Screwing around in school (Itou's academy thread)

[Itou Kasui]

[smear:FF0000]FINAL EXAMS!!! [/smear:00FF00]

It had been a long journey for this student. He had grown exceptionally throughout the five years he had been here. At first he had been worrying about his final exams since he had missed his intermediate exams but it turns out he could do them no problem. It was as if someone was looking out for him, someone out there, hidden in a big black room, watching him and somehow allowed him to get into the final exams. Well not that Itou was complaining anyway, he wanted to graduate so badly, it would be so fulfilling knowing he could do something good with his life.

"The exams are simple!" the seated officer announced. Itou guessed he was from squad 1. It was mostly people from squad 1 who came and did the talking and speeches. "You will organize yourselves into teams of three. There are 99 of you. This means there can be 33 teams of 3. Numbers are even. Organize yourselves into teams, and the exam can begin. Your teams are to go through the jungle and get from one end to the next. It is a very long journey, there are many obstacles, and it is not easy to navigate. Out of the 99 students, only the first 66 to arrive will be allowed entry into the next step of the exam. This means a third of you will fail. Individual students may not arrive. Only entire teams will be allowed entry, which means teamwork is essential. Students! You will be allowed to sabotage one another. This encourages expectation of the unexpected. Now, before I explain more, please form your teams."

Itou immediately knew who he wanted to partner up with. Itou wanted diversity on his team, he had a friend who was a reiatsu user. She was Rumi, she had been excellent at kido where Itou had been terrible at it. Also Yammamoto had other friends who would partner up with him. Itou immediately located where Rumi was and approached here. “Hey. Would you like to partner up with me? I think we’d make a good team.” Itou suggested. Itou knew he could pass with her, they would be a good combination. Now he needed to pick someone who he knew. Yammamoto would be a good choice since they knew each other's fighting styles well.

If she said yes or no Itou would still do the same thing. Itou would then get Yammamoto and call him over to be in his group with his friend. "She's really good at kido and we'd need a kido practitioner." Would be Itou's explanation about who she is if he asked and if he said yes to being in a group with them.

SPOILER: Click to show

Strength - 130 (195) Points

Speed - 145 (218) Points

Spiritual Pressure - 150 (112) Points

Reiatsu Strength - 120 Points

Light Aura - 20 Points

Dark Aura - 80 Points

Instinct - 100 Points

Senses 100 Points

Energy sensory - 0 Points

Healing Expertise - 0 Points


Total SP: 745 Points

[Kento Waffles]

When Rumi and Yamamoto had agreed to be on the same team as Itou, since he had been quick enough to get to them and ask them before anyone else did, their team was set and complete. Other teams were also quickly beginning to form, of course, and it would be obvious from the beginning that some were meant to be several times more challenging than others. The toughest team was probably the easiest to identify off the bat, and so was its runner up. Itou's team was a competitor, but it was only a mid level team. It was nothing like the true top tier team.

The top tier team, which everyone noticeably seemed to be afraid of, had people that it had not been expected would be together. One of them was a woman, Saeki of the Kasumi'Oji Family. She was nobility, and was a black haired young woman of exceptional beauty. She was known for being extremely dangerous and cunning. Also partnered up with her was the stoic, black haired individual that Itou had come across in his first year, the one with the strange eye. That one was named Shinsui Kurogane. He was not very well known in the academy, but still was paired with Saeki, and with a third man, whose name alone sparked intimidation in that year. Jinbei Kawada was the third of that team.

Another team which should be watched out for consisted of the red head that Itou had antagonized in his first year, Iruka Satome, and two others. Iruka was someone that did not forget debts that he owed. His reputation preceded him in the academy. Anyone that had gotten on his bad side had felt his wrath, except for Itou. Thus far, he had not attempted his revenge. He was with a white haired boy with vacant black eyes. Kaien Kuchiki was that one's name. He was known for being a cripple without the use of his legs, however his Kido were said to be exceptional. The third on that team was a random black haired student in sunglasses, name unknown, not even worth mentioning.

Together, those two teams posed great risk to the others. Jinbei Kawada's team in particular was one that one did not wish to run into. Jinbei, being a Kawada, and a ruthless tactician, would most likely see fit to eliminate from the exam any teams that his came across. He was also every bit powerful enough to accomplish something like that. By himself, he had accomplished many feats already. With two powerful partners, his team seemed invincible. Then the team with the red hair was also very strong, and given that its probably most dominant member had a grudge against Itou, that could be messy.

Everyone was shown to different parts of the jungle afterward. They were all put into different places, but since they all had the same destination, they would end up meeting eventually. The goal was for students to get there as quickly as possible, and that was it. Itou, as the person who had asked for the two to join him, would have to assume the role of team leader to back up having been the one to ask to form the team instead of waiting to see if someone else would choose him. Yamamoto and Rumi were also both subservient personalities. So, since Itou was team leader, he had to choose what they did first.

SPOILER: Click to show

Type/Stats/Rank Level identical to Itou.

Strength - 130 (195) Points

Speed - 145 (218) Points

Spiritual Pressure - 150 (112) Points

Reiatsu Strength - 120 Points

Light Aura - 20 Points

Dark Aura - 80 Points

Instinct - 100 Points

Senses 100 Points

Energy sensory - 0 Points

Healing Expertise - 0 Points


Total SP: 745 Points

SPOILER: Click to show

Rank level 1 support type. 800 SP. Class 5.

Strength: 50

Speed: 50

Reiatsu Strength: 100 (150)

Spiritual Pressure: 150 (225)

Instinct: 100 (50)

Senses: 150

Energy Sensory: 100

Healing Expertise: 100

Total SP: 800

[Itou Kasui]

[smear:FF0000]FINAL EXAMS!!! [/smear:00FF00]

Itou sighed, calmed himself down when they were shown to the jungle. Itou had developed a lot in those five years. He had grown to care for his classmates, learned to work as a team, become someone actually worth being a shinigami; now he just absolutely had to pass, not for himself, he wasn’t that selfish, if he didn’t pass his team didn’t pass. He could not let them down, they were his team, they needed him and he needed them. Itou had to lead them and his this exam, not just the first stage but all the stages, then they would become shinigami together. For now it was time to take the leadership role since he had formed this team, and he would not let them down.

“Alright, I suggest we don’t try eliminating other teams. Firstly it will slow us down, draw attention to us and we might lose, not that I’m doubting any of our strength however. I’m not looking to be cool, flashy and go on a rampage, defeating all teams in our way, I’m looking for speed and efficiency.” Itou explained, as they started walking through their part of the jungle. He then thought and then continued to explain his plan. He knew both Yammamoto’s and Rumi’s strengths since they were both close friends of his. “I suggest me and Yammamoto go to the front since we’re the strongest and quickest physically and Rumi can support us with her kidou. If all goes to plan we should finish the exam quickly, barring the event of a team attacking us. If for some reason you split up and see another team, just try and go around them and we can regroup. If a team does fight try us we’ll try to incapacitate them and get away quickly, I don’t us failing because another team defeated us or we were stalled. So for this reason we’ll only worry about any obstacles the exam proctors put in our way, and we should defeat those quickly and then we can continue our path. Does that seem good to you guys or do you have any other ideas?” Itou explained, he was still open to suggestions after.

He explained all while they were walking through the jungle. If there were no other suggestions then they were fine and they could continue going through the jungle at their steady pace. Hoping to avoid any other teams and only have to worry about obstacles. He wasn't looking to fail other teams, he was just looking to pass, that's what they were all looking to do.

[Kento Waffles]

They made it only an hour into the jungle before trouble first arose. First of all, hidden in the grass, was a bear trap, and Itou was about to step on it. If he stepped on it, then he would receive its sharp edges penetrating his leg and slowing him down. It would make the rest of the exam supremely difficult. This was not the only thing either. Also in the grass, behind them, something which both Yamamoto and Itou had missed, Rumi was about to step on a pit and fall into it. It was a pit covered up by leaves, a trap left by other students that had criss crossed their route. That was a problem.

Yamamoto himself was also about to be tripped up by a wire. That meant three traps. Itou was at the front, so would he be able to notice all three traps and warn his comrades? He might only notice his, and if this was the case, he would find his comrades both trapped. Yamamoto might notice his, or he might not. He might know ways to escape if he did notice his. Would Rumi be able to? She was not meant for front lines. How would Itou deal with this situation? Three traps, and he did not exactly have a hunter's instincts for noticing three different, very well hidden things simultaneously.

Furthermore, Itou's own trap was easy to spot once he stood over it. The metallic gray stood out within the green grass. The grass was simply thick enough when they were stepping through that part that the bear trap would not have become noticeable until one was right above it. However, it was otherwise very obvious. Yamamoto's and Rumi's were both far less obvious, and unless anyone had exceptional experience with matters such as this, these would go largely unnoticed, especially by those about to be trapped. Could Itou save his team, or would it have to save itself? Could Itou's team save itself? That remained to be seen.

[Itou Kasui]

[smear:FF0000]FINAL EXAMS!!! [/smear:00FF00]

After about one hour of wading through the jungle they had found trouble. Itou had been walking in front of his team and noticed he was right above a trap, the metallic trap glinted in the sunlight. He immediately stopped in his tracks and leaped back away from the trap. Thinking he was safe he was about to continue but then he realized something. What if there are more traps lying around? With that Itou would yell to his teammates. “Guys stop!” He would yell. He didn’t know there were traps in front of them but he wanted to be sure they wouldn’t get caught in anything, although he would most likely be too late.

SPOILER: Click to show

Itou watched as Rumi seemed to fall into a hole and Yammamoto was tripped by a wire. “MOVE!” Itou would shout at he would dive forwards, past the metallic trap and onto the floor, hopefully avoiding any explosions or falling objects that would damage him. Hopefully Yammamoto would do the same and move to avoid anything that could potentially injure or kill him since trip wire traps did that. “Are you alright?” Itou asked Yammamoto while still flat on his front.

SPOILER: Click to show

After they had escaped their respective traps Itou would check to make sure they were okay. “Okay, traps are too easy to hide here, I think we should change routes. Itou said, if they agreed they’d attempt to leave the tall grass by going to the side and continuing on from there. After all if they stayed in the tall grass there would only be too many traps to effectively evade and they wanted to get through with no hinderances whatsoever.

[Kento Waffles]

Yamamoto and Itou both had fair instincts for traps, and even without Itou yelling, Yamamoto was able to stop himself before he tripped over the wire, simultaneous to Itou being able to stop himself before he planted a foot right in the open bear trap. However, that was where the problem started, for Rumi did not have instincts which were as good as Itou or Yamamoto, and both of the latter did not have good enough instincts to get that exclamation out on time before Rumi was caught. In the time it took them to evade their traps, realize there might be others, and try to form warning, it was too late.

Rumi stepped on the pit, which caved in beneath her, and she fell. She shrieked a high pitched shriek as she fell, a squeal of surprise, and plummeted. The pit was deep, at least twenty meters down, and must have taken quite a while to set up. Either this was a pre-planned trap in the forest, or it had been here during a previous exam. Or, perhaps neither was true, and someone simply had an ability that allowed them to set up easy traps. Regardless, Rumi had been trapped, and was falling into the pit, toward the bottom. There was an unfortunate trick however inside of that trap. There were tags everywhere within it.

Red tags glinted all around the walls and ground within the pit, and ignited as soon as Rumi fell in. They began burning up, but anyone from the academy should recognize them for what they were. The Omnitsukido employed weapons such as this during their special ops missions. Explosives tags. There were dozens inside of the pit, and if they exploded, there was no doubt that not only would Rumi be caught up in a very large explosion, but the pit would cave in on her as well. There were about three seconds to react. Itou and Yamamoto were both about five meters away from the pit. What could they do?

[Itou Kasui]

[smear:FF0000]FINAL EXAMS!!! [/smear:00FF00]

Okay that was good. Yammamoto managed to evade his first trap. If he had got caught then that would be bad, but who had the time to be setting all these traps? Itou then saw Rumi fall into the pit, that was not so good. He drew his zanpakuto, was someone planning to ambush her in there? However his question was then answered when he saw red lights, tags igniting. Itou knew what they were from learning about it in class. Explosive tags, they could blow a target to smithereens , and not only that but Rumi’s remains would be buried under the rubble!

Itou’s surprised expression warps into one of horror. Noo! I can’t allow this to happen. The only kidou user on my team. Someone who is useful to us. My... my friend. No! The thoughts were rapid in Itou’s head. His legs seemed to be propelling him by themselves, it was as if he wasn’t in control of his legs. The old Itou wouldn’t have cared, why put himself in harms way for a teammate? But now Itou got to know these people, gotten to love these people he couldn’t just allow them to die. Using a shinigami technique known as shunpo he used it to shunpo down the hole, moving at a stat speed of 1280.

With only a few seconds left when he exited the shunpo at the bottom of the hole he continued pushing forwards, using his arm to scoop her up by the waist he used shunpo again to shunpo up the side of the hole, he only just managed to escape with barely a millisecond to spare. The explosion occurred just as they finished getting out of the hole, with Itou’s grip firmly on her waist, he practically wrapped his arm around her waist and used shunpo to get them both out. He was coughing from having to do all that so fast. “A-are you okay? He asks her as he wiped some sweat off his brow.

Reiatsu:1020

[Kento Waffles]

OOC: Since I took so long to post here, we're going to drastically speed this thread up.

IC:

After he had saved his teammates, though he had taken burns in the process, Itou could have been presumed safe. Rumi thanked him, and Yamamoto had managed to secure himself to ensure that no further traps could catch him by surprise. He had also been successful in aiding himself when it came to the trap. It was Rumi that had had trouble, though she would later inform Itou that she could have defended herself with protective Kido. She simply did not say it at the time so as not to demean Itou's heroic actions. They all might have thought that they were safe from harm, but this was not true at all.

A roar broke through the underbrush and splintered the pine needles of the forest trees down to their center-most roots. AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHH!!!!!! it roared. The roar sounded like the feral cry of a wild beast. It sounded like a beast in agony, and the voice carried in it a haunting, echoing melody of death and of despair. The trees shook and the wind carried with it the faintest scent of death...old death, like something which had not been disturbed in many years, and which had the foul stench of dried blood and miasma for breath. The entire forest seemed to exhale.

"What was that?!" Rumi squeaked. Yamamoto looked around frantically, scanning his surroundings with all the poise and paranoia of a worried squirrel hunting for acorns. He was on hyper alert, as should they all be. AAAAAAAAAUUUUUHHHH!!!!! the roar resounded once again through the forest. "What WAS that?!" Rumi asked again. The wind started to blow menacingly. Screams were heard in the distance, on the background. Those who could sense reiatsu would experience for the first time in their lives the same, perturbing sense of a candle suddenly being snuffed out and the smoke suffocated. That was a spiritual life ending. Death had arrived.

Loud, booming footsteps shook the dirt beneath their feet, and the low growling of a feral animal rolled like continuing syllables of thunder. The footsteps grew louder with each new step, and the ground shook more heavily. What came forth was heavy. What came forth was daunting. "It's getting closer..." Yamamoto murmured passively in a ghostly whisper. Rumi shook with anticipation and nervous fear. Sweat beaded from her brow and down her nose, onto the ground. The voice that sounded was nothing human. It was a rolling slur, thunderous like applause, yet subtle and menacing, and not nearly so gaudy or loud. It was echoing.

"Fee...fi...fo....fum....I taste...the flesh...of Shinigami scum...." The trees parted to reveal an enormous monster of green fur. It stood on it's hind legs, which were stout, thick legs covered completely in bushyness. The rest of the body was as bushy, and was large and long and lanky. The mask was skeletal and white. The monster quite resembled a giant green monkey, more than anything else, with a skeletal monkey face as the mask. Beneath the mask lay glowing red eyes. The Hollow, the first real Hollow to be encountered by the academy students, was easily over forty feet tall. It had clawed hands, and a huge hole in the center of it's chest. It looked down at them, and with menace, it reached out.

[Itou Kasui]

Itou quickly looked around after he put her down, he was happy that his teammates had managed to save themselves, that was a close call because Itou knew that if Rumi died he probably would’ve not been able to pass, but it was his responsibility to make sure they all got through his forest safely. That was too close, too close for my liking, I would rather get through this place quickly. Because honestly they knew they had to get through the forest quickly or they would fail and failing was not an option in Itou’s book, and if not failing meant he would have to carry his whole team then so be it. But he trusted them so he knew they could fend for themselves.

“Okay let’s not slow down because of that, we sho-“ But his sentence had been interrupted due to a loud roar followed by a foul stench that Itou had gotten used to in his training. AAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUHHHHHHHH!!!!!! He heard and in fact it made Itou jump slightly. He quickly looked around to see where it could be. “ "What was that?!" The question annoyed Itou slightly, it’s not like any of them knew the answer to that! In fact Itou was trying to find that out right now. And then the sound came again for a second time.

"What WAS that?!"

“I don’t know yet I’m trying to figure that out.” Itou replied, getting quite irritated by the constant questions he has no idea how to answer. “It’s getting closer.” Yammamoto whispers, Itou grits his teeth and instinctively draws his zanpakuto. And then the party find out what it is that was trying to scare them, it was a hollow. Itou knits his face into a cold scowl and grips his sword tightly and then the hollow reaches out to them.

Instinctively Itou swings his katana and if it hits it should sever about two fingers, although Itou didn’t know the hollow’s speed and instinct avoiding his swing would be difficult, he had literally just left his hand vulnerable and he didn’t appear to be charging an attack of any sorts. Itou swing had been quick and definitely hard to avoid, the hollow would have to have a lot of instinct and speed to be able to retract his hand quickly enough so dodging would definitely be difficult. After Itou swung his sword he shouted out to his teammates. “Quick finish it off!”

[Kento Waffles]

SPOILER: Click to show

As the monstrous ape reached forwards, Itou's blade severed it's fingers from the left hand. It roared and screamed in pain, quickly retracting it's arm. However, what Itou would see was a complete blur when the arm was retracted. "He's fast!" Yamamoto called when the hand had retracted itself. The Hollow would be the first true Hollow which any of them encountered, making it a memorable experience if they survived it. They had poor luck. This was an extraordinary Hollow, and they were about to face it down. They were in trouble.

The Hollow held up it's hand, and the stubs of the lost fingers began to twitch. Miraculously, or perhaps unfortunately, snakes erupted forth from the nubs which had been fingers, and instead of fingers on that hand the ape-like Hollow instead had five cobras which hissed and spat. They were all several feet long. The Hollow swung it's new hand at Itou in retaliation for earlier. All of the cobras opened their mouths, and prepared to latch onto him as they passed, to attempt to bite him. Yamamoto appeared in the way just in the nick of time. His Zanpakuto was swift as a coursing river, and severed all five snakes in one clean stroke.

Even more unfortunately, after the severing, two more snakes erupted out from each nub, revealing not five snakes on the hand, but ten. Rumi dropped herself to one knee, closed her eyes, and held out both hands. She started to chant. "The chains revolve around the clock, the time constricts..." Yellow reiatsu started to form around her. "Lord and Maker, God and Deity, light flaring sound roaring, the blades piercing, all things are undone by kings and conquerers, all life is destroyed by ambition, and the clock strikes midnight, a toll showing. Hado #52: Boufuu Bakuha!" This was a stronger Kido than expected from an academy student.

A large, whirring cyclone filled with electric voltage flew out. It rushed for the Hollow, which was hit dead on and was consumed by the monstrous Kido. Seconds later, when all cleared, there was smoke rising. The Hollow was burned, but this did not last for long. It's flesh began to regenerate, this time as scale plates. It was becoming stronger the more that it was damaged. Rumi's eyes were wide. There had been a colossal failure against this Hollow. Suddenly, it rushed forwards with a speed equivalent to twice Itou's, and brought it's right fist up, clenched. It landed in between the three, separating them and shaking the ground.

The ape bashed it's fist into the ground, and this caused rippling shock waves which rolled out to blast away the academy students and leave them covered in bruises and with some broken and fractured bones. If they could not dodge the shock wave, that would happen. However, they were young, inexperienced, and naive. They were weak. They did not all possess the faculties with which to dodge the shock wave, nor did any of them know to do so to begin with. They had been presented with a very powerful adversary.

OOC: Stats of all current NPCs coming next post. Right now, you have a decision to make. Do you fight? Or do you run? Do you take charge? Or do you let someone else do so? What is your strategy?

[Itou Kasui]

[smear:FF0000]FINAL EXAMS!!! [/smear:00FF00]

SPOILER: Click to show

Itou knew that this was a bad idea, as soon as the snakes grew out of the severed fingers Itou knew that destroying this hollow through physical means would be near impossible. Itou was ready to dodge, Itou was fully ready to shunpo out the way of the snakes however Yammamoto took it upon himself to save Itou. He cleaved through the snakes all at once, however Itou was not fool enough to believe that was the end for the snakes. Almost instantly ten more snakes erupted out of the stumps. And Itou only watched, with his sword and sheath ready, analyzing, staring, waiting, watching.

After this Rumi took it upon herself to try and take down the hollow, she recited a long but high level kido that Itou knew he wouldn't bother remembering later because he didn't do kidou. The blast hit well, burning the hollow severely, however Itou was not satisfied, especially when it's flesh began regenerating/ Shit! And before either of them could react the hollow moved at break neck speed and smashed it's fist in between them. The force blasted all three students away.

Itou was lucky, he was left covered in bruises and cuts, and his body was in pain, his ribs hurt a lot, he may of broken or cracked them if he was lucky. Itou was clearly in pain, he slowly got up and he knew they couldn't stay and fight this hollow. He had come to a conclusion; the more damage they did to it the stronger it became. First the snakes, then multiple snakes, then scales for skin. And to top it off Itou didn't want his teammates dying because he couldn't swallow his pride and retreat, for now retreating was the only option.

"Guys! We have to move, we have to get out of here!" He called out, he pointed his blade to the right side of him. ""Let's go this way quickly!" He calls out, just to be sure he gets his blade and tilts it slightly, the sunlight reflects off his sword and into the eyes of the hollow, this action results the sunlight blinding the hollow, also the hollow would suffer from light scar, making locating them difficult and confusing it. He calls out again. "This way!" He calls out again. Since there were trees they could use that as cover. And with that he starts sprinting, if he needs to he can use shunpo, but he didn't want to use shunpo yet because he might go too far and lose his teammates.

Hopefully they would escape the hollow and Yammamoto and Rumi would follow Itou because they needed to regroup and rest.

[Kento Waffles]

All of them bolted, with their top speed carrying them away from the Hollow. No, that was both natural and expected. Of course they would run away. The Hollow was very strong. How could academy students be expected not to react with fear, and with indignation? They were correct to run. The Hollow did not pursue them when they did. It was to be expected that the Hollow would not pursue them, of course. There were other, juicier targets, who would come to challenge it. It shouldn't have to work that extra mile just for slightly juicy targets. Not when it could have the sirloin.

As Itou and his two companions drew further away, they would encounter another group. Two had their backs turned, and were on lookout from opposing diagonal directions from behind one who held vigilance to the entire side from which Itou, Yamamoto, and Rumi were emerging. As soon as Itou and gang approached, they would see who it was. It was someone who made the blood of all other academy students in that year run cold, the intense prodigy of once in a lifetime. His eyes looked amused as Itou and gang approached him. Sword out, tip against the ground, resting his elbow on the hilt, and sitting on a large rock, Jagger Kawada.

"You fled?" he asked with a grin. "Come, now. You aren't going to graduate with shit judgment like that. So what if it could regenerate or get stronger. Didn't you think to seal its movements instead of kill it? Maybe that would have been easier, or you could have captured it for study. Your Kido specialist could have taken care of it if you'd protected and guarded her. Well, you're too late now. Pathetic..." Jagger blatantly insulted Itou and his team, and stood up. Many academy students had probably died already because of the monstrous Hollow, but Jagger was fearless, and started walking in the direction of the Hollow.

Jagger and his group disappeared in a flash and vanished into the trees. Itou could choose to follow, or he could keep running. If he followed, he as a leader was once again bringing his group into harm's way. If he chose to run however, he was going to be considered a coward in future. There was no real win situation to this one. He had to find his place in the situation. This might very well be the most defining and absolute experience of his growing up into a Soul Reaper. Here, he would decide what kind of Soul Reaper that he would be. What would a good, true leader do in this situation?

[Itou Kasui]

[smear:FF0000]FINAL EXAMS!!! [/smear:00FF00]

Itou paid no attention to the insults Jagger gave Itou and his team. For all he knew Jagger could be leading them into a trap and they might ambush his team and leave them for the hollow. Itou fled because he needed his team alive, it wouldn’t look good if they were dead under his leadership, he wasn’t babying them, he was just making smart choices, if someone called him a coward so be it. There was a difference between cowardice and simply being smart, and Itou was being smart not cowardly. He didn’t want to go into a fight were he risked his teammates dying or being seriously injured, that had already nearly happened and he didn’t want it to happen just because of a hollow that refused to die. “Don’t listen to him, this is not a pride thing, we need to finish this mission swiftly and efficiently.” Itou said coldly, clearly not affected by the arrogant student’s words. “Come on let’s go this way.” Itou says and he continues the path, his teammates would surely see his reasoning and follow.

[Kento Waffles]

An announcement blared around fifteen minutes later, after all had quieted down, and Itou and his team had gotten a sufficient distance away from the Hollow, enough so that at some point, its reiatsu had disappeared and could no longer be sensed. For a while, its cries had erupted loudly, but at some point these had died down, and they seemed to have gotten far enough away that the cries fell eerily silent. Rumi and Yamamoto were resting up with Itou, and his teammates had just been discussing whether or not this had been intended as part of the exam, when the announcement went off.

A voice echoed through the whole of the forest, filling it so absolutely that no one existed in the forest who would not have heard it. Even those deaf or deafened were able to hear it telepathically. "Attention examination students! We regret to inform you that this exam must be ended abruptly due to unforeseen circumstances. All currently active examinees will be shifted into a modified-second and final stage of the exam. You will be transported there shortly. Good luck, and we apologize for the inconvenience!" They had understated it. It had not been part of the exam, and they were brushing that monstrous Hollow under the rug, just like that.

A few minutes passed, during which time Rumi and Yamamoto discussed what they believed the next exam was going to be, and how irresponsible it was to shrug off the facts like that. They also talked about their wonders on if students had been killed or not, or if any injured had perhaps had some medical attention so that they could survive. During the time that they were all waiting, Jagger Kawada emerged from the trees, with a large mask on a string dangling from a sash around his torso. The mask was large enough to fit his torso, or even larger. It was covered in blood. It was the same mask that the mysterious Hollow had worn. Jagger and his team members were all covered in blood, but not their own.

"That's how it's done..." Jagger said, smiling as he reached Itou and Itou's group. The Hollow had been killed by Team Jagger. That was an impressive, almost scary feat. Moments later, Jagger and his team members were no longer seen, as Itou and his team were instantly teleported into a new area, which consisted of a very large cylindrical column planted firmly into the ground. It was large enough to accommodate several houses, and Itou and many other students were at the bottom of the column. A proctor was standing watch. Students kept appearing randomly in the area. Eventually, everyone was gathered. Less than half remained.

"You will all be taking a comprehensive makeup final, as the final part of your exam..." the proctor told all of them. Itou might notice that every single person he had encountered on his first day in the academy, every noteworthy person, was present. Also present, the Kasumi'Oji Head, a Kuchiki member, and a very large sumo-figure man. "There is an even number to you. Each of you will divide up into pairs. You are to hold combat with your partner. You choose your opponent. Passing this exam does not rely purely on victory, but it relies on showing tactics and grit. There will be obstacles while you fight. If that is understood, find someone to combat against."

[Itou Kasui]

[smear:FF0000]FINAL EXAMS!!! [/smear:00FF00]

Itou was quite annoyed when it was announced that the exam couldn't continue, because that usually meant a harder course of action had to be taken to pass. However when Jagger and his team came and Jagger used the mask as a pelt Itou was quite... intimidated to say the least. This person had managed to defeat and kill a full hollow and was now wearing it's mask as a pelt. Itou knew it wouldn't be logical to pick a fight with it. How did he even harm it without it being too strong for him? These were all questions that would never be answered and maybe he could ask him if they graduated together.

Itou knew that if Rumi were to face him he could be potentially overwhelmed, Rumi knew many kidou and Itou wasn't the perfect sword fighter, it would be too difficult to face a kidou user. So Itou went up to the one person who he knew was equal to him in every way, Yammamoto. "So, do you want to find out who's truly the best out of the two of us?" Itou asked with a small and very subtle grin.