The Sword vs The Kido

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Thread Title: The Sword vs The Kido
Participants: Hotaru Kuchiki, Taien Hadohou
World: Soul Society
Death Setting: Non Death Enabled
Rating: PG-13
Location: Seireitei then in the farthest Rukongai District
Special Conditions: N/A
Circumstances: Hotaru Kuchiki was taking a stroll through Seireitei when she ran into the Vice Captain. She challenged him to a duel and now we'll see how the rest will unfold!

[Taien Hadohou]

Hmm... let's see... Who haven't I visited yet? Grin was fun, Kazuko was as well, hmm... Let's just pick a random direction to walk in, then! And... that way!

Taien cheerfully declared, pointing in a random direction from where he currently was. Which was practically the middle of nowhere in the Seireitei. Seriously, there were tons of these seemingly random streetways in the Seireitei that didn't seem to serve any sort of purpose. There was no how or why to their placement, they were just, well, there! It had been said that the Seireitei was constructed in such a manner to confuse invaders, but more often than not, it ended up confusing the Shinigami as well. Anyone who could sell an accurate map of the frigging place would likely make a fortune, and be showered by cries of joy and relief from the very much lost poor souls who had to patrol the Seireitei. And everyone else.

Did it bother Taien, though? The mindless wandering, the despair of seeing another dead end? The hopelessness of the thought of not getting back to the barracks in time to get some food before the other Kidou Corps members ate them all, damn them to hell? Nah. He liked it. It was nice, a break from near-constant contact with every one else. Not that he was totally alone, he did run in to a few people now and then. They... weren't always in good health. Some of them were skin and bones, trapped in the maze like structure of the Seireitei as they were. Taien would lend a hand to them, help them leave, and then venture back in to the labyrinthine area, blissfully ignoring the cries of the damned, those who were still stuck there...

Anyway, today was another such day for Taien. Traversing the twisting structure was a little bit of a hobby for him, and it was always fun to see what new shortcuts he could find. Certainly cut down on the time it took to cross from one area of the Seireitei to the next. His current personal best for going from one side of the Seireitei to the other, not using any techniques, was something like two days, ten minutes. Something like that. Considering the average time it took to cross the Seireitei was usually a solid three days, Taien was pleased. Then again, his routes usually ended up resting at some point, getting food, finding lodging, fending off packs of wild dogs... Anyway!

So there, Taien was. Walking along. Trying to figure out what to do with the rest of his day. Kyomei-san was deep in his work, and he had finished the good majority of the paperwork that he needed to do, had his daily training session with the new recruits/middling recruits, researched Kidou and such, and attempted to find the max amount of power that he could output without causing Kyomei-san to order them a new roof. In his defense, the last one wasn't completely burned out. There was a little area on the farthest corner that wasn't destroyed. Mostly. Actually, hadn't if fallen out a few days later? Hmm...

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats & Abilities}

Strength - [50] Points

Speed - [350] Points

Spiritual Pressure - [200] (600) Points

Reiatsu Strength - [400] (1200) Points

Light Aura - [100] Points

Dark Aura - [0] Points

Instinct - [70] Points

Senses - [70] Points

Energy sensory - [60] Points

Healing Expertise - [0] Points


Total SP: [1200] Points

Abilities

• [Reiatsu Control Mastery] {2}
  
  
• [Charisma/Leadership] {2}
  
  
• [Learning] {2}
  
  
• [Analyzing] {2}
  
  
• [Battle Analysis] {2}
  
  
• [Mental Incantation] {1}
  
  
• [Strength of Will] {2}
  
  
• [Pain Tolerance] {2}
  

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru Kuchiki was walking through the main part of the Seireitei. She usually just stayed around the barracks area for the divisions, and then immediately walked out into Rukongai. There were a few districts that she visited well enough that she could easily walk to and through, but honestly, she had never really got to explore the entire labyrinth that was the Seireitei. She let some of her squad mates know what she was doing, and they wished her luck. They told her the stories of trying to get through Seireitei. 

She was surprised that they were telling her that people easily got lost in there and it would take some people days to get out! DAYS! It was pretty unbelievable to her. Thankfully, she had made sure that she had gotten most of her paperwork done before she left. She started with the most important paperwork done first, then the importance lowered, until she got to the stuff that could wait a few days to get done. She had gotten so bored and sore with doing all the work, she needed a time out to stretch. 

When she left the barracks, all of the other seated officers yelled out farewells and don't dies, to where she just shook her head and flipped them off. She laughed about it while she started walking out of the barracks area. But, she knew what they meant when she got out of her familiar areas. She almost immediately got lost. This place was ridiculous. She had never been in a city, or any area for that matter, that was this confusing. She just kept her head up high and continued walking the streets. When she would hit a dead end, she would just turn around and walk in a different direction.

It was during one of these times that she accidentally ran into someone. They were about the same height, but when she got a good look at the man, she had a vague idea of who he was. She did research the higher level shinigami of the Soul Society, but only faces and names. She wanted to find out the rest about them through meeting them. She didn't look into the Kidou Corps that much, but one detail stuck out to her while she was looking into them. It was that the Vice Captain wore a sky blue robe with a white sash keeping it tight. This man was wearing the robe, with a different symbol on what she just noticed was his badge on his right arm.

She knew immediately who it was then. She bowed quickly before saying, "Taien-Fukataichou! I'm so sorry for running into you like that! But, now that I've actually met you, I have a favor to ask of you. I know that you have great strength in Kidou, hence being in the Kidou Corps. I would love to challenge you to a duel in an older Rukongai district. I need to practice against someone of your skill if I wish to get better. If you accept, follow me."

She then started to Shunpo out. Thankfully, this way was easier. She Shunpo'ed out of the formal Seireitei area and got into Rukongai. Since she didn't know the true strength of the Vice Captain, she went out to the poorest district of Rukongai, one where there were very few residents. Once she got there, she quickly checked the houses and there was no one there. She lucked out. She unsheathed her zanpaktou and got into her normal stance. She had the tip of her sword towards her left shoulder and hilt towards her right hip. Her feet were shoulder width apart with bent knees. She waited for the Vice Captain, while thinking of strategies. 

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats}Strength - 200 (150) Points.
Speed - 250 (338) Points.
Spiritual Pressure – 270 (203) Points.
Reiatsu Strength – 250 (338) Points.
Light Aura - [70] Points
Dark Aura - [30] Points
Instinct - [100] Points.
Senses - [100] Points.
Energy sensory - [50] Points
Healing Expertise - [0] Points

[Weapons: Swords] 2
[Pain Tolerance] 2
[Bleeding Tolerance] 1
[Illusion Resist] 1
[Damage Recovery] 2
[Poison Resist] 1
[Learning] 1
[Battle Focus] 1
[Hoho] 1

[Taien Hadohou]

Ooooh, this is a new section. I really should get around to making a map or something of this place, I just keep finding new things! Like this skeleton! Hang in there, skeleton!

Taien chuckled lightly to himself as he spied a rather desperate looking skeleton mid reaching-for-the-rooftops of the nearest building. It was an amusing sight for him, not so much the morbidness of the situation, but the amusing position whoever the poor sod's skeleton ended up in. Any way, whoever it was was long past help. So Taien continued on, completely ignoring the precariously placed pile of potassium. He enjoyed the quiet, only his footsteps keeping him company. He, none the less, kept an ear and eye out for any other soul that happened to be wandering the hallways of the damned. Er. The lost. Yes. The lost... Anyway, Taien's cheerful walk through the valley of death continued, unimpeded! Nothing could stop him! Not even-

THUMP!

-A rather fleshy wall. Er. Or a person! He had accidentally ran in to another Shinigami by the looks of it. Also by the looks of it, they were a she, was actually pretty tall. And... solid. Aside from the obvious, anyway. Taien gave her a brief once over, trying to see if he'd run in to her somewhere before. Taien had traveled the Gotei Thirteen, visiting numerous Vice-Captains and non-seated officers of other Divisions alike. While the purple hair was definitely a feature that stood out, and she had fairly tanned skin, Taien could safely say that he'd never seen the girl before. Taien didn't have the best memory, but, he could safely say, if he had met someone of her description before, he'd definitely have remembered her.

So the fact that she knew who he was was a thing.

"Taien-Fukataichou! I'm so sorry for running into you like that! But, now that I've actually met you, I have a favor to ask of you. I know that you have great strength in Kidou, hence being in the Kidou Corps. I would love to challenge you to a duel in an older Rukongai district. I need to practice against someone of your skill if I wish to get better. If you accept, follow me."

"Ah... sure."

It occurred to Taien to ask her name, but the seated (he had gotten a look at her insignia) officer of Division Eleven had vanished off in to a Shunpo. Well. Apparently he was having a fight now and was being challenged to a duel besides. Briefly, Taien's mind flickered to another fight of his that had happened in an old, scheduled for demolition section of the Rukongai. It wasn't scheduled for demolition anymore. Taien fondly remembered that fight, and the ensuing trip to the Fourth Division. In the end, Aramis had come out all right, with just a minor case of frostbite, and, well, being very chilly. The Fourth Division had fixed that right up, though. Taien's thoughts wandered to Aramis for a moment, wondering how the other Shinigami was doing. Probably good.

Ah, anyway, Taien had a fight to get to. ... She had said she wanted to practice against someone of his skill level, eh? Of his mastery of Kidou? That's why one would seek out someone from the Kidou Corps, Taien assumed. Out of all the Seireitei, they had the Shinigami best suited for the spiritual arts under their control and tutelage. So... Taien would have to put his A-game on then. It would be far beneath him to disappoint the girl, and it would do her good to see how high tier, or at the very least mid tier, combat was carried out. Now, how would he go about this? Hmm... An idea came to Taien's mind. He evaluated. He smiled, for it was good. Reiatsu gathering around him, Taien launched in to a Shunpo, following after the direction he had sensed Hotaru's power move...

---

Upon the battlefield-to be, Hotaru materialized, ready and waiting in a fighting stance. After checking the houses to see if there were any civilians around, of course. It would be tragic if innocents happened to be in the area, right? Right. There already had been an incident with powerful Shinigami in a populated area of weaker souls. Best not to repeat it. Anyway, Hotaru had went and done that, there was no one around, and by the looks of things, it was an older section of the Rukongai, one that hadn't been inhabited for a while. Or maybe it was and the inhabitants just didn't take very good care of it... Irregardless, there was no one around, there was no sign of habitation, lazy or not, and there was a fight to be had.

Any way, a few seconds later, Taien showed up, some thirty or so feet away from Hotaru. It was a good enough distance to have some large amount of space between them. Lucky them, they seemed to have stumbled upon the main road of the area. Any way, Taien smiled at Hotaru, and a metalic orb dropped in to his hand. Flicking it downwards, the orb morphed and rippled, changing in to a standard Katana. This was a nifty little piece of technology known as a Convert-A-Weapon. It was entirely will controlled, and could morph in to any weapon of the user's choosing. Even ranged weapons, actually. It just didn't have any ammunition or what have you, so unless you had some on hand, it was basically just best used for melee combat.

Before any actual combat though...

"Actually, I don't know your name, miss...?"

A pause for Hotaru to answer,

"Hotaru, then. Pleased to meet you."

Taien gave a short bow.

"Now then... Let's see what ya got~!"

SPOILER: Click to show

{Mood Music~}

Now, depending on the circumstances, one of two things would happen. If Hotaru rushed at Taien, he would assume a defensive stance, and brace for her attack. If Hotaru was waiting to recieve borders, Taien would be the one to charge at her. In either case, before anything happened, before she either got too close, or Taien began to charge, there was a brief flicker of Taien's form. It was for the briefest of moments, and if Hotaru wasn't paying attention, she'd miss it. Even then, it wasn't really significant. Nothing changed, either time. It was still just Taien, either charging or bracing. No change in Reiatsu, no physical change, no release of Reiatsu, and he certainly hadn't Shunpo'ed, because if he had, he wouldn't be there... There as just... Nothing. No changes at all. Just a brief flicker. It could easily be discarded as heat glare, or whatever, unless Hotaru had the right skills. Otherwise? It would just seem like nothing had happened.

As either one neared each other, something would happen. The same thing would happen no matter what. Whether Taien was charging at Hotaru, or Hotaru at Taien, an odd occurance... occured. That being, Taien would explode in a blast of electricity. Lightning would surge from 'his' form, striking at Hotaru. If nothing else, this would be extremely surprising for Hotaru. Who would expect someone to explode right in their face, after all? In either case, Hotaru would have a blast, no, more like a wall, of lighting rushing at her. Of course, if this 'Taien' exploded... Where was the real Taien? In actuality, he was still there. He just wasn't down on the battleground at the moment. On top of a nearby rooftop, hidden under the effects of Kyakko, Taien observed Hotaru. This was the real reason he had done this. To observe. He would study he reaction, her response, her skills, her strengths... He would understand her. And then defeat her.

This combination of techniques was what Taien fondly referred to as the "Finally Realized Exploding Kidou Clone" ploy. For years, Taien had been trying to figure out how to make such a thing a possibility for the Seireitei. When he had acquired his Reformatting skills, he had gained the ability to do so, though it was still out of reach for the rest of the Seireitei at the moment. Using a combination of Shape Reformatting and Raikou Kawa together to form a humanoid shape, and a creative use of Kyakko, Taien had crafted a replica of himself that was pretty indistinguishable from the original. Having mastered all of the techniques, this was something possible for Taien. This was his power, after all. The power of a Technique Master. The little spikes of pain that went off when he used the techniques certainly reminded him of that.

Mind you, this was still just a duel against another Shinigami. He wasn't aiming to kill or anything, oh no no. Just to disable. It was why he was using Raikou Kawa. It had taken a little tweeking, but the lethality was nill at this point, having dialed back on the Reiatsu of the technique a bit. Still would sting and numb like a taser, though. With that said and done, Hotaru would find herself in an unenviable position. Her opponent exploding all of the sudden into a rush of lightning, said opponent also not being visible, or sensible, and herself not exactly knowing the full capacity of her opponent. Granted, Taien didn't know what Hotaru could do either, but... That was what this was for. To gather information. To test her. To she what she could do.

What would she do?

---

Remaing Reiatsu: 5575/6000

Raikou Kawa Clone RS: 800

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

After Hotaru had checked the area to make sure that it was empty, she had walked to a big, open space, waiting for the Vice Captain to appear. While waiting, she tried to think back on what was special about this Vice Captain. She was racking her brain trying to figure it out. She knew that he was part of the Kidou Corps, so she figured what made the man special enough to be the Vice Captain probably had to do with his own personal Kido powers.

Once the Vice Captain appeared before Hotaru, she was happy. She was glad that the Vice Captain actually agreed to do this. It was probably the most random thing that she had ever done before. The only reason she did it was because he just seemed so nice. When she accidentally ran into him, through her energy sensory, she was able to feel the great reiatsu signature coming from the man. But, he just seemed so nice.

He was so nice, she figured just asking him outright to a fight would be a lot easier than any of the other alternatives. So, that was why she did it. Standing there, she looked at the man, well getting a better look. The last time she saw him, she bumped into him, asked for a duel and ran off to find a good place to battle. She never actually took the time to look at the man. There was one thing that she noticed about him first. They were the same height.

She had never really met a lot of other men that were her height or taller. It was different here in Soul Society, but still, it was kinda nice to see tall men for once. His hair immediately reminded her of Zegram, who also had green hair. She hoped that her friend was doing well in the deserts of Hueco Mundo. Taking in the rest of him, he was a good looking man that seemed to just be genuinely nice. But, you never know how someone really is or if you just see a mask.

She had to learn that the hard way, but that was neither here nor there. He was about thirty feet away, which was a good distance away to gauge your opponent. She watched a metallic orb drop into his palm and become a sword. She had no idea what the hell that thing was, but she was curious if it could do more than that. She would have to remember and keep an eye out on that little orb. Once it became a katana, she reached for her zanpaktou.

She slowly unsheathed her zanpaktou, keeping an eye on the Vice Captain the entire time. Since he was a part of the Kidou Corps and knew way more Kido that she did, she didn't want to get caught off guard. Before they started, he asked her a question. He asked for her name. She felt like a complete idiot for not realizing that she didn't tell him her name. He gave her a pause in his question to answer. She bowed in apology.

"I'm sorry that I did that to you, Fukataichou. My name is Hotaru Kuchiki." He gave her a short bow in greeting. After that was over, she got into her usual fighting stance. She put her feet shoulder width apart, keeping her knees bent. She angled her sword, keeping the tip near her left shoulder, hilt near her right hip. This was always her go to stance and she hoped that it wouldn't fail her now, since she was facing a strong opponent.

While looking at him, she noticed some kind of flicker that was near the Vice Captain. Her senses were telling her that it was still the Vice Captain and she quickly glanced around and didn't notice anything that had changed in the time it took for the flicker to happen. Since she couldn't really figure out why the flicker happened, and since nothing had changed, she figured that it could be something like a heat glare.

But, just in case, she kept her eyes extra vigilante. Then, there were a few moments of silence. She didn't want to just run in headstrong against someone that could use techniques that she couldn't use at all. She also didn't know all of the Kido at this man's disposal, so she needed to be careful with his movements and actions, in case he pulled a Kido out of nowhere. She assumed she waited too long, because that was when Taien started to charge at her.

She kept her stance and braced herself for the man to try to strike her. But, what happened next completely surprised her. Taien exploded. EXPLODED! Right in front of her. She was agape just for a minute before she realized that she now had a wall of lightning coming straight for her. She saw that the wall wasn't too wide, but it was quick. Right when she noticed that the wall of lightning was coming for her, she started to roll over to the left.

She rolled as quick as she could, straightening out her sword arm while rolling so she wouldn't impale herself on her own sword. She got up as soon as she cleared the wall of lightning. She looked around and couldn't see Taien. So, she knew what that flicker was now. Taien must've switched himself with that weird clone thing. Now, she just needed to figure out where he was now. She went back to her original stance, hoping that she was ready for whatever he was going to throw at her next.

[Taien Hadohou]

[[OOC: Continue with deh musics above!]]

Taien watched Hotaru. He observed as she took her stance. Observed how her body moved, how she reacted to the situation. Observed how her guard was steady, her feet unmoving as she presented a strong wall. Then he saw the look on her face as his doppleganger exploded into a roaring blast of lightning at her. All in all? It was a very good face, in his opinion. She was stunned, utterly stunned at what had just happened. Good reason too, considering something like this generally required the use of a release. And yet, here Taien was, pulling something like this out of his bag of tricks at the drop of the magic hat. Taien stored things that happened to be far more dangerous than mere rabbits up his own hat.

Hotaru, after a moment, dodged to the left of the blast, ensuring she wouldn't be hit by the brunt of the blow. Unfortunately for her, her sword was in her right hand. And pointing outwards. At the incoming blast. Of lightning. Now this wouldn't feel very good at all... The sword, being metal (spiritual or not), drew the lightning towards it. Because she had lingered for a few moments before she had decided to move, shock or otherwise, she wasn't able to dodge it completely. The sword just drew more electricity in to the equation. Crackling lightning would shoot up the sword, and in to her arm, damaging the sword to a degree, as well as numbing and paralyzing her arm as well. The thundering Kidou would strike her entire body to a lesser degree than her arm, which bore the brunt of the partially-dodged technique.

Due to the reduced Reiatsu Strength in the Kidou, while it would be painful, it wouldn't be anywhere near the amount of damage it could have done had Taien decided to put his all in to the attack.

While all of this was going on, Taien was just lounging on the rooftop, observing Hotaru. The majority of the blast passed her by, streaking down the street, before dissipating. The smell of burning dust and a slight smattering of ozone was all that was left of it. Still, Taien watched her, intently focused on what she was doing. Well, that, and removing a certain weapon from inside of his robes. An Ice Gun, it was called, manufactured by Kisuke Urahara. It was modeled after a Desert Eagle in design, though it was colored ice blue. It was a nifty little weapon that let Taien shoot frozen blasts of Reiatsu at his opponents, for no cost to himself, that would immobilize any opponent that didn't have at least slightly more power than his Reiatsu did (100 more offensive stat).

Taien leveled this weapon at her, from his vantage point. Due to the numbing, paralyzing, painful lightning she had taken, her roll would probably be a bit more... stiff. And by that, it meant that she'd have less control over it, and she'd likely crash in to something. Or it would just be harder to recover from the roll. Either or. While she was rolling, and about to stop, Taien would aim his weapon at her, and fire twice. These weren't meant to hit her, and due to Taien's... not quite inexperience, but more lacking the skill to do so, they more than likely wouldn't hit her anyway. No, these shots served a different roll. They were meant to make Hotaru's terrain more trecherous. Icy ground, slippery footing, etc. That was the goal.

Mind, if she moved before then, which while unlikely, could happen, she might end up being struck by the bolts of frost that weren't meant for her. But probably not. Due to still being under the veil of Kyakko, the intial drawing and firing would be unnoticed. The instant the bolt left the barrel, though, it would pop in to Hotaru's senses. Meanwhile, Taien moved to a different vantage point, a few roofs down, re-applying his Kyakko to make sure it didn't run out on him, not even acknowledging the little jolt of pain that came from casting the Kidou. From his new vantage point, Taien observed once more, watching and waiting for Hotaru's reaction, response, and her counter attack, if she had one.

Remaing Reiatsu: 5525/6000

Ice Gun Shots: 4/6

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru dodged the blast, but didn't want to put her sword away. She was afraid if she sheathed it before she actually rolled, the Vice Captain would appear right when she was done with her roll and get her when she least expected it. So, it was the main reason why she left her sword out while she rolled, hoping to think ahead of her opponent. But, it wasn't until she had already started the roll did she realize how she wasn't really thinking ahead as far as she thought.

Lightning was heading for her that she avoided. She had her zanpaktou sticking out in her right hand. Even if the blade itself wasn't technically metal, the rest of her zanpaktou was. So, she was mentally hitting herself for not seeing it before she acted. She watched as some of the lightning from the huge wall started to arc towards her zanpaktou. She was cursing herself while she watched the lightning travel down her zanpaktou and hit her hand hard.

She didn't have too much time to concern herself with the pain yet, because she heard some popping going on but couldn't really tell where it was coming from, since she was still in her roll. Since she got hit, her roll had turned into some fairly erratic. She felt the reiatsu shots come towards her and it seemed that they actually weren't really going to hit her. Well, she know knew that the Vice Captain was a pretty poor shot. She would remember that for future reference in this fight.

She kept her rolling, but right when she was about to stop and she was slowing down, she had a good idea of where these shots were going to hit. In the last turn of her roll, she left her left arm out. When she got on her back, she grabbed the ground with her left hand and pulled her back a few feet. She just narrowly missed getting hit with one of the shots. The other one hit above her about two to three feet. Once they hit, she noticed that the ground was starting to get icy.

She didn't know if her fire would be able to pierce this ice (she had a pretty good idea it wouldn't), but it would at least give her a little bit of leeway in this fight. She then remembered her arm and looked down at it. She could barely move it, but she could still move it enough to get by. With her release, she didn't really need to get it completely functional anyway. As long as she was able to flip her wrist around, it would work just as well.

She slowly raised her right arm up, holding her zanpaktou up, and unfastened her sheath from her waistband. She held her sheath in her left hand and said, "Burn, Rivu~aiasan!" When she released this time, she powered it up to match her new level of power. Her liquid surrounded both of her arms, letting her sheath become her cannon and her zanpaktou turned into her flaming sword. She kept her cannon up, trying to keep it up towards the middle of her body. She kept moving her right arm back and forth to try to get some of the numbness out of her arm.

OOC: Reiatsu 1680/2030 -350 Shikai Class 3 release Shikai 1/7

[Taien Hadohou]

Unfortunately for Hotaru, she didn't escape Taien's latest probing attacks unscathed. See, she had artificially stopped her roll, by using her left hand as a sort of speed break. It was a good idea in concept to be honest, but in the context of this latest attack? Not the best. One of the shots that weren't meant to strike her at all ended up blasting in to the ground not too far away from her outstretched left arm. In fact, it was pretty insanely close to her arm. The shot could only have missed by a small margin. Unfortunately for her, that meant her left arm was getting iced. Though it wasn't a direct hit, it still covered her arm in a good bit of chilling frost. Her fingers, knuckles, top of her hand, and a portion of her forearm would be suddenly very chilly.

Hotaru was lucky it wasn't a direct hit. A direct hit would have frozen her arm to the ground, which would kind of prevent her from getting up, due to the difference in power between the two Shinigami. So instead of that, her only other good arm's mobility was limited to a pretty good degree, considering the ice couldn't be broken. On top of that, the ice was cold. Like, really cold. It was ice after all. Which meant that it would sap at her strength the longer the fight went on. Both her arms had issues at the moment, but while her right arm would recover pretty quickly, relatively anyway, her left arm was now the bigger liability. It did have some mobility, it wasn't completely frozen after all, but it would be painful and stiff to move around, as well a cold. Not a good combination.

The next move Hotaru made was to release. That was a good idea. Taien had checked his Soul Gage, and had come to the conclusion that, outside of Reiatsu based techniques and such, physical attacks weren't going to do much to him. With that in mind, releasing was a good idea. It gave Hotaru more techniques to use, a powerful weapon of some kind to hit Taien back with, and all in all, more power for her to use. A Shinigami using a Shikai was a dangerous thing, if one underestimated it for not being Bankai. Bankai was on a whole different level, but Shikai was equally strong in it's own rights. As said before, all in all? A pretty good move on Hotaru's part. It was also predictable, from Taien's point of observation.

Taien had been anticipating this. Even without a good amount of Energy Sensory, when Hotaru began to move her arms like she was doing, it was obvious what she was going to do. Due to the damage both arms had suffered, it would take a little more time for her to get the correct movements for her Release, unless she was one of those people who could just instantly release with more or less instant timing. If she wasn't, then it would take some more time for her to get the motions right. Not all that much, but enough. Enough for what? Enough for Taien to finish doing some spellwork.

A drop of water ripples across the ocean surface, a leviathan rises from his slumber. Go forth, depths of the sea, rise from your slumber to drown the land in your magnificent expanse; turn earth to sea, air to liquid, bring forth your deep embrace!

With that, two grenades appeared in his hands. One of them was slightly larger than the other. Taien had utilized his Reformatting technique to change the shape of not one, but two Gouzen Demizu's. The one in his right hand was larger due to the incantation Taien had mentally used. Still under the effects of Kyakko, Taien Shunpoed some seven yards away from the front of Hotaru, and dropped one grenade off, the smaller one. Taien promptly Shunpoed straight upwards, and used Advanced Air Ground to make a platform for himself. A few moments after Taien dropped the grenade off, it would exploded, releasing an utterly massive amount of water in all directions. And this was like a few seconds after Taien dropped it. Hotaru likely would be able to release before it exploded, but she would be hard pressed for time to dodge the oncoming wall of water.

That was what the second grenade was for. If Hotaru dodged, Taien would pull the pin on that grenade, 'cook' it for a few seconds, and then lob it in the direction Hotaru had dodged. By this point, the Kyakko would have faded off, Taien not having reapplied it. His spiritual power would be felt throughout their battleground, and Hotaru would be able to sense Taien. The time for hidding was over... Now came the fun part!

Remaining Reiatsu: 5150/6000

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru watched as when she stopped her roll and tried to avoid a hit, she actually got a glancing blow. It stung like nobody's business and she had a sharp intake of breath when she had to move her left arm. She was able to get up, slowly moving her arm around. It was painful, but nothing that she couldn't really handle. She had already been through Hell, this ice was nothing compared to that 'training' as Sozen called it. She just had to be more careful with her attacks now.

But, she was curious why he hadn't shown himself yet. He had already displayed his great power with Kido and she had no doubt in her mind now why he was the Vice Captain of the Kidou Corps. She had never seen anyone use Kido the way he did. She really wanted to ask him how he did it, but even if he showed her, she could never do it herself. So, she would just stare in awe of his great control and try to find a way around it somehow. It was just amazing to her how one person could do so much with Kido.

She released her sword and while she was releasing, she noticed something coming at her. It was a huge wave of water. Okay, now this was getting ridiculous. First there was lightning and now huge waves? What in the hell was this guy thinking? Was he trying to kill her? She stood and did the first thing she could think of. Use a grenade to get the hell outta there. She saw the water coming in all directions. Well, all directions but up and that gave her an idea. She just hoped it would work.

So, the logical thing she thought of was to just go straight upwards to avoid all the water. She quickly formed her grenade and yelled out, "Kasai Shuryūdan!", throwing it about four feet away from her. She ran at full speed towards the site of the grenade. Right before she reached the grenade, she jumped as hard as she could upwards, getting about three feet above it. Once it hit, which took about a second, she used the power from the grenade to propel herself into the air. Since she went immediately upwards, she noticed something hovering in the air. She was able to see the Vice Captain now.

There was no doubt in her mind that she had been hiding himself and attacking her from a distance now that she saw him here. Also, it seemed that he already had a counter attack in mind. So, since she couldn't move her body in mid air. She quickly made another grenade and threw it at him, yelling out the same command. She then created an air ground that was even with his, letting her avoid all of the water that was on the ground. She kept her right arm up but her left arm was still a little stiff from the attack.

OOC: Reiatsu 1505/2030 -100 for x2 Kasai Shuryūdan and -75 for Air Ground

[Taien Hadohou]

SPOILER: Click to show

{MOAR POOOWWAAHHH!}

In all honesty? Not a bad move on Hotaru's part. Were the wave weaker, Hotaru easily would have risen in to the air, unimpeded by the onrush of explosive water. Unfortunately, it was not. The shockwave was easily absorbed by the water, being both stronger than the force behind it and, well, being water. The rate of Hotaru's ascent wasn't fast enough to get her completely clear of the water. She dodged the worst brunt of it, like with the lightning from before and the ice shot that was still freezing on her arm, but she didn't come out entirely fine. The crest of the wave, along with a goodly amount of force, would send her careening away from her intended destination.

This, amusingly, would make Hotaru do spins in the air. Well, amusing from an outsider's perspective; being flipped repeatedly end over end with little control over your momentum probably wouldn't feel too good. In any case, this presented Taien an opportunity to attack Hotaru, while she was off balance and not really in a good position. It would be hard to counter-attack from her current position of, well, spinning through the sky, so Taien took that. By that, I mean he lobbed the second grenade at her. The grenade that was set to go off earlier than the other one, because he let the 'fuse', so to speak, run down. And this was the big one!

Seconds after leaving Taien's hand, who had Shunpoed away from the ensuing massive explosion of water, a solid blast-wave of water exploded out from the small grenade. Comparing it with the first grenade, this one was easily double the size of it. Which meant there was a whole lot more water coming at Hotaru this time, and she wasn't in the best position to dodge it. It certainly was a possibility, however. If she was able to stabilize herself, one way or another, she would be able to avoid the huge outpouring of water that was set to rain upon her head.

Of course, this possibility crossed Taien's mind, so, he cheerfully moved to quash it. From his hand, what looked like a spear composed of raging air formed. This was the result of Tenran and Shape Reformatting, and it would serve the purpose Taien had in mind very well. That purpose? Taien cocked his hand back, and threw the spear as hard as he could at the expanding blast of water. Admittedly, it wouldn't have been very impressive if he didn't use a Sho to massively increase the speed of the spear. Taien wasn't exactly the most physical of Shinigami after all.

The spear would plunge extremely fast in to the exploding water sphere, seeing as it wouldn't have been too long after it first exploded, and the water wouldn't have had too much time to fall to the earth yet. Upon reaching the 'center' of the sphere, the spear would detonate. Like, massively detonate. Within the explosion of water, the spear would unleash an explosive torrent of roaring and raging wind. This, in turn, would cause the water to rapidly explode outwards, until... Well. Until it popped. Like a giant bubble of whatever brand blowing gum you might find at your grocery store or what have you.

Essentially a pretty large area was about to be blasted with another dousing of tidal deluge, courtesy of Taien the Rainmaker. Which, mind, would include Hotaru, if she didn't get out of there. Fast. Solid walls and waves and such of water were going to explode out from the initial blast of water, and now, they would be propelled even faster by the raging, driving winds of the Tenran-Spear. If Hotaru is able to make it out of all of that, she would find Taien, simply standing on the air, watching the water/wind explosion take place. He was not distracted, though. Far from it. Taien was using a little trick he had, one that everyone with a high enough Reiatsu would be able to use.

An intimidating, powerful aura would emerge from Taien. A massive, frightening pressure, radiating off of him, which, while quite in odds with how his Reiatsu normally would feel, would simply proclaim one thing, and one thing alone to Hotaru. Power. Taien held a massive amount of power within himself. This was simply that power being allowed to leak out and terrify anyone who happened to be around him. Which, most likely, would be Hotaru. And then, Taien would turn to Hotaru. And smile.

Remaining Reiatsu: 4862/6000

[Taien Hadohou]

((OOC: Hotaru has resigned. Taien is the victor, ready for grading.))

[Katekarin Mekatoku]

320 TP to Taien + 100 for Victory. 420 TP.

280 TP to Hotaru