpakuto come in many different shapes; case in point would be both of our zanpakuto, which are shorter than an Asauchi. It would be best to practice with the weapon you would be using in a fight anyway. I suggest a full fight, this time with our zanpakuto.”
The most dangerous option by far, but the one that would yield the most results. Anyway, one does tend to put in more effort the more risk there was to own well being, and the very real risk of getting killed should make things much more exciting.
I give him five minutes before he forces you to release me. I know zanjustsu isn’t my speciality but isn’t that a bit low?
What, you think you can make him release first? I’ll be thoroughly surprised if you pull that off.
Well he never said anything like that, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t try. It was in the end up to Tsuno to agree first, but it should appeal to him on the point of being a more efficient training exercise.
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Post by Galihan on May 31, 2009 15:08:00 GMT -4
“In a real fight, instead of relying on simply Hoho or Zanjustu, against a strong opponent you would need to use everything at your disposal to win. Personally, I see little point in using Asauchi, besides the obvious reason that no sane shinigami would allow themselves to be separated from their zanpakuto spirit, even sealed, zanpakuto come in many different shapes; case in point would be both of our zanpakuto, which are shorter than an Asauchi. It would be best to practice with the weapon you would be using in a fight anyway. I suggest a full fight, this time with our zanpakuto.”
"A full fight eh?," Tsuno mumbled quietly, resting his palm onto the pommel of his zanpakuto. Very confident indeed, Shin was, and the vice-captain couldn't help but comment on that.
"That sounds like it could get real dangerous, don't you think?"
It was clear by the fact that Tsuno was drawing his blade as he spoke these words that he in fact was not against the idea, but he still had something to say as to why he would be reluctant to fight the 5th-seat head on like this.
"Using our real zanpakuto, that is. Im sure it wouldn't be impossible to find a pair of Asauchi that would match the size, shape and weight of our sealed zanpakuto, and then we'd be able to fight as if for real without our attacks being as potentially fatal to each other."
While it may have sounded like either Tsuno was underestimating Shin or overestimating himself, or just trying to avoid the fight altogether, he really was not too keen on the idea of fighting a subordinate with the same killing potential as if fighting an actual enemy. Then again, that risk was what gave training the best end results, plus just by mentioning this option surely meant that Shin was aware of the worst possible outcome and did not fear injury or death. What a true warrior if there ever was on in Squad Two.
"I don't mind the challenge, but Im not going to got at you at full strength no matter how much you want me to, got it?"
Tsuno lowered his center of mass and raised his blade horizontally in his right hand, ready whenever Shin was. Of course Tsuno would feel more comfortable if they were to just do some basic exercises first and work their way up to a full fight once he was sure of exactly where Shin's skills were at compared to his own, but he was prepared for the chance that the 5th-seat would just charge at him from the word go. It may have sounded a bit hypocritical, but while Tsuno didn't want to use his shikai on Shin, he actually wanted to see what Kumori could dish out. He decided that he would not release his zanpakuto unless Shin did the same, and then the contest would really become interesting.
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Post by Darkoda on Jun 3, 2009 0:19:48 GMT -4
"A full fight eh?" Tsuno mumbled quietly, resting his palm onto the pommel of his zanpakuto.
"That sounds like it could get real dangerous, don't you think?"
“I know.” He wasn’t stupid; he knew exactly what could happen if things went wrong.
"Using our real zanpakuto, that is. Im sure it wouldn't be impossible to find a pair of Asauchi that would match the size, shape and weight of our sealed zanpakuto, and then we'd be able to fight as if for real without our attacks being as potentially fatal to each other."
True, but why get comfortable with handicaps? Real opponents aren’t going to come at you with lacklustre blades. Besides, an Asauchi was still a sword, and could still cut you quite easily even if it lacked a zanpakuto’s sharpness. Tsuno was drawing his zanpakuto, so he was willing to fight anyway.
"I don't mind the challenge, but Im not going to go at you at full strength no matter how much you want me to, got it?"
It figured that he would do something like that, and Shin wasn't going to waste his time trying to change Tsuno's mind with words.
“That’s your choice, but don’t expect me to hold back.”
At least you probably won’t end up dead if he holds back his power.
You have no faith in me, do you?
Sure I do, I’m not stopping you, am I?
Tsuno lowered himself into a fighting stance, his zanpakuto held horizontally. A defensive stance. Shin drew his zanpaktuo, and lowered himself into his fighting stance, his blade pointed forward. He took a deep breath as his face fell into his cold mask, and charged at Tsuno, zanpakuto poised to stab him in the left shoulder – and he slid low on the ground, skating past the ninja, aiming to kick Tsuno’s knees from behind. As he did last time, Shin was prepared to pivot on his foot to pursue Tsuno with another kick in case he dodged, but this time, Tsuno would also have to deal with the Byakurai that was coming with it; Shin wasn’t going to use the same thing he did before after all, that would be a bit too predictable.
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Post by Galihan on Jun 19, 2009 0:11:31 GMT -4
Shin came in at his target with impressive speed for someone of his rank. Of course, since it was fairly well known that Squad Two specialized in speed and stealth, there was no way he was too fast for his sparring partner to counter. In fact, given that Tsuno was the most powerful and experienced member of the division, even with the potential to become the next captain if the bureaucrats who ran Soul Society on paper were able to sort out the mess that Squad Ten caused just for one desperate mission that only resulted in the death of two captains, a vice-captain being hospitalized indefinitely, and countless other shinigami lost, all for just three kids, with only one of them even able to make the cut to join the Gotei 13 to top it off. The very thought of it made Tsuno frustrated, in truth if they just ordered Squad Two to rescue them, Kisho and Tsuno could have been in and out in no time, but instead they had a full-scale invasion, and the captain was dead.
In any case, no matter how good Shin was for a 5th-seat, Tsuno was good enough to become the next captain and the thus his training partner did not pose a serious threat to him no matter how you wanted to look at the facts. Because of the gap in their power, Tsuno was able to outmaneuver Shin and thanks to their earlier spar, he had an idea of what sort of tactics the 5th-seat had planned. Sidestepping, Tsuno was able to to avoid the thrust of Shin's zanpakuto, and when he dropped low he was certain that he would try to do a sweeping kick like before but perhaps with some other new trick to prevent being entirely predictable. Odd how the most predictable part of battle could be unpredictability itself. Would Shin follow through with a strike with his zanpakuto, maybe pull off a small hado spell to throw him off? Tsuno wasn't sure of what exactly would be sent his way in terms of an attack, so no point standing around to wait for whatever was addressed to him at such range, good thing that one of the most basic maneuver taught to most shinigami and specialized by Squad Two was the shunpo technique.
Relocating behind Shin to witness the 5th-seat fire an instant beam of lightning, Tsuno went to move in towards Shin, intending to tap his training partner on the back with his zanpakuto's unsharpened edge with some decent strength to startle the younger shinigami. Not much younger, mind you, only by a few decades, 50 years tops. Not many people were considerably old for a shinigami within Squad Two, not a single member was at least 400 years old, but that had to be because of the unusually short life expectancy of Squad Two compared to other squads. Being so closely tied to the Onmitsukido/Special Forces, whom many members of died on their first few missions, most of the members of Squad Two accepted that death was always possible so they worked hard to become as strong as possible early on unlike other divisions that were more lax in their daily routines. Tsuno knew that he could have used the sharpened end to tap Shin, but no matter what, he would be just too uncomfortable with the notion of injuring his subordinate in training.
Foolish, one may suppose, for an assassin training his subordinate how to fight to the death but not willing to risk hurting him in the process like this, but what good would training by worth if in the last lesson the master killed the student? Using the first small tap as a warning, Tsuno decided he'd follow through with an actual swing of his blade, not at full strength mind you, but still any sword is able to seriously injure anyone if lodged into one's ribcage like where this slash was aimed.
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Post by Darkoda on Jul 13, 2009 4:34:22 GMT -4
Well things went somewhat as expected; Tsuno sidestepped the thrust, and vanished when Shin tried to sweep his legs and blast yet another hole in him. Standard shunpo tactics dictated that his vice captain was more likely than not going to appear behind him, and as such Shin dived forward, but not before he was grazed on the shoulder by a blade. The lack of damage suggested the blunt edge of the zanpakuto.
Well that went well, you know the next time he hits you, he’ll likely strike you properly.
She had a point there, and as much as he didn’t want to admit it, the fact that Tsuno got behind him so quickly, and was able to hit him even though he knew where he going had him quite unnerved. If Tsuno had decided to actually swing seriously, he would be sporting a nasty gash on his shoulder at best; more likely than not he would have aimed for a more vital spot, like his ribs or head.
Shin flipped in midair, and braced himself on a spiritron wall before shooting himself at Tsuno again. The general hope was that with the sudden change in direction along with his speed would at least surprise him enough to keep him from countering like before. It should help that this time, Shin was going for a horizontal cut along the chest as he passed by, with a reiatsu charged blade for extra power.
Whether he struck, or far more likely, Tsuno dodged or parried, Shin’s angle would allow him to move past Tsuno, in a position to defend against any countermeasures, and where he could easily flip himself off another wall of spiritrons and bring the heel of his foot down, swinging for Tsuno’s head, which would be followed by him flipping away and attacking from another angle. He couldn’t hope to take on Tsuno in sheer speed - the fact that the ninja still hit him even though Shin knew what he was going to do pretty much hammered that point home - but he could at least make him have to put in some degree of work.
While in the air, a black fox-tail materialized on Shin zanpakuto as the reiatsu started to rise. He knew that he was going to end up losing before he learnt anything at the rate the fight was going, and dealing with Kumori being right in the end was better than getting cut.
You’re actually putting your well-being before your pride? Looks like you’re finally starting to grow up.
You make it sound like I always do that.
Well, I’ll give you that; you do it about ninety percent of the time, not always.
Back at the fight, black energy started twisting around Shin’s zanpakuto as he released his shikai.
“Embrace the darkness, Kumori.”
He swung his zanpakuto, crackling with dark energy, at Tsuno, releasing a wave of energy headed straight for him. He did say that this was supposed to be like a real battle, and a few waves of highly corrosive energy wouldn’t do anything fatal. Probably. Kumori was aiming for blood though.
Blood, pain and suffering Shin-chan, I want to see if his Hellhound has any bite.
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Post by Galihan on Jul 14, 2009 0:16:57 GMT -4
So Shin managed to dodge Tsuno's actual attack after his warning tap, figures as much since nobody is going to wait if they know a dangerous enemy is attack from behind, but Tsuno couldn't help but notice the momentary expression of shock he sensed in the 5th-seat. He was definately smart and had the experience to know that the Vice-captain was going to attack from behind, but the fact that the power gap between the two made it so he couldn't do anything to prevent being toyed with a bit. Tsuno could tell that Shin was frustrated, and not going to hold back for much longer. Tsuno was able to deflect the horizontal strike with a vertical parry, but it did actually pack a bit more punch than Tsuno was anticipating from Shin's zanpakuto, but the kick that followed was met with Tsuno's left arm held over his head, stopping the heel dead in its tracks. At this point, Shin launched off and took it to the next level. Tsuno watched in curiosity and caution as a dark reiatsu spewed from the lower-seated shinigami and his zanpakuto. The fox-tail that sprouted from the sword was all he needed to know that Shin was releasing his shikai.
Embracing the darkness, so touching for one trained in the art of assassination, and Tsuno was on full alert given that he wasn't entirely sure as to what sort of powers he'd have to deal with now. Until now, Tsuno was able to outclass Shin in terms of swordsmanship, speed and unarmed combat, but now this is where their styles truly diverged. Of course, Tsuno was a bit confident of his own endurance so he had no qualms with staying put and observing Shin for the time being. Launching some sort of smoke-like grey energy from Kumori, Tsuno leaped back in order to avoid the attack, but still a bit managed to get on him. Unpleasant burning sensation, but without the heat of actual flames, like some sort of acid burn or at least in some way corrosive. Tsuno carefully fluxuated his reiatsu output for a moment to extinguish the dark flames while noticing how it reacted.
The flame-like energy did get extignuished from his leg, but it seemed to be feeding off of the loose energy he released in that moment. Tsuno wasn't exactly sure what to make out of this ability, but he could have guessed that it was some sort of power that fed on spirit energy. Whether or not that meant that it only corroded its target or if it leeched energy back to Shin was unknown, but Tsuno was not in the mood to find out in the meantime. On the other hand, Tsuno's zanpakuto was feeling rather curious and was more active than usual.
She wants blood, the fiery spirit within the sword in Tsuno's hand growled tiredly, as if being woken from a deep slumber. The saying was to let lying dogs lie, and that was probably for a good reason, but if the fox really wanted to challenge the hound to a hunt, well she'd have to be a bit patient. Tsuno wasn't going to rush into an attack when up against something he didn't understand.
Lets see what she can do before going wild, shall we?
Hmm, always the cautious one, aren't you?
The sly fox has a tendency to outwit the mighty hound, let's not give her a chance to outsmart you okay?
Despite preferring a direct approach, Lotomasa did understand Tsuno's logic all too clearly. They wouldn't leap into battle right away, but analyze the prey a bit ahead of time to avoid any chance of an unexpected ambush. Tsuno fell back a bit and watched up at Shin in anticipation for his next attack, watching for the chance to find an opening to exploit what he'd use to release his own zanpakuto. He wanted to test how Shin would handle appearing to have the upper hand for now.
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Post by Darkoda on Jul 14, 2009 3:26:30 GMT -4
Shin watched the gray-black energy of his zanpakuto shoot towards Tsuno, who seemed to have entered a full observational mode the moment Shin’s reiatsu started to rise. Well it wasn’t exactly odd for his vice-captain to take an interest in a shikai that he had never seen before. The most that he could have known from it would have been rumors, and even then, the only person to have seen Shin’s zanpakuto in action, and have the common sense necessary to know how it worked, was Kazue, and even he didn’t see what it was really capable of.
You’re talking like YOU know what I’m capable of.
Well since someone didn’t feel like sharing anything else with me, I’m left to assume that I’ve hit the limit of your shikai state
For someone so aggressive and conniving, you lack creativity. Pay attention and learn just what I can do with some imagination.
It seemed that Kumori was willing to stay and fully fight with him this time; that was both a good and bad thing. Good in the sense that he would likely learn something from all this, and bad in the case that Kumori believed that it was fully necessary for her to stick around for this fight. Whatever it is she sensed from Tsuno’s zanpakuto, it had her fully awake, which had never happened before. The closest she got to that point was when Kazue released his bankai and she wasn’t sure whether or not he would actually use it on him.
Tsuno was strong. He was Shin’s superior in hakudo, speed and zanjustu. That did not mean that he could take a direct hit from Shin’s shikai. Fortunately, Tsuno was a cautious man and chose to jump out of the way of the main blast, but not before getting caught on the leg. He watched the look on his face and deduced that Tsuno was starting to figure out the corrosive properties of Kumori. Considering that he wasn’t an idiot, he would likely notice that the energy was using his reiatsu as a fuel source to keep on eating away at him. That flare of energy before his spirit pressure extinguished it should have made that somewhat clear.
Interesting.... Kumori was purring into his head, her voice one of barely contained anticipation. She was clearly looking forward to the coming hunt, and her predatory instincts were flowing through him like a feral wave.
The hound’s ready to be unleashed, but the master’s keeping him chained. She sounded a bit disappointed.
Tsuno’s playing it safe; he waiting to see what he’s dealing with before he commits to releasing.
The hound’s master is a smart one under any event. It’s more fun when they put up a good fight.
So it was a test of wills; just how long could Tsuno wait and observe before releasing, and how much would Shin show. He was willing to play that game. Taking a page from Tsuno’s book, Shin made use of Shunpo to vanish, and appear behind Tsuno, another wave of energy shooting from his zanpakuto. While it would seem fairly obvious to strike from behind, Tsuno would be quite aware of Shin’s habit of avoiding the predictable; a change of pace ought to liven things up.
He had no intention of letting Tsuno see anything beyond the energy shots until he started fighting more seriously; Tsuno was a hunter, and he didn’t need to give him any more information on how to counter.
On the other hand, I’m the predator; I already know how to take down my prey.
Kumori’s tone would have likely worried someone else, but Shin just smirked. Predator, I like the sound of that.
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Post by Galihan on Jul 14, 2009 12:39:49 GMT -4
After removing the dark energy from his sparring partner's shikai from his leg, Tsuno watched Shin disappear from sight using shunpo. His leg was starting to feel a bit numb, but that had to have been the result of the corrosive energy itself and not any additional effects. In any case, he wasn't in the mood to see what a direct hit of it would do to his body, so the moment he lost sight of Shin he himself anticipated he'd have to move immediately to avoid another attack coming his way. Tsuno leaped into the air much faster than his previous attempt to evade, and watched as the dark smokey energy connected to the ground below him from behind. Quickly turning around, it would appear that Shin had already relocated himself to come in for another attack, so Tsuno considered his options.
He could keep playing this game of tag, dodging the erosive dark flames of Kumori's shikai release, or he could chose to take the offensive and fight fire with fire so to speak. Well technically it would be fighting shadows with fire, and fire has always been man's best weapon for combating the darkness since thousands of years before even the oldest of civilizations. And of course, there also came the domestication of animals, training dogs to hunt foxes and such. Symbolically their zanpakuto's were natural enemies, and Tsuno decided he might as well let loose the chain that kept this dog from its quarry.
"Whistle, Lotomasa."
Tsuno gripped the short sword's hilt and separated it into a pair of sickles, connected by a short chain in the middle. The vice-captain began twirling he weapon in one hand like a nunchaku, building large amounts of speed while slowly making the chain extend to greater length, causing a sharp whistling noise as it cut through the air. Twirling the chained weapon in the path of the oncoming grey energy, his own shikai was able to stop the incoming attack from Shin's, but Tsuno would have to be careful, the chain itself was prone to breaking if he put to much energy into it, and with the corrosive nature of Shin's attack it would only make sense if the limit he could put on his own zanpakuto was lessened. Tsuno took a sickle in each hand, ready to combat whatever else Shin may have wanted to throw his way.
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Post by Darkoda on Jul 23, 2009 18:00:00 GMT -4
Shin watched Tsuno jump out of the way of his second energy wave. It appeared that the first taste of Kumori’s bite was enough of an experience for him if the speed he moved at was any indication. Shin watched as the ground the energy passed on started to melt away. To be expected considering that everything here was made of spirit particles. He was willing to play this cat and mouse game for as long as Tsuno intended to simply run away, but the vice-captain should be realising by now that his shikai isn’t something to play around with; a direct hit was going to do a lot more than simply burn him a bit.
Kumori was leaking energy again, as Shin fired another wave of energy at Tsuno, when he felt the rise of Tsuno’s reiatsu. Considering the situation, it didn’t take much to figure out that he was releasing. His release was fairly impressive; his zanpakuto split into a pair of sickles bound by a short chain. Experience with zanpakuto dictated that the chain could lengthen though; it wasn’t hard, once your zanpakuto had any form of extension on it, one just needed to feed their reiatsu into it to change its length as long as they had a decent level of control.
Now the real fight begins... Kumori was more active than ever once Tsuno used one of his sickle to deflect the wave. She was really on edge about this fight in particular, something besides her believing it to be necessary.
In case I haven’t made it clear by now; I don’t like dogs. His zanpakuto is a fire dog. Do the math.
So this was about their zanpakuto being complete opposites. Whatever rocked her boat.
Now about your lack of creativity, just go with the flow and you’ll be fine. I have no intention of losing to a mutt. Shin could feel the challenge radiating from Kumori. Maybe it was her influence why he never got along with dogs.....
Back to the fight, Shin had an idea to keep Tsuno occupied for a bit. He sent another wave of energy at him, but this time, he shunpoed above him, spinning the fox-tail attached to his zanpakuto. The dark energy crackled across the blade as he spun it faster, creating a cyclone of darkness above him before he sent the blade flying towards Tsuno, making full use of the extending tail. The cyclone of energy coursing through the blade this time would make deflecting it much harder than last time, and in the meantime, Shin had repositioned himself behind Tsuno, ready to retract his blade then attack Tsuno directly with a series of darkness charged slashes. Close range may not have been a good idea before, but when he could blast his vice-captain right in his face if he gave him the opportunity, it became a much less hazardous endeavour.
“Somehow, I think Kumori and Lotomasa aren’t going to get along.”
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Post by Galihan on Jul 25, 2009 16:46:12 GMT -4
Tsuno was more than prepared to and capable of taking on whatever the lower-ranking shinigami could attempt in hopes of defeating his superior officer in training. Spinning his shikai above his head to create a vortex of shadowy energy, Tsuno decided he'd best also perform a similar action. He too began spinning one of the chain in the same direction, generating his own funnel of fiery energy which was launched when he threw the sickle itself towards the oncoming attack. Both weapons thrown, their surrounding torrents of energy collided and nullified each other stopping the attacks dead in their tracks. While Tsuno could have overpowered Shin's attack, he was still holding back so Shin could improvement himself more than if he was defeated too quickly. In an instant, Tsuno then proceeded to spin around and clashing against Kumori's blade with one of Lotomasa's sickles until they were in a deadlock.
“Somehow, I think Kumori and Lotomasa aren’t going to get along.”
Indeed, there was a thick tension of apprehension in the air of the training arena, not emitting from the combatants themselves but from the weapons they carried. Especially as the weapons were in contact, Tsuno felt this tension skyrocket. If Shin's Kumori was as social with her wielder as Tsuno imagined, then there could be some sort of issues when she learned that Tsuno was already scheduled to undergo the Captain Proficiency Examination, which would make him the new captain. In that event, it would make Kumori owe loyalty to Lotomasa in regards to Shin owing loyalty to Tsuno. Hopefully, Kumori would never see things like that if it had the potential to weakening her and Shin's bond and jeopardizing their ability to serve as one of Tsuno's top three most powerful soldiers.
Of course, there was a time-old social tradition of which most canines followed that would assure a clear message of authority, that being dominance of the pack leader. Even if foxes were an exception to the pack rule, Tsuno indended that he'd be able to force Shin's and his zanpakuto into accepting their place in the pack that was Squad Two. There would be no mistrust of one another, no deep grudges and no deception as long as Tsuno asserted his dominance as the leader to whom they'd all owe absolute loyalty to above all else. He knew foxes had a tendency to deceive, Tsuno needed to ensure that would never be the case as long as he was the commander.
"Indeed, but lets not let that stand in the way that you will answer to me as long as I am your commanding officer, correct?"
Tsuno tugged on the chain connecting to the other sickle which he had thrown, causing it to retract and return the discarded weapon to his right hand. Still locked at by the zanpakuto, Tsuno leaped off the ground so his eyes were level with the tallest of his top subordinates and threw a snap kick around Shin's arm aimed at his right shoulder which was followed up with Tsuno bringing the but-end of the handle of the sickle he just retrieved into Shin's forearm in hopes of making him lose his grip on his sword. To finish off his rapidly executed combo, he threw another kick aimed straight at Shin's chest with the intent to kick off and push the 5th-seat back and was carried out with enough force to be able to do so quite effectively. In the event of that combo carrying out as planned, Tsuno leaped backwards and skidded to a stop. He could keep going on for quite a while like this, but was considering calling it a day if Shin had enough.
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Post by Darkoda on Aug 10, 2009 20:22:07 GMT -4
Tsuno chose to meet Shin’s shadow vortex with a fiery vortex of his own. The two energies clashed, and since they only cancelled each other out, Tsuno clearly held back on his flames. Either way, there was a reason Shin chose to attack from behind after; he knew very well that Tsuno could overpower him, and his vice-captain also easily stopped his slash with the other sickle in his hand.
When their blades came into contact, he could feel Kumori’s temper flaring. She really needed to work on his irrational anger against canines, especially considering that Lotomasa’s wielder was his superior. Granted, normally Shin wouldn’t particularly care about that, but he would prefer his zanpakuto to not have issues with the only superior he actually liked in his division.
"Indeed, but lets not let that stand in the way that you will answer to me as long as I am your commanding officer, correct?"
“Oh don’t worry, I won’t show you any less respect than I always do.”
One would be fairly concerned about that statement, seeing that it quite clearly sounded mischievous and deceitful, but it wasn’t as if it was on purpose…..maybe. Hey, his aim was to drive other people up a wall, and with Kumori’s nature so close, that killed any chances of getting a straight answer out of him, even if it was Tsuno asking. He would just have to settle for Shin not being as much of a pain to him as everyone else. Kumori approved of this.
So we’re still going to annoy the new captain? Works for me, you might want to move before he breaks your arm though.
A snap-kick to the right forearm, and likely another attack from that other sickle, quite a task to avoid. He chose to simply roll with the kick, letting it push him to the left, and used the momentum to break the lock with Tsuno’s other sickle while moving out of his reach, barely avoiding that other sickle handle from slamming into his hand. Taking advantage of the situation, Shin caused an explosion of energy from Kumori, engulfing the entire six-foot area in darkness. It was one thing to avoid it from a distance, but Tsuno was going to learn why it was a bad idea to fight Shin at close range.
Staying within his miniature explosion, Shin raised his hand, pointing at Tsuno.
“Hado # 63, Soren Sokatsui.”
Shin didn’t forget about nearly getting burnt to a crisp; time for his vice-captain to play keep away from a giant flame cannon.
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Post by Galihan on Feb 15, 2010 2:03:04 GMT -4
The vice-captain was pleased to see how naturally his subordinate was able to keep up with the pace that he was going at despite their earlier training session. By rolling with the kick, Shin managed to avoid the rest of the combo Tsuno had planned for him and even managed to execute his own counterattack. Engulfing the both of them in his dark fire-like attack, it seemed clear that Shin was willing to either put himself at risk in order to win, or that he himself was unaffected by his own attack and was simply utilizing this ability in a more effective, defensive manner than he had been using it so far. It didn't really matter to Tsuno how Shin intended to use his shikai attack, what he was more concerned of was the hado spell that about to be released at near point blank in his direction.
Tsuno didn't want to go all out against Shin, but if he just sat by and took what was being thrown his way then even he would likely get dealt a fairly serious injury at the amount of power he was fighting at to test his subordinate. For a split moment, Tsuno decided that he would unleash a powerful burst of his reiatsu in order to defend against the hado which he did not take the effort to actually avoid even though he was capable of doing so. As the blue ball of fire was launched from Shin's hand, the atmosphere grew thick and heavy with spirit pressure and the resulting explosion sent the captain-class shinigami flying backwards some distance, his upper uniform in charred tatters but otherwise Tsuno wasn't particularly hurt asides from an irritatingly painful stinging sensation thanks to a combination of the hado which was amplified by Kumori's dark energy. Spinning several times while still midair before correcting his landing, Tsuno skid backwards at least ten meters before he found himself backed against a solid wall of stone from one of the mountains that made up this environment.
"You really meant it when you said you werent going to hold back, were you?"
Tsuno chimed as he took in a deep breath of air and discarding what was left of his ruined upper robes, his voice uncharacteristically startled at just how much potential that Shin possessed. It was truly impressive, and Tsuno would make sure to congradulate Shin later on, but for now the superior officer felt that he had seen enough of what the fifth-seat was capable of for today, and so he began to let his reiatsu continue to rise for a bit as he prepared to launch a counterattack that Shin would be hard pressed to defend against. It really wasn't that Tsuno wanted to stop training with Shin, but the fifth-seat was able to keep up much longer than was anticipated and they still had other duties to attend to in the day, from meetings with the captains from other squads he was familiar with regarding his upcoming examination to be promoted to captain rank himself, to his regular duties as the commander of the second division.
"You're definitely strong, Shin, I'll give you that. The power at your disposal will surely serve you greatly in the future and I look forward to seeing how far you make it under my command. How about we wrap things up shortly before we actually end up hurting each other?"
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