The Path To Glory [NDE, R]

[Amagai Kuchiki]

Name: The Path To Glory - The Adventure Name

Participants: Arashi Kawada, Taien Hadohou, Hotaru Kuchiki - Who can participate?

Location: A Coliseum, located within an unknown location. It's underground, that much is obvious - Where does this take place?

Difficulty Level: Hard - Easy, Medium, Hard, Extreme. How difficult is this adventure?

Setting: NDE - Is this DE or NDE? Death Enabled or Non Death Enabled?

Plotline: Arashi and Taien were messing with a device on loan from Squad 12, which was meant to act as a basic teleporter of sorts. However, a malfunction with the device teleports the two of them to an underground Colloseum of unknown origins, where they have to fight for their freedom in a series of tag team death matches - Explain the plot of your adventure.

Estimated Enemy Strength: Class 5-1 Estimate the strength of the NPC's people will fight in this adventure. Class 7-1, what is their strength on average?

Estimated Time Until Completion: 4 - 6 pages - How many pages do you think this adventure will run for until it is over?

Starts: Now - When does the adventure begin?

Special Conditions: None worth noting

[Taien Hadohou]

"Nggh... well... I can safely say.. that it isn-isn't supposed to twist like t-that! Aha-ow..."

... This certainly wasn't the oddest start to a day Taien had had before, but it did rank up there...

---

F l a s h b a c k

"... And so, this is what I'm working on today. Sorry I happened to be busy when you decided to vist, Arashi-san, heh."

Taien grinned a bit as he rubbed the back of his head. It was with a pleasant surprise that he woke up to this morning with his 'cousin' Arashi Kawada deciding to pay him a visit. Taien honestly hadn't been interacting that much with the rest of the Kawada Family for a good period of time, mostly because of a few duties he was taking care of. That, and Division Twelve once again sent him some sort of prototype Reiatsu related device to him. Due to his unique situation, Taien was one of the few people in the Seireitei extremely familiar with the way Reiatsu worked, flowed, and behaved. Kyomei-san was another such individual, but Taien was the one with more free time on his hands, so he generally was the one they sent stuff to.

Well, that, and Taien had been working with Division Twelve for a long, long time. They still owed Taien a few favors, come to think of it, though Taien hadn't really seen fit to call them in quite yet. He was content to simply let sleeping dogs lie, for the moment. Besides, he got to test all sorts of cool things for them in the meantime! Like his current package-thing-whateveritscalled. It was supposed to be a portable portal device, operating on the same principles as the Garganta, but only accessible by those who had one of the devices. It was, understandably, still in its developmental phase, considering what the Twelfth Division had to replicate. Taien's job, at the moment, was to spot irregular flows in the Reiatsu-based circuitry, point them out, and write a report on it, before sending it back. He was a beta-tester, essentially.

To do so, however, he needed to channel his own Reiatsu through the device, and essentially feel out the way it moved. This had the advantage of letting Taien basically have a complete grasp on how the circuitry worked, was formed, and all that kind of stuff. On the downside, though, if he wasn't careful, he could accidentally trigger the device's activation mechanism. For some reason, there wasn't exactly a way to detach the mechanism from the rest of the device without completely screwing over how the Reiatsu flowed, and there was no manual shut-off either. If he started it, by accident, he could inadvertantly cause the device to actuvate. Which would be a bad thing, considering the state of it... It definitely needed a lot of work before they could get where they wanted it to be. Taien wasn't sure whether it would just shunt a person into the ground or something. Or over an ocean. Or somewhere in the next dimension.

Yeah...

F l a s h b a c k

---

After that... Taien couldn't remember anything. There was the vague feeling of power shooting around him, a brief yell, and then... well, silence. Here. Wherever here was. From a brief but through check of himself, he still had all his gear. Guns, Convert-a-Weapon, Fedora, watch-that-was-secretly-a-shield, orbs... Along with his clothes. A brief glance around told him that Arashi-san was with him, and... that was about it. Taien had absolutely no idea where they were, to be honest. That didn't really bother him, though. They'd find a way out, get back to the Seireitei, and then perhaps have a seminar with the Twelfth Division on the basics of teleportal saftey...

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats & Abilities}

Strength - [50] Points

Speed - [350] Points

Spiritual Pressure - [200] (600) Points

Reiatsu Strength - [400] (1200) Points

Light Aura - [100] Points

Dark Aura - [0] Points

Instinct - [70] Points

Senses - [70] Points

Energy sensory - [60] Points

Healing Expertise - [0] Points


Total SP: [1200] Points

Abilities

• [Reiatsu Control Mastery] {2}
  
  
• [Charisma/Leadership] {2}
  
  
• [Learning] {2}
  
  
• [Analyzing] {2}
  
  
• [Battle Analysis] {2}
  
  
• [Mental Incantation] {2}
  
  
• [Strength of Will] {2}
  
  
• [Pain Tolerance] {2}
  

[Deleted]

"Ah! Damn that hurt!" Arashi let out an unusual curse. He had unfortunately landed on a particularly hard stone. Fortunately, it seemed it wasn't as hard as his head. This was definitely the most unusual thing that had ever happened to Arashi... And he lived in the same house as Raygin Kawada... "Taien, Why did you have to bring your work home with you?" he let out witha groan.

---

F l a s h b a c k

Arashi had spent most of his day so far drinking tea and writing poetry. For once, he was off of work, and decided to spend the relaxing in his clan compound. Of course, one could only drink so much tea, and think of so many rhymes before they had enough, and Arashi was quite sure he had reached that point. Stretching out his body and letting out a yawn, Arashi stood up from the table he was sitting at. What could he do today? Hmm... Then Arashi had an idea. Ever since his 'cousin' Taien's induction to the clan, they had yet to have actually meet and hold a real conversation. With this, Arashi made up his mind.

"Well that settles it, off to the Kidou Corps Barracks it is." Picking up Yasokyoku, Arashi walked out the door and made his way to Kidou Corps Barracks. Along the way, he notcied the pleasant weather it was like this morning. The birds were chirping in the trees, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Finally finding himself out side of the barracks, he walked in, and made his way to Taien's office. He hoped he wasn't working on anything important, Arashi wouldn't want to interrupt him if so. Knocking on the door, he quickly recieved the call of "It's open" from what was presumably Taien's voice.

Sliding open the traditional shoji door, Arashi peered inside, seeing Taien tinkering with something, sitting behind his desk. "Ah, Taien-san, I hope you aren't busy? I found myself having a bit of free time this moring, and decided to pay you a visit. We haven't really had much time to speak since you joined the clan, and I thought that this was an excellent oportunity to do so..." Before Taien could voice his reply however, the device in his hands erupted in a sort of white blast, the next thing Arashi knew...

---

F l a s h b a c k

The next thing Arashi knew, his skull was bashing against a particularly strong rock. He didn't take any damage from it thankfully, but it did hurt quite a bit. Rubbing his head, Arashi looked around. From what he could tell, they were somewhere underground, but that was about it. Taking inventory of his gear, Arashi found his zanpakuto and Soul Gauge still with him thankfully. Looking over to Taien, Arashi questioned him "Just what were you working on in their Taien? and What is this place?"

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats and Abilities}

Stats


Strength: 50



Speed: 150



Reiatsu Strength: 150 (225)



Spiritual Pressure: 150 (225)



Light Aura: 85



Dark Aura: 15



Instinct: 150 (97.5)



Senses: 150 (97.5)



Energy Sensory: 100 (65)



Healing Expertise: 0



Total SP: 900




Abilities



Mental Incantation: 2



Martial Arts [Jeet Kune Do]: 1



Battle Analysis: 2



Calm Mind: 2



Weapons [Swords]: 1



Learning: 1



Kidou: 2



Analyzing: 2

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

"HOLY CRAP! That was really ridiculous! I never thought that one errand to another squad would end up like this...So crazy..." She never thought that something like this could actually happen to her. Thankfully, it seemed like she landed on something soft, which was pretty much the only saving grace of this day so far.

---

Flashback

Hotaru was busy in her squad. She had lately spent more time there lately. She figured that since she was the Third Seat of the squad, she should spend time there to get to know them. Luckily, because she did spend so much time there, she was slowly getting to know a lot of her squad mates. There were a few that underestimated her because she was a woman, but once she battled them and showed off her power, they shut up immediately. Now, they got along a little bit better.

At this point in the day, however, she was trying to help with some of the backup paperwork that had been piling up at the squad as of late. She was hunched over some papers when she was found by one of her squad mates. He knocked on her door, came in and told her that a message needed to be delivered to the Kido Corps. for some routine matter. She agreed to deliver it, he left it on her desk and left. She looked at the message and it definitely looked pretty important. She finished what she was doing and left immediately.

Once she arrived at the Kido Squad, she ran into one of the corps members. Since this message was addressed to their captain, she figured that one of the members of the squad could give it to her. She stopped the man, gave him directions and he hurriedly ran off to give the message to their captain. Before she left, she heard some weird noises. Due to her curiosity, she decided to go check it out. When she got to the room, she saw Arashi and some other guy she didn't know. She decided to walk in and talk to Arashi. "Hey Arashi! What's..." She couldn't even finish her response, since that's when the room was engulfed in a white light.

Flashback

---

The next thing she knew, she felt a falling sensation and then landing on this soft object. She sat for a minute to try to get her bearings and that's when she heard groaning under her. She looked down and quickly moved. "Oh, Arashi! I'm so sorry! I swear I didn't mean to land on you!" She bowed low in an apology. She looked over and saw another shinigami. "Oh, hello! My name is Hotaru Kuchiki, it's a pleasure to meet you. You wouldn't happen to know where we are would you?" 

SPOILER: Click to show

{Stats}
Strength - [(200) - 25%] (150) Points.
Speed - [(160) + 35%] (216) Points.
Spiritual Pressure – [(200) - 25%] (150) Points.
Reiatsu Strength – [(160) + 35%] (216) Points.
Light Aura - [70] Points
Dark Aura - [30] Points
Instinct - [100] Points.
Senses - [100] Points.
Energy sensory - [50] Points
Healing Expertise - [0] Points
Total SP = 870

[Weapons: Swords] 2
[Pain Tolerance] 2
[Bleeding Tolerance] 1
[Illusion Resist] 1
[Damage Recovery] 2
[Poison Resist] 1
[Learning] 1
[Battle Focus] 1
[HoHo] 1

[Amagai Kuchiki]

The three, now that they began to collect themselves, could look around and see that they were in some underground cave. The cave's floor was rough, with stones littering it haphazardly, and even a few stalagmites coming from the ground at uneven intervals. The cave was shallow, and the three stood at the back of it. At the front of it, however, was where the source of light was coming from. There was a set of metal bars, caging them in, and something beyond it that was light up.  And if the three approached the bars, they'd be able to see it.

An arena, with a well broomed dirt floor, with stone walls that had complicated carvings on it. It was about forty five feet in diameter, and appeared to be (from what they could tell) an actual perfect circle. However, before they could examine more of the Arena, a voice came booming from behind them, although if they turned, it would become evident that there wasn't a person there, but rather a small mechanical device that projected the sound. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Bloodsport Arena, where the three of you will have your mettle tested. We have allowed you to keep all of your gear, and you are fully allowed to use it. Hell, you'll have to, given what you'll be fighting. There will be three rounds, and if you survive them all, we'll let you go scott free, with a token of kindness to celebrate your victory. If you don't survive them, we'll bury you as pleasantly as possible. Good luck![/color]"

With that, the loudspeaker shut off, and the bars of the cage retreated into the ground, allowing any of the three to step out into the Arena.[/font]

[Taien Hadohou]

"Just what were you working on in their Taien? and What is this place?"

Taien blinked, looking over to Arashi. He also noticed his current... predicament.

"Ah... Arashi-san? I remember telling you what it was when you came in. I don't quite recall what happened after that, though... maybe there was some kind of effect on our memories?"

Taien pondered that for a moment.

"Or that could just be the effect of hitting the ground really hard. On that note, why are we here anyway? That device wasn't even properly calibrated. While I'm thankful we weren't shunted into the rock hard underground, I have to wonder why we weren't. Hmm..."

His extended ponderings were interrupted quickly, though, as the female Shinigami made herself known.

"Oh, hello! My name is Hotaru Kuchiki, it's a pleasure to meet you. You wouldn't happen to know where we are would you?"


Taien smiled lightly.

"Taien Hadohou. Kidou Corps Vice Commander. I do wish we'd met under better circumstances, though... No idea where we ended up, but considering the variables of us actually not dying from that portal... Someone will expl-"

"Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Bloodsport Arena, where the three of you will have your mettle tested. We have allowed you to keep all of your gear, and you are fully allowed to use it. Hell, you'll have to, given what you'll be fighting. There will be three rounds, and if you survive them all, we'll let you go scott free, with a token of kindness to celebrate your victory. If you don't survive them, we'll bury you as pleasantly as possible. Good luck!"

"... Right on cue."

After having thought about it for a while, Taien had come to a few possible reasons as to why they were here. One, pure, random, stupidly huge luck. There wouldn't be anything else to explain it, the chances of them not instantly dying from using a portal that could literally take them anywhere were stupidly low. The chances of them not to die were there, yes, but... They were practically non existent. The second option was that this spot was just some sort of weak point in the dimensional weave, some place where it was easier to pierce through to and from other dimensions. It made more sense, certainly, and made as much sense as the next option. Three... someone hijacked the portal. It wasn't exactly hard to divert the destination of a pretty much malfunctioning teleportal device, after all.

Taien was more believing in the last one, however... For one simple reason. There were Reiatsu signatures out towards the light. Well, that and the cage bars that he just noticed. Yeah... The question was, who would do something like this? As the helpful announcer just pointed out, a gladiator arena would... Well. They were trapped and being forced to fight for their lives. All in all, not the most awful situation Taien'd ever been in. He wasn't quite sure about the other two, though. Come to think of it, he knew abso-frigging-lutely nothing about the other two, save for that Arashi was a cousin of his, and that Hotaru was apparently a cousin to Kyomei-san. There really wasn't much of anything else to do at the moment, and resistance wasn't exactly something they could afford right now... so...

"Hmm. Seeing as we have absoultely no clue as to where we are, where this is, or anything else... What do you say we take a walk? An... enthusiastic walk?"

Taien smiled lightly as he calmly walked towards the arena area.

"Let's also talk while we walk. My specialty is easy to guess; what about yourselves?"

Taien casually asked the two as he entered the arena.

[Deleted]

Arashi stood up from his fall, was fine for a few moments... And then something slammed into him from above. "Ouch", he groaned softly. Looking up to see what seemingly soft projectile hit him, he quickly looked back down, a blush adorning his face. Before he could get to embarassed, Hotaru thankfully jumped up, apologizing all the while. Arashi stood up, warily this time, before more misfortune befell him, 'First that rock too the head and now this?' he asked himself. Adressing Hotaru, Arashi ensured her of his health, "It's quite alright Hotaru-san, it's not like you meant to hit me or anything. I'm a bit tougher than I look" he let a small smile fill his face "I think I'll live."

Making to address Taien after he finished his introduction to Hotaru, Arashi never go the chance, as Taien was abruptly cut off from an ominous voice. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Bloodsport Arena, where the three of you will have your mettle tested. We have allowed you to keep all of your gear, and you are fully allowed to use it. Hell, you'll have to, given what you'll be fighting. There will be three rounds, and if you survive them all, we'll let you go scott free, with a token of kindness to celebrate your victory. If you don't survive them, we'll bury you as pleasantly as possible. Good luck!" Thinking on the situation for a few moments, Arashi concluded that it would be best to follow Taien's lead. Not only did he have more expertise in the matter, there was also the thought that he had more experience as a Vice Captain.

Having made up his mind, Arashi followed Taien out of the cage."I think you're right about the rock hitting my head dazing me for a moment, I'm pretty sure I remember now. Thats some sort of teleportation device right?" Arashi moved onto the next question, already know the answer. "Well, I guess my specialty is pretty similar to yours Taien, I'm a squad 5 member, so I'm proficient with kidou, and prefer long ranged combat." Arashi thought for a few moments longer, putting his hand to his chin "I suppose I also have a preference for illusions, and even though I prefer ranged battle, I'm no slouch in close combat, having some skill with the sword, and a few zanjutsu techniques... That's about it I suppose." As the three walked into the arena, Arashi turned looking at Hotaru questioningly, signaling that it was her turn to speak.

[Hotaru Kuchiki-Masurao]

Hotaru introduced herself and this new shinigami said that he was Taien Hadohou, Kidou Corps Vice Commander. He wished they would have met under different circumstances and so did she. These were really weird circumstances to meet someone completely new. Then, Taien started to talk about some science things, and she heard Arashi say that he was alright, being tougher than he looks and that he would live.

Right when Taien said that someone would probably explain, she heard over what had to be a speaker system, "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the Bloodsport Arena, where the three of you will have your mettle tested. We have allowed you to keep all of your gear, and you are fully allowed to use it. Hell, you'll have to, given what you'll be fighting. There will be three rounds, and if you survive them all, we'll let you go scott free, with a token of kindness to celebrate your victory. If you don't survive them, we'll bury you as pleasantly as possible. Good luck!" Well, at least they actually knew what was going on here now.

She listened to what the guys had to say and she heard mention of a teleportation device. They must have got that from the Twelfth Squad. She had no idea how they would get it, but they used it and this is what happened. She followed the other two, since they were Vice Captains and she was only a Third Seat. They wanted to know what their specialties were in fighting. Obviously, Taien's specialty was Kido. Arashi said he prefers long range, using kido. He also has skills with a sword and zanjutsu, meaning he could do some close combat.

Then, they looked in her direction, waiting for her to add in her specialty. She had to think for a minute. "Well, I would have to say that my specialty would have to be close combat. I know several Shunpo techniques to get in close quick and fight. It also lets me get away rather quickly too, just in case something happens. The only long range attacks I have are in Shikai, but I can attack long range if I have to. I just don't prefer to fight that way. That's pretty much it. I'm curious how this arena thing is going to turn out." She walked with the Vice Captains, hoping nothing too bad was going to happen.

[Amagai Kuchiki]

"In the right corner, the corner of challengers, of newcomers, the corner of change, we have three of Soul Society's finest, Shinigami Soul Reapers! Let's hope they do better than last weeks. In the left corner, the corner of champions, of oldtimers, the corner of tradition, we have the legendary Bristleback, the quilled monstrosity from the outer reaches of Soul Society. And as is tradition, one of the three Shinigami will square off against him. But wait, if there are three of them, they do get a special advantage! Each of them will have one instance of "tag", which they can use to switch in instead of their ally. Tags refresh every few rounds, so don't use them too haphazardly. These fights are, of course, to the death. Battle, begin!"

As the voice called out, a figure slowly walked out from out behind another set of lowered bars on the opposite side of the arena. He appeared to be a beastclan of some sort, with quills all along his back, and surrounding his face like a mane. His face itself was horribly scarred, and one of his eyes was a milky white, having clearly been rendered useless by some past attack. "Alright then, which one of you idiots wants to die first? I'll let you guys pick the order, I'm a nice guy like that." His voice was rough, and although there was some amount of humor in it, the beast didn't seem to care.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Spoiler - Click To View}
Beast Clan (Rank 2 Berserker, Class 3)
1600 SP
Strength: 300 (1350)
Speed: 500 (200)

Reitsu Strength: 100 (40)

Spiritual Pressure: 200 (80)
Instinct: 200 (300)
Senses: 300 (150)
Energy Sensory: 0

HE: 0

Light Aura: 50 | Dark Aura: 50

[Deleted]

Finally reaching the corner of the arena, Arashi listened to Hotaru describe her abilities. She seemed to be a close ranged specialist. That was good, they definitely needed it. Personally, Arashi felt somewhat useless, his strengths were the same as Taien, except Taien was far better with them than he was. While that was unfortunate, it did leave something that Arashi would be useful for... He was pretty sure that the others would disagree, but Arashi had alrady made up his mind. Before he could make his opinions vocal however, the same loud voice spoke out across the arena.

"In the right corner, the corner of challengers, of newcomers, the corner of change, we have three of Soul Society's finest, Shinigami Soul Reapers! Let's hope they do better than last weeks. In the left corner, the corner of champions, of oldtimers, the corner of tradition, we have the legendary Bristleback, the quilled monstrosity from the outer reaches of Soul Society. And as is tradition, one of the three Shinigami will square off against him. But wait, if there are three of them, they do get a special advantage! Each of them will have one instance of "tag", which they can use to switch in instead of their ally. Tags refresh every few rounds, so don't use them too haphazardly. These fights are, of course, to the death. Battle, begin!"

As the sound faded from the air, Arashi took a look at their opponent. He was going to be very strong, that was for certain. Just the sight of those rippling muscles confirmed it. On the other hand however, Arashi didn't feel much spiritual pressure emanating from him, and while he could be masking it, as Arashi's energy sensory level wasn't all that high, he doubted it. From what he could glimpse from just his appearance, their opponent would be a close ranged combatant... Depending on his speed, this could be very good, or very bad...

As Arashi turned to speak to the others, he caught the look in Taien's eye, he was going to volunteer to go first. Arashi decided to nip that particular idea in the bud. He placed his hand on Taien's shoulder, causing Taien to glance at him. "Taien, you're thining about going first, aren't you?" Arashi knew he was. While he hadn't known him very long, Arashi could tell Taien was the type to do something like this. "Listen", Arashi looked at him, "I'll go first." He then proceeded to explain, "For one, I'm the most expendable member of this team, my abilites are just watered down versions of yours," Arashi said, depreciating himself."For two, I'm not sure if any single one of us could take that beast down, except maybe you Taien." He said, but before Taien could respond he continued, "And that's exactly why you're going last."

A look of understanding came across Taien's face. Arashi knew Taien was a smart guy, he must understand that they needed to be sure they could beat this guy, and with the advantages this 'tag' system gave, they couldn't squander it. By Arashi going first and weakening him, he ensured that the one person who could defeat him, got the chance to do so. "Listen, I'll tire him, try and keep out of his range. When the time is right, I'll put him under an illusion, or disorient him, then I'll tag out. THAT is your signal to jump in and finish him while he can't defend himself, understand?"

With that done, Arashi stepped out onto the field. He knew this battle wouldn't be easy, but it was up to him to weaken this monster, and by god, Arashi would NOT fail his allies. He lifted his head up and gazed right into his enemies eyes, a light of determination in them. Arashi wouldn't be able to hold back an inch, so it was about time he brought out the big guns... Freeing his zanpakuto from his sheathe, Arashi lifted it in front of him horizontally, with his palm against the back of the blade, and uttered thus "Harken Closely... Yasokyoku!" With a blast of spiritual energy, Arashi's shikai made itself known.

It's appearance ebeing that of two gauntlets, Arashi's shikai was unlike any other. This was due to the two blades protruding from the gauntlets. Three feet in length, the cast a deadly gleam, and threatened death to all who would oppose them. His shikai finally released, Arashi turned towards his opponent, and simply uttered one word, "... Come".With that one taunting remark, Arashi readied himself to escape at any moment, he had next to no ideas as to what this creatures abilities might be, and he needed to be aware.

-200 Reitsu (Shikai Release)
2050 Remaining

1-10 Released State

[Amagai Kuchiki]

As Arashi stepped onto the field to match Bristleback, a shimmering wall appeared behind him, separating him from his friends. All three of them would note a red tattoo, in the shape of a circle with a blue dot in the center, that had appeared on the back of their hands. "These are your tag markers. If you want to switch in, hit them and you'll instantly have your position swapped with the person on your team currently in the fight. Be careful, this can put you in harms way! Other than that, please do not attempt to interfere with fights currently in progress. Such actions will end....regrettably."

Arashi's gauntlets formed around his fists, and he ordered his opponent to attack. Bristleback, however, shook it's head. "You're gonna regret that taunt, kid. If you summon a weapon, at least try to put up a fight." He flexed his muscles, and the force from such an action sent a shockwave through the air. The goal of this shockwave wasn't to hurt, but to destabilize, and destabilize it would. Arashi would be off balance for a second or so, which was enough time for the beastclan to close the gap between the two, rushing directly at Arashi headfirst.

SPOILER: Click to show

{Forgot Skills Last Post}
2 Street Fighting
2 Pain Tolerance (from Berserker)

2 Strength of Will
2 Battle Focus

(OOC: I'm probably not going to fluff my posts too much for the gladiator, but you should still treat this as a real serious battle.)

[Deleted]

Arashi was starting to get excited, the normal restrictions he put upon his personality were lifting, and as Bristleback created a shockwave and rushed at him, a grin split Arashi's features apart. 'I should probably try and get away...' he then let out a bark of laughter "Like Hell I'm running away!" Arashi held his ground as the shockwave rammed into him. As the wave of force hit him, Arashi slid back sveral feet, but kept his overall stance. before he knew it, Bristleback was upon him, but Arashi was ready. The moment he got into range, Arashi thrust his arm blade forward at Bristlebacks face. 'Let's see how you like a little Shindo Suru bastard!'

This entire battle depended on what happened next... If Bristleback dodged the hit, out of fear for the sword attack hitting his eyes, then Shindo Suru would cause vibrations in his inner ear, causing intense pain and nausea. Judging by his choice in occupation as a gladiator, Arashi was willing to bet this guy had some good resistance to pain, but people underestimate the pain that Shindo Suru could cause, at the very least it would give him pause for a few moments. And if the pain didn't work? Then the sheer nausea would. His balance would be off by a good bit at the least, even if he didn't start hacking up on his knees. Even if Biristleback DIDN'T dodge, Yasokyoku was close enough to his ears to do the damage regardless.

Hopefully, Shindo Suru would give Arashi the time to jump away, and complete the next phase of his plan. He would shunpo away and quickly target with his family's specialty kidou, Saiwan # 5 Kuroshoufuku by making eye contact with him in his disoriented state. Then, he would double-layer the illusion by clapping his hands together, and using his other illusionary kidou, Saiwan # 17 Gorogoro. Then, when/if Bristleback broke out of his first Saiwan, he would still be caught in the other, and the world would appear completely still. Hopefully Bristleback was exceptionally stupid, and in his nauseated and disoriented state, he would think Arashi was just standing still for some reason.

Directly after he cast Saiwan #17, Arashi would call out for Taien to tag... We would see where everything would go after that.

-200 Shindo Suru
-50 Shunpo (Possible)
-150 Saiwan #5 (Possible)
-600 Saiwan #17 (Possible)

1850 Remaining
1050 Remaining (Possible)
2-10 Released State

[Amagai Kuchiki]

Although Arashi succeeded in avoiding falling over, being pushed back was also fairly bad, because it put him exactly where his foe wanted him to be. As Bristleback closed in, and Arashi tried to stab, he was sorely disappointed by the reaction. Bristleback ducked way low, so that the stab flew over him by a fair distance. And although Arashi caused his sword to vibrate, the vibrations dissipated fast enough in the air, and the sword was nowhere near Bristleback's ears. Arashi was now in close, and thrusting his sword in an awkward position.

Bristleback continued his downward motion and tackled Arashi by the legs, carrying him backward several feet. Once Arashi was sufficiently off balance, Bristleback stood up, grabbing Arashi by the ankles. "I told you, you should've tried to hurt me when you had the chance." With that, he spun around several times while holding Arashi, gathering momentum before finally letting go and allowing Arashi to fly through the air before smashing down painfully on the other side of the arena. 

[Deleted]

'Damn' Arashi thought to himself as he groaned on the other side of the arena, 'That was pretty stupid of me...' Slowly sitting up, he rose to one knee, holding onto his ribs. He was pretty sure they were cracked, if not completely broken, the same ent for his left arm. 'That strength of his is monstrous, and I underestimated his speed and reaction time... I can't do that again.' Steeling himself, Arashi finally rose to his feet, struggling greatly. With the pain he was in, he kinda wanted to switch out, but he hadn't accomplished anything, that was unacceptable.

With his mobility hampered the way it was, with his injuries, the one advantage he had over his opponent was gone.That left Arashi with very few options. He wasn't going to leave until he did SOMETHING however, he didn't want to drag his fellow shinigami down. With that, a plan emerged into his mind. It probably wouldn't achieve the same effect as his initial one would have, but it should get the job done. Gathering his power as his opponent advanced, Arashi spoke to his enemy.

"Your right, it was foolish of me to not attack when I had the chance... I won't make that mistake again." Raising his uninjured hand Arashi continued. "Technically, I'm supposed to clap my hands together for this, but my arm is rather injured at the moment" He said, indicating his right arm. "I suppose snapping my fingers will achieve the same effect however" With his hand alrady in place, Arashi snapped his fingers, "Saiwan #17: Gorogoro!"

With that illusion in place, his opponent would need considerably more reitsu strength to break it, something that Arashi doubted. He wouldn't underestimate his enemy however, and quickly called out for Taien to switch with him, hopefully, his illusion would give Taien the chance he needed to nail the beast clan member.

-600 (Saiwan #17)
1250 Remaining Reitsu

[Taien Hadohou]

Taien watched. Arashi had wanted to go first, and he seemed eager to prove himself an asset to the team, so Taien acquiesced. Even though he had called himself expendable, replaceable, a watered down version of Taien's own powers. it was plain to see that the other Shinigami wanted to show what he could do to them. That he wasn't a liability. That was commendable. Taien watched as Arashi released his Shikai, his declaration of not running away, and of his attack on Bristleback. His small smile didn't waver when Arashi was blasted back. Instead, he simply watched in silence, watching the other man bear his soul for the world to see. And then he began to use Kidou... Saiwan, to be precise. Taien was a part of the Kawada Family after all. He knew a few Saiwan himself.

Taien watched as Arashi, who apparently had broken an arm from the collision, reached up and snapped his fingers. To everyone who heard that snap, and who lacked the necessary power to resist it, the entire world... would still. Everything would stop. Nothing would be in motion, no matter how hard they would try. It was a powerful illusion, Gorogoro, and, considering the considerable strength of their opponent, he likely was lacking in the Spiritual department. That's how things usually worked, either one focused on unlocking the power of the body, or the power of the spirit. There were those who tapped into the senses, and those who focused on any combination of the three as well, but they tended to have less power because of that split. No, unless Taien was completely judging him wrong, Bristleback was a pure, physical power type. Not unlike Taien's own massive spiritual power.

And then, having done so, he called for Taien.

Taien's smile grew a fraction. For a brief moment, there was a vague sense of movement, as Taien and Arashi were exchanged. It was over pretty quickly, and Taien's smile grew a little more as he landed on the ground. Of course, Taien was only in the same place as Arashi for a brief moment. In the blink of an eye, Taien vanished. Well, that wasn't right, technically. While Taien did posess a certain Kidou that would make him vanish from sight, he wasn't currently using it. Nope, Taien was perfectly visible... He was just a bit higher than he was before. At the highest point in the collesium, Taien stood there. On top of being an advantageous position, this was also a bit of a test. To see where they were, to be precise. If this was an area where Air Ground existed, like the Human World or some such, Taien would be standing on the ceiling, pointing downwards at Bristleback. If the area was not, then Taien simply would have an Air Ground cast.

Taien hadn't been idle in the time between him appearing where Arashi was and Shunpoing straight up either. Of course, Bristleback wouldn't hear it, even if Taien was speaking. No, Taien was casting a spell mentally.

The current is rushing. The poorest of citizens close their doors and pray for there to be no leak, no flood. Yet they will be led amiss, still, for the mighty current cannot be withstood by mere straw!

SPOILER: Click to show

{Music Time}

"Raiu (Thunderstorm)."

Spoke Taien. A massive, explosively powerful rush of lightning left Taien's hand, quickly expanding and becoming a vertible flood of lightning, crashing down at Bristleback. This was the power of a Technique Master... and the power of Kidou Fusion. Taking the Form of Gouzen Demizu, and the Effect of Raikou Kawa, Taien had forged more than a 'river' of lightning; it was more like an entire, large lake was being dropped on Bristleback. Of course, that wasn't all Taien had did. Tapping in to his Reformatting technique, Taien had increased the Density of the lightning flood. It made the resulting flood a fourth smaller than it usually would be, but, with Taien's huge Reiatsu Strength, along with the boost in Reaitsu Strength the Density Reformatting offered, and on top of the incantation, which doubled the size of the blast, the reduction in size wasn't all that much. A few 'sparks' of pain flared as Taien cast the spell, though, because the components were only two Class Five techniques, the pain really wasn't all that much, and was quickly forgotten. The pain from the stepping technique(s) was even less.

So, Bristleback had a massive amount of lightning being dropped on him. Its source was that of Raikou Kawa, so the main intent would be the paralysis and numbing effect that the spell entailed. Though, at the amount of power Taien had fired it at, its effects would likely be a lot more potent.

Remaining Reiatsu: 5650/6000 (Possible 5600/6000)

Short Term Stat Boosts: 1/7

Raiu RS: 1800