Secret Training: Kuroi and Asuka [R, NDE]

[Zou ۞]

Kuroi was taken aback, though he didn't show it, since he masked all responses other than blankness or irritation. Asuka had had a nightmare about him? Well, he'd figured that she would, but for her to admit it was weird. Why would she possibly admit that to him? He wasn't quite certain, actually. Kuroi just knew that Asuka admitted it, and that he was supposed to come up with some sort of reaction to that. It would be a waste to ignore it when she'd so plainly put it out there, despite having no need to. Come to think of it, why weren't there any shark hollows anymore? There used to be plenty. It would be tremendously cool if they could come into existence again. If Kuroi tossed Asuka into a pool of sharks, maybe she'd learn his lessons even faster. Oh well. All theory at this point.

He turned away from her, walking away after hearing about her dream. "Understandable." Kuroi said simply. Yup, that was how he was going to answer Asuka. He was going to tell her that it was understandable. Meanwhile, he saw her put the strips over her breasts in a vain attempt to cover her nudity. For one, it was a tease that made it MORE erotic. For two, her entire lower half was naked. Having her breasts covered wasn't going to stop someone from raping her if they got the chance. Come to think of it, hadn't Makoto Escudo fingered her? Nijuu had put that in his report. Disgusting. What did Asuka's boyfriend think of this, anyway? Did he even know? Hell, Kuroi didn't care, but he did want to see Shinsei's reaction to that kind of news. Kuroi was well aware that something like that was devastating in the world of romance.

In the meantime, the Cero was firing off. Kuroi grabbed the Cero, but did not absorb it. He hurled it off to one side, and it shattered against the ground. The difference in reiatsu strength was enough that Kuroi could do this. Wow. Why had he done that? Well, the answer was rather simple. They didn't need to work on Cero, anymore. Asuka had just needed a taste. The rest could be done on her own. Kuroi had other plans, this time around. He considered taking his shirt off to work with more freedom, but Kuroi didn't want to do that. The suit was very comfortable, actually. And on top of that, having a suit was part of his pride. He had to look good, look cool. Sometimes Kuroi missed his black leather coat, and he did indeed consider having his Ressurection modified so that he could put a coat in it. He didn't think he'd go through with it, but it was nice to consider.

Kuroi reached into his coat. "We will not be working with your Cero, right now." Kuroi said. He pulled out...two capsules. "We will be working with C-weapons." Oh, that wasn't good. He looked carefully at Asuka, studying her. "Do you have an Arrancar Capsule?" he asked her. This meant one of those special, Unique capsules. Kuroi was referring to the ones used for C-Fusion. He was asking if Asuka had one of those. Well, she had the snake. The Baker had even told her about the C-fusion capabilities.

[Deleted]

Understandable. Understandable is RIGHT. Was it going to be like this for the rest of the month? He was probably going to feed her to the wolves or something. A pack of adjuchas wolves. Maybe Kuroi had a pen full of them in his room. He seemed like the type to have them. Asuka would think that they were blood thirsty adjuchas wolves that loved to feed on cute arrancar such as herself. Oh, the thought was just eating away at her! Kuroi was damn near crazy! This man was capable of anything but laughing! "Why hasn't he been arrested yet or something...?[/i]

Kuroi was more than likely enjoying every bit of Asuka's misery during this training. This was probably payback or something because of the whole Shinsei fiasco. Shinsei was a great guy!...Who just happened to be a shinigami. A damned powerful one who was rather friendly and just liked to have sex a lot. She genuinely liked him though. Wow...now that she was thinking about it, the basis of their relationship was sex. Was that good? No...Probably not, but she hardly saw him and he was always wearing that smelly pheromone! Now, that's just no fair!

Asuka wasn't really sure if this was a good thing, then again...that was probably the best relationship she's ever had! Hell, with four ex-boyfriends that tried to kill you, you'd think the same thing too! She had yet to tell him about her incident in the forest. Quite frankly, she was scared to...but she had to! She just didn't know what his reaction would be and well, that's a scary thing. What if he was just like Kuroi when he was angry? Jeez, the more she thought of it, the more scared she became! What if he already knew? She didn't doubt that, but she wanted to explain her side of the story too! Damn, if she wasn't so weak, that never would have happened.

Oh yeah, Kuroi had to have hated the fact that she dated a shinigami...but she was in the same boat as Nijuu! She hated him and honestly thought that he was the last one to date ANYONE, let alone a sexy shinigami with a pair of hooters, a feisty temper and a fucked up royalty complex. Really, Nijuu calling it 'hatred' was a load of bull. The man LIKED her! Maybe he didn't know how to say "like" or "love" so he just mistook it for hate? That was all that he and that Vice Captain seemed to know. Kuroi probably hated her too. Nijuu's a tad bit different now. All that hatred just seemed to be sucked up when they were together. Oh hell...they're perfect for each other. Those two and their creepy hate fuck...Yuck! (I rhymed. :]). Asuka still thought that she was magical though. She'd never seen that side of Nijuu and it was rather surprising. So for her to bring out that side of him deemed her 'magical'...or at least it did in Asuka's mind.

He probably wanted to use his strongest technique on her to exact his hatred for her dating a shinigami. Kuroi just seemed like the vengeful, blood thirsty type. That sucked considering that she was going to spend and entire MONTH with him. He had the entire month to beat her weak ass into a bloody pulp. She'd watch as Kuroi absorbed her Cero and fired it off in another direction. She made a mental note to ask about that at a later time. Right now, it seemed that they weren't doing the Cero exercise. Score.

"We will be working with C-weapons." Oh, that was cool. Asuka looked around at the remnants of her clothes and walk over to her blazer...It was intact for the most part. She'd reach into its pocked and pull out her capsule and tie her blazer around her waist. She may have been a nudist, but that didn't mean that she liked it...AT ALL. Really, it's not like she MEANT to lose her clothes. She was either forcefully persuaded or it got destroyed! She knew Kuroi despised her nudity and he was training her so the least she could do was cover up!!

"Right here! It's an animal capsule." she said, walking over to Kuroi. She bit her thumb and once it started to bleed, she'd swipe the blood and put in some reiatsu to activate it. Before her, there was a small green serpent at her feet. Asuka thought it was kind of...cute. But that was because she liked snakes and serpents. It was weird. "This is my serpent. It can shoot petrification rays..but it lasts about 3.5 seconds. If I were to perform a fusion with it, it would turn into a crystal gauntlet and anything I punched would turn to stone for about 5 to 5.5 seconds." she explained.[/size]

[Zou ۞]

OOC: You forgot to dock reiatsu for activation of a C-weapon.

For starters, there were many things that were wrong with Asuka. Kuroi knew that much. That hesitation of hers meant that she was in thought. Not surprising. Kuroi was in thought too, despite this being training. Frankly, he despised some of the crap that she did. For one, she was wasting time by trying to fetch those clothes. Sure, he despised her nudity, but it was just such a waste for Asuka to take that long to tie crap around her, when all it really did was BARELY cover her, making it a tease that more guys would find even more appealing. What was worse, she didn't have panties to begin with, so she could still get raped if someone saw fit to do it. Luckily, they were here for a while, so Asuka probably wouldn't get raped, unless Kuroi himself did it. What?

Well, for one, Kuroi was WAAAYYY out of Asuka's league. Plus, he was the Segunda Espada. Considering his character and position, it was a likely conclusion that everyone reached, a true one. Kuroi didn't give a crap about any form of lust or love. He only cared about power. That was one of Kuroi's ambitions. He couldn't care less about relationships. His focuses were power, and making Las Noches a better world, since for starters it wasn't a very good one, anyway. While he was thinking about that, he should get to thinking about that shinigami boyfriend of Asuka's. He hated that guy. Kuroi had been a great deal weaker the first time he'd met Shinsei. Their dispute had ended with a standoff. Kuroi was longing desperately for the chance to kill Shinsei, come to think of it. Wouldn't that be just sweet?

He was also busy considering which C-weapon to use against Asuka. He had to show her how this crap worked, but he honestly wasn't sure why they were training with C-weapons. It was something he'd just randomly decided. No real rhyme or reason to it, Kuroi figured. Most of all, he didn't even like using C-weapons for training. He mostly used C-fusion, but since Asuka seemed to lack an Arrancar capsule, that wasn't very good. Kuroi wasn't even certain how to deal with that to begin with. She wasn't supposed to use the capsule in animal form. Not against strong opponents. C-fusion had been made for a reason. It had been made for usage. Honestly, the fact that Asuka hadn't found a way to procure herself an Arrancar capsule was annoying to say the least. Maybe it was worse.

Maybe Kuroi would enlarge that hollow hole of hers again, just because of that. Lots of maybes existed in the world of speculation. At any rate, there were many things left to do in that moment. One of them, or at least Kuroi thought, was to get Asuka a new suit. Being so naked, and like that all the time, Asuka clearly made herself look like a total slut. And, looking like a slut, she reflected poorly on Kuroi's Fraccion. He couldn't have that. Not one bit. Then again, she was always naked and screwing that Shinigami, anyway. He was a nice guy according to her, but Kuroi figured he was just a loser that would die sooner or later by his hand and blade. Kuroi was actually considering blasting Asuka with Cero just for the insolence of dating that guy. He didn't like that kind of crap.

Come to think of it, when was the last time that Kuroi got to do something for himself? He was always so busy doing missions and whatnot, and requests, and being with his Fraccion, that he hadn't gotten to do anything recently. Then again, he didn't have much to do besides those things. He was an Espada. No need to be social. On the other hand, Kuroi really did want to attend one of those concerts. He knew very well that everyone would make fun of him if he ever was caught attending a Miley Cyrus concert. He even knew it was a flaw of his. But, he just felt that he liked her in some way. She was a bratty, slutty, bitchy teen. And yet Kuroi still liked her. Technically, this defied all of his previous laws and rules, and might even make him a small hypocrite. Though, a very strong one, of course.

Kuroi looked at Asuka. "To start, the way that you activate your C-weapon is pitiful." he said. "You need to learn how to prick your thumb with your reiatsu, drawing the blood that way. This will ensure an easy activation. The best way I found was to learn to do it with Gran Rey Cero. Naturally, only Espada end up learning this Cero. So, I would recommend just practicing doing it upon releases of reiatsu, perhaps with your own regular Cero." Well, he had a point. Or maybe when Asuka was stronger, she could try and learn one of Kuroi's ace in the hole Cero attacks. Everyone knew that Kuroi and Cain invented the strongest Cero. Kuroi had managed to create the evolution known as Muerte Reloj Cero, and Cero Garandou, both of which were incredibly powerful. And Cain had started the Avaladanzo series.

Kuroi's C-weapons surged with reiatsu, and it activated. A large, black gauntlet had formed on his left arm. This one was spiked, and was lighter than his Go-Suto Two gauntlet. It was recognizable. Kuroi had activated his Cero Garandou gauntlet. This would allow up to three firings of Cero Garandou without arm damage, though inevitably the weapon would return to capsule form as a result of this. Kuroi was still pretty good for owning a C-weapon like that. "Asuka, you need an Arrancar Capsule." Kuroi said.

Kuroi's Remaining Reiatsu: 2600 Reiatsu

[Deleted]

Asuka had the feeling everyone thought that she was some kind of slut. She wasn't! She honestly wasn't! Was it her fault that she had some of the WORST luck in all of Las Noches and maybe even Rukongai combined?! No! It's not like she WANTED to be naked all the time. She got used to it because it's happened so many times! She didn't ask for any of that! She just wanted to be a normal unranked arrancar who was working her way up to Espada. But, perhaps that was just a bit too much to ask for.

Well, if someone was stronger, this wouldn't be happening now would it? That situation with Nilus wouldn't have happened. That creepy rapist baby she met at Paris would have been dead in an instant..and she'd at least be able to prevent Kouen from burning her shirt off too! That psycho blood thirsty escudo would have been knocked out. She couldn't prevent that motorcycle incident happening from when she met Souzetsu so that was just purely out of bad luck. Most of the time, it was her fault because she was weak. She was here to change that and she wanted that change more than anything. She wanted this to be the last time anyone looked at her with that disgusting, condescending glare.

"To start, the way that you activate your C-weapon is pitiful." Green eyes would find their way to the ground out of shame. Well, shit! If she knew there was a better way, she'd use it! She did just get this thing you know?! She knew that there was more to this C-weapon crap. She should have asked The Baker more about it. He would have told her. He was a nice man. Why couldn't people be nice like him?!...Or maybe she was too friendly. Well, Kouen was friendly too but it was a weird sort of friendly. Could her friendliness be the reason why she's always running into trouble? No...Could it? It couldn't possibly be...Right? Friendliness doesn't necessarily indicate weakness all the time...or at least, Asuka thought so. But, her old ways just seemed to constantly run her in to trouble. What a strange thought...

"You need to learn how to prick your thumb with your reiatsu, drawing the blood that way. This will ensure an easy activation. The best way I found was to learn to do it with Gran Rey Cero. Naturally, only Espada end up learning this Cero. So, I would recommend just practicing doing it upon releases of reiatsu, perhaps with your own regular Cero." She look up at Kuroi with clear confusion. With her Cero? "Er....How?" Translation: I'd like to see how it's done so I can do it myself. The Gran Rey Cero. That sounded pretty cool. Maybe by the end of the month, she could learn it! Oh, she hoped so!

"Asuka, you need an Arrancar Capsule." Oh, believe her. She wanted one! She'd look at Kuroi's gauntlets with awe. It looked pretty powerful. Quite frankly, she didn't quite know how to reply to that. She'd just look down in shame again and reply..Y-Yeah., stupidly. Obviously she did need one but didn't have one now did she? Pathetic much? She made a mental note to ask The Baker for one once her training in hell was done. It was necessary.

Asuka's Remaining Reiatsu: 400/700

[Zou ۞]

Was Asuka seriously asking Kuroi to show her? Well, while he was at it, he may as well show her the power of a true Espada, one of his level. However, Kuroi was honestly not in the mood. Then again, this was a part of Asuka's training. While he was considering this, Kuroi figured he'd also think of other things. Why had he decided to start wearing suits? The clothing was really nice looking, but why? There had to be some logical reason to that. Maybe he just liked looking nice. Kuroi decided at some point that he didn't care. However, those leather coats he used to wear looked really nice. He was probably going to somehow incorporate a similar coat into his Ressurection. That would be extremely cool looking. He figured that it would be really nice to do something like that.

He'd look like a badass, and he'd be able to really intimidate anyone that watched him fight. Further, he'd be able to intimidate people with what he'd soon be getting. Recently, one of Kuroi's expeditions around the world had finished. Having completed it, Kuroi had come out with plans to a new C-weapon type, and a new C-weapon he could get as well. As a result, Kuroi was going to go to the Baker later to get his new weapon. It was going to be pretty strong, from the looks of the plans. That way, Kuroi would be able to truly show off and look extremely dominating. He'd once heard Yuki talk about the type of Cero that a High Tier Espada could fire off, or something like that. And reports said Yuki had been a show off about that in her victory over Drago Umaga, Octava Espada.

Now, while that was all fine and dandy, Kuroi had been the one who created the Cero that Yuki used to defeat Drago. The Cero Garandou, being Kuroi's creation, was of course highly popular among the High Tiers, who were the only ones strong enough to learn it. The fact that they learned it in the first place meant that it was worth learning due to strength. Though of course, Kuroi had gone to the trouble to create even stronger Cero based abilities that only he was able to use. Enma Cero wasn't as strong as Cero Garandou, but it was more useful. And, Muerte Rey Cero was able to destroy enemies with a lot more power and efficiency than Cero Garandou could. Sometimes, Kuroi considered making yet another Cero, but he didn't want to particularly specialize in it like Cain did.

Cain was the Cero Master, having invented dozens of different Cero, though he of course hadn't learned all of them himself. Cain had only learned that Avalandazo series, the Advanced Cero. Come to think of it, Kuroi was supposed to fire off his Gran Rey Cero for Asuka. He aimed his left palm at a nearby formation of rocks. Reiatsu flared across his hand, a small part of it pinpricking as a needle. That part was noticeably a tad darker than the rest of the reiatsu. This process took only a split second, and blood was drawn from Kuroi's hand in this way. The Cero quickly developed, a large blue orb surrounded by prongs and bolts of electricity. Blue electricity began flowing across Kuroi's arm. Harsh winds churned all around him, and Asuka was starting to be lifted off of her feet. This was it! Gran Rey Cero!

Kuroi fired it off, the powerful blast zig zagging towards its goal, blasting out, and then moving with far more speed than a Regular Cero. The release of it had so much power that the wind blasted Asuka backwards. It was rushing forwards, a gigantic, enormous blue orb of energy and what appeared to be electricity, or even lightning. When it hit the rock formation, a gigantic explosion rocked the area, decimating not only the rocks, but everything within one hundred and eighty five meters of the rocks, turning all of it to ash. When the smoke cleared, there was only a hole left in the ground, a large crater where Kuroi's target had been. There was only a hole filled with ash. "Are there any questions?" Kuroi asked.

Kuroi's Remaining Reiatsu: 2200 Reiatsu

[Deleted]

Asuka felt that somewhere along the line, Kuroi was just going to get extremely pissed her because of her weakness. Probably to the point where he was going to kill her. She bet that he contemplated killing her at least seven times already! This was....scary. She's never been scared of Kuroi before! She just thought he was a grumpy old guy in a suit that happened to be her boss.

Ugh...the thought of Kuroi as her boss still bothered her. It left an icky feeling. That day when she was running down the streets of Karakura after that damned quincy was the day she swore her life ended. She ran into Kouen that day...who told her the wonderful news. It resulted with her crying and sobbing. Really, she wouldn't blame him for thinking she was crazy for breaking down. However, Kuroi tortured her weak ass and she hated that! Hence, the crying. Asuka really didn't know how Kouen could stay so positive and smile all the time. She'd wonder if he was hiding something...or maybe he's secretly evil but he's manipulating us all with his kind ways!

Or maybe she was paranoid. It was most likely that. She really wasn't used to kindness. Well, there was Shinsei but that's a totally different story. She was talking about kindness in Las Noches. Kuroi had his moments but most of the time, he was a cruel man. Nijuu...Oh jesus. That was a living terror right there. She didn't quite know Chisoku too well but he seemed nice. Asa...was a bi-polar freak. Makoto was a rapist. Adalo overdosed on steroids. Drago was...erm. Yeah. Point proven. There weren't many nice people in Las Noches so she often grew suspicious around people that were kind.

Asuka would love to learn the Gran Rey Cero. Unfortunately, she wasn't at that level. She needed to get through the basics first. Most of which, she hadn't covered. She had just learned Cero...maybe she could get to Sonido next! Baby steps. She had to take baby steps. Asuka saw the wonders of a cero. She'd wonder why she hadn't bother to learn before! She'd struggle less in her battles if she knew it sooner! Granted, this training was hell, but all she saw was her improving little by little. She didn't improve a whole lot, but she was definitely better now from when she first started this whole thing! Alas, she had a very, very, VERY long way to go and she knew that the rest of this month was going to be brutal.

Asuka would watch Kuroi fire his Gran Rey Cero. She'd watch with amazement. Well, if she ever learned it, now she knew how to activate her C-weapon. She could do that with her own cero though. So for now, she'd deal. It zig zagged and it was fast. She was knocked back and from that she could tell that his cero was insanely powerful. It was ridiculous! She'd bring her forearm over her eyes to protect them from the flying remnants of the rock he pulverized. When it was safe, she'd put her arm down and look at the hole he created. "Are there any questions?" She'd blink a few times. "No. I get it now...but that was cool!" Gotta give credit where it's due.

Asuka's Remaining Reiatsu: 400/700

[Zou ۞]

With the steam still leaving his hand, Kuroi lowered his arm. Asuka called his Gran Rey Cero cool. Cool? Such a disgusting and slangy term. She should have called it something else, something better. Magnificent maybe, or glorious. Kuroi had the strongest Cero out of all of the Espada. She should have given credit where it was due. It was a bit too late for that now, but in hindsight maybe he could tell her later. For now, they should of course focus on the training, the purpose of which was to make Asuka far stronger. If she got stronger, then she could defend herself, and not disgrace Kuroi's Fraccion. Plus, she had the potential to become a Low Tier Espada. Kuroi would feel it to be better if the Low Tier Espada came from his training, since he didn't mess up with people.

Obviously however, the current Low Tier Espada were disgraceful weaklings. Faust was nothing but an animal, an animal without even the slightest idea of how to interact with others, or show his place as an Espada. He was worthless, a beast that was scared of women, and "those bumps on the chest." It was disgraceful, really, utterly disgusting. Kuroi had gone on a mission with Faust once before, decades ago. It had been disappointing. Faust had been a weakling at that time, useless, worthless even. Kuroi hadn't even considered hi at an Espada's level, for Faust had been crushed easily. He'd also been beaten aside by an Ogatago several years previously. Kuroi didn't consider Faust worth anything, really. If not for the aid of the mysterious "Husk", Faust would have long been dead.

Then there was Izuki, the Octava. He was weak too. All his release did was expand his muscles. Any cheap Arrancar could do that. There were a tone capable of gaining muscles. If not for the minute amounts of lightning put into his attacks, Izuki would never have become an Espada with such a weak, low level, insignificant power. His abilities were mediocre to the highest degree, and if it came down to a confrontation, Kuroi could probably destroy Izuki without expending any reiatsu at all, even if Izuki used every single thing that he had in the book. That was how it worked. After all, the Octava was weak. And of course, that got to Drago. He was weak too. His abilities were better than Izuki's, but he was an idiot, a fool that didn't know how to fight, and didn't even understand how to use his own abilities.

It was a wonder how he was still alive in the first place. Of course, this brought Kuroi to Former Espada Adelle, the former Sexta. She'd been weak, imitating a bee. Of course, this meant she'd easily lost her place as an Espada. There was then Adalo. Kuroi approved of Adalo. Adalo was strong. However, Adalo was reckless, and wild. He didn't understand his duties as an Espada. That was a flaw Kuroi might kill him for one day. Next there came Sesshomaru, the Former Cuarta Espada. Sesshomaru had been weak, nothing but a joke that Kuroi had dispatched easily. From there, came Yuki. Yuki, the Tercera, was pathetic. She took insults to her pride too often, and her pretending to be a Numero was disgusting.

Finally, there was Cero, the Primera. A worthless, weak, disloyal and backstabbing fool that was too human, too cocky, and too weak to back anything up. With those thoughts in mind, Kuroi looked at Asuka again. "Hurry up and duplicate it." he said to Asuka. "Duplicate what I showed you." Right, she'd been so caught up in his Gran Rey Cero and her own thoughts, that she'd completely forgotten to start practicing doing that herself. Now that Kuroi was reminding her, maybe she'd finally try it and get some stuff done.

[Deleted]

If there was something Asuka could rant about in the five paragraphs that she needed for this training, it would be her crappy misadventures with Kuroi. Where the hell does she begin?! Well, it all started when she first met the guy along with some kid named Sven. He was total dick. Whatever happened to him? ....Who cares? Not her! They escorted some quincy. He was a total phony...Good thing he threw him off the balcony or decapitated him or did something else Kuroi-like. It was a while ago. She could barely remember. She also met old-man Bount. Well, his name was Jin but she called him old-man Bount because she wanted to. She was weird like that.

Asuka actually had nicknames for everyone. She just wouldn't say them out loud. Then, she'd be a goner. Example. If she actually called Asa 'Tit-zilla' she was, without a doubt. Toast. Makoto was the 'hermit rapist'. Nijuu was 'Prick in a throne'. That creepy shinigami whose name she never got was 'creeper' and well...there was a lot more. There was too many to list and this had nothing to do with her misadventures with Kuroi. Oh right...paragraphs about adventures.

She remember him taking her and Sven to that weird place with the screaming hollows and that Privaron. They had to survive in that hell hole. Asuka doesn't exactly remember what she did. She somehow made it. Don't know how but more than likely, she just barely made it. As usual. There was that encounter with the Escudo. That freak that shot Ceros...Ugh! However, she managed to kill him and she was quite proud of that. She figured that from that point on, she'd improve. But, she was wrong. Then came along that 8th Escudo who died by the hands of Nilus. Ugh. She hated him. Pretending to be her and infiltrating Las Noches. Disgusting.

What about the time she came back from her trip? She ran right into the new Escudo and met Asa. That was creepy and then she was forced along to their base and lots of ....oh that's right. That happened. She got chased around by that crazy freak that wanted to do things to her that were all kinds of horrible...And she lost ALL of her clothes. That was bad. Well, on the plus side, she got see Shinsei and learned about C-weapons for the first time. What about that mission in Rome? That was actually the first time she had completed a mission without losing all of her clothes! Her first partner was a creep. Asuka was really glad Kuroi showed up when he did though. That creep would have raped her and that would not be good at all. She had a decent second partner...but then that freaky Espada killed him off...for absolutely no reason. Then she met that vampire..who actually turned out to be really hot.

....Well a girl can look, can't she?! Thinking back on it, he actually looked alot like Kouen. What's up with that? We're they brothers or something? Hn. Weird. So many adventures, so many bad run ins. She should stop dawdling and do what Kuroi asked her to do. Asuka held out her hand and aimed it at a tree. That Cero had better be red. She didn't like the blue one anymore. It was icky. She'd prick her finger with her reiatsu and shoot the cero, activating her C-weapon. There was the snake again. It was at her feet, slithering and hissing. Well, at least she got it. But it was costly in terms of Reiatsu.

Asuka's remaining reiatsu: 100/700 (-100 for activation, -200 for cero)

[Zou ۞]

Kuroi could remember times with Asuka too, though probably much less fondly than she could. The very first time he'd met her, he'd had to babysit her and some weakling named Sven. To begin with, they were both trash, and Asuka was a nudist. At the same time, they had absolutely no potential whatsoever at first. Kuroi had of course on that day met two people that wasted his time. The first was some Quincy representative that he quickly killed. The second was Jin, who he forced to abandon all notions of ever forming some kind of alliance, seeing as Kuroi considered Jin rather weak.

On top of that, Asuka and Sven had made it out of the forest hell he'd sent them to because all of the enemies inside had already killed each other. Only weaklings that hid and scavenged had remained. On top of that, they'd gotten out with one thing in crystal clarity. Sven was a lost cause, a hopeless piece of shit. Asuka had minor potential, but Kuroi decided that it was actually worthless. Of course, there was also that time Asuka had run into Ogatago #4. To begin with, Kuroi considered her a slut for it to this day. She'd stripped when he commanded, giving him her clothes and remaining naked in a cage. It wasn't until much later when Kuroi gave her a shirt to wear and left that she was freed. But then, she'd somehow managed to lose even that shirt, which pissed Kuroi off tremendously. It had been a nice shirt.

She'd said some bull guy attacked her and beat the hell out of her, but he figured she'd just ditched it. One problem on that day was Kuroi's loss of control over his primal instinct of killing. He did still satisfy that urge to this day, but he had lost too much control against Nilus. Nilus had proved too strong, and Kuroi had proved eager to show more power. However, he was too near Las Noches. If he'd released in Las Noches, he would have destroyed a large portion of it, so he'd had to nail himself to the walls and let Nilus escape, or he'd destroy a huge mass of Las Noches. Even to this day Kuroi regretted that. Of course, there was Asuka's aid with the invasion of the Escudo base. Why? Why had she even been there? All she'd done was screw that Shinigami, who was there for whatever reason.

And in the end she'd been no help at all to the Espada, who were facing their counterparts for the first time. On the upside, she had distracted that stupid mutt Escudo from helping his comrades out in battle. Kuroi had met Shiroi the Metal Eater for the first time there, and he hated that. He hated Shiroi with a passion. Even now, he swore that he'd kill him, since Shiroi had technically bested him within their last few encounters. He of course, also remembered something else that was stupid. That mission to Rome. He'd been all over the place trying to keep track of agents, spies, Rogue Shinigami, and Cero and those Escudo. The Escudo he'd fought well against. Cero had gone and gotten herself beat up, and she'd also killed one of Kuroi's trusted, and jeopardized the life of Asuka, his subordinate.

Honestly, she'd also regarded him with that futile, hateful look when he'd told Fusil to fight him. Why had she even bothered? From the start Cero had probably always known that Kuroi was much stronger than she was. There was no denying it. Kuroi hated her. She was a disgrace to the Espada, and a far cry from a proper Primera. Sometimes he considered replacing her, but honestly he didn't want to be Primera. He didn't consider that rank a very big honor. So, to make up for it, Kuroi made sure she was aware that if she didn't take his orders, he would kill her. She made it seem like it was her own casual choice to obey, so that she couldn't lose an appearance of power. But, he knew the truth. She felt fear every time she saw him. She knew that in a battle, he'd slaughter her. As Asuka used her Cero, Kuroi regarded it calmly. He suddenly propelled into Asuka, slamming his fist into her stomach to force her away. "Now face me. Put away your C-Weapon, and draw your sword. It is time for us to spar again. Cero is allowed."

[Deleted]

Asuka swore to herself that when she became an Espada, she'd never be like any of the ones they have currently or had in the past. She'd learn from their mistakes. Sure, everyone had their flaws but...this was a bit TOO much, no? It was like...the majority of the Espada were high on something and that their everyday behavior was the result of it! Asuka would begin to wonder if EVERYONE in Las Noches was off their rocker. Well, with the exception of herself and a select few that is.

Let's see...where to begin. From the bottom up? Faust!...and his damned 'bumps on the chest'. Really, the day that...uh...what is he again? What a total insult killer. She didn't quite know what he was, but he was an animal of some sort. He had a fear of women. What if his opponent was a female?! How the hell would he handle that? He freaked out just by looking at her and everyone knows that Asuka was harmless. She hated that by the way. If she wasn't so 'harmless' and weak she'd be out dominating most of her missions!

What about the Octava? She remembered meeting him briefly during a horrible incident that is too disgusting for this thread. There were fingers and blood and monsters and a co-- Oh god...Just the mere thought of that made her want to throw up! No more. Just, no more of that. Nothing personal against him. It's just that she remembered being in one HORRIBLE adventure with him and she kind of associated the two together...which is bad. But, could you really blame the girl? The whole thing was just a pile of bad memories!

...Or we could talk about the Septima. Arrogant and annoying. Nijuu was right to pick on him. Though, she kind of wished that he didn't beat HER up. It should have been the other way around. Yeah. That would be a lot nicer. Asuka made a mental note to turn his corpse into ash or just feed him to a bunch of hungry adjuchas when she was strong enough. The first and last adventure with him was proof of his stupidity. Like really, who walks in to a dimly lit cave to kill something? That's not smart. It wasn't smart at all! If he wanted to kill what was in there, he could have just lured whatever it was out or something. ANYTHING other than walking into a dark cave. Really..

What about the Quinta? He was fun to see in battles. Y'know, constantly cursing and ripping off his shirt and whatnot. He was a little....crazy. Ok, maybe "a little crazy" was a huge understatement. The man was nuts! Fun to watch, but nuts. He'd make a better nudist than Asuka only because he seemed to like ripping his shirt off. Asuka, well, she didn't have a say in the matter cause she was weak. She just wanted to survive..that was wrong too. She vaguely remembered being on a mission with him not to long ago. He cursed the shit out of that other Escudo and while she wanted to watch him get angry and go apeshit, she had her own problems to deal with. That stupid blonde freak that chased her around the base.

Asuka didn't know too much about the Tercera. She seemed normal for the most part. She too was also on that mission she described a little earlier. She got to fight the nice Escudo. By nice, she meant normal and not psycho. The woman was lucky. How often do you get a decent, non psychotic, sane opponent. They were like unicorns; rare. Nowadays, the only opponents left are the sick rapists and blood thirsty gorillas. You hardly even get a sane ally! Asuka should know, the majority tried to rape her from what she remembered.

Then..there was the Primera. Primera or primera...La primera es una estupido. Ella carece de cerebro. No puedo creer que ella es la primera! Oh yeah. Asuka went there. Spanish. She was very upset that she had a sword pointed at her neck and that her ally was killed. Finding out that she was also their ally just made things worse! Actually, the more she thought about it, the more she hated the Rome mission. Stupid ice cream party and the stupid Escudo. Ah, well, that's another weirdo to add to the list.

With this in mind, she would make sure that she was the best damn Espada she could be. Hell, she could probably be almost as strong as Kuroi! Well, try to at least. He was scary strong. Though, she didn't have to be Segunda. She could be something else but be stronger than her position suggested. That would thwart her enemies and leave them baffled. Not even! Dead. Stone cold dead. That sounded wonderful to her. It certain was worth working for too.

"Now face me. Put away your C-Weapon, and draw your sword. It is time for us to spar again. Cero is allowed." Alas, she didn't have enough reiatsu for a Cero. She'd have to forgo that. That sucks too..seeing as that was probably the only thing that could damage him in the slightest! Ah...well, here goes. Asuka would draw her whips and dash forwards at Kuroi. The arrancar girl would deal a barrage of slashes with one blade and keep one for defense, just like he told her to earlier. He'd probably retaliate somehow and in the event that he did, Asuka would defend herself with that one blade while she lashed her whip around his neck. She would yank the chords down and smash her knee into his nose hopefully breaking it. Though, she doubted that. It was worth a shot! Here's to another sparring session!

[Zou ۞]

Kuroi quickly beat away Asuka's whips with a quick flourish of his hands. He once again, hadn't chosen to draw his wakizashi blades at this time. Honestly, the fact that he'd drawn blades earlier should have made Asuka feel honored. He rarely drew them for opponents of her level. Hell, sometimes he didn't even need them for Captain Level adversaries. Certainly, Kuroi had defeated several Captains, after all. He then proceeded to grab Asuka's wrist and ankle both, gripping them before flipping her for daring to try and knee or slash/stab him. The obvious result was going to be Asuka ending up upside down in the air, her head aimed at the ground. This was Kuroi's exact intention.

Most people would be able to flip back and land on their feet due to battle training, so Kuroi wasn't going to let that happen. He slammed his fist forwards, straight into Asuka's stomach. A sickening crunch could be heard. Blood was prepped to shoot out of her mouth in a small splash because of Kuroi's strike. It sent Asuka flying back, Kuroi's speed still far outmaneuvering hers. She ended up with her body skidding across the ground, those little strips she tied around herself coming undone, giving way to full nudity once again. However, Kuroi didn't seem to mind it at that moment. He was too busy concentrating on kicking Asuka's ass. If he hadn't been concentrating on doing that he'd probably have noticed that she was stark naked (again), and that due to all the movement, everything private was exposed.

Again, he didn't care. He was attacking. Before Asuka could finish rolling across the ground, Kuroi was there with an intense burst of speed, bringing his leg up into her stomach to lift her off of the ground and into the air again, doing this in the form of a sharp kick to the gut that would make her gasp, lose her air, and wind her as she came back upwards, her back arching a bit. Kuroi then proceeded to transition from that into an elbow strike down, slamming onto the back of Asuka's head to stun her, and slam her into a singular bouncing strike across the ground. Of course, that was a problem with training with Kuroi. Asuka was honestly getting obliterated, destroyed. She was being crushed by Kuroi's raw might. He was the strongest Espada, no doubt about it.

He grabbed Asuka's hair, using it to yank her off of the ground, holding her up. Kuroi punched Asuka in the face several times, breaking her nose and making her face bloody, before shoving his fist into each one of her breasts in sequence, left then right, before repeating the exercise one more time and then hurling Asuka into a wall. The female breasts have one hundred nerves per square centimeter. While it wouldn't hurt Asuka as much as a guy getting kicked in the balls would hurt, getting hit in such a sensitive and important area-made more sensitive by being sexually active-would hurt like hell. That was one prop to being Kuroi, among many. He knew where to hit to inflict maximum damage. Honestly, sometimes he surprised himself in terms of how much damage he could do to an enemy.

Never for a second had Kuroi believed anyone his superior. He was right, there was no one. Espada after Espada came and went, and Kuroi was the only one that had truly been around for a while now. He'd been here for decades. More decades than the others. The other Espada were weak, decadent fools. Cero was nothing but a useless backup fighter, someone who used those cowardly toxins and poisons, a piece of garbage that wasn't even worth the light of day. In a flat out confrontation, Kuroi would destroy Cero in the blink of an eye. There was no way for the Primera to top Kuroi, who had already proven himself to be the most powerful out of all the Espada, even if his number tried to indicate otherwise. He'd picked the Segunda spot just so that he could be underestimated like that.

Adalo was strong, but in the end he'd been no match for Kuroi's ultimate power. The Quinta Espada had been useless before Kuroi's might, and had been unable to counter his attacks. It wasn't surprising, obviously. It wasn't like anyone could blame Kuroi for being so tremendously strong. It just happened. Stuff like that just happened. There was also the Tercera, who was weak as well. She lost to Sombra Escudo, and ran away instead of fighting. Not only did she run away, but despite getting out with less wounds than Kuroi, it was she that needed his support. And she tried to bluff it with her useless, stupid pride. Pride was no good to the dead, she should have known that. But, she hadn't known it. Kuroi hated people like that, and he hated people that were stupid like the other Espada.

Drago and Izuki were so worthless that they lost to one of Kuroi's Fraccion. How could two Espada lose to a Fraccion? It was useless, stupid, disgraceful. Kuroi hated people like that. There were also Faust, Adelle, and Sesshomaru. At one time they'd made the Espada ranks whole with their presence. Such was no longer the case. Adelle and Sesshomaru had soon fallen prey to the competition. Kuroi had actually killed Sesshomaru himself for being weak, a fact that no one was aware of. People assumed the Cuarta had been taken by competition. Kuroi was the one that silenced and finished him. Adelle however, who never left her room, really had been taken by competition, some assassin that got in and killed her. Kuroi didn't condone the competition, but he liked it.

It kept everyone on their feet, on their toes. It kept everyone alive or dead. Anyone strong would continue to stay strong, surviving to push back the competition. The weak would inevitably fall behind, lose to Kuroi or someone else. When someone was convinced that they were able to face Kuroi, that was when Despair was the best to spring. When he showed them the full extent of his power, the true difference between them, he could truly open up their eyes to reveal an intense Despair within them. He could truly show them just how strong he really was. The only person that Kuroi had really gotten to face with such power was Adalo. Adalo De-Mona, the Quinta. He'd like to fight that guy again. Other than Adalo being a mindless and bloodthirsty mongrel, Kuroi didn't have much dirt on the guy.

He had to give Adalo props for that. Kuroi had stopped attacking Asuka by now, and had instead chosen to stare at her, all beat up. "There are towels, one spare suit, and several buckets of water behind that formation of rocks." Kuroi said, waving his hand to indicate. "Wash up, get dressed. We will continue once you have gotten yourself together again." Kuroi reached behind a rock, taking one of those water buckets. Without any regard to Asuka's presence, he stripped off his blazer, tie, and polo shirt, hanging them on the rocks. Kuroi proceeded to dump the water over himself, using it to wet and slightly wash his hair, and his muscular torso. Obviously, anyone seeing it would agree that Kuroi had a hot body.

Then again, he was interested in power, not women. His body was a waste. Besides, those eyes of his were scary due to the coldness. It was a turn off. If one ignored the head though, the body was nice. After wetting himself, Kuroi dropped to the ground, using his arms to do pushups. Actually, if Asuka looked more closely at Kuroi's body, she might notice some of his scars, particularly a large gash across his back that looked old, but still rather prominent as a mark there.

[Deleted]

Of course, she was getting a vicious beating via Kuroi. On the plus side, she was getting a little used to the pain. A little. Granted, it hurt like hell, but she felt like she could endure a little more if she had to. She was wondering if she was ever going to get strong enough to at least block his attacks and retaliate. She was getting a beaten up everyday! Then again, it only was day 3. Can't expect to get that far...even if time was accelerated here. It sucked that she wasn't strong enough to block even one attack!!

"You are weak. You don't have any instinct, and you aren't even capable of using Cero. This is pitiful, utterly pathetic..." It bothered her. He said it like two days ago and it STILL bothered her. Those disgusting words rang throughout her head over and over and OVER. It annoyed her to no end. She fulfilled the whole Cero thing but instinct. She had it, didn't she!? Right?! Well, she thought she did...and if she thought it, then why did it still bother her? Maybe she needed to put it out of her mind..

"There are towels, one spare suit, and several buckets of water behind that formation of rocks." Asuka, who was lying on the floor, was panting heavily. Green eyes would look up at him for a moment and then the formation of rocks he mentioned. Clothes? Clothes! She had never been so happy to see a spare suit before. Had she know that she was going to be here for a month, she would have brought spare clothes. Well that or...possibly run away. Kidding! Kidding..

Asuka would nod her head. Just as she was about to pick herself up off the ground. Kuroi started...stripping. He couldn't wait?! He could have waited for her to leave or something!.....Actually....he had, dare she say it, a hot body. Oh this was all kinds of horrible now. Asuka would quickly pick herself up and walk behind the rock formations. Though, on her way, she couldn't help but steal a quick glance. This was bad. Is it bad to think your boss has a hot body? I mean, this is KUROI we're talking about! One of the coldest, meanest Espada in all of Las Noches!...and for .000000000001 of a second, she thought he was kinda...hot. (Did I just type that...? Lol)

Of course, she'd quickly dispose of those thoughts. She was disgusted at herself for thinking that in the first place! She actually shuddered for a second. Ok, no more thoughts about that. They were creeping her out. Asuka would dump one of the buckets of water over herself. Washing all the blood and sweat away..and her hair. Ugh! Was that a split end! She needed a hair cut soon. Maybe. Once she was done, she'd get dressed in the new suit that was provided for her and then walk over to Kuroi. Ready for whatever he was going to throw at her.

[Zou ۞]

Kuroi actually really enjoyed beating up Asuka. It was pain as punishment for all of the times she disgraced his Fraccion by being defeated, or ending up naked. It was vengeance for her having sex with that dreaded Shinigami in Las Noches. And...it was to make her stronger. Kuroi was tired of having weaklings all around him. Weak Espada, and one weak Fraccion, namely Asuka. He wanted strong followers, and strong allies. He didn't want Asuka to be weak. He was going to make her strong.

When he was through with her, she'd be able to hold her own against him, though he'd probably still crush her. But when Kuroi was done with Asuka, she'd probably also be able to kill petty weaklings such as the Septima Espada or Octava Espada. Izuki and Drago were in fact, no match at all for Kuroi, or most of his Fraccion. Asuka was the only weak link. By the end of this training, Kuroi hoped to make it so that she'd be able to easily crush them. Overpowering Izuki and Drago seemed like a great thing for Kuroi to try and get Asuka to be able to do. If she could beat them, then it was honestly all the better.

Kuroi wondered vaguely if Asuka had any motivation at all. If she had no motivation whatsoever, then that wasn't good. He wanted her to have motivation. Earlier, he'd told her that she was weak, and that she had no instinct. Of course, both were true. However, he was hoping that such words would also be motivation. He wanted her to realize these things, and to accept her weakness. Once she did so, she could learn how to conquer it, and how to overpower her own futile weakness. Once Kuroi was finished with Asuka, of course none of the current Espada, save maybe Adalo, would be a match for her.

Not even one of the current High Tier would be able to keep up, not when Kuroi was done. He already knew the strengths and weaknesses of Cero and Yuki. Though both were female, they had the male flaw of total overconfidence, and they were alcoholics. Asuka didn't have either of those flaws. Most of her flaws were feminine. This meant that she had less flaws than Cero and Yuki, which meant that Kuroi could inevitably make her stronger than the two of them. He smiled inwardly at the thought of training one of his Fraccion to be able to kill a High Tier Espada. It was like mutiny.

Kuroi glanced at the rocks, to where Asuka was getting dressed. He hated to admit it to himself, because he found the concept weird, but he found her more attractive with clothes on. He wasn't attracted to her, but he could at least tell that she was attractive. It was odd that he didn't notice when she was naked. He was secretly somewhat disturbed by the fact that he thought that. He knew that it was normal to find the nudity attractive. But, Asuka in clothes was more appealing in Kuroi's mind than without. Kuroi already knew that he wasn't normal to begin with, but still.

Sometimes he secretly wished that he found Asuka to be attractive when she was naked. It would create a problem since she was naked all the time, but it would make Kuroi a bit more normal. He quickly dispelled such thoughts whenever they came however, for normality brought about weakness. Being abnormal, cold, emotionless like Kuroi, it was only natural for him to be strong. Kuroi hated how the other Espada thought that they could get away with the same lack of emotion as him. At least, the high tiers thought they could. However, they were disgraceful, and they were ridiculously weak. Kuroi knew he'd never have trouble killing them in a fight.

Kuroi also vaguely wondered if she thought he was attractive. She'd glanced at his torso when he took his shirt off. He hadn't thought of it. He had no embarrassment or anything like that, so he didn't mind stripping in front of Asuka. He saw her naked body all the time, anyway. Plus, they'd be together for a month. It wasn't like it was unnatural. She was going to see a lot more of his body, and him of hers. He felt that something like that just fell into what would be considered normal over the course of the next month. But her expression had registered in complete shock.

She clearly didn't realize that Kuroi lacked his shirt a lot. He didn't work out with a shirt on. The only reason he had the suit was because he was out of his room. He didn't leave his room without some kind of shirt. The suit was the best thing to put on when outside. Of course, it was only natural for Kuroi to wear it. But still, he wondered what kind of dark and forbidden fantasies Asuka was going to have when she slept later today. It was actually a bit frightening, to say the least, the idea of Asuka dreaming about him.

If it happened, and he was sure she'd outwardly give indication of it, Kuroi was probably going to end up ignoring it. Continuing on, he began beating on Asuka again. They danced around in sorts, battling each other for a while. Asuka constantly tried new attacks, Kuroi constantly beat her back down. It wasn't like she was a match for him, anyway. Kuroi kept crushing her. She was absolutely no match for him. Utterly powerless before Kuroi's battle might, Asuka could never even hope to shine the shoes of him at that moment.

And eventually, with Asuka all beat up, and her clothes torn apart again, leaving her naked, Kuroi stopped. He pointed out that he'd brought SEVERAL spares to last over the next few weeks. But, as punishment for losing her clothes and being beaten up, Asuka would have to sleep naked. He informed her that when she woke up, they'd begin again. And in that fashion, ten days of training passed, with Asuka getting stronger and stronger. Soon, very soon, he'd get her to become truly powerful.

[Zou ۞]

OOC: Training is currently worth 930 CTP. We're going to use this time skip as an opportunity to have you upgrade outside of this thread so that it can seem like you got stronger over the course of training.

We're going to assign 400 CTP to you so you can gain enough to hit Class 3.

Then, we're going to assign the remaining 530 as SP, meaning you get 265 SP. Add that one hundred from Canon 14, and you have 365. Also, since you leveled up, you get 50 more for hitting Class 3. That elevates you to 415 SP.

[Deleted]

"Asuka...do you see it? The world is mine and my power is INFINITE. Your attempts to annihilate me are useless. You will perish with the rest of this pathetic world"
"Might I have a few 'last words'? "
"Out with it. If you're going to die, I might as well allow you THAT"
"You forgot that you were dealing with me. Asuka."

KACHINK-BOOM-SLASHHH~!!

"NOOOOOOO~!!!!!!!" Boooooooooooom!

"Asuka! You saved the world! You're the best Espada yet!"
"Aha. Think nothin' of it...it's for the safety of Candy Land and all the hot male supermodels that inhabit it are now safe."
"Asuka...you're amazing.." At first, it was Shinsei...and as he was drawing her in for a kiss...his face suddenly started to look like Kuroi's..

Oh God!

"Oh hell y--HOLY SH---".

End of...Nightmare.

Day 10 of Kuroi's Bootcamp. She was already getting used to his rude awakening and by now, she had this little internal alarm clock that told her when she should wake up before he punched the living daylights out of her. She was resting in a tree and damn near fell off when she woke up from her ...'dream' . Seeing Kuroi's face in a dream like that is scary as hell! Green eyes instantly flashed open and she'd hold on to where she was. She was breathing heavily and looked around furiously to see if he was around. Of all the dreams nightmares she could have possibly had, she had that one.

Perhaps 10 days with Kuroi was already too much. Then again, she had gotten a whole lot stronger from when she first started. It was like a slow acting steroid or something. Amazing. Asuka would jump out of the tree with her weapons in hand. She hadn't seen Kuroi yet, but she was expecting him to attack very, very soon. Their mornings had often gone like this before he offered his usual lecture of wisdom to her. Now, this was her chance to block and fight back. As each day grew, she swore that she'd fight back with her hardest and train with all her heart so long that she was here.

Even if she wasn't in the forest, she'd fight. She was much more motivated to pick a fight with someone now. Alas, her training wasn't complete. She wanted to be able to keep up with Kuroi for now and dammit! She was going to try her damn hardest. She had scars and she had bruises. Before, she'd worry about such things but now..she could care less. She'd wear them proudly and continue training. Of course...that didn't mean that she didn't want them to go away at some point. Shinsei wouldn't like them after all.

Yes, she still thought about her shinigami beau. That wasn't going to change. She figured the next time she was with them and Kuroi was around, she'd be able to keep up or something. That was a nice thought. Asuka already felt like she was ready to take on a few opponents. Of course, she was nowhere nearly as strong as Kuroi or the rest of the Fraccion yet. She had a long way to go. After all..she had twenty day left.

As each day passed, she started to hate Kuroi a little less. Really, she was much stronger than before and who did she have to thank for that? Kuroi. As much as she kind of hated to admit it, it was the truth. Of course, she'd never admit that she hated him less or anything. Oh GOD no. Of course...that didn't mean that she wasn't scared of him. Oh yes, she was scared. Much more scared than she was before actually. She had taken hits and slashes and all kinds of horrible beatings from him. So much that they frightened her quite a bit. Asuka held her whips in each hand, slowly turning, trying to see if he was around ready for some sort of surprise attack. This time, she was ready!