Training between Comrades (Angel and Josh JT)

[joshua]

Joshua winced in pain as he moved for the first time after that day. His arm and leg were completely wrapped in bandages. He could still feel the pain from the burn but he could manage. This was the first day he was allowed to stay out of hospital care. He was still amazed that they managed to fix him up this well. Soul Society doctors really are amazing. He walked out in the open no wondering if anything happened on his patrol. News should have spread around the squad now, news of the rookiee who caused the death of hundreds.

He was walking slowly, his leg was still damaged and he should not move too quickly. He sighed, he wasn't used to being this injured. He walked around in casual and loose clothing, making sure to keep his wounds safe from harm. He had his Asauchi sheathed by his side. He was too scared to bring it out, the last he saw of it, it was cracked and broken. He was assured that it would repair itself though.

He then started to think about that world he went to. He remembered the beautiful garden, the field of flowers, the flowing river, and the quaint gazebo. He remembered the young girl in strange garments and armor. He remembered that she was his Zanpakuto, and he wondered what he would do to find out her name. 

He then started to think about that day again, that fight. He remembered the words that started it all. Cero, the beam of energy that scarred him for life, physically and mentally. He remembered the screams, the screams of the ones who had died because of him. His face would be empty and depressed at the moment. He just started walking around, reminscing about the dead people. 

He found himself wondering around while his min was off in a different world, thinking about his zanpakuto. He nearly bumped into three people. He started to realize where he was and quickly started apologizing profusely. Joshua was truly sorry for anything he had done. He did not mean to bump into anyone. 

[Angel]

Angel was busy in her own thoughts and duties this morning as she had been within the training grounds of the Squad 7 Barracks. What was she particularly doing here this morning? She was training...training in the hopes of becoming someone powerful like that figure Kaen. Yes. Kaen the Vice Captain of Squad 7 was something exceptional and he blew her imagination in terms of his skill and prowess. How he had reached such a pinnacle of power was beyond her for the most part. However, she would certainly try. She had just finished her physical training. Beating against training dummies systemized to strike back at her, running, pushups, everything to help balance her body.

However, what came next was her spiritual training. She had been looking to train her spiritual abilities and Kido as it was a staple art and important to many Shinigami in the Seireitei. Although there were some that exercised power in terms of physical ability, Angel or as some would call Hikari was more focused on training her spiritual abilities as opposed to abandoning that side of her. As the clutz named Froid had wandered around the training field, bumping into everyone in his way, Angel closed her eyes and began to chant aloud. "Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into three! Bakudo no Sanju! Shitotsu Sansen!" Channeling reiatsu into her fingertips, she prepared her spell.

Dragging her fingertips across the air, she drew a horizontal line that was visibly glowing creating a point that was more profound. Dragging her arm downwards diagonally, a second point had been made. The spell was almost complete. Then...with a third drag, the lines all connected to make a wide triangle. Pushing her hand outward, three large beak like triangles flew outward from her triangular glow before it vanished. At an increasingly fast speed, three speeding beaks had collided with a training dummy of sorts made by Squad 4. It had the feel of human flesh and its body would move realistically as such. The dummy had been slammed at both wrists and the stomach as it was sent flying away from Angel herself.

Colliding itself into one of the stone walls of the barracks, Angel had brushed her long black hair out of her face. Her coal black eyes and neutral expression vanished for a moment as a small grin appeared on her face. However, that quickly turned into a frown. She wasn't powerful enough. She needed more power. She wasn't strong enough to protect her comrades, the people, and certainly not herself at the level she was at. The dummy was in suspended animation as Angel took a deep breath and composed herself. Now was the time to experiment to see what she was capable with in terms of Kido. She needed to focus on offensive power.

"Arise god of thunder! Awake mother of storms! Unleash the lighting on the sinners! Hado no Yon! Byakurai!" Pointing her finger outward, she focused her reiatsu as flowing blue energy gathered on her index. With a decently large blast of electricity...larger than the average what with her mastery of this technique, the lightning moved at a fast speed towards the dummy. However, twisting her hand, the lightning curved and went from the center of the chest to curve and strike the puppet right in the heart. There was the sound of piercing and burning before the dummy slumped. A burning hole was seen through its chest before the yellow bindings had cracked. The dummy fell face first into the ground as Angel took a deep breath. She had learned some new spells. Perhaps she should practice them as well. Little did she know that she had an onlooker.

[joshua]

Joshua got his head out of the memory of that day, deciding it would be better to do that in his lonesome instead of out in the open. He looked around and found himself in his squad's barracks. He looked around and noticed that he was in the training grounds. He decided he should train as well. It might get his mind off of the pain. He found a nice and secluded spot away from the others to keep them from seeing his wounds.

He thought that he was well enough to put strain on his body. He was mistaken, very much mistaken. He tried to do push ups first. He put his arms on the ground and instantly felt a burst of pain erupt in his arm. He fell onto his other arm and he bit his lip to keep quiet. He didn't want to disturb anyone practicing. He sat up and relaxed a little. The pain subsided but he knew he couldn't train like that for a while. He wondered what he would do instead.

He looked over to his squad mates training in the field. He wiped away the bit of blood on his lip from his bite and focused on someone else. He looked over to a training dummy far from him and heard a voice. He heard her chant something that he couldn't quite make out. Suddenly, three golden beaks attacked the dummy and suspended it in the air. Joshua was astounded and amazed. He wondered if he could do the same. 

He stood up now, limping slightly on his leg, and tried to walk towards her. She had long black hair and a beautiful face. He blushed slightly at this woman. She started to chant once more, this time a different and more powerful incantation. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning crawled on her fingers and burst forward towards the dummy suspended in the air. He watched as the bolt curled upwards into its heart and created a hole through it. Joshua was in awe. 

He finally made it over to her and smiled. He was genuinely impressed by her and he wanted to learn as well. "Hi! You were amazing! How did you do those Kido techniques?" He said with a bright and friendly smile. He really wanted to learn how to use those kido techniques. They would be very useful to him in the future, especially when he needs to fight from a distance.

[Angel]

Angel took a brief moment to recover herself, however, it seemed that there was an onlooker who personally came to approach her. He seemed interested in the arts of Kido...asking her how to perform it. On top of that, he had sunny blonde hair as well as pale skin. She of course noticed his injuries on his side. Considering the state that the medics of Soul Society was, she could see that the state of their healing abilities has weakened. What with having no captain or suitable vice captain, that was to be expected. Angel was able to recall when medics could heal whole entire severed limbs with ease.

One thing that Froid may realise once getting close enough, was that Angel was very youthful...although looking mature for her age. In terms of her physical appearance, she looked 14 or 15. However, in reality she was around 200 some years old. In Soul Society though, age was typically just a number. Just as how the bodies of Shinigami were made up of spiritual particles that age far slower depending on spiritual power. Of course seeing he was in the Squad 7 training field, it meant that he was a member of the squad like she was. Although...he might have been even newer than she was.

She spoke in a stern but yet soft alto with a smooth and soft texture that was pleasant to the ear. “Ahem. My name is Nisei Hikari...although everyone calls me Angel. May I ask your name?” She bowed in respect before awaiting a response. Assuming he had, Angel would reply, “It is a pleasure to meet you Froid-San. Now...as for how to perform Kido techniques, did they not teach you this in the academy? They should have went over this thoroughly at Shino Academy.” This was setting alarm bells off in her head. Were the standards for training Shinigami that low after Kuroi’s invasion on Soul Society? It seemed Froid Joshua at least knew what Kido was. Another response needed.

Angel depending on the answer she received would take the time to explain how Kido worked. Although, she would slowly walk and gesture for the male to follow her into the shade as compared to the hot morning. “Kido is an advanced form of combat based on advanced spells. They are produced through using Reirokyu and fall into primarily two categories, Hado and Bakudo. That should be simple enough to understand. As for how Kido is utilized. Typically, Kido is triggered by an incantation or phrase which you may have heard me speak before. However, when one has become skilled in the usage of it, the use of an incantation becomes irrelevant. However, the power as a result becomes diminished. Also when one has mastered a spell, the manipulation of it becomes far more sophisticated. Allow me to show you an example.”

Holding out her finger, she looked from one end of the building to the other training dummy. It remained face down and lifeless, but it was still useable in this instance. Channeling reiatsu from her fingertips, a blue crackle of electricity was sounded before suddenly a speeding bolt travelled through the air towards the wall instead of the training dummy. Wordless and without incantation, the Kido was slightly weaker. However, using her mastery, she had manipulated the electricity to suddenly make a rough and jagged curve to slam straight down and through the skull of the dummy. Just like before, it would blast a hole through the target. “Are there any questions so far Froid-San?”

[joshua]

He noticed that she looked a bit younger than he was, which was concerning. He was barely considered an adult and she looked even younger than him. If that was the case, she would be too young to serve and work. He then remembered that most people don't look their real age, and that she might be older than he was. Just to make sure, he had to ask. "I'm sorry, how old are you?" He said with a polite grin, not meaning to offend her in any way.

She introduced herself right away as Nisei Hikari, though many people call her Angel. She then asked who he was. Joshua then realized that he forgot to introduce himself. He bit his lip as a sort of a reminder to always be polite. "I'm so sorry. How rude of me. My name is Joshua Froid, I'm new here in Squad 7." He said with an embarassed chuckle. He brushed his hair to the side so it wouldn't get into his eyes. He always wanted to look good, especially for first impressions.

She then asked if "Froid-san" learned how to use kido in the academy. He did learn about it but he was taken aback at first. No one has called him Froid-san before. "Uh, Angel, can you just call me Josh or Joshua? I'm sorry, it's just unusual to be called by my last name." He said with an uncomfortable expression. He hated being called Froid, it reminded him of his family, especially his father. It brought back some unwanted memories.

She then went on to explain how Kido worked and how to cast them, which Joshua knew but he appreciated the reminder. He followed her into the shade while she explained. She went on about the two types of Kido, Hado and Bakudo. Then, she decided to perform an example. She held up her hand and pointed towards another training dummy. A familiar blue spark crawled through her fingers and released like a burst of lightning. Another hole was made going right through the heart of the dummy. 

Once she was done, he replied. "Well, I did learn about Kido in the academy and I know how to use Kido, it's just that I wanted to learn how to use those Incantations specifically. I appreciate the reminder though. I was never the best at Kido in the academy, but I was told I had potential. I just never got around to it, I guess." He said with a bright smile. He raised his hand and created a small orb of glowing energy that orbited around his palm. It seperated and created patterns of golden light before converging again. Afterwards, it dissipated completely.

[Angel]

She was aware of the man’s name now...although he asked exactly how old she was. “Hmm...the last I checked, I was 62 years old.” Looking at the blonde, she also caught that he said he was a newbie in Squad 7. Nodding, she decided to ask him about his position and tutelage within the Shinigami Academy. Most if not all Shinigami at least came out armed with the knowledge of the Byakurai and its usage. However, it seemed that the man in front of her didn’t want to be called in proper Japanese dialect. “As you wish.” From this point, she would call him Joshua-San.

As they went into the shade, she would go on to explain how Kido worked and the sub groups of Bakudo and Hado. However, at the end he explained that he already knew generally about how to use Kido and what it was. It seemed that he was just looking for instruction on how to use the particular spells that she had. She nodded in realization of what he was asking for. “I see. So you want training in these Kido specifically.” She was thinking that in terms of extra curricular classes, he must have attended the more physical ones as opposed to studying spiritual arts.

“I will teach you one of my Kido. Consider it a welcoming gift into the squad. Considering the fact that you are injured and accidents are common in training Hado, I’ll be teaching you a Bakudo instead.” Walking ahead, she would again wave her hand in a motion meaning for him to follow. “Hmm. I assume you don’t have any experience with Kido then am I right? You said that you had potential, but you didn’t mention tapping it all.” She would wait for an answer. Regardless of what he said, Angel would be a bit ambitious and teach him one of the lower tiers of Kido.

“You said you have potential, and you said that you were inquiring on how to learn. I’ll be teaching you Bakudo no Sanju (30) Shitotsu Sansen.” She had thought about the actual mechanics of the technique and in some better terminology of how to teach this novice. She was a novice herself, but she was at least better understanding the art that was Kido. It was something she was skilled at...and enjoyed with a bit of a passion. “Well...I suppose we should start off with the incantation first. It’s relatively short. So memorize it. Recite it after me. Then watch how I perform it.”

Holding her middle and index finger vertically, Angel closed her eyes. “Carriage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into three.” Channeling her reiatsu, she focused on her fingers. Jabbing outward, she drew a straight line across. Eventually she would have made a triangular shape with three almost pyramid like points on jutting out. “Bakudo no Sanju. Shitotsu Sansen.” With a flick of her fingers, all three beaks would fly out before embedding onto the wall. Placing her hands behind her back, she looked to the man named Froid. It was challenging for sure for a newcomer to Kido to get accustomed. However, she was there as guidance.

[joshua]

This young looking girl, Angel, said that she was 62 last time she checked. Joshua had a brief look of shock and surprise on his face before shaking it off. He still wasn't used to the real age of most of these people. He smiled again and shook off that thought. "You look very young for your age, just like most of the people here I guess. I'm still not used to it." He said with a slight chuckle. She would get the idea that he was pretty new to the Soul Society.

She then went over and signalled him to follow her once more, which he did dutifully as she was his superior at the moment. She said that she would teach him one of her Kido as a welcoming gift into the Squad. He smiled as she said that and he thanked her. She also said that she would teach him a Bakudo instead of a Hado as he was injured. Joshua instinctively grabbed his wounded arm and tried to cover it, although it was a poor attempt. He felt a bit embarrassed. 

She then asked if he ever tapped into the potential of learning Kido in the Academy. He chuckled a little before shaking his head. "To be honest, not really. The teachers in the academy said I could become great at using Kido although I never really went for it. I preferred physical combat over the Kido techniques so I signed up for those classes instead. I know a bit of Hakuda and I know the Flash Step, but never really did the whole Hado or Bakudo thing." He said with a bright smile.

She said she would be teaching him Bakudo number 30, Shitotsu Sansen. He nodded and listened carefully to her instructions. She said that they would start with the incantation and that it was just a short one. She told him to memorize it. She then said to recite it after her. Joshua followed carefully. "Cartiage of Thunder. Bridge of a spinning wheel. With light, divide this into three." He said, shadowing her words. 

He then decided to follow her actions as well. She drew a straight line with her middle and index fingers and it showed the line made of spiritual energy. He followed suit, gathering the energy into his hand as well. He made a straight line of golden light, yet it seemed unstable and raw, unlike her's. She then transitioned into making it into a golden triangle with three distinct points. Joshua tried to follow but after making two parts of the triangle, the energy burst out and dissipated. He looked over and noticed three beaks of golden light embedded into the wall. He sighed and closed his eyes. He started channeling the reiatsu again.

[Angel]

The surprised look on Joshua's face didn't make much sense to her considering that men and women looking young for extended periods of time was something that she had lived with her whole life. Young children could appear to be a couple centuries years old. The elderly could be a few thousand at the most. Looking at the chuckling man with a bit of a blank stare, she saw him try to cover his wound and failing quite badly as she was able to witness the charred and burned flesh on the man's opposite arm. In fact, she could maybe even say that she could smell the burnt flesh from where she stood. Okay, maybe that one was a little bit of a stretch. However, one thing that she could say was definite was that the man didn't like to be pointed out his failure and he was likely a bit prideful to try and hide such an obvious wound. However, the next bit of information had somewhat made her somewhat sigh. Might be a challenge to do this.

Based on what Joshua-San had told her, he had never invested any training into Kido as he only invested into the Hakuda and physical fighting arts. At least this meant that she would be the first one to start cultivating his skill in Kido if he so wished to use it. "I see. Well then, let me be the first to teach you the art then. I am not the most skilled practitioner of Kido, but I'm working on that all the time. My Hakuda I would see is mediocre, on par with the standards needed to be an officer of squad 7 anyways. Let's begin with reciting the incantation. At some point, you will not need to call it out loud, but doing so regardless will make it more powerful." As she recited the familiar spell slowly as to allow him to follow after, she proceeded with the next step, all the while looking at Joshua to see how he was doing.

It seemed that she immediately was able to understand what his problem was as she's experienced somewhat similar issues when first learning the Kido herself. As his spell burst and shattered, Angel took the liberty to turn herself and look upwards into Froid's eyes. "Halt. Stop for a moment. I see what your issue is, lack of Reiatsu Control and condensation. When you are holding your hand outward after the incantation, you are releasing it as a loose stream of energy. That will never do. You must focus it within your finger tips and equally distribute it among the lines you draw and make three equally condensed points at where the beaks would be. Your Reiatsu was too loose and unevenly distributed hence why you were only able to draw two lines and the points were oddly shaped." 

Wordlessly, she held her middle and index finger outward once more before making the first point, making a small ball of reiatsu. Then, she drew her hand down to the left as a thin line connected the first point to a second equally sized beak. Repeating the motion, she dragged her hand horizontally to the right as she made the third point to which the second ball was connected to. Finally, dragging her hand upward to the left, the triangle was connected perfectly as it hung in suspended animation. Then, focusing her Reiatsu, the energy lines dissipated as the three balls suddenly became pointed beaks and with a light point outward, three more beaks flew outward before colliding with another portion of the wall, next to the beaks she had originally created. What a tiring job this was. She could almost sigh from the mental drainage of teaching. 

"Hopefully that illustration will help you grasp it better. We all learn differently and some of us are more...visual than auditory. Or perhaps just some of us are more kinesthetic. I will be taking a brief rest and I will be returning to check on that progress of yours soon enough. Hopefully you'll make some good progress on the spell." Letting her arm drop, she took a deep breath as she then turned and took a brief walk into a shadier region of the training ground to which she turned her attention to one of the training dummies that had been set to rotate and strike outward once struck. She was nowhere near the level of Kaen Youji in terms of prowess, but she still needed to try and reach a higher state than she was now. "Let's get to work..." Thus, she began to beat at the wooden practice partner that was lightly coated in iron. Striking, dodging, and blocking back and forth as she tried to sharpen her physical body and her reflexes from each blow. 

Beating at each limb, core, and head of her target, she felt the sharp pain as the iron limbs of the dummy collided with each block she had. She had to get stronger, STRONGER. She had failed her duties as a Shinigami, and as disgraceful as it was, she never wanted to be in the position of weakness that was Hueco Mundo again. The death and destruction of the Rukongai district she entered was evident as she couldn't help but put the blame on herself for being weak to the point where she couldn't defend it against all foes. It was her desire to become stronger for the sake of fulfilling her sacred duty as a Shinigami that drove her and guided her in the direction she was taking. Also, she owed it to those that had fallen. She was Hikari Nisei, a Shinigami with potential to exploit. 

A light sheen of sweat gathered on her brow as she punched with greater and greater ferocity at the dummy which became an outlet of stress removal for herself. However, that ended as a sharp blow struck her in the cheek and sent her almost jumping backwards with a slight grunt. Thankfully as a Shinigami, they had higher durability than most humans. The blow was superficial, and thus she would be able to continue training, fighting. She needed to be equally as sharp in the body as she was in the mind. After all, what was that saying? A sound mind and a sound body made a sound soul. That sounded accurate. Thus, Angel went right back to it as she fought against her superior and enduring spar partner. It would be waiting for her, the day she would surpass it. 

[joshua]

Joshua listened carefully to every word his teacher had been saying. He was watching every movement carefully as well, making sure to create mental images in his mind to follow exactly. She had told him of his main problem, he was letting his energy flow too loosely, it had to condense into a focused point. As she demonstrated once more, Joshua felt like he was getting the hang of it. 

She created the three pointed triangle out of golden energy and he watched as the lines were thin and stable. He then saw the three points become more defined and pronounced as they started to extend outward and form beaks, like that of a hawk. The three beaks suddenly flew outward with immense speed, again much like a hawk on the hunt, ready to strike. Joshua watched with awe and immense focus. 

She then decided that she would do something else while he was learning this, which Joshua agreed to. He nodded and closed his eyes. He went into a meditative position and let his energy flow through him, like a river. As he pushed this flow of energy into his fingertips, he stood up. He raised his finger and startted channeling the energy into a point. As soon as a small ball of reiatsu was created he instantly cut off the energy flow and focused the ball at his fingertips. 

He smiled as he did this but he never broke his focus. He then started creating a small flow of energy, just enough to channel some but it wastill focused. He created thin lines of radiant and golden energy as he slowly made a triangle. His fingers stopped after making a thin and focused line and he released a small burst of energy to create another ball, before cutting it off again. 

His focus was put to the test now as he had to focus the stream of energy while maintaining the others. He never knew that Kido would be this hard. He felt the strain on his mind and his concentration as he created the second line and ended at the third and final point. With one more burst, the final ball was created, and all that was left was the third and final connecting line. 

He did it, he managed to make a stable triangle of energy. He said the incantation and he felt the energy in the triangle. He felt the three distinct points and he knew what had to come next. He pushed a little more energy into the three points at the same time, equally distributing the energy. As he did so, the points started to extend outwards and form more pronounced and sharpened points. He launched the beaks forward, watching them soar through the sky and pierce the wall where Angel's did. 

He was put through a lot of mental stress so he decided to sit down. He also noticed that his wound had started to surge with pain every now and then. He wondered if he needed to return to the medics. He looked over to his teacher and saw that she was practicing on the dummy. He smiled at her. "No rest for a Shinigami, huh." He said to himself, though she might to hear it. He startd to doze off a little, tired from everything he had done.

[Angel]

It was at this period in time that Hikari Nisei had to explain once again to her student, but she was glad that he at least seemed to be listening intently to her instruction and seemed prepared to use the spell again. While he was focusing on his spell casting, Angel had taken liberty to go her own way to continue her own training in the physical sense, preparing herself for the future engagement for another date. She decided that she needed to be equally balanced in terms of skill both physical and mental for the sake of being prepared for all encounters, that was absolute. So, she went right at it. Although it seemed like her pupil was making some interesting progress.

However, even she had her attention turned when she witnessed the blonde casting his own Shitotsu Sansen successfully for the first time based off of her observation. At this point, she could say she had gotten the basic of it down and within time he would be considered a master of the technique. It was a job well done. Halting her training for just a moment, she would walk casually within earshot. Roughly around eight feet away. “Good job. You were able to cast the spell correctly this time. Make sure to keep working on that. You never know when this Kido will be useful in our line of work. That’s all I’ll be teaching you today.”

Looking at the golden triangle figure that had been set up, the black haired girl nodded in approval before turning herself around, her back facing him. “I recommend you head back to the medics when possible. Go get some rest. Then, if you want to learn any more Kido from me, seek me out. I shouldn’t be too hard to find. I’m usually at the barracks or at work. You understand surely.” Taking the man’s arm into mind, she quickly walked off as if uncomfortable to be around. Bad memories were going through her head at this moment. “You know you can’t avoid me forever...girl. I haunt your dreams, your daily life. You’ll never be strong enough without me. Without meeting me in person.”

Clenching her fist, she turned back to the wooden dummies. ‘If that’s the case, I’ll avoid you for as long as possible. I don’t need you. I don’t need to rely on you. I have others that will support my mission.’ There was silence for a moment before a slight bit of laughter broke out, echoing in the hollow space she called her mind. “How naive. To deny me is to deny power. However, I’ll watch this little show to see just how far you can go. I’m a patient person. Farewell for now...my little Angel.” Raising her right hand, she blocked the strike of one of the assailants. “I’ll be strong...my own way.”

There was an aching, a feeling of dread inside of Angel’s body as something dwelled in her mind. Training, fighting, living, and dying...this would be her life until she was sure she could face the inner demon that she so dreaded facing. Herself. Her spirit. Her power. For they were two entities that were so conflicting, she refused to acknowledge it as her reality. She was stuck in a genjutsu of this being trying to coerce her to using him. It was to the point where she was sure that the spirit was evil. However, she would not break those chains. Not unless there was absolutely no other choice.

[Shizuka Sanamizu ✮]

I'm going to round it at 45 paragraphs. Josh, you need to remember that a full paragraph is at least 4 lines of text. In some cases, you can have basically only dialogue with even one word of normal text in there and it can still be counted, but that's up to the mod's discretion. For now, you have a ton of paragraphs that were only 3 lines, and those do not normally count. You would be at 54 if you added in the extra lines, but just keep that in mind for the future. As it is, you're going to have to handle 45 paragraphs instead. I'm still counting a bit of effort of yours, but make sure it's at least 4 lines!

45 paragraphs = 225 TP. Please remember to convert this to either CTP or TTP and bank it! Not that I think either of you have an issue with it, but I write the same reminder all the time unless people specify what they want.