Vandenreich S.A.R. - Prologue [Solo Training]

[Sieglinde P. Krantz]

It had been a day very much like any other from the start. Sitting at her desk, and simply idling through her paperwork, Priscilla found herself keeping busy with various forms and written work she'd unfortunately found herself neglecting as of late. Getting used to the life of a Captain Supervisor was certainly something she'd need to tackle; fast. So-called "free time" was a myth of the past for her. At least, until she'd finish any outstanding written forms that needed to be submitted higher up the chain of command. For the time being though, she had work to get done.

At least, work that she'd originally planned to tackle. What she hadn't expected, however, was one of her Lieutenants quickly rushing into her office, rather interrupted. As the girl seemed almost out of breath, Priscilla simply motioned toward one of the two chairs in front of her desk. In a huff, the girl sat down. She'd hear out the girl, but before anything like that was to happen, she needed to find a stopping point in her work; somewhere that she was going to be able to pick it up again at a later point, given this was evidently imp--

"Captain, I--" Keeping her eyes glued down on her papers, Priscilla simply held an open palm toward the girl, as if to signal her pause. As the girl immediately silenced herself, Priscilla held that same hand up, and continued to write with the other. After a few short seconds, she placed her pen down, and neatly aligned it with the sheets of paper still laid out in plain sight. Softly sighing to herself, as if to mentally prepare for what was to come, she placed her hand down.

Folding them in front of her, and giving the girl a curt smile, Priscilla interlocked her fingers and began to speak. "Apologies for that, Viktoria was it?" She spoke, her voice soft and kind, "I simply wanted to reach a suitable point to pause. What has you so concerned?" As she finished speaking, the girl - Viktoria, as Priscilla had called her - spoke once more. "I didn't mean to interrupt you, Supervisor Krantz, but we've just received report of a skirmish that had occurred in the Human World not long ago. A one of your serving Captains had engaged a Fullbringer in a small town in central Japan; I'm sure you're familiar with Karakura Town?"

Nodding respectfully, Priscilla chimed in. "An old acquaintance of mine was from that town; I've visited quite often. Though, what of this skirmish?" Peering quizzically toward the girl, Priscilla tried to discern any semblance of information she could from her attitudes toward the situation. Something didn't quite sit well with her about this situation. Just why, exactly, she was going to find out. "Captain Aia Kristal had made contact with a Fullbringer - name currently unknown - from Uzaki Enterprises. The two fought, and it by no means ended well for Captain Kristal. Our sources say she ended that fight critically injured, and under the custody of Uzaki. We've reason to believe she's still alive, and hopefully well. After reporting this to Supervisor Scholz, he asked me to relay the information to you, given Captain Kristal is under your jurisdiction; hence why I'm here."

Raising her hands toward her mouth, and gently resting her head upon her thumbs, Priscilla found herself deep in thought. Aia, captured? While sure, she'd forgotten to get a sample of Aia's combative capabilities, she by no means doubted the girl's prowess. But, for her to end up captured... Just who did she end up against? The thought intrigued her. "Quite an interesting turn of events," she said, "not expected in the slightest. Nevertheless, I appreciate your willingness to share such... valuable information with me. You may return to Supervisor Scholz; I'll have to put in a good word for you on that front."

With a rather excited smile, Viktoria stood up from her chair, and simply bowed her head toward Priscilla. "Thank you, Supervisor Krantz! Glad I could be of service!" And, after giving Priscilla a salute, she made her hasty exit from the woman's office. Priscilla, on the other hand, seemed to now have quite a bit on her plate. Once again softly sighing to herself, out of revelation of this information, she neatly stacked her sheets of paper on top of one another, rotating every stack in an alternating pattern of ninety-degree angles, as to keep each stack from mixing with each other. "Hmm..." she thought aloud, softly speaking to herself.

Standing up from her desk, Priscilla gently stretched her back, followed by her shoulders, and lastly her wrists. She tried to limber up as much as she could before leaving her office. She knew full-well that an excursion like this was going to require her to get her hands dirty. If nothing else? She needed to make sure she was in top-shape for what was to come, and naturally that meant a trip to the training grounds. Truth be told, a bit of excitement ran through the girl's head; she hadn't had a good training experience in ages. Maybe Scholz was up for a good spar? She'd have to ask on her way over there.

[Sieglinde P. Krantz]

An Hour Later

"If nothing else," a masculine voice spoke, walking directly alongside Priscilla, "it's good to hear little Viktoria's information reached you quickly. Though, I've got to admit; your request to 'try your hand against me', as you so eloquently put it, was fairly surprising." As the man finished, the two quickly found themselves lost in friendly laughter as they walked. "We aren't kids anymore, Cilla, you know that right?"

"I know full well," she said jovially, "I also know full well that you're the only person I know that I'm about equal with. If nothing else, I know you'll be putting up a good challenge~" Once again, the two quickly followed up with laughter as their walk toward the training grounds continued. Keeping her arms neatly behind her, fingers laced together between her hands, she continued to walk side by side with her equal; A Supervisor Frederike Scholz. Even despite her heels, he still seemed to tower over her; something that seemed to bother the woman deeply. No matter; she wasn't going to let it faze her right now. She was on a mission, after all.

"Well," she spoke, her voice soft, "seeing as I posed the challenge, the choice of terrain out here is up to you. If you'd like somewhere a little more... custom, you need only say the word and we can make it happen." Watching the man react to her words, she noticed very quickly he placed his index finger to his chin, resting plainly on that golden beard of his. "Hmm..." he thought aloud, "why not? I suppose we can spice things up a bit. What could you do with... how about a moving train?" As he finished speaking, she stared at him almost wide-eyed, but curious nonetheless.

"A moving train?" she asked, a hint of jest in her otherwise dumbfounded question, "weren't you the same one who just finished speaking about how 'we aren't kids anymore'? Quite the high-energy pick, no?" Prompting a chuckle from the older gentleman, he decided to speak up. "Well, you're looking to infiltrate one of the better-known spiritual superpowers within the World of the Living, aren't you? Aren't you afraid that this kind of battlefield won't be enough?" Almost immediately after he finished speaking, Priscilla shook her head. "You must be crazy if you think that something like this is going to remotely compare to the kind of field work I'll be doing!" Once again, the two laughed.

Making use of her Soul Property, Priscilla allowed her reiatsu to pour from her, coating the immediate area around them in a blaze of spiritual energy. And, just like that, the two had vanished from the Silbern, taken into a "pocket dimension" created by the younger Quincy. Anybody that might've been looking around at the time were likely going to be left dumbfounded, had they not known about Priscilla's ability until that point. Those that did knew exactly what was going on; the girl was changing the battlefield for her, and her subordinate.

---

As the two emerged atop the steel rooftop of moving train cars, both quickly engaged Hirenkyaku Schwerkraft. As their feet practically stuck to the steel, thanks to the gravity-manipulating technique, both took multiple steps back; Scholz even hopped a train car in order to put some distance between the two of them. After a few short moments, he called out to her. "You ready, Krantz?" Nodding her head in response, she shouted back to him. "Ready as I can be in a place like this!" As she finished speaking, the two stood dead still, completely unmoving. Simply doing nothing more than watching each other.

And then, with the sounding of the train's horn, both drew their bows.

[Sieglinde P. Krantz]

What quickly followed from there on were an opening volley of arrows, fired from both sides; as quickly as one arrow was nocked and fired, another three followed in suit from both parties. Watching each other intently, and looking to pinpoint each others' moves almost perfectly, each Quincy fired their arrows so perfectly in tune with one another as to watch each and every one of them collide with one another; both going for a shot on the other and playing the offensive, only to be met with an equally powerful defensive firing against their own.

This immediate stalemate continued on for about fifteen seconds, before both quickly realized it wasn't taking them anywhere. As the last arrows were fired from both Quincy, the two quickly prepared their own offensive options; Priscilla activated her Form Property, allowing a set of twin daggers to take form in her hands, whereas Frederike did the same, manifesting a massive war-hammer; easily as tall as he was, and far taller than the girl herself. Smirking to herself, she'd have to think of just how she was going to deal with a combatant like that. Even to this day, she still hadn't found a reasonable way to deal with his attacks; a thought that very much agitated her.

Moving at her full speed in order to charge the man, Priscilla kept her body low to the roof, and kept her arms in front of her. The attempt was to keep herself moving through the rushing air as quickly and efficiently as possible; something that Scholz didn't seem to care to follow, as he simply barreled forward, wielding his rather massive hammer in tow. Keeping a low profile, and going in for a strike almost immediately, the moment Priscilla was within a close proximity to him she raked her arm upward, looking to slash directly across the man's chest with as much force as she could muster.

Though, as she did, and swung her arm upward, Frederike seemed to be prepared for this; she watched as he positioned the staff of his hammer in such a way that blocked her advance; given his sheer strength over her, if she didn't let go of her weapon, she was sure to break her wrist. Doing exactly that, and activating her Firing Property in sync, she caused the dagger she initially attacked with to fire off straight in front of her, piercing his chest far faster than he could really process.

As the arrow fired immediately through his chest, Priscilla used her now-free hand to grab hold of his hammer, and hoist herself upward with as much force as she could manage for the time. Watching as her foe was still reeling from the shot against him, she reached down below her as she vaulted, looking to cleave a chunk out of his unprotected shoulder. As she went in to make contact with him, she noticed almost immediately that his free hand began to glow with golden light. Silently cursing herself, and knowing exactly what that meant, she felt her dagger collide with a bubble of hardened, golden reiatsu with an iconic "tink".

As she found herself practically bouncing off of the man's shoulder, she did what she could in order to reorient herself in mid-air, trying to make sure she landed on her feet upon hitting the train once more. Thanks to Hirenkyaku Schwerkraft, that was relatively easy. Taking a second to catch her breath from moving that fast, she noticed quickly that the light in Frederike's hand hadn't gone away yet.

Raising his hand toward the sky, the puncture wound she'd left on his chest quickly began to seal just as fast as it had been left, stopping any of that bleeding she was looking to cause him. "Sorry, Cilla," he shouted overtop the roaring winds, "you should know better than to think that was going to work!" Both of them smiling at his comment, she found herself once again lowering her stance as his hand dropped, pointing that golden reiatsu directly toward her. As he did, and with a shout of the word "brennen", a searing column of golden reiatsu poured down from the sky quite quickly, threatening to burn the girl if she didn't get out of the way quick enough.

[Sieglinde P. Krantz]

As Priscilla's foe threatened to sear the area in front of her, she quickly found herself rolling out of the way as dexterously as her body was going to allow. Restabilizing her own footing, the girl immediately went back on the offensive, grabbing her blades and immediately starting to sprint on the top of the train once more. Strafing left and right in order to steer clear of the searing columns of light threatening to singe her to a crisp, the girl did what she could in order to get right up on top of Scholz.

Staring up toward him with a hint of violence and playful energy, Priscilla's own spiritual prowess exploded momentarily, supercharging her own spiritual capabilities as she once again made a decisive strike against her subordinate. Slashing up across his chest with her daggers once more, though this time smashing through his armor, through his Blut Vene, and tearing skin directly, Priscilla backed off the moment she landed the attack, much like before, though this time wasn't going to let up her own offenses.

Reshaping her daggers into that of a rifle, she immediately pulled the trigger of the weapon, taking an improvised aim toward her friend's chest. As the rifle sounded, arrow quickly barreling through the air in front of her, and piercing through Scholz, she smirked as she watched him fall to his knees in time. As he caught his breath, with Priscilla's own following in suit thereafter, the two took a moment to rest as the world seemed to come to a halt. The train stopped, snow ceased falling, and everything almost... stopped.

"Tch," Scholz scoffed, "you've certainly gotten a bit better, haven't you?" Once again throwing his hand into the air, Scholz' injuries slowly began to heal themselves. As they did, Priscilla kept her bow primed at the ready. Just in case he was going to make another attack against her again. Though, she could tell that the fight was likely over at this point. Sure enough, as he stood up, his bow simply broke itself apart, dissolving into excess reiatsu; as did his armor.

Standing up herself, though with a bit more energy than her opponent, Priscilla took a deep breath. Similarly allowing her bow to seal once more, she smiled toward Scholz. "You've given me a fair bit of insight thus far," she said, her breath still somewhat ragged, "so thank you for that." Scholz simply nodded, as the world around them went back to normal, with both tired, semi-injured parties reappearing within the Silbern. As both laughed, Priscilla tucked her hands into her pockets.

"Oh, really?" Scholz asked jovially, "and what information might that have been?" Smiling, Priscilla responded somewhat cryptically. "Don't worry," she said, walking with Scholz from the training area, "it's nothing about you that I learned, your secrets are safe with yourself. This was much more a learning experience for my own abilities than anything involving your own."

As the two eventually went their separate ways, Priscilla began to head back to her personal quarters. She knew fairly well that something was going to need to be done to prepare ever further, but that more so came with espionage and infiltration than anything else. She'd have her time to get into the building when she needed to, take the opportunity to scout out the area as best she needed. For now, though, plans were going to need to be made. And, if nothing else? She had colleagues to contact, and some favors to call in.

[Jeff Franklin]

I count 28 Paragraphs which gives you a total of 140 TP!