Now to Learn [Kaen/JT]

[Raphael Laurent]

((OOC: Raph will be using the TYBW coupon too!))

Raphael stalked the streets of Karakura Town in the early morning; he couldn’t sleep, didn’t want to stay at his apartment and wouldn’t keep imposing on Kazura. He’d been staying at the Uzaki Enterprises building since what had happened and he was just getting tired of staying indoors the whole time. He wanted to understand what this new powers of his could really do. No, he needed to know what it was fully capable of, or else he would just start destroying things left and right. He’d had the strange feeling that his power was extremely similar to a quincy: destroying souls. But his power was more of an ontological override. It erased physical matter and spiritual matter at the same time.

He didn’t necessarily want a fight, but he definitely wanted to learn what this power could do and the problem was that the only one he felt would be able to really stand up to it without suffering injury was Kazura. After what had happened, though….he wasn’t going to bother the man with something like this. And that only left a few other people. Shizuka was one, but he could rightly bother her with something like this. This was his problem. That only left…logically, Kaen or Ken’ichi, but he hadn’t seen either of them in…forever.



Ken’ichi still angered him, and nowadays, anger began to hurt his head, right behind his eyes. The migraine dissipated soon after it had appeared, but they were becoming more and more common and he didn’t feel that was a good sign.



Yet, as he looked up again the appearance of a shihakusho suddenly caught his eyes and he focused on it. He would’ve known that man anywhere. The face of the man that had caught him and Luca when they’d been “caught” in the Rukongai. “As I live and breathe.” He chuckled, looking around, making sure no one was around. Thankfully the light was just breaking and very few were around at the moment. “By the grace of god, it truly is you Kaen Youji!” For but a moment, Kaen would feel a sudden burst of spiritual power, something new and different from how he’d originally felt.



“I am… Well, to say that I’m surprised to see you here in the world of the living would be an understatement. You on vacation again? If you are then my original plan is gonna kinda go out the window.” He chuckled a bit.

[Kaen Youji]

(ooc: Kaen will be using the TYBW coupon for this)

Yaaaaaawn, geeze. Okay. New plan. Next time he was in the Human World, Kaen needed to figure out some bloody accomodations. The cheapest hotel was not cutting it. The floor had been more comfortable than the bed they'd given him. Next time I'm crashing with Shizuka or Luca. Or maybe I'll see if Cami's place is still there. He thought to himself as he worked his way, stumbling along, wiping sleep out of his eyes. Just a routine posting to make sure the area was clear of Hollows, Vandenreich or Arrancar, and then back to Soul Society. This wasn't supposed to be a long assignment, as Vice Captain of the Seventh, Kaen had duties that needed to be attended to. However, the Hell invasion had left Soul Society horrifically shorthanded, due to the many deaths and injuries, and, ever one to lead by example, Kaen had taken on additional work so his subordinates didn't have to.

But maaan he was tired. He didn't want to work to-- CLANG --Ow, that was a streetlight he'd just walked into. Kaen slumped around it, and staggered on. He noticed a passerby and tried to flag them down. "Umm... Excuse me, do you know where I can find a cafe or something to get a quick break...." The person kept by without answering him. "....fast.... Well that's a bit rude..." He continued onwards trying to flag down other pedestrians with similarly no luck.

"Geeze, why is everyone being so rude today!?"

Then he heard someone call his name, and noticed a burst of spiritual energy. Kaen's eyes flickered over, and noticed a familiar face. "Well, well. Raphael Laurent wasn't it?" He asked, a tired smile on his face, as he gave his head a few shakes and walked over towards him. "Good to see you on your own home turf this time." He stated, and extended a hand in greeting then paused and looked at his sleeveless arm.

"I was positive the gigai I was wearing had sleev-- oh. Oh. Ohhhhh, sonnuva bitch I left my gigai at the hotel didn't I. Frick. I'm going to have to go and get that at some point before I go home, it'll probably cause problems for the humans here and thaaaat is not the priority right now is it?" Kaen started and then interrupted himself to properly address Raphael, the adrenaline surge courtest of his own idiocy seeming to have woken him up quite a bit. "The point is, it's nice to see you, and I'd love to hear how you've been doing." He concluded.

As Raphael asked about his vacation he shrugged. "Wish I could say that was the case. No, I'm here on business to check in on this area and make sure things aren't on fire, spiritually speaking. This town's a hotspot for spiritual activity and is watched by a ton of Soul Society's enemies at this time. Soul Society's a bit short-handed. Luca can probably explain why to you if you ask him. I can't say anything about our situation right now, besides that apparently your friend broke in. Again. At a very bad time. Think he's alive last I heard though." Kaen commented. "But why would your "original plan" go out the window? What plan is this?" He asked.

[Raphael Laurent]

To be perfectly honest, seeing Kaen like this, exhausted and obviously in need of a break, he couldn't help but not envy the shinigami. He winced as the man suddenly realized that he wasn't in his gigai and nodded to the fact that he would need to get it from the hotel. Even Raph knew that, if someone opened the door and saw a "body" in there...it wouldn't be good. At best, they would be looking for it in a hospital and, at worst, there'd be a murder investigation going on... Raph really didn't like that thought, but if they didn't get to that damn thing, then there'd be a problem.

"How I've been doing? Uhh... Let's...just say that there's been a lot of changes since the last time when you and I saw each other. It's..." Raphael looked down at his own hand for a few seconds. "It's been a hell of a change and, admittedly, I'm still getting used to some aspects of it..." If Kaen watched closely enough, part of the ground beneath and around Raphael was starting to break apart. The small pebbles that floated up seemed to break apart before they'd gotten much higher than above his waist.

He frowned nodding at the notation of work from the shinigami, wincing just a bit. With his personal vacation time over with, Raphael was back to work and had been writing many reports that he was supposed to have written awhil ago. The hason that he'd fought alongside Ludwig. He couldn't help but wonder what had happened to Ludwig. He'd been pretty chill also. Had also saved him quite a bit. Yet...now his own powers had been altered so dramatically...

"...He broke in again? I shouldn't be surprised, to be honest. He's...tenacious, for lack of a better term. I wish that I could say that I didn't blame him, but I don't understand what his fascination with this whole...zanpakuto thing is." He shrugged and he sighed a bit at Kaen's question. "Well... the thing is that I... kinda have problems controlling...what... Ok, there's a big story but to make it short, my fullbring was destroyed and now my entire power base operates from...myself? I don't have a fullbring but I have a much greater control over the elements and things like that." Then he started to scratch his head. "The problem is that... I don't have a ton of control over it. When that happened it all kinda...ballooned, if that makes sense..."

He smiled a bit awkwardly. "Well, I was originally looking for someone that I could spar with and learn how...hopefully, to control this... Or at least..." He shrugged. "At least learn how to not...be destroying things as I walk around. But...regardless of how you choose it...we might wanna get your fake body first."

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen's eyebrow raised at Raphael as he tried to explain himself. "As far as Luca goes, I can't say. He went to rendezvous with Ken'ichi and that's the last I heard on the matter. I assume Ken'ichi is looking out for him. Probably." He replied. "Ken'ichi will probably have to tell you more beyond that though. Or Luca. You get how it is." He replied. Then let Raphael explain himself.

"Problems controlling your powers? Your Fullbring was... destroyed. Sorry to say, first I've heard of that happening. I'm not much of an expert on Fullbrings." Kaen admitted. "But if you're looking for a sparring partner, I'm not opposed. If you're about as strong as you were last time we met, you can probably just absolutely cut loose, and I should be fine. And don't worry about my fake body. I'll get it later. Probably. Shouldn't be too much trouble, it's still pretty early." He commented.

"That being said, it doesn't look like you're destroying things at your mere presence from where I'm standing. Or is this something that only happens once in awhile? Ehh... either way, like I said. If you need a hand and just want to cut loose to see if you can control them in a fight, I'm game. Pick a place and we can get started!"

[Raphael Laurent]

Kaen's explanation simply made him shrug. Luca would do what Luca did and Raphael wasn't his keeper so he couldn't really be concerned about the man. Besides recent things that had occured were causing him to question a lot of the stuff that was going on. Some kinda problem in the Seireitei, realistically, wasn't his problem either. Whatever happened to them was a tragedy, sure, but it wasn't anything he could really do anything about. He wouldn't show the shinigami that he didn't really care too much, but he also wasn't going to bemoan the action.

"No offense, Kaen, but how many times have you heard about fullbring things happening? It's not like you all really keep an eye on us." He grinned. "Least I hope not, or else I'm going to have to become a lot more paranoid about shinigami patrols. And...yeah that was more or less what I was wanting, though my strength with my energy has increased a lot more. It was a weird thing that happened. I'm thankfully able to force down my energy...a bit better." He chuckled to the man's words.

"So, it's... Ok, it's not as simple as I suppose I made it sound. It's not like I'm vaporizing things just by my presence, but there are other things that have happened... Eh, it's not a problem though." He smiled. "I've got a great spot in mind! Though... It might be a bit destroyed from the last time that Luca and I sparred. I should check on my cousin, now that I think about it..." He gave Kaen a wave as he started heading out of the town and towards a mountain range in the distance. "Ya know, I'll be honest, the first time we met, when Luca and I tried to infiltrate the Seireitei, I wanted to spar with you back then. Learn a bit from you, but..." He went silent for a bit, frowning. He couldn't really think of why he hadn't, honestly. "I don't know why but, at the time, it just didn't feel like a good idea, you know what I mean?"

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen seemed to honestly ponder Raphael's question for a few moments. "Well let's see.... I mean I've learned the basics of what Fullbrings are, how they work, and how they evolve of course. Plus a few friends of mine that have a Fullbring. But yeah, fair enough, I'm not exactly a Fullbring scholar or anything." He replied. "But either way, increase in power or not you can probably trust me to handle it. I'll give you a heads up if I can't." He replied cheerfully. Kaen hadn't seen what Raphael could really do and he was excited to learn.

"But what are these other things? Maybe I don't know anything about it, but I might know someone who does. Could send 'em your way for a chat if you need it. Only if you need it, this is just an offer." Kaen replied. "But we can talk as we walk!" He followed along with Raphael, unsure where they were going but figuring Raphael knew his way. That mountainrange ahead looked a bit like where he'd trained with Rin and Luke that one time... Ugh, he'd dropped the ball that day. The day he was supposed to tell his Vice Captain everything, and he'd gotten knots in his stomach and had failed to say a word. Well.... One day. One day.

But this was an altogether new day, and Kaen would be surprised if Raphael took them all the way into the mountains-- although it definitely made for a good training location. Isolated, quiet, low risk of others getting in the way by accident. "Sounds like you take your training seriously. That's great! But what's this about a cousin? Does he or she live out here?" He asked.

Raphael's second comment about wanting to face Kaen back then brought a grin to the Vice Captain's face. "Nah, I get it. I definitely get it. If I have a confession to make, I enjoy fighting too much. Killing, not so much, but the battle itself? Testing myself, pushing my limits and seeing how far I can go? I live for that sort of thing. Maybe that's a bit weird? I dunno. But you're probably right it wasn't a good idea at the time. We probably could have gotten away with it since Ken'ichi was onboard, but we might have failed to catch up to Luca if we had, and that would have gone really badly for him. And for us honestly." Kaen admitted.

"I'd ask you what kind of ability your Fullbring has but I'm also guessing I'll figure it out soon enough myself, won't I? I'd give you the rundown on my Zanpakuto, but I don't think that'll be necessary. I don't think I'll be using it for a sparring match in this environment. Maybe if it were life or death, but in a sparring match, I think releasing my weapon would cause a lot of problems." After-all, whether Raphael intended to take Kaen into the mountains afterall, or simply battle in the city, lobbing fireballs around was typically pretty hazardous to the health of everyone around. The last time Kaen had used Hachiryuu in a sparring match in a forest, he'd burned down a massive section of the woods.

So yeah. Avoiding doing that this time. Still. Unless Raphael had gotten a lot stronger since they'd last met, Kaen was confident his Hakuda skills were more than enough for the job. Besides. Fighting with a handicap can also be a bit fun! And if he's strong enough to make me break that handicap... Ah! He was going and getting his hopes up before they'd even gotten to the battlefield. Hot blood flowed through Kaen's veins maybe a little too fast.

[Raphael Laurent]

He nodded, thankful that Kaen seemed quite happy to cooperate with him and help him to practice and understand his power more. Raph chuckled a bit as Kaen stated what he knew about fullbringers. It wasn't really a concern to Raph; scholars and theory worked to a specific point, but application and practice were just as useful. He didn't know how Kaen felt about explanations, nor did he really know what the man thought about the zanpakuto at his hip. It would be a nice thing to ask about later, perhaps.

"Hey, I'm more than happy to walk and talk. I don't hang out with many people, as often, usually because I'm working. Maybe you and I are more alike than I thought, huh?" He looked over at the shinigami, giving him a friendly smile as they walked. The feeling of enjoying his time with Kaen felt strange in some ways; he'd never really liked shinigami, but Kaen... Well, it was just strange. The man was a lot like friends that he'd had from Chicago. Just...chill.

They had already gotten outside of the city and were well on their way towards the mountains. "Well, the real problem was that Luca and I were pissed at each other one day and so I told him to come out to this mountain where I usually trained. My brother, who is part of the Vandenreich, attacked us and then my extended family lashed back and nah. Randall is living somewhere in Tokyo with my uncle and yeah, they're all quincy. Who woulda guessed, yeah?" He laughed a bit as they walked. "So the two of us got into a fight up there and then my brother appears and he threatens me and Luca. Buuuut... When he was forced to retreat? Took his cross." Raphael reached up and pulled a quincy cross from under his shirt, wearing it like a necklace.

Raphael gave a wave to Kaen's words. "Hey man, I get it. Believe me, there were other things on my mind at the time as well. Hopefully, though, our invasion assisted in improving security in the Seireitei. It might seem a little weird, but other than watching over Luca, that was my main intention. I'm a cyber security guy and IT guy for UE so, that's kinda part of my job. How well can I break into our own systems and find weaknesses. It's nice to test other people's response times." He shrugged. Then chuckled a bit to Kaen. "I guess, you weren't really listening. I don't have a fullbring anymore. It was destroyed. Completely. I can't access it. Instead, though, I've noticed that I've got a lot more control over Soul Command." He sighed a bit. "Which is kinda why I wanted someone to train with and why I really appreciate that you don't mind coming out here to train with me."

He waved Kaen to follow behind him as he began moving off of a trail and up the mountain. The path was winding and fairly rocky, with Raphael constantly leaping from rock to rock. "To be honest, I'd actually gotten pretty nicely into meditation way out here. It was a nice way to really learn about my fullbring and the elements. To be honest, it hasn't been easy, doing this kind of training. But...after what happened my overall control of Soul Command has altered...dramatically. I try to call a cup of water to me? It goes flying past me and smashes into my wall!" He laughed as he came to a stop on the mountaintop, well, the crater of a mountaintop. "Long as what happened last time doesn't happen again, then this mountain should still be in tact. I'll just try to be careful."

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen grinned. "You gotta befriend your co-workers then! Opportunities abound you know! My division's Vice Captain is my best friend, and I get along and hang out with a lot of my co-workers. Though I guess that's a bit easier for someone who's had two centuries to get that down.... Eh, you'll get there."

At Raphael's next statement, Kaen froze up for a moment. "Oh." He said. "I'm so sorry to hear that." He replied, regarding his brother being a member of the Vandenreich. "That's gotta be rough for family to be a part of that group." He gave a heavy sigh. "And I don't think there's any way out for him either, even if he realizes his mistake.... Becoming part of the Vandenreich means placing your life entirely in their Emperor's hands. If you turn on them...." He frowned. "I hope the rest of your family is safe at least." He added. "Though I can't help but ask, if your family are Quincy, why not ask them for help? Couldn't this new err... imbalance in your abilities be some latent Quincy power trying to come through for you?" He inquired.

Raphael clarified his point and Kaen nodded. "Gotcha. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I thought you meant that your Fullbring had changed or was damaged. I didn't realize you meant it's gone entirely. That's.... a little more weird, but I at least know of situations where similar events have happened. Though I'm guessing this wasn't voluntary on your part. So that rules out a Saigo..." Kaen mused. "Unless...." His eyes brightened up.

"You might be like Captain Kyomei." Kaen replied. "Captain Kyomei is the leader of Soul Society's Sixth Division, and he stands out among the Captains because unlike most Shinigami, he doesn't have a Zanpakuto. I don't know the specifics, but rumor has it, his innate power was so great the Zanpakuto couldn't control it and it was destroyed. In terms of raw power, there's not a soul in Soul Society that can match Captain Kuchiki, and I can think of only one other in Soul Society that can match his mastery of Kido." Kaen commented to Raphael. "This might be something similar. In which case.... Hoo, yeah I can understand why that might be an issue. All good though. I'm looking forward to seeing what your power is like now then."

Kaen took in the sights on the mountain trail, moving easily and with no issues. "Yeah, more you explain, more it seems like you and Captain Kuchiki are the same. That lack of control sounds very familiar." He breathed in deeply. "The Human World is so cool. We have woodlands like this back home of course, but it's different here somehow. Dunno how to explain it. But don't worry too much about keeping the mountain in-tact. If you can destroy this mountain in a single shot, then I might be in over my head after-all!" Kaen chirped in clear amusement.

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael chuckled a bit as Kaen said that he needed to make friends with his coworkers. It wasn't so much that he didn't want to so much as he was concerned over what had happened and it was something that he wished he could tell Kaen about. He didn't know how the shinigami would react, were they to know about lacrima but, for the time being, Raph reasoned that it would be best were he to just not. He had his own plans for it, and he also didn't want to have to worry about UE potentially losing Kazura for something as...stupid as the lacrima.

With a sigh, Raph had to agree with Kaen, it was bad that his brother had decided to sacrifice himself for. No. It was stupid that his brother had decided to throw away his life in pursuit of this "perfect world" that his emperor wanted to make. he was really glad that Luca had come out with him that day. "To be perfectly honest, if Luca hadn't been there I might've been taken to wherever the Vandenreich go, and been forced into their ranks. That would've been terrible, personally." Then he waved his hand, dismissing Kaen's apologies for what happened. "Wasn't your fault, Kaen. Nothing to apologize for."

He blinked as Kaen seemed to have some kind of realization, a realization of a man named Kyomei. Apparently that shinigami lacked a zanpakuto and yet had an incredible amount of power when it came to their spiritual abilities. Raphael's hand cupped his chin in thought, as they finally made it to the top of the mountain. Where they stood, however could hardly be called a mountaintop, more resembling a crater. Parts of a mountain peak even looked like they'd fallen inwards, though grass was starting to grow again. He smiled as he saww it.

"I don't think that I can destroy an entire mountain in one shot. At... At least I hope that I can't..." He shook his head and stepped towards the center of the crater, smiling and he slowly removed his jacket, tossing it to the side. Shinigami... Kill the shinigami... Kill... Destroy the Shinigami... Destroy... Destroy! DESTROY!!! For a brief moment, he stopped and gripped his right eye, before readying himself once more, as his energy suddenly exploded outwards and he faced Kaen with a slightly pained smile. "Whenever you're ready, Kaen."

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen shuddered at Raphael's suggestion. "Or died. The Vandenreich are a bit binary like that. Join us or die. I've had run-ins with them before. It wasn't a pleasant experience. Not all of them are unpleasant people, but at the end of the day, they're bound to the laws of their order." He stated, recalling Malik, who had, for all intents and purposes been a very fun individual and Kaen probably would have enjoyed hanging out with him, if Malik hadn't tried, and succeeded in blowing Kaen to pieces minutes afterward. Fortunately, Kaen had gotten better, thanks to his comrade in that battle. "Even so. That's... that's uncomfortable." He admitted.

But it seemed they were arriving. Signs of battle were about, and Kaen wagered they were quickly approaching the place he and Luca had sparred. The level of damage remaining this long afterward was actually impressive, and beyond what Kaen had expected as of their last meeting. He couldn't be sure exactly when the battle was, but he was reasonably sure, based on Raphael's comments, that it had been awhile ago. Maybe he'd underestimated the two. Fair enough. Kaen cleared his mind of all preconceptions. He was going into this battle against an unknown opponent. He would make his assessment and assumptions as they fought.

Finally they'd made it to their destination. A mountain crater. Probably caused by the last time that Luca and Raph had been here by Raphael's commentary. This would work just fine! And maybe even enable Kaen to use his Shikai if it came to it. Yes, Raphael had picked an excellent field of battle indeed. Kaen gave a nice big stretch, feeling several pops in his back as he did so as he started to walk ahead of his training partner today. "Well that's encouraging. Should be totally fine for you to cut loose then, and see what you can do with your abilities!" He stated.

Kaen rolled his shoulders a few times, as he took up a starting position about fifteen feet from Raphael. Short enough range that he could close in quickly, long enough that he had a little response time if Raphael used ranged attacks. It occurred to Kaen he had no idea how Raphael fought-- though from the sound of things, even if he had known prior, new developments would probably have rendered that information useless. Ah well. Battle was battle afterall. Ever changing situations! Always a first time to learn!

Kaen got into Karate's forward stance, arms up and ready to go. "I'm ready, but since we're doing this for your development, you have the first move." He prompted.

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael kept his smile, as he took a position. The distance was probably about sixteen feet, as he analyzed the distance between the two of them. He had to get the distance exactly, if he were to do anything well. Especially for this. He needed to get the distance right, he needed to move right, everything needed to be more or less perfect. He shook his head. No. He didn't need to get it right. That was the purpose of this. More combat, more training, more experience. That would be the way that he did this...

He needed to be careful too. He remember that last time this had happened and he destroyed the mountain, there'd been park rangers combing the area for terrorists. Caution and careful would be how he would have to do this. Alright... Calm Raph. How do we approach this? There are tons of wa-- His thoughts were interrupted. Kill him. Use all your power. Kill him before he can kill you. You know that one day he will most likely have to. Kill him and do it now!

He'd wanted to do things far more carefully, but at the urging of the voice, the same one he'd heard when he and Kazura had finished working with the lacrima, he took a heavy step laden with the power of soul command. Kaen would be able to see dust clouds kicking up near him, just small at first and then getting bigger, before it suddenly vanished right as it reached him. For a moment the earth shook and then, behind Kaen and to his left, the ground suddenly sharpened and launched at him with an OS of 700. The attack was a threat of impalement and was much more than Raphael had wanted to start off with, yet, there it was. The first salvo had been fired. He felt a strange elation at fighting again, and he wasn't sure that he liked it.

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen could feel Raphael's power surging, though any specifics were beyond his paltry talent at sensing reiatsu. It was fine though. Didn't matter. What he lacked in sensing reiatsu, he made up for in speed and quick reflexes. The dust clouds started building up and Kaen paid close attention. Is he trying to blind me with Soul Command? Something like this won't work... But it seemed that was simply the buildup. The tremor, and the sound of shifting stone alerted Kaen to the attack. A spear of rock? Easy enough, and a good chance to experiment with Raphael's strength.

The Vice Captain turned partway, his left arm sweeping back to catch the piercing attack, grabbing hold around the point rather than grabbing the point directly, and while his arm was firm, the rest of his body was relaxed, so-as to judge the force of the strike. Kaen was pushed for a moment, his feet skidding across the stone, but then suddenly he braced, and with a grinding force the stone spear stopped completely, Kaen's physical strength surpassing the force with which Raphael could propel his spear. "Not bad." Kaen stated, then shifted his weight. If the stone lance had the appropriate durability, then it wouldn't break easily. A structure was only as durable as its weakest link, and if Raphael's stone spear had a durability of around 700, then the weakest point would have to be the base.

If this was correct, then Kaen would uproot and rip free a large chunk of stone along with the spear and flashed Raphael a grin as he then threw the massive hunk of rock directly at the Fullbringer. "I believe this is yours~" He responded. Even if the stone lance broke off by doing this, he was still effectively throwing a javelin of stone at Raphael with a force of 750. A tremendous amount of strength. Raphael would probably have to dodge, or throw up some kind of defense-- but less than twenty feet was a short distance to do that.

And with the starting gun fired, Kaen was now free to launch his own assault. Lobbing a rock like that was merely the prelude, and Kaen followed up right behind it. With Raphael's eyes on the small boulder Kaen had chucked at him, Kaen might be able to slip in, unnoticed behind it, and opened with a straight jab/straight combination to Raphael's solarplexis-- a traditional assault from Karate. Kaen was checking his strength of course, to ensure Raphael didn't end up with a hole punched through his torso. He was starting relatively weak, to make sure that he didn't accidentally kill Raphael.

The jab portion of his attack only carried a strength of 100 to hit Raphael, and judge if he could handle it. If Raphael shrugged off the force of that strike, then the reverse punch that followed it, also slamming to Raphael's solarplexis, would carry a force of 200, as Kaen gradually tested Raphael's limits. If instead, however, Raphael was staggered or winded by the jab, then Kaen would instead lower the force to only 140-- significant, yes, and possibly enough that one or two hits would leave him with a fracture here or there, but nowhere near enough to kill. Kaen took care of his sparring partners-- but he was not about to make fighting him a painless experience, by any means.

[Raphael Laurent]

Raphael smiled a bit to himself, thinking, as Kaen threw it back at him. Holding up his hand, a small purple sphere appeared and he flicked it forward, as it suddenly expanded into an orb, which transformed further into a dragon. The rock would strike the enormous multi-headed dragon, breaking, shattering and coming undone, as some smaller chunks, continued past and hit him, leaving some cuts along his cheek. The moment that the dragon appeared, it landed on the ground, first legs and then body beginning to tear through the ground. Worse still, it wasn’t just ripping the ground apart with force, the ground was simply breaking apart as it did so. “Perhaps, but I think that my dragon friend wanted it.”

Yet as he looked ahead, Kaen was gone. He was certainly a speed demon or, at least, was far more physically inclined than Raphael himself was. Raphael, after all, was more of a spell caster. Mostly. But he was much stronger mentally than physically. Though, in general, he was much stronger than he had been when the two had last met. The punch to his back hit him just a bit, but then the second, stronger punch made him stagger forward just a bit. Obviously this wasn’t as strong as Kaen could really be, and he wondered if the man was simply trying to gauge him. Probably was, though he wasn’t nearly as concerned. Perhaps he’d damage the man, perhaps not. Kaen had ways to easily do so.

You see? The whispers again. The voice again. He will try to kill you. Kill the Shinigami before he kills you! DO IT!! He brought a hand to his head as the voice pierced his mind again. It felt like it was right behind him and he was starting to have trouble focusing. Had he been hit that hard? Fairly hard, but not enough to cause much damage. He stomped his foot down to try and hold his ground. His other knee gave way just a bit, and he faltered, though remained standing. His power flared once more, he could feel a strange burst of anger, and the dragon seemed to change its temperament as well, wheeling around to strike at Kaen, scraping along the ground, causing the rocks to disintegrate further.

“Gotta focus… Can’t lose focus.” He took a calming breath, though all it did was cause something of a coughing fit. He…seemed to remember something similar happening, when he’d been with Kazura. “N-Need to…focus…” Kaen would begin to note a peculiarity in Raphael’s voice just as the man’s energy would start to flare again. He needed to focus and focus harder. He was sparring This was supposed to be a good time for them both…

[Kaen Youji]

Kaen smiled at the dragon. "Awh, he's cute." He replied. If this were a different time, Kaen might have introduced Raphael to his own dragon, but this was neither the time nor place for ego stoking or such childish one-upmanship. He didn't want to kill or seriously hurt Raphael today, so Bankai was completely out of the question. Besides. His speed was more than enough to catch Raphael off guard before the dragon could reach him. First blow had limited effect and the second merely staggered Raphael. More gradual. That second punch hurt him, but there's room to raise the ante a bit.

As Raphael staggered back from Kaen, the Shinigami took advantage of Raph being knocked off balanace throw a sudden snapping roundhouse kick follow-up to Raph's ribs, now striking with a force of 250, aiming to slam the Fullbringer's side with his shin. That was about all the time Kaen had though before the dragon reversed and came back at him. Kaen's foot was back on the ground and ready to move. The Shinigami breathed deeply and in a controlled manner. Take a minute to observe. Remember you came to help him out, not to beat him up. Putting on some pressure is fine, but let him burn bright.

Kaen bounded back from the dragon, trying to weave away from the beast to create space. Was this a permanent construct? Raphael had mentioned instability in his abilities-- perhaps it would short out? Raphael's own reiatsu was flaring and burning in an uncontrolled blaze. Kaen overheard Raphael trying to maintain his focus. "Breathe deep and clear your head. You're in control." Kaen reminded him. "You control your power, your power does not control you. You can cut it off whenever you want." As the Vice Captain continued to keep distance from the dragon, using zigzagging motions to keep it guessing. It didn't look like Raphael was remotely controlling it, so Kaen reasoned it should be possible to confused it.

That being said, the way it was shredding the terrain suggested he didn't want to hit it barehanded... Against another enemy, in a real battle he may have tried to trick the beast into running over its summoner, but he definitely didn't want to do that. So for the moment Kaen simply dodged and avoided the dragon, leading it on a merry chase through the crater to see if it faded out on its own, ad give Ranth the time he needed to regain his composure and control. He'd told Raphael that he could trust Kaen to give him time to gather his concentration and he meant to keep his word on that particular matter!

[Raphael Laurent]

It was getting so hard to focus on the training, every cell in his body was screaming at him to let completely loose. He knew what Kaen had said, but still wanted to hold back, not even so much because he thought he could hurt Kaen, he knew that the man would be able to basically hold his own against anything Raph could throw at him. It was more that the more he fought, the more that he got into the swing of things, the more that he wanted to keep fighting, the more he...couldn't focus.

Raphael took the blow to his side, it lifted him off the ground and sent him flying back, slamming into a rock, as the dragon took another, shaky step in Kaen's direction.

Kill... Kill... Train... to kill... To kill anything and everything... Anything that gets in my way! Everything will be destroyed! Everyone will die!!

"N-No... No..." Raphael struggled a moment, and Kaen would begin to notice that his voice was slightly deeper and seemed to almost echo a bit. "It's... hard to concentrate. It's... It's echoing. It's constant. S... Something in my head and I can't get it out...Kaen." He was choking on so many things, it felt like he was drowning, in some ways, in his own head and his own thoughts. He could taste... No it wasn't blood, like he'd originally thought. "It's... not m--my power... Kaen. It burns. I ca... I can't stop hearing it."

He tried to straighten, but was force back down and coughed, but instead of spit or blood, it was...a strange, viscous white liquid. He reached down to touch it, only to end up coughing a second time. Something... Something was wrong with his left eye, and it was spreading up his face and... No it was just over the left side. It almost felt like he was wearing something... And now it was harder to focus and his body wouldn't respond.

Kaen, however, would see everything. First one half of a mask formed on Raphael's face, almost like a helmet with an open visor. Then it spread up his head and to his back and that was when a font of reiatsu flared from out of his back. And now the dragon was going completely crazy. It roared, reared and began to breath a purple fire on the mountaina nd even down to some of the nearby trees. The mountain was slowly coming apart.

"Shi... Shi...nigam...i..." the half masked face turned slowly and locked on Kaen. "Kill... Kill... KILL!!"