Learning On The Job [JT/Closed]

[Celes Castellanos]

The Tenth Division of the Thirteen Court Guards. Normally a haven for the most combat capable outside of her sister Squad, the Eleventh Division, it was strangely silent. No grunts of exertion nor the clashing of blades. Instead, the Vice Captain of this division could be seen sitting atop a rock. As per usual, she was in a deep meditative state. It had been a while now that Celes had resorted to training inside her Inner World. After all, this had a few benefits. For one, she could train in peace. Additionally, she did not tear up the terrain of the Tenth Division training grounds. This is something she was rather notorious for during training. She did not like to hold back, even against a dummy.

This form of training also gave her the advantage of receiving direct advice from someone who knew her better than any other Shinigami. It was her Zanpakutou spirit Yunorashi. Fighting in a secluded area with the forest of trees that decorated her inner world, the view of the Acropolis in the background, Celes clashed swords with her Zanpakutou spirit. Leaning in close, she smirked at Yunorashi who gave her a defiant smile. Lately, Celes had been trying to work on her level-headedness. It had been a few fights so far that Celes had lost her cool. Most recently, with Orobas, an Akki who truly had tested her. This unfortunate incident also led to an untimely visit of the hollow that corrupted her spirit.

Even despite enjoying the fight and trying to keep a level head, Yunorashi frowned for a moment. She could sense that something was off within the Shinigami. Bouncing backward and creating distance, the short Zanpakutou spirit sheathed her blade. In confusion, Celes tilted her head, but the spirit simply raised her hand and smiled. This was Celes' cue to take a break. With a bit of a childish tone, Yunorashi would began to speak to her Shinigami companion. "You know Celes. You are really bad at hiding things. You can hardly hide things from those not directly linked to your spirit. What makes you think that your true feelings are obscured from me." 

The Shinigami simply chuckled. Yunorashi knew her far too well. The Vice Captain would slowly follow her spirit as they both sat down under the shade. Celes began to speak to reply to the inquisitive spirit. "Yeah...I just worry. This Hollow...his taunting has grown more and more frequent..." She sighed for a moment before continuing. "It worries me Yunorashi. His influence upon me has been growing and his volatility while I am not in control of my actions...What if I hurt someone? Like Kimiko? What if she is there when I am forced to deal with this curse. What if I fail her?" The Shinigami's expression was one of dismay as she tried to wrestle with all these doubts. Despite all of this, Yunorashi couldn't help, but smile warmly as she rubbed Celes' shoulder. 

"Celes. You are so much stronger than you give yourself credit for. Like I said. We will be facing him together when the time comes. Kimiko will be with you to. You are her mentor. I would imagine she looks up to you. You have come so far and I know that this may seem insurmountable, but take heart. I will work out." Yunorashi giggled as she looked up at the sky. Celes smiled herself as she felt much calmer. At ease. With that, Yunorashi would continue. "Besides. Once I get to meet her, you shouldn't be so gloomy. Wouldn't want to scare her off." With that, Yunorashi would bump Celes' shoulder with some strength. Admittedly, Celes was caught off guard as she tipped to the side. It didn't hurt, but threw her off balance. 

Celes couldn't help, but pout and raise herself to her knees as she looked at Yunorashi. "No fair! You caught me off guard with that one!!" Yunorashi fell over laughing. "You truly are such an airhead sometimes Celes. Speaking of being an airhead and Kimiko. Aren't you forgetting something?" The Vice Captain blinked as she began to think it over. Kimiko? That's when it hit her. She was supposed to meet with Kimiko soon. Celes just exclaimed. "Oh yeah! I'm supposed to meet with Kimiko for our training!" The Zanpakutou spirit just smiled and waved her hand. As she did this, Celes felt her consciousness extend for a moment and black out as the world dimmed before her. 

Once she opened her eyes again, she was back in reality. With a quick hope, she leapt off of her rock and stretched. Sitting like that unfortunately did a number to her muscles no matter how short the encounters were. Regardless, Celes began to make her way somewhat swiftly to the training grounds of the Academy. As she ran, she began to reflect on some new developments. Ever since Kimiko had become a student of hers, the Vice Captain kept a closer eye on her activities. She had heard that the fledgling was beginning to accelerate through her studies, being offered exams far earlier than other students. In this sense, Celes felt an iota of pride. Celes would be happy to see her graduate. Perhaps Kimiko would even join her current Squad? Perhaps the Eleventh Division seeing that she had a proclivity to martial combat. 

No matter what, Celes knew that she would be proud of Kimiko and they would certainly go to celebrate upon her graduation. First things first though, Celes had to continue training her. Even today, she had some special training planned, but that was a surprise. As she approached the Academy, the training grounds came into view as she would most likely see Kimiko practicing in the courtyard. If this was the case, Celes would not be surprised. She would slow her approach as she would call out to her disciple while waving. "Hey Kimiko!" Assuming that Kimiko offered her own pleasantries, the Shinigami would nod and acknowledge it respectfully. She would then proceed to speak. "I hope you are ready for today. Todays training will be a little different that what we have been doing." The Vice Captain would smile, a clear expression of joy and excitement on her face. 

[Nakajima Kimiko]

To say that a lot has happened in Kimiko's life since a few days ago now was a bit of an understatement.

First of all, a trip that she had decided to join out of sheer nostalgia for the Living World had decided to turn itself into the equivalent of a near-catastrophic incident. Indeed, what she had honestly thought would be nothing more than her finally further accepting her death transformed into a literal battle against a Hollow, and one that was stronger than the typical Hollow at that. The officer that was accompanying them had been  killed by the damn thing and, all in all, it was doubtful that anyone else in the group could have survived if Kimiko hadn't decided to step in and actually fight the damned thing, that "Teresa". Sure, there had been a wish to fight a proper Hollow lying in the back of her head when she registered herself in the trip, but she had never thought she would have had to actually fight one at the time. It had been a nasty surprise, to say the least.

Second, since she was able to come back home relatively safe and sound, the school immediately expressed their wish to, well, get her out of the school. Well, at least that's how the official who had met her decided to put it. At first, she had honestly thought that she was getting expelled from the institution due to what happened and so, for a while, she did not feel really well. Fortunately, by "getting out of the school", they more so meant that they wanted her to be assigned to a Division of the Gotei 13 as quickly as possible so that her skills can be immediately put to good use. Obviously, her feelings then took a complete 180 the very moment she understood what was going on. In a way, considering all that's happened, it was not too surprising: everyone was treating her as some sort of sword prodigy now and, aside from that damned instructor of hers, everyone firmly believed that she had already surpassed the academy.

Buuuut, of course, they could not simply let her go away so easily, oh no. As such, this is where the third part of this list decides to come in: examinations. Exams, exams, exams. Everything has been piling onto her without stop since she was told that she was going to graduate in advance before even the beginning of her third year at the school. It was a cruel spree of study, work and sheer training that they shot towards her without even bothering to look at how insane their schedule was. By the time a single week had passed since the announcement, she had already completed a good chunk of exams. Fortunately, she had passed a lot of them with good to great grades as the most of them were theoretical rather than practical, but it was needless to say that she had outright completely tanked that single Kidō exam they had decided to throw into the mix. All that came out of that were just more farts of smoke, really.

Fortunately, this left her with a few more exams which were instead more so focused on physical combat. As such, once she was done studying for those first set of exams, she mostly spent her time practicing at the courtyard with her blade. For what seemed like hours, she trained relentlessly, repeating everything that she had learned from both Celes and her own self-training, so much so that at times, she could swear that she would hear a voice in her head complimenting her for her work. Her Asauchi had by now firmly started to turn into something that was more suited to her needs, with its scabbard and guard both slowly starting to turn stark white over time, seemingly already cleaned of all impurities. It both stood out as something remarkably noticeable and remained there as nothing very fancy to look at, much like a lot of other swords about to turn into a Sealed Zanpakuto.

Ironically, as she trained there with such strength in the courtyard, there was something that she happened to miss: her training with Celes. Indeed, the stress for succeeding in her exams coupled with the wish to surpass her physical tests with ease had made her forget that she needed to meet her today like any other day. After all that's happened, that wasn't really surprising, to say the least, but it was still something that she had forgotten nonetheless. As such, as she trained in the courtyard fully focused onto the wooden dummy that she was currently hitting again and again with her Asauchi, she'd stop upon hearing her name being called by that familiar voice, enough so for her focus to be completely thrown off-balance upon remembering that she had to train with her mentor today.

"Ah, uh, hey...!" The student stammered as she tried to straighten herself from her ending her self-training so abruptly, then turned towards her mentor with a friendly smile on her face despite her tiredness. "Sorry, I... forgot that we had training today... I had to prepare for so many exams lately..." From one gaze, the Vice-Captain should be able to see that Kimiko has been under a bit of stress lately. Her whole posture was a bit more slouched than usual, her eyes slightly more tired and she overall looked slightly more tense. Nevertheless, she still seemed to be quite a fair bit in shape as Celes most likely noticed from all of the previous times they trained together. She stood out from the other students in the courtyard, in fact, just from her physical appearance alone. Even though she looked so tired, it was still very much clear that no one in this courtyard could easily beat her in a physical fight. Not like anyone wanted to do that anyway; at this point, almost everyone had heard about what happened during that trip, and if they were not impressed by her performance then, they surely were now.

After apologizing to Celes, the Vice-Captain then went on to reveal to Kimiko that their training today was going to be slightly different than what she was used to. The words made the student blink in surprise. "Oh...? How so?" She asked then, wanting to know what she should expect from today's training. So far, most of their sessions have been relatively traditional, whether it be simple spars between each other or proper advanced physical exercise to learn new techniques. As such, to suddenly be told that things were going to be a bit different today - especially after all that's happened lately - was certainly something that she needed to be a bit wary of. For all she knows, "a bit different" can mean that instead of learning a completely new technique, they would instead do something ridiculous like going in the World of the Living to fight against real Hollows or something.

[Celes Castellanos]

As Celes was looking for a reaction from her disciple, she was somewhat amused when Kimiko seemed to stutter, tumbling over herself. "Sorry, I... forgot that we had training today... I had to prepare for so many exams lately..." She did not hide this amusement either, chuckling somewhat as she shook her head. It was clear that she was not upset, merely entertained by Kimiko's forgetfulness. Celes was not unsympathetic to her disciples' stress. Especially with her accelerated learning. There was a lot of pressure on Kimiko, but Celes would be sure to help her through it as best she could. After all, Kimiko was her responsibility now and the Vice Captain wanted to make sure that she was doing as well as she could.

Celes chuckled somewhat as she would speak in a tone she had adopted for Kimiko. It was very motherly. Warm and encouraging. She was not sure why she did this. "No worries Kimiko. I was once a student much like yourself several decades ago. Though I admittedly did not flourish as much as you did. It's something be proud of. And I certainly do want you to know that I very satisfied with your performance thus far. I could not ask for a better disciple." She smiled. It was Kimiko's excellence that convinced Celes that she could begin truly applying it. To learn in a classroom was one thing. To properly use it was another. Then again, a live exercise may have been too dangerous so Celes decided for something challenging, but still tame. 

That being said, Celes saw the surprise in her eyes and expression as she affirmed it. "Oh...? How so?" Once again, Celes was not surprised. After all, most of their training had been spars, conditioning and further reinforcement of what she was learning in class. With excitement, Celes piped up a little. "Well. For one, we are going to the human world. Karakura town to be exact. There we will be training with dummy hollows." Reaching into a pocket in her shihakusho, the Shinigami would pull out a small orb. It would be similar to size and shape of a Mod Soul pill. Celes simply grinned as she squeezed it somewhat before delving into more detail in case Kimiko had questions.

"Nifty little tools. With a release command similar to a Shikai, this little orb can produce an artificial Hollow. No worries. It's not real per se. It can bite, scratch and such, but the wounds it leaves are superficial at best. With these, we can keep the environment more controlled and practice fighting against and purifying Hollows for when you are sent into the field." After finishing, she would slowly return the orb back to a pouch in her Shihakusho. Celes' stance relaxed somewhat as she pondered about her disciple. This would be a good chance to see how she reacts under pressure. To see where she could improve and where she continues to excel. 

Celes did want to head to the Senkaimon soon so they could get underway as swiftly as possible. The Shinigami exhaled with a giggle. "Speaking of Hollows though. I've been hearing that you have become somewhat of a folk hero around the Academy. A student going toe to toe with a Hollow. Especially after the officer on the mission went down." Despite the disparity in height, Celes placed her hand onto Kimiko's shoulder comfortingly. "You okay I hope? In good health after the encounter with this Hollow?" In truth, Celes really was worried about Kimiko. After all, she wanted to be sure that her student did not suffer any debilitating conditions. 

Assuming that Celes was reassured by her or even if Kimiko expressed a twinge of fear, Celes would begin to turn to walk back to the Senkaimon. Her would motion Kimiko to follow. Unlike usually, Celes assumed a very comfortable pace. They had time to walk after all. Assuming that Kimiko was matching her speed, Celes chuckled a little as she looked up in the sky for a moment. For those few moments, she began to reminisce before turning to Kimiko. "You know, my situation was not too different to yours...Meeting a Hollow very early into my career I mean. It must have been...wow. Several decades ago." Celes could picture the moment like it was yesterday.

"I was out in Karakura, responding to several Hollow sightings. It was in a park. Though when I made it there, I saw the corpses of these Hollows. Over them was this rather unique one. He was feasting upon them, clearly having dealt the killing blow and enjoying the spoils. Naturally, I as a Soul Reaper felt that I had a duty. A duty to protect and to purify him." She chuckled lightly as she shook her head at her own foolishness. "Oh Kimiko. You should have seen me. I was an impulsive child with far too much arrogance and far too little wisdom to realize that I was outmatched." Thinking about it, Celes sighed and delved deeper. 

"As I sat there defeated, asking for a swift end, I was met with surprise. He allowed me to live. Cursed to live with the fact that I was not adequate at the time. That I was not even worthy of his time to deserve death. Even now, I know his name. Burned deep in my memories. Valentin Acciai." As she said that name, it would be easy to see her blood boil somewhat. Yet behind the shame, there was also a calm acceptance. "It took that for me to learn that there will be obstacles that are insurmountable. That arrogance truly is the foil to victory. It taught me humility and made me better for it. In truth, to a degree, I am thankful for what he taught me." 

Shaking her head once more to get rid of the fleeting memory, Celes looked at Kimiko proudly. "In other news, how are you feeling about your exams? Confident?" She chuckled absentmindedly. There was no doubt in her mind that Kimiko would excel. She had the gift. She just needed to pursue it relentlessly. Waiting for Kimiko to answer, Celes would nod in response. Her eyes fell upon the student's Zanpakutou. As Kimiko was her student, Celes had a continuous exposure to her Zanpakutou. To the Vice Captain, Kimiko's Zanpakutou became almost as recognizable as her own. Yet there was something different about it. This made Celes smile somewhat.

With a twinge of excitement, Celes began to speak about Kimiko's Asauchi. "Has your blade been changing at all Kimiko? Any noticeably changes from color to hilt? Even the blade itself?" Celes had her suspicions, but she wanted to confirm them on this nice calming walk. After all, a part of being her mentor meant that Celes was very involved in Kimiko's life. The Vice Captain did not only see her as a disciple. She was a friend. Someone to be trusted and fought alongside by. The Vice Captain simply chuckled as she pondered the possibilities of Kimiko's Zanpakutou. Since it could become anything, the possibilities truly were endless and the Shinigami was always happy to see improvement or developments.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Although she had once believed that her forgetfulness would have gotten her a bit scolded seeing as she had not actually forgotten any of their meetings so far, Kimiko felt immense relief once she saw that Celes understood why this even happened in the first place. Perhaps she should have expected her mentor to act this way as it was not unlike her to act gently in her regard, but the student did not have a good history with forgetting things. The last time she had actually forgotten something important, it was back while she was still in the World of the Living. She could still remember every single word her father had told her that day back when her forgetting to study for an exam had resulted in her getting a bad grade. Even though it has been so long ago, the anger that she had seen that day, the wrath that she had witnessed... Let's just say that Celes' attitude, in comparison, was almost a godsend in comparison.

Still, even though that was the case, she found the showering of compliments to be as embarrassing as ever. "I'm... just doing my best, I guess," she humbly acquiesced as she returned her smile to her mentor, albeit not without a light blush betraying her awkwardness towards this situation. Sometimes, talking with Celes reminded her of the past version of her mother that once cared for her almost unconditionally. She couldn't say she hated it; in fact, it only made her like Celes more as a dear friend and mentor figure. She just thought that it was a strange, especially since they did not look like their age really differed at a first glance. No matter how many times she tries to tell herself that she currently lives among people that are all literally much older than her, she so far always find it weird that someone who is potentially in their hundreds can look like they are in their twenties. One of the many intricacies of Soul Society she will have to get used to.

In any case, after she asked her question, Kimiko would then be told how much different today's training was going to be. Turns out, it was going to be quite different alright. Apparently, the Vice-Captain wanted to bring her to Karakura Town so that they could train on what she referred to as "dummy Hollows". Unsurprisingly, the student was a bit taken aback by the fact that her mentor wanted her to return to that same town where she confronted that Teresa beast. Considering that, she would have thought that Celes would not have gone so far to spice up their training sessions. Hell, all things considered, she was still awaiting her scolding for having even gone on that trip in the first place, a scolding that - from the looks of it - is never going to come to fruition.

"I... Okay," she stammered again, blinking as she considered Celes' words. In her stammering, however, the Vice-Captain would most likely be able to notice that there was no fear in her voice. There was surprise, obviously, but no fear, no hesitation. In fact, she seemed more impressed by the fact that technology to create something as strange as "dummy Hollows" even apparently existed in the first place than the fact that she would head back to the Living World. This wasn't just a typical moment of shell-shock that one would see from a warrior of her level having just fought a Hollow on her own. Even as she would come closer to Kimiko and put a hand on her shoulder, the student did not even seem to appear bothered by the idea. Rather, she was instead more afraid to admit that she had not faced fear while fighting the Hollow, but rather... something else.

Obviously, though, she was not going to leave Celes without an answer to her question about her well-being. Maybe it was a bad idea to say it as such... but this was Celes. She'd understand, right? "Yeah, the rumors going around are true... I'm still not sure how to feel about it. It was scary at first, but then I kinda became... excited? More than when I usually am in our duels, I mean," she tried to explain the best she could. It really wasn't easy for her to put such a dangerous line of thought in the forefront of their conversation, and yet, here she was. Well, rather, she was at least trying her damnedest to not make it sound too strange to the Vice-Captain. "I went on that trip just to visit the Living World, really, but I kinda came back just wanting to... It's... Nevermind, it's weird. I guess it's just been too long since I played fighting games, so that whole fight sorta reminded me of them."

After she finished talking, the student sighed and remained quiet for a moment, fully expecting to be scolded now. She doubted that what she had just said aligned with the thoughts and philosophies of the rest of the academy's students. If anything, she honestly believed that saying something like that aloud in front of anybody else would have garnered her ridicule or, worse, shame on a global scale. From an outsider's point of view, it was almost a suicidal philosophy, one that would inadvertently bring a warrior to their death on the battlefield against a foe that they cannot outmatch through sheer strength. Although it was shameful for her to say something like this, she at least hoped that Celes could understand what she was trying to say without taking it the wrong way. The two of them have been training for a while now and so perhaps the Vice-Captain had seen glimpses of what she was trying to explain here in their many spars.

Not before long, whatever Celes' response may be, the two started walking out of the academy's courtyard to instead head out towards the Senkaimon. It was during that time that the Vice-Captain started telling Kimiko about her first encounter with a Hollow, and unlike the student's own encounter, things did not go as well. In fact, her battle with the beast - a monster named Valentin Acciai - had gone so bad that it sounded as though she would have died if it was not for the Hollow cruelly showing mercy to her. This made Kimiko quietly ponder to herself about her own battle. To be shown mercy by the equivalent of a bloodthirsty animal... It sounded like a horrific experience. She was glad that Celes came out of it intact and arguably became a better person by the end of it, but it sure sounded like a traumatic experience that was best to avoid, one that Kimiko doubted her mentor had fully grown out of it just by the way she recalled how everything went.

Ironically, this doubt prevented the student from speaking about it. Again, she found herself compelled to remain quiet before potentially breaching some kind of wall she wasn't supposed to pass between the both of them, and so she remained quiet, walking forward onto the many routes of the Seireitei in silence. It was only once the subject of exams was brought up by Celes that she decided to speak once again, which was perhaps for the better to ease the tensions that had slightly risen from this talk of Hollows. "So far, they have been going well... aside from that one Kidō exam," she let out a comically-heavy sigh, enough so for her to appear incredibly disappointed before pouting. "I completely blew that one. I wasn't even doing anything wrong, I just... kept failing every spell they asked me to do for some reason! It's so frustrating. Makes me think that I'm condemned to never be able to cast a fireball." Once she was done ranting, she then calmed down with a light sigh. "Anyway... all that's left are Zanjutsu and Hakuda tests. I should be able to do better in those."

She was not wrong, but again, it was clear that she was being too humble with herself. It was doubtful that those who were organizing Kimiko's physical tests were unaware of her almost-prodigal skills in swordsmanship, especially considering that she came back from her fight with Teresa without using any spells. The only thing that had carried her forward was her skills in sword combat, and that alone will most likely bring her absolute success. If anything, the fact that she almost has developed a Zanpakuto underneath two years since she joined the academy was a testament to her training with it. Speaking of which, it seemed that Celes was very interested in the development of her blade, going as far as to ask Kimiko about its color and even wanting to hear if it had any particular changes beyond that.

"It's... becoming whiter?" She first answered Celes' questions with a bit of confusion, unsure as to how to explain it. Obviously, the Vice-Captain most likely already knew this as the color of both the scabbard and the guard had drastically changed over the course of the last two years. However, once the confusion eventually subsided, she took a softer look at the sword before smiling lightly. "Well... no, not just that, I guess. It's becoming more like the kind of sword I'd personally use. The hilt is better fit for my hands and the scabbard is softer. It might be unrelated, but... sometimes I hear someone talk in my head whenever I train with it. I don't know who that person is, but I feel like he's very close to me."

[Celes Castellanos]

As the Vice Captain of the Tenth Division listened to Kimiko's initial observation of the changes imposed upon her Zanpakutou, she could not help, but chuckle ever so softly. "It's... becoming whiter?" Celes could feel and hear the uncertainty in Kimiko's voice. This is something about her student that admittedly always did amuse Celes. She was not sure why, but it seemed that Kimiko was treating Celes' questions as a written exam. This was just amusing to her, but Celes continue to listen to Kimiko go into greater deal about her blade. As she did this, Celes noticed that the expression on Kimiko's face had gotten warmer. Far more relaxed than before.
 
"Well... no, not just that, I guess. It's becoming more like the kind of sword I'd personally use. The hilt is better fit for my hands and the scabbard is softer. It might be unrelated, but... sometimes I hear someone talk in my head whenever I train with it. I don't know who that person is, but I feel like he's very close to me." The Shinigami nodded in response. This did please Celes. It was a sign that Kimiko was getting closer to manifesting both a spirit and fashioning a blade unique to her. Celes could not help, but smile as thought back to her own experiences with honing her Zanpakutou and eventually learning the name of Yunorashi and her Bankai. 

Celes began to speak, chiming into Kimiko's observations, as they drew closer to the Senkaimon. "I see. That's great news. It means your Asauchi is slowly becoming your own. Modifying to fit your style and needs in combat. That's a sign of great progress. As for the voice.." Celes had a very natural suspicion and pondered on it for a moment before continuing. "That sounds like the development of a Zanpakutou spirit which I assume that you could ascertain. Seems like your studies are not all at which you are excelling at." Celes smiled, giggling a little as she praised Kimiko. In truth, she had not even heard her Zanpakutou's name or the spirit herself until she had developed her shikai. To hear Kimiko do this already filled her with excitement. 

"Within my own Zanpakutou, there used to exist a discordance that I feel hampered its progression initially. I did not hear Yunorashi calling out to me until I met her. It was back when I was the Third Seat of the Eleventh Division. That was also when I learned how to use shikai. It wasn't until just before becoming a Vice Captain that I had learnt to use Bankai." She smiled at Kimiko as she detailed her progression to the fledgling. As Celes thought about it, this was actually the first time that she revealed to Kimiko that she had the capacity to use Bankai. Bankai as a release was rather rare as a fraction of Soul Reapers would ever learn Bankai. 

Though thinking about it in hindsight, perhaps this was why the Captain Commander himself had considered Celes for being sent after Camila. Celes had a strong friendship with Camila before her defection and he could most likely sense the strength of her soul and Zanpakutou just through experience alone. The Vice Captain chuckled somewhat as she reminisced. She then had a lightbulb moment. "I will tell you what though Kimiko. Naturally I have faith in your ability to pass those exams though I will add an incentive. If you flourish, which I imagine you will, in your Hakuda and Zanjutsu exams I will show you my Bankai. Consider it a glimpse into what tenacity and experience will grant you." 

As she finished speaking, they were rather close to the Senkaimon. Keep a calm cadence, Celes climbed the steps as she looked upon the massive gate that could lead them to the world of the living. As several officers of the Thirteenth Division stood there at the ready, she nodded at one of them as she came running at the Vice Captain. The officer than quickly stopped before both Celes and Kimiko. "Please open the gate to Karakura. I am taking this student here to train." The officer simply nodded and smiled as she motioned to her colleagues. After a few moments, the Senkaimon would be opened as Celes smiled at Kimiko. The Vice Captain would then tread through the gate with Kimiko in tow. 

Travelling through the rather bleak interior of the Dangai, Celes saw their light at the end of the tunnel. Meanwhile, in a park, a circle began to form as the doors split in the middle and began shifting to the side to reveal a passageway. Through it, Celes and Kimiko would arrive. It was a rather sunny day in the world of the living. The chirping of birds, the gentle breeze of the wind and a few passerby's enjoying the weather. Upon closer inspection, however, this park became familiar to Celes. It was the same park where she had fought Orobas and suffering a possession by the Hollow inhabiting her soul. If Kimiko paid attention, she may have seen Celes visibly shiver. 

As the fleeting moment of reminiscence passed, Celes would walk from the gate and it closed behind them. She turned to Kimiko and smiled. "So then. This here should do. Now these dummy hollows simulate an encounter with a real Hollow. Unfortunately, they can only go so far. You should have a leg up on them due to your experience with a true Hollow. The goal is simple. You can harm them in any way shape or form, but the objective is always to slice the mask. As you may have learned, this is how the purification process takes place. In theory, you could avoid harming the body at all and just going for the mask. Naturally they will offer much more resistance so we typically have to immobilize them in some way. I will trust your judgement." 

With that, Celes began to rumble her hand through the pouch of pills that contained these training exercises. As she held each one, she could get a glimpse into the Hollow that was contained in each one. She could get a read on its general strength and tactics. As she kept peeking into each one of them, she finally decided on one. She began to slowly move backward to create distance between herself and Kimiko. She would lean in close to the orb as she spoke quietly. "Develop." With a quick flick of her thumb, shooting the orb into the air, it suddenly became suspended in mid air as it began to fall back down. Celes had rarely used these so she was curious to see how they would work in practice.

The orb meanwhile began to change shape. Growing larger and developing legs, a head, a tail and a body, it slowly began to take on the shape of a wolf. A mask replaced the top half of its skull as its fur was a bleak combination of black fur and greyish skin. Being around the size of a regular wolf, it did not look to intimidating, but Celes was surprised with the results regardless. She slowly moved back to one of the benches and smiled at Kimiko. "I'll be here in case something happens. Use whatever strategies you desire. It cam harm you, but nothing mortally threatening. In fact, it can't really break anything. Regardless, treat it like a real opponent." With that, Celes sat back and observed what her student would do.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Fenrir}

500 SP - Non Typed

Strength - 100
Speed - 200
SpPr - 25
RS - 75
Senses - 25
Instinct - 75
ES - 0
HE - 0

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kimiko listened to Celes' words about her Zanpakuto with an attentive look as they headed towards the Senkaimon, unconsciously keeping a hand near the scabbard of her blade as she did so. She had read many things about the Asauchi and how, over time, they become more and more in line with what their user wants them to become. Even while in their base Sealed form, they tend to fashion themselves according to their user's wishes. What surprised Kimiko the most throughout the development of her blade, however, was how quickly her own Asauchi developed in contrast to how quickly the other Asauchi she's seen within the academy changed on their own. Judging by the pace of its transformation into a proper Zanpakuto, she'd give it maybe a few months more before it finally becomes what it was truly meant to be. At first, she had honestly thought this to be a sort of consequence of her training, of her growth, but after Celes reminded her of the spirits within these swords, she found herself staring at her sword once again.

"Right... They have spirits..." She found herself muttering underneath her breath, in a tone that betrayed her inexperience with the spiritual world, which eventually turned into a bit of a sheepish stare in reaction to her mentor's comment. "Oh, come on, I've just gone through three whole exams in a row..." Tiredness aside, it was not surprising that the student was still having a hard time understanding a few things despite the two years she has just gone through at this scholarly institution; after all, only but about three years ago, she was still living her life as a Human. To have so much information all dumped onto her in such a short span of time was a bit crazy, and given all that's happened lately, it was perhaps only fair to give her a bit of slack. The fact that she was still standing at this point in time rather than resting in the dorms was a testament to her innate strength.

Still, to forget about the existence of the Zanpakuto spirit was not something that Kimiko quite enjoyed doing. Ever since she arrived here in this school, there have only been two things that she could consider being definitely connected to. There was Celes, of course, as she was the one who has so far guided her in her first steps towards becoming a Shinigami, but there was also her sword. If anything, she almost feels a deeper connection to it than the others she has met in the school. Like Celes, it has guided her throughout the stress, the struggles, and in a way, it was one of the things that kept her from losing the battle against her fear of failing the exams that she presently faces. As such, forgetting that there was a spirit in there shaping itself to become her truest partner was not just embarrassing, but also shameful. Damn this tiredness. She will make sure to never forget about its presence ever again.

In any case, after Kimiko made sure to create that promise to herself, she would then go on to listen to Celes once again as she spoke of her Zanpakuto. Apparently, the blonde Shinigami had not actually heard her blade's name until she became a seated officer of the Eleventh Division. That alone did not surprise the student; rather, it was instead the fact that her mentor had unlocked the true release of her Zanpakuto, the famed Bankai technique. "... Isn't that...? I... I thought only Captains could use that technique," Kimiko found herself staring at Celes then with an expected look of surprise in her eyes. The Bankai technique was not something that the student could forget even though countless exams hammering at her brain. Even to this day, she could still her instructor making sure that everyone in her class would understand how hard it was to unlock such a technique and that it was a honor to even be capable of learning it. If her mentor can really use that technique... then she wants to see it. She wants to see what years of hard sweat and tears poured into practice could possibly bring to a person who has sworn their life to practice the art of the blade.

"I'll be sure to keep that in mind, then," she smiled as she accepted Celes' little challenge, now seeming a bit more energized. "A Bankai... If what the teacher says is true, then I'll make sure to give those exams my all!" It seemed like those were just the right words to boost Kimiko's morale ahead of those tests. Nothing more than a little bit of curiosity and excitement to get her going again. As they approached the Senkaimon, the student would find herself wandering what kind of Bankai the Vice-Captain was actually hiding. If she remembered correctly from her books and the theoretical exam that she completed a few days ago, Bankai implies the penultimate release of a Zanpakuto. More often than not, by that point, the Zanpakuto transforms into something that is barely recognizable as a sword. What would Celes' Bankai then look like? Maybe it would be twin scythes? A sword and shield? Who knows.

By the time she had conjured a few more Bankai ideas in her head, they had finally reached the Senkaimon. Celes' talk with the officer guarding the door between worlds caused Kimiko to come back to reality, then focus once more onto what they were doing. Okay. Dummy Hollow training. In hindsight, it shouldn't be too difficult as it wasn't really a real Hollow, instead just some machinations created by what she presumed to be some sort of scientist. Nevertheless, these thoughts of Bankai need to be let go for the time being. Considering what they were about to do, it would be best for her to immediately stop letting her imagination run wild and instead center her attention onto what was important. As such, she quietly waited for the officer to open the Senkaimon, and once the gate was opened, she followed her mentor into the world that awaited them on the other side.

Much like the last time she came into Karakura Town, Kimiko was instantly met by a sunny day as she and the Vice-Captain arrived in what seemed to be a park. Again, the student saw herself become quieter as she basked in the peace of the Living World that she once was apart of. Although she had just fought a true Hollow by herself in this town, seeing the latter again did not bring her painful memories. Instead, it brought her peace, serenity and belonging despite now being practically an alien to it. It does not take much for that last fact to be proven: all she needed was to try to get a Human's attention and watch as no response is given back to her. As much as that still bothers her a bit as it reminded her of that time where she was nothing more than a Plus wandering around Tokyo in complete boredom, she was at least somewhat in a better position now.

"This place is nice... I remember there was a park near Toyohashi that looked like this one," the student said casually as she followed her instructor into the park, not noticing the Vice-Captain's shiver due to her observing the passerbys. Minimal benches, fairly sizable, good grassy terrain mixed with a few trees here and there... Like whoever designed the park back when she still lived in her first home, the person that was responsible for the management of this particular one prioritized the preservation of nature in an urban environment above everything else. For a town like this, it was great as there was not enough room for urbanization to completely take over the area, but it was even better for what was pretty much training within the confines of a quiet suburb. As long as the dummy doesn't go out of its way to hunt down any of the passerby or something like that, then everything should go well.

As such, once Celes started to deploy the dummy Hollow, Kimiko took a step back and watched the development unfold with a keen eye with her left hand holding onto the scabbard of her Asauchi. At first small, the dummy grew from its base spherical state to something more akin to the equivalent of a typical wolf-like creature. Despite it looking quite authentic for a recreation of the real deal, the student was not as intimidated by the creature's looks as back then when she fought against Teresa. She wasn't sure if glorifying a Hollow was really a nice thing to do, but that one truly looked much more... well, striking than this one. Let's just say there's a difference between an eight-feet tall humanoid that looks like some kind of weird crossover between that weird faceless slender monster from the Internet and a deer, and a typical wolf that happens to have a Hollow mask covering half of its skull.

Well, whatever, a Hollow is a Hollow. In the end, no matter how it looks like, its objective will always be to eat as many Souls as possible. Sure, that one was a dummy and it most likely cannot do that (well, at least Kimiko hoped that it can't), but that doesn't mean it should not be treated any differently than a normal Hollow. More importantly... it was doubtful that this dummy would not be as dangerous as Teresa. Hell, considering that this was a variant that Celes had hand-picked herself, it might even be stronger than Teresa. Truthfully, there was no way to tell just by looking at it, but just thinking about it was enough to get Kimiko to look a bit excited at the prospect of fighting that thing to find out. She could already feel her heart beating inside of her chest, her eyes focus entirely onto the wolf. "I will," she told Celes as she stretched herself, letting go of the tiredness that once pressed on her shoulders. "I'll be sure to treat as well as how I treated her."

 

Slowly, the swordswoman put herself in a combat stance, crouching a little bit forward as her left hand held onto her scabbard with its thumb pushing set against the guard. Her right foot was pointing forward as she gazed at the dummy Hollow with an excited glare, almost as if she wanted to see if it could potentially react to her. Eventually, she then suddenly sped forward towards the wolf at full speed before slashing at its mask. It was a rapid slash that followed a burst of Spiritual Pressure, and yet, it also could not be considered to be the strongest swing she has ever delivered. Celes would by now recognize what this was all about: even in their spars, Kimiko always did this to gauge the gap between them. To put it bluntly, it was a way for her to see how her opponent would react to her very first attack.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats & Skills}

Note: Due to Kimiko's "Fighter Version 2" Type and her being Rank 1, she receives a +35% bonus in both Speed and Spiritual Pressure, and a -25% penalty in Strength and Reiatsu Strength. This Type also prevents her from ever raising Healing Expertise above 0 and Energy Sensory above 50.

Statistics

Physical	Spiritual		Sensory	Miscellaneous
Strength: 68 (90-22) Speed: 256 (190+66)	Reiatsu Strength: 30 (40-10) Spiritual Pressure: 297 (220+77)		Instincts: 150 Senses: 100 Energy Sensory: 25	Light Aura: 65 Dark Aura: 35 Healing Expertise: 0

Skills

Mental	Battle		Body	Utility
Analyzing: 1 Lack of Fear: 1 Learning: 1 Strength of Will: 1	Weapon - Katana: 1 Martial Art - Hakuda: 1 Battle Analysis: 1 Battle Focus: 1		Acrobatics: 1 Focused Eye: 1	N/A

[Celes Castellanos]

As her student and the Hollow seemed to stare each other down, Celes was watching with anticipation. Who would make the first move? Would Kimiko be able to take care of it in one strike? Better yet, did she know that many Hollows carried with them a set of unique abilities. These abilities weren't unlike a Shinigami's use of Shikai, but it did seem that the effectiveness of these techniques were rather scattered. Some felt like they pack quite a punch while others, Celes felt like she could just swat away. Only time would tell if Kimiko came to the same conclusion. Of course, the Vice Captain was hoping that her student had learned a lot from her encounter with the Hollow.

It seemed that Kimiko would in fact be the first to start this dance. Celes was not completely surprised. After all, she had done this in her first spare with her disciple. Was this inherent to her nature? Or was Kimiko already trying to end it on swift strike? While neither would be wrong in Celes' eyes, she felt that it was best to prolong exercises like these. Even if the student in question, exceled at the given task, there was so much to learn about practical application in combat. Unfortunately, the knowledge that these Hollows could not kill you eliminated the sense of danger. It was a necessary precaution, however. A student could possibly become overwhelmed and die if this safety measure was not in place.

Regardless, Celes watched the Shinigami quickly make her way to the Hollow. Despite her impressive speed, this dummy Hollow was not going to be that much of a pushover. Reiatsu began to collect in its mouth. Celes felt a tiny sensation as she looked upon the maw of this Hollow. Was it really about to do what Celes thought it would. Just as Kimiko would reach the Hollow if she continued on her current path, the Hollow would open up its maw. Between the vicious fangs was an orb of red-colored reiatsu. Suddenly this orb would expand and explode outward. Before the Hollow, the grass and possibly Kimiko would be consumed by a beam of burning reiatsu.

At least, it would normally be a searing jet of fire-like reiatsu. Due to the safety measures in play, this Cero burnt, but it also was not enough to kill anyone, but the weakest of creatures. A squirrel or a mouse maybe. But a Shinigami? No way. Regardless, if Kimiko was hit by this Cero, her skin nor her clothing would actually become damaged. Instead, the reiatsu would interact with her body, only simulating pain. Her skin would feel like it was blistering and some patches of skin would give the sensation of being burnt. Kimiko herself would be completely fine. The grass caught in the blast less so. The Cero would consume the grass as it made its path. 

If Kimiko was looking to recover, the Hollow would give her little opportunity to. Assuming that she was caught in the blast and needed a moment, the Hollow would quickly move forward, threatening to pounce upon the Shinigami. If this was successful, the beastlike Hollow would begin trying to tear away at the Shinigami's flesh. Once again, if she was struck by any of these claw attacks, they would simulate the sensation associated with the injuries, but Kimiko herself would be fine. Assuming they had gotten to this point, Celes breathed out calmly as she watched. In some way, Celes was envious of her disciple. Getting to learn what it meant to be a Shinigami and improve. Her own days at the Academy were an interesting experience. 

The Vice Captain's hands began to roam through the tiny bag she had brought full of these little pills with mock Hollows in them. As she continued, her hand brushed against one in particular. It oozed with strength and ability. Celes blinked as she froze. Just from the sensation it gave her, Celes felt that even this mock Hollow could give her a run for her money. Kimiko would certainly fail against this one. Then again. Celes was intrigued. She could have the opportunity to train as well. She was, after all, becoming a little restless. Taking the pill into her hand, she rose from the bench as she for a moment continued to watch what Kimiko would do.

After a few moments, she began to slowly walk to the side. Whispering into the pill, "Develop." As she said this, she quickly tossed the pill into the air. At the apex of the throw, Celes would watch as the pill descended and began to form. A long and imposing form began to appear. A beast with wings and an open ribcage. Within this open-boney ribcage was a bright blue yet ominous glow. The Vice Captain was not sure why, but looking at it gave her a sensation of chills. The membrane of the wings began to rot away, leaving blue boney outlines of the membrane within the wings. A long slender neck with a maw and an equally long tail finished forming. What was left was the form of a bone-like undead dragon.

Celes looked in awe as the form this Hollow took on was that of a Frost Wyrm. She appeared ecstatic. Excited even. With a flap of the beasts wings, Celes watched the Hollow dive down into the ground, landing with a powerful yet graceful descent. As it touched the ground, Celes watched the grass beneath it slowly freeze. This would be a challenge, yet Celes was ready to go. She exclaimed in joy. "What an excellent challenge!" With eagerness, Celes drew her twin Zanpakutou as she stared down the Frost Wyrm. The Wyrm looked down, towering over the Shinigami at a height of about 20 feet. Opening its maw, it looked primed and ready to go, the frigid breath of cold ever-present in its maw. 

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats & Skills}Strength- 400 x 2 = 800
Speed - 250 x 2 = 500
Spiritual Pressure - 400 x 0.5 = 200
Reiatsu Strength - 50 x 0.5 = 25
Light Aura- 90
Dark Aura - 10
Instinct - 200
Senses - 75
Energy Sensory - 25
Healing Expertise - 0

Total SP: [1400]
Pain Tolerance: 2
Martial Arts: Baguazang: 2
Martial Arts: Hakuda: 3
Battle Analysis: 2
Lack of Fear: 2
Weapons: Spear & Shield: 3
Weapons: Katana: 3

SPOILER: Click to show

{Ryme}
1450 SP - Rank 3 Roughneck

Strength- 300 x 1.5 = 450
Speed - 300
Spiritual Pressure - 300 x 2 = 600
Reiatsu Strength - 200 x 0.5 = 100
Light Aura- 0
Dark Aura - 100
Instinct - 250
Senses - 100 x 0.5 = 50
Energy Sensory - 0
Healing Expertise - 0

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kimiko was the type of warrior to never await the first move of her opponent. Even while she was Human, she never enjoyed the idea of letting the person she fought against in the virtual battlefield to have the primordial initiative. For many who possess such an opinion, the reason why that is boils down to a very simple line of thought: to allow the adversary to achieve their first move without interruption is to concede any advantages you may have had against your enemy prior to the beginning of the battle that shall ensue. It is an universal notion, of course, one that is shared across many individuals throughout many generations who wielded weapons of war, and is often found in those which covet the quickest victory. However, oddly enough, it is not those words which fuel Kimiko's opinion of it all; rather, to put it as bluntly as possible, it is instead her impatience.

Indeed, it is her impatience which brings her forward towards her enemy. Unlike those who were previously mentioned, she does not rush into battle so quickly to achieve a swift victory, but instead to see what kind of battle awaits her as fast as possible. She has always acted this way against any tasks that faced her, any battle, be it physical or psychological in nature, and naturally, it is only fair that the same would thus be applied to her battles. The excitement of the battle compels her to move forward so intensely that it brings her forward without even but a plan in mind. No, to her, only the thrills and excitement matter, not the risks and neither the consequences of her battles. It was why she had rushed so swiftly to battle against the terrifying Teresa without an hint of hesitation despite having battled against it near the corpse of the Shinigami who had guided her around this accursed town, and it was why she has employed the exact same move against this dummy.

With her eyes wide open with excitement, Kimiko kicked against the ground quickly as she moved towards the dummy with her rising Spiritual Pressure following her in tow. The air rushed by her as she moved while her hands held onto her weapon, ready to unsheathe it at the right moment as she analyzed the wolf the same way she once analyzed every single one of her other enemies. Quadrupedal beastly Hollow in the shape of a canine suggesting natural animal instinct. Sharp fangs and claws hinting at both high mobility and strength. Possibility of owning a hidden ability that she is not aware of due to spiritual physiology. Considering all of these things, its lack of movement in reaction to her rush was thus strangely inadequate. In her opinion, it should have moved by now or at least attempted to do something in response to her about to quite literally use her maximum speed to destroy it. A ranged attack, perhaps?

Eventually, the student would receive an answer in the form of the wolf suddenly starting to collect energy within its maw. The sight felt strange to her, and for a moment, the mental tiredness caused by her exams prevented her from remembering what this was about. However, as the amount of energy collected slowly grew further and further within the beast's maw, she soon realized what was going to happen. She could recognize it by the reddening of the energy: it was that certain attack... that one named with a certain Spanish word. Cero! The name of the attack was uttered loudly within her mind then, and so, with clenched teeth of frustration, the student would quickly kick the ground with her right leg to send herself jumping away from the trajectory of the dummy Hollow's attack. Soon after, the beast's almighty Cero exploded within the park.

Energy beamed from the creature's mouth as it expanded into the area, burning every blade of grass in its way and potentially any insect that had the misfortune to pass through them in the moment. A squirrel was passing by then, but it was just quick enough to run away in fear for its life before the Cero was able to hit it. All in all, the attack had not hit Kimiko, but it was sure close. If it wasn't for her knowledge of the attack, her own instincts and her speed, she could have been burned to a crisp. "If you can shoot a Cero, then that means you're not just any dummy... You're one of the stronger ones available!" She spoke to the beast then, though really mostly at herself so as to make sure she would not feel demotivated by the attack's ranged property. Nevertheless, Celes would most likely be able to see the excitement in her eyes somehow grow even stronger shortly she raised her head again. "This will be a good fight!"

Her words now spoken, Kimiko thus rushed towards the Hollow with her Spiritual Pressure as high as it possibly could be with unprecedented focus now that the beast had decided to rush towards her. This focus was so powerful that it prevented her from witnessing the formation of the other dummy, or rather, it prevented her from caring about it. That in of itself was not surprising; after all, what good would it be for her to start caring about an opponent that was not hers. No, her opponent was this wolf, this quadrupedal animal, and she is going to kill it now before she ever has to help Celes against the other dummy she has summoned. Besides, considering that the beast was fighting Celes, it was very much doubtful that it was going to survive. Celes is a Vice-Captain, and so it would be strange of her to fall against a simple dummy, a mere recreation of a Hollow rather than the real deal.

As such, once they would near one another, Kimiko would unsheathe her blade before swiftly delivering a quick slash towards the Hollow's stomach in a diagonal slash, using the wolf's own lunge for better positioning. After her attack would be completed, she would then sheathe her sword back in its scabbard before rushing towards the beast again to strike it near its mask with a direct vertical slice. Her eyes would never leave the wolf's vision in this entire process, almost as it she was forcing it to gaze at her. She was not going to allow it to look away from her or dare lose the attention that it has reserved just for her. If it ever dares to go attack Celes or a passerby, she will make sure to get its attention back, no matter the cost.

[Celes Castellanos]

As the wolf-like Hollow made its leap towards Kimiko, it truly did expect the fledgling Shinigami to be burnt to a crisp by its Cero. While a regular Hollow would have been more cautious in the same scenario, these dummy Hollows possessed only a single directive. This directive was to act as a test to the opponent. Part of that directive to make the threat as real as possible. Naturally, creating a true Cero that would have the potential to harm these students would be negligent as well. As such, a medium had to be struck. The reiatsu would interact with the body, simulating the feeling of pain whereas no actual physical harm befell the Shinigami. It was a great way to get their body accustomed to pain. 

It was this directive that did not allow Fenrir to think about this situation critically. As it leapt with reckless abandon at Kimiko, it seemed that the Shinigami had successfully evaded the Cero. Celes herself was so fixated on her own opponent that the Vice Captain did not overhear her disciple. "If you can shoot a Cero, then that means you're not just any dummy... You're one of the stronger ones available!" The Hollow meanwhile did express a scorned growl. It was clear that the Hollow, despite being bestial, was able to express annoyance. Unfortunately for Fenrir, Kimiko was fast and perceptive. As her Zanpakutou came to strike at its underbelly, the Hollow Dummy let out a shriek.

As it howled in pain, the shriek was blood-curdling. The slash itself clearly provided some semblance of discomfort to the Hollow. As Kimiko came in for a second strike against the Hollow's mask, it was in too pained a condition to effectively retaliate against the oncoming attack. The slash seemed to happen in an instant to any onlookers and passerbys that had the ability to see the fights. The mask of this Hollow suddenly cracked from the top. In mere moments, this crack began to expand and jolt downward as the mask itself began to split in half. Slowly fading away in the wind, the Hollow began to slowly shiver. After one more bloodcurdling howl, the Hollow's body slowly began to disappear.

After a few moments, the Hollow will have fully faded away as its black body dissipated into a cloud of black spots. The pill, which was originally holding the form of this Hollow, was floating in midair. Within mere moments, the pill slowly fell to the ground, bouncing solemnly on the ground. The Hollow was no defeated although unfortunately Celes was not there to congratulate her. Instead, Celes had decided to challenge her own foe. The Frost Wyrm that towered above Celes looked down on her with an ominous navy blue glow. Soon, the Wyrm reeled backward and raised its head. A loud, bellowing roar erupted from the Undead Dragon's maw.

Celes' steeled herself. As a warrior, her iron will had encountered many foes that struck fear into lesser warriors. Yet among them, Celes stood firm. Grabbing the hilt of her Zanpakutou, she quickly drew it as her eyes met the glowing orbs of the Hollow. Full of excitement, Celes rushed forward at her maximum speed. She wanted to see how this Hollow stood up against her full force. She had little opportunity against most Hollows to use her full ability. With that being said, Celes leapt into the air at her peak speed of 500. Unleashing two shockwaves back to the back, the incredible display of physical strength barreled against the Dragon's form. 

Utilizing a basic Air Ground, Celes will have now been standing in the air as though it had become a bit of solid ground for her to stand on. All Spiritual Beings were capable of creating some form of Air Ground in the Human World with enough practice. Naturally Celes had decades of experience to learn how to generate these in the Human World. Creating them within the Soul Society or Hueco Mundo would be difficult without more expertise. Naturally, Celes did not have this expertise, but for now this had to do. As the shockwaves barreled against the Dragon, it reeled backward, almost toppling over from the imposing physical force.

Using this opportunity, Celes would use a Shunpo to close the distance almost immediately at a speed of 5000. Within the blink of an eye, she was upon Ryme. Using her Zanpakutou, the Vice Captain attempted to slam her Zanpakutou against the Wyrm with intensity. Though the unthinkable would happen. If Kimiko was paying attention, she would notice that the second Celes' blade made contact with the dragon, her arm suddenly suffered several lacerations. Running up from her hand all the way up to her shoulder. The Vice Captain was in agony. The pain overtook her in an instant, biting her lip to silence herself. Cutback was still an aspect of fighting that she hated. The Hollow seeing this opportunity retaliated in an instant. Bringing its large claw upward, Wyrm slapped Celes to the ground. 

Finding enough time to tense her muscles, Celes felt herself be launched towards the ground. Though she did not take much of a forceful blow due to her physical durability and resilience. As she rose to her feet, she tried to move hand arm. It wouldn't budge. She scoffed for a moment as she gritted her teeth. Using her better arm, she sheathed one of her Zanpakutou. Holding her other blade, she sighed and begin speaking. Her voice was filled with anger and malice. "By blood may my spear earn its name. By Aries, may my shield carry my broken body home. Name me the Goddess of War, Yunorashi."

As she finished her words, both the sheathed Zanpakutou and her drawn weapon began to glow. Seemingly changing shape, this could easily be recognized as a Shikai transformation. Based on the changing shape of her Zanpakutou and the poem-like chant that Celes spoke. In a few moments, the sheathed Zanpakutou became a shield that was on Celes' back. Meanwhile her other Zanpakutou slowly became a 5ft long spear. Sighing and cracking her neck, the Vice Captain spoke. "It seems that I may have to exert myself more than I thought. Let's see if you can handle this, drake." With a loud bellow, the Shinigami met the Wyrm's roar with her own.

With a quick burst of movement, Celes was upon the Wyrm again. Not giving it much chance to react as she blurred most likely to both the Hollow dummy as well as Kimiko, Celes brought her spread downward when she was above the Hollow. With a vicious strike, her spear barreled down the Hollow's Mask. At least this is what she was aiming for. As the spear made contact, the Hollow suddenly seemed to freeze over. Its bone-like body suddenly became a chilling blue color. Despite splitting part of the mask, Celes' other arm became overtaken by frost. Within an instant, the shards of ice dug into her skin. Having effectively traded blows, Celes backed off as her arm bled, but not as severe as the other. Meanwhile the Hollow reeled back in pain. Celes was getting a true rush of adrenaline from this. 

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kimiko had to admit that seeing the dummy Hollow seemingly become annoyed by her comment left her a tad bit amused. She knew that the beast was of an artificial making rather than a natural one, a mere recreation of the real deal, and yet somehow, despite its manufactured nature, it is capable of being bothered by such a simple comment. Were these dummies supposed to go as far as to not only replicate the beastly tactics and monstrous strength that Hollows are supposed to harness from their beings, but also their personalities as well? If so, that is... a rather dangerous precedent, truth be told. She has obviously already heard of Mod Souls thanks to the sheer number of small-scaled disasters that have been noted in her academic books, but those are legitimately required for Shinigami use. If such a notion expands to the copying of Hollows, wouldn't that eventually end up becoming a disaster in the future?

Oh well, it was probably not her responsibility to think about such things, and in all seriousness, she really was not here to bother herself or Celes with such questions. That was solely a matter for the Twelfth Division and the Twelfth Division alone, not for someone who is currently predicting to be registered into either the Tenth or the Eleventh Division. Although the philosophical nature of such things intrigue her, they don't matter to her enough just yet to bring her to implicate herself into their matter. If they would, she would have studied more and worked more to show enough scientific interest to be registered into the Twelfth instead. No, for a disciple of the blade like her, what mattered the most here was not the nature of the wolf before her, but rather the fact that she was actually battling it. Considering what followed, however, "battling" was perhaps a bit of an overstatement.

The attacks that Kimiko delivered onto Fenrir were swift and precise as usual without hesitation. Her first slash cut through the creature's stomach with surprising ease, causing no blood to surge from its body, but pain to still very much be felt by the dummy Hollow. The pain caused it to let out a terrible shriek, one which left it both stunned and visibly disoriented and any Human nearby cringing from the suddenness of the noise. If it would not have been for her impromptu first time against a Hollow and her utmost focus, the student would have perhaps been left uncomfortable enough to become stunned by the shrieking. Fortunately, thanks to that terrible experience of hers, she was able to ignore the noise and quickly rush towards Fenrir once more before unsheathing her blade and delivering one final slice to the creature's masked head.

After the strike was delivered, the swordswoman continued glaring at the Hollow, almost as if she was hoping to see what kind of response it would give to her after such an attack. However, quite unfortunately for her, she received no response that she would deem to be noteworthy. Instead of an offensive, she received a confirmation of the creature's defeat, which was enough to leave her slightly incredulous. Wait... That was it? That's really all it took to take this creature down, this thing which seemed to look at least more impressive than any Hollow she has battled against so far? Just a slice to the stomach, then another to the head? She wasn't even breaking a sweat yet, and yet the creature that previously was capable of both shooting a Cero at her and showing clear bother to her words had now been reduced back to its primordial marble-like form!

"... That... was... kinda lame," she pouted quietly as she tensed down, standing there with her sword unsheathed in a comically-disappointed fashion as she stared at the marble on the ground. The disappointment that she felt in this moment was almost catastrophic for her soul. What she had expected to be a nice long battle with a new opponent has turned into a mere two-shot, an obliteration that had been delivered so quickly that it could barely really count as a battle. She had not counted at all, obviously, but she could at best say that the "fight" had lasted about a few seconds at best, not even a minute either. While it was nice to fight in the Living World once again, the battle had been so short that she couldn't figure out if she had learned everything from it aside from the fact that she should be wary of Ceros and that she should understand how to anticipate them.

With that disappointment in mind, Kimiko then sheathed her Asauchi back in its scabbard and bent down to grab Fenrir's pill. She held it in her hands for a moment, letting it roll in her right palm almost as if she was trying to gauge a reaction from it. Considering that it was annoyed earlier by her comments, it was possible that doing as basic as rolling its primordial form around in her hands would be enough to cause some sort of reaction from it. She didn't know, she wasn't an expert in Soul Society tech or whatever the Twelfth Division produces. Eventually, however, after she realized that no reaction was ever going to be brought up from Fenrir in such a state, all she could do was sigh.  "Ones of the strongest... If that was really your best, then you're super lame. Better luck next time, I guess," she'd tell to the pill before turning towards what she assumed to be Celes' direction with her eyes closed. "Alright, Celes, I think I'm done with it. Do you have another one rea...dy...?" 

Slowly then, the girl realized that something was wrong. Where Celes once stood now was also standing a large dragon-like entity which was currently battling the Vice-Captain. It was so large that its size alone was enough to make Kimiko stumble backwards a bit. "What...?!" She could only mutter then, completely taken aback by what was happening. Where did that beast even come from?! Was this a real Hollow? Perhaps the dragon she heard about, Hela? No... No, its appearance was too sudden. If it was a real Hollow, it would have gone for the citizens that were currently occupying on the nearby roads and sidewalks. So this meant that this was a dummy Hollow! They are really making dummies this big too? It must be a kind of model that is specifically manufactured for higher Shinigami officers, surely... which meant that Celes had spawned this monster for the hell of it. Guess she wanted to train too. Oh well, she couldn't really blame her.

Noting this fact, Kimiko thus analyzed the battle with a nod of awe as she witnessed the battle unfold. Already, her mentor was proving to be quite the amazing fighter. She was strong, her own strength proving to be enough to counter shockwaves emitted by the dragon, and also extremely fast and acrobatic, so much so that even the student could barely follow her well. They had already started using Shunpo in their training, but never before has she seen it being used to such an extent. Witnessing it in this form, however, was making her smile in admiration for her teacher. What amazing prowess, what incredible skill! Just seeing this battle unfold was giving her so many more things to learn, much more so than whatever lessons her pathetic battle with Fenrir could have ever given her. There's no way Celes won't be able to beat this thing in one hit, but even so, to see her use techniques still unknown to her such as Air Ground was already quite the marvel to look at.

Then, suddenly, the student saw something red surge from Celes' body. In an instant, the smile that was on her face disappeared and was instead replaced with a confused stare. "Blood...?" She muttered to herself in shock as the scarlet liquid fell onto the grass below, staining the grass and leaving the student with many questions. This really couldn't be... How was Celes hit? How could she? She had literally delivered the perfect attack, and yet, the moment her sword landed on the drake, her arm just... exploded! Was the Hollow somehow employing a technique she was unaware of? Or... was this something else? Something more basic? She could still vaguely remember reading something about that in her academy books, something about the cutback effect. According to that notion, should an opponent's Spiritual Pressure is higher than yours, they can naturally counter your attack without even doing anything, thus rendering any offensive meaningless until one upgrades their Spiritual Pressure to rival theirs. If that is what is happening, then that means this dragon is much more formidable than even Celes seems to have anticipated.

Naturally, seeing her mentor in such a shape left Kimiko wanting to help her as she did not want her to get any more harmed, and for a split-second, she would almost rushed into the fray. Fortunately, before she could do so, the Vice-Captain then suddenly revealed her Shikai, leaving her stunned as she watched in awe. A spear and a shield? Like the Spartans of old? How amazing. What was more amazing was, however, Celes suddenly disappearing from sight and then delivering an awesome blow to the creature's mask, leaving it reeling and, unfortunately, her arm bleeding once again. Was Celes still suffering from the cutback effect even during her Shikai? Either way, the student could not do much else but watch as the battle unfolded. There was no way her skills could possibly rival any of these two, not at the moment, no...

... but she could at least watch and learn.

[Celes Castellanos]

As the Vice Captain looked down at both of her arms, one was in a far worse condition than the other. Sure the shards of ice were painful for a moment, but only did the pain wear off rather quickly, but Celes' body was rather resilient. Like an iron wall, she was to most unmovable. Meanwhile her other arm was riddled with deep lacerations. A clear sign of cutback as these countless cuts rose up from her hand to her shoulder almost. She could just barely move it. It was nowhere near fighting condition. Then again, Celes had her broken body healed and reset plenty of times. Once a brutal victim of cutback, she had learned the hard way that there were other ways of effectively dealing with opponents.

Her slight lack of judgement and error cost her an arm for this fight. That was okay. In truth, she only needed one for this one. After all, she had faced a number of adversaries who posed a far greater threat than this fake Hollow ever could. Sure it was large and imposing though a strong spirit is all it had going for it. That hit against the Shinigami quite frankly was weak for the warriors' standards. Upon that realization, she sighed for a moment as she shouted. As she shouted for a brief moment, her arm which was riddled with shards of ice and frost lodged in it, was flexed by her. Every major muscle in her arm flexed as each of the shards simply popped out of her body.

Beginning to circle her shoulder, she smirked. She, a Vice Captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads, would never be eliminated by a mere imitation such as this. She had fought her own people in Camila, stood against countless foes, even went toe to toe with the monster Orobas. This Dragon. It was merely a minor obstacle compared to those. Gripping her spear tightly, her eyes focused upon Ryme. The air around them shifted. Not by Ryme's doing, but Celes'. The air was filled with determination and an intense desire to destroy. It would become abundantly clear to any onlookers such as Kimiko that Celes was beginning to really get into the fight. 

The battle-hardened warrior that was Celes slowly moved towards Ryme. The Hollow looked at her with intent and malice. It unleashed a powerful roar that echoed a good mile. Despite being merely an imitation, it possessed great power. In a moment it would demonstrate that power. Opening its maw, a cool blue orb appeared. A ball of reiatsu that was malleable and almost appeared fluid. Almost appearing like a Cero, Celes continued regardless. In mere moments, the orb expanded outward not into a searing wave of reiatsu, but instead a frigid wave of intense cold. A 30 ft cone expanded outward. While this would not touch Kimiko at her current distance, the Shinigami would likely be able to feel the intense cold that this breath weapon exerted. 

Thankfully Celes was a very proactive fighter. The last possible moment before this wave was unleashed, the Vice Captain leapt into the air. Using her own physical strength and impressive speed, her leap would carry her through the air, but not before cracking and leaving a small crater in the ground where she once stood. As the landscape beneath her began to freeze over, the Vice Captain was upon Ryme in mere moments. In the span of a single breath, Celes brought her foot upward. This movement was rather graceful and calm. Her next movement, however, would display the ranging fire of war that fueled the heir to the God of War. 

Using a Shunpo Karin, her foot was brought down with a dominating speed. Punctuated only by a shout for the much slower onlookers, Celes foot came upon upon the Hollow's mask with a speed of 5000. In combination with her overwhelming strength, this created a momentary shockwave upon impact. Just as quickly as it had began, the Hollow's mask both cracked somewhat as its head was slammed against the ground with a powerful thud. A shriek of pain from the Hollow later, a dust cloud was kicked up which shrouded the area. In the midst of this smokescreen, Celes was not finished. Her barrage had only begun. Using gravity, she began to descend upon the beaten down Hollow.

This next movement would have her bring her foot down upon the Hollow's mask once more although this was akin to a stomp. Using her natural agility and impressive strength, it created yet another shockwave though this one forced the dragon even deeper into the ground. Even for a Hollow, this was a rather brutal display of dominance and to some perhaps cruelty. This shockwave did well to clear the cloud of dust that was kicked up allowing spectators to once again witness the events. Raising herself off of its mask, the Vice Captain waited for the Hollow to rise once more. As it did, the mask that decorated its face was riddled with cracks. Deep cracks not normally dealt by a Zanpakutou. 

This opponent suddenly roared as it brought up its large claw to swipe at Celes. Most others would have dodged, but Celes was now aware of this Dragon's physical capabilities. Simply raising her arm like a makeshift shield, she watched as the claw barreled against her arm. As the claw, almost one and a half the size of Celes barreled against her, there was a clear aura of killing intent permeating from Celes. Suddenly, the dragon twitched. For a moment, it seemed to be still. It roared in defiance as chains began to materialize on its body, binding the large beast. The chains were numerous as they restrained the Hollow. These were in fact chains created by Celes. These were not ordinary chains, however. Normally, she had to give up her own physical prowess to bolster these chains. This time, however, she had a trick up her sleeve to not sacrifice any of her ability. 

At this point the Hollow was clearly ready for purification. Though Celes was not finished. The Hollow strained against the chains which moved and seemed to only tighten with the resistance of this Hollow. The poor beast strained for what seemed like a few seconds before giving up. It was clear that these chains were not budging. The Vice Captain sighed as she took the spear in her hand and dug it into the ground. This certainly could be seen as a surprise. Especially once Celes laughed audibly. The laughter continued for a few moments as she went silent. As she went to speak, she was clearly addressing the Hollow. Even if it could not understand her words.

"Difficult to move? Losing breath if you had any? That's expected. These are not normal chains you know. My Shikai is representative of a type of warfare. Bloody and ruthless war pioneered by Aries." The Hollow continued to struggle intermittently. Celes did not care. She simply continued. "These chains do not only restrain the body. They are chains so potent that they bind hope itself. A slave to these chains, you realize that you are at the mercy of your captor. You pray for freedom or even a quick death. Though a prolonged brutal one is far more terrifying isn't it? It chills most to the core. Fitting given your appearance and inherent ability. Though I'm afraid we've reached the end. Nor will you receive a quick end." 

As Celes stopped speaking, she approached the struggling Hollow. Reaching out, she placed her hand upon its mask. For a moment she would smile. The smile soon began a glare. Then one of indifference as she pulled back and delivered a powerful physical strike against the Hollow's mask. Almost immediately the Hollow reeled in pain and agony. A crack formed. Chuckling as cutback affected her once more, but did not outright break her hand. Instead, it felt a little sluggish. After which Celes delivered another strike. Then again. And again. Each consecutive strike resulted in further cracks forming as the Hollow was forced to endure it bound by the chains. 

As her muscles began to feel hurt by the constant cutback, she growled. It was a gut wrenching and brutal display. Sure it was a Hollow, even if just an imitation, but the end goal was to purify them. Delivering yet another strike she spoke. "You will not keep me down." Yet the strikes continued. "I will not be found hiding behind walls." Then another brutal hit. "I am a warrior!" With a bloody fist from the constant physical feedback, Celes punched again as she shouted. "I will never be weak again!!" As she delivered this strike, the mask cracked. One of many. A shockwave echoed through its body, cascading downward as it twitched and whimpered. As the final punch was delivered, another crack formed almost immediately after the first. Then another. And another. Finally the mask split from the constant punishment. Slowly the Hollow's body disappeared as it slowly faded from existence. The blue light in its rib cage shrunk down to the orb once containing the Hollow. This time, it seemed to endure so much punishment that one large crack ran down the middle. In a few seconds, the orb split and fell to the ground, disappearing much like the Hollow before touching the dirt.  

The chains slowly glowed red as they faded just like the Hollow. With a sigh, Celes growled for a moment. Overtaken by her desires for victory and honor, she was overtaken by the boiling rage induced by her Shikai. After all, Aries himself was known for his both his fighting genius, but also his unrivaled cruelty. Ironic that Celes should adopt a very similar set of feelings. With a sigh, she fell to one knee, the severity of her injuries to her muscles beginning to take its toll. She would be up on her feet in a few minutes and wouldn't even be close to death's door. But she did need the break. Slowly her Zanpakutou changed back to two blades. Needing to support herself, she looked at her Zanpakutou as it was dug into the ground, her breath heavy and fast.

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kimiko could admittedly not do much as Celes battled against the almighty dragon. There did not seem to be an opening for her to use so as to enter this battle, and even if she does find one, it is possible that she would be pulverized into mere frozen atoms in the matter of a few seconds by either the beast or even Celes herself if things suddenly happen to go awfully wrong. It's not like she could even bring herself towards the fight anyway: there was so much blood lust emanating from that battle that she could barely even lift a foot in the battle's direction. Not even the bugs and animals that happened to have somehow survived these hellish battles against these dummies so far wanted to approach the battle out of fear for their own lives. No matter how she looked at it, the only thing that really seemed to be possible for her to do was watch and learn.

Well, perhaps more of the latter, seeing as the battle was going so quickly that she could barely track what was going on with her own eyes. Both fighters were naturally faster than her by a mile, with Celes seemingly using techniques that allowed her to break through her own boundaries. Swings of her weapon and shockwaves created by her fists came so quickly that they seemed to almost be delivered instantly at the speed of sound, and each hit the creature endured left such a powerful quake that it made both nearby windows and the earth itself tremble. Some of the people that were currently in the park literally were starting to leave out of fear for their lives, believing all the shaking to be the beginning of an earthquake in the making. If only they knew what kind of chaos truly occurred before them. If only they knew. Hopefully, the Gotei 13 won't scold them too hard for going so hard on dummies in such a spectacular fashion.

As the battle proceeded, Kimiko would eventually be able to see that the battle was coming to an end. She could tell that, ever since Celes had activated her Shikai, her power had sharply risen above the dragon and that there was absolutely nothing it could have done to surpass her. It may have control over ice in some fashion, but there's only so much an elemental ability can bring to the table in one's favor before it is ultimately overwhelmed. In this case, the Vice-Captain's sheer power, speed, and overall blood lust were all more than enough to subdue the beast on their very own, completely shattering any bit of ice the creature created with its breath. Eventually, however, the more-experienced offer revealed an ability of hers involving the conjuring of some sort of magical chain, and by the time she did, it was all over for the dragon. The poor thing swiftly became trapped within the chains' grasp, and shortly after, it abandoned all struggle.

Naturally, at this point, Kimiko believed that the battle was more or less over. Unless the dummy Hollow has some sort of trick up its sleeve, there is absolutely nothing that it could possibly do to get out of these chains. The student has no idea of what they are made of, but judging by how confident Celes seemed to be in their ability to contain it, it was safe to guess that her description of their ability was most likely true. The fact that they are even capable of doing like that is something that made the swordswoman quietly hum to herself as she looked down towards her sheathed weapon for a moment. If this is what Celes' Shikai is capable of, then... what would her own Shikai look like? Would they be similar to her mentor's? Would they be different? It is taught at the Academy that each Zanpakuto possesses an ability that is completely unique to them, but if there's one thing Kimiko is aware of thanks to all the fighting games she has played in the past, it's that abilities overlap between one another.

Before she could ponder on the matter further, the student would then look back towards the fallen dragon with surprise as she then saw her mentor start pounding at its mask. Not simply destroy the mask, no: downright beat it to a pulp. Stunned, Kimiko could only watch as the Vice-Captain hit her target over and over seemingly without an inch of a care for her well-being. Blood splattered about onto the grass and earth below, and the Hollow shrieked in pain without stop, seemingly almost begging for its temporary life to be put to an end this very instant, and during all that time, the student could only just stand there and watch quietly. Before, she was merely shocked by what was happening, but as Celes continued to speak to the beast, she eventually understood how personal this fight had become. She had always thought that her mentor was hiding a painful past behind her smiles and positive attitude, and this brutal display only confirmed it.

Eventually, the aforementioned display finally ended and the Hollow disappeared, leaving only its orb behind its wake. As the orb fell down onto the grass, Kimiko blinked softly as the tension left the scene. Slowly, she turned her eyes towards an exhausted Celes who had by now fallen onto a knee. For a moment, she seemed to be a bit unsure if approaching her at this point in time was the right call, but at this point, there really was nothing else for them to do here unless the Vice-Captain somehow wants to continue training like this. "Celes... Are you okay?" She asked her mentor quietly as she approached her with her usual shyer attitude. Obviously, the student was aware that her mentor was not physically okay at the moment: it was the emotional side of things that she was more so worrying about here. "That thing was, uh... pretty strong..." 

 

Her words may have been delivered a bit poorly, but she wasn't quite sure of how else she could talk to Celes at the moment without bothering her. The Celes that she knew and the Celes that she has seen just beat that dragon to death were two different people, and she wasn't sure if this was the right time to talk about what happened without touching a nerve. In a way, it reminded her of how she herself acted while fighting Theresa and how unsure she still feels about how she was behaving that day. Then again, seeing her mentor so battered, bloodied and bruised by that cutback effect was not a pretty sight for her either.

[Celes Castellanos]

Grabbing hold of the Zanpakutou that was dug into the ground, Celes slowly began to push herself to her feet. Her movements appeared lethargic and strained. Her muscles and bones were slowly beginning to shudder at the unwanted movements. For all intents and purposes, the Vice Captain's body was telling her to stay down. Feeling a bit of pain, Celes understood it well, but did her best to ignore it. She has had far worse wounds in the past. This wouldn't be anything that she could not handle. As her form slowly began to return to a more relaxed state, the Vice Captain looked on at the ground where the large Hollow once was. There was silence. The only sounds filling the air was the dripping of her own blood onto the grass.

The Shinigami began to sigh. The flow of anger and malice began to diminish. Her Shikai being activated always led to Celes being rather violent. Such was the nature of her Shikai. A cruel and ruthless warlord ready to execute her foes without a semblance of mercy. It seemed that the Vice Captain would be taken from her thoughts by a familiar voice behind her. "Celes... Are you okay?" Once again the Shinigami left only silence in the aftermath. Celes was not upset at Kimiko. The student had done nothing wrong to her. She was only showing concern, right? It seemed that Kimiko had a little more to add. "That thing was, uh... pretty strong..." 

Celes was not unappreciative of her efforts. She was only attempting to provide levity to the situation. Though Celes normally hid behind smiles and positivity, the Shinigami this time simply nodded. As she spoke, her voice would have a certain melancholy tone to it. "Yes..it was quite something." She would slowly bring her hand up to her eyes. While she was resilient, the countless instances of spiritual cutback had certainly taken their toll. She began to look back at Kimiko ready to turn her entire body. As the did, the Vice Captain would find it difficult to move. Furthermore, her arm that was hit by the first instance of cutback simply continued bleeding soon becoming still. 

With a distinct and hefty sigh, Celes used her functioning hand to sheath her twin Zanpakutou. Her free hand would then be placed against the broken arm. Pain and lack of feeling made it clear to her that her arm was severely damaged not to mention the countless lacerations. Taking a deep breath, Celes slowly flexed whatever muscles she could in her broken arm. Kimiko would then likely see her apply force to the arm. It was a quick yet powerful force. Suddenly there it was. SNAP. CRACK. Celes would begin to rotate her shoulder with a gentle sigh. It would become clear soon that Celes had simply pushed her broken bone back into place. 

It certainly was not gentle. Did it hurt? Of course. Celes simply swallowed the pain and moved on. With an unsteady gait the Shinigami would make her way back to the bench. As she passed Kimiko she would stop for a moment. This time when she spoke it would not be filled with melancholy. Instead it seemed ashamed and apologetic. "Kimiko..I'm sorry. I'm sorry you had to watch that. I admit to the cruelty that I displayed. Even to a Hollow. Even a pale imitation. And I..am sorry if I let my own want for a challenge get in the way of yours." With that, she would begin to walk towards the bench once more. Once arrived she sat down slowly with a strained groan.

If Kimiko followed her, the Vice Captain would flash her a gentle smile. She was happy to have Kimiko by her side. She was more than disciple to her. She was a friend. A kindred spirit. Celes enjoyed that. It reminded her of old times. Times that she spent with Camila before her defection. The Shinigami cracked her neck and spoke softly. "You need not worry about me Kimiko. I've certainly taken worse beatings. Besides, it's been a while since I've had extensive treatment in Squad 4. That being said, I would of course be okay if you wish to train more. If not, no dishonor will fall upon you." Her former smile would begin to brighten as it seemed she was returned to her old positive self. 

[Nakajima Kimiko]

Kimiko remained quiet as she approached her friend, taking into account the Shinigami's appraisal of the now-fallen dragon's strength as a sign that she was returning to her normal self. To put it bluntly, it was a telltale sign that the angry, prideful and enraged Celes that she had seen in the past few minutes had vanished. The non-presence of the Vice-Captain's usual smile was to be noted and so was the melancholy within the tone of her voice, but the student nevertheless much preferred to see her act in such a way rather than whatever was beating that Hollow to a pulp. That version of her friend was not the Celes she knew, and considering how violent she was with the creature, there was no excitement to be had from the idea of even potentially fighting her in the near future just out of curiosity. It was just wrong, like all that Celes stood was being shattered by an emotional outburst that almost seemed unnatural to Kimiko. There was no way somebody like that would be fun to even spar with.

The swordswoman looked away with a light wince as the Shinigami fixed her arm, too inexperienced in true battle to be used by the sight of such wounds just yet. She really had not expected her to be this harmed by the dragon. This cutback effect... It really did seem as though Celes was especially affected by it, so much so that it left her with such terrible injuries despite having had the overwhelming advantage against the dragon. Her Spiritual Pressure must truly be lower than most high-value targets for her to be this injured after such a fight at her level... meaning that it was totally possible she was suffering from such wounds after every single battle she's had with an opponent with higher Spiritual Pressure. The thought made Kimiko wince again. The fact that anyone could go through such an experience was already bad enough, but to risk getting through it every single time you fight someone on equal grounds than you only made it such worse.

After both witnessing this rather-gruesome solution to the broken arm and realizing the horrors of the cutback effect, the student then looked back up towards Celes and listened to her apology. It wasn't difficult to understand why an apology was somewhat needed in this instance; after all, what Kimiko had witnessed was far beyond any emotional outburst she had seen from Celes thus far, or really anyone within Soul Society for that matter. Not even the lowliest of the lows that she has seen wandering around Rukongai looked as bad. Nevertheless, the student found no real reason for her apology. No matter how she looked at it, it seemed as though Celes' anger was unlike her and potentially something that had resulted from severe emotional trauma from past experiences. To be so cruel all of a sudden was just unnatural in Kimiko's eyes, so much so that a small part of her was starting to think that her friend's Shikai was perhaps somehow at fault here. Besides, given what's happened between herself and Teresa, she honestly did not really think she had the moral high ground here.

"It's fine," she said then as she followed her mentor towards a nearby bench, then sat by her side. "I guess that can sometimes happen to all of us, even Shinigami." After she sat, her gaze then turned from Celes to the crater before them, the one that had been left by the Hollow after it had crashed against the ground. The fact that the bench they were sitting on was still standing after all the chaos that's happened was rather shocking, really: in the matter of about a few minutes at best, about a quarter of the park had been reduced to shattered rock and frozen rubble. The peace and quiet that once ruled this place had been disturbed, with nearby bugs and animals having ran away from the chaos as far as they possibly could. Some of the peace had also been disturbed further away from the park too, judging by the car alarms that were resonating in the distance and the loud chatter of onlookers that were trying to understand what was going on. It was all a shame. The people who will have to repair the damage will surely have a lot on their hands for the next few weeks now.

The student continued to stare at the damage before her friend eventually asked her if she wanted to continue training. She had to admit that she was glad to see that Celes' smile had returned: it made the chaos the damage had produced in its wake less harrowing to look at. Despite that, however, she wasn't quite sure of what kind of answer she was supposed to give to her at first. On one hand, she did want to continue training as she wanted to see if she could tackle a dummy that was stronger than the pathetic wolf thing that she took down in a single hit, but on the other hand, seeing Celes be in such a state was definitely hampering her mood to continue. At this point, it might be best to delay this training session for another time, or at the very least take a break so they can continue later today after the Vice-Captain has received some treatment from the people of the Fourth Division. Training is, after all, better done when both the teacher and the student are in good shape.

"I'd... rather see you in better shape first. It just doesn't feel right to train in front of you while you're... yeah," she eventually admitted to her mentor before letting out a quiet sigh before she paused for a moment. Ironically enough, although this wasn't really something she had hoped would happen, sitting on a bench by her friend's side like this was the perfect time to tell her about what's happened with Teresa. Perhaps it would be better for her to just tell her mentor now, else another surprise like this eventually occurs without their prior knowledge in worse times. "Do you, uh... remember what I said before...? About my fight with that Hollow?" She asked then as she turned her gaze towards her friend with a quiet tone in her voice. "It was kinda like that... I just... wanted to fight it a lot... I even taunted it too." Her words grew a bit more distant as she spoke, not quite saddened by the memory, but as if still in a state of shock. "I did all of that while the body of the tour guide was just... right there... and I can't even bring myself to care about it now."

Silence then came to the conversation as Kimiko stopped talking, simply staring at the crater before them in silence as she spoke her words. This was a mistake. She shouldn't have even spoken of those things, not in front of her mentor and not now while she is like this. It wasn't helping her case and it wasn't helping the Shinigami's either. Eventually, in her horror of the words she even just muttered, she let out a heavier sigh as she was about to raise herself from the bench. "Sorry, I... I shouldn't have brought it up. Let's just go back."

[Celes Castellanos]

As Kimiko joined her on the bench, Celes could not help but smile. She really wanted to give Kimiko the opportunity to train further. Sure she was in rough shape, but it was nothing that she was not used. There had been many days when she came back to the Soul Society riddled with numerous cuts, bruises, broken bones and more. Sure, cutback was something that she had to deal with on a regular basis though the Shinigami typically more weary of the abilities of her opponents. At the end of the day, cutback could rarely if ever kill you. The blade of an opponent could. Yet despite her encouragement to continue training, Kimiko seemed down. 

"I'd... rather see you in better shape first. It just doesn't feel right to train in front of you while you're... yeah," Celes chuckled a little as a blush touched her cheeks. Kimiko was displaying a care for her physical and emotional well-being. Celes would speak to finish her sentence. "Battered? Bruised? Beaten?" The Shinigami broke into a hearty laugh as she looked at her disciple and continued. "Trust me Kimiko. I've encountered far worse than this. I can tell, however that my current condition bothers you. I'm honored by the care you display." She continued smiling at the student. This was completely different from her demeanor only mere moments ago. To some it could be jarring, but hopefully Kimiko had spent enough time with Celes to note that her joyful persona was very manic in a way. 

Though something else seemed to weigh on the disciples' mind. The Vice Captain could simply tell given her shyer demeanor. To Celes it did not seem common anymore for Kimiko to be shy. Yet here she was, possibly wanting to pour her heart out about something. As she delved into some of her troubles, Celes would only listen. She did not want to interrupt Kimiko after all. "Do you, uh... remember what I said before...? About my fight with that Hollow?" Celes simply nodded. Not more needed to be said to get the point across on her end. "It was kinda like that... I just... wanted to fight it a lot... I even taunted it too." Celes' facial expression remained consistent. She was not upset. At least, not overtly. 

It was the next comment that worried Celes. "I did all of that while the body of the tour guide was just... right there... and I can't even bring myself to care about it now." As she heard Kimiko, her gaze became somewhat melancholy with a hint of concern. For now she simply chose not to show disapproval. There was a way of getting her point across that did not require her to discipline or even chew out her student. After all, Kimiko was young. Inexperienced. Guidance was only a natural need for the Shinigami. As such, Celes decided that reprimanding her and chastising her would not be the right decision. Camila's reaction to it showed Celes that it could cause more harm than good. 

Celes' eyes narrowed as Kimiko expressed an interest in leaving. "Sorry, I... I shouldn't have brought it up. Let's just go back." As she rose from the bench, Celes stood with her. She placed her hand onto Kimiko's shoulder despite their difference in height. Looking up at her disciple. Nay, her friend, Celes spoke with a soothing voice. "Wait. Kimiko. Sit." Celes could easily bring Kimiko down with her due to her impressive strength, but this was largely unnecessary in her mind. She would gently press down on Kimiko's shoulder. Simply to urge her to sit. She was not going to force her. Regardless of whether she sat or not, the Vice Captain would look at her. 

"Kimiko. Look. We are Shinigami. It is our job to purify Hollows yes, but our duty is always to those that are in need of help. The victims of Hollows. I'm glad you said what you did and I want to stress that I am not upset." There was no deceit in her words. She was being rather honest. "So then. You and I are proud warriors. Yet with that pride must come temperance. I've fought many individuals from all the worlds and each that was able to stand up to me has earned a shred of my respect. You'll understand more with time. You'll also gain a greater appreciation for what it means to be a Shinigami once you've graduated and truly become one of us. You are an excellent role model. A gem among your peers. Most of all you are a cherished friend. You can confide anything in me. I promise." 

Celes smiled once more as she slowly made her way to her feet. Using her functioning arm, she used her Zanpakutou like a key and twisted it in the air. When she did this, the gates to the Senkaimon opened. Sheathing her blade, Celes made sure to retrieve the little bag of Hollow pills. Thankfully she was given them to keep training recruits. Celes turned back to Kimiko as she spoke. "Now then. Let's go to the Fourth Division. I should take you there anyway so you can familiarize yourself with the surroundings. After some missions, that Squad will become your best friend. Besides afterwards, we could grab a bite to eat. Try to cheer you up." She chuckled as she hopped through with Kimiko hopefully in tow. 

Making her way through the Dangai, Celes reflected on what has happened so far. Her loss of control. Kimiko's apathy towards another. It was all a lot to take in. This is what it meant to be a leader, however. To have others place trust in her. Sometimes dealing with all of it though became taxing. Nevertheless, she had to try and keep it together. As they began to tread to the bright light that marked the opening to the Senkaimon, Celes was met with the beautiful sight of home. As she smiled, she nodded her head at Kimiko who was hopefully behind her. She began to make her way to the Fourth Division Barracks at a leisurely pace. To her there was no rush. Besides, hopefully it could allow Kimiko and her to talk more.