Round 2: Team Major Chord vs Team Anti-Oreo

[Zou ۞]

The King's Gauntlet has brought these six together under conditions default of the tournament! This is going to be an epic battle of epic proportions! All you guys have to do is decide who will be going first! Whoever is going first, post an intro. Post an intro when you decide to sub in for someone, though of course they have to agree. So you have to discuss that part OOC.

This is it! Here's your playground! You will be fighting within the campus grounds of a high school! There are surrounding buildings, classrooms, etc. Everything is unlocked, and all the typical classroom stuff (minus the people) is present! Use whatever, do whatever. Begin!

[hirokaname]

"Let's drum a beat, run some skeet, yo, ey, eeeyeeaahh!"

The voice declared this as the figure walked on in, taking no hesitation to walk into the place even at night. Zanpakuto was drawn, hands were up in a dancing position, moving around with the dancing body. The blade was spinning, the man was grinning, and his dance was fitting for his personality. Hiro Kaname, the Squad 10 Vice Captain! Right now he was arguably the strongest Vice Captain, but that was because he'd beaten the person prior regarded as the strongest, Rin Minamimoto. He'd given her a t-shirt too. He might give t-shirts to these baby fools if they proved amusing enough, too! "I'm a hero, a hero, you hear? The hero named Hiro, the lord of the sword, and if I get bored, you're gonna die, swatted like a fly~" Hiro declared.

Hiro had clearly been near his Captain too much, because Hiro usually didn't rhyme. He just babbled. In this case, Hiro was rhyming. This was proof that he'd been talking to his Captain lately. His Captain had been someone he spoke to before coming here to this fight, too. Hiro was really thinking that he was going to win the fight fast. The three opponents he'd heard he'd be facing today weren't much. Two third seats, and one unseated. They couldn't be too challenging to someone strong like Hiro, a high level Vice Captain. There was just no way. This would be fun for him, right? "Now call me conceited, but you see, soon you'll be defeated! No need for shame or for a shift in the blame, cause the hero named Hiro's gonna kick your ass, that's why he came! Yo, monkey boys, you ready to fight me? Gonna be suave as hell, you know."

Hiro wouldn't stop dancing around while wielding his sword. He wanted to fight and win really badly. There shouldn't be anything to it but that. Just his winning. He was always going to win, he was always destined to win. Hiro Kaname, the hero named Hiro! Squad 10's Vice Captain, who declared he'd one day be the Captain Commander, was ready to keep on fighting! He was going to fight, and fight, and fight, and then he was inevitably going to win! None of the three people in front of him could pose what would be considered a challenge, and that was that! That was it! He'd make em'..."You look like shit!"

SPOILER: Click to show

Strength - [100] Points

Speed - [300] Points

Spiritual Pressure - [300] (405) Points

Reiatsu Strength - [400] (540) Points

Light Aura - [60] Points

Dark Aura - [40] Points

Instinct - [150] (98) Points

Senses [100] (65) Points

Energy sensory - [50] (33)Points

Healing Expertise - [0] Points


Total SP: [1400] Points

[Zou ۞]

OOC: Hiro! I went to the trouble of fixing your stats here and in your app. You're Clown Type. You forgot.

[Kaen Youji]

A school huh? Interesting place to pitch a battle. Kaen was already making battle plans though! Inside the school halls would be an optimum battleground for Hachiryuu. Inside the school evasion would be very difficult, due to the narrow hallways. However, Kaen enjoyed a direct fight, with limited weaponry. In narrow halls, longer weapons were inefficient as horizontal cuts were more awkward to use. Plus, the halls would funnel Kaen's zanpakuto's attacks, making dodging its flames close to impossible.

But the man he was fighting was no pushover. Hiro Kaname. Kaen had heard a bit about him, but most notable was that this man had defeated his Vice Captain earlier in the Gauntlet. Wow. Not bad at all! He must be a very talented fighter! Kaen grinned at the prospect. Kaen scanned the schoolgrounds for someone. Nighttime. Awesome. That'd help him out even more, as the flash of his fire would be extra unpleasant once his opponent's eyes had started to adjust to the darkness. And then he heard something.

A voice. And Kaen already knew who it belonged to. He grinned. His opponent was rhyming? That was awesome! Kaen approached the voice, and met Hiro out in a parking lot with a smirk. "Yo. My name's Kaen and I'm bringin' the pain. You might think I'm the villain, but I'm only just chillin'. But this is my game and it's a real shame, 'cause you got no chance, but we still might as well dance~" He told Hiro with a grin. He was honestly just screwing around. He wanted to see how Hiro might react to him playing along with him. Would he be irritated? Awesome! An irked enemy was one who made mistakes. Would he like it? Hmmm... it might not be as easy to use to his advantage, but it could still make the fight fun! Kaen watched Hiro's form anticipating him making the first move. Sure, there were two captains as well to deal with. But for now, Kaen needed to focus purely on the foe in front of him. He'd deal with the others as they came.

SPOILER: Click to show

Strength: 250 (500)
Speed: 250 (500)
Spiritual Pressure: 150
Reiatsu Strength: 400 (300)
Light Aura: 45
Dark Aura: 55
Instinct: 150
Senses: 150
Energy Sensory: 50
Healing: 0
Total: 1400

[hirokaname]

If Kaen said anything worth hearing, Hiro didn't quite catch it. He was too hyped up on his own awesomeness to even bother with some loser slitbick in front of him, until he realized that that same loser slitbick who couldn't rhyme and had no rhythm was his opponent. OH! That made sense. Wait, didn't Hiro miss what Kaen said? Dual parted mind thinking! That meant something. Hiro started swishing his feet around, moving like he was in some kind of dance. His feet were swishing across the ground, dragging small trails of dust with him, and in a hypnotic, rhythmic tone that was impossible to predict. It was too hypnotic and exotic. It didn't have a predictable pattern.

Hiro was actually making this up as he went along, so of course it wasn't predictable. He had weak sensory, but even he could feel his own spiritual pressure, and that of his opponent. His opponent's was like a miniscule insect compared to him. It was a solid difference that could not be overcome. Wasn't this guy supposed to be a third seat? That spiritual pressure was considerably weak for someone to be the third seat of the strongest squad. To make up for it, he was probably good at physical combat with high physical abilities, or he had a snap-amazing release, or maybe both. He wasn't ever going to be nearly as amazing as Hiro, though. Hiro thought maybe if this guy was physical, fighting him physically would be a problem.

He couldn't cut Hiro, though. That meant the only thing he could rely on was regular melee without a weapon, or his release. If he released, he was going to make Hiro release. If Hiro released, the third seat was going to lose. Third seats did not overcome Vice Captains. That was a stone cold fact. Hiro decided effectively that he was going to bomb Kaen's life like a terrorist in New York City. Hiro began spinning his body in an arcing whirl towards Kaen. His body was spinning like a top while he kept up on one toe, like a ballerina, spinning while slashing his blade, and moving it along all elevations. He was like a tornado, and if his blade hit, he'd cut Kaen up. Once he got to Kaen, his attack moved. All would be decided then. He kept his eyes observational. At the very least, even with those senses, there were things he could easily see. "Yo, get me some ice cubes, bro-baby boy."

[Kaen Youji]

Hiro was right in a few things in his assessment though how he had managed to figure those things out with his sup-par instinct and below normal ability to sense spirit pressure, nobody knows. Indeed, Kaen had a much lower spiritual pressure than Hiro and his reiatsu strength was only barely in any better standing. Indeed, Kaen was a close quarter specialist. Fortunately for Kaen, however, he specialized in hand to hand combat, which meant cutback wouldn't be as great an issue for him as it would be for others. And indeed, normally third seats did not go around beating up Vice Captains, but there had been a story from long ago where a 5th seat had pulled it off. And hell, in this very Gauntlet, Kaen's own Vice Captain had been bested by a fourth seat. Kaen grinned a little at the thought of the almighty empress brought down by a peasant. Ooooo, Rin was going to be furious about that. Anyways, he figured that with a track record in Soul Society's history like that, a third seat was bound to do it sometime.

Speaking of which, Hiro was on the attack! Cool! Kaen grinned at him as he attacked with a wild spinning attack. Interesting choice.... Kaen had heard that Hiro made some unusual moves, but this was his first time seeing them firsthand. ....He wasn't impressed. Hiro began spinning at Kaen, but there were a number of problems with his attack. The first was that this wild spinning attack was going to tire him fairly quickly if he kept it up. And a tired opponent was an opponent that made mistakes. But there was another major flaw-- and one that with his low instinct, Hiro probably didn't realize. An inherent flaw with spinning attacks was that you exposed your back to your opponent. With short 180 spinning attacks like the spinning back kick, or spinning sidekick this was minimized as much as possible, with a concise and quick movement. However, rapidly spinning as Hiro was would not only make him incredibly dizzy, but they magnified this flaw ten times over! And Kaen was more than fast enough to take advantage of it.

As Hiro neared him, Kaen made the first move. Instead of waiting for Hiro to come to him, Kaen took the attack. He noticed Hiro turn his back. For a split second, Hiro wouldn't be able to see anything from Kaen's direction. However, Kaen would be able to mark the exact location of Hiro's arm and blade for two reasons. A. his shoulders and biceps would still be visible, and if the biceps weren't it would be because he was holding his blade level with his shoulders. B. Kaen would likely still be able to see the blade itself and discern the location of it from there.

Stepping in on Hiro's blind spot would give the lieutenant no time to adjust his plans. He wouldn't be aware that Kaen was there. He didn't have the senses to pick him up immediately, and if his instincts were low enough that he expected this wild spinning attack to be effective it was unlikely he'd considered the possibility that he'd miss someone coming in at his back. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) for Hiro, Kaen wasn't going for a fight ending blow. That would be too unreliable. Kaen liked to cripple his opponent's ability to fight back before he would attempt something like that. Too risky to go for end blows all the time, and it left you open to attack.

Kaen had a very different target in mind. His target was Hiro's elbow joint. As Hiro began to complete his spin, Kaen shot out a lightning fast palm strike, directly to Hiro's elbow, shattering the elbow completely and effectively breaking Hiro's arm. Normally doing this with a single blow would be impossible, but Kaen's strength exceeded Hiro's five times over. There was a 400 point difference in their strength, which was more than enough to break the elbow joint.

Plus, Kaen was almost twice as fast as Hiro, outspeeding him by 200 points-- roughly 66% of Hiro's own speed. And there were other factors too. Hiro's momentum that he had built up, spinning like that meant that he wouldn't be able to stop his swing, and in fact, the speed he was moving at TOWARDS Kaen's strike meant he would literally have no time to react. Even a quarter of a second would have been more time than Hiro had to react to Kaen's blow. Essentially, by the time Hiro would notice Kaen and the fact he was attacking, his arm would have already been broken.

And Kaen wasn't even done yet! Transitioning immediately from his palm strike, Kaen bent his arm and drove the point of his elbow upwards into Hiro's face, aiming for the shinigami's jaw. As before this blow, if it connected would likely shatter his jaw, severely impeding Hiro's speech for a little while. Would that affect his ability to release or use kido? Hey, if you couldn't actually say your release phrase or zanpakuto's name would it still release? Either way it'd hurt like hell, when coupled with his broken arm. Hiro would do well not to underestimate Kaen. Kaen's physical capabilities were considerably beyond his, and that would be a problem for Hiro.

[hirokaname]

This was it! Kaen had underestimated Hiro! He lost purely because of that. Hiro grinned to himself. Kaen tried to attack his back. That was his mistake. The instant Hiro was actually at Kaen, he was gone. He didn't need to know Kaen was moving or not. He'd just needed to get within Kaen's attack range. That had been the plan. He had never planned to attack with the spin, in fact. The reason he'd spun was to throw off Kaen completely, and give him an opening to attack. He hadn't even put as much power into it as he let on. Kaen's movement was in the middle of it, unable to retract, unable to whirl and adjust on time as Hiro's body disappeared in Shunpo. That was why he'd stayed on his toe like a ballerina. To hop off of it into an instant Shunpo, a disappearance move like a magician, just as Kaen went to counterattack. He was right. The difference between them in speed was quite enormous, but it was no big deal. Hiro could top that easily.

Kaen thought he could just do any attack and hit it guaranteed because of Hiro's disadvantages. He was wrong. Hiro would only get dizzy and tired if he prolonged his spin. He'd only done it until Kaen attacked, which had been under five seconds. That wasn't enough time to get dizzy. Kaen was sloppy, trying to attack a crippling point. Therefore, to do so, he had to outstretch his momentum to push his strength into the attack. He was wide open. He'd already taken his step to attack, so he couldn't Shunpo like Hiro had. Shunpo brought Hiro's speed above Kaen's for that movement, and Kaen couldn't Shunpo himself because of his position, so he was wide open for an attack from an opponent that suddenly outsped him. Unfortunately, though diagonally to Kaen's right, Hiro was not in range of Kaen.

His blade was slashing outwards with a mere flick of his arm, and it instantly transfigured, the hilt becoming a curved shape that Hiro adjusted his grip on. Meanwhile, it was already out, the whip that Hiro employed aside from his blade. Dazzling, flashing out, it was a yellow whip of Hiro's insane reiatsu, the strength having gone up massively. Now released, Hiro's style was more efficient, wasting no movements. The flick he'd given whip lashed around Kaen's back arms while Kaen was extended. There was actually no way to dodge because of being in mid movement. Wait, cows? Who said something about cows? Monkey cows! Oh, Hiro lost track of his thoughts for a second. Right, Kaen couldn't defend against his attack. He couldn't move in any possible way to dodge.

He was fast, but not fast enough to stop his momentum fueled movement, retract it, then dodge. No, he had too little time for that. He hadn't gone in with a pretense of casual attacking or lazy attacking. He'd gone in full on for a blow. That meant he'd put momentum. He couldn't defend. He wouldn't be able to block. It was impossible to guard against Hiro. Hiro's reiatsu strength was tripled at that time. He didn't have techniques in Shikai, but he had his power of being impossible to block, and his skill. The whip was seven meters long. Hiro was far out of Kaen's attacking range, and one foot of Hiro's was sliding forwards, pressure on the toe, as his whip did a salsa dance along Kaen's back and shoulder. It cut open his back terribly, slicing it like butter and burning, even destroying a notch or two of Kaen's spine, also cutting open a deep part of his shoulder, to the nerves and muscles and tissues.

Kaen's arm would no longer be able to function, and Hiro had also severed a vein along that arm. Kaen wouldn't be able to release on time either. No one could release in the middle of an attack! With that spine damage, Kaen's legs would give out, and he wouldn't be able to move them anymore. He'd become paraplegic. His wounds cauterized from the whip so he couldn't bleed out, but he was paralyzed on three limbs. Even defeated, Kaen might notice that Hiro had released without speaking his sword's name, and done it in an instant fashion. This was because he was master of his sword. Bankai gave people the power to do that. It would be indictation that Hiro had a powerful Bankai. It would be indication that he was stronger than Kaen marginally. The difference was night and day.

Hiro held out his free hand almost as if in high five, his eyes sweeping the field. He didn't have poor senses or instinct. He was still above average. What he noticed was different from what Kaen noticed, but what he could notice was still okay. It was a pretty keen observation skill that many humans lacked. Kaen underestimated Hiro. He lost because of it. "Yo, I win, you be a monkey, you gotta stop being so cocky~"

Reiatsu: 3800/4050

[Kaen Youji]

There was one major flaw in Hiro's "brilliant" plan. It was based on knowing Kaen had entered range. The problem? He didn't know that Kaen had entered range. He couldn't have known. Why? For several reasons. The first was that when he had turned his back in the spin at the point he had attacked, Kaen had NOT been in range. At least, not to his perception. The distance would have seemed far too great to cover before he'd come back to facing Kaen. And indeed, with the distance that had been between them Hiro could not have known that Kaen was, in fact, within his OWN range. He had no idea how much faster Kaen was, and had no way of knowing as he had not yet seen Kaen move. So, in fact, Hiro's elaborate plan fell down on his shoulders for the simple reason that he didn't realize that he was within Kaen's range, and Kaen wasn't within Hiro's. Knowledge was power, and Hiro's lack of it ensured that his plan wouldn't work, along with the lack of instinct he had that would have allowed him to plan ahead for the possibility that Kaen was faster than he had expected.

Well, that and arrogance. It wasn't exactly a secret that Hiro thought quite highly of himself, and, by extension, fairly lowly of his opponents. It was highly unlikely that he would have even considered for an instant that a third seat, of all people would be this much faster than he was, let alone have a larger effective combat range than him while he had his sword drawn.

With that much speed, Kaen could get right to Hiro's back, BEFORE he noticed Kaen actually moving, due to looking the other way. Which meant Kaen's tactic would still work. Hiro's defense simply wasn't applicable, because Kaen had broken Hiro's arm before the lieutenant would realize Kaen was in range. As such "Waiting" for Kaen to be in range had actually worked against him, because he had completely misjudged Kaen's range. It was Hiro who had done the underestimating here, and as a result, Kaen's attack would go off, before Hiro would have a chance to initiate his own attack, or even counter Kaen's.

[hirokaname]

Kaen was wrong. There was one more thing he was missing. Peripherals. Hiro had that too. Blind spot? That existed, but he could see as he was turning how far Kaen was. He knew Kaen would move to attack. That was the best way to fight. Hiro also had other senses. His senses weren't weak. They were still above average. His instincts were just around an athlete's. Athletes dealt with things that moved as fast as Kaen. Footballs, baseballs, other sporting goods. Hiro knew where Kaen was and when he was there not because of vision, though peripherals gave him help, but because he felt and heard it. Being fast didn't negate sound or wind. It helped these things. Kaen's strength filled movement and powerful speed gave off a wind that alerted Hiro before Kaen was there.

Kaen's steps were powerful, and they were loud. Hiro heard them. He knew Kaen was coming. All he'd had to do was wait until Kaen was coming, and then attack. His attack still worked. It was over. Kaen couldn't possibly think Hiro was done because he didn't know it was coming. Of course he knew! He heard it, he felt it. Hiro's senses weren't incapable of hearing or of feeling wind. He always knew when Kaen was coming. He had been prepared for as soon as Kaen started moving, as soon as Kaen started getting near him. Hiro had skin. He had nerves. He had everything he needed in order to know. Kaen lost this, and there was no way out of that. Any further attempts would be futile. It was done. The next person would have to show up, because Kaen lost dead on. Kaen just overestimated his own speed. He thought he would get there before Hiro heard him, or before Hiro felt the air. He was wrong. Hiro knew when Kaen was moving but by eyesight, but by other existing senses. Kaen seemed to think it only applied to vision, his attack. Hiro knew. And Hiro won.

Reiatsu: 3800/4050

Shikai: 2/10

[Kaen Youji]

Unfortunately, even as Hiro launched his Shunpo, he had misjudged something. Kaen was moving at a speed of roughly 110 miles per hour, which, if you break down equals out to about 50 meters per second. Now, his strides weren't big enough to cover that much distance in a couple of footsteps. Kaen could MAYBE cover 1-2 meters in a single stride. He was 5'7, not a huge guy. Which meant that he had to be taking a MASSIVE number of strides in a single second. Breaking that down, it averaged out to Kaen being able to take about 33 steps in the space of a single second. With one step going down every 33rd of a second, by the time Hiro's swing would have reached his target, Kaen was gone.

In the space of the time it would take Hiro to shunpo out of the way and unleash his attack and for that attack to reach Kaen, it would no doubt be very fast. As Hiro had surmised, Kaen had already taken a step and wouldn't be able to Shunpo on that step. But all of Hiro's movements would still take more than one 33rd of a second, which is how long it took Kaen to take another step (actually Kaen's movements would take a little less time than that-- came out to the annoying 33.333333333 continuous). And that second step was a Shunpo. In fact it was a little faster. Why? Because of two reasons. #1. Kaen had used the air ground, to allow him to take a step a hair earlier than normal-- and a hair at this point meant everything as that 33rd of a second suddenly got a LOT faster. When you're dealing with small periods of time, the smallest thing that can alter it makes a big difference. And #2. The instant he saw Hiro begin to Shunpo, he shortened his stride to let him accelerate that much faster into his Shunpo. So actually, if you look at everything, Hiro would have had to have completed his Shunpo and attack in less than at LEAST 1/40th or so of a second to have a hope of catching Kaen. And his whip just wasn't that fast. The whip strike alone would have taken more than that time to reach Kaen, adding the fact he needed to Shunpo off to the side, release his zanpakuto and then perform the necessary wrist movement to flick the whip out, all totalling to far, FAR slower than how fast Kaen was taking steps.

Hell, Kaen wasn't stupid enough to stick around once his opponent launched a Shunpo. He was a reckless fighter, true, but he didn't like to think that he was a stupid one. Hiro's whip would slice through empty air. It may have been able to cut through pretty much anything, but it was moving no faster than a normal whip. Kaen hadn't retracted his momentum, he had USED it to avoid Hiro's attack. Kaen had launched his Shunpo straight up into the air, carrying him about a hundred and fifty meters straight up. It was night-time, and Hiro's senses were only slightly better than that of a normal human. They weren't good enough to see through the darkness that lay between them. Kaen however, had an animal's senses and could keep track of Hiro's every move. Hiro had some level of energy sensory and may have a very general idea of where Kaen was (that is, above him), but pinpointing him was likely beyond Hiro's energy sensory.

A direct attack's not gonna work on him huh? Guess it's to be expected of the lieutenant that beat fukutaichou. Huh. I'll have to figure something else out...[/i] Kaen noted the school. He was getting an idea. But he'd need a distraction. And he had one. Kaen blasted off another Shunpo this time landing down on the other side of the school. He needed a bit of space for this one. "Bankai." He hissed, and a tumultuous surge of reiatsu formed around him, signalling his position to Hiro. Unlike most of his releases this time it was short and concise. We had the new outfit, the sword on his back, and the giant flaming dragon, yadda yadda yadda, let's move on. Now all that needed to happen was Hiro needed to show up. And Kaen couldn't see him staying away for long.

Bankai: 1/10
Reiatsu: 1000/1500

[hirokaname]

Actually, Kaen couldn't have taken another step. No, he'd already completed his step and moved his body forwards in attacking when Hiro disappeared. Kaen was fast, but he wasn't moving forwards. He was staying in place, launching his torso and not his lower half forwards, to attack Hiro and push all his momentum into that. If he tried to push it forwards into a step, all it would do was just make him lose balance and trip, and he'd still get hit by the whip. Hiro might have been willing to play around with him and not just try to end it in one blow, or he might even have been willing to do a Bankai fight, but that wasn't how this was going to play out today.

It was a team effort, and Hiro was going to conserve his energy for the other people. Kaen's defense didn't work. He couldn't take the extra step on time. He was fast, but he still had to stop his attack, but he was already moving forwards. He couldn't stop his attack with all that momentum. Not on time for Hiro. Speed didn't mean that his body could stop and then keep moving faster than someone else could just disappear. Kaen thought Hiro's attack was too slow to keep up? No, he was being stupid. Shunpo was a fast technique. Hiro broke sound speed during shunpo. Hiro released and began as he was in the middle of the shunpo. His attack was launching out already when he got there. He didn't get there, pause, and attack.

Hiro wasn't so stupid. If someone could move fast like that, or if someone could get the reputation that Kaen had in Squad 7, they had to have some attributes. Hiro also knew something that Kaen did not. Hiro knew about Kaen's Bankai. Kaen might get the hint from earlier, if he knew the hint, but typically he should be unaware of Hiro having Bankai. Unlike Kaen, Hiro didn't use it freely. He used it sparingly. In fact, he'd only ever used it once or twice. Only Zieg of Squad 11 and Sayuri of Squad 12 should know about Hiro's Bankai. It didn't matter, though. Hiro beat Kaen with his attack. Kaen thought he was too fast for Hiro. He was an arrogant person, trying to use stats to overcome everything.

He thought being fast was all it took to do anything. He thought having statistic advantage somewhere was all that it took. Hiro proved him wrong, and Hiro was personally insulted that someone would try something like that against him. He was also quite personally insulted that Kaen would think he could make it as good as over with some stupid melee attack that would never work, least of all in a time frame that didn't even use release. Hiro didn't let him go for it. He might have gone easy and allowed an escape, but he didn't want to do such a thing if Kaen was just going to do things like that. His attack would certainly work. All reasons were evident. Kaen was not continuing forwards. He was in the middle of an attack when Hiro's attack struck.

Kaen had been concentrating not just on an attack, but on Hiro. A shunpo wouldn't work for reasons already known, but air ground wouldn't either. That needed concentration, and it needed two feet, not one. It also didn't happen at low altitudes. The air ground was for higher up purposes, not low purposes. Kaen lacked the ability to stop his momentum and then move on time for Hiro's whip, and he lacked the ability to use a shunpo out of that situation. He lacked the ability to use the air ground there, because he lacked the concentration and position necessary. Kaen didn't give a block either, so Hiro doomed him. He doomed him for the insult.

Hiro also had his hand up after hitting and immobilizing Kaen. Kaen couldn't stop what was coming with anything. This time, it wasn't just because he was immobile, but he just didn't have the reiatsu strength to block something from Hiro. A large black box formed around Kaen, made of black energy, and impaled by dozens of black energy "spears." Kaen was stabbed into by the spears in the box, and lacerated across his entire body. He was finished off by that Hado, because Hiro didn't intend to let him try to release while he was down. He hadn't given a good fatal blow by immobilizing Kaen. End over end, Hiro didn't give his opponent a snowball. "I WIN! HAHA! HIRO THE HERO TRIUMPHS OVER ALL EVIL!"

Reiatsu: 3200/4050

Shikai: 3/10

[Kaen Youji]

In a bad spot? Oh yes, Hiro had put Kaen in a very bad spot. The loss of the use of three limbs was pretty bad. But it wasn't at the point that Kaen himself could no longer fight! As he saw the attack coming, his free arm went up, and clasped around the hilt of his zanpakuto. He didn't draw it, he simply clasped his hand around the hilt. Hiro's attack was successful in removing his back arm, and in immobilizing his legs. However, the one arm he hadn't taken out was what was going to save Kaen's ass here.

"Bankai." Kaen hissed, just as Hiro performed the Kurohitsugi. His sheath broke apart from the force of his release, and the immense reiatsu that poured forth shielded him from the effects of the Kurohitsugi. Not completely, as Hiro's reiatsu strength was considerably greater than Kaen's. However, it was enough to shield Kaen from the worst of the attack, suffering minor lacerations across his body. Hiro may not intended to give Kaen time to release but Kurohitsugi was not a particularly fast kido, as the box first had to form, and then the spears would strike. Plenty of time to release, as Kaen had been going for his zanpakuto the second he felt the sting of Hiro's blade bite into his free arm. As the Kurohitsugi faded, Kaen pressed both hands to the ground and stood up. That's right. Both hands. What?

Indeed, Hiro had removed Kaen's arm. But Kaen's bankai served him well in times such as these. Kaen had remade himself a NEW arm, out of flame. His useless limbs were quickly deemed as such, and, as Kaen had unleashed his Bankai, incinerated by his own flames, to be replaced with new limbs of fire, at the joints, to allow him full mobility, while not compromising important veins and arteries. Kaen's Bankai's special ability was that he could shape flames and give the flames properties. There were really no limits to the physical properties he could give his flames, so he had formed his new limbs with a less intense flame that took on the properties of flesh and bone. Kaen had effectively recreated his lost limbs. Did it hurt? Oh, hells yes, but Kaen trained himself in excruciatingly painful ways constantly. He was used to pain, and he could suck it up.

His bankai, at a first glance wasn't THAT impressive. Kaen's outfit had changed to be replaced with a blue shinobi gi. A kodachi was slung up on his back, and a metal arm brace could be seen on his remaining biological forearm. Also, there was a giant flame dragon. That one was a little important, as it was a major defining feature of Kaen's Bankai. Over a hundred meters in length with a body thicker than a tree, massive fangs and talons, ready to rend someone to pieces, and a body entirely composed of fire, the Dragon was easily the most impressive looking piece of Kaen's bankai.

Reiatsu remaining: 1100/1500
Bankai: 1/10

[hirokaname]

Hiro couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe someone would actually do something so reckless while being a part of what was supposed to be the strongest Squad. He'd had the same thoughts when he fought their Vice Captain too! Why were those two so reckless? Was it only the Captain that made that group any good, or was Hiro just incredible? The correct answer, ladies and gentleman, is that Hiro was just incredible. He was Hiro the Hero, Hiro Kaname, next Captain Commander! Self proclaimed, the best Shinigami ever to live. That was who he was, and he was sticking to it. Why would Kaen do what he'd done though? Did he think he'd have a chance because of it?

He released while his blade was sheathed. What kind of idiot did that? To control the reiatsu, someone had to unsheathe their Zanpakuto before releasing. He could have lost control and killed himself that way. It was really serious. He'd also used Bankai. He'd exposed himself! Why would he show that he could use that power? Why would he use that power anyway? Bankai was Bankai. You don't just go around flaunting the strongest Shinigami's power. Since reaching Bankai, Hiro had only used it twice in front of someone else. Zieg Revolver of Squad 11 had seen Hiro's Bankai when Hiro used it to help them escape the labyrinth when they were attacked by the guy named Lord Callus when trying to get a Blade of Abhorrence. At the time, Zieg only got a glimpse. He used Bankai against Sayuri and Jin during some sort of battle royale tournament a few years ago. Captain Sayuri and Jin Bount had only seen it for a few seconds too.

Kaen was here just carelessly using his Bankai in front of an enemy. He should have saved a card or some dignity by taking his loss and leaving it. His mistake should have cost him everything. He might even have been able to use the excuse that he hadn't released Bankai against Hiro, and that was why he lost. If he had hidden that power too, he might have been able to take advantage of that secret. It could have been useful to him one day that he'd hidden it. Since he hadn't hidden his Bankai though, he wasn't going to get that. Limbs made of fire wasn't a bad idea, but it wasn't a good one either. Kaen's physical stats couldn't extend to artificial limbs that he didn't train. He wouldn't be used to them either.

He was slower, weaker, and less coordinated. He was less balanced, and applying the right pressure and muscle use was not easy. There was a reason that people took months in rehab when they lost or broke limbs. They had to learn how to use them again. When they got false limbs, of course they would do a rehab to learn their use. Kaen just strapped them on. It would be really hard to use them. He also had them made of fire. It probably hurt a lot in addition to trying to concentrate on using them to fight effectively. Since he was manipulating flames and shaping them, maybe Kaen had to focus on keeping them in their shape too. Maybe he had to concentrate for them to retain form. This obviously wasn't a purpose they were meant for, just a creative idea.

Hiro cracked his whip. Fighting a Bankai wasn't easy in Shikai, but he didn't want to be stupid. The levels of power between the two release stages were different, but he didn't want to give away the scope of his power to this person. If it was Bankai they were talking about, though, he might have to. Hiro decided to just wait and see what Kaen would do. He cracked his whip, he waited. If Kaen took advantage of the moment when Hiro cracked his whip, he would have hell to pay. Hiro would destroy him in a single hit if that happened. It was guaranteed. More than Hiro's Bankai, his skills were the ultimate skill set among the Vice Captains.

Reiatsu: 3200/4050

Shikai: 4/10

[Kaen Youji]

Save a card? Was he kidding? Kaen had screwed up badly. Bankai had been his only hope, and releasing it as he had was the only way he could have done so in time to save his ass. However, his mistake, horrific as it had been, and costing him the use of his regular; more powerful limbs, could also have inadvertently saved him. He had underestimated Hiro before and he would make a note of ensuring it didn't happen a second time. Hiro was right, Kaen's flaming limbs were weaker than his normal ones, as Kaen's flames used his reiatsu for strength. So one could consider the flaming limbs to have a strength of around 300. Certainly, still stronger than Hiro's, but by a far humbler amount. Kaen knew now he had to be far more cautious.

Excuse for why he lost though? Oh please. That was ridiculous. If you lost, you lost. That was a simple fact. Excuses on why you lost only gave you reasons not to work harder. Kaen didn't think like that. He always gave it his all. Why? Because if he lost, he had only himself to blame, and his defeat, after going all out would only spur him to train harder for the next time! But why talk of defeats! Despite the severe setback, Kaen was just as determined as before to prove victorious.

Kaen gauged his distance carefully. Six feet was the range at which he could create, shape and control his flames. Hiro's whip was seven meters long, so as long as Hiro had that whip, he could attack outside of Kaen's optimum range. "Tch. Oh well. Closing the distance was always the plan at some point. But I'll have to be more careful..." He saw Hiro crack his whip. No way. Too obvious. That was a dare. A challenge. Kaen knew if he attacked at that instant, despite the opening Hiro would counterattack. Normally Kaen would have attacked anyways. He was a reckless bastard. But the loss of his arm had been a rather humbling experience and kept him from doing so.

But Kaen had already planned a battleground. The open ground would work fine, indeed, but there was a spot that would work even better. Indoors was where Kaen's fire type zanpakuto would do real damage. But GETTING inside would be the trouble.

Kaen noted that Hiro didn't seem to be making any moves. So, he decided to make the first move. Kaen jumped up into the air, and fired a barrage of fireballs at Hiro. Seven fireballs formed and scattered down at the lieutenant. However, they didn't hit him! They impacted the ground around him, instead, igniting in sudden explosions of fire. If Hiro didn't move the flames might lightly scorch him, and burn his uniform, but cause no serious injuries. The real reason Kaen did this was to obscure Hiro's senses further. Sight, hearing and touch would be temporarily weakened considerably, due to the sound of the explosions and the crackling of fire, the heat of the flames obscuring touch, and the flames flaring up around him greatly obscuring sight. Assuming Hiro wasn't immediately gone and counterattacking, Kaen then quickly shaped a javelin of flame and hurled it towards the center of the flames, intending to hit Hiro while he was hopefully distracted by Kaen's "missed" attack. Amidst the flames, the javelin would be virtually invisible as it flew towards its target, since it was composed of fire. Fire doesn't stand out very well against fire.

This wasn't a fight ending move by any stretch. Certainly, it would cause some serious burns if it hit, as well as a relatively deep wound. However, bleeding would be slight as it would cauterize the wound it made. Really, the only serious threat it posed to Hiro would be setting his clothing on fire. That would suck if it happened, but even that was unlikely, as it was doubtful Hiro would leave it in, if it even did hit.

Let's see what you do now, Kaname-fukutaichou... Kaen thought, anticipating a counterattack and being prepared to dodge. Although he'd just hurled a javelin, he was still in a fairly mobile stance, having learned from last time not to plant himself. He'd largely used his arm to throw his javelin. One might expect that to result in a slower throw than usual, and while this was true, even Kaen's artificial arms were still strong enough to manage a fair amount of velocity in the throw. Still, a loss of speed, and by extention, killing potential, was far preferable to being wide open to another blow like before.

Reiatsu: 1100
Bankai: 2/10

[hirokaname]

Hiro didn't waste energy or movements when he was released. It was a sign that he was taking the opponent more seriously! But in his head, he was allowed to be as playful as he wanted! So he was thinking to himself while doing it. SUPER HIRO HERO'S GREAT ULTRA MAXIMUM POWER ULTIMATE SHUNPO OF AMAZING GREATNESS! BUY A T-SHIRT! He used the flash step to disappear from where he was, so the flames wouldn't impact him at all. He was out from that location when the flames got there, and the lance too. Their speed was much more equal now! They could fight normally. That was better. Hiro decided to try his luck with Shikai for a little.

The san-seki had no choice but to use Bankai to keep himself in the fight! Hiro was thinking to himself, maybe he should take the fight indoors. The devastation potential of the fire was stronger indoors, so there would be incentive for the san-seki to go indoors too. What mattered was Hiro's Bankai. In wide open space, there were ways it might be evaded if he didn't time it right. Indoors, it didn't even matter. It would wipe out everything. It was impossible to dodge inside of a building, and it was impossible to block to begin with! Hiro also had other techniques that were hard to dodge on the outside, but impossible to dodge on the inside. That would be Hiro's greatest advantage! It was perfect!

His flash step brought him to the air ground with Kaen, a few meters away with his whip crackling out at Kaen. If it hit, it would open up the chest. Hiro's foot was sliding forwards, and it was an arm attack. He didn't put much effort behind it. His foot had some pressure applied on the toes as it slid forwards ever so slightly, and his other hand, the free one, was out facing Kaen. "Hado #35: Raikou Kawa!" Hiro declared, a large stream of electricity moving out of his palm. It wasn't something that caused a huge amount of damage, but it would burn Kaen if it hit. More importantly, it would totally numb his body, and immobilize quite a few parts of it. That was the purpose of this technique, instead of damage!

Hiro the Hero was the greatest Hero ever to live in the Soul Society! Oh yeah! Hiro was suave as hell when he did all this movement stuff, and he shot his electricity and cracked his whip. Who was going to argue with how cool he was then? It was unthinkable that anyone would! Hiro the Hero was the greatest of them all! So far, Hiro had seen the san-seki's Bankai, including that dragon. Hiro saw that his own Bankai had a greater destructive potential. His Bankai's ability was a good matchup for the san-seki's. He could probably wipe away the other's Bankai if he activated it. It was more challenging to use Shikai right now, though. There were two other opponents. There was no need to use Bankai yet. Holding back against an injured opponent was okay.

While fighting, Hiro thought he should take up some shadow boxing, because it would be cool. While his electricity was shooting out, something blurred and hit Kaen's face, distracting him from the attacks. It was fast, but it wasn't harmful. When it slipped down, he'd see it. It had the words "Hiro Kaname: Greatest Hero!" on it in big black bold font. It was white. It was a Hiro Kaname t-shirt. Kaen should be honored to have received such a fabulous gift from the great Hiro Kaname! It even had an autograph just under the label! Hiro sure was generous to give Kaen something like that! It wasn't every day someone got such a fabulous prize.


Reiatsu: 3000/4050

Shikai: 5/10