[JT]Squad 4 Official Training Exercise!

[Satoshi Fuuko]

To: Satoshi Fuuko, Unseated, Squad 4

As part of your first official training exercises, you are to meet tomorrow at the location given below at 0700 in the Rukongai district. There, you will encounter a small area set up to resemble the real world. While there, you will first meet up with your partner, then you will survey the area and "Rescue" the "Downed Shinigami" This drill will be graded on both time and accuracy. The field is meant to represent the chaos of the situations that you will encounter in your proper duties. We do not always have the luxury of choosing who we work with and what we do in emergencies. 

You will be graded once you complete your assignment and return to Squad 4. You are being observed. 

-Squad 4 training and recruitment. 

Fuuko yawned as she checked her map. She had gotten up early to make sure she was at the location early. It was out in the rougher part of the Rukongai, well past where she had lived before she had gotten to the academy. First thing was to find the location. She had been dashing through forested regions for some time now, but a tingling sensation made her stop and she pushed her way into a clearing that looked like it had a mocked up village and a supply station. It looked much more modern than most of the run down shacks in this area. It also looked more like Earth, with a small little city-like area.

'Tch." Fuuko stepped into the clearing and looked around. She wondered why she couldn't come with Kazu. They'd breeze something like this, but who knew about this mystery partner. It could very well be someone she had to literally carry. One of the weaklings who was stuffed into the squad because it was the only way they could be useful. Fuuko frowned. Not that she was particularly useful... She could already see the hassle from her "partner" when they expected Fuuko to heal.

"OI!" Fuuko barked. "IF YER EARLY, I'M HERE!" She said and then looked around. There was a small table with a note attached to it.

When you have both arrived and are ready,

please each place a hand on the table and

the exercise will begin.

Clearly this was used frequently, but not kept up too well. At least that was Fuuko's observation from a quick glance. It was really sort of interesting, but she hadn't come out all this way just to look at some architecture, that was for sure. She sighed and fidgeted with her skirt, which was only long enough to cover her bottom. After a moment, she crossed her arms and looked around again. She hated waiting, Eventually, she found a nice tree to lean against and stuck a pinkie in her ear, using it to root around and dig for wax while she waited. 

[Munemasa Iroka]

It was morning. Iroka wasn't too pleased with this development. She had had a nightmare the night before, and felt as though she hadn't slept at all. And yet, she had to get out and do her daily thankless work at the Division 4 headquarters, taking care of people who mostly treated the Division 4 Shinigami like trash. It was interesting to note that this bad treatment was due to two reasons, both of which created a self-feeding vicious cycle. On the one hand, most members of the Division were non-combatant. Because of this, people who managed to graduate the Shin'ou Academy who had no fighting value ended up in the 4th, increasing the number of 'useless' Shinigami. Some things needed to change.

Wearing a rather grumpy expression, Iroka went into the bathroom to clean up in preparation for the day. It was while she was in the process of finishing a shower that something seemed to flash in her mind, but for the life of her, she could not grasp it. She was forgetting something important. As soon as she left the bathroom, she knew why. The paper lying on her dressing table. There was some Division 4 training supposed to be happening today. And she was definitely going to be late if she kept on like this. With renewed vigor, Iroka got dressed, set herself in order, and dashed out of the Division building, the info paper gripped tightly in her hand.

She managed to pass through Rukongai's sleepy districts without any unnecessary events, and very soon, she arrived at a clearing which seemed relatively odd, for a Rukongai setting. It looked a bit more like Earth, more... modern, than the average Rukongai looked. On another day, Iroka would have gone about exploring things, but she was late and could not delay. Besides, the note she was carrying had mentioned that she, as well as the person she was partnering with, was being observed. She had to be on her best behavior, then. Who knew, if she did well, it could probably earn her a promotion to a seated position. No matter how low the seat was, it was better than not having a position. At least the grunts of the other divisions would have to respect someone who outranked them, even if they could defeat said person in combat.

And then she noticed the tall woman leaning against a tree, picking her ear. "Ohayo gozaimasu!" Iroka called out cheerfully, running towards her, before bowing to the woman. She didn't look like a Division 4 squaddie, this woman did not. She looked like the kind of person who would take your head off with a kick. "I am Munemasa Iroka. I apologize if I kept you waiting. Please, let's work well together!" Having made her introduction, Iroka checked the time. It was a minute past seven, which meant she had just arrived on the dot of the minute. That was quite a close shave.

Taking note of the paper on the table after concluding with greetings and such other (un)pleasantries, Iroka took note of the table, and the paper on it. She walked over to the piece of furniture, and gazed at the message written on the note attached to it. Each of them was to place a hand on the table to begin the exercise. That seemed easy enough. She turned to look at the dark-skinned blonde. "Are you ready to start this mission?" Yeah, maybe that wasn't the best question to ask, seeing that the lady had been likely waiting for her to arrive, but Iroka was not a genius when it came to small talk. At least, she had a pleasant smile on her face.

Satoshi Fuuko

[Satoshi Fuuko]

"Huh?" Fuuko blinked when she heard the cheerful good morning. She pulled her finger from her ear, looked at the small clump of wax, slowly pulled it up to her nose, sniffed it, wrinkled her nose in disgust at her own actions and flicked it away before turning and looking at her partner. She was cheerful  and girly and ... probably belonged in Squad 4 way more than Fuuko did. 

"Hello, hello." Fuuko said, hopping up to greet Iroka. "Ha!" She laughed at the bow. Fuuko extended her hand instead for a firm shake. "Ya ain't gotta bow ta me! Satoshi Fuuko. Pleased ta meetcha! Just call me Fuuko, alright? We're sisters out here today, after all!" Fuuko said and slapped Iroka's shoulder with the hand that was not extended. She was never one for letting people have personal space. She did take a second to look her partner up and down, though. They were, surprisingly, dressed similar. Iroka's hakama pants were replaced by a low cut skirt and the redhead's own ample chest also seemed to threaten to spill out at any moment. "Heh. Ain'tcha a cutie! Are ya a rookie too?" Fuuko remarked as Iroka trotted off to where they were supposed to start their mission. 

"Nnnnnn~" Fuuko stretched and walked over to where Iroka was and looked down. "Yeah, I'm always ready. Let's kick some fuckin ass, Sis!" Fuuko said and slapped her hand next to Iroka's. There was a soft hum and suddenly Fuuko could sense the presence of what she could only assume were other spiritual beings. 

"Huh... do we gotta find em or?" Satoshi said, glancing at Iroka. "I count abooout-" 

Before she could finish, there was a small explosion in the nearby building and the two were licked by a sudden wave of flames that came after. 

Munemasa Iroka

[Munemasa Iroka]

This lady did seem quite... assertive, for lack of a better word, by Iroka's evaluation. With how she was raised, she wasn't expecting the hand held out for a shake. Iroka took Fuuko's hand with some visible amount of uncertainty. Sure she knew what a handshake was supposed to be, but she wasn't used to that sort of greeting. The slap to her shoulder made her yelp and wince, not at all out of pain, but due to the unexpectedness of the gesture. This Fuuko would certainly be a handful.

And yet, Iroka was beginning to like the brash, forward woman. For starters, calling Iroka 'sister' was a plus in the carrot-top's books. As someone who was continually regarded as weird, odd, and so on, having the blonde show such a degree of friendliness was heartwarming for Iroka. She was worried though that she would end up driving Fuuko away due to her quirkiness, but it was best to enjoy the warm and fuzzy feelings of acceptance while they lasted. Still, the young Shinigami was hopeful that she would make a lasting friendship with the blonde.

Iroka was also very much unused to compliments, her cheeks coloring fiercely when Fuuko called her a cutie. "Oh! Um-- I-- er-- thanks..." she stammered, although she managed to recover herself relatively quickly. "And yes, Fuuko-chan, I'm also a rookie. But I don't hope to remain so for long. I have got to make myself useful somehow, after all. Besides, they seem to do a lot of cool stuff in the higher seats. They also die quickly too, though. Then again, the rookies die as well, cannon fodder and all that...." She realized she was rambling, like she often did, and stopped herself, giving Fuuko an embarrassed smile.

The enthusiasm of her squad mate was encouraging. Iroka placed a hand daintily on the table, just before Fuuko placed her own hand on the table in quite an opposite manner to which Iroka had done hers. And then there was a low humming sound, which Iroka wasn't sure she recognized. She could tell, though, with her rather weak senses, that there was some sort of presence asides the two girls here. It seemed there were multiple sources of it. Had they been previously hidden, or summoned when the girls touched the table? Iroka surmised the former.

She turned to look at Fuuko, when the latter asked about finding them. If the mission was about searching and retrieving one or more downed Shinigami (Iroka suspected there would be more than one, because why was anything supposed to be easy?), they would have to sense them, find them and extract them. Whatever Fuuko had counted, or any thoughts she had, were suddenly interrupted by an unexpected explosion, which was close enough to engulf the two Shinigami in the edge of the blast radius.

Iroka shrieked like a banshee, as she used Shunpo to get away from the table, quickly patting herself down and looking for burns. Fortunately, the fire hadn't kindled on her clothing, and she was only mildly singed, but she was going to be very appreciative of she didn't have to experience something like that again. Iroka did not do well with heat, thanks to her (in her opinion) unnecessarily high metabolism. It was a bit painful, and definitely very shocking, but she was fine, so no need to complain.

"Let's check out the sources of the spiritual presences, Fuuko-chan," she said sounding a mixture of upbeat cheer and uncertain apprehension. One would have thought she hadn't just experienced the shock of an unwelcome explosion. "Since we're closest to this building, let's check if there's anyone to rescue in there. I'm not really good at sensing things, but I think there might be some spiritual presence in there." She pointed at the building from which the explosion had come. Hopefully there would not be any further explosions; at least there weren't likely to be from exactly the same spot the prior explosion had come.

Satoshi Fuuko

[Satoshi Fuuko]

Fuuko wasn't expecting that. She was blown back and threw herself in the direction she was being forced. She threw an arm over her face  to keep any debris out of her eyes and skidded to a halt several feet away from where she had just been. "The fuck was that!?" Fuuko yelled and looked around to see if Iroka was ok. With a quick shunpo over to Iroka, she put a hand on her back. "Shit, you ok!?" Fuuko barked, worry in her tone as she looked Iroka up and down. 

"Damn, they really ain't givin us any time ta think, are they?" She said and brushed some dust off of Iroka's back and turned to face the flame licked building. She grabbed the scabbard of her zanpakutou with her left hand, flicked it so it popped up about an inch, then grabbed it and tossed it up so she snatched it with her right hand.

"I still feel somethin inside that buildin, yeah." Fuuko nodded and then looked at the entrance to the building. There was a flaming beam in the way and fire still lazily belching out the top. "Some bad luck ta be born with nice tits n' nicer fashion sense, ne?" Fuuko grinned, using the back of her left hand to lightly smack one of Iroha's breasts, barely contained as her own were. She lifted up her left arm and used it to partially cover her face.  "This is gonna hafta do, I s'ppose." She growled. "I'll get us in and cover ya, you gotta go fast and pull out whoever's in there, ok, Iro-chan?" 

Without waiting for a reply, Fuuko launched herself at the door, slashed up with her zanpakutou, giving her enough of a cut int he wood to follow up with a heavy kick that sent the fiery beam into the building. Then, she immediately darted inside. She looked around and dashed throught he flames until she saw what looked like a shinigami down and coughing inside room bathed in fire.

"Shit! Oi! You ok!? Iro-chan! Over here!" 

Munemasa Iroka

[Munemasa Iroka]

While Iroka felt thankful that Fuuko was asking after her wellbeing, the orange-haired Shinigami felt it was redundant to be worried about her. "I'm fine, but you shouldn't be worried about me, Fuuko-chan," she stated. "There are a number of people about that need our help." For Iroka, the idea was, get the job done, and then worry about personal wellbeing. She would have probably been a lot more concerned if Fuuko had been hurt. But the boisterous Shinigami looked and sounded fine.

Iroka let Fuuko clean some dust off her back, and then took her position behind the blonde Shinigami as they both faced the building. She hated fire. Okay, well, not so much. Fire had its uses, and she was fine with the stuff when it was where it belonged. Standing within, or close to fire, was another thing entirely. She had been right, in any case; Fuuko sensed someone in the building as well. Iroka wasn't sure whether the person in the building was actually a living Shinigami. Did the facilitators of this training use live Shinigami for this?

The orange-haired Shinigami had no idea what anatomy and dress sense had to do with bad luck; many people she spoke to seemed convinced it was the other way round. She yelped when she felt the smack on her chest, and pushed Fuuko in embarrassment. "Stop it!" she chided. "It's perverts that do that sort of thing." Or so she 'd been told. In any case, she did not approve of such violations of personal space.

Fortunately, there was work to be done, and that would distract her from the embarrassment. Fuuko's plan was to make a path in, and Iroka would get whoever was inside out. "Me?" the chartreuse-eyed Shinigami asked in shock. "But I'm--" Whatever she was did not matter. Fuuko had already headed off and was already bulldozing into the building. Was that safe? A burning house could have beams and rafters ready to collapse if more violence was done to the already jeopardized structure.

Well, she would worry about falling buildings later. Fuuko's exclamations informed her that the blonde had seen whoever had been trapped in the building. An idea immediately began formulating in her mind, as her deceptively sharp brain arrived at a reasonably plausible course of action. "isintegrate, you black dog of Rondanini! Look upon yourself with horror and tear out your own throat!" she chanted as she ran after Fuuko. On getting to where her partner was, she saw the fallen form beyond a haze of smoke. "Bakudou #9: Horin!"

As the orange tendril launched out of her pointing finger, it wrapped around the torso of the fallen figure some feet away. Already standing this close to the flames was making Iroka sweat profusely, and her mouth felt dry. Although Horin was not meant to be used in the way she wanted, she was sure she could improvise using it to pull the body over to where they were, since the tendril was corporeal. Only problem was, she wasn't physically that strong. "A little help, Fuuko-chan," Iroka called out, as she began pulling on the kidou tendril.


Satoshi Fuuko

[Satoshi Fuuko]

Fuuko coughed as smoke started to fill up the building. She had located the fallen shinigami but stalled as she waited for Iroka. She was looking for the best way to get the Shinigami out of there when she heard the spell and saw the kidou wrap around the shinigami. "Oi! Good job, Iro-chan!" Fuuko beamed. She frowned, however, when Iroka asked for help.

"What?! What do you want me to do?! Grab the body or shove it or-" There was a sudden crack and Fuuko looked up to see a beam beginning to sag. "Shit!" She dashed forward and stopped with her legs spread, one foot on either wide of the tendril with a beam on her back, forcing her to hunch over. "Owww! Fuck! It's hot!! I can shrug off the beam, I think." Fuuko yelled loudly."But then what do you need me to do after!?" Fuuko hissed, groaningi n pain, waiting for instructions while she felt the fire licked wood sear into her sleveless shihakushou.


Munemasa Iroka

[Munemasa Iroka]

As Iroka struggled with pulling the apparently unconscious form towards her, she noticed a sagging beam, threatening to fall. If the beam did not fall on the person she was trying to rescue, it would fall before them, practically blocking the space through which she was supposed to pull them. Things were just getting worse. In a more ideal situation, and most likely what Fuuko had expected her to do, Iroka would have bodily carried out the one who needed rescuing. But she wasn't that strong, physically. So much for having been designed to do work.

Still, lamenting about a situation never improved it, and that would not be any different here. With the two pertinent issues to be dealt with, Fuuko instinctively chose to go for the beam, supporting it with her body weight beneath it. Iroka was not sure she would ever get to be that strong, but at least she had to pick up the slack. Although she had initially expected Fuuko to help her haul out the person in need of rescue, her squad mate was doing the best she could, apparently with no concern for life or limb. Iroka felt a bit ashamed of herself for not throwing in her all as well.

Gripping the kidou tendril she had cast to bind the one to be evacuated, Iroka pulled them as hard as she could, dragging the form across the ground towards her. "Just a few seconds, Fuuko-chan," she called out, before using Shunpo to cover the distance between herself and the fallen body, which was practically at Fuuko's feet. Grabbing the body, she lifted it onto her shoulders, her legs visibly buckling beneath the weight. Still, she was able to stand. It would not do to fall over, not at this time or place. Not only would it be shameful, but it would also jeopardize the life she was trying to save.

"Let's get out of here, Fuuko-chan," Iroka yelled, before exerting herself as much as she could and performing another Shunpo, with the body across her shoulders. Fuuko had said she could shrug off the beam, so with nothing else of interest in the building, now was the time to do so. As for Iroka, her sudden movement was aimed at the door, but the body on her shoulders made it impossible to move as far as she would have wanted. She felt herself tipping forward, so she thrust her arms and shoulders forward, throwing the body out of the door.

With her forward momentum, Iroka managed to clear the door as well, but like the body she had just thrown out, went sprawled across the floor, landing painfully on her face. The discomfort from the heat inside the burning house was still lingering, but she was outside now. It would pass. She turned to her partner, who she was sure would not have bothered to remain inside the building, since there was no one else there to rescue. "That was amazing. I don't think I could have caught that beam like that. You're as strong as an oni, ne!" She rolled over and sat up, before turning to the body she had just thrown out of the building. "Is this a living, breathing person, Oni-chan?"

And thus Fuuko had been given a nickname. Iroka thought it fit, for two reasons. Firstly, with her brash demeanor, great strength, apparent fearlessness and skin to hair contrast, Iroka was sure that Fuuko would be reminiscent of an oni in the eyes of not a few. And secondly, the name 'Oni-chan' was a pun. It sounded a bit similar to 'onii-chan', which was what Iroka would have called an older brother. While Fuuko was a girl, and thus would have been 'onee-chan', Iroka liked the pun, and so the name would stay... unless Fuuko disliked it.


Satoshi Fuuko

[Satoshi Fuuko]

Fuuko clenched her teeth as she could feel the weight of the beam and the heat of the fire start to sear into her. If her clothes didn't catch on fire, then they'd just burn until her back was exposed. That would be really painful, but not as painful as failing this training. She watched through the smoke as Iroka pulled out the body and forced a smile.

"No worries! I got all-nghk!- day!" 

Once Fuuko saw Iroka appear and grab the body, the blonde let go of the beam and rushed forward, trying to help push Iroka and the fallen shinigami out of the building as best as she could before another fiery ball belched from the building. "Shiiiit!" She hissed and threw her arm up to try and protect Iroka and the shinigami as best as she could. When she turned, she saw the body down and Iroka flat on her face. Fuuko hopped over to her and offered Iroka a hand to help herself up. 

"Haha!" Fuuko flexed and then turned her back to Iroka. "Am I on fire?" She asked, almost too nonchalantly. "It fuckin burns a lot, but, shit! That was nothin! All I did was get crushed by a beam! You saved the..." She then turned and looked at the body. On closer inspection it looked like it was breathing and coughing noises came from it, but Fuuko noticed something sticking out from under their shihakushou. 

She brushed aside the material and there was a small, flashing light. It was yellow in color and a number flashed on it that looked like it was at 75/100 but was slowly ticking down. "Uhhhh..." Fuuko blinked. "I guess maybe it's a dummy? But..." She scratched her head. "I think it still needs healing." Fuuko said and then looked at Iroka. She motioned a hand down at the shinigami and then wrinkled her brow. 

"Oni-chan?!" She said, suddenly realizing what Iroka said. "Ha! That's right! You can call me the devil of squad four!" She barked. "Does that make you the blue oni to my red one, heh? Calm and cool, opposites in everyway but still the same!' Fuuko slapped her hand against her ample chest and laughed again. "Then our bond is even stronger, eh, sis!" Fuuko said and watched the number tick down a bit more. 

"Uhhh... is that somethin you can do, A-kun-a... Ao-kuma... Ero-chan!?" Fuuko narrowed her eyes trying to come up with a clever nickname for Iroka, but it wasn't happening and she was starting to make herself mad. "Fuck! I can't think of anythin clever, sis!"

Munemasa Iroka

[Munemasa Iroka]

Fuuko's ability to keep the beam suspended while Iroka dragged out the supposed victim was, in the orange-haired Shinigami's opinion, enviable. She always desired to be the one that others could rely on, that could, proverbially, if not physically, bear the burden of others. It seemed Fuuko was the one doing the heavy lifting here, but at least, working together, they both had been able to save one of the targets. Iroka had no idea what challenges saving the other targets would pose. In any case, she was sure that there would be traps and/or perils involved if this first case was anything to go by.

Gratefully taking the proffered hand, Iroka allowed Fuuko to help her to her feet. "Well, you were on fire!" the carrot top exclaimed, using a metaphor in one of those rare cases in which her brain allowed her to use figurative language. "Your resilience is incredible. That beam would have crushed me like a bug, and even if I could hold it, I'd probably be bawling my head off. All you did was most of the work. I was just running up and down in there."

Fuuko's comment about the... okay, it wasn't a Shinigami, rescue-thing needing healing made Iroka pause. "Ah... I'm afraid I can only diagnose ailments at my current level," she replied, looking guilty. "The lowest kaidou of which I'm aware is still above my current ability. I'm not really of much use, it seems. The best we could do, if this was an actual mission, would be to return the patient to whatever station we'd established here, or get them back to Seireitei. I'll assume this place, being the starting point of our mission can be considered a hub, so we can simply drag the..." she stared pointedly at the mannequin in the shihakushou "that thing back to the table."

The unfortunate truth was, that was the best they could do. An unseated Shinigami capable of healing of any kind would have been considered a genius of some sort. At her, and Fuuko's present unseated state, they were considered more or less as only useful for cleaning, maintenance and perhaps the muscle in rescue missions. Maybe cannon fodder as well? "Hmmm, I suspect that that countdown thing is there to indicate the that-thing's health status, ne? So maybe rescuing it involves getting it back to the table. Or I hope that's it."

Fuuko easily caught Iroka's pun, and even seemed pleased with it. That would mean the nickname would probably stick. When Fuuko asked if Iroka was in contrast to her, using the figurative 'red oni, blue oni' expression, Iroka's brain unfortunately decided to take it literally. She just stared blankly at the blonde, her large green eyes wide open. There was nothing blue about her... maybe her eyes? Sure, green was yellow plus blue, but chartreuse had more yellow than blue, so did that count? And as far as light was concerned, green didn't even have any blue in it. "Emmm...." Iroka answered cluelessly, unsure of what to respond.

At least, she seemed to be bonding well with Fuuko. Iroka's eyes followed the blonde's to the timer-like device, which just reduced in value, but Fuuko was talking again, so she paused and listened. It seemed her fellow squaddie was trying to give her a nickname. Iroka burst into laughter at the last one. Ero-chan was a very unsuitable nickname, because she wasn't perverted, she thought... or was she? The laughter suddenly died, as the carrot top held up her hands in a placatory gesture, a tinge of embarrassment on her cheeks. "Ah, let's not worry about nicknames, ne?" she said with a nervous smile, as she dragged the mannequin to the table in order to test what she had initially suggested.

There was a loud bleep, and the yellow flashing light became stable, and turned green. Iroka had expected that whoever was giving these missions would not set them up to fail, just for the fun of it. Unless the examiner was her parent, Kimyou. The two Yonbantai girls weren't expected to know any healing kaidou as mere beginners, so Iroka had surmised that this was more of a test to see how quickly and how well the two Shinigami could rescue targets in a simulated event. It was in times like this that Iroka unexpectedly showed her keen intelligence. The fact that she often did weird or ditzy things sadly counteracted her image as a brilliant person.

"Well," Iroka said with some degree of satisfaction, "now we know what we're supposed to do." She took two steps forward, and then paused, before turning slowly to look at the mannequin lying beside the table. For a moment, she seemed to be in thought, and then she suddenly began frantically searching herself. After a moment, she made a triumphant sound, and held up the object of her search: a permanent marker pen. Skipping over to the table, the young Shinigami squatted beside the mannequin, and drew a smiley face on its blank head. "Yoshi!" she exclaimed. "Let's go after the rest!"


Satoshi Fuuko

[Satoshi Fuuko]

"Baaaahhh!" Fuuko blushed at Iroka's compliments. "I ain't never gonna let a beam crush me!" She said as though assassination by beam were a reoccurring thing in Fuuko's life. "You saved the ... injured. By myself I would have just choked and died." Fuuko saif with a shrug. 'We can agree we make a good team, though!" Fuuko said finally, puffing out her chest. 

Unfortunately, Iroka's admission deflated the blonde pretty quickly. "Wait, what? Whadya mean  ya can't heal!?" Fuuko barked. "Why the fuck did they send two completely useless people on a trainin mission?!" Fuuko balked. "Shit! I mean, there better be a hell of a lot more beams that need hefted up if I'm gonna be useful! I thought fer sure at least you  could heal!" Fuuko grabbed Iroka by the sides of her shikakushouand gave her a firm shake. "What kinda blue oni are ya!?" Fuuko barked. She sighed, let Iroka go, tugging on the Shihakushou to pull it back into place and then ran a hand down Iroka's chest to smoth out any wrinkles she caused. 

"Well, dammit!" Fuuko kicked the small desk they signed in at and knocked it over. "Rrrrghhh! I guess we'll just have to be extra clever! They gotta know we suck real bad, right? Tch!" Fuuko pointed in a random direction. "Think this is gonna stop us, ya bastards!?" Fuuko barked. "We're savin the shit  outta anyone you throw at us!" Fuuko snorted and looked at Iroka. "Yer right, Sis! Let's go!" She grabbed Iroka's hand and shunpo'd off to where she sensed the next "victims." 

There was another small clearing with another little kiosk like before. in front of them were three "shinigami" This time their buttons were clearly exposed on their chests, but the three of them were in three different states injury. On the left one was bruised up, groaning but otherwise seemed fine. The one in the middle was covered in lacerations and was covered in blood from the shoulders up. The third one was drenched in so much blood that it was impossible to tell much more than that. 

When Fuuko arrived, she slapped her hand on the kiosk and a timer popped up. "Choose one to save." appeared a small message under the timer. There was about a minute. The numbers on their chest buttons were fluctuating as well as could be read for the ones that weren't covered in blood. Fuuko looked at Iroka. "We should just grab the bloody one, obviously!" Fuuko hissed. "What?! Are they testin how fast we can drag a body over here!?" Fuuko barked and went over to where the three bodies laid. 

ONLY READ THESE IF YOU FEEL YOU MUST! (or want to be spoiled)

Body 1 hint:

SPOILER: Click to show

{hint}Upon first blush, the most obvious thing is the lack of blood anywhere, however, the breathing is much more shallow than the others and the light on the chest is in the yellow and ticking downwards. There is also a trickle of blood nestled in the corner of the body's lips. Whatever happened to this body is a result of blunt force trauma.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Body 1, hint 2}The number seems to be falling rapidly. Breathing seems hard and the contusions plus the trickle of blood indicate that this body is suffering massive internal wounds and is shutting down.

Body 2 hint:

SPOILER: Click to show

{hint}Body two is covered in lacerations, the deepest one being across the top of the forehead. Blood loss is apparent and the light, while hard to read the numbers without wiping away the blood, seems to be in the yellow as well.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Body 2, hint 2}Upon closer inspection, you realize all of the lacerations seem superficial. While they are definitely losing a lot of blood, the number isn't ticking down quite as fast as body 1.

Body 3 Hint:

SPOILER: Click to show

{hint}It's impossible to see what the color or number of the third body's button is without wiping away blood. The good news is, on first inspection no visible chunks are missing and none of the insides seem to be on the outside.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Body 3, hint 2}Wiping away the blood shows that the light is still in the green. In fact, the more blood you wipe away, the less wounds you fine. It's as if the blood covering the body blongs to the other shinigami next to it. Could this be a trap?! IF YOU READ THIS, YOU SHOULD HAVE THE BODY REACH UP AND START CHOKING IROKA (scouts honor ^ ^)

Munemasa Iroka

[Munemasa Iroka]

Iroka just stood and smiled with her eyes closed, as Fuuko ranted about why the higher-ups would send "two completely useless people" on a mission such as this. She would have loved to say that she didn't think they were useless. Or at least, she didn't think Fuuko was. As for herself, she could not confidently say. At least, lifting beams was something Fuuko could say she could do. Iroka, for her part was really hoping there would be less beams to carry.

"Ah?" the orange-haired Shinigami asked in surprise, as she found two hands gripping the hem of her shihakushou. "Wa-- wait, Oni-chan!" she protested, "I promise, I'm going to soon learn to heal. I'm trying to learn not to be useless. Honest!" And then Fuuko let her go, smoothening her up after the unexpected manhandling. Iroka allowed Fuuko to attend to her, although her chartreuse eyes momentarily watched the blonde suspiciously for signs of more intended rough handling.

Maybe the whole idea of this test was to determine just how intelligent the two ladies were. Expectedly, the higher-ups of the Gotei 13 would know what they could, and could not, do. And healing was out of the window. "Right," Iroka answered. "They may be trying to see just how smart we are. Although, if that's the case, why not just give us a written exam or something?" Actually, she knew the reason. Intelligence and resourcefulness in the face of emergency was most likely what they were looking for.

"Well," Iroka thought, "if I were a Shin'ou Academy instructor, or I had to evaluate rookies like this, I'm quite sure I could come up with a written exam that would analyze thinking ability in difficult situations." What was in Iroka's mind may not have been the best for students, though. Like writing a test on a suspended bench, with a saw slowly cutting the rope that suspended the seat. If one did not finish on time, too bad for them. Also, if one had less than half the answers correct, the rope would be cut immediately. Quite an intelligent--

Iroka was suddenly pulled, literally, out of her reverie, as Fuuko grabbed her hand and flash stepped. The two arrived at another clearing, with a table like that of the first area. This was a different test. Unlike burning buildings, there were three people on the ground. They seemed to be in various stages of injuries. But as someone with a very good analytical eye, Iroka knew that there were often many things that were initially unseen, and some obvious things could be lies. And then Fuuko was yelling about going for the bloody one and stomping over to where the bodies lay.

"Oni-chan, wait!" Iroka called out. She placed her hand on the kiosk as well, looking at the timer. Just about a minute. "Go for the groaning person. I shall go for the bloody one. Please do as I say and I will explain my reason for my actions when this test is done. For now, we have the advantage of being two people, so we can check two bodies at a time. Pay close attention to your patient, if they seem to be suffering from less than obvious but notable injuries, like pale skin, shortness of breath or the like, examine their timer. If it's dropping fast, move that one to the kiosk and don't bother with the other one. If not, go to Patient 2."

Iroka intended to get to Patient 2 first, though. It was in cases like this that the only kaidou she knew, Shindan Suru, would be very useful. Since they were pressed for time, Iroka decided she would not bother with the incantations for the spell. She just needed to get a read. With a single reading, she would be able to tell if the person lying before her was in critical condition or not. Since the spattered blood seemed to be even covering their indicator, she would simply not bother to clean it. The Shindan Suru would tell her all she needed to know.

As Iroka knelt beside the body, and held out her hands, the bloodied form suddenly reached up, their hands wrapping round the young Shinigami's throat. She gasped in surprise and fear, as she felt the fingers constrict, slowly cutting off air and blood. So this one was not a victim. The best thing to do when being choked was to react quickly. If she allowed her brain to be deprived from too much blood, she would faint, and that was the least optimal thing she wanted at present. In any case, she had something going for her. Her assailant didn't seem to be much stronger than the average person. Another thing Iroka had was her training in combat readiness, and though she had neither the physical strength nor experience to be fearsome, she was quite a capable fighter in her own right.

Quickly lifting her right hand and crossing it over her assailant's arms, she grabbed their own right wrist and twisted violently and upwards. That would probably leave some bruises on her neck, but better to have bruises and be awake than faint in the middle of a mission. Just in case this person had an iron grip, Iroka's left hand clenched halfway, to form a 'leopard's fist', which she sent with as much force as she could muster at their family jewels. And then she attempted to wrap her legs around her assailant's head and neck. If the strike to the gonads secured her release, she would go for an armbar. If they still managed to grip, she would attempt a triangle choke.


Satoshi Fuuko

[Satoshi Fuuko]

"Huh!? We ain't got time!" Fuuko barked at Iroka when they arrived. She wasn't one for waiting around, but she listened to what Iroka was saying. Iroka was the cool one, the blue oni, and Fuuko knew, even in a hurry, they needed to at least have a plan. It did make sense, they, at least, had thirty seconds to see if the last body was the one if they only used half the time. That was, at least, how the Fuuko match added up. "Yosh! Good thinkin, sis!" Fuuko said and rushed over to the bruised body.

She inspected it carefully. Even though she wasn't a healer and really wasn't a medic, she knew all about injuries. HAaving sustained plenty in her day, she noticed that the body probably had cracked ribs. The breathing was very shallow. The coughing was indicative of some fluid in the lungs, maybe even a punctured lung from a rib. "Shit! It's real bad, Sis!" Fuuko said just in time to see Iroka get choked by the "victim!"

"Oi!" Fuuko pulled out her zanpakutou in an instant, but before she could even take a swing, Iroka managed to dislodge them, nail them between the legs and choke them out. "Holy shit!" Fuuko's eyes widened in awe as she watched Iroka dispatch her attacker. It was amazing, but she wasn't there to gawk! They still hadn't finished the mission yet.

'Yeah, hold em down, sis!" Fuuko encouraged. The struggling against Iroka was weak, but still enough to probably keep her busy. That left Fuuko to make a snap decision by herself.  She turned and looked at the middle victim. She used her thumb to wipe away the blood on the light and saw the numbers. It was in the yellow, but just barely and not really ticking down too much. She glanced around at the wounds and none of them seemed to be that deep. She knew the forehead gash was something that bled like a faucet, but it was superficial. This victim was injured, but they'd be fine for a while.

"Oi! I got it, sis!" Fuuko barked and hefted up the bruised body. She carried it over to the kiosk and then slapped her hand on the pad and it beeped. "Mission complete! Perfect!" It beeped and then gave a time, along with some other times, indicating that some others had been much faster but others had brought the middle one up and, while it still passed, wasn't with high marks.There were, of course, a small list of failures at the bottom, but instead of names they were just listed by group. Apparently Fuuko and Iroka were "Group BR."

"Yosh!" Fuuko pumped her fist and then looked at Iroka with a wide grin on her face. "See! I knew you had it in you! That was an oni move if I have ever seen one! We have to sar! With moves like that..." Fuuko raised her hands and wriggled her fingers. "A little hand to hand... I bet yer way tougher than ya let on." Fuuko's eyes gleamed as she imagined Iroka being a secret martial arts master. "And you even bashed em right in the crotch!" Fuuko smashed her fist into her pam. "Iroka-chan! That's how we'd take out a rival gang for sure! What part of Rukongai are you from anyway!? It wasn't too tough where I was from. I mean we still had sandals, but there were some shady characters. I definitely put one or two chumps in their place!" Fuuko bragged.

Munemasa Iroka

[Munemasa Iroka]

Even though Fuuko had protested that they hadn't got time, Iroka was glad she had listened. To rush into a scene without any consideration of the matter was certainly not the way to go. That would be for Divisions like the 11th, which did not require, in Iroka's opinion, any degree of sense or brain power. If those of the Yonbantai were to not only survive but be successful, it was necessary that they had to show some level of intelligence. Fuuko was an outlier; she was the sort expected to be in a more combat-worthy Division. The less useful ones like Iroka (totally in her opinion) had to think.

And her appeal to plan had been so far fruit bearing, even if the present fruit was trying to choke her. Fortunately, Iroka had known from the get-go that she was anything but strong, and as such, had been taught a fighting style that focused less on strength and more on technique and skill. Even though the fellow who had been all bloodied up was physically bigger than she was, by the time she had sunk the triangle hold, he was forced to let go of her, as the tables were turned, and he was the one being choked now.

Sadly, Iroka was not able to knock him out immediately, and killing him was certainly out of the question, so she had to be patient, and let him weary himself as he struggled against her. She could see that Fuuko had been ready to attack with her zanpakutou, which perhaps was all the best for the choking fellow, as Iroka was sure Fuuko would probably not have settled for just knocking him out, especially as the average zanpakutou was a bladed weapon, and blades were better at bloodletting than knocking out. Still, being tangled up with this fellow meant that time was wasting, and Fuuko had to end up making the final decision.

Finally, Fuuko chose the first body. While Iroka hadn't checked the degree of injuries on that one, she had noticed that although the second body was covered in cuts and blood from the shoulders up, none of their injuries was bleeding, with the apparent worst being a cut on the forehead. As the forehead possessed no vital blood vessels, Iroka was sure that that fellow would get away with a number of cuts and bruises, and maybe some ugly swelling and mild dizziness due to anemia, but eventually nothing life-threatening. The beep that emanated from the kiosk informed the two Shinigami that they had succeeded.

By this time, Iroka's assailant was blue in the face, and hardly moving. Just as well. She let him go immediately and rose to her feet, as she dusted herself down, looking at the bloody form before her. She turned to Fuuko, as the latter praised her fighting prowess. "Me, tough? I'm actually quite delicate," she replied, as honestly as she intended, although that was not entirely true. While Iroka was much tougher than she appeared, she hardly ever placed great value on her abilities. "You'd destroy me if we sparred! And why do you wriggling your fingers remind me of something lewd?"

Fuuko asked what part of Rukongai she was from. That was a difficult question. Could she really say she was from anywhere in Rukongai, seeing as she was not exactly a 'natural' Shinigami? "Um, I was... born in District 80, Eastern Rukongai," she replied honestly, "but I was always kept indoors, and my parent was a very scary person, so nobody messed with us. I was sheltered for most of my life, after my... ah coming to Rukongai." She stood as though in thought for a moment, then suddenly knelt beside the body of the one she had choked out, ripping a part of his sleeve, which she used to clean his face. Then she produced her marker, and began drawing on the fellow's face.

"So, do we have other targets to rescue? And what does 'BR' mean? Big-time Rejects?"


Satoshi Fuuko

[Satoshi Fuuko]

Fuuko shook her head. "Don't be coy, Iroka-chan." She said regarding Iroka's claim of being delicate. "No one who can choke someone out like that is delicate." She explained. "And just because i might win in a spar, just means I'm a real monster, it doesn't mean you  ain't tough!" Fuuko snorted and nodded. About the lewd comment, her eyes gleamed and a smile tugged at her mouth. "When it comes ta looks, I may  have met my match." She mused and then broke into a hearty chortle. "A blue oni til the very end, eh, sis?!" She said between laughs. 

Fuuko quickly let the moment pass as Iroka gave some information about her background.     "Shit, eighty!? I'm from East fourty four!" Fuuko said with a nod. "But, shit! Even if you were kept away from everyone, just bein out there... I just punched anyone who hot in line round my place! Not too much trouble other than the old Obasan tellin me ta find a husband!" Fuuko stuck her pinkie in her ear and gave it a few turns either way. "Like I'm gonna settle down and have babies! Tch! Old bat!" Fuuko hissed and flicked some wax she pulled out. "I guess I misser 'er a lil  bit, though." Fuuko admitted. "Well, now you can see the world!" Fuuko encouraged with a hard slap to Iroka's shoulder.

Fuuko wrinkled her brow as Iroka asked what BR stands for. "What!? Hell no!" Fuuko balled her fist. "They broke the mold when they made us, Sis!" Fuuko snorted and slapped her chest. "I bet it means Blue and Red! Yosh!" In reality, the two were just "Duo B" of "Group R:" a randomly assigned number, but since Iroka was thinking on it, Fuuko was too!

"But... yeah." She became serious. "I still feel some people around. This way!" Fuuko grabbed Iroka and shunpoed off again. They were in another clearing, this time there was a small forest in front of them and a kiosk in the clearing. Fuuko slapped her hand against the pad when she approached and it lit up. 

"Hopefully they give us somethin a lil tougher." She mused as the next phase's instructions popped up. When Fuuko read it, a chill ran down her spine. She tensed up and looked around. "Shit! Shit! Shit!" Fuuko  moved away from the kiosk and was behind a tree where there was a propped up body. She shook her head and kept looking around. 

On the pad read the words 'You can not save them all.' Followed by a count that had 0/11 and a timer counting down. This one was at twenty minutes, or just under two minutes a body. "Why the fuck would they give us this kind of test!" Fuuko barked. That was when she heard it, there were howls in the distance, like approaching Coyotes. 

"The fuck!?" She said, looking back to Iroka as she drew her zanpakutou. "Did they really put animals out here too!?" 




Munemasa Iroka